A good time was had by all.

• Lily stayed sitting for half a minute after Gina sat her upright in bed,

• Elsie escaped underneath a bench and had to be cornered behind the pew during Sunday School,

• Timmy decided that he was the third strongest in the family, after Daddy and Mommy,

• Abby got new pink sweat pants,

• Katie decided she wanted to be a cow girl “when I grow up, I mean for Halloween” after watching The Man from Snowy River,

• Gina made a quilt from start to finish,

• and I played with the 4 oldest from 10:00 to 8:30 on Saturday while Gina was in Santa Fe.  (It was a treat.)

A new perspective

If you are using Windows XP and want a new perspective on life, press CTRL-ALT-down_arrow.  To go back press CTRL-ALT-up_arrow.   Try the side arrows too!

Fall is inaugurated

• Lily celebrated her 6 month birthday by taking a bath in the kitchen sink,
• Elsie got out of her dress and into her play clothes almost completely by herself,
• Timmy crushed his big left toe and got to wear a sandal in place of his Sunday shoe,
• Abby discovered that she can make translucent art on the windows using her finger,
• Kate wrote in her journal every night,
• Gina made her first batch of fresh noodles for lasagna last night, and
• I added whole lime slices blended up to this batch of sorbet. (It’s excellent.)

Lily’s 6 month birthday

Two pictures of Lily at a chubby, fun 6 months.

Mindless eating

I just read a fascinating CNN article on the role of convenience with regard to our choices, particularly with regard to food.  I quote from it using italics here:

What really influences our eating, he says, are visibility and convenience.

In one experiment, Wansink placed candy jars of chocolate in office workers’ cubicles for a month. Then, he moved the candy six feet away. Simply having the candy closer meant the office workers ate five more candies a day. That adds up to 125 calories a day, or 12 pounds a year. 

“Something that’s very visible, every time we see it we have to make a decision. Do I want to eat that? Do I not want to eat that? Do I want that candy on my desk, or do I not want it? We can say no 27 times, but if it’s visible, the 28th or 29th time, we start saying, ‘Maybe.’ By time 30, 31, we start saying, ‘What the heck? I’m hungry,’ ” Wansink says.

At least two principles are here:

1. Convenience can be a powerful tool or a road to failure so it is worth taking time to engineer your environment to use it in your favor.
2. If you don’t want to do something it is easier if you only make the decision one time and then stick with it.

One beautiful week at the late edge of summer

• Lily attempted not only to devour more than her fair share of magazines, but also to feast on the scriptures,
• Elsie won the intense interest and admiration of Lily (5 months) and Amy (8 months) by serreptitiously slipping them some of her roll,
• Timmy explained that he already knew almost enough to go to the temple because “I already know ‘be quiet,’ and I already know ’sit still,’”
• Abby showed us a whole new repertoire of remarkable dance moves from several different genres,
• Katie created and christened at least 12 watercolors including such titles as “Red Rain” and “Butterfly and Animals in Background,” and “Windy Day,”
• Gina took chicken divan from a great meal to a transcendental experience through careful and simultaneous control of a host of important details, and
• I wrote my first Google Gadgets.

Dilbert’s investment advice

Actually, advice from Adams.

It seems pretty sound.

Courage, delight, pain, completion, creation, edification, and complication

• Lily sat herself up in her bouncy seat,
• Elsie got a new doll house,
• Timmy had his first good set of scrapes from running on the street,
• Abby finished her third series of books,
• Kate brought home an elephant sculpture,
• Gina finished “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and
• I had to go back to using a calendar for scheduling events.

Motion, discovery, romance, art, music, cuisine, and film

This week

• Lily, whose scant hair is starting to rub off the back of her head, rotated 180 degrees and scooted across the carpet while we watched Horatio Hornblower v3,
• Elsie discovered that moderate amounts of ice and water fail to destroy her father’s watch and computer,
• Timmy became the unwitting subject of the marital plans of a cute little girl a block away from us,
• Abby showed me her box of most precious possessions, most of which she had created herself,
• Kate was caught dancing like she was in a musical while building a fort for Timmy and Elsie and singing lyrics like “We’ve got to get it built tonight, it won’t be perfect but it will be alright,”
• Gina made an apple pie with the quality of the crust almost eclipsing the perfect apples, and
• I watched 4 movies after an unintentional cinematic fast that had lasted months and learned that I love Horatio Hornblower episodes.