I like pumpkin pie, but I like apple better. (there is no reason for that title. None at all. Don't even ask.)

Look hard enough at the Powderhorn Art Fair this year, and you'll find a lovely booth festooned with all the photos of the year to date from www.powderhorn365.com.

I'm tempted to opt out of tonight's entry under the pretense that the humidity levels are much too high for blogging. My fingers are so moist...how can I type about the day's happenings? It's jungle-hot today. Currently not cooling me down is the dog sleeping against me.

We interviewed a home daycare this morning, which we liked. "Interview" isn't quite the right term. Interviews are inherently one-sided; there's an interviewee and and interviewer. This is more like a blind date. Especially at the end, where the closing comments are like a hostage negotiation. "We really like you. We'll call! Maybe. We're looking at a few other places, which may or may not be true."

In the afternoon, I headed down to the park to help populate the powderhorn365 booth for a bit, (partially) fulfilling my long-held and long-secret desire to have a booth in an art fair. Of course, I'm only the weakest link in a group of 7 people that power this project, so I'm living quite vicariously through others. I chose not to dwell on that. I thought the showing was really solid, we had a fair amount of traffic. It all felt very neighborhoody; we had a lot of our photo subjects stop in, guest photographers, notable powderhornians, local politicians (one of whom, I won't say which (Gary Schiff), singled out one of my photos as being his favorite).

While I lived my art fair dream, Jen hung at home with two very non-napping kids. They barely slept today.

Tonight, Abby made an absurdly funny face, lolling her tongue back and forth and being a goofball. She knew it was funny, and when we laughed, she beamed. I did it back at her, and she thought it was the most hilarious moment ever.

I said it earlier, but I'll repeat myself for sheer emphasis: there is no better moment in parenting than making those kids laugh. Lily's easy; I only need to give her chase and snatch her up into my arms, and she bursts out in guffaws. (I'm not being wordy there; she truly laughs in what can be called "guffaws". They are not dainty, her chuckles.) Abby's a bit harder nut to make laugh...making it all the sweeter when it happens.

Tonight we have found out that The Librarian is easily the most awesome show ever. It's on TBS. Watch it right now, no matter what it takes.

Day one hundred and seventy four.

Just post-nap. She really wasn't ready to get up.

Fun fact: I'm showing that box to the cat because there's a spider in it, and the cat is aces at killing and disposing of (ie. eating) spiders. Lily is watching, not even feigning interest.

A pacifier, just waiting to be sucked.

Hughes? ......... Hughes? ........... Hughes?

My top 10 John Hughes movie lines. A tribute list to the man who lays claim to a lot of my nostalgia. See if you can guess them all!

- "A Casio!"
- "We have seventy dollars and a pair of girl's underpants. We're safe as kittens."
- "You told me you were combing your hair!"
- "The bears."
- "Can I eat?" "I don't know. Give it a shot."
- "Well, in physics we... we talk about physics, properties of physics."
- "A lot can happen in a year. You could come back as a completely normal person."
- "Wood's expensive. Words are cheap."
- "I do not play with my balls." (that's all Steve's delivery, though)
and my favorite...
- "What country do you think this is?"

I look forward to the day, 18 years or so in the wavy future, when the girls can compile their own list, and I can explain to them why the 80's was the Greatest Decade.

Today I goofed off during dinner and made the girls laugh really hard. There is no topping the feeling of making your kids laugh, so I'll just leave today's post at that.

Day one hundred and seventy three.

Jen found that using the flash totally makes her eyes suuuper blue.

Bow to the almightly LeapFrog!

I won't even attempt a caption.

The girls are back in town...the girls are back in..yeah you get the idea.

I came home today after a long day of work to find my house infested with Family. They were everywhere....kids on the floor, wife on the stairs, dog sticking his tongue in my mouth. Disgraceful.

The cat and I shared a knowing look - and dare I say, I even think I caught the slightest of nods from the old cat. We had the house to ourselves for a good few days, and we knew it was over. Just me and the cat. Oh, how we spread and stretched ourselves into every corner of the bed at night. The cat is normally - regrettably - on the bottom of the attention food-chain. For a few days, he lived life at the top. I woke up, and after taking care of my 3 minutes worth of hygenic needs, I would dote on the cat. I even brushed him once, which netted me about 3 cubic yards of cat fur.

