26 December 2011

26 November 2011

2011: A Space Odyssey

My budding aerospace engineers.

Hello My Baby! Hello My Honey!

Hello my ragtime gaaaaalllllll!

17 November 2011

All Hallows' Eve

We weren't sure what to expect for Halloween this year. We live on a street with few children; combined with a long driveway and no sidewalk on our side, we weren't sure how many trick-or-treaters would make the long trek to the front door. For a while, Joy sat out at the end of the driveway, but went inside after she started getting cold. Nevertheless, we had a steady stream of visitors, and there wasn't too much leftover candy.

Syd was a clarinet and Elie reused the Pippi costume from a couple of years ago. I took them up to a friend's house (stopping to get candy at the house of the driver who took out my mailbox along the way) and the group of five made the usual rounds. I was provided a nice homebrew by one of the fathers, so it was all worth it for me, too.

When we got back, several candy accountings were performed -- I think Snickers was the most popular -- and Syd traded with her sister the things that she can't eat because of her braces. Eventually enough sugar wore off that the two still managed to get to bed at a reasonable hour. They were even up early to repeat the counting process in the morning.

Luckily, I hadn't stolen anything. Yet.

12 November 2011

You've Been Warned

(You're welcome to come over for dinner. Bring workout clothes.)

04 November 2011

Why Only Suckers Bag Their Leaves

I'm lucky enough to live in an older neighborhood, where I only have to step out my door to enjoy the Fall colors, the smell of cool, crisp air, and the unending sound of leaf blowers as my neighbors clear their yards of leaves every other day or so.

Now, I'm not really that down on leaf blowers, they have their place even if the sound is a little annoying. My preference is the rake, though, and so I have been taking an hour or two here and there to rake my lawn, rotating through the most needy places. It currently looks like this.

Instead of bagging the leaves, I have commandeered a corner of the yard near the compost bin to build a giant leaf pile. Today, when I plunged a thermometer in, I giddily found this.

Yes, giddily.

31 October 2011