Krista Cogan & Hilda Hugelmann

I walked/ran the YMCA's Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning. Success! Finished in what I believe to be record time! The timing wasn't corrected for the start delay, and I think I crossed the start line at least a minute, maybe two, after the gun. My official time was 54:34, about 35 seconds over my best time, so I think I beat it.

I finished 2414 out of 2416. Don't care much about that, but there were so many serious runners! I thought it was a family-oriented thing, but there was not a fat or old chick in sight! Besides me. :) Anyways, thanks to erink for coming back for me! It was really, really nice to have someone to finish with. So thanks! You're a gem! Plus, she took this pic after:



[Edit: notice the nifty new userpic!]

# of Krista-initiated conversations about her feelings: 40,206
# of Ben-initiated conversations about his feelings: 12
# of Otto-initiated conversations about his feelings: 1

I just had the weirdest little conversation with Otto. He had just finished breakfast, was watching "Dinosaur Train" (of poop-episode fame), and was perfectly happy, when out of the blue, he looked over at me and asked, "Mommy, are you worried?"
I thought I heard him wrong, since it was a strange thing to say. I said, "Excuse me? What did you say?"
"Mommy are you worried?" He turned to face me and was crawling closer.
"No, honey, I'm not worried. Are you?"
"Yes" He lisps a little when he says the word and nods.
"What are you worried about, Otti?" Trying to think what a 2 1/2 year-old had to be worried about.
"Monsters." Now where the heck did that come from? He was in my lap with a worried little expression on his face now. "Monsters in my house."
I hugged him and said, "You don't have to be worried about monsters in the house, sweetie. Jollypaws eats them."
"Jollypaws eats them?"
"Yup, Jollypaws eats up all the monsters in the house!"
Otto gave me a big grin and hug and said, "OK!" Then climbed off my lap and went about his business as if we had never talked.

Kids are really weird.

I just extracted myself from a pile of giggling, happy little boys. I wanted to go to choir practice, but how could I leave so many wonderful little boy laughs? Some days, I just cannot tear myself away. So much little boy joy, sometimes choir practice loses the battle for my time.

Otto was calling Ben "Ben". We said no, that's Daddy's name, you call him daddy. I asked him if he knew what Mommy's name was, fully expecting to have to prompt him. With no hesitation and no prompting, he said, "Krista" clear as a bell. o.O. Huh. He's also got prepositions and possessive case and past tense down pretty well, surprisingly. I guess he's been paying attention. Gotta watch what we say!

So, many people, including me, are very thankful to the past and current military members who served this country.  Freedom isn't free, and I am very, very grateful that they all chose or got chosen to defend our way of life.  It is honorable and good.

But now that Veterans' Day is over, I want to thank the families, too.  Especially the wives and mothers, since after all, I'm one of them.  For centuries, men have gone to war - for glory, honor, duty, freedom.  And for centuries, their women have been left behind, watching them go, bursting with pride and silently crying out in fear and helplessness as their men march directly into unknown danger.  They continue their lives with a giant, gaping, man-sized hole, and it's hard.  Damn hard.  So many silent tears cried into pillows at night, wiped away in the morning by proud, enduring smiles.  Having babies, raising children, working, keeping traditions, making due. They endure the hole and the fear for the same reasons the men left - honor, love of country, or even simply because there was no choice.  And for so many, many women over the course of American history, through the "ultimate" sacrifice, that man-sized hole will always be vacant.

The soldiers and marines and sailors sacrifice and are very worthy of our thanks.  So, too, are their families.  Thank you for YOUR sacrifice. 

Otto frequently talks to himself when he's waking up.  It's so cute, sometimes, we just keep in in there and listen.  This morning:

-(with all the gusto and intonation of a 70-year-old woman) "Oh!! My Aches!"
-(after I coughed) "Mommy? You OK Mommy? You sick? You OK???
- "I'm a pretty girl! I'm a pretty, pretty girl!!"  (Oooooo-kay, dear)
-And of course random singing and humming.  The recognizable ones: Itsy Bitsy Spider and Old MacDonald.

Don't forget - Barony Meeting is at 1pm this Sunday at the Baron & Baroness's Castle is Wexford.  Archery starts at 11am.  Barony Meeting will also feature... PIE!!!  Yup, there will be a pie-baking contest!  Bring your best! Here are the rules:

Our first foray into Trick or Treating! Otto (the turtle) and I went alone.  Carl (the dragon) is still a little too young.  We walked all the way up and down our street.  Otto was pretty reluctant to go up to any houses ("No, not that house, Mommy"), until one of our neighbors came all the way out and gave him candy.  He's pretty smart for a 2 1/2 year old.  I told him we wouldn't go to any houses without the lights on.  He kept up a constant stream of chatter about whether the lights were on in the houses we passed and whether there were pumpkins outside.  So cute!  He told people he was a turtle and said "Trick or Treat" with prompting and "Thank you! Bye!" without any prompting! Good boy!!!  Then he shared his candy with Carl when we got home.  It was my suggestion, but Otto did it right away and did not object at all! Carl especially likes DumDums.  When we got home, Ben had roasted chicken and butternut squash and roasted pears for us for dinner. Yum! A perfect harvest dinner!  The kids didn't eat a lot of it since I let them have a bunch of candy.  Hey, it's Halloween!! 

