Monkey's Paw

I think it was two posts ago that I said I had a very Asher-centric post coming up. This is it. I did get a couple more Charlie pics so it's slightly more balanced. Though, frankly, I take so many pictures of this kid asleep on things I could start a whole new blog of just that.

Here he is asleep on my shoulder. 

The only time better than this was last Thanksgiving - the kids and I went for a walk before we went to dinner. About halfway through the walk, surprise, no one wanted to walk anymore. So I carried Charlie for a while then traded and put Asher on my shoulders. As we walked I was calling family and about five houses from being back home I felt drool in my ear. I had to tell my dad I'd call him back. Ash was so slumped his mouth was just above my left ear and he was passed out cold.

And here he is asleep on the library floor. Charlie, on the other hand, looks like she's waiting for someone to bring her latte before she gets much later for this meeting, thank you very much.

Table Top Shot Trademark Art Elliott 2012 at my Mom's.

 Asher in a bag. Mess strune about.

Hanging out in the laundry basket.

After putting on a new diaper before we could get his pants back on. Rocking an ipod.








I love these pics cause, with the bomber jacket on, he looks like he could have, literally, crashed right there.

After we made some thing. Valentine's cookies? Who knows. I don't think it was anything to do with brewing since 1) I haven't done it in a while 2) I get to lick the mixing paddle for that.

 Lunch box hat.

At KidsCity - a great way to run off an afternoon. Indoor seesaw (which is also a giant rain stick) and a peekaboo train city.

"Asher. Make a face." It's different every time. The kid's got range, man.

Charlie Eating Oatmeal Table Top Pic Trademark Art Elliott 2012

This one is a classic.

I watched Ryan one Thursday when, for some reason, both of these kids decided to test the limit of my diapering skills. Diaper change. Diaper change. Break. Diaper change. It was like an I Love Lucy skit . . . but with diapers. Get what I'm saying, here?

Well they both walk into the kitchen and I immediately know my skills are needed yet again. So I just say -

"Ok. Who pooped this time?"

Classic.



Listened to this with Charlie today. It's a pretty fantastic version of Rosanne Cash singing Black Cadillac. She's sitting in her living room singing. She and her husband are playing guitar - no band, just them. Rosanne Cash is a fantastic singer and an amazing song writer. She's Johnny Cash's daughter but is every bit her own musical person - nothing like her dad.

At one point Charlie walked in and asked, "What's this song about." Well, the "black Cadillac, like the one you used to drive," is the hearse that takes her dad's coffin to be buried. So it's a sad and haunting song by a daughter grieving for her father and Charlie just happens to wander in when I'm watching it? Stomach knot time. Oy vey.

I had told Charlie she was sing about her dad's funeral and Charlie said, all bummed out, "Johnny Cash is dead?"

Yeah, hon, it sucks.

Winter Sunderland

Hey, it was Valentines Day. If this is the first you're hearing about it you're 1) You've been single for a while or 2) been single for about two weeks. Anyway, as we all know Valentine's Day is one of those days assumed by the church to draw attention away from it's pagan origins (you're on the internet to read this so go ahead and google it). This one, originally, was about a Roman fertility god . . . who was also a wolf-man-type-deal. 

How much better would it be if Hallmark embraced the real holiday here? Sexy Werewolf Day. I'd buy cards for that!

Anyway, since we were going low key this year (I spent too much last year and that yacht is still in dry dock) I had the kids help me with some candies. Here's the recipe. They're like cake batter-ish fudge balls. I thought they'd be more Milk Dud-y but not as sticky and less firm. 

And the kids helped. We rolled them in sprinkles and colored sugar. Shogun gave us some teeny Christmas colored chocolate chips too. So I had the kids separate out the red (hey, a Valentine color!) from the green. There was no grumbling whatsoever and that is not a sarcastic statement. They did so well, I think their little fingers moved the project along, that I let them eat the green ones when they were done.

Dianna does not like sprinkles. Which was a shame since that's really all we had to cover the chocolate with. They do look colorful as hell though. Dianna is holding one that was rolled in sheet sugar so it looks like it's covered in glass. 

We went to Dundee over the President's Day break. When we left CT it was 55 degrees. On Sat, in NY, it went from mid 30's to upper 40's and back again every 20 minutes. A WHOLE LOT OF SNOW. Was quickly wiped out by A WHOLE LOT OF SUN. Wash, rinse, repeat. 

The top pic is taken out my mom's picture window. Right past those tree's is the lake but it's covered by a huge cloud bringing snow. I remember watching that cloud every cold dark winter morning while eating breakfast. We'd listen to the local (horrible) radio station, hoping that school would be cancelled (it never was). Every morning, at the same time, there would be a commercial for Motel 6. Tom Bodett would close every commercial with they're slogan - We'll Leave the Light on For Ya. Every morning.

God, I hate Tom Bodett - through no fault of his own.

These pics are at the lake on the same day as the picture above, much brighter, eh? All the whiter rocks are usually underwater but the lake's pretty low. I saw lots of big round rocks, just sitting there, waiting to be dragged where I need them. But of course the water is 33 degrees. So there's no way in hell I'm wading in even ankle deep to get them.

And since we were in Upstate we went to dim sum in Ithaca. Every time we go the kids get bolder and bolder and Nana gets more and more jealous. Of course that Nana's jealousy might have something to with me sending her pictures of the food. Shrimp wanton soup. Fried sesame balls (with sweetened bean curd - JUST FOUND A RECIPE FOR IT). Shu mai. Shrimp dumplings. Roast pork buns. Lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice with sausage and chicken. My god. It is heaven.

