Happy Howl-O-Ween!

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Spooky Saturday Snapshot: Gourd-geous!

Coupled carving is coming later, but for now, we've got...

She-Pumpkin and...



He-Pumpkin.

Such is the seasonal stuff of our weekend so far. How's your weekend looking?

Play along with Saturday Snapshot!

Take a photo, compose a post, and put a link in the comments!



Way Back When-esday: Just Ducky

Dateline: October 31, 2003
Twins' Age: Freshly 2

For their third Halloween (they were a mere 7 weeks old on their first!), we had double ducks strolling (waddling?) the neighborhood, trolling for candy.

Sarah's arms raised and Darren's dance of delight provide a sugar-sweet mid-week treat for me!

Why not peek back at the past and play along with Way Back When-esday?

Dive into those digital photos or scan a scrapbook find. Tell the tale and place a post on your blog. Be sure and link back to participate in the web-wide reverie...and leave a comment when you do!

Veggie Tales

Reverently, over dinner...
Darren (with utter, heartfelt, hunger-fueled conviction): "Mashed potatoes are sacred. They are meant to be savored."

Far less reverently, over the same dinner...
Sarah (picking and poking at her meal, holding her fork aloft): "Look at these two pieces of corn! They look like a little yellow booty."

Meals with multiples are never dull...

Makes My Monday: Morning Announcements

Back in my day, we listened to elementary school morning announcements via an oversized, orange-y colored speaker mounted clumsily in the corner of the classroom. Now, our kids experience interactive announcements...complete with pledges for both performance and patriotism.

Sneaking a peek in the media center of She-Twin's oratory Makes My Monday.

Want to play along with Makes My Monday?

Share on your blog what warms your week's beginning: Post a picture and tell the tale. After you do, be sure to link back here to share in the web-wide Monday fun. Go visit other celebrants, and don't forget to leave a comment when you do...comments are always Monday makers!

Saturday Snapshot: Good Sports

After a traumatizing throw from her favorite horse, Holly, a few weeks ago, Sarah was back in the saddle this morning.  Even though she had dusted herself off and remounted following the spill, given the time to think over these past days, she had spiralled into a state of intense anxiety. Her courage shown today, and the encouragement of her superlative coach, will undoubtedly keep her equestrian aspirations in motion.

In a fairly full tae kwon do class this afternoon (read: masters not able to watch each and every interaction), Darren was paired with a boy who seemed to joyfully---if not violently---ignore the parameters set forth for appropriate sparring contact. Biting my tongue and retaining my seat, I watched with pride as Darren maintained his composure, observed sportsmanlike guidelines and demonstrated an impressive skill set--- despite the temptation to respond in kind.

Confused by the sound of his master's voice amplified via karaoke machine, Larry resigned himself to simply enjoying the morning mayhem.




Such is the stuff of our weekend so far. How's your weekend looking?

Play along with Saturday Snapshot!
Take  a photo, compose a post, and put a link in the comments!

The spectrum of qualties demonstrated this Saturday bring to mind some of my favorite FishfulThinking ingredients and activities!
Sarah's resilience? Aided by The Silver Lining Game
Darren's self-control and self-possession? The empowerment-focused What Would You Do? game
The whole family's joy basking in silliness? Attitude of Gratitude

Because Poop is Always Funny

33% of the MadLib-ian blanks in Darren's latest issue of National Geographic Kids' Magazine were completed with defecation-related verbiage.

Face it, even for adults, "poop"---or "poo poo rice" or "diaria" [sic]---is always funny.

Way Back When-esday: Tae Kwon Duo

Dateline: 2007
Twins' Age: 5 and a half-ish

From the get-go, our twins have always been their own personalities...rarely expressing similar interests. However, at age 4, after a discounted trial lesson, both enrolled  in tae kwon do as "Little Tigers." The white belt with the black stripe was the final one Sarah achieved before deciding she was done at the do jam. Conversely, Darren is mere weeks away from testing for his red belt with a black stripe...a mere two levels away from full-fledged black belt.

