Restraint.

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl.

Are you sure?

Pretend for just one moment that Scarlett isn't the funniest thing in this video. Van is eating food for the first time, and dude, he GETS it. A natural. He wants to know what we've been waiting for, and by the way, when can he have some ribs?

Farm Day

Scarlett is growing up so fast that I can hardly bare to blink. The other day her teacher told me that she was "very independent", which I'm pretty sure is pre-school code for "pain in the ass", but it was something that she didn't need to tell me. We hear "I want to do it myself" all day long. Thank goodness there are still things she needs help with - like screening her own tee shirt, and hitching the occasional ride with her father.

Three is barreling down at us - I'm not going to go all melancholy on you, but I sure am glad we have the other one - the one that still wants to nap on mom. And nowhere else.

Many, many thanks to Tom and Wendy for opening their home to us and all the other vagrants that love to experience life on a farm for one beautiful fall day each year. We had a wonderful time, and we even got to stay past sundown. Cheers!

I'd like to publicly thank This Guy.

My natural grace got me into a little trouble last night. Not two minutes after I helped myself to a glass of wine, I managed to knock it over. Refilling would involve walking up to a table of [lovely, I'm sure] strangers, reach into their conversation area and grab a bottle that I had JUST GRABBED. So instead, I made Paul do it.

Thanks, Paul. I appreciate you taking that bullet for me.

And I'd also like to thank Tom and Wendy for owning a kitchen table that is impervious to red wine. And for having 3 kids, which also made me feel less guilty about being the knob that spills red wine at a party. And most of all, for hosting a wonderful day in the country.