Magic for Granddad

Certainly Not

William: Dada! Dada! GOOD NEWS! I was at Graham's birthday party and we all asked his Magic 8 Ball if we would get married and for everybody else it said "yes" or "maybe", but for me it said, "certainly not"! I was so relieved!

Halloween !

This year we celebrated Halloween officially for four days! And two weeks before that, too. These pictures are from the downtown trick-or-treat, called "Scaramie", on Saturday morning.

It was pretty cool. We saw everybody in the entire town AND we got to ring the bell on a real firetruck! (picture not included)

Me and the fam.

EEW, Sean!

This picture is from this morning - right after they got to Spring Creek Elementary there was an all-school parade! Happy Halloween!

Conversations

Driving home in the dark after Margaret's gymnastics class:

DrHF: Everything looks so different at night, doesn't it Margaret?

Margaret: Well, not the trees or the houses or the stop signs or the cars.

DrHF: Are you saying you disagree?

Margaret: Well, the only thing different about the night is that the sun has set. Everything else stays the same.

DrHF: I guess you're right. :)

Margaret: I see the big dipper! I see the big dipper!

Friend: What is that?

Margaret: It's a series of seven stars that looks like a soup ladle!

William: MAMA! We are missing the most important thing on earth!!!

DrHF: What's that? Love?

William: no

DrHF: food?

William: no

DrHF: shelter?

William: No. We are missing an authentic Cowboys helmet replica!

DrHF: Gotcha.

For Ginny Only

Dear Ginny,

Most of the time I am talking to you, I am standing in the kitchen cooking, doing dishes, or doing weird dance routines with the children. Okay, I usually hang up before the weird dancing begins. You wanted to see the whole room but got only a taste from the last post. Ginny likes details - so if you don't like details, this is not the post for you. I won't be offended! Here is my kitchen in all of its angles! This view is facing the half-bath where Eric potty trained. There is a skinny closet right by the half-bath which borders the garage and is uninsulated - perfect for cold drinks and to keep weird farm share veggies fresh all winter long! Just part of the way down the stairs to the basement is the door to the garage, or "bike storage area". We keep our cars outside - no room in a 1953 single car garage for a 2010 ginormo-minivan. The stairs are carpeted, a beige medium-length shag, so pretty fun to slide down on your butt! Just sayin'.

Okay, turning to the left you can see that when they remodeled the house, they took out part of the wall of the kitchen so it was more open to the stairway. When we first bought the house, we thought it would be a good thing that we could hear the children better as they played in the basement with this design. We have now learned our lesson! The ledge is useful to put things on, like this flashlight that eats batteries and our pile of random scratched up DVDs that are designed for a German player. See also, laundry basket, place where we keep our laptop, and the pile of framed pictures not hung yet - a couple water colors of the Tetons and a couple prints Sean brought back from Sweden. The big painting on the wall is from Holland. Maus, the roommate of Sean's Godmother painted it and a couple other pieces we hang proudly in our house.

Turning left again, you see the dining room in it's naural state. We cleaned up a bit for the last picture! In this picture, we 've got some homework, some junk mail, some pumpkins, etc ! The card that you sent recently is on the counter I am pretty sure! Thank you.

Turning left again, you see our beautiful cabinets, a halloween tree from Beeba, a framed picture from our honeymoon in Canada, a couple bags of Halloween stuff ready to make "Boo bags", etc! Just over the sink is the best feature ever designed: a window overlooking the back yard! Why is it such a delight to do dishes while watching your children play as if they were a TV show?

Turning left again you see the toaster with a piece of toast Margaret toasted and then forgot about, the cutting board Matt gave us for our wedding, a white tray from Sweden, a couple bowls full of farm share fruit, random utensils in a flower pot ( plants died anyway!), quilted potholders from mom's buddies hanging on hooks by Glenn. As I am typing, I realize that somebody special gave or made for us nearly all of the things in our house ! I am one lucky person!

And finishing the circle, back to the fridge! Oh, you might think those drawers in the corner are cool - that's where I keep utensils, ice cream scoops...and the bottom drawer is partially decomposed potatoes. I'll get to them after the hubbard squash!

Welcome to my kitchen, Ginny! Have a seat and let me pour you a cup of tea.

