Little Angel

They do look like angels when they are sleeping, don't they? Lyra is taking a nap. Wooooohoooo! 

Oh Prince Charming? Is That You?

Princess Sydney is dressed and ready for a party!

Bundles of Love!

Here are Lyra and Porter, both finally awake at the same time. Lyra is almost 3 months old and Porter is 5 months old. He looks ready for the football field! It was awesome for me to have such a chunk of time with Porter and to get to know him! He is a sweetie pie. Click the link below to see more photos of these little babies.



Here's Porter!

Lyra is sitting in Porter's Bumbo seat pretty well. I'll have to get her one of these.


Here's Porter again. He is such a happy boy!

Sydney and Eva

Will and Eva had so much fun with Sydney and Porter. Their time together was too short on this trip. 

Look At Me!

The other fun thing Will and Eva discovered is the climbing wall. Both kids quickly learned how to scurry up to the top like monkeys. They definitely don't take after me. I am not a fan of high open spaces.



Look how high up she is!

Will climbed well too. He wasn't keen on being up so high at first but once he got comfortable that the harness really worked, he climbed right up to the top!

On Top of the Mountain

Well, probably not the tippy top. Bill took Will and Eva skiing at Mammoth Mountain. They had a blast! I wish I could have gone too but Lyra is too little to leave long enough for me to ski. So Cherie and I took the babies and went to the desert. That was fun too!



Bill had the kids up early each day so they could get some skiing in together before their lessons started. There were no lift lines and lots of freshly groomed snow. By the end of the day, everyone was tired and ready to go to bed early. No time or energy for any sibling squabbles!



Mammoth had a phenomenal amount of snow, something like 14 feet just in March. Although Will and Eva loved skiing and are skiing quite well now, they especially enjoyed climbing on snow banks and trying to dig out whatever construction equpiment was buried there.

Will's Turn

Will's idea of excitement is a good old-fashioned roller coaster. You can click on these pictures to make them larger.

Free Bird!

We took a trip out west to visit Cherie and for some skiing. Eva and Will love the amusement park at Balboa Island. Eva tried the bungee jump thing for the first time and loved it! Bill magnified her face in the corner of the picture so you can see how much fun she's having. Poor Will is so sweet, he was scared for Eva to do this and had to hide until her turn was over. 

Three Phelpslings

Actually, this is Cathleen here posting and not Bill. I can't get Blogger to work for me but I don't know why. I've been trying to take a photo of all three children together and it is not easy. The difficulty increases exponentially with each additional child and there was just no way we were going to get KC in here too.

Will and Eva look sweet but we have many pictures of Lyra that are better than this one. 

Will's Were-Rabbit

Will & Eva watched the Wallace & Gromit movie "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" this weekend. After watching the movie, they also watched the "making of" bonus feature which explained the process of making clay over wire frame models to be photographed and turned into the "claymation" used to animate the movie. Will decided he needed to experiment with the process and Eva followed suit. This is Will's version of the Were-Rabbit caught in the act of stealing a carrot. 

Were-Rabbit by Eva

Eva's version of the Were-Rabbit is not quite as precise, but it almost seems to capture the psychotic nature of the beast better than Will's rabbit. Of course, given that this is Eva's creature it is two fisting its chosen food (if this was Eva, it would be a chocolate bar in each hand.) 

Whitetail 2/26/2006

This may have been our last local ski trip this season. It was my first trip to Whitetail and Eva's second. Will decided to stay home. We missed him skiing, but it was nice to have the time to ski alone with Eva.

The snow was quite good, and I liked the mountain, but we had one annoying problem. The chairs on the lifts are closer together than we are accustomed to, which means you have to be really quick to get on the chair. Since Eva is short, and she was bundled up I practically had to throw her onto the chair. I am sure that they do this to get more people up the mountain, but the net result is that they have to stop or slow the lift all the time, and I don't think it ends up being faster, just more dangerous. 

Here it is!

Finally, a little grin from Lyra! She looks like a little elf! I love little baby smiles. they are like the sun breaking through the clouds.

A Merry Maid

Will didn't have quite enough money to buy the set of Gettsburg soldiers he wanted from Why Not. So he came home and cleaned a bathroom to earn the rest. Will thinks cleaning the bathroom is fun! Shhhhhhhhh! Don't tell him that most people don't agree!

