Out of Office Auto Reply

If this blog were a work email account and you were checking in with me, my current out of office message would say:


Thanks for checking in! Sorry we missed you, but we were busy doing highly scientific analysis of this beverage. Current trial is going very well, but further studies are needed to determine future use of beverage.

And then you might get a follow-up email that says:

Beverage is unusually tasty considering it's in a light cooking magazine. It's almost just juice, right? All healthy and stuff. See? It's made with this.

A third email might say:

Don't judge me! I know it's Monday night, but if testing goes well, we'll be making and serving said beverage at a party later this week.

Not that I'd be defensive or anything. 

More Bits

Today I continue the stream of randomness.

It's been pointed out to me that my love for Henry and Maude is a bit odd, as certain perceive these owls as "scary". For these people I feel sorry. The owls are cute.

Today I am trying a new workout class. I'm scared.

Two weekends ago had a South African "braai" at Nana and Oupa's. In American that means "cook-out", but  a very specific type of cookout. Must have obscene amounts of meat, no gas grills allowed, and the menfolk must all stand around the fire staring at the glowing goals. This braai was in honor of Oupa's second cousin (or something like that visiting). They are the only South African family we can claim as ours in the US.

Nana and Omi, which is short for Naomi.

If you were worried that the boys would be at the braai with no brand new toys to enjoy, fret not. Nana had some type of hamster that rolled and spun and squeaked to entertain them.

At home we're trying a sticker reward approach to solving a new potty training issue. Here was my mid-day crafting session a few weeks ago. I was, and still am, concerned that the boys are just not cognitively ready for a long-term reward concept, but at this point I'll try anything. And if posting this means the 4 of you that read this see us failing at a reward effort, then so be it. May you learn from my bravery. 

The items below were made into charts, and because I feel like you all are at least moderately intelligent I won't explain the purpose of the charts or the stickers. 

The stickers are so fun. Represented are all the things little boys love. Firetrucks, dinosaurs, wadybugs and dolsins! Yes, we love ladybugs. We're open-minded like that.

We are having moderate success with the sticker rewards for one half of the fearless duo. The other half...hmmm...verdict still out there.

I can't lie. I sometimes dreaded afternoons with the boys after I pick them up from school. I was tired from work, and they were tired from school. And cranky. CRANKY. But we're sort of turning a corner and are turning into really pleasant little people. Turns out $3 worth of writing supplies, notebooks and a little cute storage container goes a long way in toddler happiness.

Before any of you get as excited as Keith does about the prospect of having a left-handed hitter, he still uses both hands, this one.

Some of the adults in the house still love a good self-portrait with the camera and it makes me chuckle everytime I download the camera's pictures and I find one.

I have a new baking recipe book and my goal is to bake my way through it. You may recall I was going that with another book, but that book's recipes turned out to be ...eh...just OK. Now we're on to this book. This weekend we went to see Karen et al, and I made my first cake from the book. Karen requested a caramel cake, and who am I to say no? Henry looked on and we baked. I botched the first go at the icing, so the cake did not turn out exactly as it should. Now if you're thinking "oh, that's too bad, I bet she really wanted to eat some cake", then don't worry, we still ate the hell out of the cake. And it was still soooo good.

Other things happening around here is prep for Thanksgiving. We're baking, cleaning the guest bedroom, preparing for babysitting another set of twins, making casseroles and getting out our eatin' pants.

One thing I'll not be doing Thanksgiving morning is running the Gobble Jog. I've done it the last two years and intended to do it again this year, but decided to spare myself the 45 minute drive each way and the entry fee. Instead I'll get up and do this route myself. Join me if you want. Or come stand along the route yelling "go legs!" as I shuffle by. If you give me enough notice, I can find a sharpie and an old shirt and I'll make you a Not A Real Gobble Jog 2010 shirt.

One hour till new workout class. Must go hydrate. See you soon with pictures from our trip to Karen's.

Bits

I have lots of thoughts to share today.

This feller is new to our house. 