We got about 10 trick-or-treaters.  There was quite a preponderance of zombies this year! One parent was the Geico money! Excellent! That was the best costume.

Otto quote of the day:
Ben: We're out of fenugreek.  I have to go to Penzey's.
Otto: Runs over to a table, grabs a pen.  Here's pen-sies right here, Daddy!!

Clever boy! A good evening!

Otto was a turtle, and Carl was a dragon.  And I totally let then have potato chips, chocolate, and lollipops for dinner!! heeheehee!!

That was an awesome game! Fun to watch, and we won! Go Steelers!

An excellent weekend all around!

Me: Otto, do you want to be a turtle?
Otto: No.  I wanna be a doggie!
Me: You want to say "Woof Woof!" and walk on all fours?
Otto: Yeah.  I wanna say "Woof Woof!" and walk on whores.

Done today - all with two toddlers and no husband:

• Carl's 15 month check-up, with Otto in tow.  Carl is 70-80-somethingth percentile for everything and very healthy. He took his shots very well! Have to go back in a month for the other half of the H1N1 flu shot.
• Half Price Books, no luck finding the one I wanted
• Eat 'n Park for brunch, since Okids were so good (ever tried to pay a bill there with a kid holding each hand?)
• Bank
• Gabriel Brothers (found $3 turtle costume and $8 sneakers for Otto, plus a bunch of other things)
• Back to the car to tend to the giant gash in Otto's chin that he got while running in the lingerie section (yup, first aid kit in diaper bag is a win - yay planning ahead!)
• Aldi to pick up mini-cheesecake ingredients for bake sale at Agincourt (anyone else want to bring something?)
• Borders - found book - children not so good here
• Walgreens for Kids' Ibuprofen
• Got mail (yup, got it, warrewyk !)
• Tidied living room
• Did 3 loads of laundry
• Took nap
• Emptied then filled and ran dishwasher
• Made dinner
• Cleaned bedroom floor
• Baked cookies
• Read books, sang songs, danced, colored, watched Lawrence Welk (toddlers LOVE Lawrence Welk, just so you know).
• Talked to Ben and Mom and Tim and Broom and Mom again on the phone
• Now reading email and social media stuffs. (Yay Prince Malcolm and Princess Tessa!)

Whew! I am awesome.

Am bummed.  Need to be cheered up.  Bluh bluh bluh, too much to do and not doing any of it.  Bluh bluh bluh.  My biggest accomplishment was giving the kids a bath. Bluh bluh bluh.  Gained two pounds between yesterday and today. OK, so it was probably the sweater and shoes, but ugh.  Bluh bluh bluh.  And I miss my Tues/Thurs hit of Buck Godot.  I wish they had done more of him.  Bluh bluh bluh bluh bluh.   The Hilda happy is not working.

On the upside, Carl learned animal noises today (What Do You Say? by Mandy Stanley).  His lion ROOAAAAR was especially cute.  I was putting Otto's eczema cream on him after the bath.  He asked what I was doing, and I said "Putting cream on on your eczema.  Can you say 'eczema'?"  He gave me a strange look and said "Eggs in ear?" and pointed to his ear quizzically.  He was very confused. And Very Cute.

Two Ottoisms within a couple hours today.  Tres cute.

1.  After watching 25 minutes worth of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, a show he watches a lot, he turns to me and says, very gravely, as if he is telling me a state secret: "Mommy, he a train."

2. After eating most of a sandwich, he looks at it in a  vaguely disgruntled way, looks at me and says, "Mommy, I need bread on my sandwich."  To which I replied, "Well, you're in luck there, pal."

My favorite pic of all of us ->

It is COLD tonight! I convinced Ben that we should turn the heat on.  Tonight we had pork medallions with a red wine/mustard/currant reduction. Served with leftover roasted beets with cucumber dill sour cream sauce.  HOT DAMN that man can cook! I'm a lucky, lucky girl!

Just back from the the Great Race.  My best time yet - under 57 min (5K)!! It's a beautiful course with gorgeous views and almost all downhill.  Great Race indeed! Feeling good. Now shower, nap, pick up the kids from my sister's, and then.... FOOTBALL!

Thanks to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday!  I'm on the other side of 30!

So my daycare is slowly growing broke because the PA budget has still not passed. Most of the kids there are subsidized by the state.  Not my kids, but a lot of the other ones.  They are not getting any state money at all, and they are going under.  The owner has decided to close for one week to regroup and try to drum up help in whatever way she can.  She'll reopen the week after that, but until then - No daycare next week!  Ben's mom can come out Mon and Tuesday, but...

Is there anyone out there who is unemployed, underemployed, homemaker, or just has free time... is anyone willing to watch my kids for us while we're at work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday , or any combination thereof? Anyone? They're good, happy kids.  They're 2 and 1 so there will be diapers.  Would ve from 7:30am to 5:15 pm , but they take a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day. We can pay you.  Not a lot, but there is a little compensation.

Happy birthday, cayeux! Virgos unite! Or...virgoes untie?

Memes were fun.  Where did they go?