Don Juan

This is a photo of Jeremy Webb in the lead role of Don Juan which Will and Dad went to see last weekend at the Washington Shakespeare Theatre. Will has seen a number of theatre productions aimed at kids, but this was the first time he went to see a production intended for adults (he has been asking to see some Shakespeare). Don Juan was written by Moliere, not Shakespeare, but Will was still excited to go. Will loved the play. There was enough low humor to keep him laughing, but he also got the deeper story of Don Juan's mocking of God and his subsequent punishment. The acting for Don Juan and Sganarelle was excellent, and the material is incredibly timely (especially the hypocrisy speech in Act 5). While Don Juan is an old play, this production was based on a recent translation that restores a lot of the play's original (and frequently censored) content and gives it tremendous contemporary impact. I can't wait to take Will (and soon Eva) to more live drama.

Whoosh!

Today was our first real snow of the year. In Alexandria, it looked like we had about 10". In Washington at Battery Kemble Park where this picture was taken it looked like there was more than a foot of snow. The kids were ecstatic that we finally had some snow for sledding. Will spent the entire day in Washington with his friends. Eva made a number of runs with Dad, then decided that life was terribly unfair because Will had friends to sled with and she did not, so she ended up bailing after an hour. Battery Kemble Park is hidden away in Upper Northwest and has a great sledding hill. It is a popular dog walking park, and there were dozens of dogs running around and barking encouragement to the sledders. Will has been watching the Winter Olympics, and he is demonstrating his Luge form in this picture.

The Lion(ess)

Eva and Will both have lion hats, and when they are skiing together it makes it easy to spot them. Today we were sledding not skiing, and only Eva was wearing her hat. In spite of all the snow, it really was too warm today for all the winter clothing we had on. This of course did not stop Eva from complaining bitterly about cold feet and demanding to go home. 

The Wah Wah Baby is in Town!

Poor baby! This isn't the smiley picture that I hoped to post. But many people have said they've never ever seen Lyra cry and they don't believe that she does. Well here's PROOF. She has the most pitiful little pouty lip.

Never fear, I did not continue to snap photos. I picked her up and she was a happy baby once agai!

Surprised Eyes

Lyra has the same "surprised eyes" that Will and Eva had. This isn't even as extreme as it sometimes is when she actually wrinkles up her little forehead because her eyebrows are up so high.

I guess everything is surprising when you're only five weeks old.

It is hard to take a picture of a baby in your own lap. I STILL couldn't get her to smile.

Tai Shan and his Agent

Eva arranged for Tai Shan to give autographs and interviews this weekend. Would anybody like one?

Will and his Baby

Will likes having a baby in the family so much that he has adopted a baby tiger. Look, he's dressed it up in one of Lyra's oufits. Baby Tiger reminds me of the Big Bad Wolf in Grandma's clothes...but don't tell Will!

Every night before Will goes to bed, he likes to spend some time holding Lyra and playing with her. Baby Tiger is here too. Will is trying to play "So Big" with Lyra but she is not in the mood.

Check out Will's self-portrait pillowcase there. I guess he sees himself in ancient Greece or Rome.

Eva and Her Baby

Because Will had a baby animal, Eva wanted one too. That is a kitty cat she's rocking there. Poor Lyra won't have any clothes because all the stuffed animals here will be wearing them.

Here is Eva and her real baby. We were still trying to get Lyra to smile but Lyra did not cooperate.

Lyra and her Baby

Will thought Baby Tiger would be a nice buddy for Lyra. Lyra is still so small there is no problem with sharing the bouncy seat

So What Exactly IS This Here?

KC strategically claims the warmest spots in the house. Here he is, basking on the kitchen radiator, looking very much like a muff or a stole or other furry winter garment. He does look comfortable, doesn't he?

She Smiled!

Lyra smiled for the first time yesterday! She gave me a great big gummy grin out of nowhere! It was just beautiful. Unfortunately, I couldn't get her to do it again for Bill or Will or Eva. She smiled at me again this morning and Bill missed it! The front door was literally swinging shut as he left for work. As soon as I can get a picture, I'll post it here. I keep looking for another smile; like a compulsive gambler is sure that the next big win is just round the corner.

Today is my first day doing the morning drive to school since Lyra's birth. I hope it's not a complete debacle.