Anarchy once again nestled into our lives. The cat is now back, like an anti-Frank Sinatra, at the bottom of the heap. Hence the knowing look he gave me. I think he enjoyed our time together.

It was predictably stellar to see the girls again. They looked so different...a cliche, but it's true. Just a few days up north in Duluth seems to age them exponentially. I got a huge hug from Lily when I came in. Abby was at the time transfixed with a toy of mass diversion, but I did get some very deliberate kisses from her just moments afterward.

According to Jen, the day was good and the drive was uneventful. Grandma spent some time this morning doing colors with Abby, who apparently was repeating them back quite nicely, so that's nice to hear. Jen returned with many tales of Abby's steadfast refusal to leave the lake. In summation, they all had a nice trip. If only I'd been able to get any housework done while they were away.

Day one hundred and seventy two.

Bloop. Tadpole.

Another of GazpachoLily.

Now I know the pride scientists must feel for their chimps

Pretty obvious why I think my parents' house is such a great place to visit.

Sorry about shirking my blogging duties last night in order to go to the Harry Potter movie, but it was worth it. I haven't been to a movie in a theater in ages--it was fun. So to catch you up on the girls so far in Duluth...

We played outside for awhile yesterday. It was a bit windy and therefore a little chilly, but that didn't stop Lily, Andrew and Abby from hanging out in the water. The tough part for me was figuring out when to take Abby out. Lily and Andrew could get out on their own when they were too cold, but Abs was relying on me to pick her up from where she sat (that girl will not crawl in grass or sand, so I knew crawling out of the water was out of the question). As she sat there shivering (she doesn't have much body fat to keep her tiny body warm), I thought we'd reached that moment. I was mistaken--she was quite angry with me for taking her out before she was ready. So back in she went until her sister and cousin were done too. That girl is determined and stubborn, traits that are sometimes frustrating as a mother, but I love those traits. They will get her far in life.

While Dave celebrated National Night Out in our neighborhood, we celebrated at the Fredenberg National Night Out celebration--complete with grilled hot dogs, chips, soda, a huge blow-up obstacle course/slide that Andrew conquered on his own several times (easily the smallest kid scaling the 12-foot high ladder to the slide), and of course...swings. Lily and Abby are huge fans of any opportunity to swing, so it was a good night for them. I have to say, Christy and I pulled off some amazing feats of parenthood in order to make it to the movie on time. Within about 30 minutes, Christy bathed both boys, had Matthew fed (with help from grandma), had Andrew in his jammies, and had Matthew down for the night. During that time, I changed both girls into their jammies, got them both to drink a decent amount of milk, and had them down for the night as well. It was efficient. It went smoothly. We knew we'd suffer the karma consequences tonight...and we did. Matthew struggled to go to bed for quite a while, sounding like he was pained by teething or some such thing. Abby got back up about half an hour after she went down--the culprit being a dirty diaper. She was wide awake after being changed, so she stayed up for another half hour. Oh well, still worth it for last night.

As for today's highlights...Lily made me oh so proud this morning with a new sign. I've been painstakingly making the "eat" sign at the girls for the past few weeks with not even a hint of a mimic from either girl. Shortly after getting up this morning, Lily was sitting in my lap, looked at me and made the sign. I said "EAT?" and she did it again. Hooray!! I brought her to the high chair and she did it again. Yeah! So proud.

We visited Canal Park this afternoon and two things were discovered. 1) Lily loves seagulls and doesn't fear being eaten by them (I, on the other hand, kept picturing them mistaking her for a piece of food and taking a bite out of her--they were so close) and 2) the sound of the Aerial Lift Bridge's horn signaling its recognition of a boat needing to go under scares the living daylights out of Abby and will solicit a complete meltdown every time she hears it.

We also had a lovely visit at my grandmother's this afternoon. Nana is a hit with the kids, as is her robotic cat. Lily liked to meow back at it whenever the opportunity presented itself. Abby preferred to dump out anything she could and put everything from the coffee table onto the floor. Good times.

Tomorrow we head back to Minneapolis where we get to spend one more evening with my sister and her kids before they move. Bitter sweet time. That's what life is sometimes isn't it? Moment after moment of bitter sweet time.

Day one hundred and seventy one.

Abby practicing her bottle-drinking skills with Grandma.

Lily with some of her new friends.


An attempt to get four out of five of Nana's great-grandchildren (Kyla is not here) in a picture together. Anarchy.

