Three Cousins; One Nintendo DS (Post Turkey)

I Also Have Never Figured Out How I Got Onto AARP's Mailing List

Last week in the mail: a brochure advertising Similac's new line of maternity clothes. This week: two complimentary cans of baby formula. Why, oh why? Do they know something I don't? Then again, the formula claims to have "EarlyShield® for immune support." If I drink it, will it give my immune system the boost it needs to get me get over this blasted viral infection that I don't have time for?

Never Underestimate the Power of the Word "Underpants"

If it makes you feel any better -- I know it does me -- the increased traffic did not come from keyword searches. It was from my sisters and brothers reposting the original post via their blogs, Google Reader, and facebook. Never underestimate the power of having eight siblings.

It Might Work

I dislike the whole "rinse the meat, pat it dry with paper towels" thing. Do you think I could just put it in my salad spinner?

Cyndi Lauper Would Be So Proud

So, the day after I mentioned Jane's continuing love of exotic, self-styled hairdos, she got up and did this to her hair for school. At first it included several more flowers clipped onto the pieces of hair framing her face, but she took those out. Not because of any aesthetic idea of them being "too much," mind you, just that they were tending to slip out and to hit her in the face.

An Example of Jane's Nice Cursive Handwriting

Found this in Jane's backpack last week.

I would have died before handing this sentence in to a teacher when I was in 3rd grade.

I don't know if that says more about the difference between me and Jane or the difference between my generation and hers.

What Autumn Looks Like When You Have Two Giant Maples in Your Yard

It's Saturday, early November, and everyone has important work to do. Here's Peter, raking,

mulching,
and setting out to mow the lawn, with Adam strapped into the pack for old times' sake.

And here are the kids hard at work.

My laborious task was the photographic documentation.

By the way, if you're backing up to get a better camera angle on your daughter in a pile of leaves, and you suddenly find that your foot won't lift up, it may turn out to be because your flip-flop is stuck on a metal garden rake that your 3-year-old son left lying, tines up, in the middle of the lawn. You will be glad you were not barefoot.

See what's still up in that tree?

That means we get to do it all over again next Saturday.

Halloweens of Yesteryear: 2007

More costume-wishes granted by Grandma Kathe (Peter's mom): One set of Gryffindor robes (originally for Jane's 1st Harry Potter party) and one made-to-order "Belle dress." Adam reprised the flying monkey costume. Jane's intention was to be Ginny Weasley, however the mousse that was supposed to make her hair red was very . . . subtle. Hey, at least she didn't wind up with pink hair for a month like I did after using some "washes out in 1-3 shampoos!" stuff for a scene from "The Miss Firecraker Contest" for drama competition in high school.

Anyone Know Where I Can Find a Straightjacket, Size 2T?

While I was sending Peter a message about how Adam locked us in his bedroom this morning, Ellen made a mess with toilet bowl cleaner in the bathroom. While I was cleaning that up, she ripped up a book. While I was gluing the book back together, she took off her diaper and wet her bedroom floor. My tip-off to that one was her running past, naked, to the garbage, holding a wad of wipes.

Me: What's that?
Ellen: A cloffcloff.
Me: What were you cleaning up with that washcloth?
Ellen: Peeps.
Me: Oh no. Where is it?
Ellen: On a ploor. I show you.
(She runs down the hall proudly and points at her bedroom carpet.) See? It's on a ploor.
Me: No! Ellen, do we go pee-pee on the floor?
Ellen: Yeah.
Me: No. We don't go pee-pee on the floor. Never, ever.
Ellen: Why?
(I wish I could say this wasn't an exchange we've had many times before.)

If I hadn't had the bathroom door locked (remember the toilet bowl cleaner?) she most likely would have used the toilet instead of the floor. She's very interested in going on the toilet right now. And flushing it. Flushing it over and over and over again. And taking lots of toilet paper off the roll. And dunking it in the toilet and spreading it around the room.

I realize it's my fault for letting her out of my sight. I'm dumb like that.

So, how's your day going?

Halloweens of Yesteryear: 2006

Since I want to remain in denial about it being NOVEMBER and about the likelihood that the next time I go shopping there may be CHRISTMAS MUSIC playing, I'm going to linger here at Halloween for a while. You're welcome to join me.

The only Halloween costume pictures I could find from 2006 were these of Princess Jane in one of her dress-ups, which I'm guessing means that we did the sane thing and outfitted the kids out of the costume box that year. We could do that every year, because heaven knows, our costume box overfloweth. My neighbor has figured out that she can save a lot of money at Halloween by giving me a call before hitting the stores. This year we costumed 4 different kids outside of our family from stuff on hand, and could easily have done more.

I love costumes with a love that is deep and true.

Maybe you've picked up on that.






The cape was a birthday sewing project from one year, the dress from another. Oh, and the blue brocade was left over from my wedding, so that's kind of cool. The muff was made by Peter's talented mom, and accompanied a blue velvet dress with matching white fur trim. I would have died for that outfit when I was a child. I can distinctly remember a time when my dearest wish was to own a white fur muff. The tiara was the result of a period of time when I scoured ebay for cheap deals on real rhinestone tiaras, thinking that as a child, it would have meant worlds to me to have a chance to wear a "real crown." I wound up finding a couple of them and we keep them up high, for special occasions. For everyday wear, we've always had a purple plastic tiara or two on hand, suitable for trips to the store, the library, etc.

Based on the photos above, can you guess whether Jane enjoys posing for pictures?

She's come a long way since the days when this was her favorite camera face:


Her love of self-styled exotic hairdos continues.