Cousins at Christmas

After I wrecked my back a week before Christmas, we had a lovely time with the Hussicots and my Dad. They stayed for three days, and there was much family fun. Also turkey, chocolate and presents. I mostly hung out on the couch, slacker that I am, and took a lot of painkillers. :)

We had a great time, and got a cool shot of the kids. All with eyes open, looking somewhat in the direction of the camera, and mostly all smiling. The planets were aligned properly, apparently. My back is much better now, but still sore, and I can't bend down to get stuff out of the fridge. But I can put my own pants on, so that's a good thing. :)

Anya's 5th Birthday. Or, why I like to torture myself.

We had Anya's birthday party today. We invited 6 kids, plus our 3 for a total of 9 children. For 3 hours. All the parents who called to RSVP said I was brave. It got VERY LOUD HERE FOR A WHILE.

Chantelle came over early and helped out, which was really great. The first thing we did was make pizzas for lunch. These are the adult pizzas, looking a little unfinished. I was excited, and forgot to wait for the cheese before snapping a photo. The kids' pizzas had a lot fewer toppings.

Next we played "Pin the Nose on Rudolph" thanks to DH's awesome creativity. The kids loved it.
I stayed up late last night making a princess cake and cupcakes, and added icing and smarties this morning. Mmm. Princess smartie cake. I was running late, and was adding smarties half an hour before the kids were to arrive, so I didn't fool around with a face. I added a tiara and a necklace, and then stopped, because it looked fine to me. The icing impression (doesn't show well in the photo) looks a little like an abstract face. Anya asked if the necklace was her smile. Um... okay. Whatever works. :)

I was thinking about adding two smarties at chest height for hands, but then decided that might be misunderstood. I also wanted to add more pink smarties to the dress (it's pink icing, the colour doesn't show well either) but out of four boxes, there were only nine pink ones. Hmph. Next time I'm going to Bulk Barn and picking out just pink. It wouldn't be the first time. :)

Cupcakes were also made.

And did I mention the gingerbread city? Graham crackers and a recipe for "icing cement" make great mini-gingerbread houses.

Most of the candy did not end up on the houses, for some reason.

The kids did a great job decorating.

We played "musical socks" and "hide the sock." (I happened to have some handy.) Presents were opened, cake was eaten, and then everybody was forced outside to enjoy the fresh air. And jump on a bouncy thing. (Thanks, Auntie Jennifer!)

Much fun was had. Can you see the sugar? I think Dhara's pupils were bigger than her head.

Pile on!

Shortly after this was a couple of big crying fits, and then naptime.

Anya insisted she was not tired.

I think that balloon says "Happy 30th Birthday." That's the last time we buy dollar store balloons. :)

Fun was had by all, and I had a great phone call from one of the moms later, who said that her daughter was complaining about having to go to "another gymnastics party" and why couldn't that other girl hold her party at home like Anya did where they could play fun games and eat real food? Heh. And here I was feeling all self-conscious about failing the unspoken "trendy" birthday party competition. Awesome.

Downtown Walk

Friday afternoon we had a visit from Poppa, and after dinner we decided to go downtown for the city's "Christmas Walk." It was a nice walk, but a little disappointing. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I thought it would be more... Christmassy. Maybe because there was no snow. And threatening to rain. There were tons of people milling around, and we waded back and forth through the throngs to see Santa, eat candy canes, and drink hot chocolate. There were horses pulling wagons, too, but we didn't want to wait in line for a ride.

Dhara is very excited to see... her candy cane.

The big christmas tree looks great all blurry.

Sparks

Anya's Belonging (Enrollment) Ceremony was last night. Now she is officially a Spark, with her cute little rainbow pin and everything. All the little girls were so cute (all 12!) in her unit, with their pink shirts and pink pants. They carried the flag in, and we sang songs, and then each girl said the Spark promise. Afterwards Anya served us with cupcakes and juice. Yay, Anya!

"I promise to share and be a friend"

Fundraising

I'm helping out a friend who is fundraising for a trip with "Hope 2 Kenya" (http://www.hope2kenya.org). She is going with a group of students and adults who are going to Africa to help build an orphanage, and distribute food to poverty stricken children, among other things. Each member of the team has to pay their own way, so the Girl Guide crew is helping her out with her trip costs.

I volunteered to make and sell earrings, since I've been having an Etsy earring fetish. Lately I've been making wire Christmas trees.

I'm not sure how well you can see the photo, but the gold earrings are made of two fine wires twisted together, and the silvery ones are a single strand. Beads can be any colour.

I can do mail orders, if anyone is interested. $5 each plus shipping. Specially hand crafted by yours truly, and a good cause to boot. How can you resist? :)

November

DH: Is almost done his stint as 2nd assistant camera dude. I think that's his title. He's been volunteering his time around town on a film shoot (some B-movie horror thing) to gain experience, and enjoying it, except for the long hours.

Elora: Was really sick yesterday, with a fever and cough. Oh yeah, and throwing up. Fun fun fun.

Anya: Has been sick this past week, with a cough and runny nose. She's back to school today, thank goodness.

Dhara: Is due to get sick any time now sick today with a fever now, too.

Carol: Is tired, and wondering if this is the flu.

We all went last weekend (two weekends ago, now) to get our H1N1 shots at the clinic. I say we all, but it was just the girls and I. DH came along, but declined. Elora went first, and cried a bit, Dhara didn't even make a peep, and Anya wailed and cried like a banshee, until it was done and she got her sticker. I tried to hold her head so she couldn't see, but she was fighting my hand and trying to look, and she cried as soon as the needle got near. I went last, and asked Anya to tell me a story to "distract me" but by the time I got the words out, it was done. I didn't even feel a pinch, just the nurse holding my skin.

The planets did align on Saturday morning for us to get our annual portrait done. The girls were wearing matching outfits, and they looked so cute. I don't know how long I can get away with the whole matching outfit thing before they all start to rebel, but I'll do it while I can. I figure if I'm going to dress the twins the same (which I don't, often) then I should dress Anya the same too. They wore pretty white blouses and red velvet skirts, plus little black vests that I sewed out of remnant material I bought at Walmart for $1. The skirts and blouses I bought last year on sale after Christmas. I'm so frugal. I love it when I plan ahead. :)

We get the pictures on the 20th. I can't wait.

Hallowe'en

Anya was very excited about her cousins coming over for Hallowe'en yesterday. She decided to fill her time waiting for them by making castles.

We had a great time. Our family had a circus family theme going: Ringmaster, Bareback Rider, Tigers, and the Strong Man. I'll leave it to you to figure out who was who. :)

The whole gang:

Muscles galore, with permanent blonde hair!

Anya's face paint and sparkles:

Strike a pose:

Roadtrip

I had an awesome day on Saturday. Kyla had a spare ticket to see the Arrogant Worms in Sudbury, and Cindy offered a ride, and voila! Instant roadtrip!

We sang Worms songs all the way there, stopped off for a bit at Costco, and picked up Jennifer (because we had, miraculously, another ticket, and I called, and, she, was, available.)(Help, I'm, being, run, over, with, commas.)

Dinner was all you can eat sushi which was yum yum yum. I was very impressed that Cindy, Cindy's family, and Kyla all tried the raw fish, when they had never had sushi before. I highly suggest the Osaka Sushi in Sudbury, if you're in the neighbourhood. The family is actually from Osaka, Japan, and the sushi is first rate.

The Worms concert was AWESOME. They were in such fine form. If you've never seen them live, you are really missing out. Their cds are really good (they have 12 releases in total) but to really appreciate them, you have to go and sit in the audience and get heckled for being from North Bay, or for having an iPhone app of a lighter instead of a real lighter, or just thank them for coming back after the intermission, and having them say "you're welcome!"