Of course all the people are happily surprised to see the kids chow down on it. People from other tables often comment on them. When one customer said something this time, Asher pointed his fork (with attached dumpling) at them and said, "Not for you!"

Now enjoy some music (explicit, don't play at work unless you're work is awesome).

Drew Blares?

Random Free Association: 

So Whitney Houston died (NBC interrupted programming to announce it - it's not a war, it's a pop star . . . Dianna said she felt bad for Lester Holt, had to come all they way in, get dressed and make-up'ed at 11:45 at night). Not my type of music but it's sad when people die and that's about all of that.

But it makes me remember this totally random and glorious part of my childhood.

The year was 1985, we lived in Texas and drove a  VW camper van (the spare tire cover on the front said Old Volks Home, cause horrible jokes run in my family). My sister had the first Whitney Houston album on tape. I remember it was a sunny day and we were driving on a on (or off) ramp. I was looking at the tape booklet and playing with a Hot Wheel. For some reason we were talking about wheelies and my dad informed me, pretty nonchalantly, that he could get the van up on two wheels if he "wanted too."

I remember those exact words. "If I wanted too."

This is why adults seem so magical to kids. Because, sure, if he wanted too he could make the van do a wheelie, it would just ruin the axles, the wheels, the rims and, probably roll the whole damn car, causing huge damage and injury. But it could be done. Hell, I could jump my Mazda over the Caesar's Palace Fountain, anything is possible. The difference between kids and adults is possible versus probable.

After dad said that I was floored. WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO DO A WHEELIE, thought a 5 year old me. WHY AREN'T WE DOING A WHEELIE RIGHT NOW? WHY DON'T WE ALWAYS TRAVEL ON TWO WHEELS?

I also firmly believed, at the time, that the wheelie he was talking about was on the back two wheels, not the side two (cause that's cooler).

That's what I got - never said it was lucid or poignant but it's a good memory I've had for 28 years.

Navy Beans, Navy Beans

Charlie and I just got back from a birthday party. It was at a carousel museum, which was pretty cool. Granted all you need for a five year old's birthday party is cake, snacks, juice (or chocolate milk) and a space for everyone to careen around. Everything past that (face painters, games, chairs, parental supervision) are pretty much just garnish - nice looking but not a main staple.

I asked Charlie what her favorite part was and she said, The Tour. Which part of the tour, I asked. All of it, she said. We started the tour on the second floor at the horse restoration room. It was really cool to see the horses (and lions, pigs and manatee's) in various levels of work from rough cuts to final painting. The next stop was the Greek Museum, which is a room, marble from floor to ceiling, that had some busts in it. The next three rooms were the Firefighter Museum. All the kids got to ring some, frankly piercing, old time-y fire bells. It sounds strange but the high ring of the bell would almost overload your senses. Kids loved it. Then downstairs to the carousel horses (and more cool repair stuff). And finally a ride on a 1940's portable carousel, used for super rural fairs and such. It was run by a washing machine motor (they have a full size one that's being installed now). All in all, random. Each Museum was larger than the last, like a strange Russian nesting doll but Charlie loved it and had a great time.

A line of princess's waiting to use the water cannon in the firefighters museum.

I kept thinking how much my Aunt Nana would have loved the carousel horses.

And the cupcake I had was really good.

Oh and they brought two Boxes of Joe from D&D for the adults. That's some inspired thinking for sure.



Looking over what I have for the next post I notice it's very Asher-centric. So to offset I'll post a bunch of pics Charlie took herself.

One thing comic masocists do is a 24 hour comic - 24 hours to write and draw a full comic (one page an hour average there) - something that usually takes about a month. Most of them are interesting, mainly to see how they fit so much work into such a small amount of time but this one is fantastic. Not just a good 24 our comic, but a good comic in general.

And it's free to read - what's stopping you?

Gack.

Oh my new favorite thing. People on Facebook who post articles from The Onion like they're real things. Familiar with The Onion? We used to get it delivered to the house in college, well, Justin did but who's nit-picking? Anyhoo - my wife has the remote right now so we're swinging back and forth between the Voice and the Bachelor so it's a rock and an even worse rock. If you're in the same situation - check out http://literallyunbelievable.org/ 

One article was about how Solar-OPEC says the sun fell short of it's power demand, despite attempts to bust production levels. OF THE SUN. One of the comments is "That's the problem with solar. If sun goes out, we're hosed." Thankfully someone else points out IF THE SUN GOES OUT WE'RE HOSED ANYWAY."

Even better, one of the people who posted a satirical article like it was a real one? A congressman from Florida.

Classic.



It snowed here for about an hour. We lets the kids run around in it so they don't forget what snow looks like (it was 60 degrees here, you know, February 6th . . . in New England). All the guys in the neighborhood brought out our snow blowers even though we knew it'd melt off the roads by noon (and it did). But after last years mega crunch - I'm not complaining.

Here's what it looked like the next day. Warm enough I didn't even put hats on the kids. The snow in the sled melted and Asher kept adding more and more snow too it. That snow would melt leaving a tiny pink swimming pool, which he then plopped himself into.

And about two days later every trace of snow was gone. Sad to say the same couldn't be said for the chickens.

Enjoy a song from Shooter Jennings.