Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer...

(Aengus channeling Sir Elton)

So this is gonna be a big post. The Grandaddy gently reminded me of how much he loves the blog and how it's DEFINITELY beyond time to give a little family update.  I suppose I agree. For those that don't know, we are moving back to Tennessee in exactly one month. While we love our dear precious friends that we've made here in Central VA, our beloved family resides 5 hours away (or 7, if you're traveling in a car with 2 small minions clones children). Ben has accepted a position with an Orthopedic group in North East Tennessee about an hour and a half away from our family. An hour and a half is about as long of a road trip one can make with min... er, children without everyone completely losing their ever-lovin' minds and prolonging the trip with extra potty/candy bar/ beer stops. I'm only kidding, our kids aren't potty trained and we have a strict "no candy bars until you can hold down a job"policy. Fine, I'm kidding about the beer, too... fun ruiners. All joking aside, it's going to make a world of difference being such a short drive away from family. 

We were actually in our soon-to-be-new hometown over Halloween weekend and we found a house to rent as well as a house we might like to buy should it work out for us to stay. Big thank-you to Nana for driving up to spend some quality time with the boys while Daddy and Mama perused the real estate market.   We spent a little time with Uncle Kip and Aunt Valerie and were also able to visit with the great grandparents Durnin. It was a jam-packed weekend that ended with a double-baby-badger nap...

And a Halloween Party at the home of our dear friends, The Champneys, where the boys dressed as their spirit animal... the Raccoons.

(Declan TOTALLY lived up to the costume and immediately began foraging for food and turning over trash cans)

The costumes were a hit! Will repurpose the fur vests next year. Hooray!

***

I suppose I should blog a little bit about what sorts of mischief the boys have been into these days. Declan is getting smarter by the second. He knows his alphabet, can tell you what each letter is, can count to 11 and then, once he gets to 11, he starts over at 8. It's a vicious cycle. He has a talking Eric Carle book that he calls the "Chicken book" and he can name all the animals in it. (Sparrow, dragon fly, woodpecker, rooster, crow etc...). He's speaking in complete sentences more and more and learning to recognize feelings and rudimentary concepts  ("Oh, no! Aengus SAD!", "Dat breakfast bar GOOD!"). You can actually see him carefully choosing words to place in the sentence. Language development is truly AMAZING! I'll never take it for granted again, that's for sure. Here is a picture or two...

Did I forget to mention what an AMAZING big brother Declan already is?

He's absolutely amazing... 

and THIS GUY...

Totally knows it. 

Speaking of this guy...

Apart from looking EXACTLY like his father and ALSO being the sweetest baby in the whole wide world, he's growing like a weed. Today he had his 6 month check up and shots. He weighs 17 lbs (50th %), is 27 & 1/2 " long (75-90%) and the head is 17 & 1/2"(shut up, you already know what percentile that giant noggin is in.). He's meeting milestones like he owns them. Rolling over both ways, you say? Oh, that is soooooo last month .  Raking fingers to grab things? PUH-LEASE! He invented that move. Imitating speech? Come ON, don't make me laugh. He totally babbles in 5 different languages. What about any other exceptional talents? Does facial hair count? 

'Cause we got that too!

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!