bidding a sweet adieu

we'll be without interwebs (again) starting tomorrow or friday. cricket was a quick-fix and now that the happiness of having access to the 'nets has worn off, its inconsistent speeds (particularly slow at night)  are starting to annoy us. so, i've done the unthinkable: i signed us up for comcast. we've had a beef with them for years though we've never been direct customers. for the first 5 years of marriage, grant and i lived without the internet and cell phones (the golden years for grant. he really does not love technology [he took a hammer to a phone he thought was broken once. good times.]). anyway, one sunny day a comcast person, who was installing something for someone else, knocked on our door. grant answered, let him say his part, and told him we weren't interested. when pressed, grant said we were students and couldn't afford it. the man actually scoffed and said, "what? you can't afford 30 bucks a month?" hence the bad taste in our mouths when we think of them. since at&t and cricket haven't worked out, and since we'd rather go with an established company: comcast it is. assuming they are better prepared to handle installations, we'll be back up in a week.

valentine's has been lingering around here (i took the next couple pictures yesterday. i don't think that balloon is ever going away...):

and i'm not sure oliver's a fan:

the girls enjoyed their special treats from grandma:

this monday for family night, we made some dinosaur cookies. i used the cookie recipe from here and used brown sugar. a very tasty switch. we brushed them with an almond extract-spiked glaze:

and then covered them in sprinkles:

they didn't look much like dinosaurs but they sure were yummy:

and finally, we seem to be making progress:

farewell, cyberspace! we hope to be back soon . . .

ps. i almost forgot to mention the most important thing: saturday is the big day!!! yep, folks, grant (maybe) and I (can you believe it?!) will be running 13.1 miles. on the beach. in 60-70 degree [humid] weather. i'm very excited and can't wait for the weekend! i'm only sorry i won't be able to blog about it for a little while. but rest assured you will receive a full [possibly over-detailed] report on my return.

a little cheese...

...or perhaps a lot:

eight years ago today, grant and i had our first kiss. (que audience: awwwwww...) we'd been dating for about a month and a half with nary a smooch. three days before (valentine's 2003), grant took me on a brazil-themed date and i was hoping for a kiss, alas! no. he hugged me good night and said that he wanted to kiss me and i wasn't bold enough to tell him to.  fast forward to president's day 2003: kissy-kissy. moral of the story: president's day is waaaaaay more romantic than valentine's.

enough with the sap, let's discuss someone's nap (heh. heh.). lucy is odd. and sassy. and psychotic. when we put her down to sleep she bustles about moving the heaps of stuffed animals and pillows into what she terms "a cave":

weirdo. 

recently she has started showing interest in books:

she won't sit still for long if grant or i are reading to her but she'll sit for ages in her room or crib "reading":

on monday, lucy woke up from her nap with the funniest hairdo i've ever seen. before (eating her valentine's treat she and hazel picked out at the store):

after:

i laughed so hard, i might have hurt her feelings. i ran to get the hand mirror for her to have a look herself:

and she had a giggle too:

hazel showed a spark of independence and had a first last week:

she picked out her outfit and got herself dressed. not bad, right? usually i get out her clothes and she'll put them on. she even decided on the shoes and sweater (and pose):

finally, here's a picture of oliver that i forgot to put in his post:

he entered that box freely and hopped out as soon as the girls tried to drag him away for torturing.

the end.

mes amours

hazel made her daddy a beautiful valentine's card. she was pretty excited about the hearts she drew:

we didn't do anything big for the holiday. friday night was our babysitting swap so grant and i were able to go see true grit, after the fastest eating of panda express this side of . . . something. fancy, fancy. yesterday we kept it simple: i made a delicious dinner that actually included vegetables. cooked vegetables. and i ate it. then we all sat down and watched despicable me. lucy laughed so hard whenever anyone got hurt. hazel just looked concerned the whole time but said she liked it. 

grant fell asleep. excusable considering he's up by 5 most mornings. this semester is as predicted: crazy busy and crazy stressful. grant has so much on his plate, i'm pretty sure i couldn't name all of it, and he's a perfectionist/overachiever (he actually got an A+ in one of his classes last year. i didn't think that was even a possibility in grad school). anyway, he's smart and works hard. the only way i can help him is by making his flash cards, which he uses to write his vocabulary words on (we have hundreds of these for coptic, syriac, greek and hebrew):

i didn't think it would be a big deal: cut the note cards in half and punch a hole in them. it was slightly more involved: the hole punch had to be on the red line.

so i had at it. grant concentrated on writing out his words and i hole-punched away:

it didn't go quite as smoothly as i'd planned: i punched the hole on the wrong side:

grant has since forgiven me, probably because i made this for him.

i thought i'd throw this in for you, mom:

my mom made that teddy bear for me when i was, i don't know, around 10 years old. in the past few months, lucy has decided it's hers and can't sleep without it. and since we have a picture of lucy sleeping, we'd better have one of hazel:

they're so precious.

