Henry's love of balls and shooting hoops extends to water.

And I made movies with the new digital camera. But they are too large to upload. More later...

We are two weeks away from leaving for California for a week. It should be mildly warmer than it is here. But it will be the rainy season. I doubt Miranda will come away with my immediate love/lust for CA. I finished Linc's baby blanket present (shh--it might be a surprise). And I did a little test packing, so I think I have luggage under control. I've made the reservations. I am now just trying not to overpack.

And since I made Miranda a new mix CD (wouldn't it still sound coller to say tape?), I realize I love Bowling for Soup. Today "Come Back to texas" is stuck in my head. yay.

The day before, he dumped a bag of ground coffee on the cough. This time, it was Lucky Charms.

And all of the leaves for three houses and 7 trees were pushed into a giant pile in front of our house. I am allergic to dying leaves, literally, but I consented to the picture of the kids. They didn't quite have their happy smiles. Henry thought he should play in the street. Miranda thought she she jump into the leaves.

And Lucas almost made it to Holy Grail position. Miranda told me she had to take her dolls, Maddie and Lucas downstairs. I asked, which doll is Lucas? and she thought and said, "oh, none of them." The triplet dolls remain Susie, Tasha and Don Nicholas.

Page One:

Click on the image to see the larger version.

Page Two:

(writing by Miranda, spelling by Grandma)

Page Three:

How cool is that?

And a very special Happy Birthday to baby Lincoln. We can't wait to see you!!!

I love these push-in pumpkin accessories. I will admit to missing the goopy pumpkin goo. But until one of my children is excited about putting her/his hand inside...this will be great.

This is our lion family. We were a hit at the zoo. And again during the trick-or-treat. And the costumes were cozy warm.

And this was so cool. The lion actually wakes uop after 6 p.m And he was walking around, trying to play with a giant ball. And looking at all of the crazy people. Henry roared at him repeatedly. He did not roar back. And we got a picture of the 5 of us.

Hope you did something not-too-scary!

Rob and my costumes are the same as above. Rob and Miranda have manes. She sort of understand that female lions don't have manes, but it seems brutally unfair that she would not get a mane. But I just have a little fuzzy top, to hide a sewing imperfection :)

It has been a crafty three weeks. My mom works at a year-round school. She is off in October for three weeks. We usually paint a room. Or do something house-changing. This time, we sewed. I made new curtains for the kitchen.

I have been searing for a chili pepper fabric to use since I stenciled tomatoes and peppers on the cabinet doors. "It will be easy. No problem." 2 years later, I am happy enough with this. At least it has peppers.

And then we made new covers the the cushions of the couch. I have to say the pattern of the fabric is not a masterpiece. But the $40 for the fabric and 6 hours of work far outstripped getting a new couch.

Our couch came from IKEA in 1999. It is in good shape, all things considered, meaning Miranda and Henry considered. The arms and back are fine, but the cushions had wear at the seams. And stains. Our couch is so old, it was before IKEA did slipcovers on everything. They don't even make this model anymore, or I would just buy another.

And since the website has been down so much and I am LAZY, I will add some older pics. (yes, we are chagning hosts this weekend)

This is Miranda at Al's Run. We did it with her two best friends' families. And Rob ran it as a race.

He is still amazingly trim. Go Rob!

And I love this photo because every blade of grass is in focus and Henry is a total blur. Have I mentioned I am getting a new digital camera as an early Xmas present? One that might capture the speed at which my children experience life. I am eyeing this one.

We're off to IKEA tomorrow. 20th anniversary sale. And then trick or treating heaven!

The cork necklace has grabbed Miranda's attention. When Rob came home from work, she said:

"Papa. Papa. I want to make a booze necklace. You need to drink some booze so I can make it."

And she tried to convince us to drink NOW.

Sorry kiddo. Maybe tomorrow.

And in good news, Miranda started speech therapy today. The goal is to get her from 65% intelligibility to 80% by next October. Yay.

So far, she is intrigued. And I am ashamed to say that in less than a week's time, she has $4. (only two of those were McDonalds dollars, at least). She wants a Kinder Garden Baby, a toy with a dubious fun quotient IMO. And it costs $20, so she will have to stick to this idea for a while...

We are 3/4 of our way to a pride of lions.

And I am finally making the new kitchen curtains.

In September, we went to a wedding. The kids played with balloons and had more fun than I expected.

Before that, Miranda, Rob and my dad went to Laborfest and had a great time. Rob even thought to bring musical instruments for the parade.

And sometime in September, Miranda put together her awesome sunglasses. Thank you, godparents!

