William Takes A Boat Ride

It was a beautiful day, Friday, September 19. Shawn had to take some replants out on the boat (clams that were too small to sell) and put them back in the water. I decided it would be a good day for Willie and me to go along. The temperature was perfect, nicely breezy, and water not too cold. Pretty soon it will be time for wetsuits, but not on this day, skinny dipping was just fine by William. We brought his kiddie pool that he likes to play in, but even that wasn't good enough. He kept pointing at the water, and saying his word for everything, "Enh?" No, you can't jump overboard yet, dearie. Finally, it was time.

Found a rogue clam that escaped the bag. Naked baby bottoms are the best.

Willie checks out the clam. He loves being in the water with Daddy. Momma was on a keen lookout (as always) for sharks. Her paranoia sets in frequently, especially when her baby is in the water. Maybe I'll get over it someday. Yeah, right.

My view through the power roller supports. Willie's off in the Gulf of Mexico.

Getting a little too far away for my likings. Not far enough for Willie's liking. Look at that sky, though, I told you it was a beautiful day!

Congratulations, Smith Family!

For those of you with good memories, or even those without, you will remember my wonderful friend Mary Thomason (Smith) from high school. She just sent me a birth announcement for her beautiful baby girl, Melody Anne Thomason Smith, born August 12, 9 lbs, 21 inches. Melody joins her adorable big brother, Noah, who has hair like Nanny dreams of (that is, a lovely red)and looks much like his mother. Melody is an adorable little one, with a good amount of what looks like soft brown hair. Welcome to the world, Melody, and lots of love and best wishes to you, Mary, Tim, and Noah!

Fun On The Boat

This is a demonstration of a great game called Throw The Clam. It can be played for hours, maybe even days. It requires no other players besides yourself, no game board, and no instruction book. All you need is one clam and a shallow body of water, preferable a kiddie pool or storage tub. Guaranteed to entertain small, tired children who need a nap in the worst way.

Love me some concentration on getting in and out of the pool on a rocking boat.

Look, Momma! A fiddler crab wants to play Throw The Clam with me! Can he, Momma? Can he? Can he? We'll be good! Oh, come on, Mom, I know he's not from the best family in town but he is still my friend! We can take him home when we're done playing.

Or not, if he's dead from being squinched to death.

Willie chills in Momma's chair, where he stole more than a sip of Daddy's drink.

I Can't Get Enough Of Him

We were getting ready to go out on a boat ride with Daddy when I put Willie's hat on and he started hamming it up. Of course, I grabbed my camera that I had just packed in the boat bag, and as Twopy likes to say, Wah-la!

Yup, sure did crop myself right out of this picture.

Notice the whites of his eyes are all the way around! Now that's one happy boy!

Great Melissa and Doug toy, hammering little posts through the base, great fun for Willie. And my girls. I'm not kidding. For a week after we bought it, they ALL played with it. I couldn't understand. I still don't understand. I'll never understand.

Willie is definitely creative. Here he is taking a marble (not part of the toy), dropping it in the holes, picking it up, holding his hand a little higher, dropping it again to see if he can get it in there, holding it higher still, dropping it. Very interesting...maybe very strange, too. But cute, nonetheless.

Willie and Mr. Owl

We have a new family member, one that Willie has taken kindly to. He's small, feathery soft, and has piercing yellow eyes. Mr. Owl, we call him. The name coming from the fact that he is Mr. Werler's greatest friend (Willie was so named Mr. Werler's by Sarah, we often speak to him in a British accent, Mr. Werler's, is there anything I can get for you? Mr. Werler's, would you care for a li'l bit o' juice? Mr. Werler's, is that a giant stinkbomb from your cute li'l bum-bum? Mr. Werler's, Mr. President, Willie answers to them all. William Douglas Stephenson, doesn't that sound like a presidential hopeful? Sarah sure thinks so.) and since Mr. Werler's has a Mr. in his name, we thought his favorite owl should, too. And so, Mr. Owl it is, a friendly enough but rather quiet fellow. So quiet, in fact, that Mr. Werler's has to "Whoo!" for him. It is an odd sight for sure, the owl sitting quietly and Little Guy whooing. Owls are cute, but not as cute as Mr. Werler's. At least he didn't pick out a snake.

Willie has been cranky lately, for what reason we know not. Luckily, Mr. Owl has been in exceptionally good spirits.

Willie Walkin'

Willie's been walking a lot more the last couple days. He is very cautious and prefers walking on carpet. On the odd chance that he walks on the wood floors, he holds his hands up in front of him for balance, and takes short little tiny steps. He smiles when I clap for him and once he's had enough, he plops down on the floor and takes off speed-crawling.

Mr. Handsome in his new jeans and Nautica shirt...

Well, I just walked for you, I can hear the girls, I think they might be that way?

Children's Handiwork

Laura, 2p, Spring: Just you wait, you'll be getting letter like this daily. Whatever it's about, bike riding, museum, park, sleepovers, movies, etc, it all comes in letter form. No one wants to ask face-to-face.

Yes, he took them. No, he wouldn't exclude Izzy. But they sulked about it anyway.

