fra-gee-lay

showing Gramsie the ropes

Hello again! How's your mother? Mine is great, she just left after four nights of kid corralling at Hotel Seltz. Nori decided she was lonesome for Gramsie about an hour after she left and refused to get dressed because wearing her pajamas reminds me of sleeping with Gramsie (whenever one of her grandmas sleeps over, she sneaks in to the guest room at midnight and shares a twin bed with her). I am reminded what a sensitive kid she is, and also very cautious. Nori was the only kid in preschool to be afraid to play Pin the Nose On the Pumpkin and the only one in gymnastics who refuses to try a flip on the high bar with teachers spotting. We continue to encourage her and help her build her confidence while celebrating the fact we may never have to watch a video of her bungee jumping in New Zealand or worry about skydiving adventures. That other kid of ours though... she's wild! Quite the mama's girl right now, but when she's in the mood to dance to tunes on her kitty piano...watch out! Nothing but feet in every direction! She speaks only a few nouns, some animals noises, and lots of commands whereas Nori was speaking in 3-4 word sentences at this age. Trust me, I am not complaining. One talker is enough. The first words out of Henny's mouth every morning are Ning Ning! which is what she calls Nori. And whenever her sister is our of sight, you will hear here calling, Ning Ning. Not that they don't fight because they almost exclusively fight, in between sweet moments.  I never had a sister but I did apply makeup to Casey so I think I know how they feel about each other. But, he also tried to stab me with a butter knife but in fairness, I did stick tape on him first.

her absolute favorite part of the whole museum

she wants to drink this water

MTV for babies

We are taking advantage of our Children's Museum membership by going there often. Gramsie Holly babysat Friday night so Jake and I could have another date. A free date no less. Free babysitting courtesy of my dear old ma, free dinner thanks to a gift card win by Jake, and free movie tickets (we saw Argo) courtesy of Ellen's Fandango gift last year. In an effort not to spend a cent, we ate popcorn off the floor and re-chewed gum from under the seats. Today we had our family photos taken at the sculpture gardens and even though our kids did not listen, pose, or smile for a single shot, I think she managed to get some cute ones, especially them in poofy tutus in the greenhouse. I am sure our photographer thinks we are not only the worst parents ever, constantly bribing our kids in exchange for a smile, but also that we are on the brink of divorce as I berate Jake in the chaos of coaxing smiles and uncooperative wardrobe changes: give her a Smartie!!,  give her the whole pack of Smarties!!,   you put her shoes on the wrong feet!!!,  where's the hairbrush?!,  did you find the hairbrush, yet??!!,  you put her leotard on backwards!!. Some say berate, I say communicate. I am sure you can relate.Tonight we invited friends over for homemade chicken & dumplings with a shards of glass. Just as I was finishing the dumplings, the glass bowl fell off the counter top and shattered into a gazillion pieces, some of which may have gone into the soup. They may not have as well. We debated risking it, but I was hesitant to feed the children glass so we ordered burgers instead. Incidentally, I also dumped a mug of coffee on the couch and spilled a whole banana cream pie on the floor.

falling back does not work on babies

these are the children who did not eat my glass infused stew and are not spending tonight in the ER

Halloween 2012

The girls made sure we felt like zombies by waking up several times each last night (Nori had night terrors and Henny has a cold) so it was apropos that today was the big day. Pumpkins were carved and costumes picked, a black cat in a tutu and an elephant. Nori trick or treated at school in the a.m. and had her Sunshine class party in the afternoon. I had fun volunteering and acting like a weirdo with the preschoolers.  We joined our neighbors for a pizza party and games prior to trick or treating. Nori raced with the big kids and Hen understood exactly what happened when she ran from house to house. Happy Halloween!

apple day

It's tradition to go to an apple orchard or pumpkin patch every fall, right? So we do, creating memories and snapping photos. Today I remebered that when I was a kid, my mom always added one other stop on the fall foliage tour: the cemetery. She calls it "grave stomping" and to this day recommends it a something fun to do. We were not visiting any grave in particular, just loitering over the deceased (RIP) because of the pretty leaves there. We have lots of family photos of my mom, brother, and I perched on someone's final resting place. I actually have no idea who took the photos, which is scary. I will try to dig one up (ha!) and scan it for your viewing pleasure.

