What's that you say?

A funny little breakfast conversation...

Me: What do you want for breakfast, Myka?
(silence)
Me: Do you want oatmeal, or rice krispies, or cheerios?
Myka: Ummmm, melted (then trails off)
Me: No, we don't have grilled cheese for breakfast.
Myka: No- melted CHEERIOS. Melted green cheerios.
Me: What?
Myka: Melted green cheerios. (getting frustrated)
Me: What are melted green cheerios? Do you mean melted cheese? We don't have cheese at breakfast.
Myka: NO! MELTED GREEN CHEERIOS! (crying now)
Me: (pause, thinking) Oh, multi-grain cheerios???
Myka: Yeah. (smiling. I am laughing.)
Me: Ohhh. Okay.
(silence)
Myka: Actually, I want oatmeal.

Oh, deer!

I apologize in advance for all the wildlife (real "wildlife", not crazy-kid type) pictures you are about to see. We live on the edge of a ravine and enjoy the variety of critters we get to see in our backyard that don't make it into most city neighborhoods. While I do enjoy watching our groundhog(s) daily in the spring and summer, wintertime is my favorite for the ravine. We can see right through it now and when the snow falls it is just beautiful. We can also see the deer, even if they are all the way on the other side. The other morning as I was at the sink I looked up and saw this:

There were 7 of them around, finding their breakfast in our garden and paying close attention to the sounds of people up and about. They were looking across the way until I went over to our sliding glass door (the one with the giant hole in the wood by the handle and huge gap between the panes) where they must have heard me talking to Myka because they all turned at the same time to check out what was going on behind them.

Later that same day there were a few more around in the garden and Tetley was even outside. He ran at them and they did nothing so he just went on his way sniffing and marking. It appears they are not so skittish in the afternoon.

This evening as I was making dinner and Kurt was on the phone, we looked up to count 11 between our yard and the neighbors. As they moved between the houses we went around front to see where they were going. This one stopped to take a bite:

He is literally 2 feet from me, nibbling on the bush right outside our front window. The blurriness is from the window screen. Tetley got a little excited with this one being so brave and scared him away after this, but I managed to catch the "school" of deer headed down the street on video before they were out of sight. Myka is trying to decide which one is the teacher. Apparently she figures any groups walking in a nice straight line to get from one place to another must be headed somewhere with their class.

Nope, I got 'em all cut...

Eli had his first haircut last week. It wasn't a pressing issue, I was just tired of wiping the 11 extra long stray hairs from his eyes all day long. So, of course, after cutting Kurt's hair for 8.5 years, I figured 11 hairs that just need a little trimming wouldn't be a problem. He did surprisingly well, and I managed to get the hair I was aiming for, along with a few others. Now I am obsessed with finding new ones that need to be cut. Poor kid will be bald before spring.

"The before shot" - (there are actually so few really long hairs they aren't even visible)

Distractions were the key...

"Fun's over, Mom! Why don't you just try to feed me something while you're at it?"

And we're done. For now, at least.

Three's Company, Thirteen's a Vacation!

I am blessed to still be such good friends with my college roommates and swimming friends Emily and Sarah. Despite some distance between us in miles, we have managed to keep close and make many visits since the 10 years (10?! Already?) we have been out of school.



The more recent round of trips have almost always been to meet the latest addition to our clan, as we have/will have 7 babies in under 4 years between us. A couple weeks ago the kids and I went to meet Emily's latest, Molly Ann, born in early December. Sarah and her two little ones were there as well, and we all had a wonderful time hanging out and letting the kids get to know each other again.

Our three oldest girls have been together at least 6 times in the last 2 years, and it is fun to watch them play together. But we have decided that our families may be outgrowing each other's houses as it becomes more and more interesting to find sleeping places for everyone (Eli was in the laundry room), take baths (4 kids in the tub), keep toddlers entertained (sorry to Emily for the tiny pieces of play-doh in her carpet) and get everyone fed (we can live on cookies, right?).
Sarah's third child is due in March and we will have another gathering of the crazy kind to welcome the little one. And we have decided that getting together will only get easier after that, as the kids get older and can play more independently, sleep in the same proximity, and hang out for more than 2 minutes without pulling hair or clobbering each other in the face. So, we figure, why not take this show on the road? Our first "family" vacation is scheduled for the summer of 2010. The thirteen of us headed somewhere for a long weekend. You may want to check with me on when and where that will take place, and plan your own vacations accordingly...

Kelly (2 mo), Myka (14 mo), Michaela (3 mo)

Michaela (2.5), Myka (3.5), Kelly (2.5)

A boy's gotta eat

We are having an... interesting time trying to get Eli to eat real food. He wants nothing to do with it. We've been at it since early December and he still has yet to eat even half a bowl of whatever we are trying to slide down his throat - bananas, applesauce, sweet potato, cereal, whatever. He doesn't seem overly hungry otherwise, but he definitely isn't a chunky kid. And, truthfully, more real food means less of me and that is just fine in my book. So we are working on it. Daily. And until then, he seems to do just fine on a steady diet of plastic chicken legs and fake ice cream.