I am variously busy. I am trying to put together the pride of lions Halloween costume extravaganza. I am researching things to do on our upcoming trip to San Francisco. And I am plotting a trip to Disneyland.

Henry has a new word. It is "roar." He uses it every day.

We start in mid August. We did the Snooze at the Zoo. You pitch a tent at the zoo, after winning a lottery for a chance to do it. It cost too much and the weather was only OK. And Miranda got sick, so I suppose that colors my memory.

Rob and the kids in the bike-trailer-converted-to-a-stroller.

Miranda had been a bit sick the week before, but it didn't come to a head until she vomited in the tent at the zoo. And then in the car on the way home. A trip to Urgent Care later, she has a sinus infection and a budding double ear ache. She starts antibiotics.

But she looked like this for most of the month. I didn't intentioanlly take a picture of her sickness. I wanted to get a picture of her shirt. We bought the shirt in Waco. The Texas map flaked off after 7 wearings. So my mom made this awesome version.

After the zoo and before Miranda's birthday, I became increasingly sick. I lost my voice for three days. I felt terrible. Finally on her birthday, I crawled in to a doctor to try antibiotics too. They were very harsh on my system...but I do feel better now that it is over.

Miranda's Birthday!! August 25, a banner day.

She smiled all day. She felt better. She even got to go to the park with friends. Yay friends!!

She felt better, but I felt too crappy to make the homemade ladybug cake we planned to make. Thank goodness Grandma stopped at the grocery store.

After her birthday, we have a day delay and then Party Time!!

After the incredible success of last year's bouncy house, we reneted one this year too. Hello Kitty was great.

I have no idea why I love the falling bouncy house pictures so much. I am thinking these would make great Xmas cards? No?

This is one of my favorite scenes from the party. Ring Around the Rosie in a bouncy house. How fun.

For about two weeks, Miranda talked about her birthday cake. I knew I was going to Jewel becasue I like their cakes. Miranda wanted dragons, cherries and balloons. I went to the baker and explained and she was so great. She came up with a scene in which the Dragontales dragons were next to a cherry tree. She put on maraschino cherries. She put balloons in the sky. She even wrote Happy Birthday Miranda. How cool is that? I was so impressed. And the cake tasted good too!

And Henry...he got sick too. He went to the doctor on the last day of the month. Turns out he couldn't sleep because he had an ear infection. Oh my. Antibiotics all around.

But isn't he adorable? He thinks he should always travel by laundry basket. Even if he only weights 22 pounds...not gonna happen.

Is it any wonder I was looking forward to September?

Miranda has called Henry "Harry" almost from the beginning. I can see how the nickname evolved. And today Henry was being awfully bad. Grandma said, "Henry Robert!" And Miranda said, "Harry Rabbit!" And I laughed, even if I probably shouldn't.

I am gearing up to try again to get Miranda into speech therapy at school. She has articulation issues. She may outgrow them; she may not. I am swayed by the medical view of speech therapy that one should try to fix problems earlier. Of course, with budget concerns, the school district is probably hoping she will outgrow them. I am not trying to mock Miranda so at some future date she reads these archives and thinks what a cruddy thing to do. She'll hate me for all new teenage issues by then, right :) I understand most of what Miranda says...and I can figure out 99%. Today with the word "cubes" I saw that especially when I can't see her speak (we were in the car) I don't get it all. And if I don't get it all, then most other adults miss most of what she says. They don't get to hear her say "wrap him up in toilet paper and throw him down the elevator" when we wonder aloud what to do with naughty Henry. And they might not understand her songs or jokes or funny stories. And that's a shame. Because Miranda has quite a sense of humor and loves talking.

And so if I were organized, I'd probably make a handy blog category for speech issues. Like "piss" instead of "purse." Which makes me giggle. Instead I'll add them as I think of them. And I will note her mounting frustration. And that she gets louder when you don't understand--like the stereotypes of the unilingual American who shouts English louder and louder at foreigners to make them understand.

How much you've grown. I sound like the Franklin theme song...but you can count to 12...and at least 29 if it weren't for your triscadecaphobia. You can ride your bike around the block so much faster than Mom can push Henry. You can write your name. You can sing so many songs. You went to camp this summer and didn't even miss me. wow. 4 years feels so long for a Bush term...and unblievable that you have only been with us for four years.

Happy Birthday 4 year old, with all attendant rights and privileges.

love!!!

And Henry wore big boy underwear over his diaper. And sometimes without a diaper. He seems to be more interested in the potty than talking. C'est la vie.

As far as we know, this is not true. She does seem to have a sore throat. But she is remarkably consistent in telling the tale.

And now I'm in the newspaper.