Surprise, Surprise

Cooper, Phoebe and I spent a long time in the car today. I'm in charge of a big musical fireside next week and needed to make copies and deliver things to the participants, who happen to live all over town. Cooper is getting better (thank goodness) at going to the bathroom and staying dry. But I'm afraid we were on the go so long today, the poor boy didn't have much of a chance.

When we pulled up in front of our house after the errands Cooper announced, "Mom, I wet my pants. A lot." Then in a singsong voice he added, "Boy are you in for a surprise."

What's the Best Thing About the Day After Thanksgiving?

Pie for breakfast, of course.

Movember

We were coloring a few days ago when Phoebe looked up at me, crayon in hand, and asked, "Would you like a mustache?"

I declined.

Does that mean that Phoebe is celebrating Movember?

Hey, Where's Perry?

When Peter started first grade I took inventory of his clothing and shoes. They seemed like they were in good shape, but I remembered that he'd had his shoes for about six months, so I figured Peter would probably outgrow them soon. I put them on my mental list of "things that might need to be replaced." Turns out we bought a size that, at the time, was too big. Which means he didn't outgrow them.

Last week as we were picking him up from school, Peter showed me the cool thing that had happened to his shoe as he was coming out to meet us.

So off to Payless we went. He found something we were both happy with.

He was so excited about his Perry the Platypus footwear that he wore his Phineas shirt to school the day that he debuted his new shoes.

Why Cooking with Daddy is Totally Awesome

See that mixer? In true Alton Brown fashion, Bryan is making scrambled eggs with a drill. Can you tell that Cooper is glad to be the helper?

Jump On In

Yes, it's Saturday, and I almost never post on Saturday. Today I'm making an exception. Last night as I was getting ready to post, the power went out. And, except for turning on at least once during the night, it stayed off until 6:40 this morning. So... no post.

This week it was gloriously warm. I had checked the weather and knew that cold was on its way. We took advantage of the loveliness outside and played in the leaves. This movie was taken on Tuesday. (Yes, I dressed Phoebe in patriotic colors for election day.)

And I took this today.

Goodbye Autumn. Hello Winter.

Whither Wander You?

Bryan returned home tonight from a trip to Minnesota.  We drove him to the airport a few days ago, in the predawn darkness. As we drove Peter asked, "Dad, are you going on the trip?" Bryan replied in the affirmative and Peter said, "Man! Mom I wish you were the one going."

Bryan and I were both surprised by this. I asked Peter why he felt that way.

"Well," he said, "if Mom drives us home that means we're going to get lost."

And we did.

Here Comes Halloween

Last year's Halloween costumes were elaborate and time-consuming. And completely awesome. While I was tempted to make something equally fabulous this year, I simply did not have the time. So we did the next best thing: we borrowed them. Well, I bought Peter's but I borrowed Cooper and Phoebe's.

Peter had been asking to go traditional for costumes this year. When I saw a $6 skeleton costume in his size at Wal-Mart, I took it as a sign. A friend lent us a witch costume and another friend let us borrow a vampire costume.

The MBASA Halloween party was last night. The kids were excited to don their spooky duds. About three hours before the party was supposed to start, I figured out my costume. I told Phoebe that since she was a witch, I would be her black cat. Bryan, who basically had to go from class to the party, dressed up as the family photographer.

Bryan did Peter's make-up and sprayed Cooper's hair black. We kept losing him at the party because we were looking for blonde hair instead of black. Phoebe is wearing a grown-up sized hat because that was what fit. I watched a handful of YouTube videos so I could figure out the cat eye make-up. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. And I pulled out the hot-glue gun to make my ears, so I guess I was a little crafty this year.

Bonus Phoebe picture!

Home Is Where You Hang Your Hat

When we returned from Wisconsin, we didn't go back to the condo we'd been living in since before Phoebe was born. It was twenty minutes from Bryan's school, and that was without any traffic. Our involvement level in MBASA and other MBA activities made that uncomfortably far. We made the choice to live close to school.

However, it's not so easy to find a place to live from fifteen hundred miles away. I looked at online classifieds and housing lists for students and talked to people about openings, but nothing felt right. The summer was stressful enough and I didn't want to spend any more brain power wondering where we were going to live.

So we made a decision. We would move back to a place we had lived before. Now, since I'm very careful to not name our specific location, I won't tell you where we live. But I will tell you we lived here before we had kids. We've upgraded from a two-bedroom to a three-bedroom, but otherwise the layout is very similar.

And that's a little bit bizarre.

Why, you ask? Because I now have two pictures of this living room in my head, the past room and the present room. Even the smell of the carpet is the same. It almost feels like we've stepped into the past. Except that now there are five of us instead of just two. We fit fine then; it's a little bit cramped now. Not living-in-a-hotel cramped, but tight nonetheless. And about one third of our stuff is still in our storage unit.

The downside (other than the odd feeling of deja vu) is that we do not have a dishwasher or a washer and dryer. I now have to schedule trips to the laundromat and budget time to do dishes. And perhaps to some that's not a big deal, but I'm one of those that sits with my laundry, so that takes up quite a chunk of time. I did try paying Peter to do the dishes (one penny per item), but our boy has such an active imagination that he took an hour and a half to wash fifteen dishes, and that was not worth the money.

My point is not to complain, but rather to say that living here requires a lot more work from me. I thought I was stretched thin before, now free time is spent sleeping, or maybe (if I'm lucky) grabbing a quick shower. Hence the infrequent blog posts.

The benefits of living here? There is a lovely sense of community. We're not the only family with kids living in our cul-d-sac. Including Peter, there are five kids from his first grade class within a two-minute walk. He's never been able to run over to a friend's house (with mom trailing behind of course) to see if they can play. I also enjoy being able sit at the park and chat with the moms while the kids play. And a number of our neighbors are in Bryan's program, so it was like we had built-in friends. It's also beautiful here. The lawns are well maintained and there are so many trees.

We can live anywhere for a year, right?

Another Birthday

From the better-late-than-never file comes this movie taken a few days after Phoebe's birthday. Bryan's parents got Phoebe a darling toy kitchen, but because of a delay on our end, it didn't get here until after her birthday. We opened and put it together one night after she went to sleep. Then we hid it in our room and waited a whole day for Bryan to come home from classes before we gave it to her.

The morning before she got the kitchen she started telling me she wanted another birthday. Keep that in mind as you watch.

This movie, which we've had a ridiculous time getting to load, shows the big reveal and Phoebe's reaction.



Thank you Nana Shari and Papa Ron and Uncle Ben! She loves the kitchen. And so do her brothers for that  matter.