Heptadecagon

I met a woman the other day at a lovely book party. She said she loves order and silence. She only has one child, and that might be it for them, partly due to her penchant for order and silence. I guess when you have twins first, you never get order and silence, but I could use a bit right now. Then again, I shouldn't complain, as the only thing I hear right this instant are the keys I am tapping and the whir of the washing machine. Yum. Yesterday morning -- after having to say to the kids multiple times to "sit down, finish breakfast, get shoes on, get moving!" -- I told them that I wanted to take a break from mornings. Me: I am going to let Daddy do mornings from now on. I will just sit with my cup of coffee in peace. Talia: What are you going to do? Just sit there? Me: Yes, sit and drink my coffee. Talia: And watch TV, right? Me: [chuckling] No. I'll just sit and enjoy the silence. Talia: What silence? At that point, I realized she was right. Even if ...

This past weekend, I ran a half-marathon. It wasn't my first, but it was the first race I've done since having children. In fact, part of the reason I signed up for the race was to get back into shape. That, and MaryAnne made me (just kidding). So, I asked Tara if she wanted to join us in the pursuit of the 13.1 mile trek. She said yes. Did we have goals? Yes, we all did, I'd say. MaryAnne, Tara, and I all run at different paces, and actually ran our long runs at different times. We figured we might not actually "run" the race together. But in the end, we'd feel like we accomplished something with each other. And hopefully, we'd fulfill some goals. I am happy to report that we all surpassed our goals. I finally feel as though I might actually be able to run at the pace I did pre-children. Yippee! Now, if I can just find the time to stay in the running game. I don't have a picture of MaryAnne, but Tim was lucky enough to have to be up when...

Whoever said being a stay-at-home-mom and working part-time is the best of both worlds never lived my world. Don't get me wrong, my world is GREAT. I do appreciate being able to be here for the girls when they get home from school, as well as stay home with Aaron and Melina during the day. But working part-time, in the EVENING, is like going from one full-time job to a part-time job, when all I really want to do is go to bed. Furthermore, because I am not at home two evenings a week, on those nights, life at home is different. Just ask Tim. Last week, I walked in the door at 8:45 pm to find 3 out of 4 kids in bed (but not all of them asleep), 1 baby on the floor of the family room (wide awake), some dishes in the sink (the babysitter usually puts most of the dishes in the dishwasher, to her credit), and the dining room table a mess. I threw my sweater and bag on the table, washed my hands, grabbed the baby and headed upstairs. After changing, nursing, and putting the baby to...

Just a sampling of the pictures that were taken in August. Looks like we had some fun, and I wanted to make sure to share some of these with family and friends. Okay, here we go. We attended the butterfly festival, and Melina had fun hanging out in the stroller while we were there. Still cute with curly brown hair, both of them. The kids played on Elbel Field, in Ann Arbor, during our quick visit. Tim and I met there. While it is hard to see the children, I love this picture because I love Elbel Field and Ann Arbor (you can pretend you didn't know that!). Kids sure know how to be cute, don't they? This was the first day of second grade for the girls. They were wearing the tie-dye shirts they made. No glasses yet. Aaron on the girls' first day...being, well...Aaron.

The summer vacation officially ended today. Zoe and Talia jumped on the bus and zoomed away at 7:50 am this morning. They had smiles on their faces and a spring in their steps, as they say. I didn't sniffle like last year, as I am familiar with the routine. This morning got me thinking that maybe we can get back into a posting-more-often tradition :) I do want to share some of the pictures we have from various points over the summer. We had some family here for Melina's first birthday, and I made her cake from scratch. I usually try to put a cool design on the cakes I make, but for a first birthday, I go simple. I found the recipe for this cake online, and it was simply delicious. No more boxed cakes, ever! Here are a couple of pictures of Melina at her party. In the first one, I am helping her taste the cupcake I made for her (same recipe as the cake). She seemed to like the cupcake and frosting, but not enough to really dig into it. I bet that changes next year. Ove...

Um, yes, what about the promise to post at least once a week? Bad, bad, bloggers! Nary a post since late June. But since then: Melina caught a virus, we had visitors, Melina turned 1 year old, we visited relatives in Pennsylvania, some of us headed to DC, we had more visitors upon our return to Ohio, and I started a 5-week course that will enable me to move from Lecturer I to Lecturer II. Needless to say, we've been busy. I'll definitely post something on Melina's birthday, as I would not be able to live with myself if we didn't put a couple of pictures up about it, or mention that the cake was great (I tried a new recipe) and how nice it was to see part of the family. In the meantime, a friend sent a picture of our kids playing with hers in a backyard tent. They all look like they are having fun.

Melina and I were sitting on the double bed in her room the other morning, a bit after 6 am. Aaron comes in, climbs up on the bed, and presses his nose up against one of her windows, which faces south and looks out over the 1 story roof of our family room. Aaron: Mom, what are those black things? Me: I think they are called vents. Aaron: No, those black things. Me: Really, Aaron, I am not sure, but I think they are called vents. Aaron: Mom, I think you need to watch Bob the Builder . He would know what they are. In retrospect, Aaron might have been referring to the shingles. But after having not slept much the previous night, it never occurred to me to ask him if that was the case.