Look out Giada!

On Tuesday Esther wanted pita chips with sauce for lunch. With some quick thinking, we added parmesan cheese and popped them in the oven. Voila, mini pizzas! She seems to be a natural in the kitchen. . .

before cooking
after cooking
They tasted pretty good. Esther wouldn't share much with me and finished them all!

It was the first tooth to come in and now it's the first to come out!

At 5:30pm today Robert lost his first tooth!! He wiggled it out in the van. It is safely tucked under his pillow. BIG KID.

little fingers and a wiggly tooth

Quotes 101, my 101st post

"There was a man who took everybody's money named Zacheus but God made his heart feel good and he gave everybody their money back."- Esther

"Do you know how to say 'panties' in Spanish? PAHN-TAYS!"- Esther

"Mom, there is blood in my spit when I wiggle my tooth."-Robert

"Mama. . . nanana. . . "-CC

Robert and Esther exhibit number One. (Subtitle: I have conquered the art that was threatening to take over our house.)

I challenged the artwork to a duel with my camera. I won. Here is exhibit One by Robert and Esther. A blog first, but one of many to come. Note the high tech exhibition method: Hold it up in front of the camera and shoot. (Then place original artwork in the recycling bin.)

Can't help lovin' that man of mine.

Rob, at six??

Rob in high school.

Alas, the long weekend has come to a close. I really loved being home as a family about 80% of the time. 20% of the time things were a little too noisy for me. That's life. Rob made some unforgettable porcini and sausage risotto (Batali recipe) on Saturday along with escarole and white bean soup. bravo caro. That man is an excellent cook and excellent father. I love you.

some poetry

I have been enjoying Good Poems for Hard Times compiled by Garrison Keillor. A poem that I am drawn to:

Ordinary Life

by Barbara Crooker

This was a day when nothing happened,
the children went off to school
without a murmur, remembering
their books, lunches, gloves.
All morning, the baby and I built block stacks
in the squares of light on the floor.
And lunch blended into naptime,
I cleaned out kitchen cupboards,
one of those jobs that never gets done,
then sat in a circle of sunlight
and drank ginger tea,
watched the birds at the feeder
jostle over lunch's little scraps.
A pheasant strutted from the hedgerow,
preened and flashed his jeweled head.
Now a chicken roasts in the pan,
and the children return,
the murmur of their stories dappling the air.
I peel carrots and potatoes without paring my thumb.
We listen together for your wheels on the drive.
Grace before bread.
And at the table, actual conversation,
no bickering or pokes.
And then, the drift into homework.
The baby goes to his cars, drives them
along the sofa's ridges and hills.
Leaning by the counter, we steal a long slow kiss,
tasting of coffee and cream.
The chicken's diminished to skin and skeleton,
the moon to a comma, a sliver of white,
but this has been a day of grace
in the dead of winter,
the hard cold knuckle of the year,
a day that unwrapped itself
like an unexpected gift,
and the stars turn on,
order themselves
into the winter night.

Esther gets funky

will you face the camera please?

After dropping Robert off at school on Thursday the girls and I stopped at Edgewood Kroger to get cookie ingredients. While there we noticed the camera equipment set up in the produce department. As we got ready to leave a Kroger representative approached us to see if we would be interviewed ON CAMERA about being a Kroger customer. Thus I found myself in front of the lights and camera being filmed and photographed perusing the apples.
After picking Robert up after school I took all of the kids to the YMCA. A rep at the front entrance informed me that they were interviewing moms for a book upstairs. They had snacks there. Robert and Esther came up with me while a woman asked me about how we get the kids to exercise and eat healthfully ON CAMERA. The kids got to chime in a little this time about what they like to eat, what we do for exercise etc.
I was filmed twice separately and spontaneously on Thursday. What are the chances? What are the chances that the avacado I fed CC that ended up on my shirt shows up on camera? Time will tell.

spontaneous piano recitals

Goodbye holiday revelry. It's been great knowing you. Love, Laurie.

Esther, Robert, Slade and Ellie Sellery. In Greenville.

Last Tuesday we had a fab playdate with the Millers and Frilingos. Thanks for sharing your rocking playroom Erin and thanks for the pix Beth! (see above)

On Friday while Rob had the 2 older kids for an overnight in Greenville, Pat came over for some New Year's organizing and cassoulet eating. THANK YOU PAT!!! I now am the proud beholder of an official craft shelf AND lots of empty file folders. Tonight we shred. . .

Thanks also to the Sellery family for hosting 3/5 of the Burlingtons. Sorry I missed the fun and the hike! Next time I will come too, (okay?) Also while in g-town, Rob, Robert and Esther dropped in on Ellie, Ethan and Neal Hammond. They made cookies.

"She has a big thing of cookie dough in the fridge. Ready at all times. Of course she does, she's Ellie!"- Rob
Thanks for hanging with my kids Ellie! Miss you. BTW, did you take any pictures?

CC got some time with her godmother, Pat, and Esther was with hers this past weekend too (Ellie). Thanks godparents!!

Yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life. The grind started up again. The driving, the picking up, the grocery shopping. The kids adapted (back) pretty well. At least we still have the Christmas tree still up til next weekend. Rob, wanna CUDDLE NEXT TO THE TREE? How about a SNUGGLE? My dear husband adores those words- cuddle and snuggle. Ha.

I just found an Esther self-portrait series on the camera. Taken while I wasn't looking. enjoy