Farewell to Mimi

We have been through a lot this weekend.  Moe Moe's mother, Mimi, who has been in hospice, passed away early this morning.  We are very blessed with an extremely supportive family, and we spent a lot of time with everyone sharing stories around her bed.  I brought the kids in yesterday, and Gavin told me that he had a great time and wanted to do that again.  We talked about death and the reason we were all together, and G would sit quietly and think about that for a few minutes, then ask for more Lorna Dunes.  However, I was glad the kids, and especially Gavin, got a chance to know her. She was an amazing person.  

The only part that Gavin expressly did not like was when his sister bit him on the cheek.  There was a bit of a squabble, and Ani, quick as lightening, turned to him and just as quickly turned away.  Then he started screaming, and it wasn't until then we realized what happened.  Her stealth was impressive.  And she left a decent mark.  I'm not entirely convinced she's all human.  There may be some velociraptor in there.  But, as you can see, biting really wears one out.  

Before the events of this past weekend, I took this past Thursday off to get a bit of a break after a call weekend and my usual day off filled with meetings.  We went to the Gray Animal Farm to visit all the wild animals which have been rescued and can no longer survive in the wild.  Their favorite spot was the bears.  Pics today are so you can look at my kids looking at things.  I like to shake it up.

She speaks!

I'm back from a brief hiatus from the blog - I went to San Francisco for a conference last week, so I didn't have much to report except for the latest on scapular mobility assessments, and I figured that would be a bit of a snoozer for blog readers.  But I'm back now, and while I've been gone, the kids seem to have grown up a little.  Gavin has reassured us that he is now ready to be handed the car keys after driving around with Ryan in the golf cart.  However, as you can see from the pic, his sister is more of the go-getter in terms of taking the wheel. Between the two of them, there is a pretty high risk that they may abscond with the cart at some point. Annah has demonstrated that she can put the key in the ignition.  Correctly I might add.  They've started to work a little more as a team.  Woe is us.

Ani has started to speak.  She demonstrated her mad talking skills this morning when I came in to get her.  Cup, book, blankie, and baby was what she wanted to show me.  That's why I leave all that stuff in her crib at night - so she can practice.  In my defense, the cup was empty, plastic, and NOT a sippy cup, because I've heard you aren't supposed to do that.  So I modified a little.  She also loves to talk about fish.  Both the goldfish in the tank, and the Pepperidge Farm type you eat, which are the most addicting food for small children ever.  I've started to refer to them as crackfish.  Crying? Here, have a crackfish.  Stub your toe? Nothing a little crackfish won't fix.  

Ryan has been doing double duty around the house with me away at conferences and with weekend calls lately.  Our tenth anniversary passed by with something of a whimper, but we are planning on going out this weekend, and we are also planning a kid-free getaway in December to celebrate, so that will be nice.  We never think of doing these things on time.  But he's getting ready to tackle his summer super-daddy-do list with all sorts of painting and revealing the driveway. I plan on making ice cream and doing yoga, because I'm in to sharing of responsibilities.  

I decided to do some joint pics today in order to keep my offspring guessing on who the favorite is.  Bit I've included a few shots from playing in the sprinkler this afternoon.  One of them was into it...