Connecting the Dots

In the leaves Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

On Halloween Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Happily playing Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

2 dogs and a pilot Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Caterpillar princess Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Wyatt joins the party Originally uploaded by kjda.

Sam’s school Originally uploaded by kjda.

Lily and her haunted house Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

It’s a little hard to tell, bit the shade of Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Sam and daddy watch their first world series in a bar Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

I let Sam watch the first half of the first inning of the World Series tonight. A lot of the kids in his class are talking about it (we’re close to Boston and this is definitely Red Sox nation). It took 45 minutes of pregame to get to the batters. There were 8 or 10 rounds of commercials. The first one was funny and we both loved it so much we went back to see it again–a guy and some […]

Drawing outside on a beautiful fall day Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

The skiing is not so good. Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

The top of Holt’s Ledge Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Country living with raspberries Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

And an elf. Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Raspberry picking (with Billy Idol) Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

The end of the perfect playdate Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Dear Williams-Sonoma: I just received my order of assorted miscellaneous Halloween baking items and plastic bowls, and the minute I opened the first box, I was disappointed. Disappointed, annoyed and even pissed off. When I opened the second box, I felt even worse. Not because of the items I ordered, which are pretty much exactly the completely unnecessary but fun to have items I expected, but because you didn’t just send me a few pumpkin candies and a ghost-shaped spatula: […]

The view from the top Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

On Bragg Hill Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Her own sense of style Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Halloween–and bedtime– came early Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

At the Biltmore house in NC Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

New sandbox! Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Lily and emily on the "caramel" Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Lily’s eating habits Originally uploaded by kjda. We’ve spent a lot of time defending the way we feed the kids–which is to pretty much offer whatever’s available at any meal all at once without commenting on what gets eaten. We do encourage trying new things and talk about food groupd and balance, but we never, ever make eating dessert conditional on eating anything else. If there’s dessert, you get it, no matter what. This worked great with Sam but seemed […]

Lily on her first day Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

What we did while Sam was at school today. Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Sam is on the job. Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

We’re having a party Saturday Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

I can say, I think, even though we don’t own a scale (well, I think we must, but I don’t know where it is or whether we have batteries for it), that I have finally lost the baby weight. From all three babies. In fact, I’m a pnts size smaller than when I had Sam–which I suspect means nothing more than that pants sizing has changed, because I know what I was like then and what I’m like now, and […]

. . . Originally uploaded by kjda.

Wy’s first cone Originally uploaded by kjda.

I think I remain stubbornly convinced that we are, somehow, or will be, somehow, living the sort of life that is found primarily in the pages of, say, a J. Crew catalog. That handsome dogs will romp up to us as we pull sculls up on the banks of ponds, dressed with what Fitzgerald might have called enviable casualness. It is this illusion that leads me to participate in things like “tball on the green”. We do live in a […]

Two weeks ago: Nor’easter. No power. For three days. Skiing. 4 wheel drive car stuck in driveway. Now: Biking. Sat on the green green grass for soccer. Tomorrow, swim lessons (indoor, but still) and t-ball. What we do here is, we go to extremes.

Caddie stole a cookie right out of Wyatt’s hand today. I yelled at and chased her down, but the cookie retrieval operation was not a success. Wy pointed at her angrily and said “Ba Do!” I would call this an impressive stringing of two words together from an almost 13 month old, except that in our house, bad dog is really one word. Lily walked up to Wyatt today while they were watching a cartoon and I was making dinner, […]

The fortuitous convergence of a Sunday afternoon babysitter, a playdate for Sam and what’s probably (hopefully) the last big snow of the season encouraged Rob and I to head out on our “skate-skis” yesterday. Skate-skiing is nordic skiing with slightly different boots and bindings that allow you to skate instead of slide. One of my friends said it’s like running instead of walking, and that’s pretty close. It’s definitely more work than the old-fangled cross-country skis. It was only the […]

Wy’s party Originally uploaded by kjda. At lily’s school.

