There's Popcorn on the Table

Every once in awhile (it seems like all the time) Martin is given the very important job at his work of running the popcorn cart for some event. Whenever this happens, he's sure to bring home a bag of popcorn for the girls. Today he worked the popcorn cart and now there's popcorn all over the kitchen table. And there are dirty dishes in the sink and all over the counter. And I forgot to put the wet clothes from the washer into the drier and throw in my diaper load, so I might run out of diapers tomorrow. But everybody is asleep RIGHT NOW, and I am taking this moment to make a blog post. I AM!!

 

Since the last time I posted, we've been to the Feast:

 

 

 

 While my kids looked A-DOR-A-BLE, it was a somewhat stressful weekend. Fun, in the end, but hectic and cold. Actually, Saturday was pretty awful. It was cold and windy and Elka cried all day. I felt like everybody who saw me was judging me for having my baby out there (crying) and nobody was having much fun so eventually at 3:00 in the afternoon, we left. We have NEVER left the Feast early. Ever. At least not that I can remember. But we did, and we never regretted it. The next day was enormously better--aside from the fact that we slept through our alarm and missed the Mass out there and had to go to St. Tom's and didn't get out to the Fort until 11:00.... remember the days when Martin and I were the first ones out there, before the sun was up, to dig the firepit? Thoooooose were the daaaayyyss. (insert musical notes.)

But the girls had fun. In fact, Anja had so much fun that she sobbed and sobbed when it was time to pack it all up on Sunday--she wailed, "I WANT TO LIVE HERE! I WANT TO LIVE AT THE FEAST FOREVER!!" That behavior from her is usually a good clue that 1. She's exhausted and 2. She had a really great time on the road to her exhaustion.

Other events of our recent life include trying to keep these two as far apart as possible.

 Greta can get a little rambunctious (is that how you spell that? Probably not...) sometimes, if you can believe it. And sometimes, SOMETIMES, that energy comes out in the form of not-so-good behavior around Elka. You, know, like squeezing her head, or trying lie on top of her, or just simply giving her a good thump. We call this type of behavior "not okay" in a stern voice. And while I think it's perfectly obvious that Elka is a baby and therefore fragile and helpless, evidently, Greta sees her as just another person to sit on.

Meanwhile, I have FINALLY found a way to contain Anja's wild hair: double knots!

 That's not the right picture. In that picture she's sporting pigtails, also cute, but still kind of ratty looking. Martin took a few days off last week after our big weekend, and on one of those evenings we took a long walk up the hill to Greyhouse coffee shop. It was a nice little outing and a really lovely evening.

Here's Elka!

 She's always happy!

 In this picture we are at Stuckey Farms, the apple orchard we like to visit in the Fall. Sadly, they lost their apple crop, just like so many orchards, but we were able to get some good pumpkins! Much like at the Feast though, Elka was much happier in the car. I don't know what it is about being outside, but sometimes she just doesn't like it. So she and I hung out in the car and had a nice time laughing and smiling at each other. Because that is Elka's favorite thing to do. And if you ever get tired of laughing and smiling at her, just hold her in front of a mirror and she will laugh and smile at herself!

Here's the doubleknot picture:

Also, one of my favorite pictures EVER. These two goofballs... they're pretty great. 

And just because I think everybody needs a good startle every once in awhile:


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IT'S CRAZY GRETA!!!

This day we went to Dog N Suds. Martin had a minor surgery a few weeks ago to have a cyst removed (disgusting, I know) from his leg. I don't like to think about it. Anyway, the next day was kind of a goofy one, what with him having eleven stitches in his leg and me having a ton of errands to run. So this day we had lunch at Dog N Suds!! I love Dog n Suds because any time we go there it's spur-of-the-moment and kind of an adventure.

And speaking of food, here's a little marriage tip for any men reading this or boyfriends who want to file it away for later on in life: If there is ever a day when your wife didn't get to have a shower before you left for work and the baby woke up two hours earlier than usual and doesn't want to nap anyplace that requires being put down and the house is falling to pieces before noon and your wife calls you and hints at the fact that she might be feeling just the teensiest bit overwhelmed: ORDER JIMMY JOHNS. FOR ALL OF THEM. NO MATTER THE COST.
Martin did that for us today and it literally saved my day. Remember the dishes I mentioned earlier? Many of those are from YESTERDAY. Elka only wanted to sleep in my arms today and she wasn't even very interested in doing that. A surprise Jimmy Johns delivery at 10:30am fed us for the whole day, which was also great because that good chicken and dumpling dinner with sides of green beans and roasted honey mustard potatoes? Yeeeaaaaaah riiiiiiiiight. (I sort of look forward to the day when I plan a good dinner.... and then make it.) And he got a second nomination for Man of the Year when he surprised me by not taking a lunch break and coming home half an hour early, right at the very moment when Greta was about to melt down into screams of "I CAN'T WAIT THAT LOOONGGG!" when I told her that when Daddy got home we could go for a trike ride around the library lot. I wish I had a picture of her face when he pulled in the driveway just at the moment she opened her mouth to begin her fit. She was SO excited. And so was I!!! What a treat.

Saturday marks the first day of the last year of my twenties. I only have one more year to make them "roaring." As you might have seen on Facebook, I'm thinking of getting my nose pierced. That's kind of roaring, right?

We'll see what happens.