Onions Are a Vegetable, Yes?

Day Two sans The Husband. He left on a business trip yesterday, set to return only far into the wee sma's on Friday night.

So far, so good, if only because I've decide to voluntarily lower my standards before I invariably end up being forced to admit that 1) alive, 2) safe, and 3) fed are about the highest limits to which I can aspire.

(And - excellente - I have thus far attained all THREE of them - felicitations to me!)

Take tonight. Usually dinner includes some form of vegetables, ideally at least two kinds (even though I'm inexplicably the only person in this family who eats salad on purpose) that provide a veneer of choice, even though it's one of those Hobson's choices where I win and the rest of the family loses.

(Except of course for all the vitamins and minerals that their bodies win, win, win!)

But tonight, despite a crisper full of the ol' standbys, I just couldn't face it. Not so much the chopping, but the fight. The invariable whine. The lip curling up when it sees the colourful bounty on the table, the intake of breath in preparation for the full octave "AwwwwwwwwWWWWWW..." that can be terminated prematurely only by a sharp, "YOU know the rule - NO complaining until after we pray!"

So tonight was onion soup. And cheese. And toast.

That's four food groups, right? Water, salt, dairy, and bread. Oh, and onions. Huzzah - five!

The big excitement at the PM house today is a musical one - we had a piano delivered. Been looking for awhile, our heads full of dreams of becoming our own Partridge Family or Von Trapps. The Husband's got the bass guitar down cold (seriously - you should hear him), I can play an entire octave on the acoustic guitar, and now the kids have to fight it out for who gets the piano.

(I'm trying not to think about the fact that the only instrument our band yet requires is the drums. Or that The Boy is undeniably suited to an instrument that basically allows you to practice being a ninja while sitting down.)

It's used, and it's been around the block a few times. Precariously, undoubtedly, as it is missing its back wheels. But it's got good guts that belie its banged-up appearance, so we have high hopes.

And with that, off to a quick cup of tea and then bed. I've got four more days to go, and I'm already out of onions.

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I'll Get You, My Pretty!

A conversation overheard:

The Girl: Hey Mom, do you know The Wizard of Oz?

PM: Um, yeah.

TG: Cuz Aidan at Kids Club was singing "we represent the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild we represent the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild..." Do you know that part?

PM: WerepresentheLollipopGuildtheLollipopGuildtheLollipopGuildwerepresenttheLollipopGuildandwishtowelcomeyoutoMunchkinlandasmayorofthemunchkincityinthecountryofhtelandofozwewelcomeyoumostregallybutwe'vegottoverifyitlegallytoseetoseeifsheifsheismorallyethicallyspirituallyphysicallyundeniablyandreliablydead...

The Husband: [sotto voce] Do NOT open that box, kids....

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Teach a Man to Fish...

Teach a girl to speak, and her imperious commands accompany her authoritatively where'er she goes.

Teach a girl to write...
...and her dictatorial reign knoweth no physical bounds.

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WHAT is THIS Tomfoolery!?

This is what I woke up to this morning:

Holy Too Early Batman! I am NOT ready for this.

Although, the 8 and under set was in its glory:

Yep, this amount of snow definitely requires shovels.

Building a fort, "so that when Dad wakes up we can throw snowballs at him!"

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Cold Much?

Fall is upon us, it seems. A bit harshly, yes? One day it's 25 degrees and the next you're scrounging around for last year's mittens.

Busy, busy around here. Some of it is not my favourite (see: homework), but most of it is good. We're starting to get into the rhythm of school, work continues to hum along, and we move through each week with astonishing rapidity, so that one blink seems to bring a Monday, but the next one brings the weekend.

The Husband's been keeping busy with a gruelling training schedule over the summer preparing for his Big Race, which he ran this past weekend. 10 whole miles!! I'm quite proud of him, not least because I have tried running and pretty much hated every single step. I can't imagine running for over an hour because you want to.

But, he wanted to, and here he is all beaming and bright after finishing:
My beamage and brightness came this weekend in the form of fantastic friends from Canadaland who made their annual trek to see us and love us up good. They introduced us to geocaching, which is essentially "X marks the spot" meets "Big Brother is watching."

Got some nice bike riding in, and we finally found Minnehaha Falls. (Yes, we are obviously in need of some orienteering skills, as we have ridden our bikes around Lake Nokomis before but couldn't find what is actually a relatively large waterfall.)

Lots of hanging out with the littlekins, which I love. One of the hardest parts about living here is knowing all those babies back home are growing up without frequent and gushing administrations of Taunte-PM-Love. Plus, I want so badly for the special little people in our lives to be more than just pictures on the refrigerator to The Boy and The Girl. So watching the 8 and under set exploring together was simply lovely.

And, of course, lots of gratuitous cuteness:

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