Ten on Tuesday.

1. Today Fisher is 31 months old!

2. I have a recipe for pumpkin pancakes that I am dying to try. What sort of fall treats are you making these days?

3. The weather is getting chillier, highs around 60. Hence #2.

4. In other fall cooking news, I made my first apple crips (or "apple crips," as Fisher called it) this weekend, and both kids tried and then politely refused it. Tell me, what on earth is more perfectly simple than apple crisp?

5. Here's where I remind myself that Fisher loves roasted beets and Alla loves roasted garbanzo beans.

6. I am very close to being able to place an order for July through September photos. Then, as I stuff them into albums, I can listen to my husband complain about the volumes of photos we have and how our children will be overly documented and how our ancestors will find our albums and think we must have been famous because of how well documented we were.

7. Isn't he funny?

8. Fisher got a few new pairs of socks today after Ron commented that his sock drawer looked like we had not purchased socks for the poor lad since infancy. It is sadly true that he's gotten maybe one or two new pairs since his first winter. Sorry, bud.

9. I am so looking forward to Alla not having school this Thursday and Friday. So, so, so.

10. Craving a one-pot wonder kind of baked dish. That's a hard one - uh, let's see, no pasta, no cheese, and preferably something the kids would just die for. Ha! I won't hold my breath.

Today was picture day.

And of course it will be weeks before the results are in, but my guess is that the smile of the school picture will not be the smile I'm used to seeing. This one!

Ten on Tuesday.

1. We are STILL enjoying the amazing weather, as in above 70 every single day. The weather section in today's newspaper reminded us that on this day last year, we got 2.5 inches of snow. I seem to remember scrambling to find winter stuff for Alla who desperately wanted to get out there in it. I'm very glad that today we will be enjoying a nice warm trip to the Farmer's Market.

2. The vegetables Fisher likes: beets and sweet potatoes.

3. The vegetables Alla likes: carrots, red pepper, cucumber, peas, peapods.

4. Notice how their preferences don't overlap. Fun.

5. Something they do agree on: The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That.

6. Fisher is a no-go on the movie Cars. We've tried a few times, so I give up. He certainly knows what Lightning McQueen looks like but a movie about racing cars just ins't up his alley. Why can't Disney make a movie about diggers?

7. For Fisher's dinner tonight: brown rice and roasted beets. Another thing he doesn't like: grilled chicken. Who doesn't like grilled chicken?

8. Our neighbor's tree has lost all of its leaves; this is the time of year when I feel all high and mighty about having a late-faliing tree.

9. I have both the September and October issues of Real Simple to read. I need a day at the spa with my magazines, I think.

10. My favorite part of today: walking out of the library with the kids (and a bag full of approximately 89 books) and seeing my handsome husband walking toward us, surprising us. Knowing that the kids hadn't seen him yet, knowing how great their joy would be in just moments, and then seeing it on their faces as they catapulted themselves at him. And Alla, This made my day, Daddy.

Weather break.

I didn't plan to step away from my computer for all of Friday and Saturday, but am so glad I did because we had record [high] temperatures for October. I did not miss a minute of it, even with Fisher coming down with Alla's cold. He and I sat outside, just sitting, after nap both days. Just sitting, watching. Alla and I took to the grass on a blanket for afternoon reading, and when she went to play with a friend across the street, I sat and watched her in my bare feet with the last 100 pages of Mockingjay. It was just glorious outside.

And I'm sure we'll pay for it!

It's fall.

Most of our fall pictures will be taken when it's chilly out there, because our leaves don't fall until about Thanksgiving. Halloween might be our first raking. So we borrow until then, since our neighbors to the left have a whole lawn full of fallen leaves.

And right now we're back in summer gear, for as long as we can, rolling in their leaves, throwing, piling, shoveling. Loving.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. On Sunday we were coming home from dinner with Pappi, and it was getting dark. Alla said to us, It's so cool, the letters on all the buildings light up! In between grown-up chuckles, we said to ourselves, We should take them out more.

