tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44510309856082391892012-01-25T21:35:36.519-05:00That's some strong stitch, you bet.SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.comBlogger1391100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-58825957366348129082012-01-22T22:20:00.002-05:002012-01-22T22:20:42.597-05:00

Last October, as a guard against holiday weight gain, I dusted off the P90X dvds and, with K's invaluable help, started to adhere to the rigorous low-carb diet that accompanies the exercise program.  After a month, I was feeling pretty good about my progress, and by late November my midsection started to get a chiseled look that had never been there before.  Then, in early December, a soreness in

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-68382828406895292012011-12-04T18:10:00.001-05:002011-12-04T18:37:52.857-05:00

K. tells me that our blog is dying and that she is the only thing keeping it alive. I've looked at her data and I can't deny it, but I think K. would also agree when I say that I haven't been wasting my time. Once in college my professor interrupted class to lament, "I know you all think you're busy now, but later you will look back on this time and marvel at how much free time you actually

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-21010448742689832402011-12-03T13:01:00.003-05:002011-12-03T13:03:53.397-05:00

2011 all summed up

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-623770258054385092011-10-30T21:40:00.000-04:002011-10-30T21:40:01.116-04:00

I've done all the posting since last May, despite my clear intentions -not- to make this a Mommy blog.  I know S. is busy, but I'm sad and miss his inimitable style.  He could use the creative outlet, and you could all use a decent post.  He spends hours and hours crafting and perfecting when he writes, which is both why his contributions are so wonderful and so rare lately. So, sorry, all you

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-60615118422094755602011-09-18T19:58:00.000-04:002011-09-18T19:58:00.093-04:00

The summer is officially over -- we've broken out some long sleeves and jackets, the school schedule has got us firmly in its grip, and we're watching the first leaves turn.  But we did manage to squeeze out a few more fun days in the last month, including a Labor Day spent at the beach and a trip for me to my brother's wedding. The beach trip was last-minute, but very rewarding.  We had

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-16636588680989600972011-08-28T12:46:00.001-04:002011-08-28T12:46:05.933-04:00

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-39914887300953890582011-08-27T14:05:00.000-04:002011-08-27T14:05:04.082-04:00

So, we are now playing the waiting game.  Other than filling the bathtubs later, and putting some toppings on the pizza crusts I made for dinner, we're just trying to watch movies and enjoy electricity as long as we can.  We're not sure what the best and worst case scenarios are here, there's rather a wide range, but since I'm detail-obsessed and you won't hear much from me for a while, here are

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-81751895936301599802011-07-16T10:36:00.000-04:002011-07-16T10:36:59.371-04:00

All right, so I lied a little.  S. ended up posting on Facebook instead of on the blog, so you'll have to go there to find out more about Arizona.  Let me just say, though, the other most memorable part of the AZ trip, besides the Jeeping, was all the crawdads we caught and ate at the instigation of my Filipino brother-in-law.  Awesome. So, here are some photos of our general summer.  The main

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-22473034925874979382011-06-24T18:23:00.000-04:002011-06-24T18:23:04.990-04:00

I think we can promise an Arizona Adventure post in the near future, but for now here's a little taste...

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-3383109516708481922011-05-22T19:11:00.000-04:002011-05-22T19:11:15.134-04:00

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-58670673163088670562011-05-16T08:11:00.000-04:002011-05-16T08:11:59.651-04:00

Another Mad Lib, as long as we're on a run of posting.  This one was penned on the way home from a temple trip with all the kids, we thought it had some particularly fine turns of phrase: THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND FILM Fitzmonster Theaters offers a slimy program of foreign signs never before seen in American rips. The first film to be shown will be Henry and the Oatmeal. This is the wiry

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-63235755514929554222011-05-15T18:10:00.000-04:002011-05-15T18:10:36.248-04:00

I think of myself as an entropy* fighter.  If I had to put an occupation down on paper, that's how it would read: K., Head Entropy Fighter, The Double Stitch.  The nature of my job is that you never really quite get ahead, you just manage to not fall too far behind, and that's if you're exceptionally diligent and lucky. So when I read the phrase "unprofitable servant" in the scriptures, I just

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-79670862817709705432011-05-08T19:10:00.007-04:002011-05-15T19:22:21.389-04:00

(That's my mother, first girl on the left, shortly before the family moved from Taiwan to Brazil)Pictures are invaluable, probably because our own brains don't make them. Storage takes space, even in human memory, and so our efficient brains save only fragments. Thus, every time we "remember" something, we are really piecing together the fragments into a completely new picture, each time

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-59117483187404050852011-04-09T11:51:00.003-04:002011-04-09T13:03:00.243-04:00

For the better part of a year K. and I toyed with the idea of getting chickens. We live in a semi-rural neighborhood, and it would teach the kids responsibility, and the more K. read about food production, the more it sounded nice to get eggs from chickens that weren't living in misery. We went down to the state fairgrounds to look at actual chickens and attend seminars on breeds, coops and

