Welcome Davis Tillman Jackson!

My sister's family (Stacy, Ryan and Alyssa) welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world last week! Born Sept. 30th, 8 lb. 6 oz. 22 in. long. Welcome to the family Davis! We love you already!!

Puddle Jumping!!

Quote of the Day

"Mom, can I have a piggy bank ride?"
-Henry Malcolm, age 4

Malcolm Camping Adventure '08

Some of you may remember stories from Malcolm Camping Adventure '06 that were highly entertaining and very unsuccessful. There were a variety of things that contributed to its failure: a nursing 6 month old, rowdy campsite neighbors, insufficient bedding, etc. I'm happy to report that Camping in '08 was much more successful! Mainly because it involved only the boys, and it happened in our awesome backyard. John has been itching to camp out ever since we set foot on this property, and the weather this weekend has been spectacular! Breezy, mild and no humidity. Perfect set-up for camping.

We started with a delicious kabob meal prepared by Chef/Doc Malcolm.



Then, the boys retired to their quarters. Henry loved camping so much that he has requested to sleep outside for every nap and for every slumber since. (which we have denied)


View from the tent at dusk:

Future Child Models? Don't think so.

The light was right, and I was in the mood to snap some photos. I had just spent the afternoon grazing a photographer's website and was inspired to see if I could replicate some of what I had seen. All I needed was a subject. Enter Henry who wakes up from a nap. PERFECT! Well, since entering the photography business, my children are less and less likely to actually look at a camera when pointed at them. They have actually grown to detest seeing half my face hidden behind my black idol. It's quite a shame. My kids have an opportunity to take center stage in photographs, and mostly what I get is a whine and a quiet, disobedient turn of the head. . . . sigh. . . .

Here's what I got that afternoon:

And, here's that "look" that says "do not point that thing at me again!"

Sign of things to come?

Every time I pick up Bradley from preschool, time this is how the conversation goes:

Me: "Hi Bradley! How was school today?
Bradley: "Good."
Me: "What did you do today?"
Bradley: "Boys."
Me: "You played with boys?"
Bradley: "Yeah, boys."

Apparantly, she loves boys! Oh, the teenage years are going to be fun!

First Day of Preschool

Here the kids are getting ready to enter into a whole new world of preschool! Let's hear it for some free time for momma!

We hope Henry is going to make some good buddies at school! Doesn't he look so big? He had a great attitude and a fantastic first day.

Bradley, on the other hand, was not too excited about leaving the house to be dropped off with strangers for 3 hours. She collected herself by the time we arrived at school, but voiced her opinon LOUDLY for the first part of our journey.