2. Fisher's new word is gorgeous, as in The dentist is gohgeous.

3. Fisher's favorite book, as in we read it every naptime and bedtime, is Just Going to the Dentist by Mercer Mayer.

4. Last Friday, I did not change a single poopy diaper, and that's cause my son pooped on the potty twice that day.

5. But we're over that now, apparently.

6. Last Friday when Alla came home from school, she and I watched the movie Babies, which was such a wonderful lesson in culture. I loved that she narrated the whole wordless wonder for me.

7. I need a game for the two and the five year old to play together because we can only play so many rounds of Animal Bingo. Ideas?

8. We are in the midst of a string of lovely sunny seventy-degree weather. Awesome.

9. I have broken so many of our dinner plates that we are now down to five. Seriously. FIVE dinner plates, that's it. So now I'm forced to make a decision, which I hate. Either decide to get more of what we have, or just toss all the chipped stuff and get something altogether different. Like white. White?

10. Guess where we're headed Friday morning when Alla's off of school? To my Mom's, that's where. Yes, folks, The Killins Family finally has family in Minnesota to go visit.

Killins Family Twenty Questions.

Print out a copy of this fun questionnaire and bring it to the dinner table tonight and enjoy everyone's answers, then make sure to post so we can all read, too!

D=Daddy, M= Mama, A=Alla, F=Fisher

1) What is your favorite color?
D: Blue
M: Red
A: Pink
F: Brown

2) What is your favorite food?
D: Chinese
M: Mexican
A: ff’s and crispy chicken
F: blueberries (booberries)

3) What is your favorite show?
D: Seinfeld
M: Parenthood
A: Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That
F: Mighty Machines

4) What is your favorite restaurant?
D: PF Chang’s
M: Nick + Eddie
A: Red Robin
F: Red Robin

5) What is your favorite movie?
D: The Matrix
M: The Princess Bride
A: The Wild
F: Wall E

6) What is your favorite season?
D: Spring
M: Summer
A: Winter
F: Playing

7) What is your favorite class?
D: Math
M: [Modern] Dance
A: Science
F: Miss Sara

8) What do you want to be when you grow up?
D: Video game tester
M: Mama
A: A Mommy
F: Pirate

9) What is your favorite sport?
D: Running
M: Running
A: Biking
F: Biking





10) What is your favorite game?
D: Modern Warfare
M: Apples to Apples
A: Monopoly
F: Animal Bingo

11) What is your favorite song at the moment?
D: Sugarlumps
M: Half of My Heart
A: “If I Had You” (Adam Lambert) and “Anyway You Want It” (the Glee version)
F: Ram Sam Sam

12) What is your favorite book?
D: The Passage
M: East of Eden
A: Harry Potter (#1)
F: Machines Go To Work

13) What is your favorite character?
D: Mr. T
M: Harry Potter
A: Adam Lambert
F: A320

14) Where is your favorite place to go with your family?
D: California
M: the beach
A: Nana + Pappi’s
F: Home Depot

15) Who are some of your best friends?
D: Ralph, Adam, Josh
M: Catie, Nicole, Andrea
A: Leigha, Fisher, Carter and Canton (but Fisher is my “best best best best friend”)
F: Lovey, Alla, Carter and Canton

16) What is your favorite animal?
D: cheetah
M: giraffes and dolphins
A: zebras and lions
F: skunk

17) What is your favorite holiday?
D: Christmas
M: Christmas
A: Christmas and Halloween
F: Park

18) What is your favorite instrument?
D: saxophone
M: piano
A: guitar
F: Ram Sam Sam

19) What is your favorite activity to do alone?
D: video games
M: read
A: draw
F: [play] firetruck

20) What's your favorite toy?
D: iPhone
M: camera
A: Raggedy Ann and Andy, Lily, and Bodie
F: Lovey and pink car

Thanks for the idea, Marie!

Really good Wednesday.

You know when you just have a really good day, I mean, simple things that just add up to one really nice day? That was yesterday. It started with a run for me and my buddy, and then we made an impromptu trip down to the Mississippi River, which I think he calls the Sippi River and for the longest time Alla called the MississNippi. Good morning, Mississippi.

