Still Alive

So, I am a bit bothered by not being much of a man of my word, over four weeks since my last post. That certainly isn't any way to bump my readership over the 5 of you that come here to see picture of the girls. My apologies, but work is keeping me pretty busy, as are the two little mini-Shelleys.

They are both doing great - Finley is starting to break out of her separation anxiety - almost to the point of when she was a regular in daycare. She has been going twice a week to 1/2 day preschool and today she didn't cry at all when Shelley left. That is quite a contract to the full bore meltdown she had on day one and the smaller, yet powerful hurricane she unleashed the second time. In fact, yesterday at dance class, Shelley was able to join the other parents outside the studio for the first time in four classes, too.

As you can see, she is pretty busy, and we haven't even mentioned gymnastics on Friday nights, where she loves the trampoline and is becoming an accomplished performer -- the Russian judge gives her frequent face plants a 10 for degree of difficulty. She's growing great - she weighted 28.2 pounds tonight before her bath - almost as much as either of her much younger cousins!!

Harper is continuing her own development. She has decided she wants to crawl on her knees now, too, in addition to her army crawl. However, at almost the same time, she discovered standing; she now regularly pulls herself up into the standing position - tonight even getting so bold as to only hold on with one hand. As you'll see in the pictures below, she is growing up fast -- her hair is getting longer and a bit darker, all while accomplishing the feat of getting taller and chunkier.

The dogs are doing well, too. Monty is an old pro, given this is her sixth move as well, so she has already found all of the spots with the most sunlight for the best sleeping. The guy that put in our dog door put it too high, so while she can get out it, she refuses to come in it from the outside. So, as you can imagine, she just barks to get us to let her in. Needless to say, I'll be figuring out a workaround ASAP.

Jack and Dixie are the same as always, although I think they really, really miss their yard back in Chicago. However, this is made up by the fact that they have a gate that looks out onto the street, which given it is in more of a neighborhood than our last house, lets them see all of the action. When the school bus lets the kids off in the afternoon, you can't get him to come inside - he just sits there crying and barking at them; he couldn't be happier unless they came up to play! Dixie likes the house because of all of the carpeting and rugs we have, in contract to all of the tile and hardwood in Chicago.

Finally, we are good, too. Shelley is slowly, very slowly, getting into a routine with the girls. I think she enjoys the time she gets to spend with them, which is good, since it is 24 hours a day. She has signed up for the Nashville Country Music 1/2 Marathon this spring, probably just so she can get an hour to herself while she runs (good thing I am getting her a jogging stroller for her birthday - that way she can include the girls in this, too!!!!!).

Work is going well for me - I've been seeing a fair amount of Canada lately. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I was only 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle in a town called Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories. I would have taken some pictures, but there wasn't much to capture -- it looked like western Nebraska with more small trees and as many lakes as Minnesota.

Anyhow, this is more than you care about -- here are the pictures.

This is Harper in late August. She really likes to be outside - even now she loves to get pushed in the stroller during the dog walks.

You can see the misery on poor Jack's face about the backyard downsizing the Weinsteins did - I've tried to tell him that at least it isn't an apartment, but he still isn't pleased.

Finley's weekly dance class requires this uniform - but with slippers instead of Crocs. She got a tutu - a real one - at class.

This is her uniform for her line dancing class. That, thankfully, takes place in our house between her and her mother.

Daddy and 3/4s of his girls.

Papa Joel came up a few weeks back and helped out around the house. Even now, Finley says, "Papa Joel is so silly."

A small carnival came to a parking lot near our house about 3 weeks ago. This is Harper at the start of the festivities.

Finley really liked the Merry Go Round, but would not allow her mother to leave her side.

Instead of tea cups, they had strawberries. Finely is REALLY into Strawberry Shortcake right now, so this was the coolest thing ever for her. She kept say we were in a strawberry just like Strawberry Shortcake.

Harper, 15 minutes later.

As with the Lake County Fair before we left, Finley loved to drive. She continue to backseat drive when she is in the car with me -- "Eyes on the road, Dad;"" Both hands on top of the wheel;" "Radio off, Daddy."

She lives her own message, as she keeps her hands on the wheel turning the heck out of it the whole time.

My daughter, the Teamster.

So, at the last fair, she really liked the Dragon roller coaster. This one seemed to go much faster, which you can tell, by the look of abject horror on Finley's face.

The girls Great Aunt Sara sent each girl a pumpkin that has their name where the teeth of the jack o' lantern would be -- they are VERY cute. Harper loves to watch Finley.

As with Finley, Harps has a really good appetite. She looks pretty good wearing it, too.

She also likes to touch you while she is eating with her index finger, which you can sort of make out here.

As Finley said when she saw this picture, "Someones in trouble."

"Not me," Finley said.

So, not all of the pictures are always so photogenic - that she gets from me.

Or her sister, that still has vestiges of her "cheese" face from many months ago.

Finely, two videos. The first, from this week, shows how much Harper is jumping in her exersaucer.

Think of this one as our own little blooper reel at the end of a move -- it isn't as easy as it looks!

I also appologize for any typos or gramatical errors - I really wanted to get this up, but I'm pretty tired and don't have it in me to proofread tonight. I will try to look at it tomorrow, but don't want to delay posting.

I hope to get more up soon.