swim lessons

Ivy and William just finished swim lessons for November. Winter swim lessons are the best.

Ivy practicing floating with a life jacket.

William learning to float. (William is great at everything else, but cannot float. It's kind of hilarious. When he flips onto his back he goes rigid and sinks. I think he is very brave because he keeps trying, despite all the water up his nose.)

visitor

This is my sister with my nephew (looking good, guys):

They're visiting from Michigan and came to spend yesterday afternoon with us.

It mostly consisted of her patiently helping me deal with children/housework/homework/church stuff/dinner. I am not an easy person to visit. You should know this in advance.

It was still really wonderful. I love my sister.

good times.

IN RELATED NEWS:

well, hello Daniel:

and in other (non-related) news:

These two will not stop bickering and fighting today so let's take a moment and remember they are not all bad OR ARE THEY:

eh, they're pretty cute, I guess. Maybe I'll let them out of timeout after all.

reader

(These are old pictures. I took them at the beginning of September and forgot they were on my camera.)
(Before we get started, how cute is Charles?)

William has been learning to read. He loves it. He especially loves to read to Charles, because, he tells me, Charles is his favorite, he loves Charles more than he loves the rest of us. That's a direct quote, by the way.


I told him it was okay to love everyone the same. He said, Okay, I love my whole family the most. But maybe I love you guys half as much as Charles?

I can live with that, I guess.

this is halloween (halloween, halloween)

(We're going to pretend like I didn't disappear for two months, and just get back to business, okay? okay.)