The real reason we went: the possibility of seeing a barge go through the lock and dam. Fisher calls it the garbage barge, after reading the book with the exact same title.

Alas, we did not see the barge, but it was fun just the same. Fisher told me so.

And anytime you switch up your routine, do something different, it really does wonders.

We also spied some gorgeous fall colors.

Our own street looks lovely this time of year, just subtle yellows and leaves in the gutters and the amazing blue sky we had yesterday.

Another simple thing that made our day: the kids in absolute love with each other.

Alla misses him when she's at school, and vice versa, so they are sometimes stuck to each other like glue in the afternoons.

I ended the day with my yoga class, and this morning I got snuggles from both kids. Apparently Fisher missed me, as he asked, Mommy last night whaddya do'd? I dooood my yoga class, Buddy. And it was a good day.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. School did not go as well today. Regression. I told Fisher Mama did not get to learn any stuff today and Fisher did not get to have any fun because his teacher had to call me to console him. Sigh.

2. We have a lot of meatballs in this house. Mexican meatballs, meatball soup, meatballs with pasta. And they are not usually well-received. In fact last night we had a near uprising at the dinner table.

3. Do my children think that I will just suddenly decide to start serving them sandwiches and rice cakes every night for dinner? Because that's what they'd eat if given the choice.

4. Today we're headed to the Farmer's Market after nap. In a few weeks there will be no more market til next summer, so we're going to go and enjoy. Also it's lovely outside.

5. Also my son asked when we can get more beets, so there's that.

6. Three more weeks of fall soccer.

7. Alla and I spend yesterday afternoon reading a wonderful book: The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip. Oh, delight!

8. A lovely friend sent me Mockingjay in the mail yesterday and I tore right into it.

9. I saw the most amazing idea in a recent Family Fun magazine: dedicating a digital frame to display scanned images of your kids' artwork. How genius is that!?!?!?

10. I am so so glad that Private Practice and Parenthood are back. Love them.

Friday Five.

1. Yesterday was a washout. Seriously like a full day of rain, so we stayed in and made granola (gah-nowa). He's wondering why he can't see the molasses (mohwasses) anymore. 2. And probably why on earth it takes a few hours to cook (and be ready to go in his mouth). Soon as he woke up from nap, he asked for gahnowa.

3. My wonderful husband (and Pappi and a neighbor) put this frame together for the chalkboard I made, and now we have the best addition to our kitchen since the coffee grinder. The top half for me to write all of the carb count stuff at meals, and the bottom half for the kids to create.

4. A fun thing while Pappi was here - playing in the back of his truck. (99% of the time, the kid has scratched up his nose in one spot or another.)

5. Ever since school started, I appreciate weekends like I did when I was working. Just cannot wait to relaaaaaaaaaaaax. (Oh, and sit out there on a chilly Saturday morning for soccer.)

Happy weekend!

Summer's end.

Summer is quickly, officially coming to an end. We're in our third week of school, and don't feel like it's so completely new anymore. It's crisp out there sometimes, though of course there are still plenty of warm days to come. And yet I seem to have tons of summer pictures I haven't even gone through, so I thought I'd share a few before it got so far into the next season that I looked back on these and thought, Why on earth isn't she wearing a coat in these pictures? For awhile there, every time Daddy would mow, our bullfrog friend would leap from the garden, only to be captured by Alla, friend to all insects and critters. And then there's the mowing itself, the joy. When Fisher hears that Daddy will be going out to mow, it had better be at a time when he's also allowed to go out and help. Why bother to stop and put on pants or your own shoes just to mow? I know, it's because this was the summer of the meanest mosquitoes ever.

Not much better than enjoying a freezie pop with your Dada. He's just recently stopped asking for them, and I find this age enchanting, when they really don't remember last year, last season, what comes next. No, freezie pops are not a fall food.

I love these two. I love that they love each other.

I had the best summer I can remember.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Ron and I went on an impromptu dessert date on Saturday night. Ah, the perks of having a grandparent stay with you for a little while!