Everybody, meet Henry. Henry, everybody. When you come over you should lift Henry's lid, that's where he keeps the good stuff. I'd love him to have a buddy. This buddy, in fact. I'd name her Maude. Alas, Maude has a pricetag that I just cannot justify, so unless Maude goes on crazy sale, Henry will be living solo.

Look at the cool things twins can do!  

Christmas shopping is almost half-done, but I cannot bring myself to wrap the gifts until after Thanksgiving. It's just not right, you know? I need some Christmas music to play and I need some eggnog, preferrably spiked, to sip.

This past weekend Keith and I divided and conquered. I took Grady for a few errands and he took Cole. Grady and I ended our morning out at a large swedish store, where Grady had his first sip of lemonade. I think he liked it, because G hugged that cup like it was the best thing he's ever held. Thankfully I only filled the cup about a quarter of the way, or he'd probably still be holding onto the cup. 

Keith and I have declared butternut squash to be our new favorite fall vegetable. DE-licious! We've made this delicious pasta dish, roasted butternut & chorizo quesadillas, and this Sunday we'll be eating this. You should come over, I always make too much food, I am my mother's daughter, after all.

Next week is Thanksgiving, as you know. The first 12 years of my life were spent on another continent, so obviously no Thanksgiving there. (much to the confusion of the good people of Shreveport, LA). It wasn't really until after college that I started to feel affection for Thanksgiving. I don't care about the turkey, though I am partial to a good casserole. What gets me excited are the desserts! WHOOOOOOO! This year Keith's sister is hosting and amongst my assignments are desserts. I was told to make two, but I'm really making three. Yes, I know, that's a bit much given that Grammie is being told to make her pecan pie, but if you don't make too much there's not left-overs. And how does one make it through the Black Friday shopping without leftovers to fuel you?

Last week at work someone guessed my age as being 2 years older than I really am. Naturally I gave her a dirty look. YOU take care of twins and see if that doesn't kick-start the aging process. And, after an appropriate amount of whining and sulking, I went in search of new lotions and moisturizers. I am now loving this for the hands and this for the face. A little pricey, yes, but the stuff lasts forever. Or so I told Keith.

Remember Amy? She's had the baby! Pictures of him soon. I got the call from Matt today a few hours after Aidan was born, and was so excited that I knew I'd forget the stats and Keith was sure to ask. So I took some notes on the chalkboard door.

I need to travel and I need to do it soon. We have two weekend trips to see the bellymomma coming up, and that'll satisfy me for a little while, but I'm really starting to look forward to 2011's Boys' Birthday Weekend trip and the Parents-Only Vacation. Planning for both trips have begun. The latter is to Portland, Oregon and I am SOOOOOO excited. It's been on my must-go list for a while. Not sure why, but I think we'll like it. There's lots of microbreweries and nature, and ...hmm...those two things are reasons enough, now that I think about it. The boys birthday trip's destination is a secret for now, I'd hate to ruin the surprise when they pull up the blog on their iPhones to read it, you know how advanced kids are nowadays, but I can tell you that its a place where the main guy is know for his ears. And for the outrageous prices he charges to let you in, but that rant could fill a whole blog. The 2011 Ellerman Family Vacation is still far away, seeing that we take that in August, but if you're wondering, Boston, the Ozarks, or Maine are all contenders. 

Daylight savings time had our sleeping all out of whack for a few days. But, on the flipside since it's getting darker I've had a reason to mention the moon and stars and sun and the earth's rotation and tilt to the boys. They seem enthralled when I speak of these things. Here Cole is pointing out that the moon is indeed up while the sun is up when I just said "when the sun goes down, the moon comes up". 

When the boys were (are) going through tough periods, The BellyMomma would always told me that she used to tell herself that this too, shall pass when her three kids had rough stages. Now I'm wondering if THIS is what she really meant. 

There. Those are all the bits I wanted to share for today.

RIP, Cherokee

Keith and I both come from families where our pets, usually small dogs, were treated like humans. During our junior years in high school (or so Keith and I can remember) both my family and Keith's family grew to include a furry child. We got Cerci, and Keith's family got Cherokee. Or Cherokee the Pug, as I liked to think of her. And now we're sad to report that Cherokee has moved on to the next life, where she is undoubtedly standing at one of heaven's kitchen cabinets, and scratching it every few minutes for a treat. Even if she didn't go outside to do her "business".

