Tim's Second Calling

I begrudgingly acknowledge that my husband is the most talented photographer in our family.

Wearing Out the Children

The girls demanded eggs, sunny-side-up, this morning. Luke, unable to intelligibly express his desire for food, figured he'd forage for himself. Off of Kate's plate that was sitting unattended on the table.

Uhhhh, SOMEone dropped an egg on the floor, Mama.

"Uh-oh! Uh-oh!"

Fffffttttt. It wasn't ME.

As it turns out, months of waking earlier than the mutually*-agreed-upon time of 7am finally took its toll on Kate.

After generously offering to make our bed, I found her sound asleep buried in pillows at 11am, explaining why previous requests for her to come swimming had gone unheeded.


Meanwhile, the two younger siblings were outside enjoying the "cool" morning (98*).

*Her father and I both recognize this as an acceptable wake time. Evidently, she was not party to this arrangement.

Role-Playing

Observed post-lunch today: Kate taking Claire's phone order for pizza, while a rogue waiter unsuccessfully tries to climb the "counter".

"Hello, this is Pizza Hut. How may I help you?" Waitress Kate is nothing if not polite and helpful.

"Um, yes. I would like a pizza with pepperoni and olives and pineapple, please." Evidently, we order the same pizza often enough that Claire has memorized its toppings.

Dissatisfied with the speed of service, customer Claire rushes the counter in an attempt to precipitate its delivery. Note that waitress Kate has not yet hung up the phone.

Aforementioned waiter tries to make a quick phone call of his own, while the chef prepares the pizza.

Customer Claire inexplicably ends up with an apple and a lemon; it is unclear whether this was intentional on the part of Pizza Hut, or if orders were botched.

Mum! Mum!

Translation, from Luke-speak: Vroom! Vroom! It's his favorite phrase, used when discussing the passing garbage truck, or when contemplating use of the vacuum cleaner.

The boy loves his vacuums.

He also loves his cat. Regretfully, the cat does not return the love, aside from the occasional, and oft unprovoked attack on the poor boy.

Cars have not yet become an obsession for him, but I sense us heading in that direction.

He has almost mastered the art of pull-and-release cars, of which I sadly cannot find any more. Do they call them something else? They are just so much more amusing than your standard matchbox car.

Happy Father's Day, Father!*

A short interview with the children, on their favorite subject: Dad.

1. How old is Daddy?
Kate: Um, 40.
Claire: 40.
Luke: Da!
Actual answer: 40.

2. How old are you?
Kate: Um, 4. And a half.
Claire: 3.
Luke: suh-suh.

3. What is Daddy's favorite food?
Kate: Um, um, um, it's supposed to be....I know what it is. It's....hmmm. Beans in a pot with sausage and he also likes rice with beans.
Claire: Grapes.
Luke: Uh dee duh dah deh.
Actual answer: red beans and rice. And steak.

4. What is Daddy's favorite color?
Kate: I don't know. Maybe black.
Claire: I think green.
Luke: Nuh dah.
Actual answer: blue?

5. What does Daddy like to drink?
Kate: Soda.
Claire: Coffee.
Luke: Nun dah dah.
Actual answer: Jack Daniels.

6. What does Daddy like to do when he's not working?
Kate: Play with us.
Claire: Uh, play and stay home.
Luke: Waaaaaah, ahhhh aaaaah!
Actual answer: Play with the kids.

7. What does Daddy do for work?
Kate: Um, he talks to a lot of people.
Claire: Drives.
Luke: Don neh dun.
Actual answer: flies the A-10.

8. What is Daddy's favorite song?
Kate: Three Blind Mice.
Claire: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
Luke: Plb buh duh.
Actual answer: Can't Take My Eyes Off of You (Franki Valli).

9. Does Daddy have any brothers or sisters?
Kate: He has a lot of brothers and one sister.
Claire: Us.
Luke: Down nah dah.
Actual answer: 2 brothers and 1 sister.

10. What is his favorite thing in the world?
Kate: A-10s!
Claire: Going to work.
Luke: Eeeh aah!
Actual answer: Jen.

*A note of thanks to Carrie and Dorothy for unwittingly sharing this idea with me.

Fighting over the vacuum, and other summer fun

This morning Kate was up early. We spent a little time reading her new Kids' World Atlas. She was obsessed with the komodo dragon. She asked me where it lived, and I told her: Indonesia. "Donesia?" she asked. "IN-do-ne-sia," I enunciated. "Donesia," she said, confident that she finally had it right.

She LOVES to read. She can read quite a few words, although she gets easily frustrated when we try to prod her along with what she doesn't already know.

Fun with the mister today.

Pouring water on her little brother's head, like any good big sister would do.

Learning how to get what he wants.

"I want to vacuum." "NO, I want to vacuum!" [can you hear my contented sigh from where you are?]

Operation: Pigeon

We have a bird problem here. Starbuck is useless in helping combat them. He's aggressive inside, but a weenie when outside, faced with actual birds. We decided to wait until we reached record-breaking temperatures to apply our new bird spikes, so as to maximize the discomfort involved. The children didn't mind so much, as their job was to stay inside and provide guidance and moral support. And to tell us which tools to use.

Future dentist.

Dad, you totally need to use this one.

Operation: pigeon is an initial success! There is still room for that pesky mockingbird to land on the owl's ear, so we'll have to wait to declare complete victory.

Afterward, we swam. Because we're setting records for heat here. Also, the boy one looks so stinkin' cute in his swim gear.

With a cough-cough here, and a bark-bark there

This is the second trip in a row where Luke has come down with croup either on the trip or on the way home. He had a shot of steroids on Wednesday, but sounded bad enough last night that I "slept" in his room with him. Needless to say, we are both exhausted and he has another appointment today. Claire also has croup, but seems to be responding better to the meds.

Our trip to Tucson was a fun one, though - we arrived on Friday night, shortly before my dad did, and spent three days enjoying excellent food, consuming copious amounts of wine, and eating cake in celebration of Tempie's 3rd birthday and my sister's thirtysomethingth birthday. We also got to see our neighbors, the Humphreys, from when we lived in Tucson.

Luke tries to steal cake from the birthday girl. She is not amused.

He thinks he has scored the jackpot: watermelon and goldfish crackers at his level. I didn't see him with an empty hand for the duration of the party.

Kate gives Grampa a kiss.

Kate and Luke playing with Olivia and Isaac.

The best of the approximately 47 photos we took of the children lined up in order of age.