I like that national night out entails pretty much just walking across the street.

My wife is a big, cute, lovable nerd. She called me to tell me that she was going to go see the Harry Potter movie tonight, and could I please do the blog?

Geek! Ah, how I love her, my wee dweeby wife.

Life without the Gels Girls is a pale imitation of my former days. It's a lonely slog. However, I have this 2.5 hours of free time after work that is really just astounding. Well, I had it today; yesterday I stayed late at work until 7, so that doesn't really count.

Tonight was national night out. I hope you all ventured into the inky darkness and conspired with your neighbors in some sort of capacity that was fitting. Our neighbors across the street whipped out a grill, some tables and chairs, and a good portion of the block came by. This doesn't amount to much, as about 40% of our block is made up of a church, so we kinda miss out on the full level of participation. Still, it was nice; I am amazed that there are people on my block that I have not yet met (until now) after 5 years here.

I'd always spent the previous years' national nights out wandering the neighborhood, feeling glum and lonely passing by all the various block parties and events, enviously wondering why ours never partook in the festivities. It's a happy thing that somebody took some initiative and got us together (because I suck at initiative).

My favorite moment of conversation came when our neighbor Carrie, who heads the bar at the Varsity Theater, kept us rapt with her tales of Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, coming apart at a post-rehab double set. Fun drama! It was fantastic gossipy goodness! I can imagine working at a quality venue can invariably lead to some equally quality anecdotes.

Day one hundred and seventy.

Some random repeat pictures...

Little peanut can barely see over the swing.

Crackers while swinging? Lunacy.

The twins have taken a shine to peeping out the porch window, taking in the sights and sounds of the world.

Lily Soup

Abby had her semi-annual geneticist appointment this morning. We are either one step closer to having a diagnosis for Abby or we are heading down a dead-end. Either way, it doesn't matter. Knowing or not knowing, it won't make any difference to our every day lives.

I packed up the kids afterward and we headed to Duluth for a few days of hanging out with Grandma, Aunt Christy, and cousins Andrew and Matthew before my sister and her family move to Seattle. Nothing to report about the drive, the girls were champs. Abby snoozed a little and Lily entertained herself and me.

Upon our arrival, Abby went inside with Grandma and immediately started smiling, laughing, and enjoying herself. She clearly likes it here. Lily refused to come inside. She was far too interested in the toy car and the swing set. Just when I thought I'd coaxed her inside, she saw the lake (observant child she is, it took her over half an hour to see the lake right in front of her--her focus is singular in nature). So she headed to the lake and I let her, thinking she'd stop when she got to the wet part. I was wrong. The water touched her feet, her face lit up, and she was in up to her waist (her first time in a lake I should add).

My mom brought Abby to join us after awhile, who promptly made it clear that she also wanted to be in the water. So there they were, in their clothes (Lily still wearing her shoes), playing in the water. I eventually got them down to their birthday suits, and finally got them inside to a bath. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this fun experience (someone had to keep an eye on the kids in the lake, you understand right?). So you'll have to use your imagination--picture really big smiles on their faces and much splashing.

Only other cute thing to report is from this evening when Lily tried several times (uncoaxed) to give Abby her sippy cup of milk from wherever Abby had last left it. She so loves her sister. There is something so irresistably sweet when you see a toddler trying to be helpful and sharing.

Could you resist climbing into a big bowl? I thought not.
Two sisters, getting into everything they could at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Duluth

I think I need to get one of these bowls.

Too lame a post to title.

Jen wraps a gift for our niece Kyla's 5th birthday.

Today we found ourselves in Shakopee to celebrate Kyla's having been around for 5 years. Here are some highlights:

Lily and Andrew (her 3 year old cousin) came face to face, yelling hi to each other. After a few "hi"s, there was a brief silence. Andrew then boldly and graciously held out his arm, asking, "Do you want to hold my hand?" Lily responded: "Gllaaaberhajbaertigooop!"

Andrew slowly withdrew his hand and said, "No?"

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Abby did some seriously good walking while holding onto a toy baby stroller.

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Abby had her first corn on the cob experience. I was momentarily worried that she'd chew right through the cob.

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Tomorrow, Jen's heading up north with the girls for the week. It's going to be wrenchingly lonely coming back from work tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward to it.

Day one hundred and sixty eight.

Keep fingers away from cob.

My garden is a disaster, but the sunflowers look good.

Another corn shot. Delicious.