The above image was unearthed as we attempted---and thankfully succeeded---at getting our very first digital camera back to operational after our current one met its match---or maker---by crashing on the camera-crippling Atlanta airport floor.

Discovering formerly "lost" pictures from the past makes my makes my mid-week wonderful!

Why not play along with Way Back When-esday?

Dive into those digital photos or scan a scrapbook find. Tell the tale and place a post on your blog. Be sure and link back to participate in the web-wide reverie...and leave a comment when you do!

Makes My Monday: A Sister for Sarah

After an incredible Sunday Children's Sabbath, led by our church's 2nd and 3rd graders (He-Twin and She-Twin provided half the day's ministry staff) and an inspirational, enthusiastic performance by the Ugandan Orphan Children's Choir, Sarah initiated some international outreach of her own...

The letter reads:
"Dear Sewmila, My name is Sarah. I am 9 years old. I live in Richmond, Virginia in the United States of America. I sponserd [sic] you in Childcare Worldwide program. There should be a picture of me in the envelope. There is also a crown shaped bracelet in there, too. I am very excited to hear back from you. Please write me back. Your friend, Sarah. P.S. Your smile is very cute."

Sarah's genuine desire to help---not simply with finance, but with friendship---Makes My Monday.

New to Makes My Monday?

Share on your blog what warms your week's beginning: Post a picture and tell the tale. After you do, be sure to link back here to share in the web-wide Monday fun. Go visit other celebrants, and don't forget to leave a comment when you do...comments are always Monday makers!

A Letter is Better

After an abhorrently long window of time, I just composed an overdue thank you note. Having received a lovely one yesterday, this opinionated (am I ever otherwise?) post is a rework of an earlier composition. Agree? Disagree? En pointe or fuddy duddy? Comment accordingly!

To extrapolate from the old adage, you can most assuredly teach new dogs old tricks. Role model written recognition; our children learn our leanings.

Some schools of thought proclaim if one is present at the time of a present’s presentation - and thanks are orally bestowed on the spot - the recipient need not put pen to paper. My response: insufficient. Face-to-face thanks are a fine first step, but a follow-up is necessary. A phone call? Feeble. E-appreciation? E-gregiously inadequate.

Admittedly and unapologetically, I’m a martinet for manners. Emily Post, Letitia Baldridge, and Martha Stewart would likely find my fervor for form a bit fanatical. (e.g., otherwise qualified job applicants are eliminated from my short list when no note is received post-interview; impressions are important. No joke.)

Perpetuate polite protocol. Correspond with creative kindness. Acknowledge with appreciative attitude. Be thoughtful in your thankfulness, and do it in writing.

Encourage your offspring to embody - and expect - etiquette. For the penmanship-challenged population, a piece of artwork tucked within a tot-style notecard is a sublime solution.

It's never too late to get some gracious gratitude going.
Decorum demands it. Conscience commands it.

Way Back When-esday: The First and the Second

Way Back When, our very first Way Back When-esday acknowledged the love we feel for our beloved friend, Aunt Tracey. Then, she and her husband Scott were off to pick up their son, Van. Today, they are once again off to China; this time to go bring home their second son, Van's brother, Zak Miles.


We wish them Godspeed, and republish the very first Way Back When-esday in their honor!

Tracey and the Twins
Last week, as I was composing a piece for the wonderful How Do You Do It? blog (what an honor it is to be a part of that group--if you haven't yet, go check it out!), I was screening images from years gone by and realized rather than adopt a "Wordless Wednesday" tradition here (I'm not so good on the "wordless" tip), a regular mid-week reverie seems like more fun. And so we begin...



The above image is of one of my dearest friends, Tracey, with our then mere days old twosome. Doesn't she just look like a natural?

