brownian motion

Galosh

2012-01-24T19:17:00.000-08:00

I take back what I said about Crocs being horrific. Little toddler Croc galoshes are pretty damn cute.

Between

2012-01-23T10:29:00.000-08:00

Somewhere between taking off your day clothes and putting on pajamas, there are The Crazies.

Happy Snow Day

2012-01-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

I've had a blog entry percolating for a week or so now, about how I have been working to turn my boys who are terrified of playing outside into little nature fiends. I had been doing pretty well, but let's just skip ahead to yesterday and the first of The Great Snowfall.

I don't really want to think about how we may get 15 inches of snow on Wednesday and have already been snowed in since Saturday afternoon. We have enough milk to make it to Thursday, and I am just going to attempt to listen to Charlie and channel my calm. It's not quite time for me to freak out and go all Little House On The Prairie We Are Out Of Food wringing my hands. We have enough food to last for a good long while.

Dash deciding that standing on the snow is going to be ok after all

confident enough to forge his own trail!

ok, enough with the standing in the snow thing. Carry me.

Liam had one hell of a good time

So, to the snow! We carried the boys up to the road and watched one of the neighbor kids careening around on his 3-wheeler. Once he sped off down the dirt road to make louder and bumpier skid marks, we walked down the street and checked out the pretty trees. Then the boys took a try at walking in snow for the first time. Most of the pictures are of Charlie and Dash, since I was carrying Liam.

Perhaps tomorrow we will go out and play in some fresh powder!

heavy readings

2012-01-10T19:39:00.000-08:00

Liam loves books. He loves big, enormous, weighty tomes. The bigger the better. If he can barely pick it up then great!

Award for most pretentious author pose: National Geographic retrospective

I've asked a few friends to contribute obsolete items from their libraries, and went to Half Price Books today to see what they had. I picked up a trilogy of awesome old Jaques Cousteau picture books and a history of National Geographic's first 100 years. The prize, however, goes to a gift from the manager in their book buying department. He overheard me asking an employee where their sale section was with the heaviest books (and my explanation as to why) and as I was leaving he hurried over with perhaps the biggest textbook I have ever seen. I seriously don't know how people were supposed to use this thing casually. It begs for a podium to hold it up. On the surface it is just another Oracle text, but to Liam it is so much more.

delectable cookbooks

We noticed his fascination when he kept bringing me the same board book over and over. Excellent, another Charlie Harper! I thought...but he was choosing it because it's the biggest board book we have. Then he branched into pulling all of the cookbooks from the bookshelves in the dining room. A ten pound tome on French cooking? Sure! This enthusiasm was not exactly healthy for Charlie's prized cookbook library though.

Enter: Liam's bookshelf. I had to move the piano bench in front of the fireplace to keep them from pulling the screen out and climbing inside, and it makes a dandy platform for some heavy reading. Liam's endeavor of the afternoon: figuring out how to remove the books in a stack and carry them all around at once. Perhaps he has a future in the circus.

Dec 26

2011-12-26T17:43:00.000-08:00

On December 25th, we had a present opening frenzy, but no power for most of the day. Thankfully our house had been transformed into an entertainment bonanza palace and with the help of a few lanterns we played the day away.

To give you a bit of flavor, this is our floor this morning after the paper was picked up and things were "straightened up" a little bit. Any time you tried to give a toy a home, one boy or the other would run over and demand it from you.

Dec 24

2011-12-24T23:09:00.000-08:00

On the twenty-fourth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, one shimmering snowflake, one glowing candle, one bluebird of happiness, a slow tortoise, a run run run as fast as you can gingerbread man, Batman, one green Christmas tree, a beautiful B, a Charlie Brown ornament, one fluffy white Christmas tree, and a shining star.

I also got wonderful friends, a tasty dinner, children (my own and others) shrieking with glee as they opened presents, a glass of eggnog, and a few hours playing Star Wars with Charlie. Delightful!

Dec 23

2011-12-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

On the twenty-third day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, one shimmering snowflake, one glowing candle, one bluebird of happiness, a slow tortoise, a run run run as fast as you can gingerbread man, Batman, one green Christmas tree, a beautiful B, a Charlie Brown ornament, and a fluffy white Christmas tree.

Dec 21 and 22

2011-12-22T22:40:00.000-08:00

On the twenty-first day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, one shimmering snowflake, one glowing candle, one bluebird of happiness, a slow tortoise, a run run run as fast as you can gingerbread man, Batman, one green Christmas tree, and a beautiful B.

On the twenty-second day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, one shimmering snowflake, one glowing candle, one bluebird of happiness, a slow tortoise, a run run run as fast as you can gingerbread man, Batman, one green Christmas tree, a beautiful B, and a Charlie Brown ornament.

For their present, we got the boys a membership at a kid's gym. They'll have one class a week, and then one day with a free play period. I took them there today to see how things went and Dash loved wallowing in the ball pit. Liam rolled huge balls around the floor and they both ran about like maniacs. I think this is going to work out well.

Dec 20

2011-12-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

On the twentieth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, one shimmering snowflake, one glowing candle, one bluebird of happiness, a slow tortoise, a run run run as fast as you can gingerbread man, Batman, and a green Christmas tree.

The lights progress apace. Today's visitor was the drywall guy. I had the singular pleasure of listening to his holiday negotiations. He took a break for lunch, and after came back with his brother and nephew, who were in the neighborhood doing another job and offered to help him finish up the rest of ours more quickly. His brother has much land and many horses (and also two! sets of twins). Our drywall guy has a teenage daughter who is horse crazy. I bore witness to the conversation that will lead to a girl actually asking for a pony and getting one . They are going to put a huge red bow on it and the whole nine yards. I was almost giddy with excitement.

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Dash today thought that the ravioli he was eating for lunch would make an effective hair product. He was right.

Dec 19

2011-12-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

On the nineteent day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, one shimmering snowflake, one glowing candle, one bluebird of happiness, a slow tortoise, a run run run as fast as you can gingerbread man, and Batman.

Dec 18

2011-12-18T18:37:00.000-08:00

On the eighteenth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, one shimmering snowflake, one glowing candle, one bluebird of happiness, a slow tortoise, and a run run run as fast as you can gingerbread man.

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The chickens are working a Christmas miracle! Even though it's been oh so dark and dismal, the new teenagers are managing to lay their first eggs and then keep on going. The first pullet eggs are hilariously small, but so far all of them have had a yolk and everything. I can't wait till everyone gets into full swing after the winter passes. I'm guessing we'll get five eggs a day. Time to start lining up frittata recipes!

Dec 17

2011-12-18T10:23:00.000-08:00

On the seventeenth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, one shimmering snowflake, one glowing candle, one bluebird of happiness, and a slow tortoise.

I blame that tortoise for being behind by a day with these last few pictures. To get energized this morning, we are watching videos of Prince playing live shows and rocking out in the living room.

Dec 16

2011-12-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

On the sixteenth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, one shimmering snowflake, one glowing candle, and a bluebird of happiness.

Dec 15

2011-12-16T08:09:00.000-08:00

On the fifteenth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, one shimmering snowflake, and a glowing candle.

Dec 14

2011-12-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

On the fourteenth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, a golden bell, and a shimmering snowflake.

The living room ceiling has grown many more holes as the electrician added to what the sprinkler guy started. Cans are in, sprinkler head is moved, and now there is just some drywall work before the final fixtures are put in. The electrician was not as fascinating as the sprinkler guy, because there weren't any lengths of piping to play with. Though we have been taking advantage of the temporarily cleared living room floor, having wild wrestling matches and playing in giant Amazon boxes.