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-82263343161102189932011-03-19T09:21:00.000-04:002011-03-19T09:21:56.673-04:00

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-17608996423101880882011-03-04T09:51:00.000-05:002011-03-04T09:51:30.244-05:00

I wrote this when I was 12 years old, freshly after reading the "7 Habits" for the first time, which my dad had enthusiastically recommended to me.  It's poignant and amazing to read again now, when I'm nearly three times that age, and recognize the eternal self that I was and still am.  This statement touches on deep hopes and desires that I still have, to know and be known.   I'm a little

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-62482781668709475552011-02-27T10:14:00.002-05:002011-02-27T10:17:03.328-05:00

...As in, leaving them to their own... They got out the paints, one of those free local papers, and the camera, and documented their own creativity.In case you can't quite read it (we couldn't), the one poster's subtitle says "because he's awe-some".  And fitness center lady also has really beautiful, delicately painted nails done by Sage, but I guess they didn't make it into the photo.  They

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-16819499868266157752011-01-30T19:16:00.004-05:002011-01-30T19:51:12.565-05:00

Nora went to a superhero-themed birthday party on Saturday, and has been sporting her personalized cape and mask ever since. This clip was an attempt to recapture a particularly fanciful kazaam she placed on her big sister this morning before church, but apparently the magic was resistant to video. Still, we loved the understated result.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlz0IwrGop0*ps, why can't I

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-40987367652155157432011-01-23T18:30:00.005-05:002011-01-23T20:02:19.247-05:00

Yesterday K. and I finished our fifth week of P90X. If you have no idea what that means: (a) consider yourself lucky, and (b) you're not going to understand much of this post, so here's a link. Having learned to anticipate my now annual winter doldrums, I was looking for something to keep me active after the marathon, at least until it was warm enough to start running again. Since P90X is a

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-29986481353434993692010-12-22T08:28:00.004-05:002010-12-22T12:13:05.209-05:00

CHRISTMAS CREATIVITYSANTA'S VISITAND IN GENERAL, WAY TOO MANY HELPERS...BUT WE LOVE 'EM!

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-1294731585228606732010-12-04T12:15:00.004-05:002010-12-04T12:25:27.076-05:00

Second-time marathoner, the Great ScottRichmond, November 13th, 3:38Sage turns 9, makes a wish for many Littlest Pet ShopsAnd incidentally, the original Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone movie which she chose to watch at her party is also exactly 9 years old. She was born on opening night.In unrelated news, giant parsnips.Mid-air gyrations.And happy preschool headdresses.Happy Thanksgiving!

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-12539958984990750742010-10-31T19:43:00.002-04:002010-10-31T19:51:28.519-04:00

We've been doing a spate of Mad Libs, and our collective favorite was this gem by Lucy:RULES FOR RIDING THE SCHOOL BUS1. Every morning, your bus runs a tall route, so you must be sure that you arrive at your local elephant early.2. While waiting, do not cha-cha in the middle of the street. You might get run over by a sleepy potty.3. When you see the bus, wave your nose.4. Before boarding, make

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-18146066550729962002010-10-24T15:20:00.007-04:002010-10-31T15:06:43.356-04:00

At the end of September I flew back out to BYU to attend a conference for LDS lawyers. The conference, while inspiring and worthwhile in its own right, really served as a plausible excuse to visit Utah, attend General Conference, and see lots of family. Coming on the heels of a Goodwin-side reunion over the summer, you'd think that another trip out west would produce diminishing returns.And

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-203664563222832132010-10-11T08:53:00.006-04:002010-10-11T09:46:00.871-04:00

Some birthdays, a state fair, climbing rocks, lots of mushroom-hunting.Learning to ride a bike, reading Dr. Seuss, a giant flag, more mushrooms.Camping, first day of school, fingerpainting, a soccer cake.

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-55002084244463549612010-09-13T09:04:00.003-04:002010-09-13T09:07:03.635-04:00

Check out this post for our recent family fun:Karrot Soup

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-22548980090638780822010-08-29T15:15:00.009-04:002010-08-29T22:24:48.450-04:00

Last year K. got me an iPod for my birthday, and it's probably no coincidence that I started training for my first marathon a few weeks later. Running is a lonely, grueling business, and it helps to have something to distract you from the next four hills and how the fourth one makes you want to retch. I actually made a 4-hour playlist for the St. George Marathon, but I'm proud to

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-70508369472655883722010-07-04T17:05:00.013-04:002010-07-11T22:41:01.337-04:00

When I left for college, "home" was an hour from the Pacific ocean. Since then, each of the last four moves has been a move further east until, now, at last, I live about 90 minutes from the Atlantic. This place has been good to us, and it has been good for our kids to set down some roots, but I miss my family and miss the grand landscape of the West. As you may guess, then, last month's

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-71421392606831029212010-06-16T15:15:00.004-04:002010-06-16T16:17:49.206-04:00

