You know you are a redneck:

When you park a RV trailer in your front yard:

Usually its bad when you do something and think, "I never thought I would turn into that person." Right?.?

A Fall Fantastic!

What usually happens is that something amazingly great happens and then we go get the camera and it is not as good. Amazingly, this is the case here too. Just imagine!

Just imagine how shaky-shook Leila must have been the first time.

Some Pictures From Our Friendly Harpers:

Greta and Leila--wearing a perfect Iowa farmer glum face

Nyssa is so dainty and I am so doofy.

Halloween at Childserv-Ames. Gwen, Isaiah, Prateem, Judy Jetson

.

Greta, Ruby and Nyssa: or a graphing of our love for them.

Our Last Days in Roland:

Umbrella Shoping

Cloudy with a chance for Goofballs

Last day at Childserv. Gwen and Nyssa. Gwen was just becoming a favorite as we left. She is great!

The sweet Avery has stopped trying to get Leila into the picture. She had been with Nyssa from six or seven weeks old.

Watch out, Tigers!

What a Turtledove

The mask seemed to be made for her face

It wasn't shabby on her sister either. But...

Something came over her. Somehow she was not herself.

Attack! Roarrrrrrrrr!

Some random photos:

When we were just getting usetta the new house Katy and I came into our bedroom (nice wallpaper), and found these jokers feeling at home.

Eating the dinner our friend Mimi made for us. (Anyone else notice Nyssa sometimes looks like Shining Jack.?.

New living room (Kant you tell) with Katy's favorite hat bought at the Hotel Boulderado last summer.

And to think I was mean enough to say she couldn't buy that wedding magazine two days later.

Nyssa, almost unrecognizable, hand dancing with me to Justin Roberts (who aunt Elizabeth went to college with). The King with face paint is our friend Cainin.

I just happened on this. It must be from June?, her hands are a portent of things to come.

Mostly Halloween:

After Trick or Treating with our friends Oscar and Louis, we came back to serve the neighborhood (and meet it). Leila's hands were stuck in the constant gesture of "more" for 3 days. They might have been candy-stuck that way.

A Renaissance queen? A gospel singer? Or Janis Joplin? The accompanying D&D board gave it away.

"Hey! Hey! Trick or Treat." Nyssa was very excited to give out candy, even pointing out trick or treaters when she was on the prowl herself. "Dad! Here Comes Some One."

In Des Moines it is tradition that you offer a joke for your treat:

We did not know this. So halfway through our 'treating I made a joke up Nyssa could remember, quickly (quickly I made up a joke, quickly she could learn it, quickly she could repeat it) Some people scoffed at me.

Knock, Knock. Whose There? Scare! With Jazz hands (see below) (unfortuently it took me 2 more days to solve the scoffers issue. "scare who?" "Scare YOU!" ...Genius is not quick)

Ruby--resplendent in leather and lace (and leopard print tights) and Nyssa at their first ever Princess Party. EYE did Nyssa's hair (and Ruby's) and affixed Nyssa's crown while mommies slept.

It might look captured, but Nyssa was posing her hands for every picture I took (2. Plus one attempt as the camera died) that afternoon. The grace of a Princess (and even before she bought that cruddy Royals book).

I am the luckiest boy in the world.

By Further Demand

We just moved from Roland on down to Des Moines. One of the carrots we gave to Nyssa before the move was that in Des Moines we'd have room for her to have her own desk. A desk we believed to be in our storage unit. I could visualize the dam desk in the dam storage unit. Needless to say on the day we moved the desk was nowhere to be found.
Kathy, not wanting me to be a lying no good two-bit father, stepped in and sent Katy's girlhood (as if she wasn't still in it!) desk, which we received in a gigantic truck two days ago. Below is the picture of Nyssa coloring at her desk before it found its more final resting place (For you other nosy people out there, that is the eat-in portion of our kitchen and back door. The kitchen is off to the right. Directly left is the side door and basement door. The hallway behind leads to the front door, steps upstairs, and with a quick left, the living room).

Look at those feet. Lookit!

Nyssa was really excited to get her desk. She asked us, "what are these for?"And we said, "drawers to put your stuff in."
And she said,"What is the hole for?" and we said, "that is for your legs so you can scoot right up to the desk" [editors note: you can see her utilizing this deluxe feature in the picture above.]
And she asked us "what is this for?"
And we said, "that is the desk top, it is where you will do your work."
And we thought she was so smart! she doesn't even know what the flat surface on a desk is for.



