All John

I've had a few inquiries today from those of you who are far away as to who the babies look like. John.  All John.  I've only contributed the gestation part.  Okay, maybe a long torso here and a backside there but that's it.  Thankfully they have more of John's personality, too!  My new niece, Ava, (congratulations Mike and April!) is rumored to have my cheeks, so maybe my genes live on in the Payne family.  

Sophie and Jack also look so much like eachother that we can't tell which of them is in some younger baby pictures, we have to look at the other items in the photo and try to figure out what season it was or some other clue as to who would have been that age at the time.  Jack had his 6 month doctor visit today and he is a healthy 18 pounds 14 ounces and 28 inches long.  Sophie wasn't even that big at 12 months...I predict the inevitable twin questions to begin by the new year.  Go Jack!  

Summer Pics

WICKED!!!

In Maine, which Sam and I still consider 'back home', the word wicked is an expression.  As in 'wicked cool' or 'wicked good' or, come to think of it, 'wicked' almost anything.  But here in Chicago, Wicked is the hottest Broadway play...notoriously hard to get tickets for and a real treat if you're even able to pay large amounts of money to go.   Well, my super smart and talented daughter just beat out several hundred if not thousands of kids in the state in an essay contest to win a pair of tickets to the show. Only one middle schooler was chosen and that was Sam!  The first of many accolades to come for her writing, I'm sure.  So if you happen to wonder what we're up to Thursday night, we'll be having some 'wicked' fun!