Dec 13

2011-12-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

On the thirteenth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, one lovely blue ornament, and a golden bell.

---------------

It also gave to me a photo taken with the flash on my phone, which is not optimal. We are having some new lights put in the living room ceiling, and that started the day with the dining room chandelier getting pulled down. Then there was a lot of sawing while the sprinkler guy relocated the head that was smack in the middle of the living room. The boys were rapt, sitting back on their feet at the edge of the plastic sheeting on the floor, each of them holding onto a short length of bright orange sprinkler pipe. Entertainment for the day: provided! Tomorrow, the electrician.

Dec 12

2011-12-12T22:25:00.000-08:00

On the twelfth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, a swimmy goldfish, and a lovely blue ornament.

Dec 11

2011-12-11T20:45:00.001-08:00

On the eleventhday of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, a bunch of juicy grapes, and a swimmy goldfish.

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Humorous point of the day: both boys wearing button-down shirts and no pants, running around the kitchen. They looked like they were doing a Risky Business revival.

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Second humorous bit: when they start flinging around the contents of the dishtowel drawer, I usually try to cram the tea cozy on someone's head. Typically it gets pulled off immediately but today Liam kind of forgot he was wearing it and kept playing.

Dec 10

2011-12-10T21:24:00.001-08:00

On the tenth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, one russet bird, and a bunch of juicy grapes.

Dec 9

2011-12-09T22:04:00.001-08:00

On the ninth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, one pale pink ornament, and a russet bird.

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We've had teenage chickens for many months now, and finally someone has laid the first egg! I suspect it is the speckled grey hen, since I think she's the only one that lays white eggs. I need to get a bigger container for all of my first eggs, because this one won't fit in there.

Dec 8

2011-12-08T23:43:00.000-08:00

On the eighth day of christmas my true love gave to me: one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, a minty candy cane, and a pale pink ornament.

Dec 7

2011-12-07T22:01:00.001-08:00

On the seventh day of christmas my true love gave to me one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, a mischievous cat, and a minty candy cane.

Dec 6

2011-12-06T20:57:00.001-08:00

On the sixth day of christmas my true love gave to me one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, a chilly snowman, and a mischievous cat.

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The boys discovered the tree when they woke up this morning. There was a lot of staring and some reaching, and then they happily played around it. Hopefully it will be a little longer before they figure out how to climb up into chairs, onto the windowseat, and then up onto the table.

Dec 5

2011-12-05T20:46:00.001-08:00

On the fifth day of christmas my true love gave to me one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, a chipper squirrel, and a chilly snowman.

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We also have a decorated tree! Courtesy of Target for new lights and some christmas tunes on the stereo for decorating. There is something crazy awesome about hanging an ornament that I made when I was five years old, and then hanging prints of my own kid's hands from when they were three months old. Does that make me old? If it does I don't care, I love it.

Dec 4

2011-12-04T20:09:00.001-08:00

On the fourth day of christmas my true love gave to me one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, a green wreath, and a chipper squirrel.

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We also got our tree today after trying to out-think two 14 month olds. There's no way I could deal with the constant crazy of a real tree in the living room....the boys are so lurchingly mobile and all grabby hands. Redecorating the tree is one thing. I envisioned them careening into it regularly and pulling it down at least once a day. Not to mention Liam's passion for holding onto things and shaking them as hard as he can to see what happens (yes, maracas are his favorite instrument).

So for this year we have a shorter tree up on our old kitchen table. It's in the usual place of honor in the middle of the living room window, and if you look over from the current table in the kitchen you can imagine that the tree goes all the way down to the floor. Unfortunately all three of my strings of lights were bunk and I couldn't get them working. So no decorating tonight. At least the house smells great now!

Dec 3

2011-12-03T22:59:00.001-08:00

On the third day of christmas my true love gave to me one bushy Santa Claus, one brown acorn, and a green wreath.

Dec 2

2011-12-02T18:44:00.001-08:00

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me one bushy santa claus and one brown acorn.

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Also, there were endless Christmas tunes on the stereo and both the ups and the fedex guy knocking on the door. Let the frenzy commence!

Dec 1

2011-12-01T22:56:00.001-08:00

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me one bushy santa claus.

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And two completely crazy boys.

Curtains

2011-11-22T13:23:00.001-08:00

I was trying to get a picture of the boys for a holiday card, and between the gloom and wiggly boys it just wasn't going to happen. So I give you a "holiday season's opener," if you will. Two boys giggling in the curtains.

Piano Skills

2011-11-18T11:23:00.001-08:00

The boys have been fascinated with the piano since they could stand up. Now that there's a bit more whole body dexterity going on, dancing and piano playing are starting to occur a the same time. And if you dance yourself onto the floor, well, you just get up and keep playing. Liam's over in the corner playing with finger cymbals.

Leaves!

2011-11-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

Huge maple leaves are fun to play in.

Veteran

2011-11-11T10:49:00.001-08:00

pop pop, on a dapper day

I have all sorts of issues with war, and dying, and militaries, and governments. Because of my inability to relate to a person's reasons for joining the military, my private parental sadness I feel whenever I hear one of those ads on the radio from the Marines congratulating yet another local high-schooler by name for taking the first step, I've never known what to say to a serviceman on veterans day. They've made choices I would never make, seen things I will never see, done things I will never do. But they have also carried out orders I cannot stomach, hurt people I will never get to apologize to, and represented my country while doing it.

I was on a crowded flight several months ago, juggling babies, and a grandmotherly woman in the row behind me was trying to get some smiles out of them. A man in fatigues boarded and started down the aisle. As he passed us, the woman turned, touched his arm, and said "thank you for your service." He smiled back, nodded, and continued down to his seat. She returned to playing with the boys. It wasn't veterans day, but there was something in the simplicity of her statement that spoke of a respect without judgement from an older time.

I may not feel moved to say it every time I see a person in uniform, but especially since it's veterans day,

Thanks, pop pop, for your service.
Thanks, dad, for your service.
And thanks to everyone else.

snippet

2011-11-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

What is that sound you hear? It is the sound of Liam shrieking any time I am touching a computer.So this will be brief!

liam regarding you from within the circle of entertainment

liam declaring he is done with breakfast, thank you.

dash driving the box

mayhem

helping Charlie cook

Five minutes

2011-10-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

After dinner tonight the boys were in a particularly good mood. This is five minutes of them doing their thing. It's a little bit funny, a little bit zen, and a little bit mind-blowing the types of entertainment they can consume in a five minute stretch. I often say that keeping them entertained is like working for a king who loves beheading his jesters.

At 1:45 you can hear them having a little click-fest, one of their favorite vocalizations. Budding anthropologists, already speaking !Kung.

Obviously all it takes to keep them happy is dinner, a partially dismantled jungle exersaucer, a big bouncy ball, a changing table, a table, a toy phone, an empty yogurt container, an empty egg container, a couch, a bunch of board books, and each other.

At least now you can see how the room can go from picked up to chaos in under 10 minutes.

Trappin

2011-10-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

I was getting sorely tired of doling out individual O's of cereal, so enter the Snack Traps. They are my attempt to free-feed boys without getting treats strewn absolutely all over the house.

Elapsed time to learning how to use snack trap: 5 minutes, with me showing them how and then pulling pieces of cereal to the top so they reached down for it.

Time to deciding that whatever is in your brother's trap is much tastier than what is in yours: 6 minutes.

Sanity was restored.

Liam appears blameless.

