Deck the Walls with...

...reddish marker la-la-la la la la la... Yes, it is so. Not only the wall, but the white bed frames. And the pillow cases. Oh, yes, and Justine's sock. I knew it was too quiet in the room. Too quiet and peaceful = collusion. Collusion occurs only in instances of wrong-doing. Hence, the new decorations.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My witch costume had its pros and cons. Pros: my witch wig and witch hat from 1999 have survived in relatively tip-top shape. Cons: my son now calls me "witch". We were driving home tonight, and I hear "Hey, witch!" Me: "Where, honey? Does somebody have a witch decoration hung up?" V: "There!" I crank my neck to see where this fab witch decoration is, and I see nothing: V, where is it?" V: "Right there, sitting next to daddy! Hey, witch!" Lovely.

Storytime Gone Wrong

Its after 8pm. Kids have wiggled into pajamas, Vasco has emotionally recovered from his acrobatic and dramatic yet non-damaging slip and fall in the bathtub (which occurred 1.4 seconds after I said that jumping in the tub was perhaps not a good idea), and we are snuggled up on the couch, settling in for a few books before bedtime. Mostly what we do every night. Minus the tub acrobatics. So, I start reading an old favorite, "Goodnight, Moon" in my super special sleep-enticing story reading voice.
Me: "Goodnight moon, Goodnight cow jumping over the moon, goodnight light and the red balloon, goodnight bears, goodnight chairs..."
V: "mommy, chairs don't sleep...balloons don't sleep!!"
Me, continuing courageously, being caught completely unprepared to discuss this new development: "..Goodnight kittens, and goodnight mittens"..
V: "MITTENS don't sleep!!!"

I guess we may have outgrown that book..

On to the next old favorite: " Click Clack Moo".
8 pages of cow pictures later, Justine smacks her cute little finger straight down on the cow's udder and asks: "What's that?"
Me, smugly, because I know the answer to that one: "An udder. That's where the milk comes from."
J, looking up with great interest: "Where's the pee-pee?"
At that point, I did what I think is in technical appendix 9 of Chapter XII of any parenting book. I laughed until I almost (I said ALMOST!) peed myself.

And that concluded tonight's story time. I'll be preselecting my books much more carefully tomorrow. Any suggestions?

Mushy Pumpkins

I'm tempted to say that the title refers to us these days... Justine has been sick with a lovely UTI these past two days, and the stress and 2-4am walking around with Justine on our shoulders (only way she will be consoled when she has a fever until the Motrin kicks in) has, indeed, reduced us to something roughly approximating mushy pumpkins...with mold.. slightly shriveled on one side...and with an occasional colony of ants marching through victoriously... which brings me back to my point... It is October 17th, and the one year I have actually gotten ready for Halloween with plenty of time to display my skillfully carved pumpkins, it has been 81 degrees for the past week! And, yes, my pumpkins are mushy!!!! And ant-infested!

Why are these pumpkins smiling? (besides because I did such a fabulous job carving them?)




...because they escaped the fate of their larger cousin, who was cheerfully chopped up by our guest chef, Toma, to end up as tikvenik (the pumpkin, that is, not Toma!) for dessert!
The tikvenik (derived from tikva, which.. you guessed it, is pumpkin in Bulgarian) was delicious. Toma baked it from memory, but in case you want to try this at home, I rustled up some links to recipes that sound roughly right:
Pumpkin Filled Phyllo (Tikvenik)
Tikvenik – Bulgarian Sweet Pumpkin Pie
(or you may want to ask the master chef himself--I've linked up his name to his site above)

Mommy Kisses still in Fashion!

A few nights ago, Vasco comes running up to me right before going to bed and as I grab him to give him his goodnight kiss, he puckers up and goes, "Mommy, give me a big big hard kiss!" After I almost fell down laughing, I gave him a big big hard kiss and wondered how long before he is utterly disgusted with having his mommy give him big slobbery kisses...Pretty soon, I suspect..

Uncle George is Here!

Uncle George is here!

The Croaking Frog, the Elephant Candle, and Murphy the Tumbling Gorilla.

Intellectual Discussion? NIMH!

Not in My House, that is...

I've deleted the names and email addresses, but this is an actual exchange of emails:

____________________________________________________
From: My colleague
To: My boss
Subject: Votes virtually tied in latest poll in Imaginary Country

Mr. Boss,
I would personally agree that the "yes" vote on The Very Important Issue would rebound in the last few weeks before the vote (and discussed with my wife a similar hypothesis this morning), but it is really hard to back it up with substance in this extremely volatile political environment.
___________________________________________________

From: Me
To: Mike
Subject: FW: Votes virtually tied in latest poll in Imaginary Country


We clearly need to catch up on our intellectual discussions in the morning…. I'm ashamed of ourselves..
____________________________________________________

From: Mike
To: Me
Subject: Votes virtually tied in latest poll in Imaginary Country

Our morning hypothesis: Having beavers slowly gnaw our ears off is less painful then getting our kids into the car each morning.

________________________________________________________

And that just about sums up nicely what happened to any pathetic attempt at intellectual discussion :) Our debate skills are sharpening though. You try to negotiate underwear, clothing, and shoe selection with 2 three-year olds in under 7 minutes! (by the way, saving time and nerves by allowing them to wear multiple pairs of underwear and T-shirts does not count as a successful outcome!) I dare you!