Love you, Katy

Home Decorating

To all of you blog readers who seem to have an endless interest in the daily escapades of our children and who also have expressed an interest in even more mundane things like how we have painted our kitchen, bless you! But here it is. Glenn, Ineke, and Sean went crazy with a paintbrush the week I was in Orlando...and when I got back, the kitchen was "brandy" and the dining room was, oh, I forget. Some sort of sage! Just what the doctor ordered! Here is our Glenn-designed- and-handcrafted cherry table, surrounded by friends -it easily seats about a million!

From this angle, you can see Mom's beautiful quilt, in just the perfect colors, hanging on the wall in the living room and our new photograph in the dining room!

This is the photographer, http://www.brettdeacon.com/ ! It is a SPRING Wyoming scene, the perfect thing to get us through the winter!

And here are the blinds we ordered and Sean and Glenn hung. Do not look closely at my basil plant or you will see that my talent with plants remains static. Come visit Chez McCrea - you will be well fed, well-entertained, comfortably-seated...but I'll buy my fresh herbs at the store.

Halloween Costumes!

Today was reserved for preparation and the pre-celebration of Halloween, a holiday that we now try to drag out as long as fasnacht. Margaret rocks Mini-Mouse!

William is a frightening clone trooper! He chooses his costumes each year based on how cool the weapon props are.

And our very own Batman - saving my day nearly every day!

Not Brushing Teeth for a Good Cause

William: I don't brush my teeth in the morning because my bad breath is my last line of self defense! The girls at school can't resist my short hair. But if they get too close, I just go, " HAAAAAA" with my bad breath and they run away screaming. It works really well.

Knock it off!

Eric: Knock knock!
Dada: Who's there?
Eric: Moose!
Dada: Moose who?
Eric: Elk!!

Eric: Knock knock!
Dada: Who's there?
Eric: Moose!
Dada: Moose who?
Eric: SOCK!

Dr HF receives her just rewards at dinner time.

William: Mama, get me some milk!
DrHF: William, the milk is in the fridge! Go get it yourself!
William: But that will take * forever*!
DrHF: Well, you could wait until you are a grown up, get a job, earn money, buy a cow, milk it, and put it in a glass...
Wiliam: But MAMA! How could I fit a COW in a glass? I'd go back to the farmer and say, "How do I get this cow into my glass? Should I put it in butt first? Or head first? HAHAHA!"
Mama: I meant, you put the MILK in the glass!
William: I'd be like, "Squish up, cow! Get in my glass!" And the cow would be like, "moo! moo!" HAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!

Mama: (rocking back and forth) "What have I done? What have I done?"

William: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Unanswered Questions

Marga: How did the first person get on Earth? Did it come from God?
DrHF: That's what a lot of people think.
Marga: But that doesn't make sense! Because before you get a baby you have to have a Mama and before you get the Mama, she has to have a Mama, and before you get her, she has a Mama, and before that, she has to have a Mama (this went on for 5 minutes).
William: Maybe the first person came from a caveman who came from a dinosaur! But where did the first dinosaur come from?
William and Marga: *wide-eyed pause of the boggled minds*

Early morning book time.

This morning actually went smoothly! It helped that I had taken a vacation day. I loved this scene of everybody stuffed into the same chair reading together.

A Happy Hiking Trip!

Woah, last weekend we managed to get through a family hike without fussing! It was SO lovely!

This is on the Turtle Rock Trail, about 25 minutes from our house. We went to see the beaver dam!

Giants have been playing with blocks again!

It is clear that William LOVES climbing on rocks!

For Craig

This picture is for Craig, who finds Margaret's fancy camping and hiking outfits amusing! This outfit I find perfectly color-coordinated and even mostly practical!

Letter #8: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: How Mama WINS!!!!!

Dear Margaret, Eric, and William!

Remember how Dada beat Mama's time in the race he ran last week? Remember how Mama was mad because Dada had trained by running three times in the last three months, yet Mama exercises nearly every day? WELL. Your mother is a competitive runner! By this, I do not mean to imply that I am very fast! I am *only* competitive! This means I like to beat what I can. This includes: snails, people resting on benches, sleeping people, telephone poles, people going the wrong way, people who aren't actually in the race, the people at the drink station, palm trees, people jumping rope, imaginary people, and *usually*, people who train only once per month. LIKE YOUR DADA.