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Images from Italy:

We visited many churches, the most interesting being this one made by Massimilano Fuksas, the Church San Paolo. It was completely still and quiet, and the clear sunshine of the day was I think exactly what he had in mind when he designed it. Floating shapes within shapes.

rosy cheeked

2011-09-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

I am trying to enjoy these days where the boys are relatively adventurous about trying new foods, since I know the days of only-toast and nothing-but-bananas are ahead of us. I've managed to get them to love kale, and we kept getting these luscious bunches of beets in our CSA box. My dirty secret? I really don't want to clean up the aftermath of eating beets. As an adult I can barely make it through a salad that has beets in it without getting stained fingers and possibly something on my shirt. I was not looking forward to people thinking I was some freaky Twilight fan who tried to get her babies to look like vampires.

So...I got creative. I roasted a big mess (literally) of beets and pureed them. Then when Charlie made a batch of waffles I had him reserve half of the batter and add a bunch of beets to it. The result was something that looked like it could be crowned with the title "Martha Stewart's Red Velvet Waffles." These things were gorgeous! Intense purple red. And the boys saw waffles and they hoovered them up. They actually tasted quite good, just not the sort of waffles you'd have with butter and syrup. There will be some experimentation in the future with adult Red Velvet Waffles, perhaps with some poached eggs on top and goat cheese.

But for now, mission accomplished. The boys ate a bunch of beets and the only thing left in the end were smiles.

To illustrate, here is Liam displaying his free-form sign language. He does one thing: when he wants more of something, he uses his right hand to whap-whap-whap against the table top. It is usually rather gentle but if I'm not paying enough attention it turns into slams. Dash, on the other hand, signals his desire by raising both hands in the air and opening and closing his fists like an eager crab.

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Images from Italy:
As with many trips, Charlie and I spent our free time playing cribbage. Bliss!

Dish towel, meet your destiny

2011-09-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

Dishtowel of the breads of Italy, bought in Italy, now covering rising loaves of semolina sourdough in my kitchen.

One year cocktail party

2011-09-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a year and the boys are bigger and all of those predictable wonderful things. I'm jet-lagged from a trip to Italy so I'll just leave you with this for now: no nap, just a cocktail party.

Hot Chicks

2011-09-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

We have one extraordinarily well-fed bobcat in our neighborhood. When I brokered a deal with my friend a few months ago to raise some chicks to teen-age size, we still had five hens. As of this morning we were down to three. Enter: The New Girls.

Six new hens. Two blue andalusians, two rose comb brown leghorns, a black sex link, and a silver laced wyandotte. Unfortunately the coyote found my americanas especially tasty so I only have one blue egger left. These girls are going to spend the next month in the coop with no outside time, and then I'll start to let them out and see what happens.

It's now that I'm very happy that I built a coop big enough for them to fly around in so I don't have to feel too bad about locking them in. They will just have to survive on a steady diet of layer pellets, scratch mix, and all of the delicious greens from our garden and leftover produce. Poor things!

The boys enjoyed some time in the sunshine while I got the new chicks settled in.

Doughboy

2011-09-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

Did I just spend three weeks on the East coast with the boys and loads of family? Yes! But for right this minute, let's talk pizza.

The dough recipe: Bread Baker's Apprentice
The toppings: an amalgam of simmered tomato sauce from the other night plus a dose of fresh tomatoes and onions pureed till smooth, fresh mozzarella, basil leaves, and dried red peppers
Temperature of the green egg: 650F

Both of us had a craving for Neopolitan pizza, and being nowhere near Italy this was our best bet. The dough was a little slack after 2 hours second rise on a hot summer day so it wasn't exactly toss-able. A little too thick but not too bad. Six minutes on the grill, then cut up and devoured.

Before cooking

After cooking

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In other topics, Jeff and Suzanne brought us this sun after a trip a few years ago. It hangs on a tree outside the kitchen window, and on certain sunny mornings the light actually bounces off of the back of it onto the tree and gives it an elfin glow.

Harvest

2011-09-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

It may have been cold and rainy all summer, but at least we got a little something from the garden!

Countdown

2011-08-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

To takeoff!

play time

2011-08-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

For Gabriel, who had a very long day:

Dash is the one constantly blowing raspberries. Liam is more of a waw waw waw hummer kind of guy. They both are gigglers. And as with all movies, this one ends with Liam demanding access to the electronic device.

sleep is for suckers, but cameras are cool

2011-07-22T11:49:00.001-07:00

Liam decided to reject napping so I put him in a carrier on my back hoping that would do the trick. After fifteen minutes of silence I assumed he had conked out.

I walked over to the fridge to get something to drink and opened the right side door. Then, as if by magic, the left door opened as well. I looked down and saw a chubby hand wrapped around the handle.

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Dash notices I have the camera

He makes his way over

closer

sits up on his knees to assess the situation

scales my body

closer

give it to me, mother

everything is exciting when you are small

2011-07-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

I was cutting up some cardboard today to make some shapes for the boys to chew/throw/sit on/bang on things. Liam decided that the roll of duct tape was infinitely more exciting.

Liam has learned how to play the piano all on his own

and this year's "summer" is one where in the middle of July Dash is wearing a sweater vest.

teething

2011-07-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

One of the delightful gifts the boys have given me is a propensity to clench my teeth at night. Something about the sleep deprivation, who knows really. But I've cracked a few teeth (!) and my dentist recommended a night guard.

Sometime last night I woke up to boys crying, and fumbled the guard out of my mouth so that I could go see what was up in there. After some butt-patting and some shushing they calmed down. I crawled back into bed and shoved the guard back in my mouth.

Only it didn't feel right. My brain wasn't completely awake so I flipped the thing around, thinking I'd put it in backwards. Still wrong.

Then I realized I was trying to cram a teething toy into my mouth.

greeny

2011-07-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

They don't like avocados. Or mangoes. Or watermelon.

But they adore kale.

Opus One

2011-06-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

Liam chose a piano duet for this musical performance.

shake it

2011-06-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

The best thing I did today was give my children maracas.

Nine Months

2011-06-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

in motion

Nine months old and ready for anything. As of their checkup today, both boys are the same height, have the same head size, but Liam weighs 19.5 pounds and Dash 18.5. They each have six teeth. Yet differences abound...

Liam:
- can stand as long as he's holding on to something, and spends a great deal of his time standing at baby gates shaking them like a seasoned convict.
- has decided that he no longer wants to lay down on his back for anything at all. This is especially difficult when you are changing an apocalyptic diaper in the back of the car in a parking lot. I got the job done, but it was an epic battle. His little legs are like stubby trees.
- finally is taking some interest in solid food. He prefers little puffed cracker things, or rice husk cakes. As long as he can pick it up in his hands it is fair game. Pancakes, tofu, enormous carrots to gnaw on.

reading one of his animal flashcards, a perennial favorite activity

checking things out from up on high

reading a book (and by "read" I mean "chew")

Dash:
- finally has started crawling! Sometimes his arms and legs pinwheel and he ends up spreadeagled on the floor, but for the most part he gets where he wants to go.
- loves those little yellow sunshine gears more than anything.
- has a stuffed aardvark named Aartie that he chews on, making a "gollum gollum" sound while he does it.
- has gone bonkers over cantaloupe and eats it like it's the best thing on earth.

cheesecake pose

yummy

crawling!

the dash the dash the dash is on fire

--------------------

I'm afraid my monthly quilt photos aren't working anymore. Even with Charlie wrangling we couldn't get both boys to lie still long enough to take a picture. We tried!

Mushroom Identification Challenge

2011-06-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

So we have these mushrooms growing in our herb garden on the deck. It's a raised bed on an elevated deck, and the spores are likely from the plants we planted or the mulch we used. Charlie and I have consulted his mushroom bible "All That the Rain Promises and More" and have not found a perfect match. There is one other mushroom in the bed growing right now, and it's about a foot away from the one I picked to identify. There's no clustering going on.

