Read, Watched, Listened

I love reading just about everything, watching comedy and documentary-type things, and have recently embraced the podcast.  I also enjoy hearing about what other people are reading, watching, and listening to.  Here's my two cents worth.

Read

Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen
Mary Norris has been a copy-editor at The New Yorker for decades.  It's part memoir, part grammar lesson, and all woven through with a biting, sarcastic sense of humor.  She has OPINIONS on grammar, proper usage of punctuation, and the sharpening of pencils.  Fair warning that you're going to need to be a bit of a grammar nerd yourself to enjoy and even understand some of this book.  It also may make you (MORE) paranoid about your own grammar, punctuation, and word choice anytime you type out something even as mundane as a Facebook comment...

Stern Men
I enjoyed The Signature of All Things so much that I went for another novel by Elizabeth Gilbert.  Also loved this one.  Set off the coast of Maine among a bunch of lobster fisherman in the 1970s, there was just enough narrative twists and turns to make it a page turner.  Above all, I highly enjoy Gilbert's ability to create such entertaining, oddball, and yet relatable characters.  It's amusing and also had the best, most satisfying ending in a novel that I've read in a long time.

For the Love

Finally got around (aka finally got to the top of the "holds" list) to Jen Hatmaker's latest.  She is SO funny, and touches on a little bit of everything in our current culture from parenting to cooking to the leggings-as-pants phenomenon (which I may or may not be embracing out in public right now...).  I know she's under a bit of fire right now for a recent interview (which: chill), however I find her to be articulate, thoughtful, HILARIOUS, while weaving it all together with a healthy reminder of the Gospel.  She helps to articulate and give voice to a younger, more liberal (whatever that means, these days) Evangelical set, who are sick of hearing a black-and-white doctrine when there are so, so many shades of gray.

Watched

This is Us
Have you been watching?  I rarely get into TV shows (Mad Men and Downton Abbey have been the only two I've followed (and when I follow a show, I mean it gets a tad obsessive) in recent years, but they've both ended.  I'm pretty picky when it comes to TV; the writing needs to be thoughtful, a tad unpredictable, and yet humorous.  People keep comparing it to Parenthood, but I seem to be in the minority on that one.  I watched the first season, (of Parenthood), yet found many of the characters tiresome and a lot of it too annoyingly precious and unbelievable to stomach.  In my opinion, This is Us is a much stronger show, while still exploring the lives and ties and complexities of family life.  It's also the first time Tyson and I have ever had a show that's "ours" to watch together (he annoyingly came in and out of Downton Abbey...I had to instate a "you can watch but for the love of God keep your mouth shut and don't ask me what's going on" rule) so that makes it fun, too.

Listened

99% Invisible
This is a recent one for me.  I wouldn't say I'm an avid listener, but have enjoyed cherry-picking episiodes here and there.  The short (20 minute-ish) episodes are about the design of, well, everything.  Episode 232: McMansion Hell had me actually laughing out loud as I made dinner one night, and I couldn't get the kids in bed fast enough to go check out the McMansion Hell website.  In fact, add McMansion Hell to the "read" list since it absolutely sucked me in.  (It had me DYING both of laughter and incredulous designer shame.)  Not exactly funny but incredibly interesting was Episode 220: The Mind of an Architect.

Post (Halloween) Weekend

October is one of those photo-heavy months that sneak up on you.  (Also see March and/or April (yay it's spring and we're outside again and also Easter is in there somewhere!) and any month with a kid's birthday in it (February.  Just February.  All the pictures for us are in February.).)  I mean, you kind of expect it in December what with the holidays and all, but October is a month full of fall things - leaf jumping!  hayrides!  pumpkin patches and apple orchards! - plus all that costume-wearing business.  Midwestern Octobers are like walking into a ready-made photo shoot each and every day.

Lucky for October, I really like fall.  Bring on the pumpkins and costumes, please.

 

Pumpkins for us this year meant pumpkin painting.  Carving pumpkins with things like sharp knives and messy pumpkin goo and all that sort of stuff with two toddlers + a baby around didn't appeal to me.  (GEE, why not?!?)  

But paint + toddlers + pumpkins?  Oh yes.  Bring it on.

And they LOVED it.

(Clearly a masterpiece.)

(Serious Caden is serious.)

(Teamwork!)

Though it fairly quickly devolved into a body-painting session.

Which they may have loved even MORE.

Pumpkins ready for trick-or-treaters.

Candy ready for trick-or-treaters.

Kids ready to BE trick-or-treaters.

Nolan's face got more bewildered and desperate as the photo-taking went on...

...and...

...there we have it.  Someone seriously needs to make a GIF of those last three, though.  (Caden's face is just as priceless.)

Mario and Princess Peach don't like each other at all.

No, I did not ask them to stare off into the distance for effect.  Once they spied a tractor working on building a new house nearby, there was no going back.  Why would I look at YOU holding a CAMERA, mom?  I had about 348 variations of the above shot.

Oh, Toad.

It was a little bit better for you earlier in the day, without costumes and siblings and sheer shrieking CHAOS around. 

(Though, really, you should be used to that by now.)

Everyone had fun.  Besides maybe Nolan during the picture-taking.  Sorry, third kid.  The older two rushed out, fully enthusiastic trick-or-treaters who banded together with some of the neighbors to canvass the neighborhood.  (Though Caden was slightly confused and started filling up his bucket with candy from out OWN bowl before heading out.  WHY am I leaving the house to go get candy when there is so much RIGHT HERE?!?  Oh the things we put these toddlers through.  It's really quite confusing, actually.)

