a rose by any other name

Tonight Evan leaned into me and said, "I'm glad you're back. It's so good to smell that good old Daddy smell."

sheepish

Sage's sheep, by the way, is a little powder-blue one that I brought back from Tennessee. She's named it "Alligator."

there are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke

Eric: "Evan, take off your clothes and get into the tub. I need you to stop acting crazy and making a joke out of everything."

Evan: "Everything's a joke already."

Am I my sister's shepherd?

Sage: "I want my sheep."

Evan: "Well, Sage, you're going to have to go get it yourself. That's not our responsibility."

Evan: Recent Works

Evan's newest enthusiasm is taking pictures with the digital camera, and it is with a mixture of pride and humility that I admit he is by some margin the most talented portrait photographer in the family. He really captures something essential about his subjects. Here's an Evan's-eye view of Evan's world:

Mommy


Omi


Poppop


Aidan


Sage


The Car

big brother and mud puppy

I'm at a writers' conference in Tennessee, having a lot of conversations in a lot of rocking chairs on a lot of stone porches with a lot of poets and novelists. I miss my kids. In my absence, Evan is the man of the house. Sonja sent this pic, which I look at every 17 minutes:

Also, this one. The daily application of mud, it turns out, is Sage's secret to looking so young:

Lincoln City, July 4, 2008

More cool beach weekend photos over at Stefan and Meghan's blog...

Mr. Sand Man

Reach the Beach
Kites
Twins
Foam Run
Breather

Evan: life's little caption writer

Sage: "I want some cheese."

Sonja: "You've already had a lot of cheese. Eat your potato salad and then you can have more cheese."

Sage: "Mommy can have it."

Sonja: "No Sage, Mommy has her own potato salad. You eat yours."

Sage: "Okay, I ate it all up."

Sonja: "No you didn't, Sage. It's right there on your plate."

Sage: "I want some cheese."

Evan: "Negotiating with a baby."

The ocean is not impressed by your plastic dagger

I don't want to know

Evan just yelled from the bathtub: "I'm making a horrible potion in here."