everyone everywhere should do this

http://improveverywhere.com/2008/01/31/frozen-grand-central/

Thank you Nicole for passing this on. What a beauty! WATCH THIS VIDEO!

winter tits storm warning...

OK, winter tits are birds. Pretty, tweeting, upside-down hanging, suet eating flocks of forty birds... Yesterday I got my April calandar from Melissa (in CA) where she notes she has been planting with Nola. Not so, here. Here, (whine) its spring- and here on my street this morning it was snowing. Is this global warming or just Mother Nature's way of turning me into even more of a freak? Oh yeah, I turned 43 on Wednesday- so I was a freak all ready.

hoppin' down the bunny trail

Hope everyone is enjoying their candy! Thanks Easter Bunny! Bok-Bok!

sunny florida, bye-bye.

Thanks to Florida, the Strohl Conference, the JW Marriott-Orlando, everyone except the one mean lady on our first flight, and last but not least, the sun! We had a very nice time. Michael worked the entire stinkin' time. (You know those conferences you get your boss to send you to- some exotic destination, fancy food, nice hotel room, the possibility of 'taking time off from your job'- well, if you ever had a question about Michael, don't. He was not one of the fathers at the pool at lunch time, was not one of the fathers ordering pizza and sitting around the campfire with his fam, not one of the fathers taking their kids to Gator World. No, he goes to the conference. His wife wrangles the kids, scoops hot poop out of the bathtub (yum!), plays late night playground duty attendant, runs into a giant buzzard eating a squished snake- plays an impromptu game of bacci ball with an 19 month old and bowled mostly empty bottles of water with a corona beach ball for apple wedge prizes. Yeee! Don't get me wrong. The boys and I had a great time. We ate a lot of oatmeal, fruit snacks, toddler meals, vienna sausages and easy mac brought from home (ever the stingy person!). They were sweet and crabby, found out they love string cheese, goldfish crackers, hate eating without a high chair and love to wrestle in a grand pile of pillows and 900 count crisp white cotton sheeting.

holiday wishes

I suppose this is like writing a postdated check. Forgive me? We'll catch up when we return.....

flights of fancy

If you think about it, cross your fingers for us this Saturday. We fly off for a few fun days in sunny Orlando. Henry and Aidan are both teething. Yikes! Hope we can all hold it together! OK, Michael will be working this trip, but I'm in it for the sun and floating these little men around the pool! Plus, Henry's getting his wings! Yeah!

cats and bananas and news on 'lo

Toys are fun, no matter how small! Aidan and Henry love to pass snack time playing, squawking and rocking out to itunes. Aidan's been lovin' on his boy, Lo. Some sad news on Arlo. He had a stroke the other night. He's fine now and seems to be back to normal- but he (and we!) had a very scary night. The V-E-T said to keep an eye on our four legged fur baby. So we will.

the answer man

Henry has a new job! You ask him a question and BAM! He gives you the answer! How can you go wrong with a kid like this? Seriously, I did not alter this hair-do!

things that happened since the break

Aidan discovered sitting and standing on all his toys, Henry discovered standing(!), Aidan chose the otter Donna, Wat? Nola's here!, Henry got new shoes, and a plastic cat, Aidan shared his kitchen hideout with Max, Aidan got new shoes, discovered sports are fun, we went shopping and Henry jumped. Phew!

mount hood is beautiful and sometimes scary

Because sometimes, Mount Hood, she breaks your back. Uncle Sean knows. Yesterday, sometime after my class and before Michael headed downtown again to see our special guests, Sean, in the beautiful light of early spring, took a jump with his snowboard... and landed hard. He broke his first and third vertebra. He is resting at home today, and is expected to make a full recovery in the next three months. He doesn't need surgery, he just has to take it very easy for a bit. We're pulling for him- and getting him a latte every once in a while- when naps allow.

forget all your troubles, forget all your cares

Go downtown! We went to Saturday Market on Saturday with Gramma Donna and Grandpa Bill- who are here from Iowa. It only rained a little and we saw so much. Spring rolls and pasties were the theme of the food (oh, and an assortment of crackers and bits of stuff). Colorful sights and a nice warm visit at the hotel- complete with a Voo-Doo Donught chaser.Favorite quote... "Bill get your hands off my cream" We had a nice visit, the boys explored and then we headed for home for a nappie and back out to dinner at Gustov's where Aidan met up with his much older- and newly met girlfriend (whom we caught him hugging!) and Henry rocked out to many german hits. What a little wunder-kid!