Motherhood = 1 part pure delight + 1 part utter frustration

I have a hard time getting Lizzy to preschool on time. Not since the first two weeks of school have we managed to make it any earlier than ten minutes late. Her teachers do not care, and the first half an hour or so is free play time anyway. The situation bothers me, however, for two main reasons.
I don't like being late for everything. I was one of those major dorks in high school (I know, you're surprised, right?) who was always early to class, reading a book at my desk instead of hanging out with my friends in the hall. I don't understand how we can have well over an hour to eat breakfast and get dressed, and still not make it out the door on time. Sometimes it takes us more than 30 minutes just to get everyone in shoes and jackets. How can it possibly take so long?
The second reason our tardiness bothers me is that next year Lizzy starts kindergarten. Her preschool teachers may not care if she is consistently late, but I'm pretty sure they take it more seriously when you get to "real" school. And kindergarten start an hour earlier. Are we going to have to get up at 5:00 am every day? I do not do mornings. Maybe we should home school, and just never leave the house again.
Yesterday we were close to being on time. That is to say, we were only five minutes beyond our optimal departure time. Lizzy was dragging her feet. I had to ask her multiple times to get on her shoes, find her backpack, etc. And yet, under the layer of annoyance and frustration I was feeling, I was secretly thrilled. The reason she dragged her feet? Her nose was buried deep in a book, and she wouldn't look up for it for any of the silly tasks I kept asking her to perform. My daughter can read! She can read silently, too, and that takes skill! I am still blown away by how amazing and smart she is. I love that she loves her books, and I have vivid memories of doing the same thing that caused my annoyance yesterday morning: dragging my feet and shutting out the world because I was involved in a book. I'm pretty sure I was a few years older before I started that, but what can I say? My daughter is smarter than I am. We all know that.

Laundry baskets

My laundry baskets like to race each other. Do yours do this?
I have a set of baskets who are supposed to live on top of the dryer. Their job is to collect clean clothes and hold them for me until I have a chance to sort and fold them. Lately I have been finding them sprawled in a corner of the living room, looking bloated and much too comfortable.
The other set of baskets live in the bathroom and bedrooms. Their job is to collect dirty clothes until there is enough to make a full load. I'm pretty sure they have challenged the Clean Clothes baskets to a race. Can the clean clothes be folded and put away before the Dirty Clothes baskets are overflowing? No. The Clean baskets don't even seem to be trying very hard. Or so I thought. Then, I discovered a very underhanded plan. The Clean baskets hold onto their clothes so long that the Dirty baskets have no choice but to give up their loads to the washing machine. Then, because there is nowhere else to put the newly laundered items, the Dirty baskets are drafted into the Clean baskets army. Meanwhile, dirty laundry is piled on the floor, and the former Dirty baskets despair of ever regaining their dignity.

Letter to Santa

Isaac has very fond memories of writing letters to Santa and then sending them through the fireplace. We are excited that we get to start this same tradition with our children, since we now have a fireplace, too. I hope you can read these letters here, because they are pretty awesome.

 

 We wrote a letter for Sebastian too, but I'll spare you. They weren't his words anyway. However, you should check out his expression in this picture. This is pretty much what he thought of the whole experience. The rest of us had a good time, though.

Sebastian

I think it's time I posted some pictures on here, don't you? We had a nice, busy summer, and I neglected to post many pictures of the baby.

I know! He's not much of a baby anymore. It seems like it was only yesterday that he tasted his first pickle.

I guess that wasn't really that long ago. (It was back in May.) Since then he has really learned to like pickles, and he will go to the fridge and demand them. Above all, however, he like to eat what he can harvest himself. Whenever we go outside he looks for something to eat: strawberries, fallen apples, green tomatoes... he's not picky about ripeness, cleanliness, or whether there are worms/ rotten spots. (Some of the apples get really gross if we don't pick them up every day.)

Our garden is not the only thing that is no longer safe from him. a month or so ago, I caught him doing this:

 

That's the bathroom door, and he is quick to open it if you've forgotten to lock it behind you. Or if he knows I'm not looking and he wants to play in the toilet. He loves his siblings SO MUCH. He doesn't understand why he can't do everything they do. We went to the beach last week, and he thought burying Barak in the sand was genius. It put him right at eye-poking level and kept him from getting away.

 

 There are days this boy makes me feel completely crazy. He likes to play a game we call "Grab and Scatter" and he appears to have zero fear (unless you're a stranger or a vacuum cleaner). Mostly, though, I find him completely delightful. If he's not tired or hungry, he's smiling. He is curious, and social, and happy, and cuddly. He likes a good joke, his Goodnight Gorilla book, his giraffe blanket, and his mama. He is everything I could wish for in a one-year-old. Absolutely perfect.

A Preschooler's dream

Barak was the first one up this morning. As I snuggled him on the couch, he told me that he had seen Snowman Lake on his sleeping map. He said he had seen snowmen melting there. I asked him where Snowman Lake is, and after only a moment of thought he named a nearby major road. He then asked if we could look for the lake on my computer map (Google). He was very insistent that he wanted to see it on the computer. And so, an hour later we found ourselves sitting on the sidewalk with Lizzy and Sebastian, eating donuts as we looked at a small lake, surrounded by fancy houses. We didn't see any snowmen, but maybe we'll come back and build some in January.

Oh the things I could post!

How do I catch up on a summer's worth of activities? We had a road trip, a wedding, a family reunion, camping, two birthdays, and a birthday party. I think each of these is worth remembering, and they all come with their own set of pictures. Unfortunately, lunch is just about over, and my wild animals will tear this place apart if I don't get quiet time started immediately. Maybe I'll get to posting later.

Lunch suggestion

Lizzy would like everyone to know that a peanut butter, banana, chocolate chip sandwich is delicious. She thinks everyone should try it. She urged me to post a recipe for her creation, but I think it is rather self-explanatory.

*parental note: None of the children actually ate their sandwiches. They pulled them to pieces and ate the parts.