my maniacal plan to feed vegetables to children!

i called the police on a neighbor yesterday. the jerk was riding his dirt bike on the street. umm hello!!? i realize i dont live in beverly hills but for crying out loud have some respect for our community! augustine and i were walking to the communal area mailboxes and heard the man firing up his engine and in my mind the tape recorder goes - oh no he is NOT ... [vroom!] ... oh no he didn't! ... [peels out] so i walk augustine across the street to his friends house who was out beckoning him to come play in his yard and he (5 yrs old) tells me that the man once rode the bike up on the side walk at him. add this to the fact that his mom once told me that the man likes to get high, i stormed inside and called the police. first, you simply can't ride such a vehicle on the street. second, my child was outside playing in an unfenced-in yard so if the man wanted to ride up on the sidewalk again my kid or any other in the neighborhood might get hit. and this is all quite a bit more likely if youre smoking up a joint and having yourself a one man party at freaking 2 o'clock in the afternoon on a weekday. by the time the police got here, surprisingly fast considering we technically live within the city limits and not in the richy rich school district we belong to, the man had packed up and gone inside so they were unable to do anything. i shall have WORDS upon WORDS with that man if i see it happen again.

i popped my head inside a neighbors house (the above mentioned friend's mother) to see how they were doing. they have a 6 week old beeb and i knew she'd just gone back to work. she looked totally fried, saying all 4 kids had been sick recently and she was really stressed. so i told her to let the two oldest kiddos (5 & 3) come to our house and play for a few hours. i mean it's not like i was having a showing on the house or anything - let em trash it a little if it gives the poor woman a break. four kids!! under 5 !! with two parents working what i suspect are minimum wage jobs !!

not to be all self righteous about my own rearing but i gather the kids eat a pretty subpar diet. ive never even heard them speak about eating anything other than hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and a nightly supper of taco bell (their dad works there). so i figured i'd make them a healthy supper of vegetable soup and asked all three kids (xavier 5, alexandar 3, and then auggie 2 1/2) to come help me out and cook. that was really fun to be honest. xavier is the most helpful, sweet natured boy i think i've ever met. so eager to help and is inquisitive but not pushy and giving you the third degree about everything. so we sit down to dinner and the three year old cries that he "hate this!" and wont even take a bite, runs across the street like i was trying to poison him with my evil veggies. (he comes back saying his mom gave him a hot dog. all was right in the world again) so much for my big plan to fill them up with good food huh? i can only try so much. auggie ate fine and xavier picked out all of the potatoes, smooshed them between two crackers and proclaimed that he had invented a new sandwich. boys are fantastic. im glad they came over. every night during prayer augustine thanks Jesus for "the boys". its breaking my heart to move away from them and end their friendship.

augustine has been a delight lately.

-- stringing popcorn for the tree - he eating, i stringing and every so often laying claim to whatever random kernel i am trying to string.
-- cooking together
-- typewritter, tip, tip, tip, tip (we have danced around to this a lot lately)
-- stating his case much like a mini-lawyer as to why he should be allowed to eat candy canes all day


olive agrees (but of course gets shut down)


who needs a dish washer when youve got baby drool!


this is my footstool while i work on the computer





she is not hard to love at all

oh and i started my new job from home this week transcribing medical reports.