Big Five!

Happy birthday, EHP! We're not actually that surrpised that Ella is five- she's seemed all grown up for a while now, and it's hard to remember a time when she wasn't around. We ARE surprised- pleasantly so- that Ella is absolutely brilliant, fun to be around, interesting, quirky, flexible, and the best big sister ever. We celebrated on Friday with doughnuts at school and a flaming poo-poo platter at the Chinese place (thanks, Josh and Rachel, for joining us!), and had a throwdown 5-year-old party this afternoon complete with BOTH uncles and a menacing shark pinata and cake. Off to a good start.

Thanksgiving 2009

With our real Thanksgiving postponed a day due to illness (feel better C) we did the best we could to have a great family dinner tonight and we scored big. CHINESE FOOD! The kids plowed through some egg drop soup and fortune cookies. Moses curiously announced with a smile, "There's some paper in my cracker!" Here we are. Having fun! Now we're listening to Alice's restaurant and getting ready for bed. And we still get to have turkey and extended family and friends tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving! This year we are extra thankful for our wonderful family of four (+Dewey) and our strong improvisational skills--and the open Chinese restaurant down the street, of course.

Baby Maeve!

We were lucky enough to be visited by our new friend Baby Maeve today. We're all quite smitten with her (and her lovely family!). Moses enjoyed comparing his feet to hers "Moses is BIG! Baby Maeve is YITTLE!"), E and K both got some good snuggles and smiles, and Zach proved that he can still shush a newborn to sleep while watching football.

Barista For Hire

Will scoop your coffee with great enthusiasm, even well before dawn... and looks wicked cute in footie pajamas.

Ella's First Sleepover

Our almost-five-year-old had her first sleepover last week! She would not violate the sleepover cone of silence ("I really would rather not tell you about it, mama"), but Aunt Sharon reports that she and cousins swapped pajamas and all slept on the floor together. Thanks, C and E!

Halloween 2009

Ella the CareBear and Moses as Dewey (look familiar?)

Mo's First Haircut

Clearly it was time for a haircut

He was a little nervous at first. Then the constant dose of Candy Corn kicked in.

Here's the action! Thanks for taking the scissors to the fourth and final member of the Perin family, Anne.

And the finished big boy product. Somehow he still has that little flip in this family of bone straight hair. Adorable!

Big Fan!

A Note from Moses' Preschool Teacher

And Moses has completely won my heart! What a special fella!
He is so good natured and friendly and self-reliant. Charming.
(thanks, Martha!)

Are you ready for some football?

GO REDSKINS!

Moses and the ABCs

A B Cs (sort of)

For you Baltimoreans out there, the chocolate all over Moses' face is from his first Berger cookie (thanks, Penny).\

Ella and Ezra walking to the farmer's market

Mo's Love List

First Day of School for Moses

First day of school for Moses! He picked out his snack to share with his class (muffins) and his shirt (choo choo). Big day for a big (short) boy!

Ella, on the other hand, is old hat at this school thing (back for year 3 at KIN). Check out the princess dress, which she wears every single day we let her.

Same Squishy Face: Aug 09/ Feb 07

Flower Girl Available Now!

Ella, Moses and Kelly just returned from a 2-week stint in the Midwest. Ella and Mo gardened, fed ducks, caught catfish, learned to swim, hit the big city of Chicago for a few days, luau-ed at the family reunion, and had SO MUCH FUN. Unfortunately, I took exactly ZERO pictures, so you'll have to take our words for it. Thanks, Harrises and Auntie Dana, for such a great trip!

After my cousin's wedding in Indy (congratulations, Liz and Ben), where Ella was COMPLETELY starstruck, she asked me to post this ad:

Fantastic flower girl available now! Adorable, smiley, talented at twirling in fancy dresses. Very good at following directions. Guaranteed even sprinkling of flower petals (note: I can vouch for that- we've been practicing).

Ella's Joy Face

How lucky are we to get to see this face every day?

All Aboard!

Haul Dirt (and meat)

Z: What does a truck haul?

M: DIRT

M: Meat

Commentary--Yes, sure, trucks also haul meat, but the trucks I trip over in bedrooms and family rooms and yard around my house are yellow, have buckets and haulers and such and don't haul meat. Not sure we've seen the meat truck recently. hmmm?

4th of July

It has been just shy of a month since our last post and, well, uh, sorry. It was a big 3-day weekend around here and we have pictures of some of it. We had a fancy dinner, slept a lot (or tried to), had a neighborhood parade, a nice visit from Bubby, E stayed up for Fireworks, and we had a block party-for which we made fancy flower cupcakes! Here is some photographic evidence. Soon we'll report on Ella's art, Mo's sentences, and the rest of our summer fun.

Summer = Dirty (and maybe needs a haircut)

Beach Week I

Can you believe that for the last three years we've lived just 2 1/2 hours away from a gorgeous coast and have only been to the beach ONCE? either could we! A week on beautiful Topsail Island knocked some sense into us for sure. We spent a few fabulous days playing like crazy on the beach with Alex, Ashley, Aidan and Harper.... then ended the week with a slam-bam family vacation with Joshua, Sharon, Caleb, Ezra and Judah-- and Anna and Eric! A perfect combination of sand, sun, walks on the beach, shell-hunting, wave-playing, hot-tub-sitting, and just plain fun. Back in Durham, Moses keeps picking up his little swim trunks and saying "beesh beesh?" I wish, little man!

Roll Call

Roll Call from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.

Lots of Sibling Love

I totally love my big sister!
I just love to hug and snuggle my chubby little brother!
And we have so much fun together!

Seperated at Birth (by 3 years and 1 week)

Ella at 16 months

Moses at 16 months

Both totally cheesin'

So Much Fun w. Anna and Eric

bouncing from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.

Untitled from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.

Waiting for the Train w. Anna and Eric

On a trip to D.C. the kids got to take the Metro. Oooooh!

Mo Dirty

Napping in the Car

Mo's Favorite Walking Target

walking to E from Zachary Perin on Vimeo.

Hmmm...

I was there and I'm not even sure what we were looking for.  Mo is always into something.  Sometimes he convinces the rest of us to go along with him.  

The Many Faces of our Four-Year Old