i forgot to add that even though we talked about not getting each other anything, grant went with the girls to the bookstore to buy me this book (because he knows i'm a fan). he's such a trooper. he asked where it was and headed back to find that it wasn't there. then waited in line to ask again, got some dirty looks from the man with the complicated order ahead of him (who even made snide comments about grant, who was holding lucy, letting hazel walk around), was told that the shipment never came and gave up. he's such a sweetheart. i've since ordered my copy and can't wait to get it!

a catty post

i don't mention oliver on the blog very often. i think it's partly because i often forget we have him. he doesn't talk back or sass at me. so refreshing...

it's hard to believe we've had oliver for nearly four months. he's getting big, not fat but very long. i've snapped pictures of him now and then as he's melded his place in our home, and i thought now would be a good time to share. 

remember how in my first post about him i mentioned banning oliver from our room due to my aversion to having cat hair in my bed? it was honestly my biggest hang-up about getting a pet at all. oh! how far i've fallen:

punk. 

a hefty portion of his day consists of lying on my bed. i kind of gave in once he grew too big to hide under the couch and once it became clear that the novelty of having him was not wearing off for hazel and lucy. and really, it's not a big deal if the bed is made. he doesn't shed much at all (which surprises me greatly as he's nice and fluffy). who am i trying to convince here? i'll let you guess...

after the first bout of shyness wore off, oliver fell into a daily routine: the girls get me up and he darts into my room. he stays there shifting from the bed to his second favorite place to hang out:

the window sill. if this sanctuary is invaded by the mini she-devils, he heads to the one place he knows they can't reach or taunt him:

behind the washer and dryer. i'm kind of nervous he's going to get stuck back there. so far so good...

during the girls' nap and when grant gets home, oliver feels bolder and reposes in various corners of the main room (where he blends right in and goes unnoticed):

 
his main ambition in life is keeping a reasonable distance from the kids:

he's so sneaky too, hiding right under their noses:

they are learning to be softer with him but we're constantly exclaiming, "don't grab the kitty's tail/ears, lucy!" or "hazel, quit picking him up!" or "well if you would pet him nicely he wouldn't scratch you." etc. etc.

all in all, he's been a valuable addition to our household and not nearly as high-maintenance as i'd imagined. he doesn't scratch at the furniture too much and usually it's the rug as he's stretching. he has only had one accident to date and it was because we confused him by changing his litter and litter box. his biggest vice is being hyper late at night and early in the morning, darting around, weaving in and out of our feet causing us to trip or step on him. on the good side, he likes to sit with grant and myself as we watch movies at night. he'll climb on the back of the couch and stand on our shoulders purring. he loves having his ears and around his lower jaw scratched. he pretty much acts just like all of the dragons in this movie (except the flying part...and the killing people and stealing sheep parts...).

it's hard to be annoyed at that sweet face even if his dirty little paws are on the table.

sick days

last week lucy caught a cold and a mild case of pink eye. predictably she passed it on to hazel. i disinfected the apartment but come tuesday the aches started. not fun. i'm pretty miserable. the girls still have their coughs but are otherwise their usual bouncy selves (lucky me). grant, so far, is fine. a very good thing, considering this is already turning out to be the worst semester in all of his schooling (and that's saying something).

saturday, as lucy was mending and before hazel really started getting sick, we ran to the park: 

lucy was her usual daredevil-self.

she hammed it up for me as well:

the big red scrape on her cheek? complements of our walls.

hazel did her fair share of mugging for the camera:

and put herself in plenty of danger as well:

she finds it thrilling to stomp on fire ant hills. apparently she's forgotten how painful their bites are...

she also demonstrated her ability to tackle the rock wall:

*insert video of hazel climbing the rock wall all by herself* (silly, slow internet)

the visit ended with grant and hazel racing up and down the "hill" in a shameless attempt to tire her out:

*i had this post ready to go on wednesday or thursday but i couldn't get the video i wanted to upload. lame. anyway, i decided to just put it up with a little update on the sickness: i'm feeling better. still congested, uninterested in food(!) and hacking like a chronic smoker, but the chills and aches are gone. i've been able to sleep a lot this weekend and i think a couple more days should see me better...

jack of all trades

i've been busy: 

you see what i'm pointing at in the picture above? lucy's hair was bordering on ridiculous with it's long, wispy sides and back, and the shortness up top. still, i hesitated to cut it. because she had so little and because i was sure to mess it up since she can't hold still to save her life. but not long ago, grant started calling her "michael bolton", and like "little barfy" before, it was starting to stick. so, snip snip:

it was difficult (she kept turning her head to watch) but completely worth it! her hair looks much thicker and healthier. and she didn't lose her curls:

it was such a success that hazel wanted in on the action. full of confidence, i purchased some real hair cutting scissors and had at it last night:

in all modesty, i don't think anyone at great clips could have done better. she is enchanted with her reflection and pauses by the bathroom to gaze in the mirror. it nice to have such well-groomed beauties running around:

on an unrelated note, i finally posted something on my other blog:

it's delicious. you should make it and tell me what you think....