Be afraid, be very afraid.

I’ve just made the executive decision to post all the drafts in my drafts folder.

There. I said it. I’ve been debating all weekend about it and now I’m going to do it.

For the only reason that it cleans it up a bit.

And I do enjoy a clean house.

But today, I’ll just leave you with this picture.

Because three boys do not prepare you for your first girl.

And you know what she wanted? Cereal? Crackers? leftover Halloween candy?

No, none of that.

Prunes.

I have to hide the prunes or she would eat them all.

One time I was trying to bribe her into taking a bath. I offered her chocolate.

She took the chocolate and then insisted on a prune too.

And she ate the prune first.

Childproofing: The act of making everything in your home accessible to children

Obviously, after having four children, I now have extensive experience with small children. And thereby keeping small children safe.

I think I could even fancy myself as sort of an expert at childproofing now.

So, I thought I’d throw a few little tips your way. You know, things I’ve learned along the way that aren’t as obvious to average people.

Let’s start in the kitchen. There’s usually dangerous things in there.

Umm, not sure what’s going on here.

Is she going for the knives or the tomatoes?

Oh, phew! For a second there I thought she was going to grab that kn…

Wait, why aren’t you wearing pants? And how did you get a green marker! And more importantly, why would you color your legs with it?!

And you really ought to turn that plastic box upside down. It’ll distribute your weight better.

On second thought…you guys are doing great.

Keep up the good work.

Happy Birthday to my eldest

I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday.

It doesn’t seem like 10 years ago.

Except when I remember how many times we’ve moved.

Happy birthday Buddy!

I hope you see 100 more.

 

Thanksgiving this year

This year, Thanksgiving was a little underwhelming. Mr. French and I, for various reasons, were not really looking forward to it as we usually do.

I was determined to do something for the kids though. On a whim, we ordered a smoked turkey from a local restaurant. And we should have bought a pie but I’m very picky about baked goods and we didn’t do enough research to find a good one. So I made an apple crisp.

And then we made the kids do everything else.

I just chopped the celery!

I can't believe Mom is letting us use a machine! That chops things!

Uh, where are the adults?

Oh, I see. Supervising from a distance.

They show up when the big knives come out.

And the boys said it was the most fun holiday they’ve ever had. (Maybe they forgot that some holidays have presents?)

After everyone sat down with very full plates, C and J said everything was good but they just weren’t hungry anymore. And S said he was still hungry and he went on to have three helpings of everything. Felicity ate cranberry sauce and a couple of green beans.

And then we watched a movie about Henry Ford and a movie about the history of Alaska. (Because Mr. French is in charge of the Netflix queue.)

So actually, it was much better than I expected.