A Conversation

(Walking home from school)

Bubs: I too busy for walking. Pick me up.

Me: Too busy to walk?

Bubs: Yup. Pick me up.

Me: Fine. (I pick him him)

Bubs: Oh no! My toes falling off!!

(I put him down)

Me: You crack me up, Skip.

Bubs: Crack you up? Like eggs? Oh no. That not good.

Easter Duds

With General Conference falling on Easter Sunday this year, (and our affection and overall gratitude for BYUtv on said weekend) we decided to let the kids wear their Easter duds yesterday. Miss Fia's little head was going to burst if she had to wait much longer anyway, and we can't have any bursting of heads, can we? I wanted to make her dress, but found the patterns available uninspiring generally. I finally settled on one that was slightly less uninspiring than all the others and then tweaked and modified it until I figured I could live with it. The girl was breathless with delight when I presented her with the finished frock (and pink shoes!) - and what more could I hope for? And, besides, Wonderboy was surprisingly enthusiastic about his new blazer and oxfords. Bubs wanted nothing to do with the whole affair. Shocking, right?

Our President's Day

Our weekend has been a quiet one. Well, except for our annual visit from Croup, which would of course mean that things have been anything but quiet. But you know what I mean. I checked movie listings this morning on a whim and searched for The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I've been wanting to see for weeks but haven't found showing in any theaters. We hoped to see it over the Christmas break, but it was replaced at the one nearby theater where it had been showing by A Prairie Home Companion and that old Mr. Kiellor's awful vocalizations. What?

So I discovered this morning that we could finally catch the movie at the dollar theater. (Except the dollar theaters are no longer a dollar - when did that happen? And when did I get old enough to remember the good ol' days when there was such a thing as dollar theaters??) We hoped with just the right dosage of candy, we'd quell the coughs long enough to sit through a movie, and it worked beautifully. For the record, Bubs consumed about 12 pounds of sugar, but he hardly coughed at all. And he thought the foxes eating like...well... foxes was fantastically funny. I thought everything about The Fantastic Mr. Fox was fantastic.

He's not my baby anymore.

And I'm not o.k. with this.

A reveal.

This was our half bath when we walked through the house before making an offer. What this photo doesn't show you was me gagging in revulsion. Notice the light fixture? It was an 'upgrade', and the only light source in the room. I don't know. Maybe the bathroom was originally lit by candles or something. Fetch me my night vision goggles! I'm going in!

And now ladies and gentlemen, behold my husband's dazzling fixer-upper skills...

Crown molding. In other words, E rocked the coping saw.


New 5" baseboard trim work, courtesy of E and his mad mitering and coping skills.

As you can see in the mirror reflection, I'm not done painting, but I recently developed a unfortunate obsession with the show "Lost" and all painting projects are postponed until further notice. So there.

Three sixty-watt bulbs, baby. My life is now complete.


This toilet lever was my contribution to the project, aside from painting. I thought it was noteworthy.

The end.

He's sick. And he needed to stay home from school.

And the big finish:

My poor sick boy.

Chicago Christkindlesmarkt

We took the train into the city Wednesday to catch the Christkindlesmarkt on one of its last days for this season. Not an easy undertaking with three kids since it's one gigantic DO-NOT-TOUCH kind of environment, but E and I visited the market in Nuremberg our first Christmas together, as well as the well-known ornament shop in Rothenberg ob der Tauber, and the few Christmas ornaments we brought back were pretty much our only souvenirs from our first European adventures since we were po'. Like big time po'. But we have a bajillion memories and enough photos to accompany them, so we're good. Right, so this market was awfully reminiscent of that Nuremberg market, even the smells...and the shop in Rothenburg? It had a giant walk-through stall here in Chicago. What? I can't get over it.

Riding the double decker train dad takes to work was a leetle bit exciting.

Just a tiny smattering of what was there - you get the idea?

Anyway. We were rained on all day. Or was it sleet? Whatever - cold wet stuff all day, but it was a good Christmas activity none-the-less.

This is how to smile for the camera in sleet.

And we also took in the Macy's display windows, which the kids loved. The line to see Santa in Macy's was ridiculous, so we told the kids Santa isn't real. Ha, ha. No, not really.

And look what I brought back to look at! I've wanted one of these forever. No, actually it came from Home Goods, but it's the real deal, and it cost about 25% of what they were at the market, so even more awesome, right?

Merry Christmas!