A quick post since my husband is being laaaazy -- ah, I mean busy. He is understandably short of time, having been made Young Mens president in our recent ward rearrangements. (Not that I'm not busy, but never mind that.) It's the first week of summer vacation, and so I'm putting up a few pictures of our farm outing today to keep the blog ball rolling. It's a good thing I don't have to vote on

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-62523319415781754982010-05-30T15:49:00.005-04:002010-05-30T19:28:55.987-04:00

Apparently there's a nature center about an hour away from us that highlights, among other things, the spawning of the largest horseshoe crab population in the world, which is usually at the full moon in May (or something like that). This was the first year we were aware of it, so we didn't manage to see the live masses of horseshoe crabs that we were secretly hoping for, but there was plenty of

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-42971908892007724172010-05-16T16:23:00.010-04:002010-05-16T19:47:24.919-04:00

Lucy got scared on an escalator recently, and tried to get off again right as she was getting on, resulting in a bit of a tangle and some tears as one leg kept going and another didn't. I was already halfway up, unfortunately, and couldn't comfort her -- I had to go all the way up and then back down to help her finally make the trip. She was very sad, but the rest of us found it mostly funny.

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-18421952634064497332010-04-11T19:33:00.006-04:002010-04-11T21:48:19.672-04:00

The older I get, the more I crave the tactile, the real, the palpable. So much of my formal education was spent in the abstract appreciation of the aesthetic and the theoretical, but now I relish the beauty of practical things. For my morning exercise, I've been climbing stairs while listening to the Modern Scholar lecture series from Recorded Books, and it has surprised me how much more I have

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-37315819847034725022010-03-28T15:36:00.003-04:002010-03-29T08:06:23.931-04:00

We're at a point in our lives when we're becoming very rooted. I'm not ruling out any mid-life crises to come, but things feel stable, united, peaceful overall. Maybe not moment to moment, but definitely year to year. S. and I see friends and relatives still in the crazy, three-kids-and-moving-to-yet-the-next-apartment phase, and it feels good to have fiiiiinally gotten past that ourselves,

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-82725175181502617972010-03-07T12:49:00.005-05:002010-03-07T19:06:31.926-05:00

Three miles from our house are the rolling hills of Ashland and Mt. Cuba. I've always loved the human-sized perspective of hills, the impression they give that something bright and new is just over the horizon. We live in a good place.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-12557705536520736702010-02-20T08:17:00.003-05:002010-02-20T21:05:47.043-05:00

"Savage Small" was a game invented by my brother Bob for our little brother Bryce--basically Marco Polo with a blanket instead of a pool. It's much more comical when played with several layers of blankets, but K. thinks this puts the kids at a disadvantage. I say that disadvantage is hilarious.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-23420603613856463682010-02-16T07:52:00.006-05:002010-02-16T17:30:23.175-05:00

Growing up in Michigan, I had certain things I liked about each season. Fall was my absolute favorite -- not only were there colors, but the crunch of the leaves underfoot and the crisp, brisk breeze made me feel my most alive. Winter was my second favorite, with snow and holiday festivities. (It probably didn't hurt that MI is on the far, far western edge of the eastern time zone, so sunset

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-16538464815790495612010-02-07T21:14:00.005-05:002010-02-07T22:16:08.863-05:00

It's a good thing we have three months worth of food storage, because I get all my storm warnings from mid-Atlantic coworkers and never know whether to take them seriously or not. (Given the amount of fretting that accompanies every snowy forecast, you might get the mistaken impression that it does not snow here--multiple times--every single winter.) Anyway, it looks like this time they were

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-91666397797063786442010-01-31T19:25:00.004-05:002010-01-31T19:38:02.245-05:00

First place champion, yeah baby. Kudos also go to Dad's hard work polishing axles, meticulously drilling and scraping holes for the weights, and sawing and sanding by hand.

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-9176646791727184012010-01-10T19:06:00.003-05:002010-01-10T19:41:57.688-05:00

These pictures are mainly for my mom, but also for anyone else who cares about my fledgling quilt-making efforts. I know many of my relatives regularly crank out multiple quilts (Tiff's recent blog as evidence), but this still took enough effort for my busy self to feel like a big deal. I've sewn plenty of clothes at this point but this was my first first quilt, so I was gratified that Nora

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-33999729690489674382010-01-03T14:47:00.016-05:002010-01-03T22:43:13.919-05:00

I was reading recently that loneliness, as a perceived state of being, exhibits many of the same characteristics as a contagious disease. When someone in a social network begins expressing feelings of loneliness or isolation, other people in the network start to feel the same way. The effects of this can spread as far as three degrees of separation. The theory is that people who feel lonely

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-78831312939029643332009-12-24T10:19:00.003-05:002009-12-24T10:44:19.043-05:00

