It absolutely would not be appeased with a nice, green leaf as Eric Carle and I suggested.
No, the only thing to do was to seek refuge in the house, door safely locked. And even now, while we duck below the windows, peering out periodically to be sure the creature hasn't found a weak spot in our fortress, it lurks on the porch. Poised for attack.
Sarah's 8 months old now (as of Monday). She's all over the place. Kate pulled up for the very first time exactly 10 days before her first birthday. She waited until she was 1 day shy of 15 months old to take her first steps. Sarah's been pulling up for a couple weeks now. This kid's not messin' around. She'll be tackling Kate prior to her first birthday, I feel certain of it. 
While Kate's not especially wild about having a mobile baby around the house, she still seems to love her kid sister. The other day they were playing together on the alphabet mat in the kitchen (they both enjoy chewing on the giant letters) and Kate was feeding Sarah fake food. "Here you go, Cutie Pie" I heard her say, handing Sarah a plastic chip. Then she gave her a kiss on the head. Good stuff. 
Look at this baby standing up! Having only had one before that felt she should be carried everywhere by her giant servants, this is shocking to me. Also, kind of annoying. She can't be contained! She's trying to eat my food magazines off the bookshelf! She's trying to eat...what is that? Who knows?!? I can't watcher her incessantly. I feel certain this is only going to get worse. She'll be driving before I know it. 
Meanwhile, Kate's been getting some artsy shots for her debut album - 
Got me some new specs! I had to wait a whole week for them, it was killing me. I like them because they're brown. I like brown. Also, it's nice to not be wearing my seemingly permanently pollen-encrusted contact lenses right now. This is the highlight of my day. I made our programmer take this photo of them with his phone. I realize you probably don't care much about my new glasses. But it's my blog; you can go write your own blog all about how boring mine is. See if I care.
Joy and I took advantage of the moment to have a bakesale to raise funds for the 3-Day. We raised $43. Not bad for a couple hours' work that commenced at 7AM on a Sunday. I got up at 5 to bake the biscuits so they'd be all fresh and scrumptious as the cheering neighbors arrived with their coffee.
It was a lot of fun. Our friends Brendon (Steve & Joy's next door neighbor seen above, giving the thumb's up. There's his family and other neighbors cheering him on), 
Rusty (seen here training in his gayass running shorts. Hey, I think he's wearing the same ones in today's run...), Jennifer (I missed her when she came by because I was hocking biscuits) and Cheryl
(seen 
here, supporting another 3-Day fundraiser with her husband, Karl), all ran the full marathon. There were a lot of runners. We cheered ourselves hoarse at the Oakhurst cheering section. Yes, my neighborhood is technically East Lake...but the marathon didn't go through it so I had to cheer in the next best spot. 
Kate showed up late with Jeremiah and Sarah, but still supported the marathon with her ING-orange balloon and our bakesale, by eating a cookie. She's a giver. Bakesale and marathon complete...we closed up shop and headed out for a training walk. Can't be outdone by those runners!
Real moms are willing to put humiliating cranial decorations on their children and take pictures of them for their own amusement. Just look at them. They know.
2. While drinking. (I have to admit, that is a perfect black & tan).
3. Feed them pure sugar for dinner
and... who knows what else. 
4. Leap ahead a holiday (while still observing the previous one) in order to pull out more humiliating cranial decorations.
5. Photograph the entire debauchery.
Real moms don't mind and neither do real dads. Our sticky children were returned in one piece (well, technically two pieces. It's not like they're Siamese twins), seemingly happy and we slept nearly nine hours in a row. Best St. Patrick's Day ever.
Seems like I should tag somebody else, but all the rest of the mommy (and daddy) bloggers I even know of can be found right here.
Saturday morning was bitter cold, with arctic winds. We decided to take everyone on a walk regardless. So of course everyone had to be bundled up. About 5 minutes into the walk Jeremiah and decided it was too dang cold and our hats weren't blocking out that wind. So, we cut things short. What might have taken 90 minutes was abridged to 20. During that 20 minutes, Sarah fell asleep. Usually she wakes up when I take the backpack off, but this time she didn't. So, I decided not to poke the beast. After all, they say it's best to let sleeping babies lie. Or, in this case, remain bundled up into an unrecognizable mass while propped upright in a backpack. Whatever, she seemed content. 
Finally, 3 hours after passing out, Sarah awoke in good spirits with a big red blotch on her face where she'd been resting it on the backpack. She was ready for food.
Yesterday the weather was nothing short of stunning. We took our little family unit on a picnic in Piedmont Park to celebrate the weather. So did everyone else in the city of Atlanta. We drove to the park, drove practically back to our house and parked, walked to the park, up a big hill and laid out our spread. There was my fresh-baked baguette, smoked gouda, chicken salad and the red pesto and sour cream lemon pound cake I made Jeremiah make while I was off on a training walk with Joy. To my surprise, Kate rejected the gouda. That is the first cheese she’s tried that she said she didn’t like. She refused to try the red pesto outright. Instead, she dined on a healthy menu of yogurt, bread and pound cake. Sarah stuck with her apple-pear puree, though she made several grabs for Kate’s cake. Lola, who behaved impeccably to our surprise, enjoyed her giant doggy biscuit. She made eyes at the cheese, but her fantasy was not fulfilled.
I tried to teach Kate how play Frisbee. She got the whole throw-it-to-mommy bit but once I caught it, she’d run toward me while I said “no no no no no stay there, I’ll throw it back!” So, I started running away from her to get distance between us. She’d run after me, I’d run away again. And that was the game. Kate loves Frisbee. Sarah, who was nearly bonked on the head several times as a result of Kate’s throw, thinks it’s too dangerous. After the rousing game of Frisbee, there were some rounds of Tackle Daddy and Look I Can Do A Summersault. The debate regarding whether Kate can actually do a summersault, it seems, is one of semantics.
After we ate we rolled down the hill and to the big pond where Kate and Lola enthusiastically watched the ducks do what ducks do. Then we walked across the park, down some steps and under the railroad trestle to the dog park so Lola could run free. Kate walked the whole way. When we left the dog park and headed back to the car, Kate walked nearly the whole way again. The only times she was carried were at our instance because she was so freakin’ slow. It was difficult to carry her because she spent the entire time squirming and yelling “leave me alone!” I fully expected her to start screaming “this is not my daddy!”
We made it back to the car and home just as the sun was beginning to set. Then it was time to bathe and put on some sleepin’ T-Shirts and settle into the sofa for some Muppets’ viewing.
Yeah, I've had a few mornings like that. Good times.
Kate has finally warmed to my old Raggedy Ann doll. Just as I did at her age, she carries Raggedy around by a strand of yarn hair, which has elongated to the point that when being carried by it, Raggedy drags behind on the floor. Caveman Kate hardly notices. Raggedy seldom leaves the house, although she's been to the park once. But when Kate's home, she generally likes to have Raggedy in tow. This morning Kate was standing in the kitchen with her doll, waiting for me to produce oatmeal. I make it from rolled oats because the instant stuff never comes out the way I like it, so this is kind of a lengthy process. Ten minutes instead of 2. So, anyway, because she doesn't know there's such a thing as instant oatmeal Kate doesn't mind. She was holding Raggedy by the hair, standing between the wall to her left and a cabinet to her right. She began swinging Raggedy back and forth between the two obstacles. Each time Raggedy hit a surface with a loud "thwap!" Kate said "OUCH!"