So I thought to myself - hey! I'll run a 5K and I will beat Dada's 8K time to smithereens!!! (This is a math problem! )Is that fair? No, Dada ran a longer distance than Mama, so it is not a fair comparison. So I decided to compare PACE, which is time per mile. I *did* run the first mile at Dada's pace - but I could not sustain it because I couldn't breathe!! I was like "GAAASSSSPPPPP!" GAASSSPP!" "MUST.....BEAT.....DADA!!!!" After I gave up on that idea, I remembered that because of my short height and relative lack of natural talent, I had asked Dada for a handicap of 1 minute per mile. PHEW. I missed that mark by only 47 seconds, but in the wrong direction! Adjusting also for the fact that it was the temperature and humidity level of a sauna ( -48 seconds)...according to my math, it looks like I beat Dada by just one second!!! WOOP WOOP, DADA.

Love,Mama

P.S. I will need you three to help me train in the park when I get home!

P.P.S. Do you like the picture of me after the race? I was so tired I could only grimace!

Letter # 7: Good bye Florida!

Dear The Child Formerly Known as Spiderman, Spidergirl, and Spidermaniac:

Tomorrow I probably won't write you a letter because I will be travelling home to see you! I will take a taxi to the airport, then take an airplane to Denver, and then drive home. I will get home about 1 or 2 hours after you fall asleep tomorrow night and I will come in to kiss you and tuck you in like always. Maybe you'll notice! Maybe I'll give you an extra-loud zerbert so you know I'm home!! Sunday morning when you wake up you can wake me up too!

Florida is so different from Wyoming. The plants are different. Our summer is like their winter! Their winter is warm! Their summer is super-duper HOT. I am not sure I would like summer in Florida. The other three seasons seem pretty nice, though! There are no mountains and no skiing! How is this possible?

But there are palm trees and oceans!

There are things to like about every single place and I think I could be happy living just about anywhere. Things I liked about Florida: the ocean! the warm evenings! the big city! the restaurants! the amazing Zumba and Latin beat dance classes! My doctor classes! How I had to remember some of my Spanish! Things I like about Wyoming: YOU GUYS! Our house! The mountains! Skiing! Our friends! My job! Extra kale!

I am looking forward to travelling home to see you!

Love, Mama

P.S. I am planning to redecorate. I will be needing new art work from you for my office, if you have a moment!

Letter #6: Doctor School

Dear Peeps,

I came to Florida to see my Dad and my friend Elizabeth, but for the rest of the time I am here, I am in doctor school. I am here for a conference, which means a whole lot of other doctors are here and we are all going to classes. You thought I was done with school? NOPE! I'm a 31st grader!!! HA! I get to keep learning. And the tricky part is, as soon as you learn it real well, the rules change and suddenly, your information, even how you find that information, even how your write that information down - is "old-fashioned."

This is a picture of one of the lobbies - this is a very large conference and a very large conference center building. Teachers come here, but so do companies who want to advertise their products. Like Coca-Cola, who is now advertising their line of "healthy products". Do you find anything strange about that?

I think the technology that they have at this conference is cool. How do you placate thousands of doctors who are dependant on their cell phones? A charging station with every single type of plug known to man! This is where I get power in my cell phone so I can call you!

Look! An escalator! Isn't it strange to think that there aren't ANY escalators in Wyoming, yet in this building there are at least 20? When I said to somebody that I needed to take a picture of the escalator, they looked at me like I am from Mars! But really, we just live on top of the moon.

This conference center is SO BIG that in order to get around it quickly, they put the helper people on segways! These guys LOVE jetting around the place, and because getting to you is such a joy for them, they are very helpful. Tom was pleased to show off his wheels for you!

So many people come here that they have these huge buses which leave every 15 minutes to take doctors to and from their hotels. The hotel I am in is within walking distance, so I don't have to take the bus.

This is how the people who work at the conference center deliver things. Somebody is about to take all these drinks to stock a vending machine. Doctors drink a lot of coffee and coke because they don't sleep as much as they should. Then, they need water to counteract their caffiene products later in the day. Geez, sounds like they should see a doctor!

The huge building, the fancy gadgets, the hotels and the buses - they have all that so doctors can go to lectures and learn the newest information and refresh their skills. I am going to about 6 hours of lectures a day. This lecture was about arthritis, or painful joints - how to figure out what is causing a person pain and what can be done about it. Sometimes, I get to help a person feel better and that makes me feel good! I want to learn more so I can be a better helper to my patients.