The Arrogant Worms really need better marketing. I think Sandra (Cindy's daughter) was on to something when she said "They were funnier than the Jonas Brothers." I think that would make a great poster. Maybe I'll offer. :)

Anyway, I had so much fun. My cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing all night. The company was great, the food was yummy, the entertainment was hilarious, and I had such a good time. Thanks everybody, for letting me tag along!

Necklace

I have an old necklace that I got from my mother when she passed away. She had it for a long time before I was born even, given to her by my great aunt Elsie. I think Elsie brought it back for my mother from New York.

I used to think it was awfully ugly, but over the years my feelings towards it have softened, and I kind of like it now. I even wore it to work last summer (feeling very self conscious) wearing all black to even out the sheer amount of decoration of the thing.

Since last summer, I've been thinking about replacing the tear-drop jewel that is missing. I developed a complicated plan of attack: On one of our none-too-busy trips down to Toronto (hah) I would bring the necklace to every bead shop I could find on Queen St, making a day of exploring the fashion district, hunting down this 40 or 50+ year old costume jewel, or at least making an effort to find something to fill the hole. This was my plan. And it made me tired to think of it. Waste an entire day of a trip to Toronto on a bead?

Then I found Etsy. I love Etsy. I could spend hours on Etsy. www.etsy.com is my favourite place to go and hang around, browsing for hours, if I had hours. It's like a flea market and the One of a Kind Show combined. Crafts. Vintage clothing. Needlework. Handmade children's clothing. Knitted things. Earrings. (Love the earrings.) Really really interesting artsy things. Someone sells terrariums (terraria?) with moss in tiny teacups, in glass teapots. So beautiful. And you can order online and have these things shipped to your house. Go there. Check it out. I'll wait. Hours, if necessary. :)

As well as crafts, Etsy has supplies for crafters. And one day a couple weeks back, I had a brainwave. I searched for "vintage purple tear drop jewel." Imagine my surprise when someone in Montreal was selling the EXACT thing I was looking for. Which I found in 30 seconds or less. She was selling 8 of them for $1.75. Plus shipping, which brought the total to $4.00. Can I say "Wow?" Just wow. They fit. They are exactly the right colour. I didn't have to wander the streets of Toronto. And they came straight to my house. Wow.

Trying to get a picture of the sparkly pretty things while Dhara and Elora were in the room was another challenge in itself.

I will take another picture when I've glued it in. Any ideas on something else to do with the other 7 jewels?

Visiting and Stuff (ing)

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, everyone.

Our leftovers are almost gone, thank goodness. I had stuffing for dinner last night. And turkey soup for breakfast. Mmm. Turkey soup. Turkey-lentil-parsnip-potato-orzo soup, to be exact. It turned out really yummy.

All the Hussicots came over on Saturday and stayed until Monday, which was great. They hardly ever spend the night, so it was nice to have some visiting with them after the kids all went to bed. Poor Hayden was sick though, coughing through the night. We're all knocking on wood, hoping we don't get it. Except for DH, who already seems to be coughing. Nuts.

Then DH's Dad came over on Tuesday, and stayed for a couple of days. It was nice to have him here, and have a bit of a visit before he leaves for Florida in a few weeks.

With all the visiting going on, and then Guides on Tuesday night, and an impromptu Sparks on Wednesday night, (I volunteered to help out when one of their leaders was sick) I could really do with some down time. Phew.

Are you still there? Please raise your hand if you have not fallen completely asleep while reading this post. I think I'm falling asleep while writing it.

Muffins

I just finished baking a bunch of banana-pecan-chocolate chip muffins. I would share them with you, but the internet would get all sticky if I tried to email them to you.

Yum.

Sprinkler

The road in front of our house has been closed for a few months now while they fix the 100 year old storm drains and sewer tunnels. Do you remember the flooding we had last year, and the kayak paddling down our street? We hope the construction will fix this problem.

