Butternut Squash Facials

You can pay a lot of money for these at your nearest spa or you can just drizzle butternut squash soup all over your face and clothes and get rejuvenated for free. Adelaide prefers the latter.

Nanny 911 Returns

Our British nanny has arrived safe and sound for a short stay. The poor guy actually flew from Kosovo to Vienna to DC to Chicago and then here to see us.
It wasn't too long before Andy was being hosed down in a massive fire.
After the water torture, Elias decided being friends was better than being a firefighter.
Now here are two happy guys!

Our Field Trip to Daddy's Work

It was a gorgeous day to get outside. I got the kids into the car and we travelled down to UW- to pay a visit to Daddy and to catch a soccer game. On the way there, Elias asked if there would be a playarea at Daddy's work. When we got there, he was delighted to play teacher and kept saying, "I'm learning to be a teacher." Finally, he asked Daddy if he could play with the "mouses" in his office. Addie enjoyed the visit, too, but mostly smiled when she saw her Dad's name on the door.

All Before the Cock Crows

When I was a kid and was visiting my grandmother, I would usually sleep until 7 0r 8. As a teenager, that hour could be as late as 9. I was always amazed by what she had done in the early morning hours. Usually she had made breakfast for us, swept the kitchen floor, thrown in a load of laundry, peeled potatoes for the night's supper, and gone out to the garden to pick a few ripe and ready tomatoes. We used to tease her about all she had accomplished before we had even woken up.

Now I see where she is coming from. You see, ever since Elias has been potty trained he has been waking-up very early and saying that he needs to go to the bathroom. This morning it was 5am and he screamed until around 6 because he wanted to put his clothes on and not go back to sleep. In a small house, you lose no matter what. If you leave him in his room and tell him to go back to sleep, he screams and usually wakes up his poor sister--let alone his tired parents. If you pacify him, you teach him that he is in charge and that's not a good thing. But, I'm at a loss here. This kid has never done this and it's getting old very fast. Any suggestions...

So, by the time I decided to get out of bed at 6:30, I showered and dressed. I fed the kids breakfast and cleaned them and the kitchen. I folded a load of laundry and put it away. I vacuumed the downstairs and I boiled a pot of lentils to start our curried dahl for supper. When I looked at my watch it was only 8am and I had already listened to the news since 7. Help us, help us! I know, this too, shall pass, but let's hope sooner rather than later.

You Said It's Your Birthday!!!!

Thank goodness! I have been logging into my blog for days and getting nothing but a spot that says URL and MIME. It has been so frustrating because I have had friends log in and find nothing wrong. (I know I'm not entirely computer savvy, but I'm also not pathetic). In any event, one friend suggested changing my browser, which I just did and it popped up beautifully. Thanks, Kyle.

Here are some pictures of Elias's birthday party. It got off to a tenuous start because I had asked Adam to pick-up the cake and the balloons and set-up the picnic tables while I stayed with the kids during nap time. Elias wasn't napping so Daddy took him along to do the errands. When I arrived to the park two sets of our friends were there, but no Adam and no birthday party. I started to panic. It could be within reason that my husband might have ended up at a different park. Unfortunately, I didn't have a phone with me. Soon, out of the distance, I saw his car pull-up. They reported that getting the balloons was a lengthy endeavor and held them up.

In any event, the kids had so much fun and even Elmo made a surprise visit. Elias was really too busy to open his presents at the party, but he has been enjoying them at home.

The BIG 3

Elias enjoyed his day thoroughly. It started early and ended early. A trip to the zoo with his friend, Madeline. Opening presents and sleeping with many of them. Eating an Elmo cake which didn't look much like Elmo after Mom was done decorating it with strawberries and grapes, instead of frosting. We had so much fun! Good night everyone.

A Spoon of Her Own

Virginia Woolf would be very proud of Adelaide. She has moved from being the low-key and calm child to an obstinate and opinionated little girl. You might ask, how do you know this? Does she say much? Well, words seem insignificant when it comes to Adelaide's areas of strength and determination. To start, she refuses to be fed with a spoon. That was soooo 6 months old! She now refuses to eat yogurt and appleasuce unless she does it herself--with her own spoon. However, that usually digresses to a face-painting extravanganza instead.

Her second area of no surrender is her nose. The girl has had a nasty cold for over a week now. Now I know you all are saying, all kids refuse to have their noses wiped--and they do. But do they grab the Kleenex out of your hand and put it in their mouth and chew? That's one way to abort a nose wipe.

Finally, Adelaide no longer wants to bathe by herself. She really insists on the pleasure of her brother's comapny even if it's hazardous to her health. So, here they are enjoying each other as I watch determined to keep heads from going under.

Bucky Fans

Here are the kids sporting their Bucky paraphernalia on game day.

Sabbath Supper

I was feeling a bit challenged by honoring the Sabbath as strictly as "thou shall do NO work on Sabbath." It just seemed that Saturdays became so stressful because I was doing mad dashes to the basement for laundry and fretting if someone dropped something that needed to be vacuumed. I also realized that when your child had been waking up at 5am and that was rectified due to a clock radio that plays a simple CD at 7am, that a quick trip to Target to exchange the already broken clock/radio was not much of a choice--or a luxury. Yes, we violated the no shopping on the Sabbath law--or blue laws as they are known in New England.

So, Adam and I came up with another way of honoring the Sabbath, following old Jewish and Christian traditions. Of course, we worship together in the morning. In the evening, we planned on having a Sabbath supper. A nice meal, you see, where one of us would cook and the other would make a dessert with Elias. We would set the dining room table with family china. We would get out the wine glasses--and the wine. We would light candles and say prayers. And, we would enjoy a family meal celebrating God's presence in our midst. Here is what happened on our inaugural Sabbath supper.


We got a bit behind in the food preparation timing. The stove was piping hot when Elias and I entered the kitchen. We had to climb around Addie's highchair to get to the mixer and that left us no space to actually bake. So, we dropped the whole dessert expectation. The only person who was truly disappointed was Adam. Instead, we gathered the forks, knives,and spoons and had a lesson on setting the table. Eli helped me put the "heads up and the feet down." I got out the wine glasses and promised Elias his own big boy glass. We also put in two new bright blue candles. Soon it was time to sit down. Unfortunately, Elias fell backwards in his chair twice even before the meal began. He was too busy trying to adjust the silverware.


We commenced our meal with this wonderful Sabbath prayer from Prayers for the Domestic Church. We got to the section in which we are invited to light the candles and remember the light of Christ when Elias burst into song singing "Happy Birthday" and purposefully looked for his Elmo cake. Once that rendition was over, we finished the prayers which involve praying over bread and wine. Of course, we had to give Eli a tad of wine in his cup. Before long, he was lifting his cup and offering "the cup of salvation."



Addie got in the act after prayers by putting the bowl on her head and dropping pasta all over the floor. She, too, was grabbing for the wine glass, but never got it.


By this time, Adam was having true second thoughts about Sabbath supper. I said it's a process. They'll get it eventually. He begged that we at least do it in the kitchen next week without candles, fine china, and pasta sauce on our Oriental rug. I'm still plugging to try it again next week. Although, I did spend 45 minutes cleaning up the mess we had made. By the way, it was a wonderful grilled eggplant parmesan. So, the food was good and the wine turned out to be essential!

The Minutemen (Minutepeople?) Are Coming

Adelaide has truly taken off in the past few days. She is walking all over the place and now has decided to enlist in her local militia.

Hey Palin, Here's Your Real Competition

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