sniff, sniff

The near perfect fall continues around here, if you forget the rainy, 40 degree days from last week.  That means we've been visiting parks and playgrounds pretty often.  

On Friday, I met the gals at the park near County Market after work.  A group of 8ish year old boys were throwing sticks at a tree trying to knock down a plastic bag that was stuck on a high branch.  The sticks were also getting stuck, and I helped the boys climb up to the first branch (and wondered if I should have.  If they happened to fall...?).  They eventually knocked the bag down.  I picked it up, looked inside, and saw dog poop.

At dinner I noted that Clara's shoe had much dog poo on the sole.  I had carried her to the restaurant from the park.

What's better than being a parent?

Janny is gaining mobility.  No crawling per se, but she rotates around.  She also does a hopping/scooting motion while seated that slides her along the wood floors.  Have I mentioned that she's the loudest member of the family?  She always has a scab or 3 near her eyes and nose.  We keep her fingernails short and try to file them smooth to prevent these scratches.  No success.

 Lot's of pizza making has happened recently.  Clara is taking after mommy and enjoys helping in the kitchen.  Her new favorite sayings are 'what that?' and 'mine'.  For the latter, Jill's chant is 'ours and we love to share.'

I rode my bike to the 'big' hill near Block on Saturday.  90 minutes of glorious fun.  Only one farm still had corn to harvest-- the rest were all mowed up.
On Sunday past, our church had our annual farm party north of Mahomet.  Tom battled the headwind out there while I drove my bike with the family in the car.  We rode back together pushed along by the wind.  As my boss often says, 'I've paid my dues.'  I.e., I've ridden into many headwinds.

This is cheating.  My mom took this photo while she and dad were here.  We've been really lazy about taking outdoor photos lately.

Finally, Jill was all choked up today while boxing up another set of clothes that Janny has outgrown.