But we decided to take advantage of the closed road to play in the sprinkler, and not get our yard all soggy. :) It's hard to believe this was two weeks ago. The weather is getting downright chilly now, with temperatures just above freezing. Maybe we could do a snow sprinkler next week.

Progress and things.

New things around here, in no particular order.

• We have 5/6ths of a paved walkway in front of the house. Hooray for not walking in concrete dust!

• Some of the porch is ready to be painted.

• Almost all of the new towel racks I bought are put up in the bathroom.

• I have only one towel left to which I am going to sew blue trim and pretty blue rock-beads.

• The new curtains are up in the bathroom, and hemmed even (!) and I just have to make curtain tie-backs out of the same beads for the towels.

• Hallowe'en costumes are decided upon, and being assembled, slowly. We're doing a circus theme this year. I am the Ringmaster (mwah hah haa), DH is the Strong Man, Anya is a bare back rider, and Dhara and Elora are tigers. I'd love to have a scary yard display, but we'll see if we have time and/or the funds.

• DH is finished in Sudbury as of next Friday, woohoo! It'll be nice to have a full time husband again. Even if I have gotten used to having the whole bed to myself. :)

Why we should never get cable

I'm sorry about not posting lately, but there was A Very Important Reason. Last year, I missed every episode of House because it conflicted with Guides. (Shock! Horror!)

When last year's season became available on dvd, my lovely and wonderful neighbour bought it for me for Christmas. Last week. (Yay, thank you, PANIC!) I had a week to watch them all before the season premiere of House last night, and if you think that was easy, well... it was quite the task, trying to schedule all 20-odd hour-long episodes in.

As a result, Nothing Else Got Done. So please don't look at my kitchen or my laundry room (if you could actually get into it to see it.) Please don't look at my children too closely either. Dirt actually forms a protective layer once it gets thick enough, did you know? Kind of a cushion, like bumper pads. Really.

I'm feeling relief now, that the stress of having to watch tv is over. I knew there was a reason we don't have cable. What would happen if I developed a liking for another show? Complete anarchy. (Shudder.)

Camping Slide Show

We had such an awesome camping trip last weekend. The weather was perfect, there were very few bitey bugs, the kids were good, nobody fell in the lake or ran away and we saw bugs and caterpillars and chipmunks and a *frog* even, and had squirrels drop pine cones on our heads from 200 feet up. We went on a "hike", flew a kite, swam at the beach, cooked octopus weiners and marshmallows over the fire, and made s'mores. It was a lot of work, but I think I just might want to do this again next year.

(3 minutes)

P.S. To view it full screen, there's a little set of arrows (kind of like an x) at the bottom right of the video controls, so you don't have to watch it 4 inches wide. I didn't realize it was there until Chantelle showed me. Thanks Chan!

School Daze

Memorable quotes from this week:

School, day 1

Me, 4:00pm: "Where's my daughter's bus?"

Bus company: "She'll be there any minute now."

Me, 4:30pm: "Where's my daughter's bus?"

Bus company: "She'll be there any minute now."

Me, 5:00pm: "Where's my daughter's bus?"

Bus company: "She'll be there any minute now."

Me, 5:30pm: "Where's my daughter's bus?"

Bus company: "She'll be there any minute now."

Me, 5:45pm: "Where's my daughter's *&^$%#!! bus?"

(Ok, I didn't actually say that last part. But I was REALLY thinking it.)

School, day 2

"Good morning, I'm your new bus driver."

Also

Me: "Where's your skirt?"

Anya: "Oops. I left it in the bathroom at school."

Our household activities, by the numbers...

