Ankle-biters become knee-hangers!

Getting ready for Mass! Miles is the one with the head injuries (as usual) and wearing his cereal breakfast on his shoulder :-P

I cannot believe how big they've grown in 9 months. They're wearing 12 month clothes and are almost as tall as Claire :-)

The next three months may be trying as they become less synchronized and get faster but look how stinking cute they are. Ugh! :-)

Dad

October is here.

miles on the left, max folded In half and trying to nap.

Molly proudly displaying the shoes she won the The Great Church Shoe Battle of '13. War is still being fought, Mama is nursing her wounds and recovering well. 

Man Jumping on Trampoline by Molly, age 4.5. He really does look like he's getting some wicked air. 

Claire and her superhero book. Adorbs. 

Miles and his cute little eye. 

Claire dumps hot chocolate on the kitchen floor, the dining room floor and on top of her head. Mommy maintains her composure, miraculously, and takes a picture. 

Silly boys having a little breakfast. Two is always better than one. 

He's a man of mystery, that Max. 

There are also millions and millions of dogs named Max. 

Grinch: All I need is a reindeer!

Narrator: The Grinch looked around, but since reindeer are scarce, there was none to be found. Did that stop the Grinch? Ha! The Grinch simply said...

Grinch: If I can't *find* a reindeer, I'll *make* one instead.

Narrator: So he took his dog Max, and he took some black thread, and he tied a big horn on the top of his head.

Our Max is far cuter than any dog I've ever met. And he doesn't bark as much. (Max on the left, our bruised little Pickle on the right. A (doll)house fell on him, much like that horrific scene in the Wizard of Oz.  

Confident stride

Skunks allowed.

On the drive to school this morning there was a very fragrant dead skunk. Today is also Lucy's "queen" day at school...

A: You allow skunks in your kingdom?
L: Okay. First, it's a queendom. Second, if you were a skunk and you had to spray to survive the dangers of huge cars and trucks, is that a reason to not be allowed to live in my queendom?? Huh? Well?
A: Um. I suppose you're right... Guess we'll be a skunk-friendly kingdom, err, queendom.
L: what color are skunks in Africa?
A: it's the opposite side of the world, kind of where daddy goes on business trips. I guess the colors would be opposite. All white, black stripe.
L: Got it.

This is a major paraphrase of a 10 minute long speech regarding animal respect and cruelty, but I had to capture the funniest parts :-)

Sisters.