Biker Babes...

 
Like, Katie & Dex 4-evr. 

Dex and Dad

 
Mom-Mom took this one! Happy Horray! 

Dex in his Blank-e-let

 
With a big shout-out to Tia Amy for the blanket. 

Dex in red pants

 
with thanks to Claudia and Carsten for the cool threads. 

Dex and Granddad

 
Dex and Grand-dad reading on the deck. 

Bubbles!

 
Bubbles! (thanks to the grandfolks for the cute overalls) 

Potty Training

In more ways than one - now I just have to get him reading the sports page! 

Dex on the Deck III

 
And 'honkin' the horn some more... 

Dex on the Deck II

 
And 'honkin' the horn... 

Dex on the Deck I

 
Chillin' in the chair... 

Super Stacker

 
As you can no doubt tell, Dex stacked all of these himself! (well, honestly, Dad-dad helped out a little by handing him the blocks in order - but he did all the stacking!) 

Backyard 'hardscape' complete!

 
Mike finished out Deck and set the posts (in the post-holes I dug!) last week, and this is what we've got! Looks pretty good, I must say. Sorry you can't really get a sense of the Deck, but suffice it to say that it is quite comfortable. 

Front Porch

 
Is being repaired - to put it mildly. The entire thing had rotted away, and the foundation (which was sitting directly on the soil) had crumbled. But look at the new deck - the deck flooring is a trek composite product. It looks exactly like the traditional deck flooring on the house next door. 

Dex, keepin' it real

Now here's the Declan we all know and love:
 
 
That's my boy. 

And...

This was our bathroom. It is no more.
  

Old Construction Pics

This is the destruction - taken on Aug 6th, upon our return from London.
  

Yard

So we haven't said much about the house part of this blog in a while. We finished a major project last fall that involved the destruction and recreation of the end bit of the house (remember that old, poorly built porch - and the stairs). This also required the whole house to be re-plumbed, and the two bathrooms to be rebuilt. After all that (there will be pics following), the backyard is finally starting to look like a back yard. Here it is before: 
And after:
 
Notice: there is actual grass growing on much of the yard! This is a huge step up: the green things in the before pic are primarily dandelion sprouts. 

BIG Little

 
Dex reading his favorite book: BIG Little. Please excuse the expression - I caught him by surprise! 

What a weekend!

Whew - we're tired. Dex got sick on Saturday afternoon with what we now suspect is the Rotavirus. He was hospitalized for IV fluids at about midnight on Sat (after projectile vomiting his lunch at 3:30 and being unable to keep anything down since), and is still (as of 12:33 PM on Monday) on the IV. His fever has disappeared, however, and we expect him to be discharged at about 2 today.
Thank you all for your support over the next few days, and we're very, very sorry if we passed this on to anyone.

By the way, if you want to read about the virus: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/gastro/rotavirus.htm

Walking!

Yup, that's right. I started walking the other day, just in time for Dad to see me after coming home from Seattle! unforunately no pictures, however ;(
-Dex.

Playground!

 Mum and Dad-dad and me in the park.
 

David and Declan

 I can't believe that David helped me push this thing around and around and around and around... He's so cool!
 

A Break from the Baby pics

One of my Jan Term students photoshopped this from a pic of me on the Inquiry site - rather impressive, I must say:

Here's the original:

We Love Books!

 Except for that German one that doesn't fold the right way...
 

Happy Birthday!