July 12 and 13

July 12

Trucker Elise.

Guess who's teething!

July 13

Elise and a bear.

Snuggle bunnies.

July 11: Bumkins

Here's what Clark might look like when his top front teeth finish coming in.

Elise and Radar.

July 9 and 10

July 9

Elise asleep.

Clark not asleep.

July 10

Trapped!

Elise reading Llama Llama Red Pajama, one of the kids' favorite books.

July 7 and 8

July 7

I think Elise saw this on an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. Cool trick, Elise!

Clark getting ready for a nap.

July 8

Good thing Clark still has his shirt on...

July 6: A Manatee and a Puppet

Clark doesn't know this yet, but manatees have a special place in his Mommy and Daddy's hearts. You might even say that it was the magic of the manatee that brought us together. Without manatees, there would be no Clark. Thank you, manatees. Thank you.

I made Elise a sock puppet. She named him "drunk-a-low."

July 3, 4, and 5

July 3

Action shot! Elise showing off some of the skills she has acquired in gymnastics class.

Clark likes rolling around on the floor, too.

July 4

On our way to celebrate the 4th of July!

July 5

Clark can pull up on furniture now. He'll be walking before we know it.

Elise looking impish.

June 30, July 1 and 2

June 30

Clark loved crawling through this tunnel at the indoor playground on June 30th. He went back and forth through the tunnel over and over again.

Elise found another tunnel to play in and tried standing on her head.

July 1

My thoughtful little man.

Vroom, vroom!

July 2

Elise and Clark helping Mommy find some home repair supplies.

June 29

Two heads are better than one, right, Clark?

Elise's first watercolor painting.

June 28: Swim Lesson

Elise and Clark took a swim class together this summer. This picture was taken before one of their lessons.

51 Books

As we've mentioned before, Elliot and I read books together. We do this mostly while driving and most of the time Elliot is driving and I'm reading out loud. We've been reading books together for about 6 years and we just finished our 51st book.

Some of the highlights:

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Cold Mountain by Charles Fraizer

Our dear friend Ransom Riggs's book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Our most recent book, Sula by Toni Morrison

We don't read only fiction, but those tend to be the books we both like best. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand was probably our favorite non-fiction book. Reading together is nice. It gives us something (besides kids or chores or bills) that we can both always talk about-- a shared culture. And it's something to look forward to on the weekends when we're driving around together.

June 26 and 27: Close Ups

June 26

June 27

June 24 and 25

June 24

Elise playing.

Clark LOVES to eat bananas out of the peel. He only has two teeth, but he figures out how to make it work.

June 25

My babies.

June 23: Feeding Pigeons

June 21 and 22

June 21

Clark in his jammies, playing on the floor.

Elise's "funny face" has started to evolve.

June 22

My happy baby.

Elise is holding an imaginary flashlight in her hand and getting ready to go explore a bear cave. In case that wasn't obvious to you from the picture.

June 20: Milk