Diorama

Kate has constructed her first diorama! She is beaming with pride, as you can see. What do you mean "what is it?" Clearly it's a lion cub, lounging at the mouth of a cool cave which is located in the African grasslands. That gray clump is a pond containing a fish. There's another gray clump in the sky that is a bee. I think it's a work of art and please do not leave as your comment, a link to that site where the guy goes into detail about he's better than my kid's art (Keith).

It's perfect. She carried it around all morning, showing it off to her old teachers at daycare and then walking slowly down the sidewalk into school so as not to trip and destroy it. Also, for better viewing by the public. Upon entry of the classroom, she set it down on the rug with everyone else's projects. It was quickly apparent that Kate was one of very few children who did her project herself. I don't care what you say, I'm sticking with that assessment.

Kate on her diorama -

This is a lion cub, he lives in the jungle, in the grasslands. His mother
is hunting right now, that's why she's not here. Lions eat zebras and
cantaloupes. I thought about doing T-Rex instead but he wouldn't fit in my
diorama.

*props to Ant Sue and Uncle Steve who helped with the construction of this magnificent piece.

A Visit From Ant Sue

The good news is, Sue finally made it down to the ATL for a visit. The bad news is that as soon as she arrived I was stricken with some freaky cold that comes with a nasty cough and a fever. I have been non-stop fun. By pretending I wasn't sick I made it through several hours of the annual pumpkin carving party on 3rd Ave. I'd been looking forward to it for weeks and some stupid bug wasn't going to keep me from it. Only it sort of did because I was mostly pale and unwitty and I think all the other parents wished I'd stay the hell away from their kids. Eventually I cried uncle and went home around 6ish. I took some NyQuil and sat slackjawed on the sofa watching back to back episodes of Criminal Minds, a show I didn't know existed until last night. Sexy profilers headed up by Mandy Patinkin.

I left Jeremiah in charge of taking photos of all the fun I missed and he did a pretty bang up job. I got several of the carving activity before I packed it in. So, here's another photo essay involving pumpkins. I heart this crowd. They're good people.

Sarah drew Meatwad!


Kate gets help from Ant Sue.

After I left to go be sick, Sue was placed in charge of judging the best pumpkin. She in turn put the kids in charge and they selected the work of one of their own, Annelise, as the grand prize winner. I declare that awesome.

The Ride to School

Yesterday's conversation en route to school & daycare was as follows:

Sarah: I doooonwanna go to school today!
Me: But Sarah, school's fun! You get to play outside, and paint and see your friends...
Kate: Yeah, Sarah, school is fun! Not boring like what Mommy does all day.

Pumpkin Patch Collage

All That Flack and Not One Stinking Photo!

I know. First, we were very, very busy. It's this parenting, working, housekeeping business, it's keeping us from the things that matter. Blogging. I was so thrilled when the lenses arrived, I couldn't wait to begin photographing my adorable children and posting those photos here again. Here's the thing, though. Since the lenses arrived the kids haven't been cute at all. I've been walking around with the camera everywhere I go, just waiting. Usually they do something cute, you know? Not in the past week or so. They've been decidedly uncute.

No giggling. No dancing or singing. No dressing up in ridiculous outfits and declaring themselves ruler of this or that nation. Kate has not been sounding out words and "reading" to her sister. No one has been serenading the pets. Sarah never pretended to be The Giant, stomping around and saying "Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an English muffin!" That did not happen. Trust, me, if any of it had, I'd have a photo of it. I'd have ten photos of it and one would be my new laptop wallpaper. What can I tell ya, who doesn't have an occasional ugly week? I once went a full 10 days only glowering and all that time the hem of my skirt was tucked into the waist of my pantyhose in the back. No one wants pictures of that.

Ok, I haven't been entirely honest with you here. The truth is I just haven't had the camera out. I really have been busy. I'll get to it. I took a few photos tonight, just in case you needed a reminder of what the girls look like (OH how they've grown!) and something is wrong with iPhoto and it won't import the photos. That part's true. Now I have to fix that. One more thing on my to-do list. So hold your horses, alright? I'll get back to this, I swear.

Crisis Averted

The lenses are here! Expect photos shortly. I meant to take some last night, just to prove we'd received them (thanks Margie!) and they're in good health. I forgot, though. I do that. I'll try to be better tonight.