I belong to The Well and mostly frequent a really good freelancer group there, where I am middling to low on a totem pole that includes regular writers for Vogue, Wired and Salon but also people who don’t really see their byline in the national pubs very often, if at all. I love being a part of it. Today, I read an announcement that a fellow byliner just sold her first novel in a “major deal”. I was over the […]

Big Day for Wy Originally uploaded by kjda. Facing forward in a new seat!

Well, we lost three more of the total 7 fish that were living in our tank–all three “zippys”. We’ve lost 6 fish so far. There will be no more new fish in this aquarium until all spots are gone and the remaining fish have managed not to die for at least two weeks. BUT…it’s a little too soon to say, but Goldie and Stripey (the original fish) are looking better, and LIghtening, whom I’d long since given up as a […]

I’m pretty much through yesterday’s bad funk. I’ve infected poor Rob with it, though, and I don’t think he likes me very much right now. Not that I like me much lately, either. But we’ve always soldiered through that before, no reason not to think we will again. I’m struggling with my novel rewrite, too. When it goes well, I’m on top of the world. When it doens’t–I just opened the file and realized the character I’ve just brought in […]

I know, I know, that I get depressed when a) I need more sleep and b) it’s going to be too long before I have writing time again. So I should be able to just go to sleep and push the little black clouds off again, right? I think most of us know depression doesn’t quite work that way. The truth is that around here, we loathe weekends, which doesn’t really bode well for our marriage or family life, but […]

Other than that, all I have to say tonight is, why am I still awake? I’m feeling quite low. It’s evident that Lily has pinkeye, which will necessitate an hour and a half excursion to the doctor, as they no longer just take my word for it (or anyone’s; it’s not like I’m some sort of pinkeye boy who cried wolf). It’s like a giant, ugly conspiracy to keep me from writing. Which I’m evidently a part of, as here […]

Reddy #2 died. Full disclosure to Lily, who flushed him herself and agreed to adopt Sam’s dramatic looking swordtail, which he agreed to if he was allowed to help name it. So, Lightening, who’s been alive in the tank for nearly a week now, becomes Lily’s special fish. He’ll probably be belly-up tomorrow. So bedtime rolled around with excruciating slowness after a very long day. Lily’s been making bedtime a thing of misery and threats for weeks now, and tonight […]

Remember Kissy, ?-February 13, 2007 She (well, whatever) was Lily’s special fish, the only one she had picked out and, with encouragement from Sam, named. When she died (again, whatever), we went the honesty death route. She died, I told Lily. Why? She was sick–very very sick, fish sick. Why? I don’t know. Where is she? She couldn’t swim anymore, and she couldn’t breathe, and she died. Why? I don’t know, but she’s gone. The next day, Lily said sadly […]

The best things about the past 24 hours: We weren’t, like certain friends of ours, camping out overnight in an unheated cabin. Good news anytime, but if most of the family is going to spend the night hunched over the toilet, it’s definitely a plus that there IS a toilet. I wasn’t pregnant, so I didn’t have to both barf and panic; I could concentrate on the barfing. No one threw up on anything that couldn’t be cleaned with relative […]

My friend over at Three Little Girls is talking about natural childbirth today–or at least, intervention free childbirth. When it comes to intervention, she’s against it. Too high a c-section rate in this country, etc. She pulled off her births without epidurals, too–great if it works for you, and maybe marginally safer, but you don’t get a gold star to wear around afterwards. I know; I’ve done it both ways. You really should get a star–in fact, you should get […]

Because I have just realized that I am sufficiently cool, just the way i am. Really quite extremely cool. Probably much cooler than you, no matter how much you know about sports or how quickly you can drink a shot. I went to a college (Kansas State) with a decent team, a rivalry, star players, etc. Camped out in line for tickets. Learned the name of the coach. Went to games. Kept up, afterwards, sufficient knowledge to participate in conversations […]