Here is the path we followed:
- it has gills
- the mature gills are brown, no spores are visible
- we didn't see the young gills to observe a veil, but there is no ring on the mature stalk
- the stalk does not snap cleanly, there are some fibers. There is no milk or juice

The entire mushroom is four inches stalk and cap, and the cap is about an inch in diameter. The stalk is thinner than a pencil.

Any guesses?

Operation great-grandchildren

2011-06-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

Has been a success! Now onto leg 2 and Minneapolis. Bye for now, mom mom!

great

2011-06-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

The cruel gate of separation

When I was a kid, my great-grandmother was the maker of afghans and the best pancakes I've ever had. She had a crush on the pope, a very soft lap, and taught me to crochet. Though I can't remember it, she took care of me while I was an infant so that my mom could go back to work.

Liam, in the throes of yet another tooth, takes comfort in a lap and a chew toy

Yesterday my grandmother made the long flight out here so that she could meet her great-grandsons. She cannot crochet or make pancakes, but she has held babies and tickled their bellies until they laughed like crazy. While I slept, she helped Charlie feed them this morning. When Dash was crying she asked him quite pointedly what the problem was, and he stopped and started laughing instead.

Dash with his perennial sassy tongue

She has never been to Seattle, never read the newspaper on an iPad, never had polenta. And in 24 hours she has done all of these things with an inquisitive grace I can only hope to possess when I am 86 years old.

----------------

In other baby news...

Liam is still obsessed with Charlie's cookbooks

no really, give me the cookbook.

Dash strikes hilarious playboy poses on the floor

Summer baby legs

2011-06-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

Finally a day warm enough for shorties.

Entertained

2011-06-02T15:04:00.000-07:00

Surrounded by entertainment, and the only thing that silences him is a cardboard coffee pod sleeve.

creepy crawly

2011-05-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

Liam has achieved crawling! In just a couple of weeks he went from rocking on his knees to taking a few tentative creeps (towards a cookbook Charlie was reading, no less) to pretty much turbo-ing across the floor to get whatever he wants. He very often would like to have my phone:

Dash is making strides. He spent many weeks in his superman pose, belly down on the floor with arms outstretched and feet beating a tattoo on the floor. He now hoists up on hands and knees and rocks back and forth. We just need to find something to motivate him to move...

Man, they're cute.

Eight Month Intensity

2011-05-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

Eight

months!

The boys have smiled, rolled, wiggled, slapped, screamed, laughed, and eaten their way into their eighth month.

Dash: loves food and will vibrate in his chair with opened mouth until you give him something on a spoon. Doesn't matter if it's oatmeal or carrots or peas or yogurt. He wants it! Most of his free time is spent lying on the floor on his stomach with arms outstretched, flying. He rocks around and occasionally gets his knees under him but hasn't done much else.

He loves holding his own bottle to eat

A favorite toy: the smiling gears

Liam: would rather eat the spoon than what's on it. Once you put him on the floor he motors all over the place. First was the army crawl and then in the past few days has been some surprisingly effective crawling attempts. He only gets in a few in a row before giving up and going back to rocking on his knees, but he does manage to get wherever he wants to go. His biggest temptation: any cookbook that Charlie is reading.

good friends with the cats, who are surprisingly tolerant

Liam's wrinkles, long live the wrinkles!

Giggle fest!

More Deliciousness

2011-04-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

Two things keep happening:
1. Babies keep growing
2. Charlie keeps cooking

Thus far the two items do not intersect, but they will someday. For now let's look at the tasty treats coming out of our kitchen.

Blueberry Basil Goat Cheese Pie. I have to capitalize every word because it is pretty much the most epic pie ever. It rolls a 20 in deliciousness. First seen several months ago on an episode of Diners Drive -ins and Dives, Charlie watched the segment several times and meticulously copied down what he thought the chef was doing. He researched the pie again before cooking and the recipe had been recently posted online. Turns out he had figured it out almost perfectly. His ratios were spot on, but he had guessed one cup where the recipe called for 1/2. Pretty good for sherlock holmes recipe writing!

marcona almond crumble on top, oh my.

This pie, oh this pie was delicious. I could eat it every night, so it's a good thing he only made one.

Then there was the limoncello. Citrus has been in season around here, and we picked up two big bags of lemons the other day. When we were in the Amalfi region of Italy, every restaurant had their own limoncello concoction. To my delight, they all seemed set on acquiring your judgment through bringing you a small glass of it after every meal. Oh yes, fantastic restaurateur, if you would be so kind as to bring me a frosty finger of your best lemon, I will be happy to give you my opinion. And while our own first effort wasn't as good as the best limoncello we had there, it was pretty damn tasty.

First, a week of the pith-less peels floating in some Everclear. Then marry that with a simple syrup blend and viola. The most interesting part: the lemon-infused liquor was absolutely clear yellow (not photographed because, well, it looked like pee). The cooled simple syrup was also crystal clear. But combine the two and instantly it assumed the traditional cloudy bright yellow color.

And finally, a cute baby attack:

at sixes and sevens

2011-04-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

I did manage to take photos of the boys for their sixth month birthday, just didn't quite get them up here. Yesterday Charlie helped me with month seven. Changes? I measured them this morning and for sure they've both grown a half inch longer. Haven't gotten around to weighing them, so we'll find that one out perhaps tomorrow.

Sixes:

Dash, so very stern. Liam impersonates a frog.

Sevens:

more smiles, thanks to Charlie's help

babies in motion

mother, you call this food?

2011-04-15T10:46:00.001-07:00

Avocado: not such a hit. We will try again later!

---------------

Two minute slice of life. Crying, rolling, happy, chewing, crying, then who knows what will come next! Dash has also just learned to roll over in any direction.

---------------

Liam discovered Harry's tail, and surprisingly the cat put up with it.

sweet-ish

2011-04-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

From the department of number of foods you've eaten still counted on one hand: sweet potato edition.

cautious acceptance

wild-eyed enjoyment, complete with crazy hair

Verdict: Dash enjoyed, Liam was standoffish. Not as messy as we thought it was going to be, but I am sure those days lie ahead.

And since I'm typing this while trying to ignore the crazed screams of boys who really should be napping right now but are crying for 10 minutes to see what happens, let's just skip to more entertaining pictures.

Liam sporting one of auntie Maggie's awesome outfits.

The boys have been rolling around a lot on the carpet and bonking their heads. The quickest solution was interlocking foam tiles for comfort. The fact that they come in eye-bleeding colors is something I'm trying to get used to.

...and my screaming time is up. Time to let some babies scream in my face instead. Motherhood is awesome!

Circles of Neglect

2011-04-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

I never quite understood what people meant when they said that they loved an item that entertained their baby for 10 minutes. I mean, what can you really do in ten minutes?

hard at work

The babies are asleep, so I have ten minutes to tell you that ten minutes is an eternity with babies. The list of things that I would do is pretty much endless. Enter: the circles of neglect.

Liam exploring physics with monkeys

Our friends Kristie and Andrew coined the term. You put a child in one, and you can have upwards of fifteen minutes hands-free. If I'm in the kitchen where they can see me, they will sometimes play happily for twenty minutes. This is long enough to make coffee, drink it while it is still warm, and at least start to get dinner going. Or eat some lunch myself. It is a whole new world!

I used to mock these things, these garish plastic monstrosities. That's totally fine by me now. Just the other day, I managed to pick apart an entire poached chicken to put in a pot of soup. Can you imagine how hard it is to pick a chicken one-handed, with a screeching baby on your hip? It is difficult.

always coveting what is on the neighboring circle

Friends loaned us one circle, and then last weekend we ponied up and bought a second one. Sure, it makes walking through our kitchen a bit of a parkour exercise, but I can take that. They will sit in the jungle one and push monkeys back and forth and back and forth. They hop up and down in the green one and smack everything within reach. It is entertaining, especially while I'm drinking coffee.