About the video, I heard her singing this song--made famous, to her, by Elizabeth Mitchell, and went to get the camera. Nyssa kept singing and let me record some. Elizabeth Mitchell recorded the song because she heard her daughter singing it coming home from school one afternoon when she was four or five, Nyssa singing here, then, is, as Walker Percy would say, a rotation.
The other great thing about the video was that Nyssa was not singing like herself, but rather to herself in a joking falsetto (like her old man). Needless to say, I am very proud.

Just now at bedtime for books, with Leila trying on Kaitlyn's old cheeks.

Katy's first post

Leila saw this picture and said "sick" b/c it was taken one day when she stayed home from daycare sick.

Before I had kids, I would have thought a good general rule of thumb might be: if a child can say "choking hazard" then the child is probably not in much danger from the object in question. Yesterday Nyssa wanted to hear the ocean with some seashells that we'd picked up from our trip to North Carolina for Jess and Matt's wedding in 2008. So Nyssa got some out and handed one to Leila, warning her that they were a choking hazard. Leila repeated "choking hazard", took out her pacifier and proceeded to stick the shell in her mouth. I guess she was thinking it wouldn't be a choking hazard if it wasn't something you were supposed to put in your mouth.


Look at how cute they are. They had a great dance party that night.

2 boats and a helicopter

Leila blowing bubbles. Or eating bubbles.

Which just saves us time from having to wash her mouth out later.

Cousin Abby in a rare moment of solitary reflection.

Light as a feather, Stiff as a board.
Nyssa'd had 2 weeks of swimming lessons and it really showed.
She loved being in the water, kicking with Nana or her inflatable kick board. 

Kaitlyn, Star, Soldier

Leila also loved the water, until she was bitten by a fish.

"Fish. Bite."

I cannot know if this was dance class, day care, work, or going on vacation.
I do know that she has a fashionable hat

Countering stereotypes at such a young age.  Here Leila is en-captured in her
big sister's favorite game, The Indianapolis 500.

Not on vacation. Just so beautiful and cute. Katy and I have to work hard to
get out of her way and let her be who she wants to be.

Because this is what happens when we do. (or when she gets exactly what she
wants which is almost the same thing)

I told my friend Darci on Tuesday that we had a flash flood past our house.
And she didn't believe me.  This is not a photo of Tuesday's flood, the picture is 3
years old. Tuesday morning (and then Tuesday night)'s floods were larger than
this, but it is the only daylight picture I have.

This I took Tuesday night, it doesn't do the depth or speed of the water justice
The water went completely around our neighbors house (and his neighbors as well)
and if you could look to the right it would broaden out to lap at our driveway
and garage.

This just shows how the water flooded back up the street to the base of our
driveway.

Proving you do learn things as a parent.

Man is that treacly! And the best thing is right at the end Leila is climbing over me to give Nyssa a hug.

I came down the stairs the other day and found this:

This is what Leila looks like when she is sick. 

Springtime pictures without any flowers

A bunch of pictures from springtime.

Here is Nyssa with her first sort of drawing of a body.


Ruby, Cole, and Nyssa at Ruby's house.

The siblings: Cole, Leila, and Greta


Sisters and Brothers


These pictures are old. Old enough for Leila to need a sweater.


What follows are a bunch of pictures from Nyssa's first dance recital:
"Every girl can be a princess."


I can't prove to you thats Nyssa, but the girls entered the stage on tip toes
running to their designated spots.


Nyssa missed most of the classes leading up to the performance
but she was still able to spin and bow along with her friends.


Not just a princess, but one with a wand.


She learned quickly that if she didn't know what to do she
could look at her teachers off to the side.


At the end they had all the dancers come out for a final bow.



Nyssa really liked the girls in red, the peppermint patties,
I'm impressed with my photo-taking skill.


ooops! Back in time. Here is Leila at Easter.


Nyssa and Josie


Nyssa, Leila, and Jo-Jo


Josie and Nyssa flashing the secret sign.

Back when Nyssa wanted to ride her bike, before she realized 

again it went to fast.

Neither Katy or I remember when this picture was taken
but Leila is so cute with her chubby fingers.
 

More chubby fingers! This picture might have been taken

anytime till mid-may, when the stockings finally came down.

 

This was in April, after Leila took her first ever pee'p in the toilet.

Not yet to be repeated, so she's no Fullin

 

Here is Nyssa, showing how.