Miscellaneous

As I typed the title of this post, I couldn't help but think of a mentor from my college days. Wanda was a professor and archivist at my alma mater, Wilson. She was also my boss, and eventually a dear friend. I consider my time in the "dungeon" of the Wilson Archives a major part of my education. Wanda can read, write, and/or speak just about any known language, especially the ancient ones. She can also swear in all of them. Because of Wanda, I now know what the Ides of March is (and actually that there is "ides" in several months, but March is the most notorious). I also know what's on the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus (http://www.odysseyadventures.ca/articles/greektemple/figure14_pediment.htm). And I now tell my children that they have the house looking like the wreck of the Hesperas and know what the Hesperas was. And because Wanda mentioned in a conversation that "They all did it! It was the Orient Express!" I read my first Agatha Christie novel and have since begun a love affair with the inimitable Hercule Poirot. But I digress. When I went for my interview at the archives, I was a nervous freshman who had never had a job before. I was immediately in awe of this learned woman. Incredibily, I got the job as archivist assistant and began helping to date photographs, catalogue artwork, and help with displays. Wanda gave me the briefest of instructions, allowing me to work independently most of the time. But the one emphatic directive that she gave (it may even have been an ultimatum!) was that I was never. EVER. EVER. to label a box "miscellaneous." I never did. She said that she didn't care if the decription of contents took up the entire front of the box. Just don't ever. EVER. EVER. label it "miscellaneous." And that's probably why, instead of labeling my children's clothes storage boxes simply "girl fall/winter clothes 9-12 months," it looks more like "girl fall/winter clothes 9-12 months. Includes pink cowboy boots, size 4.5, buntings, winter capes, 2 coats." I'm only slightly exaggerating. It's not a bad habit...

But it's MY blog, so, with loving apologies to Wanda, "miscellaneous" it is.

In which I took 1,293 pictures to get one good one:

Am I the only one who thinks a baby's bedhead is almost edible?

Of course, the front of the bedhead is pretty cute too.

We've been taking the littles to Cacapon to hike. It was a beautful day, but we were suprised at how hazy it was when we got to the top of Cacapon Mountain.

We hiked until I saw a snake. I don't thinkBenj believed me, but we left anyway.

There's a playground right on the lake that the children love:

And with that, we took our two tired tuttles, as Benj calls them* and headed home.

**From Dr. Seuss' ABC book: "Ten tired turtles in a tuttle tuttle tree."

In other news, our children continue to break the mold when it comes to normal firsts. When Mercy was learing animal sounds, her first sounds were not a dog (and we even have a dog) or a kitty. Not Mercy. Her first sound was a tiger, and she would growl ominously at anyone who would listen. Judah is following suit. His first animal sound was the donkey. I know. Really. A donkey. The other day we were at the beach with friends, and my friend asked her son if he wanted his donkey inflatable ring blown up. Judah was nursing, and without even blinking, went "hee-haw," when he heard "donkey." He also has an impressive snort for a pig .

We had another first here as well. I can't remember what I was doing, but Judah escaped me and ran into the master bathroom. I don't keep any harmful chemicals in the bathroom, and he usually just opens the vanity doors and unloads hairbrushes and other inoccuous things. I was just going to check on him when I heard a vigorous splashing. You can guess where this is going, I'm sure. There was my little man splashing away in the toilet. Blech. I've been reading Dr. Dobson's Bringing Up Boys, and he says that mothers have to watch their sons 24/7 to keep them from killing themselves. I think he's right.

Lots more pics coming soon...