Christmas evening rainbow

Ready to rip

Hung with care

Tree is lit

Bedtime anecdote

After I told Kateri and Bernadette a story, they began affectionately reminiscing about when Kateri used to bite (apparently now she's more likely to pinch when sibling warfare elicits a violent reaction).

Decorating

Cookies!

Elves at work

2016 tree

Note that Bernadette is weeping because she doesn't think the tree is big enough.

Christmas cookies

Halloween future?

Kateri wants one of my shipping boxes for Halloween. Bernadette drew a face for her.

A few notes that didn't make it here previously

Isaiah wanted to try removing his loose tooth with a string and slammed door. That didn't work because it is hard to keep the string on the tooth. Pliers also wouldn't grip the odd shape. In the end, I yanked it by hand for him.

 

Shooting stars, kids creating delightfully odd book titles, sun rises, kids climbing on downed trees, exploring outside, morning ice in the water bucket, leaves adrift.

 

Super happy morning baby

 

Bernadette asks for the title of a book she is holding, noting that it is "Robbery something ...". The book? "Crime and Punishment."

 

No nap for Mara today so she was super cranky. Early bed resulted in tears books solved that. More tears when the lights went out but a little show tunes madly (boy do I only know snippets of lyrics) soon resulted in deep, calm sleep.

 

Me to Kateri just now: "Give me five."

Kateri: "No, I'm 4."

Me: "OK, give me four."

 

Non-displaced fracture of the clavicle for Isaiah.

 

Freight train crying: bedtime wailing, guttural and disconsolate sobbing with self-generated momentum.

 

Current date status. Marian: instead of a beer, I'm going to order a side salad.

 

You've become a fully vested parent when one of your children cuts her sister's hair (and eye lashes) while no adult is watching.

 

Marian: At the end of a long, busy day, Matt agreed to hold a not-too-happy baby for half an hour so I could snatch my last chance to get a workout in before bedtime. Which was probably not very much fun for him, but truly a smart move because, as everyone knows, "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands. They just don't."

 

leaf tethered to the tree by a strand of spider silk dances in the wind like a butterfly

 

Last night I took Isaiah to few neighbors so he could raise money for Trail Life. Todd Rengstorf had the football game on, and after everyone had perused the coffee and whatnot on sale, Isaiah told Todd, "I'm going to play in the NFL when I grow up." 
Todd: "Will you remember your neighbor and get me so tickets when you do?"
Isaiah: "If you are still alive."
That caused a round of laughter from Todd and Amy.

 

Last night while playing with Pia, I was able to consistently elicit smiles when I shifted my voice higher. My new parenting book will be called Falsetto Daddy.

 

More Pia: she was grinning at me this morning before church. I said "Friedrichs face." She stopped smiling. I said "Tascio face." She smiled and made a noise. Was she talking? She gave me a smile and audible reaction twice more for "Tascio face."

 

Isaiah's description of the game-winning hit last night: Jacoby Ellsbury hit a line drive to the pitcher and Joakim Soria just disintegrated.

 

Informal survey of the 2-month-old demographic suggests a ceiling fan is the funniest comedian on earth.

 

One thing about babies: Once they start smiling, you'll contort yourself to get the kid to repeat that smile. This morning, Pia was smiley. I got a little one and tried some singing and dancing. She looked concerned. Then she turned her head the other way and gave the laundry basket a big grin. I guess I'm less fun than the laundry basket.

 

Getting fencing outfits for my kids so we have an accurate score of every time one of them says he or she was hit by a sibling.

 

Candyland Chaos (TM). 7- 5- and 3-year-olds sold separately.

 

Why you take 2-year-olds to funerals: in the final minutes of Jim's wake on Thursday Mara says, "Best day evah." Now she had been fussed over by all kinds of people all day, had received a generous portion of peanut m&ms and -- unlike the adults on the run-hug-story-laugh-cry roller coaster -- had ducked out of the funeral home for 40 minutes to swing and play in the dirt at the park.

 

Me to Mara on our way to Marian's cousin's house: Can you say DiDona?

Mara: donut.

Me: Say DiDona.

Mara: Donut. Donut!

 

 

Like a tree in the forest, you think the grief storm has passed. Then the slightest breeze shakes loose new tears.

 

There should be an Olympic event for putting 1.5- to 2-year-olds to sleep.

 

Mara, holding a toy cup: "I'm making water." 
Also, she built a tower taller than she is with cardboard blocks.

 

Marian to Kateri, who is wiggling in her chair: Kateri, do you need to go to the bathroom?
Kateri: I'm just rockin' and rollin' PAUSE cause I like it. 
A few minutes later she excused herself to go to the bathroom.

 

Young people who need a science fair idea: someone should report on how far the ate stomach of a toddler can project material when that child is ill.

 

Kateri: When I get older, I'm gonna have a loose tooth.

 

Mara, when she sees I have change, sticks out her hand. "Monies." And she's asking for more than one coin. "Monies."

 

Marian to Matt: "I'm reaching that point in pregnancy when I can't wear my engagement ring anymore."

Bernadette: "Can I have it?"

 

Kateri: Mama, some day can I be 4?

 

Bernadette: Purple princesses like pink, too.

 

Morning Pia

Two hats are better than one