Welcome back

Welcome back to our blog, which we have been neglecting for some time now. We've been super busy with family and fun stuff, so have lots of blogging to catch up on.

I want to start this blog with a brief Evie update before I move on to our trip to Scotland and our visit with Mom and Dad.

First, walk down memory lane: here is Evie with her friend Oliver last summer at the Keats' House Teddy Bears; Picnic.

And here she is one year later, sitting quietly for five seconds only during the entire thirty minutes we were there before it got rained out. She did pay enough attention to clap once, too. The rest of the time she ran amuck, took her shoes off, jumped off of the stumps behind the women who were reading the stories and singing the songs, attempted to steal the other children's teddy bears and generally was the kid that makes you thankful for your own, well behaved angel. I could feel the disapproving vibes from the mothers of the angelic children, but I bet that we have more fun than they do!

Other highlights from this week were...

A visit from our Boston friends Steve, Lisa, Jake and Melanie! They have been in Paris and London for a couple of weeks and Evie and I were so happy to see them when they swung by Hampstead. We took a walk in Hampstead Heath and fed some happy ducks. Evie was smitten with the entire family for obvious reasons (they are awesome) and has insisted on wearing a colorful hair band on her wrist since Melanie introduced her to that cool new trend.



We had an artistic morning on a rainy day in London. Here is the artist in her kitchen:


Oops. The supervisor made the mistake of making herself a cup of tea and disaster struck!

Painting on paper on the wall, very proudly.

In her gallery!

And finally, some daily fun places to hang out. In Mom and Dad's bed, where she and Elmo and company pretend to go "night night" first thing in the morning (oh how I wish they were actually all settling down for a nap that early in the day).

The bed is a lot more fun when Dad is around and pillow fights abound!

Under the table is a great place to go for 'private time' after breakfast, but is even more fun when
it's decked out as a fort.

Again, always better when Daddy comes to play in the fort, too! (Mom is too pregnant to play in the fort at the moment):
Stay tuned for Mom and Dad and Scotland!