----------------

Dash rocks his inner Mr. Rogers

Deliciousness

2011-04-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

Time to branch out in the food department. After vacationing, the boys got to try their first food. Monday was oat cereal and today was rice. A rosy horizon looms ahead as they will be trying sweet potato sometime this weekend. Thus far they haven't been terribly enthused by the food, finding it more of a game than anything else. I can't blame them....the baby cereal is kind of like licking stamps. Sweet potatoes will blow their minds!

So far feeding the two of them at the same time has been quite the circus. Both want their own spoon, want to cram it in their mouths far enough to gag, then look surprised. Betrayed by tableware! My original plan was to let them feed themselves entirely, but it became obvious that they don't have the coordination to do that at all so for now I'm helping them a bit. (my apologies for the same bib in the pictures. It does make it kind of difficult to tell them apart)

Liam's experience:

Dash:

And my favorite:

Hawaii, you win this time

2011-04-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

baby toes!

Hawaii wins in many ways. It's lovely and warm and there are palm trees and exotic foods and parrots everywhere. We tend to go there every spring for Charlie's work vacation. And this year, this year Hawaii defeated us.

Dash wiped out for part of the trip there

I suppose we were optimistic, rakish even to think that over a week in paradise with six month old babies would be....paradise. We did our best but just couldn't last the whole trip. The boys weren't sleeping really and in a hotel you can't exactly relax while they shriek like banshees. It took the two of us full time watching the babies just to survive, which didn't mean any real sleep. Envision this: at 4 am every morning the boys would wake up for the day. We would each take one baby and sit in a chair and try to cuddle our baby to sleep. Sometimes it worked. One morning I had a glorious two hours sleep with Dash on my chest, the most I ever got in a row while we were there. Then inevitably we would end up on our room's patio watching the sun rise and trying to keep the babies from screaming.

Those sunrises were beautiful, really. I usually had Dash, and he loved nothing more than to sit on my lap and watch the palm trees. One morning we ordered a huge pot of coffee for room service. They asked me if I wanted any food and laughed when I groaned no, just the coffee. Lots of it.

taking in the fresh air

Liam's summer shirt

The warm weather was wonderful too. I think the boys were agog to have so many of their body parts exposed. Toes! Legs! Arms! There was a lot of wiggling and toe grabbing. We took them swimming in the salty lagoon a couple of times. Liam really enjoyed the water. Dash, not so sure. He didn't outright scream, but he moaned and groaned.

ready to swim

Liam stayed in a bit longer and enjoyed himself

The final adventure was after we asked to come home a few days early. The people who organized the trip were lovely enough to find us seats on a direct flight the next day, one of the only flights available to get home. The catch: we each had to take a baby in our laps. Middle seat. Six rows apart. Now, on the way out we were spoiled in quite possibly the most crazy way possible. We were on a charter flight, in first class, with four seats. Baby heaven! And for a very first flight it was great. We worried about the babies raising a ruckus, sure, but it was a plane full of our friends. They'd understand if there was a bit of mayhem. On the way home it was strangers cheek to cheek. We managed to trade with our row partners to get the aisle seats (but couldn't sit closer, because you can't have more than one baby in an entire row of the plane and it was packed full). And then we held our breaths. The boys were fantastic. There were a few crying spells but for the most part as long as they were constantly entertained they were quite pleasant.

first-class baby wants to know where his champagne is

By the end of the six hour flight I felt like the court jester to an overlord prone to beheading court jesters at a a whim. Dance, mother, dance! And then we drove home and it was late at night, and the boys went to bed with a bit of screaming and then we sat in the kitchen and ate grilled cheese sandwiches and drank wine. And even though Hawaii won, we still came in second, third, fourth, and fifth place.

winners!

rainy

2011-03-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

It's been raining forever I think. I did manage to make another round of pain levain, and it made improvements. I added a bit of dark rye flour and it made a huge difference in taste. The crust was crispier too. Of course there had to be a mishap, and I dorked up one of the steps in the rise process but the loaves didn't turn out leaden. What will happen when I manage to follow all of the directions at once?

On the eve of their six-month birthday, cute boys:

Dash looking out the window at the rain, while chewing on a toy. Always gnawing.

Liam in his chair

I love these wee baby jeans

why, hello

stitchery

2011-03-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

I am on a roll! Over the past few weeks I've snuck sewing time in 10 and 15 minute increments and it has finally turned into something.

When I bought my sewing machine a few years ago, I was very excited about it's ability to make awesome buttonholes. I also was keen to try out some free-form machine quilting. I may have inherited my walk and some mannerisms and also a love for olives and cream cheese on english muffins from my mother, but I did not inherit her smashing hand quilting ability.

tipsy owl

Yes, I know that if I quilted as frequently as my mom does I would probably improve. But for now I'm juggling knitting and crocheting and also trying to make that damn bread so getting my hand quilting leveled up is just not going to happen. Enter: la machina. It has this dandy foot that stitch regulates while you glide the fabric underneath. And it is way, way harder than it looks. You can make a serviceable stitch that holds fabric together right out of the gate, but to make it actually look good is proving to be more difficult than I thought.

completely drunken tree

My first project is a blanket for the boys to roll around on while we're in Hawaii. I want to minimize sand-in-baby-crevices, so I used some of my coated fabric for the backing. It's the same stuff that backpacks are made out of so it's water resistant but very malleable. The middle layer is an old Ikea curtain. Then the top is a zany yard of a new Moda print that I love. Owls, yes. I love owls. I basted the layers together (by hand, mom!) and then tried my hand at putting on just enough stitchery to hold the layers together. I tried some outlining, some crazy curlicues, and some sort of straight lines. The end result looks like I sat on my glasses and then proceeded to sew, but it does the job and from a distance you can't really see how crooked and wonky it is. First attempt: satisfactory.

Then because I love having bags for everything, I had to put one together for this too.

other slices

2011-03-10T14:03:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I am not covered in babies. It doesn't happen very often, but I try to take advantage of it.

I decided that this year I'm going to master 1) Roasting a Chicken and 2) Pain au Levain.

For the chicken, I have puttered around with a few different recipes but am focusing on the very simple roast from Thomas Keller's Bouchon cookbook. It's a dry roast, just with salt pepper and thyme. I'm not very good at making pan sauces but I am quite good at making mustard so this is perfect. Bake it, let it rest, cut it up, slather with fresh mustard (pink peppercorn is my current favorite). It's not perfect yet, but I think I've gotten skilled enough that it is always tasty.

The bread is a bit more thorny. I've got a reliable sourdough starter living in the fridge, and I've gotten my hands on some french-style high protein flour. I have many bread cookbooks but am using the very detailed Local Breads for instruction. He makes this bread sound more like an animal than a grain, and it feels that complicated sometimes. This type has very precise requirements for humidity, acidity, flour, and the undefined "magic" category. But at the same time you need to roll with the day to figure out how much flour you need and how long it wants to rise. It's a very wet slack dough and I can't work it with my hands so I'm using my mixer. Nice to have my hands free. I think it's actually helping me because I think that the consistency and amount of flour that I would add based on previous experience is detrimental to this bread. You want the dough wet.

