13 DEC 25
Patience is following me around that morning chatting about stuff before leaving for dance... “And all the girls at dance are so into eating baby food these days! And I don't know why! Cissy asked her mom to get her more baby food after she ate fifty puff things covered in yogurt or... somethin'... I don't know... but they eat so much of them!”...
Several hours later she's warbling opera to me as I drive her home from the studio in a biting cold...
...where Yali in his pirate-y garb has dumped a near-full bottle of plant-based multi-surface spray cleaner down the bathroom sink to use the bottle for probably fake blood or something... and is looking rather guilty about it...
...Oxbear is trying to re-pour (again) the new jar candle one of the boys knocked off something a few weeks ago and broke...
...and Puck is calling for help coordinating ski lift tickets and gear rental... “MO-O-O-O-O-OM!”...
Tack on a few more hours and Oxbear and Patience return from shopping in a short sleety snow...
Doesn't take long for Patience's balancing act of canned goods in the pantry to collapse into two boxes of pasta blasted open across the tiled floor... there goes Wednesday night's dinner...
...and Yali is intricately detailing cannibal islands and blow darts to me...
...while I spend too much time checking weather reports and windchills and ski gear availability in coordination with J's mom... before mixing up brownies in the kitchen with Patience... which becomes brownie loaf because I can't find the brownie pan anywhere... “I broke it” Puck claims... suspicious... bread pan is still available though...
...and Oxbear spins up a colorized version of “It's a Wonderful Life” for the kids while they argue and occasionally whack at each other... “MO-O-O-O-O-OM!”...
It's after dinner and the windchill is creeping below zero as Puck calls for help to locate all his ski gear from last season before he drives over to J's for an overnight... just as I get into my bathrobe for the shower... “MOM!”...
...and Yali and Patience gear up for bedtime... “Mom!...” Yali sticks his head out of his bed-tent... “Wanna see how clean my teeth are?”