Lucy's preschool teacher apparently informed her that it wasn't officially winter, so she was very confused on December 19th... (You can see the rectangular decorative door-marks there in the packed snow if you look carefully).We realize many of our blog readers have seen snow before, but this is also for the benefit of the grandparents in snowless climes. We invite you to enjoy all the white

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-83210861857106515162009-11-29T17:05:00.003-05:002009-11-29T17:52:31.257-05:00

Eighth birthday, baptism and confirmation as a member of the LDS church, two Thanksgivings, lots of uncles and grandparents -- Sage has had a lot crammed into life in the last week or two.S. and I are so grateful to have her in our family, and aside from marveling constantly at how tall and graceful she seems (52 inches isn't too far from some of her shorter aunts), we also are amazed at the

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-9874327742380301412009-11-17T20:01:00.008-05:002009-11-17T21:50:16.494-05:00

This morning my ring fell off. It was 5:30 and we were lying on a blanket, trying to catch a glimpse of the Leonids. Standing up, I let my left hand fall and felt the gold band drop right off my finger, free as a bird. Not the first time this has happened, but the first time in the backyard on a moonless night, so I frantically worked my fingers through the grass while K. went to get a

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-31368905834840539642009-11-08T18:32:00.007-05:002009-11-09T20:05:08.568-05:00

First, the obligatory Halloween picture. From left to right: Ian as Harry Potter (Quidditch version? we could only get a hold of a red cape in time for Halloween); Sage as Cinderella, in my homesewn dress that I'm quite proud of; me as either a leopard lady or a cavewoman, depending on your preference; Lucy as a cheerleader; Nora as a cow -- she's the fourth child to wear that costume, and the

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-64409249721026932242009-10-18T16:08:00.017-04:002009-10-18T21:41:19.510-04:00

I am a firm believer in the the power of If-You-Can-Do-It-I-Can-Do-It. In late April a friend from Charlottesville came to town to run the Trail Triple Crown Marathon in White Clay Creek. I had reached a plateau in my weight-loss goals and was looking for something to spur things along. Well, if you ever want to feel inspired you should go make friends with someone who isn't a professional

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-466243394650370252009-10-09T19:39:00.008-04:002009-10-11T22:18:47.548-04:00

Each of our kids had a womb name. We didn't want to refer to them as just "the Baby," and we certainly didn't want to call any of them "It." Ian was Ziggy (the Zygote) and Sage was Phoebe (the Fetus). Lucy was just Bonus, and that's what she's been. We have several theories about Lucy, one of which is that her little body is ill-equipped to contain her largeness of spirit. If you don't know

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-34588052370970495902009-09-20T16:10:00.005-04:002009-09-21T20:05:51.382-04:00

Dear Teacher,This is how we spent our summer vacation. We:-saw cousins -went to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden-said goodbye to a pet-chilled out along the Brandywine-took a family bike ride -dressed up-slipped and slid-waded into the Huron River-showed Grandma how to bowl-ate pancakes every Sunday night-tended a friend's garden-camped at Cape Henlopen-hiked to a salt marsh-parted the

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-91083373533979509802009-09-19T19:06:00.003-04:002009-09-20T22:33:21.816-04:00

Q: Why aren't children allowed to watch movies about pirates?A: Because they're rated arrrr.

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-72705539449715148092009-09-13T17:45:00.006-04:002009-09-13T18:16:02.131-04:00

Something this week made me think of photography, and though S. and I are certainly of the humbler variety, I collected an album of my tippy-top favorites since we got our digital camera in April of 2007. I'm sure S. would pick different ones, we often differ in our taste, but this hopefully represents not just pictures that you would be interested in because you know the faces of our kids that

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-83200262837955245462009-08-23T16:17:00.009-04:002009-08-23T22:14:38.378-04:00

Wednesday:10:30 PM--Plotted a 19-mile run on Google Maps.  Made mental note to pack energy bar in the morning.Thursday:7:45 AM--Drove to the beach.9:00-11:30--Does chasing kids in the water park count as a "rest day"?2:00 PM--Set up camp.  4:00--Hiked to Fort Miles.7:30--Carbed up on potatoes, carrots and s'mores.8:10--Clear mental picture of an energy bar sitting on a pantry shelf back home.9:00

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-74125019505260342472009-08-13T14:22:00.003-04:002009-08-15T08:35:18.545-04:00

S. and I have been thinking a lot about travel, pining after places that we haven't seen in years and hankering after places we've only heard of.  For example, we haven't seen Yellowstone since we were newlyweds, and our kids have never seen it; we have some great memories of southern Utah's landscapes, but it's been 9 years since we've been there; and we'd love to see New Mexico's crystal caves,

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-89413354491276792152009-07-19T21:28:00.003-04:002009-07-19T22:16:47.171-04:00

You learn something new each day.  Apparently, there are these terrible creatures called termites and they love to eat wood and it turns out our house is made of wood.  The only thing more disheartening than thinking about how long it will take to pay off our mortgage is the thought that, while we do so, diabolical little micro-terrorists are secretly eating our equity.   They are a threat to our

