Baby

One morning I got back from working out and Jo was softly humming a tune. Zenia was on her shoulder. Passed out with her mouth open like a tiny Morning Glory.

Karen had stepped out for something. When she came back, she tried to politely take Zenia from Jo. A very subtle but definite tussle ensued. Jo eventually relinquished her hold on Zenia and forked her over to Karen. Vivian and Evan - read this years from now and know how close you got to another sibling. I strongly believe if I were a few decades younger, Jo would be talking me into Baby Number Three. 

Halloween

Back in the day, in the Before Kids era, Robbe and I had wild Halloween parties. Naked people in the hot tub. Some ending up lucky and others engaged. These days, on Halloween evening, the kids get dressed, we cross the street for a very nice early dinner at the Brumley's where Amy paints their faces, and then we take the next two hours to walk down three blocks of Rosedale, cross over to Ramsey, and trudge back home.  I carry a bottle of wine. We sip as the kids tear up and down front yards with hundreds of other ghouls and goblins (and this year, Cleopatras) and just about when they start to get tired and the sacks of candy get too heavy, we get back home.

Which is what we did this year. Evan dressed as a very serious vampire. No laughing or horsing around - vampires just don't do that. Vivian was a pirate. Thanks to a last minute shopping trip, she wore a pirate costume and didn't have to go as a "hooker pirate" in her "black cocktail dress". Ava was a wholesome cowgirl. Eleanor was a delightful gypsy. Jo went as Minnie Mouse.

There were four new people in our group. Zenia, who fell asleep right after dinner, was a hotdog. Jen came as Jen. Travis was a flower (a Hawaiian Plumeria hair clip attached to his beard). And Darwin was a bumble bee. Yes, really. An extraordinarily cute bumble bee.

Travis bobbed for apples and we learned the first law of beards. A wet beard remains wet till it dries, no matter what you do. We lost track of Evan and Ava once but they were soon re-discovered. And plans were made for next year. We are going to own the Wizard of Oz. I can't remember who gets to be whom. Perhaps Vivian and Ava could be Dorothy, unless Jen throws a fit. The littler ones will be munchkins. Jo could be the wicked witch. Travis gets to be the scaredy lion, Tim the Tin Man. Darwin is excited to be Toto instead of a frigging bumble bee.

I think I got the scare crow, though after Jen sent me this cartoon, I could lay reasonable claim to the Tin Man.

Evan got into a huge sugar rush from eating large quantities of candy. Vivian threw up - either too much or bad candy. The kids shared admirably well with Jo and me and made a pile of Tootsie Rolls for Grandma and willingly handed out their candy to perfect strangers (late trick-or-treaters who knocked after we were out of candy) and in a couple of days, Jo packed up the rest and dropped it off at Magellan to be sent to our troops for Christmas. Except for the empty wrappers I found in her car later.

F1

JB invited me to F1 at the very last moment, and on a beautiful Sunday morning I dropped the kids off at the Shahs and went off to the races.

I could tell Evan was going to be difficult - he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed and there was nothing to be done about it. Now, over at the Shahs, as long as Vivian eats a bit of salad, these kids know that they can get away with murder. Later I was surprised to hear that Evan got sent to time-out once. Which is amazing because  a) the Shahs are ultra nice to the kids, and b) Evan shaped up after just one time-out.

F1 was fun. Always nice to see the over-the-top ostentatious display of wealth and status. And how much better the Mercedes team was. And COTA must have mistook F1 for Nascar when they invited Kid Rock for a concert - which lead to hilarious snob / redneck identity crises for onlookers. But I digress. That week, starting with diner with Ash, beer with the Austin Philosophy Club, Halloween, and a late night at the Tech Ranch, I hadn't seen Jo and the kids much. When I got home from F1 smelling faintly of refreshments, they circled the wagons and I was out. Even Crazy, my loyal cat, stood there and glared while they all sat on top of each other and listened to Jo reading Nancy Drew and Ramona and Beezus.  

 Next year maybe I'll take the whole fam to F1. In cowboy hats and Gucci boots.

Crickets

The Valby-Delasandros were over for dinner the other evening. It was still dripping outside and the the temperatures definitely said Fall. And Tim walked in holding an oversized cupcake in front of him - little Zenia fast asleep on a plump cushion. He plopped the cushion and Zenia down on the yak bench. Karen put her head down next to Zenia's for a second. And bam - a photo op for - dare I say - mother-daughter yak porn.

So. Changing topics, we have started enjoying the bounty of local farm produce from a CSA delivery at Vivian's school again. This is what I got this week. And bison meat and pork chops.

For dinner Jo had slow-cooked pork. I fixed the white eggplants - oven grilled (blackened, some would say) with tomatoes and onions. Sliced watermelon radishes served straight, which provided for interesting conversation. And, for salad, a bag of farm fresh mixed greens carefully washed and then dried in the salad spinner, tossed with apples and almonds in a roasted garlic dressing.

Jo finished dinner and then with muted excitement pointed at something on her plate. At first Karen and I both thought she had somehow eaten an egg and which would mean reconvening dinner at the emergency room. Instead, it turned out to be a nice big definitely dead cricket. I guess I should have picked through the greens more carefully. Organic produce. Rich in proteins.

The children ate at the counter and rushed off to the TV room. Vivian asked if they could continue the movie from last night. Jo said "No". So Vivian filled Ava in gleefully. "There are these twin sisters who lose a bet and have to jump into a lake naked. Fully naked". What the heck are they watching...?