"Great Pumpkin!"
Last Thursday after dinner, with Daddy away at school and trying to do something special for the kids who miss their Daddy when he's not here, the kids and I cuddled in our bed and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" which I remember from my childhood.
Our bedtime routine lately (the past month or two) is "song and scratchies," which is for each kid one song of their choosing and either a back scratch or tummy rub. Since watching Charlie Brown, each night when I ask what song they would like they say, "Great Pumpkin!" and I la-la-la the intro tune (as seen above). Tonight, Luke danced (e.g., spun around in circles) next to me while I sang to Zo and scratched her back, and then Zo danced while I did "song and scratchies" for Luke.
Love how these little routines develop. Miss them when they inevitably morph into something new.
XO
"Best friends forever."
Me to the kids (as they are running around the living room, tackling each other, shrieking with laughter): "What are you guys doing?"
Sis: "Luke and I are playing 'Best Friends Forever'!"
XO
4 Minutes With Luke and Zo
Just in case you're wondering what a typical 4 minutes around here looks like...
Kid Cuteness
Luke talking about the balloons at Balloon Fiesta: "They got fat, Mommy. The fire made them fat."
Daddy: "Zo, you are going to get a bunny bed. It used to be Mommy's and is coming from Seattle next week. Would you like to see a picture?"
Zo (after seeing the picture, and with much enthusiam): "Oh, that's so cute!"
Daddy: "Luke, we have a bed picked out for you, too. Here's a picture. What do you think?
Luke (also with great enthusiasm): "That's a great, guys!"
Dad to sis: "Sis, we got this?"
Sis to Dad: "Yes we do!"
Dad, in the parking lot going to get gelato: "Why are there so many people here? It;'s a Tuesday night, why is it so crowded?"
Sis to the general parking lot: "Get in your cars people and go away!"
Daddy: "Guys what is the moon made of?"
Luke: "Clouds."
Sis: "Moon."
Luke (a few weeks after celebrating his half birthday): Mom, how old am I going to be on my whole birthday?
Dad (sitting with the kids at the pizza place the other night, waiting for our pizza): "We're tigers! Creeping through the forest! Stop! Look around!" (Kids and Dad use their hands to pretend they are creeping, then stop, then look around.) "There's a zebra! Let's put him in the treehouse!" (This game continued until there was a whole menagerie of animals in the treehouse. Too cute to watch the kids playing with their Daddy like that.)
Dad: "We got a really knotty pumpkin, didn't we guys?"
Sis: "It's not a naughty pumpkin, Daddy! It's a good pumpkin!
XOXO
Anniversary Weekend
My husband and I had our sixth wedding anniversary this weekend. Spent a lot of time with the kids, and all I could think is, "I'm so grateful to have my little family."
XO
Thomas the Train at the Botanic Garden
There's a little garden railroad section at the botanic gardens, and within that Thomas and Percy, who go when the button in the little red-and-white box is pressed. Nothing funner than this for the kids. Sis didn't want to leave when it was time to go home. "Leave me here by myself!" she said...
Balloon Fiesta 2014
This week is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, it's the second time we've been here for it and it is AMAZING.
Last year we did one of the dawn patrol sessions, but didn't get there early enough to see everything. I was determined that that wouldn't happen again so we all got out of bed at 4:30 AM, out of the house by 5 AM, a quick stop for breakfast sandwiches and coffee and hot chocolates (my mother-in-law and the kids were with me) and then up to the park.
We were there plenty early, enough time to eat our sandwiches and then we walked out to where the test balloons were filling up. (While it's still dark, they send up a dozen or so balloons to check the conditions.) They were all in a row, dark and then lighting up as the fires flared...so cool to see:
Here's one of the test balloons going up...and the lunar eclipse/blood moon above and to the right (that was also an amazing thing to see...)
Three of the test balloons went up and went VERY fast to the south, after which all the remaining balloons quickly deflated. No one tells you what is going on at Balloon Fiesta really, so you get information from listening to the people around you. What we heard is that the conditions were bad. (Too windy?) Anyway, we waited quite a long time--maybe 2 hours--after that with nothing happening as people were saying it might change when the sun came up. It was cold...the kids were dressed for it but I wasn't. We were just heading back to the car half a mile or so away to get warm when we started to see some balloons inflating, and so hurried back, found a spot on the grass, and watched. (The kids continued the game of tag they had been playing to keep themselves entertained.)
This balloon went up first to the Star Spangled Banner over the loudspeaker:
And then many, many, many balloons over the next 2 hours...someone said about 550 total.
This was my favorite. Love the colors:
One of the cool things about Balloon Fiesta is you get to be right in the middle of the action. They'll shoo you out of the way if you're in the path of a balloon about to take off, but other than that, you are right there. Here's one of the balloons that inflated and lifted off, right at our side:
Everyone waves and cheers as each balloon leaves the ground:
A few more of the balloons right close to us:
And then some of the "special shapes," which are so cool. There are days devoted to them and this wasn't one of those days, but there were still a number of them to see...
Luke said the bees and the shark were his favorites. Can't get a favorite commitment out of Sis. :)
This is one of those things pictures just don't do justice...the cold of the air, the friendly crowds, the warmth from the burners that inflate the balloons and their brief whooshing sounds, the hot coffee and the clean fall air, all the colors going up into the sky...it's magical...
XOXO
"Pay Attention, Heart"
After the frost, the cosmos fronds
are brittle and brown. Not a hint
of return. Not a trace of pink. Brown.
Partially dust already. Sometimes it needs
to be this way in order for us to do
the work that must be done—the pulling
up of things by the roots and discarding
them into a pile. No, if there were any green chance
that the cosmos might bloom again,
it would be easier to tell the self a story
about how, with some luck and some care,
the plant might leap back to life.
But the story is a trick ladder,
every rung is covered in oil and even
if you reach the top it leads to nowhere.
Look. The flowers are dead. They were lovely once.
Say thank you. And give the stem a tug.
Saturday Morning, Downtown ABQ
Flu shots this morning (which ended up being flu nasal mist...nice not to have the tears), waffles at outside picnic tables, quick Central Avenue antiquing stop, kids asleep in the car on the way home. Lovely way to spend a morning...
"Quick, quick, there's a balloon over our house!"
Daddy: "Bye guys, I'm off to work. Have a good day."
And then, coming back 30 seconds later: "Quick, quick, there's a balloon over our house!"
So we all ran out to the driveway, and started our day with this.
Balloon Fiesta is here. :)
XO
Before the Sandbox, There Was Mini Golf
Ah, mini golf with 2-year-olds. (We have a small putting green on the side of the house.) They have an attention span of about 20 seconds. Plus our dog Newton was totally into chasing the balls...
XO
Kid Cuteness
Sis, up at the crack of dawn, holding her pink pig (known as "Guggy") and pink Ugly Doll (known as "Pink Bat Bat"), looking out the window as it's starting to get light: "The dark is going away! Wow!"
Luke when I go to my office: "Bye! I'm here if you need me!"
Luke to me: "I'm so excited to be here with you and Daddy and Sis!"
Luke on the playground: "I'm a really good ninja!"
Luke, on why he didn't jump off the diving board after his Dad had said that if he threw the golf balls into the pool, he'd have to jump: "I didn't listen."
Daddy (to Luke, who was riding in his car seat): "Luke, you're going to be a duck for Halloween. Can you give me a practice quack?"
Luke: "No, only when I have my duck costume on."
Luke (coming home and seeing Sis after being out and about for an hour with Mom and Dad): "Hi Sissy! Nice to see you again!
Luke to Sis at the playground: "Can I climb up there with you?"
Sis: "Yes you may."
(Kids overall are suddenly having full-on, reasoned conversations with each other--new and very cool.)
Both kids knocking on my office door and asking very politely for things they need.
Both kids taking off to another part of the house: "We're going to preschool now Mommy! Don't be sad!"
Both kids chanting the alligator song to me:
"Along comes Mr. Alligator jaws open wide..."
(opening their arms as wide as they can)
"SNAP!"
(wrapping their arms around me in a big hug).
Both kids running their little toy riding cars into each other full force (they call it "Bumper Cars").
Daddy: "Look! Our kids are jousting!"
Sis after the dog licked her: "I'm wiping the lick off!"
Luke when he is supposed to be going to bed: "But Mommy! I just want a hug!" (This from the most hug and kiss-averse boy there is. Of course when he asks this I go back in for a hug.)
XOXO
Bubs Guards the Cookies
A bag of lemon sugar cookies from Flying Star.
A boy who wanted to hold them on the ride home.
A talk about being responsible for the cookies, and if the bag was opened, there would be consequences (e.g., no cookies).
A bag that stayed closed.
The boy can be trusted with cookies. :)
Self Portrait #1
Going through my Seattle pictures a few weeks after the fact and found this...
Mexican + Greek (???)
My husband's been wanting to try this place for a long time. The cheese enchiladas were unreal...
