Thursday, October 28, 2010

...and i can cry if i want to...

so, here are the pictures of ev i promised.  her birthday was celebrated after a nap, before daddy went to work and with a surplus of the kids' friends in the house.  we sang, she cried.  i made a homemade vanilla cake that was amazing.  sam said, "mom, this cake tastes like a sugar cookie."  my love affair with homemade sugar cookies will be reignited the second the thanksgiving turkey is gone.  here's the link to the recipe:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Heavenly-White-Cake/Detail.aspx.


we gave her a tepee that i purchased at a craft fair earlier this fall.  it's a fabric, pvc pipe contraption that's just big enough for her, a sibling and the dog that inevitably gets "invited" in.  i'll just have to remember to do tepee checks.  there's no telling what will end up in there!  then we ate a roast beef dinner with brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes and ran off to church, where she got to be the "birthday girl" in her class and be loved on by all those wonderful nursery friends and teachers!

whew.  5 months straight of kid birthdays and then christmas.  wonderful family planning on our part, huh?  july (audge), august (liv), september (sam), october (ev) and november (ethan).  once the forth of july hits, it's celebration station around here.  and while it can be lots of work and planning and coordinating, i love it.  we do a homemade cake (each kid has their favorite), a dinner out or if they want a party with their friends, dinner in.  and a gift.  it's good for us to have a policy:  i think the kids know what to expect and there aren't any lofty expectations or delusions of grandeur.


i was walking through bed, bath and beyond the other day, when an innocent looking enough child pressed one of those buttons on a horrid machine that started a christmas carol.  i could have run from the store with my hands over my ears.  birthdays.  i'm still on birthdays.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

birthday interrupted...


ev was two on saturday.  unbelievable.  someday, i'll be saying "ev is twenty-two".  even more unbelievable.  she, however, is telling everyone she's three.  mainly because she can't put up just two fingers.

we haven't technically celebrated yet, as daddy was working on her birthday.  so, we're postponing it until wednesday.  but, be sure it will be celebrated.  she must have her "happy cake"-my favorite reference in her constantly growing vocabulary.

evelyn asher is:  very busy, a total ham, a master at drawing curly q's, brushes her teeth 25 times a day minimum, calls her siblings "jabba" (all of them), loves to "read", eats any and all fruit, has a remarkable memory and can already do a somersault.

evelyn:  "giver of life".  you embody every bit of your name, ev.  everyday.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

mutt with a bug mug...

evidently, clark wonky david aloysius grizzwold was bitten by something this morning, while sunning himself on the deck.  he does have quite a talent for catching and eating bees, but i also saw some seriously thick spiderwebs in the vicinity.  we're hoping it's not one of colorado's "bad" spiders and watching him carefully.

Monday, October 11, 2010

cristobol colon...

while today is technically fall break, we did an impromptu history study of christopher columbus. i can vividly remember the image of him that i created in my imagination as a kid. a finely dressed, aristocratic sort with expertly honed leadership skills, his hair blowing in the wind, as he stood at the bow of his ship, scouting for the first sight of the new world.  the "in fourteen hundred ninety-two, columbus sailed the ocean blue" columbus.

as an adult, i have conjured up a completely different version of him. he was the captain of santa maria (the only one of the three ships that wrecked). the captain of the pinta, martin alonso pinzon, sailed off on his own back to spain (starting to wonder about chris' leadership ability) and martin's brother, vincente yanez pinzon, had to stomach columbus the entire way back to portugal.  there even seems to be some controversy surrounding how the pinzons, financially astute men, acquired their wealth.  sketchy.  it is even reported that columbus murdered martin upon their return to spain.  seems miss taylor left that part out in the second grade.

he was 41 when he set off on his first voyage, which lasted 7 months long. he made 3 other voyages that lasted about 2 and a half years each. christopher columbus died 2 years after his final voyage and is buried in present day Dominican Republic.

there you go. your very own impromptu history lesson for today.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

jib jab #2...

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

jib jab...

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

halloween hysteria...

undoubtedly, this time of year is our favorite. and whether in the midwest or the wild west, fall is just plain wonderful. very early on in the season, usually when i have to make an impromptu stop at target for diapers in mid-september, the kids start "halloween hysteria". they dream up and concoct ideas for their costumes, nag me to take out the orange and black bin with our decorations and beg me to buy candy corn. "not yet!" i tell them. but this year, i think i was the one starting the hysteria!

i made a therapeutic stop at starbucks and then walked around good will. one of my favorite things to do alone. besides making some excellent .99 book purchases, i found three halloween costumes for the girls for 5 bucks a piece: a ghoulish black/white cheerleader for liv, a gorgeous black and purple satin bat for audge and a sweet, little white kitty for ev. i also found an old mechanic's shirt with the name "eric" on it for sam. ethan is still undecided, but we have a tux shirt and bow tie, so he's leaning towards being a waiter. when i told him we could put body parts on a tray, he was more than in.

so halloween hysteria is in full swing. and yes. i bought candy corn. they're on the top shelf of my stash cabinet in the kitchen. ssshhhh.