First attempt tastes pretty good but is heavy. None of the lovely air bubbles and pockets I was looking for. Made good toast, don't think I would rip off hunks and dip in soup. It's too tough for that. But toasted with butter and honey? Divine.

crumb-y

2011-03-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

I enjoy baking bread. We often don't eat it all, and sometimes the loaves come out a little less than tasty because of textural issues. Leftover bits and sometimes those leftover loaves are destined for one thing: breadcrumbs. A basket lined with a tea towel lives behind our bread bin and into that go the ends and stale slices from bread past the tasty point. Last week I baked a pair of loaves and through some vagary of rain or too much kneading the loaves were dry from the get-go. Ok for toast but even I must ration my toast consumption (trivia answer: my favorite food is toast). Part of one loaf and the entirety of another got sliced up and it was past time for breadcrumb making. That little basket was overflowing already.

The usual life cycle of bread-to-crumb is as follows: Uneaten ends of loaves (and whatever may remain of a stale loaf, sliced thinly) gets put in the crumb basket to dry out. Over the course of several weeks, even the hardest thickest end slice becomes a vulnerable dry hunk.

When I have a larger supply (say, an entire loaf not good for eating but fine for crumbs) I slice it thinly and give it a few 10 minute doses in a very low oven. I want to dry it out, not toast it. Then for a few days I spread it out on a clean tea towel on the dining room table to get good and dry. And hope that no one comes over and asks why I have 50 super thin slices of curling dried bread on my table.

Once dry, I employ freezer zip bags and my favorite mallet (a weighted pounder Charlie uses to flatten cutlets) and pound the slices into bits and pieces. I want them relatively small, nothing bigger than a dime.

ready to get out some aggression

Then comes my high tech solution. If you don't have a mixer and a meat grinder attachment, proceed to beat the crap out of your bread pieces until they are small. I use the larger disk on the grinder and some saran wrap to help with the crumbs-all-over problem. This is an effortless way to get your crumbs a uniform small consistency. I used to think that pounding them pretty small was fine, but then realized when cooking that you really want your breadcrumbs to be more of bread dust. The only time you want something larger is with panko, and that's an entirely different creature. So run all of your bread gravel through the grinder and you end up with lovely uniform crumbs.

the white zephyr

Since I'm using homemade bread, I can control the preservative and other chemical content. A bonus is that most of my bread contains a combination of buttermilk, regular milk, flax meal, and frequently a seed mix of flax anise poppy caraway and sesame. The resulting crumbs can only be described as....seasoned. They add zest. They are a secret ingredient in my meatloaf.

the end result

---------------

Liam prefers giraffe meat

Valentine memories

2011-02-28T19:14:00.000-08:00

Charlie at work

For Valentines day, Charlie traditionally cooks me something fancy. Since he mastered The Steak a few years ago, that is typically my request. He can cook a filet mignon better than any restaurant I have ever eaten in. First he figured out how to produce perfect just a shade over rare steaks every single time, and once he perfected the art of dusting them with powdered porcini mushrooms before the initial sear, that was the final straw. I will only order it out again under duress.

This year he has been trying to cook more with courses, and I just asked for a surprise. There have been some amazing mushrooms lately at Pike market so those became the theme. And for the second time in my life I ate truffles. We each wore a baby into the market because we knew there was no way to survive in there with a stroller. I was tucked in a corner by the mushrooms while Charlie ordered from our favorite produce stand, and I knew it was him behind the truffle order. One of the guys at the shop came out and was putting various mushrooms in bags and then proceeded to delicately sniff every single northwest truffle before picking the one he thought was best.

First course: porcini truffle mustard with coppa and taleggio cheese

second: oyster mushroom, arugula, and sweet garlic fettucini (full disclosure: I was the pasta maker. That is one of my jobs when Charlie cooks)

third: pork, savoy cabbage ravioli with a crimini/shiitake mushroom sauce

fourth: a salad of raw mushrooms, parsley, shaved truffle, and abbaye de belloc cheese

finally, maple mascarpone cheesecakes with walnuts

Oh, it was so good. Photo credits go to Ido, and tablecloth credits to my grandmother's wedding tablecloth. It's one of those cloths that could only have been made in a previous generation....cream shot through with a shimmer of gold.

snowy boys

2011-02-24T14:27:00.001-08:00

I managed to find enough minutes to take some photos today. It is snowy outside so there's actually light in the house!

Happy babies in the sunshine

Charlie took the boys at 7am so I could get a few hours sleep. When downloading photos from the camera I found some he had taken while the sun was rising.

Why no, I was not trying to roll over onto Dash's face! Really!

The boys have incredibly blue eyes.

I took this video the other day of Dash with his little squeaky mushroom man. It is especially soft and easy for him to smush and shove in his mouth. Then he slobbers all over it and makes it squeak.

Snowy morning wiggles:

shaken, not stirred

2011-02-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

I had one hand free, and Charlie filled it with a divine chilly martini.

five months

2011-02-16T18:58:00.000-08:00

Five months consists of:

- Lots of giggle parties. Once you get Dash going you don't even have to touch him. The more you laugh the more he laughs and it makes you laugh even more and on and on. Liam likes to alternate between laughing and supersonic squeals of glee. When we get to Hawaii I think he fully expects dolphins to leap from the water to his call.

- Chubby boys. They are wearing 6 month clothing and in some things pushing the nine month envelope. What round bellies! What incredibly long legs!

- Advances. Liam can now roll over from his front to back with minimal effort. He is exclusively a stomach sleeper now, and as soon as I lay him in his crib he flips over and shoves a fist in his mouth. During the day he props himself up on his elbows and regards the world. Dash is more hesitant. He has enough strength to support his head for a little while, but hasn't quite figured out how to flip over yet.

- Enjoying defying gravity. Liam especially will give you a great big gummy grin and probably some drool if you dandle him up in the air above your head. Dash also thinks it's quite fun. Fitness bonus: I am bench-pressing many pounds of babies many times per day.

- Sleeping. Sort of. There's still no real nap schedule. Some days I'm lucky if there are a couple of 15 minute naps. It is obviously un-cool to sleep at the same time. But with relative regularity around 6.30pm at night both boys eat and their eyes get droopy and they are willing to sleep in their cribs. Of course, they're still waking every few hours to eat but usually I can convince them to go back to sleep. After 5 am though, all bets are off. When they wake up to eat then I am greeted with wide button eyes in the relative darkness of the bedroom and know that there will be no more sleeping.

- Toys. Both boys are loving anything they can cram in their mouths or stare at. A squeaky giraffe, plastic beaded necklace, my fingers, whatever is at hand. Dash has shown himself to be a textile man and will amuse himself by stuffing his mouth full of one of the muslin cloth squares I've made for him. Liam is more drooly and likes something substantial, perhaps something in a blue plastic cookie ring.

Cuteness:

Dash does some belly yoga

Liam with his giraffe

boys

2011-02-09T20:40:00.000-08:00

Boys being cute:

Liam reading his book while Charlie looks at a cookbook

Liam power naps

Dash in the sunshine

Liam with his much loved "biscuit"

Dash looking tough before a walk through the neighborhood

I put these sweaters on the boys today that I lovingly made, to realize that they have already pretty much already outgrown them. Damn!

Cat toy? Baby toy? Who knows! They love the thing.

chewy

2011-02-03T21:06:00.001-08:00

Oh were the boys ever crabby today. We ended the day just trying to get to 7pm. Liam spent the last 45 minutes demanding that I dance and jiggle and bounce constantly or face The Dolphin Scream. Then thankfully it was time for pajamas-eat-bed and after an hour of tossing around they were finally blissfully asleep.

liam also gnawed on his discus. Just imagine the squeak-squeak-squeak sound that his busy little gums make on it for added hilarity.