Cherokee was a sweet and gentle dog with infinitely endless patience-and she'd have to be considering the outfits she was dressed up in during her life and the number of times Keith made her wear his UGA visor. I wish I had pictures of the Halloween outfits Grammie put on this dog, maybe she will share one with me and I'll post.

The only good news I can see coming out of this sadness is that Grammie and Grampie are going to need some serious cuddling when they come for Thanksgiving, and I know just the two little boys to do that.

Flying into Another Week.

But at least its the week before Thanksgiving.

Halloween Weekend

I planned on splitting this particular weekend into several trips because so many funny things happened, but we'll just lump it all together.

It was Halloween! And the boys were so excited. Or not really. They seemed a bit indifferent to it all, to be honest. But we'll pretend they were SOOOO excited that it was Halloween. It was also Saturday morning and Dada took the morning to go golf. So, I decided that it was time to start training the boys on proper shopping procedure. We loaded up and got moving.

Where to first? Momma's favorite coffee spot, of course. The pumpkin bucket you see there came with us from home.

Our carb addict gazed lovingly at the display case as he enjoyed his chocolate chip muffie.

And his brother actually sat still long enough to take some bites. Ees dewishous! I sat back and let the caffeine enter my bloodstream.

And then it was time to get serious and go shop. Carb & caffeine loaded, they and I, respective, we got back in Momma's car and headed to my favorite store. They were in the backseat clutching their buckets and thinking wow, shopping with Momma is SO FUN. She's awesome.

 

They were so well-behaved at My Favorite Store that I had several ladies stop and comment. Did I tell those women that I promised them a small ziplock bag with m&m's if they cooperated? No.

We shopped. They helped me look for a new purse. I slammed my current purse's strap in the car door and it was looking kinda rough. Grady favors smaller purses in the gray color family and Cole likes larger satchels in bolder colors, I learned. We did not find one we all three agreed upon.

We also looked at all the holiday decor that was already out. The twees, Samtas, waaaindeaah. This holiday season is going to be awesome. No pictures from inside the store.

We rounded out our morning at the park. Look, we're on big boy swings!

Then I was told by my mini boss that it was time to go eat applesauce and a sammich. So we headed home, ate lunch and they napped. And then Dada came home.

Dada was a bit behind on pumpkin carving, so he and the boys got busy with that while I got busy with dinner.

I should pause here and explain that we live right on the edge of another neighborhood. We are in an  incorporated city, but the house to our left is the first house in an unincorporated neighborhood. Our city was doing trick or treating the next night, on actual Halloween, but the neighboring neighborhood was doing it this night. What else could we do except do it both nights?

And that's what we and our firemen did. We suited up and made our first stop. We were enamored with our candies.

And learned that there was much more candy to be had! That got us moving pretty quickly.

We met up with the kiddie caravan and posed with our twin friends Alex the Fireman and Mena the Ladybug. None of us looked at the camera for the picture.

This particular night we only went to 6 or so houses before calling it quits. The boys had a good time but seemed really confused as to why they needed to go knock on strangers' doors to get candy. They were definitely into eating their candy as they walked. In retrospect I think they thought that the only time you got to eat the candy was while you were out and about, because once we got home they sort of forgot about the candy and haven't asked for any more. And that's a good thing because as parents we took our job of protecting them from so much sugar seriously. We ate most of it.
This particular night we had the quickest bedtime routine and I think Cole's eyes were shut before his head hit the pillow. Keith and I watched a good football game with a bad ending and relaxed and discussed how cute our boys were.

And wished and hoped that Grady would sleep past 7am the next morning. He did not.

So we got busy Sunday with errands and chores. Included on the list was car washing. Dada washed and cleaned, the boys supervised.

Their supervision styles are a bit different. Cole preferred to try to find new ways to climb of the cars.

