6 little kidlets sitting in a tree...

Here are our sweet kids in a live oak tree outside of the Fort Matanzas National Monument just last week (May 2023):

Rachel (15), Miriam (13), Benjamin (10), Zoë (8), Alexander (5), Phoebe (1)

And here they are sitting in a tree along Flytrap Trail (Carolina Beach, NC) in April 2017:

Miriam (7), Benjamin (4), Zoë (1), Rachel (9)

What a difference six years can make!

I remember being nervous about having Zoë sit in the tree without support, but look how smart we were putting her next to Rachel (who is at least a big person). For whatever reason we decided we needed the kids to sit in age order this time around and I was far too nervous to leave Phoebe sitting in a tree alone. 

Phoebe is a little dare devil. She definitely would have launched herself out of that tree, given the chance. Say what you will about Zoë—who screamed so much as an infant and toddler that my ears are still ringing all these years later—if you sat her in a tree and told her to smile pretty for the camera, well...she was going to sit there and smile pretty for the camera.

She screams less these days, but is also less prone to sitting pretty and smiling for the camera...at least when it comes to taking pictures for her baptism announcement—there were tears, folks. She just wanted to be done with pictures so she could get into the ocean already! 

Phoebe is similarly minded and did her best to hurl herself into the ocean every chance she got. And in her opinion she missed out on a lot of chances! She tried to strip off her clothes every time she saw a body of water, raising her arms in frustration when she realized she still hadn't figured out how to disrobe (in the hopes that some older person would take pity on her and help her get her clothes off so she could go swimming). On the ferry ride over to Fort Matanzas, she was going absolutely wild trying to climb over the side of the boat. Other ferry riders were clutching their pearls watching her writhe and fuss (she even—albeit accidentally—kicked Alexander in the head in her fervor to climb overboard). 

We won't talk about the other baby on board (about the same age), who sat calmly on her mother's lap, sucking her soother, and just taking the experience in.

Anyway, we'll just say that there are some babies we'd stick in a tree and tell them to sit still and smile (like Zoë) and there are other babies that we just wouldn't dare (like Phoebe). 

So, here they all are...somewhat smiling...sitting in a tree. 

Maybe one day we'll photoshop Daddy's legs out of the picture. But today is not that day.