Annual Neighborhood Costume Party

Kateri's drawing of a dalmation. She worked for a long time making all the spots. I can see it displayed in the Museum of Modern Art.

Jack and Matteas came for a visit. The kids fight over "taking care" of Matteas. I'm not sure about the look on Pippin't face.

For the annual costume party Shane and I dressed up as what Kateri called "Red Robin and the Woodpeck".

Here are the kids. Audrey and Kateri were princesses. Cyril was St. Francis of Asissi- he was so excited about the fake birds. And Pippin was Superman.

And Guess Who's 10?

Grandma Trudy made another princess cake. I think that was 3 so far this year. Audrey's friend Anna came over to stay the night- a special birthday concession-and Grandma and Grandpa and we had a nice dinner and for breakfast we made dutch babies and sausage.


At 9:06 on October 18th, Audrey turned 10. At least I think it was 9:06. I wasn't looking at the clock by that point, but Shane remembers. I do remember thinking, "hey, we could show up at 10:00 Liturgy on time, with a new baby." But then the stupid hospital wouldn't let us leave until Audrey peed and threatened to call CPS. Or maybe that was over the fact that I said I did not want the ointment put in her eyes to treat her for an STD. Hence the three home births since then. But aside from that it was a lovely morning and Audrey was greeted by grandparents, aunts, and cousins lots of flowers and balloons. And I got a latte and a scone. Not from the hospital. In fact they never offered me anything in the 12 hours we were there. 12 hours too long. Needless to say I do not have fond memories of the maternity ward at Steven's Hospital. I did like my nurse a lot though. But not the doctor who was upset I didn't want an epesiotomy. Where is the "my body, my choice" philosophy when it comes to birthing a child? Midwives and husbands are awesome. Plus they feed you and rub your back. And generally do anything you want/need.

I have been struggling with how to give Cyril the outlets he needs for his energies in a safe and productive way. Mountain biking is good but only Papa can take him. You can only dig so many holes in the yard, and now it is getting too muddy and wet. So I pulled out his workbench and we went to the hardware store where I bought him a saw and some wood. He was very busy "hammering, sawing, and working away' until he cut his hand. Twice. I searched the garage and found his vise and things have been fine since. Here is showing off his helicopter. He was pretty proud.
Cyprian got this ball for his birthday. Unfortuantely, it is no longer a ball. Fortunately, it stretches and has now become a hat. Reduce, "re-use", recycle. I thought it was creative of the kids.

Guess Who's 3?

You will have to scroll down to see as I've loaded the pictures backwards- again. But I am sure you can guess who. Trying out the new bubble mower from Grandma and Grandpa. It was a big hit, the last thing he talked about before he fell asleep and the first thing after he woke up.
Cyril, and conequently Shane's, latest sport- mountain biking. Shane took Cyril out for about four hours of non-stop crazy trail blazing that I don't even want to witness. Apparently it was not enough because he came home and immediately got out the bike ramp to practice jumps.
Here is where the kids and I played while the big boys were braving the trails.
Audrey thought this willow was cool and said she wanted one in our yard. Me too.

And here is the birthday boy. Being the preepared mom that I am, I could not find three candles. And I could onlyl find pink, as Kateri's birthday was most recent.He didn't care though.
Here is the always much anticipated "Grandma Mac Birthday Card". It came two days before his birthday but he was with me when I got the mail and spied it. He ran back to the house, clutching to his chest and shouting,

"Hey kids, its my birthday from Grandma Mac!" He was so excited he had to open it on the porch.
He had frun blowing up the balloons and chewing the gum, which he was able to do simultaneously. Kateri helped him decorate her kitchen sink with the stickers.
Grandma Trudy started the tradition of decorating cakes with the kids so I filled up the frosting bag and let him go for it.
I thought it turned out pretty well.

History Lesson

The kids and I had a tea party today. And yesterday. They were both relatively calm. We used to call them Boston Tea Parties. No one drank anything, and the goal seemed to be "spill the most tea." Well yesterday's was minimal in spills and today's was even better. Aside from Cyril's motor boat noises and Cyprian asking if we wanted to hear him burp, it felt civilized.



I think Pippin thought he won the gold medal.

We had a talk about the real Boston Tea Party, which led to a lesson on the revolution, which brought up the Star Spangled Banner, which led me to sing it for the kids, which brought on fits of laughter from all corners. Why couldn't they have come up with a melody we can all sing? The range is a bit far flung for the ordinary warbler. 'And the rockets red glare' really got them rolling. Well, I decided we will work on it as a group. No chance of becoming a von Trapp family, but it will be easier for some of us to hide our contributions in a group setting. I hope.