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-84224630780265912512009-07-13T22:49:00.003-04:002009-07-19T21:26:53.804-04:00

Ah, Nora.  We can understand what you're saying about 67% of the time now.  After six months, you've finally stopped performing that trick where we drop you off at the nursery and you cry for two hours.  You play pretend with Lucy and ride piggy-back on whoever will carry you.  You're not small.  You're something other than small.  This must be celebrated with festoonery, masks and sugar.Welcome

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-55198819802276218782009-07-12T18:38:00.003-04:002009-07-12T18:42:51.236-04:00

Ian eulogizes our beloved cat Curio at his new blog.  Come and pay your respects.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-57064904273392236152009-06-28T15:16:00.020-04:002009-06-29T22:27:08.098-04:00

One of the perks of being a practicing attorney is that you are forced to take a certain number of CLE (Continuing Legal Education) credits per year.  This is kind of a hassle, but when you're a low-level associate toiling away in the Biglaw ranks, it's nice to know that there's at least 12 hours a year that you won't have to be billing.  Also, it means that you can take a trip to Boston and mix

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-318473676936545332009-06-21T14:49:00.007-04:002009-06-21T15:38:55.227-04:00

I haven't completely gotten comfortable with the blog format, going public with my thoughts for all to see.  S. has encouraged me to, but I guess I'm shy.  Today, though, I'll try it in honor of my honey.  Here are all the ways S. is such an excellent father (and husband).He's silly.  We have a saying in our house, that dads are silly and moms are crazy.  I've found it to be a pretty useful

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-60111843659984423122009-06-07T21:07:00.003-04:002009-06-07T21:22:57.617-04:00

I intended to post about something else entirely, but then today on our Sunday traipse through the state park, we got this marvelous shot:Priceless.

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-66783215780180627072009-05-31T20:53:00.005-04:002009-05-31T21:58:52.561-04:00

It pays to have talented friends.  In this case, that would be our mutual friend Amy, artist extraordinaire, who now has a regular gig making the illustrations for Music and the Spoken Word.  Interesting story: Amy was one of the many college friends who knew both K. and I long before K. and I knew each other.  She was at the party where K. and I met, and was the third person I called while

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-75732156942788335402009-05-17T19:35:00.004-04:002009-05-17T20:50:24.419-04:00

In kindergarten I seated myself in front of our old, drafty house on Dixwell Avenue, took a deep breath, and let the world know that seashells, fresh from the Connecticut shore, could be had for just five cents.  I only remember one commission, a small translucent yellow shell sold to a mustache man who insisted on paying me a quarter no matter how many times I asked for a nickel.  I suggested

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-23743919097529339152009-05-17T15:34:00.006-04:002009-05-17T18:04:03.412-04:00

These Mother's Day pictures pretty much speak for themselves.  Beautiful spring day, newly planted trees, and my gifts.  (No, not what the kids are holding, the kids themselves, of course.)

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-31293759589405907612009-05-08T21:51:00.003-04:002009-05-08T22:18:09.125-04:00

OK, here's the secret: If you want to make me cry, show me a sentimental movie about fatherhood and within twenty seconds I'll have to turn away, claiming I just got something in my eye.  The sad part is that I'm not kidding at all--father trauma is my kryptonite.  Show me An American Tale, Finding Nemo or Fiddler on the Roof--if a father is torn from and/or reunited with his child, I am

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-398966759318801812009-04-26T19:10:00.002-04:002009-04-26T19:32:48.310-04:00

We were playing in the basement and then I thought that it might be fun to do a play, so I told Lucy that we were going to do Little Red Riding Hood.  Lucy got a little red cape and a towel to be the hood, and I got a thick yarn blanket and a checkered cloth over my head and tied it at the bottom.  Then, Lucy got a basket and put almonds in it, but we didn't have a wolf.  So then, we started

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-90868932983887678822009-04-12T19:27:00.011-04:002009-04-12T22:34:21.453-04:00

K. must know me very well, because this week she surprised me with a recording of Ralph Vaughn Williams's Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.  I can't really describe the swell of emotions I feel when I listen to the Tallis Fantasia, the way the strings flow back and forth in chords both triumphant and sad, pushing from the low into the transcendant.  That blending of major and minor was a

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-53184231639268534132009-04-12T15:30:00.016-04:002009-04-12T17:49:58.195-04:00

K. and I are trying to get into the habit of saying yes to good things.   It's funny how easily we can talk ourselves out of doing the things that bless us the most, falling back on those comfortable phrases--too busy, too difficult, too tired.  To counteract that kind of defeatism, this year we've made a point to take a trip to the DC temple whenever I get a day off work.  Normally, this means

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-66183471853996480822009-04-05T20:58:00.013-04:002009-04-05T21:54:32.508-04:00