The ottoman came in a large box. Around here, only one thing happens to those type of boxes. They are instantly overwhelmed by a pack of markers, blankets, flashlights, juice pouches, pillows, and snacks. Click on this to see it full size, and keep in mind, Willie can't write.

After markering it to death, they puched oddles of holes in the side with mechanical pencils. The plan was for a blanket to go over the top, and the holes will become "stars of light". Hmmmm....

The abandoned, but only because they HAD to go to school, fort for Willie.

Pianos, Ottomans, and Willie, Oh My!

On Saturday, we had my parents' piano delivered. It is one of those things that shapes your childhood, though you don't realize it until much, much later. What kid wants to spend thirty minutes a day practicing, left hand, right hand, left hand, right hand. Truly, it's enough to drive you mad. Which is why I'm having my children learn to play, as well. As an adult, I've never been sorry for the time I spent (read: forced to spend) playing the pee-nano as we called it. My kids always ask me to play "Fur Elise", which promptly wows them into mutterings of, man, she's really good, wow that's amazing... etc. If they only knew that "Fur Elise" is only Level II. Hopefully, they won't know that for a while. At least I know I can still WOW them with something besides Busch Gardens.

Good ole Baldwin pee-nano.

Our new ottoman, thanks to Willie's black eye.

Firm enough for holding plates, soft enough to lay on and cushion little eyeballs, and a hinged lid for storage. What more could you ask for? Well, I guess I'd like it about three inches higher, but who's complaining?

Oh, man, did I ever tell you I LOVE THIS KID? Look at that little face! He's pure joy, black eye and all! Never mind that he is smiling because he just crushed an entire sleeve of Ritz crackers onto my floor. . .

Football, Wing-eating, and Other Lazy Sports

Two Saturdays ago, I made a plan to do nothing. Well, at least nothing for the afternoon. A conscious choice, an early vote, and predisposition maybe, to be L-A-Z-Y. I hummed around all morning, cleaning, doing laundry, dishes, etc. The house was tidy, though far from perfect. I didn't care. It was enough work for one day. Besides, it was Week #1 for NCAA football. I watched football the entire afternoon. Yes, me, Caryn Stephenson, became a bona fide couch potato. It was so fun and relaxing, I decided I would plan that for the following Saturday as well.

As usual, I have to try to take a good thing and make it better. This time I succeeded! This past Saturday, I once again hummed around, cleaning, doing dishes, laundry, etc. Then, I had to stop short of my noontime deadline. In fact, I couldn't wait to stop cleaning. I had a plan. A plan involving chicken wings, which I have come to like down here in redneck-land. I changed my cleaning methods, from Mrs. Meyer's all-purpose cleaner (lemon verbena, of course) to a chef's knife and some serious chicken wing-hacking. I fried, YES, FRIED, those bad boys in light cornstarch (thanks, Cook's Illustrated), whipped up a homemade reduced-fat blue cheese dressing (had to save calories somewhere, and thanks Cook's Country), a bowl of hot sauce and copious amounts of celery and carrots (kids don't eat celery, I've found). I grabbed a Diet Coke (again, calories not allowing for my desired sweet tea) and headed for the couch. I sank in, quilt and pillow nearby, and there I stayed, virtually motionless, for several hours. I ate wings, carrots and celery till I could eat no more. Our kids decided wings were awesome and ate at least their fair share. Every time they talked too loud, I would say, in your room or silence, I can't hear my game. And it wasn't even the Gator game yet. (I hate those 8:00 games, I mean, I know I'm going to have to stay up till 11 or so. And after spending all day on the couch, I was exhausted! I have to ask, who on earth is setting these times? Don't they know I'm worn out from all the football before that? Humph.) And so I offer, dear reader, this lovely picture of the wings, in all their glory. And I request, dear reader, that you do not send me articles on the fat/calorie content of said wings. I only ate them, in all honesty, for the sake of honoring laziness in its purest form. You'll know where to find me this Saturday, the only question will be Nachos or Potato Skins?

Just So You Know....

I blogged a ton of pictures today so in order to see them all you may have to click on September or after viewing the first set, click at the bottom on Older Posts and the rest will come up. Happy viewing...

Evening in the Park

After my spending the day in Ocala, Willie and I got home to find everyone was gone! Luckily, in this town, you can't hide and we quickly found Shawn and the two girls at the park. It was a long day in the car for Willie and he was anxious to do everything he could! He is unafraid of the big steep slide, loves climbing up this big fish thing, and can't get enough of the soft, beautiful Bahia grass that now covers the park. It's such a far cry from the sandspurs in the old park. In fact, Shawn and I are considering sodding our yard with that grass because it feels so good for the kids. Once the sprinkler system goes in and the well gets hooked back up, we will deck out the landscaping so it blends a little better with the rest of the house. Every kid deserves to roll in the grass, and our mountain of sand isn't as fun as it sounds.

It was a beautiful evening, an afternoon seabreeze blowing any bugs away. Not too hot with the sun going down, and pure joy on the faces of our kiddies, what more can you ask for? And in case you're wondering where child number 1 was, Sarah was at a sleepover across the street. No pictures of her this time, but I'll try to make up for it later.

Rolling in the Grass

Willie gets some tips from an expert on the fine art of rolling down a hill.

Getting a good tumble going

Working at it

Losing control! Yes!

Childhood Exuberance