being runners-up ain't so bad after all

Our good friends over at the condo had quite an ambitious dinner planned for this evening. But, when their guests had to cancel at the last minute, we got the pleasure of being seat fillers for the no-shows. What a nice surprise to get a dinner invite 30 minutes before mealtime... and to be able to go! With only one child!

It's a well-known fact that Darren & Christie don't mess around when it comes to food, and tonight was certainly no exception. The meal consisted of four courses (four courses people!), starting off with turkey noodle soup and home-baked bread:

...yummy citrus-y salad:

...spring lasagna (with potatoes, prosciutto, asparagus, cream sauce, mmmm):

...and a twelve layer (twelve layers people!) yellow cake with cocoa icing:

Oh, and there was a hug or two between these two cuties:

Many, many thanks to Henry and his folks for having us over for another delicious dinner. We're already scouring the cookbooks for when it's our turn to host.

No pressure or anything.

saturday afternoon entertainment

Two youngsters are entranced by the television...


...while another one spends some time on the laptop (literally).

the *other* ipad

Many thanks to Rebecca for this link... it's a Mad TV skit from three years ago. Apparently Apple doesn't vet their product names very well!

little jokesters

Apologies in advance to Rachele, who believes that nobody else thinks toddler conversations are as funny as their parents think they are (!), but I just couldn't help myself. After all, I do believe Josie told her very first joke this afternoon. While on the potty, no less. And Avery had one that I thought was half-way decent too.

Josie (said with a bit of a smirk and the start of a laugh, leading me to believe that it actually was her attempt at a joke): "Mama, what goes on the toilet paper?"

Me: "I don't know. What?"

Josie: "Toys go on the toilet paper! Toys... it sounds like toilet!"

* * * * *
Avery: "Mom, there's some good news and some bad news."

Me: "Uh oh, what's that?"

Avery: "The good news is that there is no bad news and the bad news is that there is no good news."

you are my sunshine

{warning: this post contains ccpp*}

Every year, I find it hysterical to watch Portlanders (myself included) race to the parks at the very first hint of sun. After a good few months of hibernation, it is so refreshing to go out and breathe the fresh, crisp air. And to get yourself soaking wet in a nasty puddle of standing rain water. Apparently.



*crappy cell phone pics

did not see that one coming...

Good for Cindy McCain

what's in a name?

Josie has become obsessed with the Disney Princesses (brilliant marketing campaign, by the way) as of late. These 8 little figurines were probably her favorite Christmas present... she plays with them all the time, lugs them around in her lunch box when we leave the house, and has to know where they are at all times. Although none of us are 100% sure of their names, she somehow has committed all of them to memory.

time flies on a day off from school

Cayden, looking at the clock: "It's 11:35 already?! The last time I looked at the clock it was 11:30 and that feels like it was just 2 minutes ago!"

her mother's daughter

I had to leave in a rush or a meeting last night, just after getting dinner on the table, the second Andrew walked through the door. This happens all too often, and is really less than ideal. It doesn't give the kids much time to decompress or get ready for the next day (guilt, guilt, guilt). When I got home from last night's meeting, I spied this little note from Miss Avery, asking when Junior Great Books (a new book club of sorts at school) starts. Always the little organizer and planner, she then left a spot for me to write her an answer and (in case that wasn't clear enough) specified that I should "please answer." I sure do love that girl.

wayback playback

Sorry to all ye FB users.

I just hate being a double poster.

winter weather preparedness

On her frantic run to the restroom just now, Josie suddenly spotted her boots across the room and quickly changed her path, right to them. She plopped down on the floor to put them on and proclaimed, "I need my boots on because it might be snowing in the bathroom."

the neverending story (updated)

Cayden enjoyed his Thursday nap over the heater vent so much that he has had another one every day since. Between that and the cough (oh man, you should hear the cough!), I'm still not sure he could make it through a whole day of school. Which is kind of blowing my mind. I was sure his fever was back this morning, but by the time we got home to test it, it was reading normal. If that sucker's back, we are marching ourselves into the doctor's office tomorrow and refusing to leave until we have a prescription for something.

Update: Fever. Urgent Care. Chest x-rays. Pneumonia. Pharmacy. Antibiotics. Last sick post ever.

basketball 101

Avery had her first-ever basketball game today, after about 3 weeks of evening practices. There sure are a lot of rules to that game... rules that I have never heard of in my life. Granted, I don't play a lot of basketball and the people I tend to watch aren't getting called out for taking more than 3 seconds to throw the ball in or for having more than 3 people in the key, whatever or wherever that might be.

Anyway, I digress.

Avery's team had to play a double-header this afternoon... rough for their very first go-around. Also rough was being matched against the team that's been playing for 4 years. These girls knew what they were doing, and were so aggressive. It made the Mother Hen side of me want to go out there and yell at them, and I don't get like that very often. There was lots of hitting and pushing, even a little bit of poking, and none of it was being called out by the refs. Oh well, I guess all's fair in love and basketball.

Most importantly, of course, all the girls seemed like had fun. Well, not so much in the first game but plenty in the second. Avery scored a few points... even one free-throw, as seen above. I love the fact that she'll try new things like this despite being nervous or unsure of herself and give it 110%.

And watching all of our kids play a fair game (albeit a little too passively) was certainly a proud moment.

no sh*t headline of the week

"H1N1 still circulating, CDC warns"

afternoon nap

All day, I've been secretly getting my hopes up that I might actually be able to send Cayden to school tomorrow. His temperature has been hovering right around 99.5 all day and he's had slightly more energy, and even some tentative interest in possibly resuming to eat at some point before bed. Then I got out of the shower (at 1:35; don't judge me) to find this:

It's Cayden, huddled under a fleece blanket, sound asleep over the heater vent. I checked... yes, he is breathing and no, he's not fake-sleeping. Just a little nap to help him over the last hurdle towards recovery or a backslide into the depths of sickness?

day 6

Deja vu. It was a painfully long mere two months ago when we had a sick kid home from school all week, and here we are again. Cayden's bout with this flu is mirroring his sister's almost perfectly so I won't bother talking about it all over again. You can just read about it here, substituting his name for hers, of course.

best thing i've heard all day

Josie, to Cayden (while lifting up her shirt): "I going to have bests [breasts] just like you when I get older."



Sheesh... they will both want to kill me when/if they read this at about age 16.

photog blog

With the new year, I decided to start a new project... and of course it seemed only fitting that there should be a new blog to go along with it. Basically, this is just my way of ensuring that I take at least one photo every single day of 2010. I'll be posting one picture from each day (that was actually taken on that day)... just whichever photo stands out to me. Not necessarily the best quality or the funniest or anything too spectacular.

Granted, this was all crafted during the Great Sickness of '09-'10 and at some point in the future there's a chance that all my kids might actually go back to school one day. In which case I might just find something a little more substantial to do with my time, so the posting might not happen daily. But I'll still be taking pictures every day.

better (3 days) late than never

Happy 2010!

h1n1, part deux? (updated)

With just 36 hours of Winter Break left, Cayden has caught a bug. A big ol' nasty bug. His fever, according to our awesome new forehead thermometer (seriously, you need to get one) is 101.9, which is officially in the red zone. He also has a headache, body aches, chills, a sore throat, a cough and is experiencing some pretty major fatigue.

All this is sounding a bit too familiar. Healthy vibes on his (and my sanity's) behalf graciously accepted!


7pm update: Cayden went to bed at 6:15 and was out like a light. I snuck in to take him temp again and it's up to 102.9. Arg.