We are getting excited for Halloween! I am helping out at the preschool party on Wednesday, in part so I can check out Robby who Nori says she is "going to marry". Apparently, he is really small and laughs really weirdly, she finds it charming. She wants to say "I  love you" in  sign language to him, but she is too embarrassed. I suggested she wait on the romance and learn how to write all her letters first. Tomorrow we are going to carve pumpkins - stay tuned for pumpkins that look more or less exactly like the ones last year! 

we are not up there

Nori might make a run for it...



apple princess



she enjoyed feeding hay to the goats...and a little pug dog



girls and goats



who is supervising this kid?



Happy Henny







Oregon Trail

Back from the Pacific Northwest after a fabulous four days in Oregon!! I feel rejuvenated and ready for real life again. Spending too much time writing all about my trip and worse yet, proofreading, would just take away this relaxed feeling so please settle for the highlights...
 


Friday: Great flight in to Portland, Ford Taurus with ambient pink lighting, gut bomb at Pine State Biscuits, discover exactly what it is Andy does for his job and apparently it's showing Todd where to stick it, create new water ballet routine in hotel pool, dinner at A Cena with friends.

Saturday: Breakfast at Helser's on Alberta (my Great Grandma Dorothy's maiden name was Albert and her married name was Helzer, weird huh?), shopping in Alberta and Pearl neighborhoods, Sandi &  Justin's wedding at Vista Hills Winery, pajamas, Cherry Garcia with Missy on bed.

Cheers to Mr. and Mrs. Long!

not sweatpants, for once

cute shoes

Mr. and Mrs. Cherry Garcia

"Suck it, Todd"

the ceremony

Luther dudes in ties

Sunday: Jake & I begin our solo adventure by taking the Oregon Scenic Highway along the Columbia River Gorge, lack of preparation does not stop us when we go hiking at Multanoma Falls with no rain gear or proper footwear, almost "ski" to our deaths on the muddy slopes, obtain unexpected moisturizing mud mask on bare feet while hiking, hot bath at awesome modern B&B, pizza at Double Mountain Brewery, read Room, fantastic book by Emma Donahue.

The Gorge

basalt cliff formed by volcanic lava

It was all very Twilight ( Team Jacob)

beware the spray

Like Hwy 61 on crack

Monday: Devoured breakfast of egg burritos with homemade salsa and guacamole, plus pumpkin, blueberry, and huckleberry scone, attempt to drive to the top of Mt. Hood, turn back when we hit a snowstorm, hike at Tamawanas Fall in gorgeous fresh snow, continuously yell "scoot bears" to keep predators away, shopping downtown, nap, core yoga class, spicy meal at Thai House, sleep.

Mother of two in bridge collapse over icy river

No bears here

stumped

just an ordinary hike in Gorgeousville

Hood River

I think we were pretty hardcore. Time away with Jake reminded me of Way Back When (1995-2008) when all we did was hang out with each other for twelve.years.straight. This is in sharp contrast to current day, lovingly entitled, Girls Just Want To Have Fun (2008-present), when time alone is scarce. A major THANK YOU to Grandpa Steve and Grandpa Liz for babysitting Friday-Tuesday for us so we could get away. Please give them a round of applause. And a beer.

bad ass

Sunday quickie

We did not do the Zombie Pub Crawl this weekend. After raiding Aunt Jill's closet for heels to borrow, the girls and I took Dorothy to the vet on Friday (note to self: leave baby at home when going to the vet) where Dorothy was diagnosed with a classic case of Itchy DooDoo after several weeks of relentless chewing. Her treatment involves antibiotics twice day for four weeks and baths with medicated shampoo three times a week.  Of course we are thrilled.  Jana came to town one night so we made the most of it by going out to Barrio alone to talk and dine followed by hot chocolates at Caribou (Tyler, if you read this we had raw broccoli and green tea). Jana's daughter, Adira, is two months older than Henny, but she stayed in Iowa with Jana's parents. We missed seeing her!  The rest of the weekend involved playing toys, sticking and resticking Halloween window decals on every surface of the house, errands, cleaning, cooking, and packing for a night in Austin for Grandpa Dick's funeral and then our mini vacay next week to see our friends Justin and Sandi get hitched. And you?

closet napper

Hen-bo-ben is a climber

Just like in 1998

love some dog hair in my tub

Did I mention the shampoo has to stay on for 10 minutes?