Hey, is it Thanksgiving yet? I'm hungry!

Vampire Blood Soup

Admittedly, changing the name was an immediate turn-off for the kids.  Instead of this soup for Halloween, they consumed candy.  I have been the lucky recipient of the left-overs.  This soup is delicious, a snap to make, and assures virtuous feelings on account of the healthy factor.

http://www.cookusinterruptus.com/rosemary-red-soup-4136-99.html

I added cooked quinoa to it after pureeing.   Good move.

Front Door

Some hate the color.  Some love it.  But you have to admit -- when it comes to Halloween, it has it's place.

 (Idea given by a friend who is always looking out for my best interests)

Au Naturel

An Interview and Getting More Mileage

R:  Who ya got?
C: [your guess is as good as mine]
R:  What's his name?
C: Ahhh! Miles.
R: How old is he?
C: Miles' six.
R: What color is his hair?
C: White.
C: .... .... ....
M: [being cute].

Note:  Clara is certain Miles is six and so is she.  This makes sense because caring for Clara and Miles is probably what having twins is like

 Relaxed lips and nubby chin.

 He's very sweet.


 

 Fill 'im up.

 Those eyes are blue, in real life, not red.

 "A crown upon his noble brow."  And those cheeks.  I love to squish them.

"No more pictures!!!"

King's Mountain

A fuel stop -- for both the kids and the gnats.

Indignant Erudition

T: Midday?  What is it?  What's the word, Sydney?
S: Twice,
T: No. Midday.
S: No. We're doing 'twice'.
T: No. I didn't spell 'midday' yet!
S: I don't know if you're going to be right.
T: I am  going to be right.  M-I-D-D-A-Y.
S: Now you can do 'twice'.
T: T-W-I-C-E
S: Yep.
T: Oh-ho-ho.  That was a really hard one.

Bedtime Rituals

Changing Gears

There's been a shift here.

1.  Talmage and Sydney started school.  
M:  What are your favorite things about school?
T:  P.E. and recess.

Talmage could hardly believe his good fortune that first grade affords TWO recesses.


 S:  [At the dinner table]:  Mom, I'm going to sing a song.  [starts singing the primary song, "When my mother calls me, quickly I obey".  Half-way through, Talmage says ...
T:  I have invisible earplugs.
M: When you're a teenager I'm going to remind you that you sang that song at the dinner table when you were four.
S:  Remind me right now.
M:  Syd, I remember about one minute ago, when you were four, that you sang that song at the dinner table.
S: Oh!  I didn't remember that!

2.  Disciplined shopping.
 Grocery shopping is now corralled to Saturday, when one of us can go child-free.  No more mid-week ingredient runs.  This won't last, of course, because you can only fit so many gallons of milk in your fridge.  And we go through a lot of milk.  On account of this child:

... who can easily down a half-gallon a day.  Above pics show how she dealt with sibling rivalry:  if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  She insisted on wearing Miles' clothing.  That phase, and the binky phase, are over.  (but also, she's not really potty-trained).

Clara has caught on to her BIG sister role:

 

 

 

 

Her dollies are all named "Miles".  She is careful to apply Desitin.

With the real, live baby Miles.

3.  Laundry.  Now there are four piles of kids' clothes.  That was weird at first.

4.  Name mix-up.  I'm a little better now than when Miles was first born.  For several weeks I kept calling him Cole or referring to him as a her.  But I still am calling Sydney, Clara, and Clara, Sydney, and Talmage, Sydney, and ... you get the idea.   This wasn't such a problem with 3 kids.  I don't know why 4 has short-circuited my synapses.

5.  I'm not bugged now when people say, "You've got your hands full"  Because I do.



That's all on that topic.   Below are images that have been languishing in iPhoto.  Some may have already been posted.  Can't remember.

Summer Utah trip.  Outside the Dinosaur Museum with Cousin Brie.

At the cabin with Great Grandma Kartchner.  She's 94 and goes walking every morning.

Briton took the oldest kids to the zoo one Saturday so I could be alone with Miles.

Clara calls those hair thingy's "haircuts".  I can't convince her to call them clips, ribbons, barrettes, "pretties", you name it.  Aaaaaaand, I like her expression.

In the bike trailer.  Miles got out after this shot.  But on a subsequent bike ride, he was strapped in his car seat next to Clara.  That worked out well.

Syd being studious:

How to make monsters out of TP rolls:  (This is a picture tutorial, like you see on those fancy blogs):  Just pinch the top and add googly eyes ..

...like this (the idea was from High Five, I think).

 

Already a good little bubba, helping his mama with the laundry.

This was before Miles started smiling.   I wonder what he makes of it all.

Clara loves those polka-dot PJ's.

You never know...

(back in August)

...what you'll find when you come home from work.  One evening I found the kids making a "new plum tree."  They had picked all the plums within their reach off our tree and transported them over to our neighbors low-lying pine bushes.  There the plums were skewered on every available branch.  Lots of plums is the mother of creativity.  The kids had constructed several mini plum barbells and balanced them carefully on the bush branches.  And then I guess it's just a natural extension to poke pine needles into the plums.  The rest of the week at work I'd get to think of the kids during lunch as I filled up on healthy portions of freshly picked sour plums, and pulled pine needles out of my mouth. 

One excellent use for Heavy Whipping Cream:

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2012/09/peaches-and-cream-sensation.html

More ballet footage

If you want to watch Syd's dance recital from last June, you may view it here (linked by permission).  She is on the far left of the line and Sonya is next to her.

The Cheetahs.

Free soccer.

Special Moments with Miles

Real special.

Scientific Inquiry

Miles:  [fussing]

Me:  [attempting to soothe; failing miserably]

Sydney:  [wide-eyed and serious, with a somewhat consoling tone]:  Maybe he thinks you're a monster.

Other Goings Ons-es.

 There were some killer hot days.  I mean, like, over 78 degrees.

 What you don't see is that she is also wearing high heels.

 I guess the theme in these last few pictures has been:  fake animals.  Use your imaginations, kids!

 Briton took T&S to the demolition derby.  Just kidding.  That was on Sunday.  If the kids were taller (or the sign was shorter), they'd be pointing, correctly, to "Monster Trucks and Mud Drags."

 Has this picture been posted already?  The expression, Sideways Glance, is classic Clara.

CLR Offspring Reunion. 

Observe the beauty and orderliness of the ice cream-induced state.

Another example of orderliness.  The kids made up this factory (I guess) game.


1.  QC check finalized prior to production:

2.  Fill molds with liquid substance:

 3.  Transport to pre-fab platform:

 4.  Pour admixtures, watchful to avoid explosions.

5. Highly trained technicians move substance to raised platform, where it is poured out and percolated:

 6.  Before dripping into collection device:

REPEAT.  All the live-long afternoon.

The night before Miles was born, Briton and I went to the Street of Dreams.  This table would be a dream.  I love the live edge (I think that's the technical term) of this table.  The price tag for this tree slab?  Take a guess.   Also, all seven homes had these open walls.  There were no flies in any of the houses.

 Another cool feature in another home was a mini-greenhouse in the kitchen, for all your year-round herbal needs.

There were other neat things, too.  But not as neat as meeting Miles the next day ;).

** I don't remember exactly, but it was in the neighborhood of $2,600.