The Mother of Geese

Remember when you were my favorite weatherman? Can you please do something about the nonsense that is 84 degrees September 29? You are seriously killing my buzz for autumn. Please come out of "weatherman retirement" or whatever and give me a decent fall forecast. Seriously, the inside of my house is 78 degrees but I refuse to put the air on principle. Sheesh. Anywhoo, I took the kids on a fall adventure hoping to evoke a little fall weather. It did not work. It was very hot. We went here. First stop, ice cream Max chose Apple Pie ice cream. It had actual chunks of crust in it. He likey. Abbie was hot/ornery and wanted to eat her ice cream in the shade. I told her to go stand in the shade of the fence. That irritated her even more. Amelia chose cookie dough. Yes it was really hot but I made them wear their Holiday shirts. Next activity: Hay ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins. The ride was very bumpy. The perfect pumpkin. The perfect pumpkin-head. He kept picking t...

On kissing everyone goodnight.. Brad: Can I get you guys anything? Abbie in a silly voice: How bout a box a chocolates? girls, fits of laughter.... Don't worry, the box of chocolates comment was repeated about 546 times that night. Amelia: Mom, mom, mom, you sleeping? Me: Nope. Amelia in silly voice: How bout a box of chocolates?! Also, anything that had to do with saying the word "booty" brought down the house, especially if accompanied by Amelia's booty shake dance. Add the word booty to the words box of chocolates and the giggles went on and on!

(Scene: Bike ride up the canyon to a park) Me: Hey Bradfo, we are SO rockin' the Proc . right now, aren't we?

R-L starting from the top Oven roasted tomato sauce, chili sauce, peaches, plum jelly,Frozen fruit cocktailpears (notice empty jar. yep. they are all gone already.) blackberry jam, raspberry peach jam, apricot jam, salsa, pickles, apricot syrup, strawberry/blackberry jam, spiced peach sauce. Not shown: grape juice and zucchini relish. I have been going a little crazy with all the summer produce and the bounty everywhere. Maybe I am a farm girl at heart, what do you think? (not to be all braggy/braggy but I also have roasted basil tomatoes, shredded squash and zucchini, apricots and blackberrys in my freezer.)

I have been the most relentless foreman ever when it comes to Brad's progress on the deck the last few weeks. For posterity's sake: Here are some new additions to the deck. (note, that chair that Max is sitting in was Brad's when he was Max's age. So cool!) Max taking a break with daddy. Now BACK TO WORK, BRAD!!!! Some of the details, because 2-toned and tricky angles are Brad's middle name. The second he had enough room for the grill I demanded, er asked, that he put it on. We've been eating stuff like this ever since. The view from the bedroom. Another detail-the funnel to the stairs. Yes, this deck will eventually have both rails and stairs. The main reason I was so antsy for the finish is because I have really wanted a party! See, how happy I am when I get a party? It was a great night with great food and great friends. I even had my super talented friend make a "It's a Gril" cake a la cake wrecks. Nice work Brad.

(Brad and I have 12 days of awesome insurance left I am aiming to fix all medical issues now.) I was a little reluctant to fix Max's ears because I am afraid that once we fix them he won't be such a chill little dude anymore. Can you blame me? So I took a sleepy little Max to the hospital this morning to get tubes placed in his ears. Getting the blood sats checked by a friendly nurse. They gave Max this little guitar and the wooden car to keep him occupied in a room full of wires, equiptment, blinking lights and beeping noises for 45 minutes. Awesome. He preferred to press the "red button" because a beep would sound out of a small speaker on the wall and say "How can I help you". He pressed it over and over and over and over again. When that activity got old he decided to sneak out of the curtain and watch all the happenings. I'm sure that's contrary to HIPA, but whatev. I let him wind himself up in the hospital curtains because I get a little huffy ...

...because at least the cookie is clean.

Abbie's dance class was asked to perform for this year's Heritage festival. Although I always enjoy a good danish folk dance, I was mostly entertained by her tongue in all the pictures. Is it just me, or is anyone else in the mood for some ebelskievers?

Remember how I nag and nag and nag you to do your jobs in the morning? (one of your jobs is to clear the breakfast table..) Now you know why I want it done. Are we clear? Your welcome. Be advised. I kind of want to let yogurt boy play in your unmade bed. So there.

There was a dowdy, tired, chubby, mormon housewife. Although her kids were always dressed, cute, and properly outfitted, alas, she was NOT. (cue morning uniform of housecoat. Yes housecoat, what of it?! She looked like this too much lately. So she decided to channel her inner-cha-cha , get dressed, and put on some make up. She's still chubby and tired, but at least a little more hot-cha-cha.

Today Amelia says to me, "Mom I want a snack." Me: How about some nuts? Amelia: I'm driving you nuts? Me: No, do you want to eat some nuts? Amelia: You driving me nuts? Me: No, Eat the nuts. Amelia: Oh.