Mario was lured back home by a bucket mostly full of candy ("I eat it all gone!") after trekking half the neighborhood, leaving Princess Peach to soldier on with the group.  

A couple of Snickers and a Halloween episode of Daniel Tiger later, and the Princess arrived back home, too.

 And, FYI, two two-and-a-half year olds can bring in quite the haul.  They are also completely unaware of the existence of all that candy they worked so hard for once they go to bed.

Pictured above: reasons for having kids.

Happy November!

An Announcement

(No, I'm not pregnant.)

You guys.

Two weeks ago...

...this happened.

Brooklyn.  On the potty.  Do you know what this means?  For the first time EVER, we have ONE KID - a lone, SINGLE child - in diapers.

*happy dance + all the praise hands + thank you Jesus AMEN*

We had borrowed a potty chair from a friend when we originally did the potty training dance back in June, but never really used it at the time.  It's been sitting on the top shelf in storage in the garage ever since, just waiting to be returned.  But one afternoon, Brooklyn spied it, and asked, "That my potty?"  "Um...yeah!  That's your potty." "Oh.  Okay."

And that was that.

Until the following afternoon.  When she woke up from her nap.  And people, I have changed a LOT of diapers in the past 2.5+ years, but this one was in the Top 5 WORST.  For sure.  And I told her that, y'know, if she would just USE the potty, this wouldn't happen. We wouldn't have to clean it all up because everything would just go in the potty!  Wouldn't that be nice?  

"Oh, " she said, "Okay.  I go on the potty soon?"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!1!

Since her previous response anytime I brought up the potty and the actual use of it had been something like, "Yeah.  I use the potty!  But no yet.  No yet, mommy" I JUMPED on this train: "Yeah!  This afternoon!  Let's go get the potty!  We can go get it right now!"  And it WORKED.  "YEAH!  I go get my un-nerwear!"

*more happy dances + praise hands that Tyson works from home since there was no way I could get that potty down from the top shelf of the garage otherwise*

And she's done awesome.  Unlike last time, when we set aside an entire weekend devoted to the art of potty training, this time we had plans.  And it wasn't like we could just cancel or suddenly set aside a bunch of time to go the "all potty training all the time" route like before.  Not to mention that after the emotional exhaustion of ALL things potty and all the freaking TOGETHERNESS of our last experience, I think NOT focusing on the potty ALL the time was good for the lot of us.  And she did pretty well.  In fact, she's done a terrific job keeping her underwear dry and telling us when she needs to go.  Or just GOING on her own.  Girl has an independent streak.  I KNEW that she was going to have to decide to go on the potty on her own, I just was and still am a bit taken aback that it happened so suddenly. We have some things to work on, but they're just normal toddler potty training things.  And we're only two weeks in.  I mean, Caden was a rule-following potty training machine, so I can't use him as my standard.  She's even started pulling up her pants and underwear BY HERSELF, which is still something that Caden asks for help on.  (Or doesn't ask for help on. It's a 50/50 chance that I'll just see a bare toddler butt, the pants wound down around the ankles, playing somewhere in the house.  I take that as my cue that hey he went potty sometime fairly recently).

I have to say, I'm actually not completely convinced that it's a full step forward, since we went from carrying one set of diapers for the twins and one set of diapers for Nolan in the diaper bag, to carrying one change of pants/underwear for Caden, one set of diapers for Brooklyn, and one set of diapers for Nolan, to NOW carrying one change of pants/underwear for Caden, one change of pants/underwear for Brooklyn, AND one set of diapers for Nolan.  Is this actually an improvement?  My diaper bag and shoulder are not so sure.  

Still, one kid in diapers?  It's a potty training miracle!  Amen to that.

Let's go, slacker.

Nolan Eight Months

Home

We've been here for a year.

One. Year.

When everyone knew we were moving to Minnesota - back to Minnesota, for me - lots of people said, "You must be excited to move back home!" and I kind of shrugged and nodded and agreed, but didn't really know how I felt.  I mean, I hadn't really lived here for a decade - 10 years and a couple of months - so it didn't quite feel like moving back "home".  We were pretty well settled in Madison.  Family aside, it sure didn't feel like I was moving "back" home so much as I was moving away from it.

Plus, let us all please recall the whole "20-weeks pregnant + twin toddlers + moving states + buying a house + Tyson working out-of-state" utter ridiculousness that was our life last year.  Ahem.

(Boxes and babies in an empty playroom.)

(Exploring inside.)

(Exploring outside.)

(Our OWN SWINGSET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!)

We've unpacked the boxes.  Hung pictures on the wall.  Purchased some furniture.  Filled the pantry.  Made meal after meal after meal in the kitchen.  Met the neighbors.  Made some friends.  Taken care of the yard, shoveled the snow, built the sandbox, claimed the neighborhood park as our own.

We've added a member to the family.

And filled up that playroom (and not just with more children).

It feels like home now, y'know?  

Our house - "my boo (blue) house", as the twins call it - feels like our own now.  Not just another temporary place to move on from, like Tyson and I were so used to, but a place to stay and grow and live and breathe and continue to make our own.  We kind of like this place. 

We'll keep it for at least another year.