Speaking of wanting to learn more - my next class is about to begin! It is on something called "metabolic syndrome". So I'd better stop writing a letter to you and I'd better get to class!

Love, Mama

Letter #5: Jellyfish!

Dear Big-guy, Marga-loo, and Spidermanic:
Look at this calm, lovely beach! Doesn't it look really nice to swim in? I wonder what those little bumps are, all over the beach. Oh, no big deal. Let's just go in. Wait a minute! Those bumps are squishy! They are see-through! They are riding the waves! They are everywhere!

They are jellyfish! They can sting you! Instead of taking a swim with them, we just looked and looked at them. What a very interesting creature. Elizabeth loves sea creatures and she taught me a lot of things about jellyfish that I can tell you when I get home.

Love, Mama

P.S. Elizabeth told me that some people eat jellyfish ( not the stinging parts)! Do you think your teachers would like it if you came to school with jellyfish and peanut butter powder sandwiches? If you would like me to, I can get on-line and order the supplies. I wouldn't want your lunches to get too boring!

Letter 4: An IKEA on the horizon!

Dear Margaret, Spiderman-ic, and William,

Elizabeth and I were driving to the ocean when we Ebee saw something out of the corner of her eye! I didn't see the sign. But once Ebee said the word "IKEA", we quickly decided to turn around! Yay to innovative European design at affordable prices!

We tried out a lot of new ideas for our living spaces.

I rested on a couch just like the one in our basement, only newer and red! I confirmed that the Ektorp is still my most favorite couch in all of Sweden.

TEXTILES. Textiles is a word that refers to different types of fabric and cloth - like pillow cases, curtains, and rugs! I may have a genetic tendency to love textiles because of your Beeba Nola. Elizabeth loved this room, too!

I want this rug! It is the same color scheme as our new paint!

Elizabeth liked the cookie monster bath mat. It was very soft.

So many decorating ideas, so little time! We were thinking that Temporary Librarian would like this store. And this store had a lot of cool options for kid's rooms, too! I think it would be fun to go there together and buy decorations and fun furniture for your bedrooms. Would you like to go with me one day? There is an IKEA store that we could go to near Denver.

Something about the shower curtain display was amusing to me at the time. We started to get a little giggly, you know, like how you guys get every single day from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.

Oh! I have an idea! Let's buy lightbulbs and get out of this store and go to the beach!

My next letter will have pictures of jellyfish in it.

Love, Mama

P.S. Would you rather go to an IKEA or would you rather see a thousand jellyfish? Your Mama loves both!

Letter #3 :Sushi Pop!

Dear Eric, William, and Margaret,

This is a picture of the restaurant that Elizabeth ( Ebee) and I went to. It was called "Sushi Pop". They didn't serve pop. Maybe they meant "pop culture". Maybe they meant that the food went "POP!", which some of it actually did!
Here is a picure of the restaurant. We started off sitting in the booths, but the seats were so squishy and low that my chin nearly rested on the table and I could barely see Elizabeth over my silverware. Out of compassion, Ebee suggested that we sit at a table so I could reach my food.

This is our waitress! Tell your dad that she has a degree in Psychology! She looks like Pippi Longstockings. She was really smart and nice. Can you believe she is "cooking" for us here? She is using the same really cold stuff that Dr. Hannifan used to freeze off your various warts on your feet - liquid nitrogen. She is using liquid nitrogen to turn a juice into a sorbet!

Here is a close-up. It got really "COOL"!

This is Ebee's dessert. Berry-flavored sorbet with a marshmallow fluff and peanut butter powder. Peanut butter POWDER? This restaurant likes to use food in new ways. But, she basically had a new-age take on a peanut butter and jelly fluffernutter sandwich. Ask your dad what a fluffernutter sandwich is. He was still eating them in graduate school, as a dessert after his bologna and hummus sandwich. You may have to ask your dad what bologna is and what marshmallow fluff is, too! They don't have that in our farm share. I am sorry.

Here it is!

And here is how happy Elizabeth is to see it - and me, I think!

Here is my fancy dessert! It is called "PMS", and I found it curative! It is a molten chocolate cake with peanut butter powder and salted caramel ice cream. I was extremely happy to see Ebee and I LOVED my PMS.

Love, Mama

P.S. When I get home, let's have fluffernutters!