Our Newest Family Member and Other Photos

Meet Eponine (Nina for short) she's a little stray kitten Shawn found outside his school. One vet visit later she's made herself right at home. The vet said she was 8 weeks when we found her but she was very tiny.

Shawn found her the day after my D&C and her kitty antics and cuddles have been very therapeutic.

Don't worry folks she's the most calm and patient cat I've ever seen. She doesn't scratch but we keep her claws trimmed low just in case. She did hiss and try to scratch Shawn the first time she saw him wear in his whites. It turned out to be the hat she was scared of. He took it off and she calmed right down.











































We took the boys to the National Zoo in DC last Sunday. They loved it. We met up with a friend from Alexandria and her two daughters. The little mostly napped. Mo and his new friend O explored the invertebrate house, the reptile house, and the great apes!

'Hurricane' Hanna Strikes (and no, it's not my sister)

Yesterday had us cooped up inside while the remnants of Hurricane Hanna. It rained a lot and there were mild wind gusts. For all the preparations we did I'm rather disappointed. Not that I'd like to see a full scale, 70 miles per hour winds tropical storm/hurricane but something a little more than a couple puddles in the yard. The boys were expecting a weather adventure but we mostly had a lazy day that included a lot of cartoons. They didn't complain. By seven the sun came out in time to set and today the sky was cloudless and robin egg's blue. The storm washed all the dusk of late summer from the trees and it was truly a gorgeous day.

First Day of First Grade

Morgan started first grade last Monday and he's adjusted nicely to school work and homework. His favorite subjects are Reading, Music, and PE. He likes staying at school for lunch because he gets to play an extra 15 minutes on the playground.


He wants to take violin lessons which will have to wait until we move.

Max keeps trying to get into Mo's classroom and is always surprised when the teacher and I thwart him.

Morgan Visits His New Classroom

First grade starts for Morgan on Tuesday. I can't believe that the summer is over! But I know we're all looking forward to school starting again. Mo's school is very small so he already knows most of his classmates and his teacher too.

National Aquarium

It's in Baltimore. This was Morgan and Max's first trip into Baltimore which is 80 miles from Dahlgren.

Our Second Trip to DC

This time we took Shawn with us. He'd never seen the monuments so we made a day of it. We started off at the Smithsonian and then went to the Washington Monument, the WWII , the Lincoln, the Vietnam, and Korean War memorials. Then when it started to rain we took the boys to the National Museum of Natural History.