Total tenants now living on the third floor: 2

Total cats annoyed that the third floor door is now shut: 1

Total cats aware that two more cats are moving in next week: 0

Total 4 year olds excited about going to a new school: 1

Total moms wondering why there has been no phone call from the school about who Anya's new teacher is, or what class she's in: 1

Total number of new school open house evenings cancelled last week because the school wasn't ready: 1

Total moms wondering if the school is actually opening on time, and what the heck are they doing over there anyway: 1

Total people who told their neighbour she'd hem her son's trousers by Tuesday: 1

Total number of trousers: 2

Total hours spent hemming one leg: 3

Total number of curse words so far: 87

Total 4 year olds excited about signing up for Sparks: 1

Total moms wondering how to manage choir and Sparks on Wednesday nights, especially with no car: 1

Total dads willing to drive in from Sudbury on Wednesday nights: 1

Total total nutcases considering going camping next weekend: 5

Total number of nights where the temperature falls below freezing next weekend: 0 (Desired)

Total number of days before the forecast for next weekend changes from "partly sunny" to "full downpour with tornado warning": ?

The Legend of Neil

Did you ever play Zelda? Check out this webseries. It's pretty funny, and has Felicia Day!

Caution: adult content, and Not Safe for Work.

Also, wait until the kids are in bed.

http://www.atom.com/channel/channel_legend_of_neil/

Our weekend: Summary

Bathroom plastering and painting, baby gate climbing, baby gate removalling, scissoring, crayoning, gluing, sparkly sequin crafting, backroom disastering, jumping on bed-ing, bed slats fixing, earring shopping, funnel cake eating, drive-in movie candy shopping, attempts at car tape-deck fixing, lawn mowing, phone line wiring, third floor tidying and prepping for tenanting, husband/daddy visiting, sleeping.

Rrrraugh

I'm stressed, and I hate everything. (Looks at calendar.) Shit. So predictable.

Happy Birthday Sage

It's a little early... but we're having fun testing the new webcam. :)

Love

ABCDE

Stuff 'n' Such

Well, summer feels like it's coming to a close, even though we're not even half way through August. I think it's because of all the back to school ads, and the phone calls about Anya's bus, and the school bbq coming up. September is nearly here. Anya thankfully, doesn't have to transfer busses this year. Yay! Sorry about the irregular posts. Yes, I've been busy. Here are some tidbits for you to snack internettingly on...

We're finally getting some sun this week. I might venture with the kids to the beach. Emphasis on "might".

Elora keeps telling me (with a little glint in her eye) that her name is Dhara, because Uncle Jake told her so. Hmm.

I'm reading "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" to Anya at bedtime. She loves it. Me too.

Three kids and one parent 24/7 is stressful. Luckily I only have to hold out til the end of September.

I hate cooking. Can't I just feed the kids cereal until they're old enough to use the microwave?

We found a tenant (two actually, a nice couple from Kitchener) who will rent our top floor at the end of the month. Privacy will take a hit, but the extra cash will be nice.

There, now my post is done. Enjoy. :)

Sudbury mid-week visit

I looked at the forecast for Sudbury on Monday night, and it was sun, sun, mostly sunny, sun, so I decided that I would take the girls and camp on Auntie Jennifer's lawn this week. Plus there was the added bonus of seeing DH in the evenings, which was very nice. We had decided to bite the bullet last week and buy a tent big enough for all of us, so we ended up getting an 8-person with a full fly from Roots. It's an odd shape, kind of a v, 20 feet long by 12 feet wide (holy cow) and overall very nice. We had a spot of rain one night, but we stayed dry, the children actually slept in it, and DH and I were very comfy on our new queen size inflatable mattress. Ahh. Camping. Heh. I caught myself thinking that the tent should be bigger so I could stand up on either side of the mattress, before realizing that I was a spoiled brat. :)

It wasn't real camping, because we were borrowing a twin and a crib mattress from Jake and Jennifer, but as an introduction to the tenting experience, it went well. It only rained a little once, and we all stayed dry, but we will have to see how the tent does in more wet situations.