While Grady was preoccupied with checking the mileage and check engine light that keeps coming on in this piece of a car.

And he liked to test the loudness of the horn.

And then it was time for official trick or treating! Whooo. Here again are my two fireman and my boogieman. When this picture was taken we already stopped at one house, and as you can see below, we're eating as we go.

Thank you to the neighbor who gave soft gummy candies. Perfect. To the mom of a two year old who gave MY two year olds Gobstoppers: seriously?

Is this mask not awesome? You too could have one, you only need to commit to hiking steep Andean mountains for 4 days. On day 2 you will pass a small flea market, and there you can get your own mask.

This night we made it to a few more houses and had a great time. We returned home, sat on the steps and handed out candy. I think the boys enjoyed this more than anything else. Or maybe it was a close second behind actually eating the chocolate they got. They were so friendly to trick or treaters and helped pass out the candy from the big blue bowl.
And then passed out themselves. All that adrenaline and sugar, then crash.

We were exhausted and hungry and while Keith grilled us some burgers, I played with the camera. I now have at least 23 different pictures of ghostie below.

And then my dinner was served! Thank you, BoogieMan, your burgers were delicious.

And our weekend was spooktacular!

Veterans

Happy Veterans Day to all of you who served in the US military to protect our country. In our family, that includes, but not necessary limited to, Grampie, Grandpa Ellerman, Papa and Uncle Fred.

Grandpa Ellerman, back in the day. Yes, the baby sprouting red hair is Keith. Looks like Keith loved a BEAH, too. Followed by Grampie, Papa and Uncle Fred.

 

Getting Dressed

We're starting to really enjoy getting dressed. We are very excited about our new jackets, and our new dinosaur socks. I was at first a little worried about them being so excited about new clothes-does that mean we dont get them new clothes often enough so that when it finally happens, its a monumentous occasion?

I pondered that for a bit but decided the excitement comes from our new desire to put the clothes on ourselves. We like to (try to) put on our own clothes. And the shoes of other people. On the runway below, Cole sporting a blue sippie cup and Dada's "bery big soooos" and Grady, sporting socks-with-sandals on one foot, and a sexy kitten heel pump on the other. Grady's not afraid to experiment.

 Our attempts to get dressed is not limited to ourselves. It extends to other family members, too. You've all met BEAH, right? Well, you might recall we took a little roadtrip (read about it here, Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.1, and 6.2 here, here, ). During that roadtrip, on our very first stop-over in Salem VA, this BEAH took to hiding under a bedskirt and was left behind. When I (frantically) called the hotel to see if housekeeping found BEAH, the housekeeping lady said to me, "why yes, I sure did find a sad looking naked bear. Where are his clothes?". I tried to explain that at the time we were more interested in taking off clothes than putting on clothes, but instead I just laughed and begged her to ship it home. The rest of that trip we used Cole's bear (not named, Cole is not into that) as a stand-in.

Anyways, Miss Sylvia would be very happy to know that BEAH is getting dressed nowadays.

 Grady decided it was time to dress this bear and make him respectable. I'll try my best to relay what Grady was saying as he did this. His words in italics.

oooh, BEAH. BEAH wanna wear da cloves?

No response from BEAH.

Beah. BEAH. Want a cloves wif letters?

No response from Beah. That must mean yes. He's learning, this is what I do with Dada. To clarify, I don't dress Dada (but am prepared to if he wears that ratty coke t-shirt in public again), I take his silence to be whatever answer I prefer.

Da cloves go on da head fiwst.

Struggles a bit, then admonishes Beah for not having a head that is easier to navigate.

ON DA HEAD!

 He just isn't getting it right, and here I think he starts thinking that maybe he should do a test-run on himself.

WEH (Yeah, in C&G's language), goes on da head. WEH.

 Der it goes. Good job, BEAH.

 Mommy, wook. Beah wearing da cloves with da letters.

 He finished getting the onesie on, with a little help on the snaps. I told him to pose with Beah, and he chose to pose in hug-position. Aww. He loves that bear.

 And then we got Cole's bear dressed, too.

Do those onesies look familiar? We wore those A LOT.