continued purge of the photo backlog

Here are some of Ellis's school pictures from the fall. I love that they did them outside, but I cannot believe how much he looks like Trey in these. And there's also their similarity in being unable to smile in any semi-natural way for a photograph. At one point in the year, our school carpool worked out in such a way that Ellis was tagging along with a neighbor to her dance class. They had a play area there so he would just hang out with some other kids during the 45 minutes of class. The other parents knew Ellis, but had never met Trey. One week, rather than letting him ride home in the carpool, Trey stopped in to pick Ellis up. All the other parents commented how they didn't need to wonder who that was or whether Ellis was allowed to go home with him because Ellis was basically his clone. Crazy. 

research, all in the name of research

Maddox is finally old enough to play along in Ellis's more imaginative games. As the big brother, Ellis invents the games and all the rules. Maddox usually gets the crappier "jobs". For instance, Ellis will shout, "I'll go explore the magical underground cave! Maddox, you stay here and watch the jeep."

Last night's game was astronauts on the space shuttle. They kept running out to the kitchen and asking for "missions". My efforts to convince them that taking a stack of important supplies and arranging them on the table was a critical mission basically failed. "Mom, that is just setting the table. We need a real mission." So I spent the next half hour sending them on expeditions that were basically modified Dr. Who plots. This basically means that all those hours spent watching the Time Lord were, you know, job training for me.

no time like the middle of january to post thanksgiving pics, right?

We were so lucky to get a visit from Lucy, Josh, and their boys. Here are they are at the kids table.

Despite they're just completing a 16 hour drive, we headed across the state to visit King Arthur's new store and bakery. Here they are enjoying chocolate baked into various forms.

Aaaaand more sugar at the Ben and Jerry's factory.

Vaughn and Ellis created a thankfulness tree. I turned them loose in the dining room, where we were planning to paint and replace the carpet. Good thing, because the two took a lot of artistic liberties.

Ellis and Maddox were also thrilled to meet their newest little cousin.

And Thanksgiving was topped off with a visit from the Liggetts, who were also spending the holiday in New England.