Locked Out

The brand is called "Safety First." 

I call it, "Sanity First."

Spencer's months-long toilet-swishing exploits are officially coming to an end.

And you better believe we put one on the office door, too, to keep him from turning off the computer, dumping out the trash, messing with the printer, and other scenes such as the following:

(Spencer sitting on my desk without a care in the world)

Oh yes, just a small bit of sanity is returning to my life.

(As long as we remember to lock the door. Which we obviously didn't when the above picture was taken.)

Welcome October and Birthday Wishes

It has been October for a week and still, I cannot get over it.

I look at the calendar and think, can it really be October already? Time sure flies when you are shut inside all summer. (Actually, not really, but that's okay...it's OCTOBER!)

October is one of my favorite months.

It is the month when we can start to creep back outside after many, many long summer days of wishing that we didn't live in the desert.

It is the month when Christmas displays start coming out; the sooner the better, I say.

Halloween, I could take or leave, but I don't mind at all when delicious candy goes on sale.

And, best of all, it is the month when Laura, my beautiful, kind, genius sister was born.

Happy Birthday TODAY, La!

You are truly the best sister, aunt, daughter, sister-in-law, student, teacher, tea-maker, writer, recycler, and connoisseur of fluffy socks to quietly and unassumingly and beautifully walk the planet. Thank you for never failing in your unconditional love, support, humor, and general cute amazingness.

Happy, wonderful birthday!

P.S. Come visit soon. 

Or, better yet, we will visit you and get cozy and have fires and drink tea and hot chocolate and borrow your socks and read your latest masterpieces and look out the window and play Yahtzee and stay up too late and go for walks in the forest. But not necessarily in that order.

More Loving on Lex

Lexa probably gets an inordinate amount of face-time on this here blog. Partly because I am with her all day. Partly because she is my one and only mama's girl. But mostly because she's so darn funny. 

I love the way she thinks and the fact that she is not afraid to say whatever is on her mind. (Okay, I mostly love that part.) I love that she has an answer or explanation for just about everything.

I love that she says things like this:

Lex: Mommy, I love you everything.

Me: You love me everything? What does that mean?

Lex: It means I love you everything. Like curtains, and dresses, and covers, and speed limit signs, colors, butterflies...all kinds of stuff."

And this:

And, during diaper changes, this:

And she sings this:

 (And then she explains that, "funeral means rock star.")

I really don't know what I would do without this girl and her adorable thinking power.

Saturday Scenes

It's pretty rare to wake up on a Saturday morning to quiet. Usually, either the television is already blaring, or someone is yelling passionately at someone else for a grave injustice that has been unknowingly committed in the early hours of the morning. When I came downstairs this morning and heard none of the above, I figured that the girls were still asleep. Imagine my happy surprise when I found them quietly playing.

No yelling...yet.

No messes...yet.

Just a few moments of harmony until the spell was broken (about 30 seconds after I took these pictures).

Other great scenes:

Daddy and Spencer getting some snuggle time; this is also a rare occurrence since Spencer does not typically stay in the same spot for more than 20 seconds. (FYI, this is not an exaggeration).

The girls making use out of some Halloween kits I got for a ridiculously low price after Halloween last year. (Hooray for planning ahead. And then remembering that I planned ahead.) You better believe there was some voice-raising and a general discord over the sharing of materials (and the singing of songs that didn't want to be heard, and the saying of things that shouldn't have been said), but at least they let me take a picture and pretend that none of that had just happened.

(Except that I just told you. Oops.)

What did your Saturday look like?

Clean Bill of Health

At Spencer's appointment on Wednesday, the doctor said that his fracture is looking great. The bone is healing, there aren't any issues with the growth plate, and he can go ahead and "resume normal activity" now.

Whew. What a relief for Spencer-pants to know that he can be active again.

He has totally been taking it easy these last couple of weeks.