2. Dessert date means only one thing here. Butterscotch pudding at Nick and Eddie. Divine.

3. Fisher has got practically all of the neighborhood kids turning their trikes or motorized vehicles into vactors. I'm very proud of my son for teaching our whole block, kids and grown-ups alike, about vactors.

4. On Saturday, I broke out the blow dryer for the first time in three months. My hairdresser will be elated. I will tell her tonight when I get my first haircut in three months.

5. Fisher was a pro at school this morning, I tell you. I was so proud of him. Not a single tear when I went across the hall to "Mommy class," just a see ya later and back to playing in the sand table.

6. We had to run to the bus stop this morning because Fisher saw the recycling truck coming and just had to see it take our recycling, but of course it was one minute til the time we're supposed to be at the bus stop, so once the recycling truck left our house, I had to drag him down the street and Alla had to run two houses because the bus was pulling up!

7. Gladly, they've changed our bus stop, so starting tomorrow there will be no conflict of interest (recycling truck versus bus stop), as the bus will be picking her up in front of our house. Lovely. This will really come in handy when it's five below outside.

8. Alla's favorite book of the week: Camilla Chameleon.

9. Fisher's favorite book of the week: anything digger related, of course, but we'll just go with this one for posterity's sake - Mega Trucks.

10. It's gorgeous today, we ate lunch outside, and it's supposed to be near 80 over the weekend! Can one stockpile sunshine, do you think?

Two and a half.

He is two and a half today. Very two and a half, sometimes.

He gives me crazy smiles and sweet smiles. He wants his Dada more than anything, and the next he needs his mama to sing his naptime song.

He told me at bedtime, Bes mama in de whole wye worl.

He is the best son in the whole wide world.

Things he said today.

I snapped a few pics of him on his first day of "school" (he goes with me once a week 'til January when he also gets to go once a week by himself), and today he said such great things that I thought I'd include those. But first, he looks the cutest in his little LL Bean backpack. I'm hoping that, just as the reviews state, he'll have this backpack til college. OK, I might have to get him the next size up at some point, but still.

So, today when Ron had to stop at home at lunch time, Fisher said to me, I don't want Daddy go back to wuhk. I know, honey, but Daddy has to get the money. But I just get money in my piggy box. (Unfortunately their piggy "boxes" are not big enough to hold a mortgage payment.

When Alla left: I WANT MY AWA!!

And after we left the dentist, both of us with clean, cavity-free teeth: That was a good dentist!

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Today was the first day of school for Fisher! I was a bit nervous about the whole separation thing (and by that I mean separating to different classrooms for 45 minutes), but after some serious sobbing, his teacher said he calmed down quickly.

2. He decided not to eat his snack but instead went to the sand table, which he just had to show me when I returned.

3. And, the best part - when we were walking to the car, he said to me, "I wike dat cwass!" Thank goodness. I think it's going to be a great year.

4. The morning paper mysteriously disappeared today. I looked under cars, I couldn't find it. I'm still holding out hope that Ron accidentally took it to work.

5. Tonight we have fall soccer pictures. Just what we needed, more soccer pictures.

6. While Daddy's taking her for pictures, however, I will be with Fisher at the Farmer's Market.

7. We have a wonderful house guest! Pappi's here for a couple weeks!

8. Ron and I went to The Melting Pot this weekend. How nice it was to sit there for two whole hours, and then waddle ourselves home.

9. I hate to see summer come to an end, but I'm actually looking forward to fall stuff: apples, seeing what's in the winter boxes for the kids (what did I buy last year?), and, of course, fall TV!

10. Speaking of fall TV, Parenthood starts tonight!

Today was for.

Letting her brush my hair and give me a hair 'do. Then letting her hold my camera and photograph her work. And me.

Today was for playing Monopoly with my daughter and my mother.

Today was for abundant sunshine, reading, standing outside with no shortage of friends to chat with.

Today was for Dutch Babies made in thanks of grandparents that make our life a little easier, more wonderful.

Today was for kids complaining about something at dinner. Oh, wait, that's everyday. Scratch that.

