new camera, first pictures

Should be lots of fun.  It's gonna take me a while to figure things out.  My A sends a virtual high five!

looking serious

I could watch this little person all day long.

It's hard to believe that 6 Thanksgivings ago we were anticipating the arrival of our firstborn - literally, as I was induced on Thanksgiving Day.  And we celebrated Turkey Day this year with four kids.  Four!  It's wild and wonderful.  We are blessed, blessed, blessed.

lots of love

for this little guy!  I know you can be loved, and under-loved...but can you be over-loved?  (Please tell me someone gets the reference to 10 Things I Hate about You?!)

Though every now and then Dustin has to step in and play protector - mostly from A, who is determined to demonstrate love towards his baby brother.

*I didn't fix any of the red eyes, I know!  I'll publish with a cringe.  But I'm on a laptop, the pics are stored on Dustin's machine, and well, I guess that's just the way I'm gonna roll right now.

our new friend

S acquired his first pet last week.  Hame, the blue fish.  We're into phonetics at the moment.  The kids call him a 'shark fish' because he looks spiky.  Yes, I realize sharks are not spiky.  No, it isn't easy to convince them of reason.

Speaking of reasoning, this is Goldie, the pink goldfish.  Yes, I realize she's not a goldfish.  No, P doesn't care.  She wanted a pink goldfish for her birthday and miraculously, this fish has been alive with the Spricks for several months.

This is where they live.  I say it's a miracle they're alive because...well, let me give you an example.  This is taken from a Skype I sent to Dustin earlier this week:

Allison:  i was making lunch earlier and

Allison:  found adam had moved a chair

Allison:  taken the lid off the fish tank

Allison:  and was stirring goldie's side with the long black comb

Allison:  those fish are gonna die

dsprick: hahahahaha

On to costumes.  Little A was a fabulous zebra (borrowed from Jenny, thanks, Jenny!!)

 

P was a lovely purple princess (borrowed from Andrea, thanks, Andrea!)  S just wore a cape to school and then was Spiderman later.  He didn't want his picture taken.

We were out late that night and Little A was super tired the next day.

Baby N slept through most of these activities.  He likes to rock with P (likes might be too strong a word, but he manages to hold off the cry of terror for a few minutes, at least).

I've watched Emma (new version, of course.  Love Johnny Lee Miller & Romola Garai) no less than 4 times last week (after bedtimes) so that I can finish this afghan that seems to be taking forever.  I feel like it is a permanent fixture atop our bookshelf.  Time to check it off the list and send it on its way!  Thankfully, I'm nearly done.

We did the monthly Lego build and boy was this little guy happy with that pick-a-brick wall.

S&P made turkeys!

Daylight Savings' end (and general unruliness) have been hard on us.  Early wake-ups (5:15a), lots of tears, lots of fighting, lots of whining.  A lot more than normal, at least.  It's only a season, though.  And they do actually love each other.