It is such a pretty song though. And not just the difficult tune. I was getting teary-eyed just reciting the words. So I picked out our next book to read together "Betsy Ross and the Flag". It is one of the books my mom gave me. Its from the 1950s and has a big "Discard" stamp from the library it belonged to. It really is too bad. I have several others that seem to be from the series- one on George Washington, one on Florence Nightengale, and another one I can't remember. It seems sad that a lot of our nation's history is not being passed on. So I've decided we'll spend some time studying our founding. The Greeks and Romans have been fine, but I think something a little closer to home might be easier to grasp. And besides there are wars and Indians and lots of exciting things. And we can have tea parties.


This morning, Shane was home for a bit in the morning and was treated to breakfast by the kids. Kateri and Pippin made scrambled egg whites with feta and tomatoes.
Audrey showed off her espresso making skills and whipped up an Americano. And Cyril ran out to grab the paper for Papa. It was cute to see them all so eager to take care of Papa. And of course Kateri did the dishes afterwards. And then asked to wash the toilets. Again.

Never Poke Your Uncle With A Fork

Never poke your uncle with a fork,
never kick your uncle in the shins,
never bop your uncle with a cork...
these are all unpardonable sins.
If you grab your uncle by the nose,
if you put potatoes on his lap,
if you drop spaghetti on his clothes,
he will make you go and take a nap.
When you're at the table, precious child,
if you start to mixbehave, and act
thoroughly undisciplined and wild,
he will gnash his teeth, and that's a fact.
If you jab your uncle with a spoon,
if you prod your uncle with a bone,
you will leave the table very soon,
and have to eat your dinner all alone.
-Jack Prelutsky


We have been working on manners, graces, and just decent behavior lately. My mom gave me a book called"Everyday Graces" filled with stories to illustrate various desireable traits. Audrey was thumbing through and came across the above poem during breakfast . She laughed, and laughed, and then read it out loud to us. Instead of having the intended reaction, she and Cyril talked about doing all the listed atrocities to Uncle Cameron. I think they have enough material to write their own poem.

Kids Go Political

We finally received our McCain/Palin sign today. We don't much in the front strip that would make a very visable placement. So I opted for Audrey's window. I had explained who McCain was and how we wanted him for president- which Audrey already knew. She thought it was great. Then all through our shopping at QFC the kids were chanting, "WE WANT MCCAIN". And Cyprian kept talking about "Mommy's getting a PRESENT for McCain"
We had a neighborhood barbecue this week-end. So of course it rained. We sat and ate in the garage, fabulous smoked and barbecued pork ribs, shoulders, and turkey. We brought chocolate dipped cream puffs and lemon drops. And another neighbor brough Nacho Libre corn. No one lost an eye and we only had to change the kids clothes a few times due to lots of bike riding in the rain. And they all slept very well that night.

Pippin spent the entire evening running up and down the driveway on his tricycle. He didn't mind the rain at all, but was happy when I changed him half way through the party.
So now we are feeling summer has officially ended. We even lit the pilot lights and have turned on the fireplaces a few evenings. I remember at the old house- it was so memorable because I got to chop the wood and build the fire-we started lighting fires the first week of October. So it is a little early this year. But it is only the mornings and evenings so we haven't turned the furnace on yet. Which reminds me, I need to have Shane set the thermostat. It requires something like "30 easy steps" and you have to set the temperature 4 times for each day. And then specially on the week-end. We had some hot nights and cold mornings a few day of the week last year. So I think I'll pass it on to Shane this year.

Catch Up ll

We spent three days at Ft Worden with Shane's family. It was a blast. We had perfect weather, lots of things to explore, good food, good company, and at the end of each day-tired kids. We also had tired adults. We had planned on getting the kids to bed and playing games. But each night we were all so tired we just went to bed. Cyril and Azriel exploring the "buckers".


The view looking down the from bunker hill.

"The walls have been breached, the walls have been breached!"

Here is Officer's Row, where our house was. It was so cute.
We even did som kite flying. The wind was not perfect but Pippin got a little lift to his by running and running. He felt he was flying kite and was happy.
Hiding in an old vault.


Audrey thought this looked like the Narnain ruins of Cair Paravel. Here she is enthroned.

Cyril about to enter the tunnel.

Pippin's orc face. He was looking at sea creatures at the aquarium.

Here are the girls- Kateri, Audrey, and Avi. You could touch the starfish and other creatures.