Last fall we bought a membership to the Philadelphia Zoo (Motto: "America's Oldest Zoo, and Looks It"). The cost of a yearly membership was slightly more than the cost of taking our whole family for a single visit, so this was the trip that made our investment pay off.In additional to the obligatory gangs of geese and squirrels, the Philadelphia Zoo is also features free-roaming peacocks, many

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-33101198251278117752009-03-25T20:40:00.007-04:002009-03-25T22:00:34.806-04:00

I can't tell if Pi Day is becoming a nationally popular holiday or if it's just heavily plugged by our school district. When a federal circuit judge at our church cites Pi Day as a scheduling conflict, well, then, you've probably moved beyond cult status. Holiday or not, I don't really care. I'm just in it for the pie, frankly, and if my kids learn something about circumference while I'm

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-49917221500504146232009-03-22T16:01:00.005-04:002009-03-22T16:44:23.688-04:00

A little saga about gloves and Sage.  She had some cheap gloves early in the winter, but was always cold and so I bought her some really nice insulated, fur-edged mittens.  Of course, she quickly lost one and it hasn't showed up on the playground or the lost and found.  At about the same time, she came home one day and said that there were gloves in her coat pockets that weren't hers.  They

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-7786618996087454152009-03-15T21:13:00.014-04:002009-03-15T22:50:29.734-04:00

Recently, it seems like people keep asking me how my job is going. The question always catches me off guard, and I'm afraid my answers are always unsatisfactory. When I'm not at work I tend to forget that I have a job, but the reverse is also true; when co-workers ask me about my plans for the weekend I'm just as likely to draw a blank. Call it the male gift for compartmentalization:

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-6472901525915677082009-03-12T13:20:00.008-04:002009-03-12T13:44:17.373-04:00

...But I think I have ended up where I needed to be.  Wise words from Douglas Adams.And in unrelated life, cute kids doing what kids do.Also introducing Gengis Ian, though we forgot to put a nice fu manchu mustache on him. His nice black skirt-thing and thick uggy slippers are not visible in the picture, but really completed the look.

Karrot Souphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18348150935341219269noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-19554400023782350232009-03-01T15:53:00.004-05:002009-03-01T16:08:00.474-05:00

LUCY: Dad! Dad! Feel this part! Feel this part!DAD: Hmmm. It feels wet.LUCY [sadly]: Yeah, I accidentally put it in the potty.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-62044016794782972152009-02-22T17:54:00.003-05:002009-02-22T19:07:18.917-05:00

It's been a lackluster week. K. and I are both deep into our winter doldrums and won't be coming out until March 21. This calls for a music video! Funny how setting your life to music makes it seem so much more vibrant than it actually is. That's why John Williams makes the big bucks.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-52251544179778763092009-02-08T20:41:00.004-05:002009-02-08T22:40:59.468-05:00

Tags are going around like the winter flu, and we decided it was time to offer our contribution.  Here is our response to a tag from our friend Rosalyn:K. first:Where we met:  At a party at our friend Amy-I-don't-remember-her-last-name's house.  Though I probably have her name written down somewhere else (in the attic) if I wanted to dig out really old photos.  April of 1998.  The second answer

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-5516392363553547252009-01-25T20:59:00.015-05:002009-01-29T22:43:10.185-05:00

At long last, here's a few photos from our Christmas trip to Sacramento.  My whole side of the family was there, and it felt like a real vacation to see everyone.Sage, Lucy and their cousin Ellie had a lot of shared TV-watching to catch up on.This being our first visit to my parents' new house, we were sure to take advantage of the lake in their backyard.  The weather was cool--low 50s and foggy

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-62377793577478461712009-01-19T12:33:00.009-05:002009-01-20T21:56:30.408-05:00

Where does the time go?  I thought I'd get an early start on a post about hitting our ten-year anniversary milestone, and liked the idea of breaking our marriage down into its raw data, but somehow I could never muster the energy to tally all the numbers and make all those charts.  That was over two months ago.  With our anniversary deadline making a nifty whooshing sound as it passed by, I

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-52265940261428283172008-12-17T14:50:00.005-05:002008-12-18T16:23:06.889-05:00

Each of us has so many thoughts about our decade of life together, that we'll have to split up the blog posts. In Part One, K will focus on our recent anniversary trip to New York City...Since it's impossible to see all of New York in just over 48 hours, we decided the focus of our trip would be culture.  Art, music, theater, all the grown-up stuff that we could really enjoy without the kids.  