And we adults (Charlie's mom is visiting) cooked some hamburgers and piled them high with all sorts of condiments on top of homemade ciabatta rolls. The bread was mostly a success. I started the biga last night and managed to pretty much burn out our weakling kitchenaid during the kneading process today (12 minutes at speed EIGHT). It's a good thing my bread book gave specific directions on how to use the mixer and how it would probably walk off the counter at that speed. The dough is way too wet to knead with your hands and the mixer did indeed shake and shimmy and wobble all over the place. By the end of the time, the motor was responding with the same speed at positions 6-10 so this may be the end, beautiful friend. Then I kind of forgot to add salt to the dough but other than that the rolls puffed up beautifully and baked up smelling wonderful and when I took them out of the oven there was the sweet sound of crackling tell me that they were crispy and delicious. Next time: add salt.

tasty, just add well-salted butter.

eight cells

2011-02-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

One year ago today, the boys consisted of eight cells apiece. Two days later, they were these:

baby's first picture

And today they were these:

enjoying talking to the stuffed octopus and wiggling like crazy.

Dash also enjoyed his first dance in the Merry Muscles

milestones

2011-01-28T22:59:00.000-08:00

green peppercorn on the left, pink on the right

The mustard was whipped into submission, and now must relax in the fridge for a week before consumption. I will celebrate with a Bouchon roasted chicken (page X) for dipping. In better lighting, the paler mustard is full of electric pink flecks from the peppercorn.

I put Liam down and went to change Dash, and when I looked over I found him pleased as punch propped up on his elbows. Congratulations lad for rolling over!

Dash worked on his smiling skills today. We went to get Charlie some more gatorade and graham crackers, so that he can recover from his crazy illness. The doctor thoughtfully provided hardcore antibiotics and cough syrup. We make a good team.

Brotherly love

2011-01-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

smiley

2011-01-25T22:52:00.001-08:00

Smile? Why, yes we can!

spice

2011-01-24T17:32:00.000-08:00

Dash enjoyed his first dinner party on Saturday night. An asian-themed event with friends, Charlie made his delicious banh mi sandwiches. I love a man who makes his own baguettes.

Another day, another refrigerator full of bottles. Yes, this will only last a day.

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How to impress people when you have very little cohesive time to do anything: make your own mustard! If you think it makes you look a little like Martha Stewart, it's because it is actually one of her recipes. I've made all but the pink peppercorn mustard types from this set of recipes. The red wine has been the least favorite, but I really think it's because I used a so-so bottle of red wine vinegar. Like many foods, the quality of your end result is only as good as the ingredients. I order all of my mustard seeds and peppercorns from Penzey's and do make one substitution: whenever the recipe calls for black mustard seeds, I substitute brown. At first this was because I misread the recipe, but the end result was so tasty I'm going to keep going with the error.

I started green and pink peppercorn today

The english mustard is spicy and delicious. The green peppercorn is pretty much divine. We regularly roast simple chickens and just eat them with this mustard on the side. This week I'm making the pink peppercorn for the first time and can't wait to try it.

Liam supervised

Making mustard is super easy, and I mean that. You just need a few large-ish mason jars. You add some of the ingredients, sit for 48 hours, add the rest, and beat the tar out of it in your food processor. Total time is maybe 10 minutes the first day, 20 the next because it can take a while to get it good and creamy. Then separate into tiny jars, give some away, and eat the rest of it.

Four Months

2011-01-20T21:44:00.001-08:00

dance!

Four months old! The boys had their poke-and-prod on wednesday. Just this week they have started to notice one another. Actually, I think it's the clothes. I keep seeing Liam staring intently at Dash's bottom, and then realize that he's probably appreciating the contrast of the superb red and white robots on his pajamas. And Dash stares dreamily at Liam's.....striped shirt. But it's a start! They are smiley, wiggly, and utterly charming.

we are much bigger now

and can lay on our bellies!

Dash weighs 13 pounds 13 oz, and has been given the go-ahead to stop eating his premature baby formula and move on to the regular stuff. While a little on the small side weight wise, he is an impressive 25 inches long. He also would like to point out that he has a bigger head than his brother. Still a bit of a spitter, he's started a new regimen of medicine to reduce his stomach acid. Being fruit punch flavored, it's going over well. It is amusing to watch him balk at having the pill put in his mouth, but once it starts dissolving the lip smacking begins. Sweet tooth, you have been formed.

I look tough, because no matter how short my nails are I manage to scratch myself

While the more delicate of the boys physically, Dash makes up for it in his social conversations. We can go back and forth with vowel sounds and the occasional "abooooooo" for a good long time. I can still remember when he refused to look at me....now we hang out and he gets his silly lopsided grin and his eyes brighten and out come the aaaaaaahs and boooos.
He's had his share of doctors lately, after making through a particularly grueling round of illness and now some funny spots. He has definitely inherited my difficult veins, but continues to try to smile through all of the needle pokes. Hopefully he'll have a clean bill of health soon.

looking dapper in a wee hospital gown

Liam weighs 15 pounds. It's interesting to have the immediate contrast of brothers, because though he weighs just over a pound more than his brother he has a completely different density. If you gave both boys to a carnival huckster who guessed weights for a living, I bet he'd guess that Liam weighed at least three pounds more than Dash. There's something about him. Something in how his center of gravity is perhaps, with lighter limbs and a heavier center. It's quite fascinating. While only a half inch shorter than Dash, Liam has a cute round belly where Dash's is slim and flat.

captured: Liam's crazy forehead wrinkles

Liam definitely shines in the coordination and strength department. When lying on his stomach, he can push his whole torso up and looks around with curiosity. There's a lot to see out there, and Liam doesn't want to miss anything. He also loves laying on his back on the floor and looking up at a mirror or a toy. Hand to mouth motions are also much more developed. He'll try to push the bottle further into his mouth, or pull your hand up so he can chew on your fingers. Throw in a big gummy smile and it's hard to resist.

ha!

Liam, sleeping in the sunshine, absolves you

Red

2011-01-17T12:27:00.001-08:00

Quite possibly the best $15 I have ever spent: a camping chair that lets you sit on the floor and have back support. I spend most of my days on the floor, covered in one or more babies.

Januweary

2011-01-16T22:16:00.001-08:00

Why yes, we have persisted into the new year past Jan 1. After being walloped by post-holiday exhaustion, relentless illness, a bout of infant hospitalization, freak snowstorm, car getting whacked at a stoplight, and just about whatever else you can think of, things are starting to get back to normal.

I will leave you with images, since our power is flickering and I don't know how much longer this is going to last:

the Bodkin kinder wearing their holiday dresses, crafted by mom and I during an August visit. They worked out perfectly! Calliope's cape was part of another present from Gabriel.

Dash hanging out in a pot. Hey, we wanted to see if he would fit!

Dash modeling one of the girl's Venetian masks

Dash looking remarkably like young Marlon Brando. Well, maybe a raver Brando with a pacifier.

Liam sitting in his green throne. Trust me, he is thrilled. Maybe it's the missing sock.

Bathtime Liam thinks oh my god it's Full Of Stars

The aforementioned snowstorm. Luckily everyone flew out right before it happened.

new year

2011-01-01T23:33:00.000-08:00

On the 25th day of christmas, I got my awesome family.

And my family got smaller by one. Pop-pop, I'll remember our walks to Turkey Thicket and your huge polka and german music collection that I inherited. And mostly this picture which always makes me smile.

Dec 24

2010-12-24T22:27:00.001-08:00

On the twenty-fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one shining star, a golden candle, a slow green tortoise, one brown bird, a pink ornament, one blue tree ball, B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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We also have a tree full of presents, three sleeping kids, one sleepy baby, one very awake baby, and a house full of tired elves. Let's hope that the kids let us sleep in until at least five!

