It's 1:37AM and I am done!

Unfortunately, the coffee that I used to stay awake this long is not done with me. Ay.

GRITS' doings

Diapering his stuffed dog... GRITS is so ready to help take care of his bro and sis!

Did you know that Tupperware covers make great steering wheels?

The sewing machine*

One down, one to go!

Sharing is going to be GRITS' intense work for the next several months. Ah!


*That's me, by the way.

Status of the cactus

Boxes of fun

Thanks to a recent wedding shower thrown in our house, we have boxes and boxes. This especially large one has been hours of fun!

"Coming in, Tita!"


King of the... laugh-attack!

Babies...

Here we come! We have been cleared and leave in a week! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Submitted!

Our case has been submitted to the U.S. Embassy! They will review everything and once they are satisfied that everything is in order, we should be invited to go.

*(But no, we don't know when this will be. We can't even guess.)

Back yarden kale

It is still producing and beautiful! I made spanakopita with it for the latest feast. (Sorry, I don't know the Greek for kale!)

One more, for Tita!

I had to give one more frabjous feast. I mean, the kids aren't here yet!

Hm...

I may be more Ethiopian than I think! Not only are all of my children from there, but my dad bears an uncanny resemblance to this, one Haile Selassie. This may explain my paternal family's missing link...

Wahoo!

We have birth certificates and passports for our children in Ethiopia! Wahoo! They even spelled our last name correctly on the kids' passports this time! Wahoo, again! Soon we'll be submitted to the U.S. Embassy and the rest is up to them.

What a great idea

Wackie Jackie, are you out there? Check this out!

A flowering cactus

Our far-away friends left us their Thanksgiving Cactus a bit over a year ago. After some ugly but necessary pruning and rest, it's about to:

Stay tuned.

A frabjous feast

This may have been my last frabjous feast for a long time. I can't imagine being able to pull this off with THREE little ones pulling on my legs! What a dinner to go out on, though. As GRITS would say, "It was delicious AND good!"

We started with a brie amandine en croute, eaten with pear and apple slices. The main dinner consisted of beef cooked in Venetian spices (and coffee and wine and chocolate in the sauce); the Uzbek carrots; scalloped potatoes in a cheesy, white wine sauce; a Romaine salad with oranges and pine nuts; and a honey-flaxseed challah. And then we had chocolate cake!

The mixy,not-so-matchy table.

My favorite plate, bowl and super-spicy, Uzbekistani carrots.

The mad cooker, working on her nearly-perfect sauce for scalloped potatoes.

"Challah!"

Our new house song

Tengo que hacer pipi
¿Qué debo hacer?
Bajar los pantalones
Abrir el cubierto
Y sentarme

A new name

Yesterday, GRITS said, "Yo soy Israel Robert Home Depot." Ay. He asks to go there EVERY day. He tells us that Lime-O wants to go there EVERY day. He asks for the keys and tells us that he's going to drive there himself EVERY day. And now he's married himself to the place! All because PapA has had to make countless trips there for the construction of the chicken coop, during which he has let him drive around the gigantic race cart.