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-62608626936778244182008-12-07T21:16:00.004-05:002008-12-07T21:29:21.231-05:00

Nora has been something of a pill these past few weeks--getting an early start on her terrible twos in the fine family tradition.  Still, there are also days like this: Keep turning on the charm, kiddo.  Maybe we'll keep you for a few more months.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-68443265429674926252008-11-23T15:01:00.010-05:002008-11-23T15:39:34.694-05:00

My birthday party was on the 15th, one day before my real birthday.  I invited Cathy, Kaitlyn, Marie, Sara, Madeline, Ashlee, Jack, Sam and Ella.  First we decorated foam pumpkins.  The theme of my party was "the Olympics," so we had lots of contests like jello-eating, pinata, Twister, chinese jumprope, dancing, chinese whispers, and sock-stealing.This is me and my friends decorating foam

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-5879221716018469212008-11-16T14:53:00.002-05:002008-11-16T14:56:47.147-05:00

Check out The Poem of Mossflower (October 19)--it's finished now.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-86916126558260838662008-11-10T21:34:00.003-05:002008-11-10T22:57:45.936-05:00

It started with the scale: I'd earned enough reward points from my law school research provider to garner a high-tech scale that not only measured weight down to a tenth of a pound, but also used electrical impulses to measure body water, body fat, and body mass index.  The scale told me I was overweight, that I had been for some time, and that my body was going to remain in a holding pattern

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-48139639369164847492008-11-10T20:49:00.005-05:002008-11-11T09:00:52.700-05:00

Borrowing a page from our civic-minded friends, the Seals, we held an election-themed family home evening last week in which various members of the family campaigned and voted for important positions like Brownie-Giver-Outer, Official Tickler and Emperor of the Family. As the incumbent, I thought I had this last one in the bag, but ended up in a tight race with a promising young candidate

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-71403929182677116772008-11-02T16:14:00.004-05:002008-11-02T18:38:05.140-05:00

So there's this local tradition where kids are supposed to dress up in costumes and demand candy from strangers. In Connecticut, where I grew up, there was a similar holiday called Halloween, and it was held on October 31. Where we live now, they practice something similar, except it starts around October 20, and the candy-eating lasts until about Thanksgiving. First, there is the making of

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-56834076677065364152008-10-26T21:04:00.008-04:002008-10-26T21:40:23.532-04:00

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-83580596248816606032008-10-19T18:52:00.015-04:002008-11-16T14:53:35.510-05:00

[Update:  The last three verses you see were added on today (November 16), but I made them a week ago.]One day I was bored. I started drafting Valentine's Day poems but got bored of that, so I started a Redwall poem. Redwall is basically like Medieval-time stories but with animals. There are different books. I was writing the poem about the book Mossflower. Here's what I wrote so far; I have

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-16733956542372038362008-10-09T20:48:00.002-04:002008-10-12T16:29:43.316-04:00

Our cannonball of happiness had a birthday this week. We got a video of her waking up, freshly 4 years old, but I have an unhappy hunch that it is too long to upload successfully. So instead, here are a few pictures of our lovely Lucy Q on her big day. Here, she's happily doing a puzzle at the library.I love so many things about Lucy, all of which are reflected in this photo.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-74577328517062096292008-09-14T18:59:00.020-04:002008-09-14T21:05:05.058-04:00

It might be an uphill battle, but I'd always hoped that we might instill in our kids a desire to be not simply passive consumers of childish diversions, but producers as well. I'm half convinced that children come wired for creativity already, and only succumb to mindless viewings of Disney, Barbie, and Pokemon with the tacit permission of their parents. Parenting is time-consuming and

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-47567249335902956212008-08-17T17:00:00.012-04:002008-08-24T15:38:30.184-04:00

We're back from a week of camping which means, as my friend Dave puts it, that we will now be doing laundry "for the rest of our natural lives." Whenever I tell people at work that I spent my precious time away from work going camping with my four children, they have tended to be incredulous or say things like: "Wow. You're brave." K. and I get the "wow-you're-brave" response to a lot of

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-31634590731602945652008-07-13T20:16:00.003-04:002008-07-27T16:23:32.260-04:00

Pity the fourth child. All Mom and Dad's good intentions have been beaten out of them by three other children. Friends and family have expended a decent portion of their interest and enthusiasm on their predecessors. From the moment they get here, the space they inhabit has to be rented from someone else. Sorry kid--somebody got here before you.Nora has borne it all admirably well. Though

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-22752105784860749712008-07-06T22:01:00.010-04:002008-07-11T21:29:07.892-04:00

We've passed the two-year mark here in Elsewhere--two springs, two summers, two falls and a couple of interminable winters. Intellectually, I can appreciate why Andrew Wyeth spent the cold half of his year here in the Brandywine Valley, all the rolling hills dry and pale to match his brushstrokes, all the trees reduced to their spooky, skeletal structures, but it doesn't take more than a couple

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-28880433249696238362008-06-29T18:24:00.013-04:002008-06-29T20:17:06.020-04:00

Sage:Wednesday morning we heard some noises in the basement. We went down in the basement and we saw a little kitten. We tried catching it. Finally we caught it. We were looking around for it in the basement and I noticed that it was in the box that we were trying to catch it in, so we tipped it up and it was caught. We named it Curio and we petted it and played with it. Then we gave it to

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-10226662972485036712008-06-23T09:19:00.008-04:002008-06-23T13:33:12.504-04:00

On May 31st, I turned thirty-one -- and Ian was baptized. What a wonderful present, to see my first child begin down his own spiritual path and make his first covenant with Heavenly Father.It feels like baptism photos always look dingier than the occasion felt in person. Somehow there's a bright, shiny sense of the day that isn't captured by normal light. But S. and I are very proud of Ian's

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-54745177759571251422008-06-08T19:01:00.003-04:002008-06-08T19:24:49.638-04:00

The year's at the springAnd day's at the morn;Morning's at seven;The hillside's dew-pearled;The lark's on the wing;The snail's on the thorn:God's in his heaven--All's right with the world!(Words by Robert Browning, Pictures by K.)

