October 2017

Caroline's myopic genes finally caught up with her

Reward for starting math team

Fun with perspective: tiny Erin

 tiny Caroline

 Erin wanted her own homework space and both she and Tessie assembled the desk

 Hmm, only one place where this could happen

 Wilson Farm's haunted haymaze

 Heather's redecorating eye finally landed on the dining room

 and there you go

 the cats liked the new perches

 the lego room got a new carpet and paint job for the desk

Can't seem to get this rotated, but it's Tessie's Halloween drawing

We're working up to the heavy rocks

at Grandma Lu's for Halloween

and back at home

the older girls hit about 100 houses in their 2-hour tour

Winter hats are out now. Boo!

Erin's U9 soccer team

 Dave's 40-something birthday

Tessie now watches Caroline and Erin's Scratch Jr creations

Rest of summer 2017

We returned from Rochester with one monarch egg that hatched into a hungry caterpillar. After he ate through one green leaf we searched for more milkweed and found 5 more eggs. With caterpillar-sitting help from our neighbors, all six were successfully hatched and released.

The chrysalises turn black when the butterflies are ready to emerge

 Not quite ready for the wide open world

Two of them hatched at Tessie's preschool

 At age 10 1/2, as promised Caroline got her ears pierced

 Mount Monadnock in September, much better than November

There were tadpoles in the pools at the summit

and Eastern red-spotted newts on the trail

Erin's friend Ophelia was a trooper

and Caroline brought her friend Anna to the Portsmouth Fairy House festival

Spun-sugar sister

 That's blush on Tessie's face

Not really kittens anymore

 Yes, Tundra does get pushed around in a stroller

and other nights he's a pillow for Erin

Tessie's sleeping buddy is Tai-Tai

Our biggest pumpkin yet, 22 lbs!

but that's only 1% of the 2000 lb prizewinner at the Topsfield Fair

Grandpa's anniversary present was a trip to see a Steelers game, and we decided that October in Baltimore was preferable to December in Pittsburgh.

There was much anticipation for the players' knee locations during the national anthem. The Steelers stood while the Ravens did a small knee touch that earned a round of boos from the crowd

real-time disappearance of the caterpillar

most nights Tessie has a furry companion

Not sure if it's Hamilton or something made up

and it was good

Heading down Mt. Monadnock

What's the only major US sports team named for a literary character?