Decemberists

December in Santa Cruz! On the plus side, there is no snow. On the minus side, there is no snow. It's been raining a lot here. I'm not sure I'll be able to make it out to cut the grass until March at this rate. At least the grass has started growing more slowly. I did manage to get some wet leaves raked for the boys to jump in.

Our standard-issue plan between 5:20 (when the boys get home) and 6:40 (when we eat) had been to make them run around outside, or I take them to the park. But it's pretty dark by 5:30, so we're all forced to make it work in the house. When we're all stuck in the house, things like this happen, because Momma is the best, and everyone needs her hugs.

We still make it to the park on the weekends. The rate of Duck-flation continues to increase at an increasing rate. There must be 100 ducks there now. Easy. Here is Graham herding them around the pond. He and Finn managed to force them into the water, like two little-boy sheep dogs.

And sometimes we do play in the backyard, even when it is raining. But things don't always go well. Below, at least Finn was having fun. It was mostly my fault because I stuck Graham up there against his will....

If you look carefully behind Graham you can see the edge of our garden. It has become massively overgrown with clover, and some grass, and I think a part of the garden may just stay like that.

The world according to Finn

Finn has taken to long monologues in the backseat, covering anything from Spiderman to friends at school to... well, here's part of one. I questioned him from time to time for your benefit, but rest assured he can go on for quite a while without prompting. If you click through to Vimeo there's a transcript for those of you who don't speak three-year-old. It's a quality video, in content if not cinematography.

Deer, shark, etc. from Katie on Vimeo.
After the move I found an old digital camera that we no longer need, and that I don't think I could convince anyone to buy on eBay. It's tiny, bright blue, and looks like it really ought to belong to a kid, so we gave it to Finn. 95% of his shots are his fingers, the floor, or in one charming instance, his thighs and the toilet seat as he sat on the potty. Here's a selection from the other 5%.



In this last one he's captured Graham's cheeser face, which he will make if he senses a camera nearby, or he's just happy to see you and feeling hammy. Often the eyes get completely squeezed shut.

These boys, they are goofy.