We had a great time during the days while DH was at work. Over the three days, we went to the beach, we went on a hike to go blueberry picking, and we went to a park. I will post pictures when I get them uploaded. The kids LOVED blueberry picking. Dhara was a very studious picker, and picked almost a 1/4 cup all by herself. Elora liked eating them, but kept getting distracted by bugs, rocks, trees, more rocks, her cousins etc. Anya and Hayden enjoyed "mountain climbing" with Grampa-Poppa, we all had a snack on the top of a big rock, we watched Sage roll down a rock head first, a caterpillar lost its life, a couple of the kids learned how to pee in the bush, Mommy and Jake only had mild hypertension concerning children and steep cliffs, and overall a great time was had by all, except for the caterpillar.

Did you ever watch GI Joe?

I only ever watched the last 2 minutes while waiting for another show to come on, but I thought this t-shirt design was funny anyway. I love that it's a pie chart.

Most Beautifullest Rainbow Ever

We've been having so much rain lately, it's kind of depressing. But not this day:

This was the most gorgeous rainbow I've ever seen, and right at sunset, so the light was just awesome. The picture doesn't do it justice at all. It was right across the sky, and so big I couldn't take a picture of the whole thing! Here's my mangled paste up job in photoshop... the distortion near the edge of the photo means the two pics don't line up properly, but you get the idea. There was even a second outer rainbow, and inside were three or four multiple purple arcs, which didn't turn out that well.

Squish

All the grandkids on the lawn.
From bottom to top: Caitlyn, Christopher, Anya, Mark, Elora and Dhara.

I should really post something

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Things have been busy, and I've been feeling stressed. I haven't really felt like I have enough time to be sad that my husband isn't here, but I do miss him terribly.

I took the kids to Toronto last week for a friend's wedding. Anya stayed down there with Nanny, so that's fun for her. She'll be back next week.

Jennifer came out yesterday with Sage and we had a brutal day around town shopping 'til we dropped. It was great of her to lend her car and her services to the cause. Thanks J!
The sleeping arrangements were so cute -- Sage had Dhara's bed, and Dhara and Elora slept together in the other toddler bed. They actually all slept really well together. They're getting so big now, it's hard to picture them sleeping side by side in the stroller, with big fuzzy blankets and room to spare.


What else. Um. I'm trying to patch and paint the third floor so we can rent it out as of Aug 1. It makes more sense to rent the top floor (as opposed to the back room) because it's space we're not using, and we really need to have access to both bathrooms. It means less privacy, but it'll give us the extra income, which will be really handy in the upcoming months.
If you know anyone who needs a couple of rooms, let me know.

Oh yeah, and in other news, Jennifer's computer is down and out for a while. I'm not sure when it'll be back up, but I guess we'll all just have to wait. I tried hacking her account, but she must have changed the password, darnit. :)

Yay! Boo...

We have been so busy these past few days. We didn't have time to do anything for our anniversary even. B J got a three month contract in Sudbury, and is going to be living there with my dad during the week and coming home on weekends. I'm happy he got the job, but sad that he'll be gone during the week. So feelings are mixed. I just hope we get to celebrate our anniversary before he leaves on Sunday.

Did I mention...

...that I love www.fark.com ? I do. Because they find cool internet things for me. I'm lazy that way. Stuff like this link below, a really really cool banner ad. How can a banner ad be cool? Just go. And don't be afraid to click. :)

http://awardshome.com/cannes2009/pringles/can-hands.html

P.S. It doesn't work in Safari, by the way. Switch to Firefox or something. I'll wait here.

Iran's Revolution

I am following with interest the events happening in Iran. (I found out about it through Fark.com which started following the story early on.) Ever since the "election" on June 12, a huge number of the people have been protesting the results, there has been violence as the government tries to stifle the protests, and a full swing revolution is now underway.

What is really interesting is how the information is getting out, since Iran cut off phones and internet, and banned international reporters. At first it was just twitter posts coming through to the outside world. Now, more and more information is trickling out, and the Iran government can't stop it all.

One of fark's regular contributors has put together a website with a great summary of the players and recent events, if you're interested. The information is well researched:
https://sites.google.com/site/tatsumairanupdate/

Interesting, shocking, and horrifying stuff.

