All Aboard!

Larkin is in love with trains.

There is a train that runs across a HUGE open field more than a mile away from our house, but if Larkin hears it's whistle she makes me run outside and down the sidewalk to the place where we can (barely) see it as we stand in the cold in our pajamas and bare feet.

Based on said love affair with choo-choos, it was only natural that on a drizzly cold Saturday we would take a field trip to the train museum in Sacramento.

(our little engineer)

(mommy and L climbing aboard one of the trains)

(L putting her her love of trains to work)

An Experiment in Movement

We had a busy day of jumping

... tumbling ... crawling ...

running ... sliding ... laughing

Whew!

Visiting Day!

Larkin walked in to school and immediately went right to work

...

It's hard work to learn and play!

We stayed and played for hours. Larkin played and tested out everything.

The school is everything I could possible want in Larkin's first school experience. It is natural and developmentally appropriate. It is accessible and welcoming. It is ... a dream come true for the whole family!

(Have I mentioned how much I love my new camera!?! I had the hardest time narrowing down the photos because there were at least a hundred good ones ... happy happy day!)

Swiss. Gorgonzola. Fetta ... Cheese

Momma got herself a new camera!

My old camera was a veteran! An oldie! A dinosaur!

When I bought it, it was top of the line and cost me a good chunk of my student loans one semester. It took pictures of my friends, my wedding, holidays, birthdays, my daughter's birth, trips to the zoo ... oh wait, not the trip to the zoo.

The camera worked one minute, and then it didn't. Posing in front of the monkey house at the zoo this week it just died. It gave up the ghost. It ceased to fulfil its purpose.

My new camera is A.maz.ING!!! I can do a million things and take a bajillion beautiful pictures!

I would be lost without my camera.

I am so grateful for the way pictures allow us to chronicle the simple moments of our life and provide the feeling that what we do matters.

Crabby Patty

Larkin is going to school!

We have been stocking up on all the supplies she will need for school. We have talked and talked about all the new activities and toys and friends that will be a part of her school experience.

She is so excited to turn all that talking into doing ...

perhaps a little too excited :)

(More photos to follow after visiting day this week)

And in other news ...

Our family weaseled our way into an invite to crab-fest this last weekend. We spent the night eating crab with family and friends. We ate WAY too much and laughed so hard our faces and tummies hurt (in good ways) by the end of the night!

Thanks Aunt Denise for the yummy crab!

Sit. Stay. Shake.

Tucker is a rude little puppy.

I love him in spite of his very bad manners.

He has been going to school to learn how to listen and behave.

Sometimes he listens.

Sometimes he behaves.

He isn't too different than the rest of us I guess.

Just Another Day in Paradise ...

CAUTION ... could there be a more appropriate word to foreshadow my year?

Maybe: Love, Family, Change, Happiness, Study, Curiosity, Growth, Discovery ...

... but then again CAUTION seems like it might fit too ...