Recently

 Recently, snuggle time has been even snuggly-ier.

 Recently, I've been doing a LOT of baby wearing (you'll see why in a minute).

 Recently, there's been a whole lot of silliness in our afternoons.

Recently, we've seen a new side to our boy.

 Recently, we went to Zuanich park to fly kites.

 But, once there, discovered we hadn't packed the string to with the kite! Oops! Clem minded not one bit, and ran around the park "flying" the kite herself.

 Recently we drove all the way to Oak Harbor to watch Brave at Blue Fox drive in! It was a blast.

 Recently, these ugly brown stairs on our front porch were repainted by my man! I will post pics of those next time.

 Recently, we made it to one stop on the Whatcom County Farm Tour. We hit up Bellewood Acres in their new digs. Clem and Cam went on a wee tractor ride through the orchard, pumpkin patch and sprinklers!

 Then Clem rode on each of the handmade wooden animal rockers.

Recently, Clementine completed her second "big girl bike ride" (1 mile vs. the neighborhood). She said it made her feel like a muscle man.

Drum Kit Baby (another staged photo)

 I can't help it! I love making Dutch dress like Clem and taking pictures of it.

Can you tell who is who?

Ballet (take 2)

 We are trying ballet class again. Clem took a session of ballet last winter at a different facility. Let's just say it didn't go so well. Picture a leotard and tutu clad Clementine lying on the floor refusing to dance or get out of the way while other leotard and tutu clad 4 year olds tried to pirouette around her. Then picture a super pregnant Emily hauling that leotard/tutu clad 4 year old, kicking and screaming, out of ballet, sweating and swearing (Emily, not Clementine). She was working through some stuff (Clem, not Emily).

 But this one is different! Clem's nearly 5 now, her buddy Taylor is in the class with her and, most importantly to Clem, there are no plastic color dots on the floor designating where each ballerina is supposed to sit (this perturbed her in an unexplainable way).

 Clem was not only dancing, she was LISTENING to the teacher and allowing the other ballerinas the opportunity to do their thing, too.

 Twirl and twirl and twirl and twirl...

 I wish my floors were this shiny!

 Dutch watched the ballerinas from the sidelines with a little snack.

1st Day of School

 All of us are officially back to school for the year. I suppose it's time to clear away this fog of newborn euphoria and contribute to society.
Clementine was BEYOND ready to be back at school. She was over staying home with me; ready to see some friends and add some excitement to her life.
The first day of school was far more mellow than I expected. Everyone was ready and dressed by 7:00 (we leave at 8:00!) I asked Clem if I could take some pictures of her on the first day of school. "No way," was her response.

 Little Miss Sassafras posed for these two goofy pictures and I said "Fine! No pictures!' I could see this was not going to go my way today.

 

When we got to her school, we were a few minutes early and she told me "Don't walk me in! You stay here in the car." Seriously? Are we here already?? Sorry kid! She did comply and allowed me to snap this picture of my gorgeous girl standing in the pathway of her gorgeous school.

Meet Miles!

 My sister FINALLY decided to serve eviction papers to her baby last Thursday. She home birthed a 9 pound 3 ounce baby!! My hero!

 So, our whole crew descended upon her home like food-bearing locusts last weekend. I couldn't wait to get my hands on a fresh newborn baby boy since my own was only newborn size for about 5 minutes (Miles, apparently, packed some pounds on as soon as we left! He's not newborn sized any more either!)

Meg's blog has some cute pictures of new Miles, too, with more coming soon!

This next set of pictures warms my heart. Apparently, as we all sniffed newborn heads and talked about umbilical cords, the need for red meat and newborn photography, my delicate flower was welcoming her cousin Nolan to the "Older Siblings" club. There was  hazing involved, obviously.

 After Nolan recovered from this brutal attack, we all ate BBQ and my mom got to snuggle one of her THREE grandsons!!

Ticklish

Three Month Old Dutch

 In keeping with tradition, I took Dutch's three month "portraits" on the 31st. I can't believe how quickly time flies. It seems like at 3 months, babies stop being such newborns and start developing little personalities...and their faces resemble little people rather than raisins. (Clementine's "portraits" are found here!)

 Dutch is far more careful than Clementine was at this age. He's much slower to warm up to things, he likes to watch for a bit, then slowly emerge from his shell. The first handful of pics, he pulled some very Cam-ish faces by keeping it serious.

 But then he remembered what to do and some little peeks of his smile shined on through.

 Then it was time to get naked because there's nothing cuter than baby fat rolls.

 Look at those toes! Those dimply arms!!!

 It was at this point in the photo shoot where Cam rolled his eyes and said "Damn Pinterest." These are my favorites from his photo shoot.

Naked baby+Daddy's tie+Big smile