little bo peep

little bo peep has lost her sheep,

and can't tell where to find them;

leave them alone, and they'll come home,

wagging their tails behind them.

bo peep's costume designed and created by e. wheeler.
sheep's knitted hat outsourced to a fabulous artist on etsy.

i determine the success of my costumes based on how many random strangers ask to take pictures of the girls. counting this year's requests, i think we have ourselves some winners!

ye ole pumpkin carve

happy hallow's eve!

tricks or treats

it's that time of year again: time for the great pumpkin.

we made our big soft ginger cookies and our hot spiced cider and snuggled up to enjoy the halloween musings of charlie brown and gang.

summer at first very much enjoyed her sweets and treats, but then, when sally started yelling at linus for ruining her halloween by luring her into the pumpkin patch and forcing her to wait for the illusive great pumpkin, little summer got very concerned. notice her scowl.

curly sue

we survived our first attempt at curlers!

(seriously, this is how she sleeps.)

rubbing sleepy eyes (seared by the camera's flash.)

getting ready for church.

ta-da!

i found this hairdo most fitting of summer's personality.

it's big, it's crazy, and it's hard to ignore.

POW!

the pumpkin patch

we decided to brave the mud and the muck this weekend and continue our annual family tradition of visiting craven farm to carefully select the perfect pumpkin. (click here to remember last year and here for the year before.)

the following photo journal chronicles our visit:

1) summer, intent on rolling all around in the aforementioned mud,
is quite distraught when emily steps in to prevent her.

2) but her father comes to the rescue, and while she continues
to eye the slimy ground below, she agrees to venture into the
pumpkin patch on her feet. afton rides merrily along.

3) upon finding the pumpkins, summer is delighted
and tries to sit on just about all of them.

4) the girls pose for a beautiful fall photo.
summer is confused and afton laughs at passersby.

5) finally, summer decides on her favorite pumpkin.

she attempts to carry it home.

6) after meticulously examining nearly every pumpkin in

the patch, emily finds one that she thinks is just right.

bryan goes to get a wheelbarrow, but fails to properly inform emily,
who carries the (heavy) pumpkin a quarter mile.

7) summer finally gets to play in the mud.

8) the wheeler clan enjoys a pit stop and rice krispie treat.

9) then we wheel all our little pumpkins back to the car.

happy harvest to all!

hunting wabbits

so lately, summer has been making some very strange food choices (the hamburger bun?)

her most oft requested source of nourishment is corn. that's right: corn. frozen corn. frozen.

and yesterday when i opened the refrigerator for her to pick out a snack, she rummaged through the vegetable drawer, selected a bag of lettuce, took it to her seat, and dug in.

yum-o.

crayloa magic

summer learns how to color:

and how NOT to color:

bumbo baby revisited

afton, the happiest baby on the block, loves to sit in her bumbo.

at first, i was concerned about putting her in it so early, but like a fish to water, afton is an expert sitter.

(i wish i could be an expert sitter.)

for a trip down memory lane, here's a review of our first bumbo baby.

so happy together

breakfast of champions

summer selects her own breakfast:

hamburger bun it is.

baby mind reader

who are these people??

missing mere mere

we were fortunate enough to have my mom come out for the past week to help us move. if she hadn’t come, i would still be wallowing in a vast pit of despair. but as it is, my house is pretty much put together, and we are quickly settling in to a new routine.

the only down side to wendy’s visits is dealing with the aftermath. we all get a little bit spoiled. afton now believes that it is possible to be held all the time. and summer wanders around the house in search of “mere mere? walk?”

as for me? well now i actually have to do the dishes. frown.

there are a handful of things that i will never grow too old for. being taken care of by my mom is definitely one of those things.

photo: wendy eating fried chicken in lancaster, pennsylvania, christmas, 2006. she'll love that i posted this one!

wide load

we finally broke down and bought a double stroller:

the bumbleride indie twin.

my initial thoughts?

how did i survive so long without this beauty?!

spectacular spooktacular

one of the most draining parts about the relocation process is cleaning out the old house.

i worked for days and days on the project and finally finished friday afternoon.

as a special reward (and being the considerate husband that he is), bryan treated me to a much needed pedicure.

black widow included.

home sweet home

three reasons we love our new place:

1 - walking distance to TWO parks. though now summer screams for the swings every time we drive by.

2 - SPACE! eventually the girls will share a room (because i'm a big fan of the room share), but it's nice for them to be separate for now. everyone gets more sleep that way.

3 - a little yard. it's nothing to write home about--just big enough for a kiddie pool, backyard bbqs, and some good old fashioned ball throwing.

park days

i know it may seem from bryan's blogging absence that maybe he's not been around much. but to the contrary, he and his girls have been spending quite a bit of quality time together. for example, just yesterday bryan and summer had a daddy-daughter date to the park.

although their rendezvous was somewhat interrupted by summer's brief interlude with the rock.

tres meses

afton is a happy baby.

she has pretty blue eyes that we *think* are going to stay that way and soft strawberry blonde locks.

she has very sensitive, fair skin (like her momma) and gets quite angry when she is hungry and hasn't been fed (like her dad).

she and sister summer are still best friends for life. summer loves to hold afton's hand, and amazingly, afton likes it, too.

we love our little lu.

a riddle

what's black and white and red all over?

me, apparently.

here at the wheeler homestead, we have been experiencing a lot of changes lately. bryan has recently been promoted to a NEW job (wifely bragging moment: his fourth promotion in the past three years). as mentioned earlier, we have moved into a NEW house (yikes! our third here in duvall). and let's not forget that somewhere around here there's a NEW baby (shout out to baby afton!).

i thought i would just round things out and get a brand spanking NEW hair color.

unsurprisingly, this is not the first time i've rocked a tribute to deloris o'riordan:

emily, circa 2006

color and cut courtesy of the indomitable holly richins.

we moved!

yes, we're officially the transient riff raff of small town duvall.

anyhoo, for anyone who doesn't know, moving is a real drag. and moving with two children under two is a REAL drag.

so if you see me around with my hair unkempt (isn't that always the case?) and my frump clothes on (again, what's new?), and if i don't remember who you are...

or who i am for that matter (and who, pray tell, are these two little creatures screaming and crawling all over me?!)

at least *this time* i'll have an excuse.

ps - we LOVE our new house and all its added space and amenities. more on than part later.

growing pains

left: summer, april 4, 2009 (17 mos)

right: summer, october 1, 2009 (23 mos)

so i just purchased the latest iteration in summer's wardrobe (2T!), and it's time to say farewell to her 18-24mos garb (for a little while, that is...)

in honor of this momentous occasion, i thought i would post the above side-by-side comparison to see how much she's grown.

or how much the clothes have shrunk -- it's hard to tell which.