(last?) collabo

Even though Jamie and Nicole are just about to leave town on their way to life in Georgia, we were able to get together for one last collaborative meal. Our theme this time was "simplicity"; we enjoyed a wonderful assortment of flavors and textures. We'll certainly miss them.

second tooth gone

nice try

Daddy: Casper, what would you like for breakfast?
Casper: Since we had that, um, skinny pancake and skinny dessert, can we have a dessert?

Happy Bastille Day

It's Bastille Day, a Frenchman's wearing yellow in the Tour, and we thought it would be a good idea to have a special dinner, so I made crepes for the children for the first time. I made savory crepes with a filling of tomato chicken (which we'd made a few nights ago) and a bechamel sauce with emmental francais, which I thought was delicious.

The response of the children was mixed; Casper ate very well until his siblings and their skepticism made it to the table.

Linus, as is clear from the pictorial evidence, was the most hesitant about the meal.

Oddly enough, it wasn't the structure of the dinner which caused the children distress. When I offered to make them dessert crepes with homemade peach preserves, ice cream, and powdered sugar, they were most enthusiastic.

Saturday? Must be press moving day.

I had a friend in town whose husband had to leave a position at the university due to a situation outside of his control. She is a letterpress printer and had found this line-o-scribe poster press and a mess of wood type, once owned by the university sign shop, at a surplus sale. They have relocated to an ivy league school in the northeast, and are having to move everything out of their house in town -- including the letterpress equipment, which they're trying to sell. Because I'd offered to help, I started the day by moving the seats out of the van to pack the press and cabinet and shift them to my office, where they'll stay until I can interest a friend or colleague in following my madness. (Actually, the press is comparatively light and adaptable for larger-format projects, and is being offered for a fantastic price -- any takers?)

ploblem

Casper: You see that ruff-ruction up there?
Todd: Oh, I do see the construction.
Casper: Ruff-ruction.

C: How do they say no?
Mama: How does who say no?
C: The ones who say "lift" and "loo."
(Jennifer had been talking with the children about different dialects, including words for familiar objects in other locales, and had entertained them all with her knowledge of British English. This exchange occurred weeks after the original discussion.)

C: Mama, I have a ploblem.
M: What's your problem?
C: [Pulling out his sleeper bottoms to show her]: No big boys! I didn't even know!

M: Casper, why don't you go wash your hands?
C: [Who was looking for a likely excuse and landed on his sleepers, which are green and have an appliqued frog on the top]: I can't wash my hands in the other bathroom because it might splurt water again and then my frog would croak!

what day is today, it's Daddy's birthday

The children surprised me for my birthday by coming to the Library and taking me to lunch and then for a friendly trip to the bowling alley. It was nice to be spirited away by such happy abductors. After my last few hours at work, I returned home to find that Gwennie and the others had produced a treasure map, complete with a quill (actually a pencil with a feather taped to the base), which I followed to my present.

(The map shows a trail leading from a segment of the house, out to the front patio, around some potted plants and under the trampoline, across the lawn to the shed and the sandbox where the pirates buried my present in Linus's treasure chest. Incidentally, Gwennie's self-created cursive at the bottom right reads, "I stol your presint!!! Are Are Are" -- the last being, of course, what any band of swarthy pirates would say.)

Fetch?

Linus: [talking about picking something up in the back seat of the car] It's like "Fetch Goes the Weasel": You go down and fetch something, then put it back in its cage.

anticipation

Gwennie: [When Mama asks her to do her job unloading the dishwasher] Can't that be your job, Mama? I'm going to be so much busier after baby sister comes.

Liberty!

Because of a burn ban in our part of Texas, we had to shelve our plans to see a grand fireworks show in a nearby town. Instead, we decided to visit the Presidential Library to see what they were putting on. In addition to free admittance to the exhibition spaces, there were a number of fun things to do, including a couple making balloon animals (we ended up with a kitty for Gwennie, a lizard for Linus, and a mouse for Casper) and some carnival-style offerings outside: a bounce house and suchlike. Perhaps the best, given the hundred degree weather, was the free iced watermelon. All in all, it was a great improvement on our morning (the church breakfast for two hundred patriots, which Todd helped plan and cooked for).