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-34463087097646337622008-04-27T15:02:00.015-04:002008-05-01T21:25:50.110-04:00

Recently I've read two books touching on the subject of human memory, written by two colleagues in the Harvard psychology department: The Seven Sins of Memory by Daniel L. Schacter and Stumbling On Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. Their aims are different, but both Daniels emphasize the same point: the memories our brains retrieve often seem like complete pictures--all the important details laid out

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-6884754702214196752008-04-27T15:00:00.002-04:002008-06-08T19:00:08.172-04:00

At Rehoboth Beach the tourists are still one month away. Sage and I walk barefoot across the boardwalk to the bathroom where she puts in my hand nine pebbles, one by one, each a treasure. Later she will drop them all for the sake of a broken bit of crab shell, but for now I guard them outside, leaning against the rail, looking at the red tanker hanging there to the left, out on the horizon.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-4920666785657781812008-04-13T10:58:00.003-04:002008-04-13T11:54:59.428-04:00

Happy Birthday, Dad! We were all thinking of you yesterday but didn't manage to get everyone rounded up for filming until this morning. Today we will play some Wagner and Dvorak in your honor. We're all looking forward to seeing you and Mom in about a month. Love, your son and his hangers-on.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-65798460423024363282008-03-30T21:24:00.007-04:002008-04-09T20:58:04.019-04:00

When I was growing up the Berenstain Bears had an Easter special in which stereotypical male-doofus Papa Bear tells the cubs, via cartoon montage, that Easter is all about "CHO-colate eggs and EA-ster bunnies," only to be corrected by always-right Mama Bear's montage about nice secular Easter things like love, family, and loving your family. It was an irony not lost on us kids that this

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-63067833960198687532008-03-02T15:24:00.009-05:002008-03-02T17:41:02.903-05:00

Old Man Winter finally paid us a visit last week, overwhelming local infrastructure with a massive two inches of snow. With schools closed and my office opening two hours late, we wisely chose to pass the time making tracks and pelting each other in the neck with snowballs. I wanted to shovel the driveway but Ian beat me to it and wouldn't let me help.Nora didn't really know what to make of

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-26911489456994703022008-02-27T09:49:00.008-05:002008-03-01T13:00:40.007-05:00

These are from way back in December, but I wanted to put some pictures of my delicious bread on the blog. I can't help it, a slice of homemade bread is a slice of heaven and S. got me French loaf pans for Christmas...The beauty on top there takes about 10 hours from start to finish, including caramelizing the sugar and grating the cheese and chopping the dried apricots, which is why we only have

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-40049858660788044362008-02-17T20:58:00.004-05:002008-02-17T21:58:07.072-05:00

Having a happy family is hard work--don't let anyone tell you different. Even when you try your best you may still have nights where you sleep downstairs on the couch with a fussy baby so that your wife gets a break upstairs. And then when you wake up in the morning with a sore neck and a sore throat, you may still find yourself faced with belligerent kids trying to pick a fight about what

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-50911810780579236062008-02-10T21:22:00.000-05:002008-02-10T21:26:24.052-05:00

Nora has started eating things other than Mom. She loves it. Really, REALLY loves it:P.S. Tiff and Kyle--we posted this one through Youtube, so hopefully you can watch it.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-25592527569097980172008-01-24T20:47:00.000-05:002008-01-24T20:48:56.586-05:00

THE MIXED-UP MORNING Thud! Ash Ketchum fell out of bed. “pika…” Ash awoke with a start. He realized he had knocked pikachu out of bed, too. Just then his alarm rang—unusually. Frg-rrrumg-zzzzzzzzz-bnfzzz-k-k-k-puh. “What’s wrong with my alarm clock?!” thought Ash aloud, springing off the floor, ‘alarmed’. He dashed downstairs, dialed a number on the telephone, (it happened to be the

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4451030985608239189.post-36801536133105654782008-01-09T20:30:00.000-05:002008-01-11T20:48:26.946-05:00

We spent New Year's Eve at the state park soaking up the sun and running through the brambles. The next morning, first of the new year, we took advantage of the warm weather to hike another trail behind the local natural history museum. The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.

SKISLNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04356080776040122819noreply@blogger.com4