Today was for picking one [last?] zucchini.

Today was for both kids getting a cold. Nothing like school to help out with that.

Today was for family.

Sadly.

The giant sunflower we were waiting on had only a few days to open itself up before a mean old squirrel thought nothing of climbing its stalk, all the way to the tippy top, which left the heavy flower dangling by whatever that core bit is called.

Look how big the leaves are!

Poor thing hadn't even fully opened. (It has now, in a vase of water in our bathroom!) We have one sunflower left, though not as tall or wide. We'll have to celebrate that one, the fittest.

The story of her first day of kindergarten, and mine.

Here she is in all her morning glory. I won't say she bounded out of bed before me, but when I woke her at 7:30 she was raring to go after a few yawns and stretches.Her morning routine goes something like this: potty, brush hair, make bed, get dressed, eat, brush teeth, shoes, bus. Daddy was on hand to send her off at the bus this morning. (Who am I kidding, Daddy was on hand for moral support after the send-off this morning.)

I kept busy all morning, readying things, straightening, pictures, busy busy busy. I was okay until this moment. Until I could hear the bus coming for her, and then see it down the street and I knew she was next and I knew it would be quick. And then I thought, Oh God I'm not ready and my throat lumped up. 8:45am.
It was quick. Ron had to remind her to turn around for one last picture.

Then one last kiss (I didn't even get one then, good thing I got mine at home!) and she was ready. More than ready. Her friend Cody was already waiting on the bus.

She didn't even look back.

And then she was gone.

Fisher and I went for a run, came home and made her a bus picture and cookies.

And, I have to admit, it went much faster than I thought it would. 12:25 rolled around and Fisher and I found ourselves waiting out in the grass, the sun having made an appearance.

When she got off the bus I felt flooded with happiness, relief, joy, just so glad to have my baby back in my arms.

I was not the only one. The two of us pretty much tackled her, but then I had to step back and see how much he really missed his big sister. I missed you, Awa, he said. He squeezed her, took her hand and led her into the house and they had a blissful hour before his nap.

At some point this afternoon I realized what an emotional day this was and thought, I cannot do this again tomorrow, but of course we have to, and surely I'll get used to it.

The highlight of my day.

Was hearing and then seeing the bus come around the corner with Alla on it. Fisher and I just about trampled her with hugs and kisses. More to come.

This is the State Fair post.

Seven-something a.m. Once again, cool start. But sheer excitement walking into the fairgrounds. Is Alla completely off the ground?

Cow butts: small, medium, or large?

Pig snouts.

What fair is complete without trash truck sightings? Yes, plural.

Alla climbed halfway up the rock wall! Last year she was scared.

Last year she was also scared of the big ferris wheel. Not this year!

This was at like ten-fifteen. Already too tired to walk. Thank goodness for Uncle Will coming along!

Spotted from the Sky Ride: Fried Fruit on a Stick. Really? Why do they have to go and mess up even the simplest things?

The sky ride took us over to the Food Building and at the fruit stand outside I chose the Peaches and Cream, complete with two gluten-free, dairy-free cookies for Fisher, two small peaches that he gobbled up, and Alla chose this giant orange which she just seemed to adore.

Guess what else she wasn't afraid of this year? The Giant Slide! She went on once with me and then begged Ron to take her again. Fisher loved it, too.

Uncle Will, Aunt Renee, and Daddy waiting for us to ride the carousel.

I'm super glad we're still doing little kid stuff like this. Alla's there on the other side of Fisher.

After the carousel we headed to the truck area. Let me just say, little boy heaven.

(Maybe big boy heaven, too?)

OK, I'm not going to lie. Not a lot of kids who don't like cool trucks, girl or boy.

Onto the next tractors.

We saved the best for last - KUBOTA!

Swear we didn't even get two blocks north of the fair before he conked out. Like, it wasn't even worth trying to keep him up til we got home. He just kept on sleeping even after we got home. That tuckered out.

I'm often struck by simple moments like this, when she notices how sweet he is herself. Of course, that's because she's so sweet, too.