My New Name

Toby called me "Mrs. Young" yesterday while recounting a story about school.  And last week he told me that he called his teacher "Mom."

My Assignment

My assignment for each outing with the kids: take a ton of pictures and maybe we'll get one that we can use for a Christmas card this year.
The results:















































Norah, apparently, hasn't gotten the memo that a good picture of the kids takes time and patience....  So we'll see what ends up in your mailboxes next month.  Maybe we'll get lucky and find a picture of all 4 of us that looks decent.  Or, perhaps we'll err on the side of reality and send you a picture with at least one kid in tears or everyone out of focus?

My Lasers

Toby and I are playing Lego battle while Norah naps this afternoon.  I'm enjoying having him home today--it's Veteran's Day, no school--but I've noticed that our battles are significantly different than they were in the rainy days of spring.  Star Wars is totally to blame for this.  Now, every battle is won with lasers.  Toby has set up my crew with 6 guys and a horse: an alien, a storm trooper, and 4 knights complete with bows and arrows.  I think the storm trooper has a spear.  Oh, and I have a ship, but when I tried to make it do a fly over Toby said "No! That ship doesn't fly.  It just sits there." That's helpful.
Toby's side has over 12 people, a fortress, and several high-powered shooting objects.  And apparently his side has Luke Skywalker and everyone has "the force."  So they don't die.  And their lasers go through all my shields.  My role seems simply to cry out "oh no!" and make my Lego guys fall over when his guys shoot mine.
What else do you expect in a battle of lasers versus arrows and spears?

My Annual Complaint

It's that time of year again.

Wait for it....

Wait...

I hate raking leaves.

But two things are going to help me through this season's drudgery.  Well, four things, but two of them (though undeniably cute) are spotty help at best.  This year I've got Stephen Tobolowsky's stories to keep me company, and I've got a calorie counter.  Did you know that raking leaves can burn somewhere between 240 and 300 calories an hour?  I'm sure you also know that raking leaves can be incredibly boring?  So I'm making a boring chore more enjoyable: listening to Tobolowsky podcasts and thinking about all the extra treats I get to enjoy with my caloric deficit.

My Aquarium Activities

Last month we went to the aquarium again. We had the place to ourselves and the animals put on quite a show for us, despite the cooler temperatures.
Norah did more exploring this time than our last visit, and they still think that petting the sting rays is the best.

Here's Nemo!

Let I see, Toby!

Hi, Mr. Turtle.

I see lots of frogs, Mom.

Nice trees.

Hey, kids, pose by these flowers.

Try to count the penguins, Toby.

My Quiet Weekend

There are a lot of things that I could tell you about last weekend, when BJ took the kids to his parents' house for Halloween. But it can all be summed up in one word: quiet. I can't even tell you how nice it was to be on my own for 48 hours. It didn't hit me until Sunday morning, almost 24 hours into my solitude, which started after I dropped my sister and neice off at the airport on Saturday morning. I did a lot of window shopping near Hartford, and (since I was still hacking and coughing from a cold) a lot of reading and watching movies. But on Sunday I went to church (arriving a full 45 minutes late but not really caring) and then decided to run by Borders to do some Christmas shopping. Before I left for church I started to look up what time the store opened so that I could time my morning just right--it's a habit I do because I don't want to run an errand just to have the store be closed. But it hit me--it doesn't matter what time the store opens! I can sit in my car and wait. I can go to Panera Bread and have some coffee while I wait. I can go at 1:30 in the afternoon--normally a dreaded time to be running errands because certain young ones should be sleeping at that time. Oh, the joys of having a day to travel and shop and read and run (which I did that afternoon, at 1:30, actually) on no one's schedule but my own.

The jury is still out on whether or not it was worth it for BJ.... He spent almost 10 hours driving down to Baltimore on Friday night. A drive that should have taken 6 to 7 hours, with many stops.  The kids had a fabulous time with Oma and Opa, I hear.  It think that's always worth the trip!

My Discoveries

I picked up a photo CD at Walmart today of all the pictures that were on my old camera before it broke (in September). There are a few things I haven't blogged about because the proof was sitting on the photo card of the broken camera.

So here they are, for your viewing pleasure:

1) The last picture from our old camera. Taken by Toby, right before I said "Toby, please don't use my camera to take pictures."













2) The praying mantis we found in the yard. The first of three we discovered living in our yard over the last few days of summer into early fall.

3) My older sister, her two boys, and my mom flew out in the middle of September for a visit, and to celebrate my grandparents' 90th birthdays. A great big family gathering, like only the Fales clan can do.



















4) A dinner, in that same weekend, for some friends visiting from out of town. The starter was 3 towers--all delicious. (And all completely done by BJ--my only contribution to the dinner was the place settings, of which I forgot the spoons, and the dessert: cookies.)