Tomorrow, "Aunt Tracey/Mrs. Malkie" and her husband Scott leave for China to collect their precious son, Van Martin. Darren and Sarah (and their mom and dad) are beside themselves with anticipation. For weeks their conversation has been peppered with Van-centric interest:

"Do you think Van is celebrating Chinese New Year's today?"

"Will Van be at the Malkies' superbowl party next year?"

"When we are seven, Van will be three, right?"

Thankfully, Van and his playmates have been confirmed as safe from the horror of the recent earthquakes; our hearts and prayers go out to those in the devastated areas of China.

Likewise, our hearts and prayers are heading to Dulles Airport tommorow morning and traveling all the way to Guangdong province as our friends joyously to add to their family this week.

The Malkies' "Way Back When" is just beginning...

[*Be sure to check out Tracey's blog "Handsome Van" and share their excitement.]
What glimpse into the past makes your mid-week wonderful?

Play along with Way Back When-esday!

Dive into those digital photos, scan a scrapbook find and join in. Be sure and link back to participate in the web-wide reverie, pop in to visit other players' pasts...and leave a comment when you do!

Makes My Monday: Westward Ho

Sarah and Darren climbing boulders and loving up Grandma & Grandpa.

Larry manning the homefront, with the company of good friends.

Scott and I revisiting a favorite haunt. (Any guesses as to where we are?)

Adventures all-around Make My Monday.

New to Makes My Monday?

Share on your blog what warms your week's beginning: Post a picture and tell the tale.

Go visit other celebrants for more Monday cheer, and don't forget to leave a comment when you do...comments from friends old and new are always Monday makers!

Semi-Spiritual Sunday Snippet: Fellowship with Nature

After waking at 3:50am Arizona time---the exact time they'd be waking on Richmond time---the kids are now running with the quail, enticing coyotes with their unique interpretation of to-the-moon howls, and extracting hairlike spines from prickly pears and other spiny succulents from their own hands...without tears. Beholding their irrepressible joy in this awe-inspiring slice of creation is the only Sunday service I'll attend---or need---this morning. Thanks be to God.



[*Amazingly, I too am without tears. Our beloved (and long-serving) digital camera took a header on the floor of the Atlanta airport yesterday, and seems to have photographed her last.]

Rat Tales

For the 15 years of our marriage (as of Thursday!), Scott and I have ignored the stereotypically assigned gender roles when it comes to household tasks.

He's a far better cook than I. Taking the trash out is one of my favorite rituals. Not only does Scott like to vacuum, he enjoys scouting out the latest, most-efficient tools of the trade (Yes, we have the Dyson ball). Acquiring and sending greeting cards, thank you notes, paying the bills, balancing the checkbook and household accounts fall under my responsibility umbrella. Scott maintains our home's mechanical functioning, does the bulk of the laundry and spurs the kids to 'purge' the glut of toys and books that accumulates ever-so-rapidly in a home blessed with twins. The bi-monthly toting of the recycling bin to the curb was my regular practice...until Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday evening, Larry the dog paid inordinate attention to our green plastic bin the cool autumn night---hovering over our glass, paper and plastic refuse. Naively, I assumed empty Krispy Kreme dozen box had been the focus of his desire. Silly, silly me.

This summer past, when we pulled up our dilapidated deck to pour an aggregate stone porch, the process revealed a lovely brick window well, protecting a basement pane of glass. Conveniently, the recycling bin fit snugly in the brick box...stabilizing the receptacle target of our milk cartons, beverage bottles and the occasional newspaper.

Early Wednesday morning, with jammies and Danskos on, and Larry at my side, I ventured onto the newly poured patio to extract the weighty container from its brick nest, in order to walk it to the front yard for pick-up. A first lift attempt proved insufficient; so a few bottles and other pieces were tossed into a supplemental cardboard box. With the second heave-ho, the bin was loosed from the bricks---exposing to the sunlight a startled---and then sprinting---gray rat.

