Dance, dance, dance

Endearment

Some things that make me smile throughout the day:
1. Noah's sense of order. The other night I was cuddling with the kids on my bed and Ella sneezed a few times. Noah got off the bed, got a kleenex and asked to get back on the bed. He then wiped her nose, got off the bed, put the kleenex in the trash and asked to get back on the bed. Then he went back to resting.

2. Every morning Ella asks for vitamins. I give her two of them and tell her that one is for Noah. She always finds him and gives him one.

3. When Noah tries to catch a ball, he puts his hands out. The hard part is that they are right by his chest and he is so excited that he opens his hands so much the ball will roll right off.

4. Every time I turn on music Ella starts spinning and generally does not stop until she is dizzy and unable to stand.

5. Noah's funny faces. He knows that he is being silly.

6. Ella will occasionally go around the house and identify what things belong to which people. For example, she points at Matt's backpack and says 'Dada' until I acknowledge that it belongs to Matt.

7. The fact that they love Curious George and ask for it by saying 'jawdge'.

8. Noah has discovered how to walk backwards and thinks that it is really cool.

9. The fascination with trains 'choo choos' and airplanes 'aye'. The are ridiculously good at spotting them, the sound of them, or the environment in which they usually see them.

10. That it is typical to see Ella with a piece of food in her hand. While she does not eat much, she does prefers to hold a piece of food for long amounts of time so that she is ready for when she gets hungry --I think that she has had a clementine in hand for most of the weekend.

And below, I love that Noah is delighted to show me his clementine and that Ella has neatly organized hers in a line.

Halloween Weekend

Our Halloween festivities started with a Friday afternoon visit to Pish's office. Upon arriving in the building, the kids were given iced sugar cookies in the shape of a ghost. There was so much clamoring over these treats that we immediately ate them when we got to Pish's desk. Given that they don't know much about where daddy goes during the day, I bet that they now think that he 1) rides the choo choo and 2) eats cookies at his desk all day.

We stopped by Millennium Park after dinner so that the kids could interact with the Cloud Gate sculpture.

The shops in the village where we live invites kids to trick or treat, so we headed out for that on Saturday morning. It was pretty cool out so we bundled the kids in their costumes, hats, mittens and a pile of blankets. The town was crawling with candy hungry kids that were shivering cold. Ella and Noah could not have cared less about the candy, but seeing two trains at once was pretty enthralling. After that, we could not take the cold so we headed back home.

Later in the afternoon, we headed over to Nana and Grandpa's house. I know that you may not have seen them in your neighborhood, but the dragon cheerleader costume that Annika is sporting was very popular this year in the Chicagoland area. Noah is just a regular dragon and Ella is a little bumblebee.

After one house, the kids got the idea of things: get out of the wagon, stand on a doorstep, nice people come to the door with a bowl of shiny things, pick one, put it in your bag and get back in the wagon.

That kind of day

I'll skip the details but it was not an especially peaceful day in the Potoshnick household. Ella's outfit is evidence. Getting the kids dressed was such an ordeal that I stopped before getting socks on her. She then proceeded to bring me a pair of MY socks and motioned that I put them on her feet. I knew that this was a battle that I didn't really care about so this is how she looked today. Mom's socks pulled up to her mid thigh, over her leggings. Awesome look, huh?

Team Hendo + Team Poto

This past weekend, our friends the Hendersons made their way up to the windy city for a visit. We met them during our first week at Duke and knew immediately that they'd become close friends. This was the first time that we have all been together since 2007. Our time was mostly spent cooking meals and playing on the floor with the kids, but we did manage to get out to Cosley to see the animals. Who would have thought four years ago that we'd spend a Saturday morning demonstrating animal sounds for our kids? We had a blast though --thanks for making the trip Team Hendo!



Ella pondering the huge pile of hay bales.

Noah so big.

Jenni and Will --he is one smiley little dude.

Checking out the very rotund sheep.

Ryan with Will, pointing to the llamas.

Attempted group shot. It is pointless to even try to get the kids looking in the same direction.

Of course, Ella tries to pick up the biggest pumpkin that she can find.

Noah telling Ella that it is pure silliness to attempt lifting a pumpkin of such heft.

And Noah demonstrating that small pumpkins are much better suited for little people .

Noah likes his new little buddy.

Tasting

As previously mentioned, we've processed quite a few apples in the past weeks. Knowing that he comes from a long line of apple butter lovers, we documented Noah's first tastes. He's hooked.

Remembering Today

I've been thinking lots of about living in the moment. Rather than rushing in to make dinner, we stayed outside during the last light to roll in the grass and enjoy the cool evening. Here are a few shots that I want to remember.

Autumn begins

In our house, autumn means apple picking. Last weekend we headed up north to a new orchard (well, new to us) and had an awesome time piking apples with the kids. We came home with nearly 4 pecks of apples, one bag of pears, 5 lbs of sour cherries and a pound of fresh honey. So far, I've made 4 crock pots full of apple sauce and one batch of apple butter. Perhaps some mini apple crostadas this weekend...we'll see.

Pish showing Noah how to get just the right apple.

Ella in Noah's cap from last winter. I'm not sure where she found it but she was sure that she wanted to wear it.

Ella's first time eating the whole apple (not sure why I have not done this before). She polished it off and we had to pry it from her tight little grasp before she ate the core and seeds.

Noah taking a cautious bite.

Enjoying...

Noah wanted to carry the bag of apples on his own.

Thoughts on waiting and delight

The concept of delight is something I've been thinking about lately. I'm learning that it is often a byproduct of waiting and letting things happen in their own time. When we moved into our house it seemed that there was no end to the things that we wanted to do. I wanted to do more than we had time for and over the two years that we've been here, I've learned to wait.

One area that has been a work over time has been the landscaping. Over grown weeds, bushes in need of removal, perennials desperate to be divided, trees growing in odd places, a non-functional lamp post, a ratty looking fence and the ground where the swing set used to live all begged for our time.

I could not do much the first year seeing as being pregnant with twins tends to limit physical activity for more than about 5 minutes. For the past two summers, Pish and I have slowly made progress (remember this?) spending hours tending to the needs of the yard: painting, weeding, composting, planting. The process of working slowly was, in some senses, an act of waiting.

And finally, after a couple of years of waiting and working, things are starting to take shape.

Vegetable and herb garden with the fabulous arbor that Matt's dad built for our wedding. The pathway was installed this year with all the stones that we found scattered around the yard. I'm especially partial to the creeping thyme that is filling in the spaces between the rocks.

In previous times, we would have had things in order in one summer. But that is not our life right now and we are taking to the idea of working slowly and when the time permits.

I was outside the other day with Noah and our new camera. I was playing around with the lens and seeing what I could come up with as I admired the products of our waiting and working.

And before I could do a thing about it, I found Noah on the path squishing mud through his toes. He's a big fan of mud --good boy.

Little boy bliss...