more fun from layla

she seriously has the best imagination! just now i'm in the living room and she comes running over and says she's scared (or actually, 'scary' as she calls it) of the lion. i say, 'what lion?' and she says, 'the lion by the door.' so i'm like, 'wow, there's a lion by the door!' and she says that we should not let it in. well, duh! so then she proceeds to start talking about a goat, which by the way, is also by the door and i'm thinking, well if there's a goat and a lion by the door, wouldn't the lion pretty much take care of the goat? but anyway after i express my surprise about the goat being by the door, she says there's elephants there too. wow. and i say that we shouldn't let them in and she wants to know why. well, they would make a mess, right? they'd knock stuff over, and besides, they probably wouldn't fit through the door. and letting the lion in would be a really bad idea. 'why?' well, he might eat us. 'why?' well, what if he's hungry? 'oh, i'll just give him some cereal.' so apparently, lions like to eat cereal. so i say, 'if we let him in and you give him some cereal, then everything will be okay?' she says yes, and that after he eats his cereal, he's going to help her take out the trash cans. WHAT? where did that come from? not only that, one of the elephants is going to help too. the elephant will take out the blue can (recycling) and the lion is going to take out the green one (garbage), which leaves layla with the big, gray yard waste can. good luck with that! i don't know where she comes up with this stuff. sometimes i think she's eaten some funky mushrooms or something. she's always seeing cats out the window that aren't there. or maybe they are. sometimes i think there's stuff in the world that only kids can see. adults can't see it, because we don't believe we can. like fairies... lots of kids can see fairies. but seriously, life must be so much for fun for layla. i'm glad she shares this stuff with me. it reminds me not to be too boring and grown up all the time.

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dear to do list,

i hate you. actually, i loathe your existence to my very soul. and i refuse to have anything further to do with you. you can consider our relationship OVER. please do not try to contact me, as i will be unavailable. do not stalk me. do not try to make me feel guilty for abandoning you. YOU SUCK! sincerely, rachel

christmas day at barb & paul’s

(otherwise known as “ana and elsa’s” to my kids.) after breakfast, quick showers, packing up clothes, jammies, and gifts, we loaded up in the car and drove south to my cousin, barb’s house. we got there around 3. my parents and aunt marilynne were already there, as well as my other cousins, lynne & jim. there was chatting, and munching, and drinking of spiked cider going on. soon, mike and marie showed up with baby liam, and everyone applauded! LOL. gotta love having a baby around! after that, caitlyn and her fiancé, danny arrived and that was everyone. we had traditional hedvall family (my mom’s mom’s family) swedish christmas dinner of halibut and sausages, along with other yummy fixings. then we sang carols (which was both beautiful AND hilarious), paul lit the candles on the tree, and finally opened presents. we got gift cards and the game, qwirkle (which I’ve wanted for the last 2 years!), layla and micah got some toys and accessories for their rooms, shane got an awesome r...

the zoo

yesterday, the last day of spring break (well, weekday, at least) and shane had had enough of not doing anything expensive interesting. so we packed a lunch and went to the zoo. it was a little cold and rainy when we left, but by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and it turned out to be relatively warmish. layla was determined to see some fish. i guess we should have gone to the aquarium, but we did manage to find her a few fish. i think her favorite was the super huge reticulated python that actually moved while we were watching. well, the top 3 feet or so of it moved. the remaining 5 or 6 feet of it stayed coiled up where it was. we probably spent the bulk of our time in the “zoomazium” which is a fabulous indoor playground type area. there’s a huge tree that layla and shane spent time doing laps through. you climb up the inside (think mcdonalds playland climbing structure) and then slide down a big twisty slide. there wa...

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

this recipe comes from the weber’s REAL GRILLING cookbook and is my family’s recent favorite way to have pork chops. shane thinks these are the best food he’s ever eaten, and will generally eat 2! i think layla asked for seconds as well, and micah pretended they weren’t on his plate… which is typical. we’ve made them on the grill, or broiling in the oven, and both are equally good. 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh thyme (I have used dried as well, and it works fine) 1 tbsp minced garlic (think I used a clove, maybe two) 2 tsp kosher salt (this was a little much. I think the second time I made them I reduced it to 1.5 tsp.) 1 tsp freshly ground pepper pork chops (4 or 5) whisk ingredients together in a bowl. place pork chops in a large ziplock and pour in marinade. seal and turn several times. refrigerate for 2 hours, turning once or twice. allow chops to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before gril...

the saga of layla's ankle

on Monday morning, layla got out of bed and complained about her ankle hurting. I looked at it, and not seeing anything or figuring how she could have injured it in her sleep, I dismissed it. she didn’t complain about it the rest of that day, even through walking to a friend’s house for a playdate, playing all afternoon, and walking home again. that evening, during dinner, she started complaining again. I thought she was being dramatic and trying to get shane in trouble, because the two of them had been horsing around. when she didn’t want to finish her dinner and crawled down the hall to get her jammies on, I went to look at it. lo and behold, it was crazy swollen! the first picture is the bad ankle, the second is the good ankle, just for comparison… so we put some ice on it and chilled out for awhile. I wrapped it in an ace bandage and put her to bed. she did not sleep. she whined and whimpered and moaned and cried. dave got her up and had a look. we put some more ice on it. we dis...

rachel's continued ramblings

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