Major Milestones!!!!!

Okay. All within two days Irene started climbing the stairs and also got her own crib, which is now in Evangeline's room. This means that Evangeline's room is no longer hers, but theirs. So, the southernmost bedroom in the house now has not one, but two sniglars, which are the best, most economical cribs on the face of the earth.

And yes, they are getting along. Irene climbs all over Evangeline, and she gets irritated with her, but usually brushes her off with a little whine.

She found this lovely, and totally clean, chicken feather outside and thought it would be a great thing to have inside.

Climbing steps like nobody's business.

At the time of writing, Evangeline is singing/talking, so I can only imagine that they have consolidated cribs and are now sitting next to each other looking at 'There is a Monster at the End of This Book."

In other news, I had to kill this chicken today. She got hit by a hawk the other day, and I finally decided that she wasn't going to make it. She had some incisions around her neck, her eye had collapsed and she had been frail for a few days. So, I took the hatchet to her and buried her next to her mom and the ill fated Dominique. She was probably my favorite chicken. Oh well. If you want to have eggs or meat, you must be okay with animals dying.

Butterfly Lunch

 Luckily, Ms. Olive was OK with having a butterfly over for lunch.

Sweet tea? Butterfly's delight1

 I seem to remember this somewhere before.  Sisters.

colds and dogs

Sorry I've been a bad blogger lately. Since we got home, we've had a series of illnesses, a lot of unpacking to (not) do, and we're just not back in the groove yet. Lucky for us Grandma and Grandpa Mietzner are coming this weekend, so maybe some fun can be had.

On our way to a 1st birthday party in Kannapolis, NC. 

Have cold, will play in dog hair.

Poor Katie. Irene has taken to spending lots of time
by her bed, playing in her blanket, and grabbing her eyes.
Then some mutual nuzzling happens, and all is ok.

                                                                  Here's Irene.

9 (10) months!

Irene had her 9 month doctor visit today. She is 10 months old, but they still agreed to take a look at her. Besides being incredibly snotty and drooly, she was perfectly cute, got the stamp of approval from her doctor, but didn't even get a sticker at the end. She was 19lbs (55%), 29 inches (75%) and some head measurement that was I think in the 70th percentile. So, she's pretty normal. Evangeline was excited that Irene was going to the doctor and was happily awaiting us when we came home. Then we went for a walk and a little trip to the playground, which was largely deserted due to the sweltering heat.

Blurry in bath.

Look how our okra has grown. When we left in July,
it was about waist high. We actually had to discard
a lot of okra due to its hugeness. Our back yard is
like a jungle now. An okra jungle.

Evangeline was super excited to get her picture
taken with the okra.

To All Vacations...

...there must come an end. We had a wonderful time in Alaska, we already miss it and all the cousins and aunts and uncles and cousins and friends. It is nice to be home, though. As for the airplane ride home, we all slept most of the time. The girls slept probably 98% of the time. Then we got home and they miraculously went to bed at the normal time. Then they both woke up at 12am and we all watched the Muppet Movie until 2am and then woke up at 11am. But things are getting back to a schedule, and of course they both have colds today.
    Here are some pictures from the last days in Alaska and getting home. Currently, Irene is sleeping with her head propped, and Evangeline is watching Finding Nemo. Again. And it is raining.

We took the girls to the beach to see some mountains and
throw some rocks.

And eat some rocks.

Dad showing Evangeline the good rocks.

Most of the big rocks were "too high", but Evangeline found this a good one to stand
and dance and bow on.

Too high!

Evangeline and Grandpop got some potatoes and peas
the last day. She helped clean them. Then some excellent
Kesäkeitto was made.

Grandma's glasses.

Evangeline took this of Irene playing the recorder.

We went to a cookout the day after we arrived. There were
lots of kids.

But Evangeline ate her cake in peace.

Irene and Matthew swapped pacifier for recorder.

Now Irene's really into the red car.

D-A-D, etc.

Hey, about a week ago i went and picked Kyle up from the Kenai airport at 4.50am. Since then, the girls have been basking in dadocity. But, to tell you the truth I've probably been taking more of his time while we trust the grandparents still want to have fun with our kids (we're going out for a movie and mussles tonight, for example). Anyway, here are some pictures of various situations. Oh, also, we don't have the pictures in the right place now, but it must be mentioned that Uncle Abe became a daddy, too, this week to beautiful Eden Nichole Porter. More girls! Hooray!

GG gets Muppet band-aid. This is really special.

Baby in sunglasses?

Uncle Eli and salmon.

Cookies are best made in lifejacket.

Watering the strawberries.

Ice Cream. Grandma. Tent. Perfect.

Irene waited for Dad's arrival at around 5.30am. She
wore a nametag to make sure he didn't forget.

With Aunt Beck

Some sort of show-offery

Night time fire. Does this kid ever take off her lifejacket?

Evangeline took this. She's already going Twin Peaks on us.

Cousin Sadie, Evangeline, cheerios.

Wings.

Analogue solitaire with grandma in the morning.

Ammi and Irene are BFF for sure.

Bathing beauty.

Perfect day for a sail.

She's really good at building sandcastles.

Kyle's first chicken kill/pluck/gut. Thanks to Uncle Rob and Aunt Q.
Delicious.