Fall in Photos

I am tired of being a couple months behind on this blog. It makes blogging feel like a chore instead of an outlet. So I'm catching up in photos.....

In September, we kicked the kids to the curb, and then onto their respective school buses. I also settled into a less-manic work schedule. They are both having an excellent school year thus far. I am quite pleased with their school situations.

Thrilled to be back in the classroom!

Less thrilled.

Late September, we spent a weekend in Pittsburgh with our good friends, the Norths. Trip highlights include visiting the Aviary in Downtown Pittsburgh, attending a Pirates game, and riding on the back of Matt's motorcycle.



Over Columbus Day weekend, my mom visited from Portland. Ed and I went away for two nights to a fancy Dupont Circle hotel to celebrate our 10th anniversary. It wasn't the big trip I had been mentally planning the last couple of years, but it ended up being so relaxing and perfect. THANK YOU, MOM!

Enjoying the night life of Dupont Circle. I think we are still a bit stunned that
we escaped without our children.

Later that weekend, the boys and I took my mom to Shanendoah National Park for an overnight stay. The fall colors were lovely, which mostly counterbalanced Noe, who did not have a lovely weekend. This probably explains why I don't have any photos of our trip. We also took a weekend there last June....here we are hiking the Appalachian trail.


End of October was all about Halloween. We took our annual pilgrimage to Loudoun County for pumpkins and found our favorite family-run farm condemned! The city had seized the family's land to build another road and more shopping centers. I spoke with the owner and the whole situation was heartbreaking....such a Halloween downer! We picked some apples on the farm's remaining land and I donated a few bucks to their legal fund.

Asher loved picking the end-of-season apples from the highest branches!

We also said goodbye to our friends, the Jensons, who are moving to Korea. Together we attended our local high school's homecoming parade for the last time. This is an annual tradition which has been kept alive because the parade route runs along our street and because of the copious amounts of candy that our kids receive from parade participants (high school kids and local politicians). After the parade, we had a grand Halloween feast of mummy wraps, monster digits, monster eyeballs and pumpkin cake.

Not exactly the Rose Parade, this little parade is still a fun tradition!

Elanor, checking out the Halloween goods. Little does she know she will soon
be eating kim-chee instead of weiner wraps (probably not a bad thing!)

So Proud

Asher has gone from "can we go to the store and get another brother who talks" last year,
to becoming Noe's best friend, biggest cheerleader, and ardent protector this year. He often comes up with innovative solutions to cure Noe of his autism: "Maybe if we drop him on his head, it will fix his brain." Um...probably not.

I am so proud of him.

Every day, Noe wakes up and tries his very best to navigate a world that talks and moves too fast. He spends each day working with his therapists - practicing his words, writing his name, and trying to understand what is asked of him - most always with a smile on his face. His hugs and kisses tell us how much he loves us, even if he doesn't spontaneously say the words yet.

I am so proud of him.

When you have a brother with autism, you have to meet him at his own level. They both work hard to love and understand each other.

I am so proud of them.

Just Google It

For me, that phrase is the 2011 equivalent of "Go ask your father/mother." I love Asher's curious nature, but sometimes I just can't answer every. single. question. I often find him on answers.com or google, trying to find answers to all of the questions flying through his brain like wild bats.

And while recently searching our google search history, this is some of what I discovered:

"does the tooth fairy fly?"
"insect that starts with [the letter] x"
"do elfs get presents?"
"is asher on the noty [naughty] list or the nice list?"
"why doesnt the candy land game come with real candy?"
"country that starts with the letter y"
"is new zeland in australia or asia?"
"when will the new land before time [movie] be on the ipad?"

I think I'd better make sure to answer more of his questions from now on.....