Family Update

Dhara
-Is wearing pullups and sitting on the potty, sometimes
-Refuses to say please
-Is extremely stubborn about not talking a lot, but can say "clean" and "mommy do it"
-Doesn't like to nap
-Is very possessive about sleeping with "her" blanket and pillow
-Is always the last asleep and first awake
-Eats everything including most vegetables

Elora
-Is wearing underwear all day except for naps and bedtime
-Loves sitting on the potty
-Is talking up a storm
-Is about 5 cm taller than Dhara
-Loves to say "no" and then giggle like crazy
-Loves to run away
-Won't try anything if it resembles a vegetable, or looks like it may have come into contact with a vegetable

Anya
-Wrote, addressed, and mailed her first letter today, all by herself (I helped her spell words)
-Is a very good helper around the house
-Loves to sing
-Is looking forward to Sparks in the fall
-Knows all her letters and numbers, in English and French
-Loves doing crafts

B J
-Is still looking for a job, but has a couple leads this week
-Has lost weight and is looking good
-Is grocery shopping
-Has ten white t-shirts, one of which is wearable in public

Carol
-Made a pan of really bland cabbage rolls this week
-Is waiting for the tomato sauce to finish a lasagna today, hopefully not bland
-Has gained weight and is feeling blah
-Is finished Guides for the summer
-Is wondering how to get rid of clothes moths without mothballs

Something else to worry about

Anya was miffed at me today. I was getting ready to go to the mall, and Anya was in the car already buckled in. I hadn't yet closed the side door to the minivan, when I saw my neighbour, Chantelle, and asked her if she needed anything. We chatted for a minute, and then I got into the driver's seat, whereupon Anya told me that she was mad I hadn't closed the door while I was chatting.
"Mommy, bugs could have got in!"
I said, that was ok, bugs in the car aren't that bad.
"But what if they poop?" she asked.

I had to laugh, but I honestly couldn't think of an answer for her.

Anatomy of a Photo Shoot

Gr'Auntie Penny got the girls matching Dora jammies for Christmas, and because they were a little large, plus they've all been in the laundry at different times, I've never gotten a photo of them 'til now. I thought you might be interested in the process of a (three ringed circus) photo shoot at our house.

My criteria for a great photo
All three kids:
-With eyes open
-Smiling
-Without fingers in own mouth/eyes/nose
-Without fingers in sisters' mouth/eyes/nose

(I don't normally meet all of these conditions, and usually have to photoshop it.)

Can you girls sit in the chair for a photo?
Anya, don't try to hold your eyes open. Elora, are you done flossing?

Ok, Elora, not quite done... Anya, do you need those glow sticks? Really?

Elora, are you done flossing yet? Anya, I really think you should put the glow sticks down. I know you have trouble blinking with the flash, but don't hold your eyes open....

There, see Anya? Eyes open. Dhara, can you put your hand down?
Elora, give the floss to Daddy. Anya, Daddy can hold your glowsticks too.

Ok, everybody just put your hands on your knees. Please?
Hands on knees. Hands on your knees. Just put... Dhara... could you...

HANDS ON KNEES I SAID!... sorry, Elora. That was loud.

Now smile... Mommy's happy again... really...

Daddy, do you think you could make a funny face? Or something?
Could you please make them smile? (Carol sobs)

Ok, that's good, look at Daddy... pay no attention to your hysterical mother.
Two out of three smiles. Good, good... keep it going....

Wow! Three smiles! Let's push it, can we get one with the hand down?

No, didn't think so. Aaaannd, we're done.

Rollerblading

Anya's ice skates that she got last winter had a cool bonus: they came with roller blade attachments. So we got out the bike helmet, and I found a package of brand new elbow and knee pads at Value Village, and away she went!

Steady, steady...

Hang on Daddy, don't let go!

Ok, maybe just one hand.

I can do it! Sort of.