With uncharacteristic speed, I sprinted the two strides required to the glass door, began squealing like a school girl, clasping my hands anxiously. Don't know what explanatory words escaped my lips, but imagine they were conveyed in an octave surpassing my normal vocal range. Scott and Darren (the latter, against my exhortations) sprinted to the back window to behold Larry, Defender of the Domicile, taking on Templeton the Rat. From my upright, yet undeniably fetal, position on the sofa, I chanted repeatedly, "Don't let him eat him! Don't let him eat him!" According to the witnesses at the scene, Larry carried the rodent by the scruff, batted him about a bit with his paws, and left him prone in the backyard. Second only to my distaste for vermin, my revulsion at the sight of dead animals.

Thoughtful, ever-caring Scott---who knew a kettle grill cover could serve such a helpful, hide-the-rat purpose?

Suffice it to say, the idea of a barbecue may need to wait 'til next summer, when the mousey-memory wears off....

Way Back When-esday: My Endless Love

Dateline: October 7, 2005
Scott's Age: 37
Cheryl's Age: 40
Twins' Age (not pictured): 4

Nearly five years ago now, Scott surprised me for our anniversary. He arranged for a beloved friend to spend the night with our then 4-year-old twins, and surprised me with dinner and an overnight stay at the amazing, historic Jefferson Hotel...the locale of our post-wedding dinner and wedding night ten years earlier. When we checked in and shared the special occasion's details with the reception desk, we were upgraded to the swanky Governor's Suite. (Thankfully, then-governor Mark Warner was spending the evening elsewhere!)

The continued love of an incomparable life-partner and innumerable---and ever-increasing---happy, laughter-filled memories warm my mid-week.

What glimpse into the past makes your mid-week wonderful?

Play along with Way Back When-esday!

Dive into those digital photos, scan a scrapbook find and join in. Be sure and link back to participate in the web-wide reverie, pop in to visit other players' pasts...and leave a comment when you do!

Fibbing Fellows Need Not Apply

Proudly showing me the "goody bag" she collected for a male school chum...

Sarah (excitedly): "See Mommy, I'm giving K this superball--and it's a good one--a Matchbox car, this lollipop-shaped magnet, this fake ruby---he can put it in his mom's cereal box and she'll be so surprised---and this penny."

Mommy: "Is it a lucky penny?"

Sarah: "No, it's just a penny,"

Mommy (with woman-to-wee woman seriousness): "Sarah, is K your boyfriend?"

Sarah (thoughtfully, after a significant pause): "No, he's not. He's very nice, and he's a kind friend, but I think he lies too much to be a boyfriend."

No doubt, her criterion will evolve, but for now, this mother admires her daughter's "dating" decisions.

Makes My Monday: Family of Five

Anyone who knows us in real life knows my eggs are waaay too aged to become a bun-in-the-oven; but we DO have a dog in the house...freshly blessed at Sunday's Blessing of the Animals.

Sharing our family love with a new furry member Makes My Monday.

New to Makes My Monday?

Share on your blog what warms your week's beginning: Post a picture and tell the tale.

Go visit other celebrants for more Monday cheer, and don't forget to leave a comment when you do...comments from friends old and new are always Monday makers!

Communion III: The Misinterpretation

On this World Communion Sunday, along with other children of the church, Sarah and Darren walked breads of the world altarward at the onset of this morning's service. When the occasion arose for them and their fellow petite parishioners to rise and move to the front to participate in the global observance...

Sarah (to the sweet little girl alongside her): "C'mon! This week it should be delicious!"

[*photo from earlier in the week, with a very different kind of juice.]

Bad Haiku Friday: Around the Corner

Crass old childhood songs
Sung 'round the dinner table
Make for lots of laughs

Their eyes open wide
When Dad and I sing along
Milk, Milk, Lemonade...

[*in a more appropriate educational moment]

Play along with Sweetheart of the Syllables, Laura, at Catholic Teacher Musings!