Nothing's More Fun Than a Cardboard Box
The kids spent HOURS last week coloring this box, then pretending it was a spaceship and taking trips to the moon. They made it comfy with our new couch cushions, added in all their legos, and brought pretend snacks for the trip.
It broke within a couple days, but the great thing about cardboard boxes is there will soon be another one...
XOXO
New Carpet
Sis cried when the men took out the 25-year-old, horribly dirty white carpet that had been in our bedrooms, but was super excited when the soft, plush gray new carpet went in. Plus there was the extra fun of climbing all over the new carpet before it went in (and the old carpet once it came out).
XOXO
Hide and Seek
This is how we currently play hide-and-seek at our house:
Luke and Zo: "Mommy! Let's play hide and seek! Can we hide?"
Me: "Sure. Here I go. Counting to 10. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Ready or not, here I come!" (During this time, the kids are running to another part of the house.)
Me (starting to walk around): "Hmmm. I wonder where my big kids are?"
Luke and Zo (running towards me full-speed and giving me the biggest hugs): "Here we are! We're right here, Mommy!"
XO
Where the Butterflies Are
Luke: "Mommy, will you read me 'Where the Butterflies Are'?"
Me (noting the book he was holding): "You mean 'Where the Wild Things Are?'" (Which is my favorite children's book ever, by far.)
Luke: "Yes."
And then all the way through he made me change "Wild Things" to "Butterflies."
I keep thinking the poetry I read the kids has wormed its way into that brain of his...the words "Wild Things" and "Butterflies" don't rhyme, but there's something cool and similar to the sound of them...
XO
Some Things About New Orleans I Want to Remember
- Reading (the zombie-superhero book Jeff gave to me) in the park, warm gray tabby cat purring in my lap, claws kneading into my leg, white egrets all around
- Ringing the doorbell when arriving at our hotel and the stately gentleman who opened the courtyard door, let us in
- Honor-bar wine before dinner in our French Quarter courtyard, aglow with tea lights, fountain trickling amidst a jungle of the greenest plants
- A big brass band leading a young blonde bride, older groom--smiling ear-to-ear, the bride with a bright white umbrella--and their wedding guests through the darkened and uneven streets of the French Quarter
- Fried oyster Po-Boys at Coops and Mahoney's
- Walking and stopping for coffee at the most un-touristy place ever on our way to visit Keith
- The short sparkly dress I passed up on Magazine Street
- A restoration in a Garden District graveyard
- Birthday dinner and jazz at Antoines Cafe
- Beignets and cafe au lair at Cafe du Monde...oh, the mounds of powdered sugar!
- Walking along the river in the sunlight
- Getting monster dolls for our kids (to whom we said, "Look what jumped into our bag to come home and meet you! All the way from New Orleans! Monsters!") and laughing when we figured out after the fact they were actually voodoo dolls (we should have known...)
- Drinking Bourbon at the Bourbon House in the French Quarter, the movie "The Time Machine" playing on TV (no sound), the best singer we heard all trip onstage, everyone dressed to the nines
- Music always and everywhere...
Kid Cuteness December 12, 2014
Sis (very sad, on the news we were taking our dog Newton to the vet for an annual check-up): "Do we have to leave him there? Like Dexter?" (Dexter died earlier this year.)
Luke, running away from me in a temper-tantrum kind of mood: "Sometimes people just need their mommies to leave them alone!"
Early in the morning, kids in their playroom at the top of their lungs: "Ahhhh! A spider! A spider!" I came down the hall to help, turns out it was their stuffed Spiderman doll.
I let Sis have one of my black pens to color with while I was working. I got engrossed in work and she got very quiet.
Me (not looking up): Sis, you're coloring paper, right?
Her: "Nope!" (Her hands were covered with ink by that time...my bad...)
These days we are not brushing top and bottom teeth, we are brushing upstairs and downstairs teeth.
When we were at Ben's for Thanksgiving we shared a room with the kids and it was cool to witness them waking up...they are full of nursery rhymes and songs. As Sis said with joy in her voice, "We wake up singing!"
At Thanksgiving, Grandpa stuck his finger in the whipped cream on Zo's pie. Her response? To put her own finger in, get it covered with whipped cream, and offer it sweetly to her Papa.
The kids are big on announcing ahead of time if they're going to do something they shouldn't. "Grab!" they'll say. "Take!" "Hit!" Luke's also good at warning about food, e.g., "I'm going to take my juice and throw it on the ground!" To which I say, "Thanks for the warning, Bubs. In that case, I am not going to give you any juice."
In the car, one kid will start singing "Wheels on the Bus" and the other will protest: "No! Stop! We're not on a bus! We're in a van!"
Unprompted renditions of: "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands..."
XOXO
Sissy in Motion
At the castle in Albuquerque's botanic gardens last weekend. Man, I love pictures of Zo in motion, I just feel like her personality shines through.
This is also the first day she ever let me do braided pigtails like this...
XOXO
A Coyote at the City Duck Pond
My husband had the day off last Friday and wanted for us each to spend some individual time with each of the twins. Luke was mine for a few hours that morning, and I asked him what he wanted to do and he said, "Duck Pond," so that's where we went. I let him take his little plastic excavator and it was more fun for him playing with that in the dirt and the leaves than anything...which was fine...it was his time...I just wanted to be with him doing something he enjoyed...
When we first got there, we went to the concrete viewing area to the East, and I don't have a picture of it because we were too busy being amazed, but there was a silent, watchful red-and-gray coyote carefully picking his way along the water's edge, not at all far from us. (Although I felt safe as I was right with Luke...and we were behind the concrete...also I asked one of the rangers about it after and he said it's always good to keep your wits about you, but coyotes are looking to avoid you, they are not aggressive.)
The kids and I have had some great wildlife sightings lately, including this and also some deer frolicking and Ben's--truly playing, which is unusual to see--and also one morning a dozen huge elk in the meadow at Ben's house...when we first woke up Bodie took us out to see them...the kids called them reindeer, and were sooooooooo sad when they left...
XOXO
Denver Botanic Gardens/Chihuly Glass
Last weekend, while we were in Colorado, we visited the Botanic Gardens, which was full of color-pops of Chihuly glass sculptures. I didn't get many pictures because I was trying to corral kids, but it was a warm day and we spent a long time and my favorite was a field full of tall dried grasses with red spires...so amazing. The kids learned about rolling down grass hills from their cousins, too. I rolled down with Zo...so fun...made me feel like I was five again.
We were going to meet my parents at Casa Bontia for dinner but their car broke down on the way so we headed up the mountain to help them instead...next time...
So nice to be with my brother and his lovely family...
New Orleans for Jeff's Birthday
Ah, what a beautiful, quirky, noisy (in a good way) city. Jeff and I fell in love... Late nights and too much to eat and drink and during the days walking and walking and walking...
