As promised.

I know there must be somebody who remembered this promise (referenced here).

PIGRAT:

I know, I know, please no more zoo entries, but I can't help myself.

My cousin Mari came to SLC for Thankgiving with her little baby Connor. He's almost exactly 3 months younger than my twins and we hope they will be as close and as pesky as we were. We took them to the zoo for Mari's birthday and then enjoyed a bit of cake back at the house. The babies still love their monkey costumes. I mostly just hide them from them but sometimes I let them wear them--even in public--because that is the kind of mom I am. I provide opportunity for people point and laugh and make fun of my kids. Hey, I have to pick my priorities in life, happy and warm. They were both happy and warm in their costumes. At first I wasn't going to allow the hats and vests but Alison kept chasing me around with hers and then chasing Stuart relentlessly with his so I had to give in. I mean, they already had furry jumpsuits with tails, what would it really matter.

The zoo (again).
Stuart and Connor looking at the old Meerkat.

Our favorite Cousin Connor

Mama and Monkey Babies with the real deal.

The very favorite fountain. I have to avoid it on the way in but let them get wet and cold on the way out.

Connor was equally impressed.

More Meerkats. They are our favorite animals this month.

Reflecting Monkey.

Mari and Connor looking at the monkey outside. Happy Birthday Mari! We love you and hope you come again soon.

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for. Especially thankful for our two little ones that keep us so busy. It is amazing to reflect upon the last few years and how richly we've been blessed and how our lives have changed. I've been following a friends pregnancy and it has brought so many fresh emotions back to me about mine. Sometimes in the hustle-bustle of everyday life I forget what a true miracle their safe arrival was. Sometimes when they are systematically throwing each bottle out of the cupboard and across the kitchen, stopping inbetween to laugh each time, it is hard to remember the weeks where we didn't know if I could stay pregnant long enough for them to grow up and the many prayers pleading to be able to keep them. How I spent months in bed hoping for the future. How I promised to cherish them every moment if I could just have those moments. I'm so thankful those pleadings have been answered. They bring such joy to our lives.

Okay. Enough sappy stuff. Lets get on with the show. Its been much too long since I've posted. On Tackle it Tuesday I made a cake. I vowed 5 years ago to never ever again attempt to make a cake. I tried to make Ryan one for his birthday the first year I was married and it was a heap-o-disaster but I have a nothingfromthiscookbookcanturnoutbad cookbook that had a pecan pumpkin recipe and 7 1/2 cups of pumpkin that actually expired last year that I needed to use (sorry to all those who ate my cake, pretend you didn't read that last sentence). It didn't get done until Wednesday but I was so pleased. I took it to Thanksgiving with us. I also made two pies, a billion cookies, bananna bread, Thanksgiving salad, and a toasted pecan sweet mashed potato dish. I love my kitchen. It was an addition that grows out of my perfectly rectangular house into the backyard. It has a bunch of counterspace and great appliances. I've never baked in such luxury.
The kids can play outside while I watch. I looked out and saw them baking their own little dish together. They were throwing rocks into the bucket out back and taking wooden spoons stolen from my kitchen to mix them. They also did lots of helping inside. They licked the beaters and would come over to my leg holding their little spoons up and say, "Ahhh! ahh!!!" which roughly translates to, "Give me some of the scrumptious cookie dough now! I don't care that you don't think it is healthy for babies. It tastes like heaven and I need it now or I will cease to live!"

The Geese Arrived

Today we went to Liberty Park. The geese flew in. We talked to a man who feeds the ducks and visitors at the pond every night. He said three days ago there were only 10 geese. Tonight there were several hundred. It was magical.

First Annual Indian Party

This is Abby. She lives accross the street with her Mom and her Dad and her Baby Brother Isaac. To celebrate the upcoming holiday she arranged to have an Indian Party and we were invited! Alison and Stuart looked so old attending their first big girl/big boy party. Right after we arrived they were happy to sit in their own tiny thrones around the coffee table and decorate indian hats (complete with feathers). Next they decorated cookies to look like corn on the cobs. Okay, okay, let me rephrase that. Next they ate the decorations that would have made thier cookies look like corn on the cobs. They ate popped corn, juice, and cranberries and listened to a Thanksgiving story.


Dear Abby,
You sure know how to throw a great indian party. Thanks for inviting us and letting us play with the toys in your room.
Love, Stuart and Alison


Sweet Abby knows she totally has the most awesome mom in the whole world.


Party favors: Isn't this the sweetest corn-on-the-cob cookie!?! (Excuse the half eaten one. We had to bribe Stuey to cross the street. I think he wanted Abby to adopt him as her little brother after such a great time.)

Cinderella Park

Some days I really do miss Las Vegas but I'm am delighted with how many special activities we find close to our new place.

Ryan surprised us by coming home early because it was much too beautiful of a day to work. He took us on a secret adventure to this park. The parks are so charming around our house and there are so many of them close by. This particular one he remembers being exactly the same when he was a kid--30 years ago--which amazes me coming from a city where nearly nothing was the same 30 years ago. He remembers climbing up the castle and riding in the pumpkin carriage. I love the nostalgia of these old, quiet streets, filled with lots of old special places.

Sigh of relief.

I think my kids are going to fit in here in blissful Utah because EVERYTHING is better with FRY SAUCE.

Stuey CRACKS me up!

Pun intended.

Foraging for Food

The day was just gorgeous today. November 7th and 70 degrees beautiful. The babies and I went outside and did all the normal stuff. Watched the neighborhood kids walk home from school. Dipped hands in the rainwater caught in a bucket and sucked it off our fingers. Filled the truck up with tomato paste stolen from the kitchen (I tell you these kids are stealthy these days), a squash stolen from the festive front porch display, and a few rocks. Eventually, like every day since we moved here, the babies make their way back into the garden. They love eating the grapes. It will be a sad, SAD day when there aren't any more. I already have to halfway lean over our fence to get some out of the neighbors yard because we already juiced ours.

Dear Mr. Winter,

Please don't come this year. Alison really relies on those grapes foraged in the backyard to grow. We don't feed our babies.

Sincerely, Aurelie

In my inaugural Tackle It Tuesday (I keep wanting to abbreviate that to TIT and then change my mind) post I noted the guidelines as, "projects I would like to complete that just don't ever seem to get done in regular life" I know that trimming fingernails should probably not count. But come on, there are 20 of them and I threw in some extra toes.

I also cleaned

out the sock drawer

just because

I was feeling bad.

Bleh.

Fall Rocks!

We've so enjoyed our fall. I'm not sure what has made this one so different. Maybe it is having kids (who aren't waking up 6 times a night like last year). Maybe the new house. Maybe the Utah weather. Festive activties. Probably a combination of it all.

We've found so many fun activities around our new home and halloween seems like an entirely different holiday with kids. We made them monkey costumes and went on educational outings. We've visited pumpkin patches and met delightful people. We've had apple pies, apple cider doughnuts, and more candy than I care to remember. Our leaves fell and we've raked up piles. We picked our own squash. We visited haunted Red Butte Gardens. Our family has come to visit. We saw our first snow. We introduced the kids to their first pomegranates (thank you Grandpa I and Grandma I). Daddy's work had a party. Church had a party. Halloween was a party. We've been busy.

At first the kids hated their costumes. Everybody thought it was funny when I was chasing Stuart in his long-johns around the house with a monkey costume for his first outing. The monkey suits are now beloved after so many fun activities.

Runaway Monkey.

The boys in my life.

"More Candy Please!"