Happy Birthday Mom

Today would have been Guppy's 69th birthday. We are hosting a birthday party for her tonight at our house. Is it weird to have a birthday party for your deceased mother? I don't care. Tonight we will gather to eat Savoy's pizza - they have sauerkraut pizza! - to drink wine, to eat birthday cake with pinoche icing (which is kind of yucky, I have to confess), and to play Bingo. I would trade it all for one more day with my mom.

She has missed so many things. Franny's birth, Duncan's birth, Eli and Brenna getting the wonderful news that they are expecting TWINS, Andy losing 100+ lbs, and all the normal day-to-day things that she loved to keep up with. I called her almost every day when she was alive just to chat and go over the events of the day. Things about her grandbabies, things about my job, things about just normal every day stuff. I still reach for the phone when I get in my car after work (I know! I know! It's a bad idea to talk and drive!). When will I lose the automatic reflex to call my mom when something happens?

I will post photos from the birthday party later. Mom, I miss you so much. I wish you were here with us.

Rose #2's Outlook On Things

Poor Rose #2 isn't feeling well today. She wrote me and her dad a note:



Dere Mommy I love you and Daddy so much I very very glad to have you as a parent you are teching me to learn my maners you tech me when I grow up I have to do a lot of work.

p.s. Do you like my drawing yes or no?

****

OMG, especially the last part. All I have managed to teach my child is manners (sort of) and the fact that when she grows up, she will have to do a lot of work.

I think we need some playtime around this house. A vacation, maybe. How can I swing that? How can I manage that? We could go somewhere close - Duluth maybe? Wisconsin Dells? Anybody have a good close-ish trip idea for a family of 5?

Oh Yeah, The Other Stuff

You know that scene in Star Wars where Darth Vader is dressed up in his camouflage jammies, and he has to have a light saber battle?

Oh, no?

Maybe they didn't have that scene after all. But WE DID!

I really like how Darth Vader stands in the ready position, just waiting for his opponent to approach:
But wait! There must have been a costume change! Now Darth Vader is a cowperson with sunglasses, a gripper, a necklace, and a need for appreciation (get it - the clapper -appreciation?)!!
Rose #1 was of the opinion that I haven't been posting enough, and she was also of the opinion that I should have had a photo of her from the apple orchard - she was there, after all - and she's right on both counts.

Boy howdy, is it ever time for bed! Have a nice week, all.

Apple Pickin' (And Other Stuff)

Today we went to Whistling Well Farm, a fine pick-your-own apple place that hasn't been overly commercialized like some other apple orchards nearby. Guppy found Whistling Well and we've kept the tradition going. This is Baby Duncan's first year of apple picking:

There was much scrambling for a place to pose for pictures in a tree. Here's Rose #3, triumphant that she secured a spot:

And Rose #2, smiling very large:
Baby Franny was super happy to get her own apple, even though it was kind of a sour one. She kept making sucking noises, smacking at her apple, and then looking very surprised that it was so sour! Rose #1 is calling her "puckerface" as we sit here.
We tried so hard to get everyone to sit still for a photo amongst the pumpkins. And the SUVs, it turns out. Anyway, from left to right: Rose #3, Maddie, Beatrice (holding Franny), Rose #2 (behind, turning head away), Sam, Kate, Rose #1 (holding Chunky Dunky), and Gus.

It was a good day to be at the apple orchard, if a bit windy. We had a picnic afterwards, really going for that 100% Guppy Approval Factor, but it was very cold and windy. No one wanted to stay long - we just ate and ran, pretty much. Uncle Candle's wedding ring fell off as he was playing football with Uncle Rico, and it fell into the fallen dry autumn leaves. Luckily Uncle Rico was able to find it right away. Uncle Candle wrapped a band-aid around it so it wouldn't fall off again.

Super Glad It's The Weekend

By Friday we've just kind of fallen apart. Everyone is exhausted. We have a "no screen time, no dessert" rule for weeknights, so Sunday through Thursday night the children look wan and peaked and they spend their time doing things like - gasp! - reading and putting together puzzles and practicing piano and trumpet!

Not Friday Nights. Oh, no. On Friday nights we have dessert! Tonight we had a delicious chocolate pie, thanks to Aunt Boo (who is back on her hair cutting horse after giving birth to Baby Duncan and who came over to give us haircuts).

On Friday nights we also watch TV! The girls are in the basement watching Disney Channel and they will certainly stay there until I have to pry them out of there with a crowbar.

A side note: I really cannot stand kids' TV. In fact, I really cannot stand MOST TV. I have literally no idea what the new shows are this season, and I don't care. I do however truly enjoy watching 30 Rock, and if I had room in my life for one more TV show and I didn't have young kids, I would also enjoy watching Glee. How can a show that is about high school students be so totally inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18?

In the meantime I am exhausted from an awful day at work and a long week all around. Tomorrow we will try to unwind with some fun lessons in the morning (Rose #3 and Rose #2, gymnastics and soo bakh do respectively) and a fun outing with Little Fins in the afternoon/evening.

We Went to a Bike Race!

Each year H enters the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival bike race. This year he got into the 40-mile race! Yahoo! So we packed up the car and went to The Hayward/Cable Area (which is apparently the Golf Capital of Wisconsin). We brought our friends and had a grand old time.

On the way up, unfortunately everyone had to go to the bathroom approximately 100,000 times. Here we are on the second stop (it's a 2.5 hour trip) at a Holiday in like Turtle Lake, WI. The Roses found hats to try on and to beg me to purchase. I didn't, but I took a couple of cute shots:

Rose #3 thought her hat was very spiffy. I thought it looked like a jazz singer's fedora:

We stayed at a cabin that we found on Vacation Rental By Owner. It was surprisingly extravagant! It was on the shores of Lac Courte Oreilles (which I am trying to figure out: Lake Royal Ears? Lake Court of the Ears? I am reasonably sure that "oreilles" means "ears"). The back deck looked out on the lake. Here are Rose #2 and #3 enjoying the first morning when it was really quite chilly:

I took a quick shot of the Roses sitting on the fireplace. How cute are they?

On Saturday morning I dropped H off at the starting line at about 8:15. We didn't see him again until about 2!! The race started with 1800 riders at 10:00 a.m. and we were standing at the finish line when he rode across. The girls were happy to see him:

They were also happy to lay on top of this random small house in the parking lot. Rose #2 said that she wanted me to take a picture of her as Snoopy:

And Rose #1 showed her smiley face and her extremely strong abs:

After we got back, H "bonked" which is a biking term for "totally crashed and burned, was completely exhausted and had to go to bed at 7:00." He was right as rain in the morning, made pancakes for all, and we were on the road by 11:00 to come back home.

It was a great weekend! We're looking forward to Cheq '12! You can read about the race here.

The First Day of School

No cute "getting on the bus" photos. Rose #3 goes right to Discovery Club, which is before and after school care.

Roses #2 and #1 missed the bus. On the first day. I am trying not to see this as a harbinger of an awful school year to come. The bus was scheduled for 8:04. We walked up to the bus stop at 7:57 only to find it had left 5 minutes before.

ARRRRGH. They did look cute walking in to school from the dropoff line though...