Local warming

Various shots from the last week. You can tell from the relatively undoctored color in the shots that there was a big shift in the weather over the course of the five days, spanning from snow to 70 degrees and sunny. You can also tell that we don't have photoshop; elsewise the residue of about 10 meals would have been taken right off of Annabelle's face.

 

 

 

 

 

Pancake Saturday

Maple syrup seems to bring out the devilish side of both kids.

 

 

 

Snow Day

 

 

Sure, technically it did snow so it was a "snow day", but was it really necessary to cancel school all over the county? After some hot chocolate and 30 minutes of bundling up, we ventured outside. As you can tell, there wasn't much snow to play with, but Barritt gave it his best, using the Hess truck as a snow plow. Go ahead at laugh at us, all you Yankee Barritts!

 

Make this for your next party. Thanks to Eddie Ross

Its a crudites platter made from a hollowed out cabbage with old-school sour cream and onion dip. The healthy angel on my shoulder, with her argument that vegetables are healthy and beautiful, barely won out over the hedonist angel on my other shoulder who kept chanting "Ruff-les. . . Ruff-les. . . Ruff-les"

 

 

Annabelle, v. 2.0

Annabelle, though she has been acting like one for about three months, is now officially a two year old. Yesterday was replete with cupcakes, social family interactions, tantrums, presents, jealousy, joy, fatigue, and celebration. Celebration and joyousness predominated however.

 

Please, Sir.

 

ALC requesting her seventh pancake.

Shenanigans in the Kitchen

 

Clearly, we are no longer resigned to using Dad's blackberry camera. Note the detail in our new aprons Mom made, our craft projects on the pantry door, and Barritt's devious nature. If you double-click on the picture you can almost hear B's laugh and Annabelle's shriek.

Overdramatic

Dad and Uncle Patrick, initiating their first annual post-Christmas climb up Roanoke Mountain. It isn't too hard to establish an outdoor post-Christmas tradition when it is 60 degrees outside. Regardless of next year's temperature though, there are big plans to have Uncle Sidney follow us in a support vehicle and shout at us from a bullhorn.

 

Lovefeast

Mom and the kids, taken inappropriately during the Children's Lovefeast. Merry Christmas everybody!

Advent Calendar - Day 22

Yesterday's advent calendar event: peppermint chocolate chip milkshake at the official restaurant of upper middle class children. And it doesn't matter if you aren't upper middle class; you can split one of these four ways.

Place holder

Our camera is broken, seriously. It something fresh batteries couldn't even fix, so we're asking Santa for a new one. Until then, enjoy this picture of me and Annabelle, mere days before her first birthday. I'm bottling beer, naturally.

Gettin' Juiced For the Day Ahead

Supply your own narrative here. Actually, this would be a good picture for a contest for blog viewers to submit their own narratives ....

We're still here

We are still here. Our camera is out of commission, and we have been really busy now that we are a normal family with two adults with responsibilities and two kids with lots of energy. More to come . . . . meanwhile, enjoy these pictures taken a few weeks ago at Hanging Rock. Barritt hiked a mile by himself. Look out K2.

Picture Day

This is the shot the professional photographer didn't get: Barritt's shout out to the Q-Dogs.

Who is that number 7 on the red team?

Is that Matt Stafford, sensational quarterback and number 7 for the red and black Georgia Bulldogs? No. It's not Mike Vick, is it? No. It's the new number 7 - Barritt Chambers, of the 3&4 year old Gators, of the Central Y league.

So far, he seems to know to at least look in the direction of the ball. He also has the capacity to let bygones be bygones, and even have a refreshment break with someone from the opposing team, so long as that person is Wyatt, our neighbor across the street.

He can also get his pre-game stetch on.

The Closest Thing we Have to a First Day of School Picture

Barritt is thinking: I did this last year. Am I going to have to take this picture on the front porch of wherever we live on the first day of school every year?

Annabelle is thinking: What do you mean "get in the car"? I have places to be now? I can be late to things?

Mom answers: Yes and Yes.

Where we've been, what we've done

There has been radio silence since August 5, and the 26 intervening days may surely have been the longest lapse the blog has encountered since Hurricane Katrina. Sometimes we want to quit. But when our blogging aspirations hit their nadir, we hear a nasal senatorial voice, quoting Harriet Tubman, encouraging us to "keep going."

We just spent a week in the High Country of NC, having some R&R and a sip or two of B&B, capped by a visit to the Upstate of SC, to herald the arrival (sometime this week) of Baby Barnhardt the Third.

See the eight pictures in the next few entries . . .

Here, B is strapped in, once again. We had to make a sortie every day to Boone or thereabouts, since it rained every single day. Save of course the day we left.

A on the rainy porch

B, sitting on the porch with Dad, on a cool crisp morning. The morning of our departure for Greenville.