Danny's gift

For his birthday this year Danny got some great camping gear from his parents. He and the kids work on their REI catalog poses.

Charles Darwin and the hoobie doobies

I know - it sounds like a rock and roll band - there is video footage to attach later, but I have to write about Henry's adorable way of saying "blue footed boobies" - birds in the Galapagos Islands. He pronounces it hoobie doobies with great enthusiasm - can't wait to get the video up!

Fast Food Nation

How do you know that your child eats a lot of fast food?
When you are on the playground and he looks through the little window of the play house and asks - Do you want some chicken?
Time to cook more at home!

Henry is a boy

Henry is a boy who is two and a half. We love him. He is also exceptional in his willfulness, some might say, stubborn nature. He is sweet and lots of fun, and he can also be cross. Somehow we did not accurately capture his meltdowns on camera. Hmmm.

Claudia

You guessed it - at the beach! Claudia just had her six month wellness visit to the pediatrician and she has risen to the 50th percentile in weight (quite a meteoric rise from 8th percentile) - she is an average and yet exceptional little girl!

Four of us

When photo shoots go horribly wrong

O-HI-O

Some of our family from Burlington and Ohio came down as well and stayed in a condo nearby. It was fun to have both a friends and family beach trip all in one.

CHAOS at the beach

Well, there really is no better way to describe our trip - here are some of the joyful and not so joyful images of 12 adults and 9 kids in one house. Where were the hidden cameras?!?

Highchair montage

Claudia has just started on "solid" food and enjoyed her time in Sadie's highchair - at the beach.

First there was one ...

Our sixth Annual Topsail Island Beach Jam was this past week. Let's start by saying there was only one kid, Alex, on our first trip. This time the adults were nearly outnumbered. It was a fun week, but, truthfully, I will be happy to have the triplex next year!

Synopsis of Bush Administration

Just wanted to share an excerpt from the final paragraph of an article in this month’s Harper’s titled "A fate worse than Bush: Rudolph Giuliani and the politics of personality" by Kevin Baker. Pretty insightful and succinct.

“The worst excesses of the Bush regime have stemmed directly from its leader's character - that is, its rampant cronyism; its arrogance and egotism; its peremptory, bullying tone and methods; its refusal to brook criticism from within or without; its frighteningly authoritarian impulses; its need to create enemies as a means of governing; its impulsiveness and naivete: its outright contempt for the law; and its truly staggering ability to substitute its own versions of what it wishes the world to be for any recognition of objective reality.”

My life as a Simpson

Apparently Danny had nothing better to do between midnight and two a.m. than to figure out what we would look like if we were characters on the Simpsons - get to bed you crazy night owl!!

Here are the links to the photos - you can also Simpsonize yourself here
http://simpsonizeme.com/ecard.php?lang=en_us&code=tltevpvbdtvcxnlbuwvglkrpelchjvni
http://simpsonizeme.com/ecard.php?lang=en_us&code=bfvijuxipvethllhuigjaroygkifstmj

Scorpion Slayer

This is a true story. I keep waiting to see a post on Chez Boyer about how Josh slayed a scorpion in the reference department at DH Hill Library. He must be too bashful. Apparently this past Thursday a young woman looked down at her feet while doing some research on a computer and saw a 6 inch long black scorpion. She called out for help and the Scorpion reponse team went into code Red - Josh and David DeFoor maimed and then slayed the nasty creature with a marble book end. Whew - I hope there is some sort of poisonous animal policy that comes out of this!

*August 2, 2007*

Time: 10:47 AM

Incident: Animal Problem

Location: DH Hill Library

Narrative: A scorpion was located in the area.

Disposition: [none]

Mouse House

The boys climb in the "mouse house", a Stinehelfer tradition. Alex began to chant "We want cheese! We want cheese!" and of course Henry quickly began demanding the same in unison.

Alex holds the baby

Claudia was smiling the entire time, as usual.

Tub Spelling

Kids at Work

Alex and Molly came to hang out at our house last Friday night - Molly found all the reading and hiding in the couch was getting in the way of her work and her exersaucing.

The Surreal Life

No pictures are needed for this scenario, just close your eyes (but keep reading) and imagine sleeping, eating and playing in a non-air conditioned house, in Durham, in July. Now you get the picture. I thought it was warm last night when we got home and checked the thermostat - 84 degrees, oh my. Hopefully, the HVAC will get repaired tomorrow as my delicate baby, son and husband are all close to melting. This type of sweatiness indoors reminds me of the house I grew up in and all the apartments I have ever rented. For me a bit of nostalgia.
Update: Monday morning house temp 89 degrees - how is it hotter inside than out?!?

David Hasselhoff - Hooked on a Feeling

You absolutely HAVE to check this out - I think he is taking himself seriously, which makes it even more priceless