Cherubic Choir

Packing List? Check.
To Do List? Check.
Worry? No.
Mild apprehension? Easily fixed. (glug, glug, glug...)
Airline baggage regulations? Check.
Small portable pharmacy? Yes, yes, check, and give me something harder to plan for.

I'm thinking and prepping and readying to pack. It takes a lot of my concentration to prepare for this adventure. I should have been a girl scout. It's a challenge to have the myriad of supplies ready for any child of 4 to require. But, oh the pay-off, when I reach into that backpack with just the thing. Oh, yes. There is a spousal smirk & a tip of my head. It's really the only time I'm clever these days, in the prep department. I live for that tip of the hat some days.

So imagine my loss of focus, when - in the midst of my list-making and (most importantly) thinking - I kept getting beseeched to solve Sibling WWIII again and again. And imagine my pleasure when I closed the back door behind them all.
And then - stick with me, I know you are up to the imaginative task - imagine the look on my face when I heard a cherubic chorus outside the window.

They were perched on chairs, slides and see-saws and they were chanting.

"I hate my mommy. I hate my mommy. I hate my mommy!"

I stared.

I fumed.

I grinned.

I waved through the window, like Ms. America on parade - and went back to my list.

I'm sure they'll love this story one day.

Granny Was Right

My Granny always told me to put the baby in a playpen, if I wanted to get anything done.

And she was right.

I got a LOT done today...

I'm only sorry it took me so long to listen.

Do they make these things any bigger?

Halloween run-down

Happy sunny day!

I am happily writing to you from my new desk - which I will soon show to you. Let's just say that my new desk has almost eclipsed Halloween and its craziness. I heart this desk. It is a large, fine desk. Suitable for holding all of my things. This desk has so much storage, it can be my computer center, bill-paying center AND craft center. Uh-huh.

Did you hear I got a new desk? I did. Anddid you hear that I'm no longer perched precariously on a stool beside the sideboard, bruising my knees each and every time I write to you, which, interestingly just reminded me of penance? My penance for chattering on and on about mundane drivel? Oh, I hope not.

Well. I hope you enjoyed the Halloween reveal.

What a sight, the sight of the 4 Learlings in the costumes of their choice. Yes, not only do I not do school art projects for my kids, I also do not make them wear things I think are cute. Clearly. Because, if I did, they would all have matched and been something fun that comes in fours. Right? Instead, I could only have my way with little Mickey Mouse - and isn't he

s-w-e-e-t?? Even with the shiner, which made him look like a tough Mickey.

Maybe next year. Maybe next time - as Isabella says, each time I try to convince her to wear a certain outfit. Maybe tomorrow, as Jadyn says every time I try to sway her choice of clothing.

There's always next year, next time and tomorrow, right?

So. We traipsed around with 2 ninjas, a reindeer named Rudolph and a Mickey Mouse. We were hardcore, baby! We walked a few miles in the rain, without even a stroller - let alone a tan suburban. (that one's for you, Susan!) I was pleased to find you all concurred with the "trick or drinking" proposal (to quote Shah's phrase - hey BB!), and I can say it made me not only happier, but is the sole reason I agreed to keep slogging around in the rain. I became a "Sure we can!" Mom instead of a "Head home NOW!" Mom. :) Though I will say maybe I laughed a little too uproariously when an alien answered the door at one house. I hooted and hollered and yelled "Good one!" - mostly because all the kids jumped back when she opened the door - and that was worth it all.

A good (soaking wet exhausting) time was had by all, and now I'm ready to trash all that sugar because it has turned my children into demons. BOO!

pre-Halloween craze

Upon reflection of the utter madness that has already been going on this day, even before the ingestion of mass quantities of candy... I had an idea. It seems quite logical and should probably be required.

When the homeowner opens the door to the smiling trick or treaters, and holds out a basket of candy, he or she should have in the other hand a tray of shots for the parents to select from.

Treat for the kids. Treat for the parents. All's fair, my pretties.

Because, really. As cute as the itty bitties all look in their dearly loved get-ups - I do not love the raging sugar madness that follows. So a little drinky along the way would do wonders for the fun-factor of parents.

Until this catches on, my aunt & uncle have the right idea. They trick or treat with their 4 kids, and tote a wagon behind. The wagon is for their cooler to ride in as they tool around Smallwood.

Cheers, and have a freaky fright night!

A crafty son

Cole got off the bus celebrating yesterday! The school had a fall poster contest, and he won 2nd place for the 2nd & 3rd grade division! Here is the prize-winning entry, for which he received a bag of candy and some bookmarks. :) It's a mixed-media fall festival portrayal: (no, he didn't take that vase in, it's only holding down the edge. Decoratively. And the poster is rain-spattered, creating an unintentional drippy look!)

This week was also Say No to Drugs week at school, whereby our offspring are taught all manner of facts about drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Cole had a few things to say about that, too, and a cartoon to illustrate.

Please notice the cartoon pictorial:

Square 1: fellow has drinks. Square 2: fellow is apparently intoxicated & hospitalized, seeing as how he has "x" eyes (where did he get that from?!) He is being checked out by a nurse. Square 3: The fellow in a hospital bed. Square 4: RIP, and a grieving son placing flowers on the grave.

Do I even need to say anything else?

Tune in next week for a cartoon of a trick or treating bully and the consequences...

Personal vs Public

Something funny is up with total strangers blurring the lines between private and public info. People will ask anything! And out of experience, my criteria has become this - make it funny if you're going to make remarks or ask questions!

This stranger phenomenon first struck when I was pregnant with twins. Perfect strangers wanted to know my complete fertility history, and were not shy about asking if I was on drugs. Fertility treatments, in-vitro, acupuncture, karmic meditation - how did this happen to me?? It always caught me off guard, though I probably should have come up with a good line early on. I don't think well on my feet.

Well, that's not quite true. I think fine on my feet, only a foot usually ends up in my mouth. :) So, it's better for me to have down pat what I will say, so as to avoid awkward stares. Plus, I have face that is practically glass. Everything I think runs right across my face, like the CNN ticker. Or maybe my eyes are projectors, like those script-thingies public speakers read from.

Either way, I would stare blankly at the nosy nelly stranger, and state the truth. "Dropped two eggs, and both took! Wow, what luck!" Finally I saw a tee shirt that gave me an answer to if twins "run in my family" - I would say "Depends on who is chasing them." :-) That became a favorite.

But now, when we roll with our entire entourage, people watch and smile or grimace or follow us and ask to be adopted. Oh wait. That's Angelina that gets that question.

So we were going into a store, the whole kit & caboodle, and a kind gentleman was holding open the door. As the kids paraded around the corner, followed by Rick with the stroller, I could see by the stranger's face that he was thinking of those circus clown cars where 3000 clowns climb out of a tiny VW.


He said, "Well, that's a passel of kids! Don't you have a TV???"

Cut to Rick & I, giggling at each other, wondering when our personal life became mall-parking-lot fodder. But truly appreciative of two things: 1. it was funny, 2. we hadn't been asked that before, in quite that way.

A TV? Maybe I should have just told him I ran out of books to read... :)