Future Librarian...

...or book burner? Either way, it's time to bolt down the book shelves!

Zoo Antics

We took a little road trip, and Tillie went to the Houston zoo with her dad, her friend Wolf, and his dad, Paul. Meanwhile Wolf's mom, Ledia, and I visited our friend who is getting a bone marrow transplant. I think the little tykes had some fun, as you can see here. They offered the ducks a bottle of milk, shared some snacks while Paul got frisked by an exotic bird, called the giraffe a "moo," pet a bronze buffalo, and gawked at some flamingos. Also, Ledia got a little snuggle in on Tillie.

Eyelashes

Clean as a Whistle

We had hired cleaners to come once a week during Tillie's first year, but now that the family is settled, I've started cleaning again myself. Cleaning is kind of lame--but not because the actual act of cleaning is lame. My real beef with it is that the house does not stay clean for very long, so there is very little satisfaction at the end of it. Muddy paw prints appear on things, hair balls pile up, crumbs collect--all within minutes of a solid few hours of cleaning. It does feel good to save money though. And, I've finally perfected my regime of products that are easy to use and smell good.

When I clean I think about other people cleaning, mostly movie stars. Who does and who doesn't? Did they do it when they made their first big blockbuster and then not after that? Or did they continue for a while because they are down-to-Earth types? Does Meg Ryan scrub her bath tiles? Did Nicolas Cage ever lift a mop? I also think about wealthy politicians and their wives. I'm pretty sure that Laura Bush hasn't had to clean a house in a while. I can't tell about Michelle Obama. She seems like she has been kind of busy for a while now, but they are the people's choice, so who knows? The Bush's are more traditional, too, which can often mean that the lady of the house has to scrub grout. Funny, our household is not at all traditional in many ways, but I'm embarrassed to say that the "lady" does most of the cleaning. I will have to liberate Tillie of this age-old and sexist tradition somehow.

Holiday Recap

What a fun holiday! We had all my siblings and all of Tillie's cousins in town for a fun-filled week. I'm taking down the christmas tree and posting pictures of all the fun...leaves me a little sad because I miss sharing yummy food and good conversation with people I love every single night.

The big brothers and sisters of Honus and Violet:

Cousin Mads takes on Zilker:

Penny and Wyley are so lovable:

Tillie gets maracas from Great Aunt Mary:

Grandpa with an armload of cute:

Jammie time with Madz and Tills:

This is how I party on New Year's Eve now that I'm a grownup (with sparkling cider)...still seems to get me "loaded":

Grandma's Grrrrls:

PS. Please scroll back up and see how handsome my younger brother is now that he is cancer-free, growing back his hair, and recovered from chemo! A 2009 resolution is to keep him and everyone else healthy!

Shutter Bugs

How do you take a picture of one 5-year-old and 3 one-year-olds?

Maybe if you put them on a comfortable blanket, they might all sit still...

Hmmm...that didn't work. What if you give the "problem child" something fun to play with like a baseball bat?

Rats, now the other one is getting away. Well, what if we pin them in a wagon, something more difficult to get out of?

Not quite perfect. Oh well, perhaps when I get some time I can photoshop all of them together, smiling, and saying, "Wow Aunt Molly, you have such a great sense of humor and I love your cooking!"

Video Posts for Auntie Camile

As requested....

Tillie can really walk now (and loves to shop at Target):


Hazel winks (and we all swoon):

So Cute! [Faint Dead Away]

I love the smell of newborns in the morning:

Meet Hazel--Tillie's newest baby friend. I cannot wait for her to grow up and come over and play with all of Tillie's toys and go on walks and tell us stuff and have a slumber party and join our soccer team and show us her latest tai kwan do routine and explain to us what her favorite kind of animal is and why...

...until then I'm just going to gaze at her in awe and smell her head. It still strikes me dumb that people come out of people.

Ravioli Factory

Once again, Scott got me the best present for Christmas--a ravioli maker attachment for my mixer. It makes the cutest little plumpkins. My brother and I had to give it a whirl:

Cousin Madz Comes to Visit

Elf Troubles

Trying on the hat:

It's too itchy:

The sock is more comfy:

Little Drummer Girl

Helping daddy with his drumming:

Helping mommy with the laundry (yes that is my underwear around her neck):

Tillie vs. the Sock Puppet

Shredder with a Small Footprint

Tillie can shred paper, but she does it on her own time. With reams of paper in need of anti-ID-theftifying, I decided to speed up the process and get an electronic shredder. These are such satisfying machines! It is right up there with my linguine cutter, both achieving a tactile/kinesthetic satisfaction-o-meter rating of 9.5. (10 is reserved for peeling those protective films off of LCD displays.) Here is the result of 5 years worth of old filings that needed to go out for recycling.

Pure Comfort

Warm milk on Grandma's lap:

Pocket Organizer

I've been meaning to organize my cabinets this holiday break. Someone beat me to it while I had my back turned. Another thing on my to do list is baby-proofing...

Elephant or Elaphant Man?

I had a vision of making cute little elephant dolls for all my baby friends this christmas. I tried to make a test pattern inspired by this photo:

[Image from: http://www.craftconn.com/]

...but sadly it turned out like this photo:

Uhm...it is a good thing I live with an actual toy designer, because Scott was able to come up with a better design. Hence, there are many babies who will not be scared of the christmas presents that I am giving them this year. Of course, you will just have to check back in a week or so to find out what the improved versions look like. (I don't want to ruin the surprise!)

Mamarazzi

You have to sneak up on the baby...

Or the photo looks like this:

Handy

I had a bit of free time last week and thought I'd use it to fix up some unfinished projects around the house. One of the previous owners must have fancied him/herself a handyman, and let me tell you, he/she was greatly mistaken. Not a single room in the house is free of this numbskull's jury rigging. After an afternoon of fixing all the easy things, I felt pretty darn skilled, but I think I might have met my match: the refrigerator. It's been tiled into its nook such that you need to lift it half an inch to get it out of it's "hole." The problem is that there is not a half an inch of head room above it, so what do you do? We've already cracked a tile trying to get the thing out for maintenance. Probably once or twice a month, the motor breaks down, the freezer melts, and the food all spoils. Then it feels better and gets back to freezing again for another couple of weeks. I imagine that there is about 3 puppies worth of animal hair back there gumming things up! The only thing more stressful than a car that keeps breaking down (also a problem this week) is a fridge that periodically stops working. If Tillie were a little smaller, we could just send her back there with a tiny vacuum cleaner...

She Walks!

These pudgy feet were made for walking.
(Sorry, sideways cam again, duh!)


More walking and some other antics: