On the Swings at Pleasant Grove

Jon and Kate plus 7

We fed some gosslings on the trail last weekend. Abby and Jake loved them, even though the mama goose kept trying to take nips of our legs. Hmmm.... It was also one of the first times the kids really played together on the large green space at the bottom of the trail. I loved watching them.

Abby at 17 months

Well, what is new with our little cherub?
-Water. Every day. If she finds as much as a capful, it is soon to be overturned on her person. The baby pool, a bucket, the sprinker, the edge of a toy after a rain, anything will suffice.
- Teasing. She has figured out (can't imagine from whom) how to tease and infuriate her sibling. She holds objects out to Jake and then as soon as he goes for them, she pulls them back, giggling uproariously. Jake hates it but cannot ignore the bait. So it repeats...
-Dora and Blue. So, she's precocious in the tv dept too. She loves Dora and Blues Clues and chortles happily if either theme song is even slightly badly whistled. She is starting also to whine if the tv is set to a non-children's program. Yikes!
-Puzzles. She did a shape puzzle all by herself today. We took the 5 pieces out together, and she kept bemoaning that one was missing by pointing to the empty hole. Her favorite- the circle. It seemed like she had lost interest and then suddenly she was toddling back from across the room with that piece in hand. I got distracted for about 3 minutes, and then looked back, and other shapes were all in place too!
-Signs and langauage. We've started to teach her more signs and now she knows about 6. Her newest one is stories, which really comes in handy since reading is her second favorite activity, after water play. And her word list is about 10 words. Words are intermittent and there are still a lot of words she's said only once.
- almost forgot, Climbing. She's a little monkey and insists on climbing on every chair and couch in the house and outside. She's also getting pretty good at getting down feet first, now. Whew.

That's the gist. She's still our happy Abby!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Abby at 17 months

Well, what is new with our little cherub?
-Water. Every day. If she finds as much as a capful, it is soon to be overturned on her person. The baby pool, a bucket, the sprinker, the edge of a toy after a rain, anything will suffice.
- Teasing. She has figured out (can't imagine from whom) how to tease and infuriate her sibling. She holds objects out to Jake and then as soon as he goes for them, she pulls them back, giggling uproariously. Jake hates it but cannot ignore the bait. So it repeats...
-Dora and Blue. So, she's precocious in the tv dept too. She loves Dora and Blues Clues and chortles happily if either theme song is even slightly badly whistled. She is starting also to whine if the tv is set to a non-children's program. Yikes!
-Puzzles. She did a shape puzzle all by herself today. We took the 5 pieces out together, and she kept bemoaning that one was missing by pointing to the empty hole. Her favorite- the circle. It seemed like she had lost interest and then suddenly she was toddling back from across the room with that piece in hand. I got distracted for about 3 minutes, and then looked back, and other shapes were all in place too!
-Signs and langauage. We've started to teach her more signs and now she knows about 6. Her newest one is stories, which really comes in handy since reading is her second favorite activity, after water play. And her word list is about 10 words. Words are intermittent and there are still a lot of words she's said only once.
- almost forgot, Climbing. She's a little monkey and insists on climbing on every chair and couch in the house and outside. She's also getting pretty good at getting down feet first, now. Whew.

That's the gist. She's still our happy Abby!
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Painted Girl

There's nothing like a little girl in a sundress. Her hair also looks red and if you look closely, you can see the chalkmarks on her face as well. She was busy!

More Sprinkler Fun

Sprinkler Fun!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

I laughed, I cried, in Durham

Image via Wikipedia

I'm on my third day in Durham, NC and all is well. I got here Monday night around 10pm, and stayed at a new (for me) hotel downtown. Spent Tuesday and Wednesday attending a conference at the same hotel on the new green economy. I moderated a panel on Tuesday morning of three people talking about social and green entrepreneurship and it went well. They gave me some amazing chocolates made by a local entrepreneur as a moderator gift. I was happy. ( I am so easy to please! :) )

Two of the keynote speakers were highlights for me. One was my friend Melissa Bradley Burns who spoke with passion and spunk about the opportunity we have at this moment to link social justice with the new movement toward green jobs and sustainable enterprise. She has just joined Green for All in Washington, DC, which is working closely with the Obama admin. to to just that. They want to be sure jobs are not just "shovel ready" but are available to people of color and rural populations and that they come with training so these people can get back into the mainstream economy for the long term. She was amazing, a lighting rod of energy, deep commitment and self-effacing humor. She had everyone chuckling the entire time she spoke. I gave her a big kiss and hug afterwards and told her she rocked!

The other speaker, who had me in tears nearly the whole time, was Martin Eakes of Self-Help. He has nearly single-handedly been the truth teller David standing against the corporate goliaths of the predatory lending industry. He started working with local families in North Carolina in the 80's, and found some of the mortgages people had been given were nearly criminal - they sold one man a mortgage for the home he built with his own hands and the payment ballooned about 15 years in. When he went in to refinance, the finance company added 15K to his loan and raised his rates to 15%. Martin showed us that if he had gotten a loan from Self-Help, the guy would have paid off his mortgage and had 10K in savings instead. Martin showed us graphs of the scope and regularity of predatory lending and it was simply appalling. They designed those mortgages to require people to refinance and to incur larger debt - to the point where over 50% of the houses owned by people of color become foreclosed in the US today. 50%! And that's across all income levels, urban/suburban, etc.

Also had some good meetings with colleagues, and enjoyed seeing the new offices of SJF Ventures Advisory Services, whose board I am on. Today I'm set to have some meetings at Duke and spend the afternoon looking at local real estate. Just to explore, you know... Then, I'll drive home tonight.

Happy Thursday all!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Suprime mortage holders will probably default, even after refinancing (dailyfinance.com)
• National Registry To Prevent Mortgage Fraud (hsh.com)