Dec 23

2010-12-23T23:18:00.000-08:00

On the twenty-third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a golden candle, a slow green tortoise, one brown bird, a pink ornament, one blue tree ball, B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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It's 11.15pm and I've been frantically elfing for hours while Charlie watches the kids. Things are mostly done though. Now I just need to cook a ham tomorrow....

Liam lounging in front of the fire

Dash getting to know mom

Dec 22

2010-12-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

On the twenty-second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a slow green tortoise, one brown bird, a pink ornament, one blue tree ball, B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Mom started with the gift giving early this year. She pulled out two seuss hats tonight and much fun was had.

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the blur of the photo is a great representation of the sibling....enthusiasm over who gets to hold a baby.

Dec 21

2010-12-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

On the twenty-first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one brown bird, a pink ornament, one blue tree ball, B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Yesterday got lost in the rush of even more family arriving. Today we made solstice cookies and ran around at a park while there was a break in the rain. Playing on the swings is always fun!

Dec 19

2010-12-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

On the nineteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one blue tree ball, B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Sappho demonstrating her baby-holding skills

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We took advantage of a beautiful clear day to go for a long walk.

Liam took a ride on Nicolaas' chest, and enjoyed noshing on his own fist and drooling everywhere.

The girls ran and jumped in puddles

Sappho went stump-surfing

Dash slept on me

Fenric took in the world from Gabriel's back...

...and smiled up at the sunshine

Dec 18

2010-12-18T19:52:00.001-08:00

On the eighteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Calliope and Sappho help Charlie make meatballs for dinner...

Dec 17

2010-12-18T01:34:00.000-08:00

On the seventeenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

And some Bodkins at the airport at midnight! Yay!

Dec 16

2010-12-16T23:31:00.000-08:00

On the sixteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

Dec 15

2010-12-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

On the fifteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Excuse me, Charlie is cooking filet mignon and I have to go eat it. Yay! And both babies are sleeping.

Remind me of this at 3 am when Liam is screaming my ears off of my face. Again.

Dec 14, tough guy

2010-12-14T20:32:00.001-08:00

On the fourteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Tough guy in his white tshirt

Tough guy.....crumbles

The real tough guy, who keeps scratching up his face no matter how close I trim his nails

Dec 13; peanut gallery

2010-12-13T19:35:00.001-08:00

On the thirteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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the peanut gallery, Dash in the mammaroo and Liam in the bjorn

I roasted a chicken tonight, simplicity incarnate. Dry, salt & pepper it, roast at 450 until done. The boys were nice enough to lounge until I had it in the oven. Then Liam chilled while Dash had a bath, and vice versa. The result: two boys who smelled like creamsicles (thank you, whomever gave me that awesome wash and lotion at my baby shower!) and a crispy chicken ready to be carved. Charlie came home and made a salad using pomegranates from our CSA box. Well, while I'm typing he is still making it. So I have no idea if the chicken is good and no idea if I will spit or chew up the pomegranate seeds. He told me this morning that the seeds are one of the main roughage sources for Persians. Will I adopt their traditions? Who knows!

Dec 12 & rainy

2010-12-12T17:30:00.000-08:00

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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While my sister has been enjoying holiday snowfall (well, enough for several holidays really) in Minneapolis, it's been raining here. Really really raining. The best part is that the weather system is referred to as a "pineapple express." I love pineapple. The worst thing is that there's flooding all over the place, and I am constantly watching the drainage on our property to make sure we don't all slide down the hill. The chickens are crabby because their coop gets wet (there's really no way to keep the rain from blowing in) and I don't let them out because our entire property is saturated and I don't want them digging around in the mud too much.

One of the natural drainage results is our seasonal stream. It runs along the side of the house nestled in the trees. During the summer lush ferns grow, so now there's a roaring creek running through and over prehistoric-sized enormous ferns. It sounds lovely.

For scale, the moss-covered tree trunk at the end of the video is too large for me to wrap my arms around.

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farmer Liam in his cute denim overalls

Dec 11

2010-12-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

Dec 10

2010-12-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Last night was another mediocre dinner made by me, followed by delicious looking cooking shows. The boys weren't giving much ground on their crankiness, so I strapped them both on while cooking. Liam relaxed for the most part, but Dash was pleased as punch to observe all of the action.

kitchen helpers

You can't see it in the picture, but Dash kept kneading Liam's head. Liam didn't seem to care.

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The boys had another adventure today.....I took them to meet Santa. Since so many of you that are on my christmas card list read the blog, that's one picture you'll have to wait till the holiday letter to see! There has to be some mystery after all. :)

Dec 9

2010-12-10T16:54:00.001-08:00

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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I didn't realize that my post didn't work yesterday until mom called this afternoon, asking me if everything was ok. Yes! :) I typed everything up, hit post, and then ran off to tend babies. Oops!

Dec 8, things 1&2, and cheeseburgers

2010-12-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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My favored way of dressing the twins is a lot like my mom's quilt design: similar but different. If they're wearing exactly the same outfit it actually makes me a little uncomfortable, like I'm trying to get them to be the same person. Now, we did get a lot of two-some outfits as gifts and I think that's super because it just means I have to wash them less frequently. :) But for the most part my favorite style is to have them, for instance, both wearing white undershirts and white socks and different colored pants and sweaters. Then they look like brothers. Similar but different.

pancakes improved everyone's mood

Today was an exception because these onesies have made me laugh for as long as I can remember. I bought them at a consignment sale and it's a good thing I decided to put them on for our wednesday pancake lunch today because I practically had to shoehorn the boys into them. The boys didn't exactly cooperate with pictures but trust me they were super cute. I decided to let Dash have 1 because he was the firstborn.

Liam ate, then slept through everything

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Last night Charlie was working late, and the boys were being pills so I put a log on the fire and we all settled down to read some Calvin & Hobbes. It was loads of fun, but was a bit loud at times. Everyone was fed, dry, warm, didn't want to dance, didn't even want to be held, was just possessed of an overwhelming cranky. Damn can those boys cry!

looks peaceful, doesn't it?

trust me, he's just inhaling for more screaming

Just in case you thought things were ever quiet around here. I'm just very good at tolerating the volume.

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And why yes, I did have a glorious cheeseburger for dinner last night. And I ate it on my christmas china.

Dec 7

2010-12-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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A recipe for hunger: make a mediocre dinner, and then go watch Guy Fieri's "Diners Drive-Ins, and Dives." I tried last night, I used our classic hash formula (meat, veg, onions, potato) and threw together a skillet of lamb sausage, shredded brussel sprouts, onions, fresh thyme, and diced potatoes. Sounds good, but it was blah. Charlie and I each dutifully ate a plate for dinner and then decided to relax downstairs with some cooking shows. Guy went to a diner that serves americana food, and put together a hamburger that looked so very delicious.

Then there was an italian joint rolling their own wafer thin pasta with vodka sauce, and making tons of sandwiches on homemade bread buns that I would kill to duplicate. And on, and on, and on. We were both drooling. It was time to go to bed, and I consoled myself with a few toasted slices of whole wheat homemade sourdough with butter and honey. It didn't do the trick. The loaves I made the other day are too dense, even though I added quite a bit of vital wheat gluten. My belly was full but my brain was still hungry. Then, well, I just went up with the boys to bed.

And tonight I bought the goods to make some hamburgers, and scored some brioche rolls, some crinkle sweet potato fries, and am hoping that things turn out the way they are in my mind!

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Cute boys, doing cute things:

Liam ponders the cosmos from Charlie's lap

Dash poses for some cheesecake shots

Liam, well, enjoys sleeping sometimes

Doing the hand-jive in their big-boy outfits from Sonia