The Sensitive One

During a backrub tonight, Gavin and I had a conversation. We just got back from spending 4 days at Grandma and Grandpa Schulz's house for the Thanksgiving holiday.

G- Why did you guys move away from Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Me-Well, I never lived there. Daddy lived there when he was growing up.
G- Why did he move?
Me- He moved when he became a grown up. He went to college and then moved to Colorado. Then we moved here. Someday you'll probably have a family and live somewhere else too.
G- (fighting back the tears) Will I still get to see you and Daddy?
Me- Of course you will. I love you very much. We'll always be able to see each other.
G- (voice crackling, lip quivering, and still fighting back tears) O.K.

Skip to my Lou, my Emma

Emma learned to skip very well over the past couple months. She has become so good at it that she sees little need for walking. Skipping has become her main mode of getting from one place to another.

Superstar!

Lilah had her first piano recital on the night before Halloween. She rocked! She played all her songs perfectly. She played "Ode to Joy, Yankee Doodle, and My Invention." It was very sweet. The kids got to dress up in costumes. She dressed up up as a diva. I tried to record her playing the songs, but the batteries went out on the camera, so all I have is a picture of her.

I'm very proud of her. She eagerly practices the piano daily, without so much as a grumble.

Three-legged chicken solution

Rotisserie chickens are cheap. I bought 2 the other day and plan to make chilaquiles and chicken noodle soup with the rest of the chicken. Chicken carcasses make a great stock for chicken noodle soup.

As much as I try to rationalize buying two chickens by having a purpose other than not wanting to deal with sorting out who gets the legs, it really does comes down to that.

Special Friends

I've made mention to the fact that our household is blessed with an abundance of stuffed creatures we've acquired over the past 7 years. Some of them have been deemed worthy of a name that actually sticks...

Gavin's special friends:
Luke (as in Skywalker)- a spotted frog (webkinz)
Max- the big neon green dog Gavin received, not won, from the State Fair- (thanks to the kind girl who gave up her big stuffed dog to a tantrumming hungry/tired boy)
Teddy- the bear Mike gave him for Christmas a few years ago
Black Bear- the stuffed animal we got for Gavin after the dreaded flood in the basement
Groovy Baby- he used to like to sleep with this one- he has grown out of it, but we still have it
Ello- the giant stuffed elephant that sleeps with Gavin
Brownie- a chocolate lab stuffed animal

Emma's special friends:
Burp- a random doll she's become attached to- dresses it up in her old baby clothes she found in the box under my bed
Teddy- the bear Mike gave her for Christmas- same year Gavin got his
Snuffy- the dog Emma won at the State Fair
Build-a-Bear- she calls it that even though it's a monkey
Sarafina- the white fluffy cat Emma picked out after the dreaded basement flood
Simba- a lion webkinz

Lilah's special friends:
Renae- a black lab webkinz
Nikki- American Girl Doll
Little Lamb- a soft beanie baby she got as a newborn on the day she came home from the hospital
Lucy- a cloth stuffed doll- I can't, for the likes of me, remember where this one came from
Teddy- the stuffed animal given to her for Christmas by Suzy, her first daycare provider- Teddy is missing his nose and has been since his second day with us. Norman delicately removed the nose, and only the nose.
Warning- a stuffed dog that was lost in Grand Rapids, MN, the day Josh and Bri were married. Lilah had a hard time accepting that Warning was lost. We really did search far and wide to no avail. I include it because I liked the name. She really liked the dog too. It was named warning because of the "warning" printed on the tag.
Snowbell- the identical cat that Emma has- again, an attempt to appease the kids due to the loss of so many toys in the flood
Pooh- named for obvious reasons - Pooh survived the flood- he was the first thing I saw floating at the bottom of the stairs when I realized that the basement was flooded

I know there are more that I can't think of, because all too often, when we're getting ready to leave the house, someone will delay our departure because of the need to bring along a stuffed animal, referred to by a name that I've never heard of.

A quote from Gavin

Last night while I was reading to the kids, Gavin said this in the middle of the book...

-Mommy, pause the book. I need to go get a drink of water.


I think he's become too accustomed to the DVR

More Fall Fun

We went to Elian's house to do some pumpkin carving the week before halloween.

We had some eager beavers....

A watchful eye....

And one not even pretending to show interest for more than a few minutes...

Can somebody please tell me where I can buy a three leggged rotisserie chicken?

The kids have all just realized that they like eating chicken legs. I had to bribe with 5 tallies to whoever was willing to make the sacrifice and forgo the leg for a part of the breast or thigh. It took a long time, but Emma finally relinquished, but only if she could have one bite of Lilah's leg and one bite of Gavin's. She does like her tallies, but I think she likes to please even more. She was very proud of her ability to compromise.

Gone hunting....

Whenever I go out of town, Mike is always so thoughtful and surprises me, upon my return home, with the house in better condition than the state in which I left it. Well, Mike is out of town this weekend- opening hunting weekend. I mentioned to the kids that we should try to surprise Daddy and get the house really looking great. Emma responded:

"Yeah, he'll be tired form all his hard work shooting the deers."

Sounds like a sarcastic remark, but I don't think it was intended to be so. I guess she thinks he's out there trying to provide for our family.

Duncan

a.k.a.- D-money, D-man, Big D, D., Dunky, Puppy Dawg, Dumkin, best dog ever...

His current medical status has not suppressed his love for/obsession with food. He started following me around the house and moving his bowl around at 3:00 this afternoon. I have to wait to feed him until Mike comes home, because if I don't, he won't leave Mike alone until he's fed again. Sometimes I forget he's not a person, and try to reason with him. Today I said, "Duncan, it's not time to eat yet," which translates to our starving puppy dog as, "Duncan, waah, waah, waah, waah, eat, waah." He perked up even more during the "eat" part of the sentence.

I am happy to report that some new meds seem to be helping him with his breathing situation. He's running around a bit more, and enjoying life again. He even kept up with us during the trick-or-treating.

Fall Fun

We spent an afternoon at Minnetonka Orchards on a balmy day in October. The thing to remember about Minnetonka Orchards is that a to pick your own apples, a bag costs $24. They do have a lovely walking path, a train to climb on, a silo to climb up, scrumptious sugary apple donuts, a great mound of hay to jump from, and loads of fun to be had. Oh, and the many, many photo ops.

These pictures were taken on October 7. The temperature was something ridiculus, like 85 degrees!