TWENTY-SIX

2016 week twenty-six

Last week when Matt came home from high adventure he brought three pounds of freshly caught gulf jumbo shrimp. The boys all went deep sea fishing one morning and just as they were docking another boat pulled up full of shrimp. I was so excited. I planned a meal around these little beauties. I baked some fresh baguettes and made a green bean salad and a potato cake. My intention was to flambé the shrimp, but something went wrong (I don't know what, I've never flambeed anything before) and they ended up just getting a little bath in calvados at the end that never ignited... I've never cooked whole shrimp before and their little heads were rather poky and sharp. But I've also never tasted shrimp this fresh before. They didn't even taste like shrimp. They didn't even have the same texture; they nearly melted when you popped them in your mouth. And the delicious butter wine sauce was unreal when sopped up with your bread. Even Miss "I don't like Shrimp" enjoyed her small amount. Thank you Matthew for thinking of me when a boat full of shrimp docked next to you. And thank you for bringing them home. You know the way to my heart.

On Tuesday we received a super creepy box in the mail. I am easily spooked, especially by big old houses and most especially by dolls. I've always been spooked by dolls. As a small child I would lock my dolls in the closet at night and frequently have dreams about them attacking me. I don't know why. It's a problem. Well, I had been listening to this really great (but really spooky) podcast called Lore. And naturally I had just listened to a terrifying story about a doll -and guess what, it attacked people! Of course it did. Well, I was pre spooked. Pre spooked to the point that I was walking around with my back against a wall. And then, a mysterious package arrived in the mail with a really creepy letter and a really creepy box. Well the letter is addressed to us and goes on about how this man doesn't know us but has to relieve himself of the burden of this poor boy and the terrible woman. (I need to add here that a woman died in our house before we moved in.) And then under the letter is a NAILED SHUT wooden creep-tastic box. Well, I called Matthew and broke down. I was so frightened and I just cried and cried. I thought perhaps it was some sort of postal harassment. (Oh no! Matt was right, I should have closed all the blinds those couple times I walked around naked.) Matt tried to get me to open the box but no way. I put it on the back porch and locked the door. Well, it turns out this is a pre-made box and letters that many people have received. The general consensus is it's a service you can buy online to send to friends for fun. Not my kind of fun. We still don't know who it's from, but if you sent it to us, you spent a good deal of money to make me cry. 

Vera was not afraid of the creepy box when Papa opened it when he got home. If you want to see the contents, you can see it all HERE.

He stood up on his own today. He's really motivated to move. 

And one day we went to a cat cafe in the mall. It was 30 minutes of furry magic. 

I spy three kitties.

Luckily for the cats, they were all too quick for Theo.

This was the fancy cat room with some super grumpy cats who did NOT want to be cuddled at all.

This cat wasn't interested in Vera's cuddles either. I love the little paw against her neck.

We got cupcakes afterward. Vera said, "I want the one with the blue star" approximately 30 times. Everyone was laughing by the end. She was persistent.

Frida is starting to love Vera a little bit more. 

She was much more interested in mopping when I reminded her about Cinderella and Rapunzel mopping. 

Vera's new favorite snack is "hard cheese." This is the rind of the parmesan. The RIND! She discovered she loved this when we were running low on snacks and had to be creative. 

A better snack the next day. Vera had a hard boiled egg, a sliced tomato, some almonds and cranberries and a slice of rosemary bread with honey. I had rosemary bread with pesto, olives, almonds, sliced tomato and some lemon ginger tea. It was perfect. 

Baby boy and his sweet face.

He is constantly moving. He's into everything. He pulls chairs and trashcans and pillows and toys and dog gates down on top of his head constantly. He got stuck in the dog crate for a while and screamed and screamed until he figured it out. Vera just kept saying "Take a photo of me! Look at me!"

Quotes:

Me: We need crackers.
Matt: Yeah but I'm going to Costco, and you don't want like a duffel bag sized box of crackers.
Me: No, but we could slowly eat the crackers.
Matt: #donnorparty
Me: *laughs* and then I actually get it *laughs harder*
Matt: Put that on your blog!!

"I love gooses AND geese!" 3 minutes later "Are gooses also geese?"

The inside of my bra is pink and V picked it up and said, "Oooh! I love your pink nipples Mama."

Whenever Theodore is crying, V will say, "Theodore! It's ME! It's MEEE!"

"You named me Vera, but I just named myself Belle."

Vera made up this poem at dinner:
"One last day sat on a log. The other day was Saturday. One last more day."

"Oh Fridi leezy dozy!" (talking to Frida)

"What!? This squash sat on my head and it's trying to eat my hair! Isn't that silly?"

V: "When can you go in my nose?"
Me: "What? I can't go into your nose."
V: "When you're really tiny you can go into my nose."
Me: "I have to be really tiny?"
V: "Yeah. Tiny like the crab in Little Mermaid."

She frequently says, "When you get really tiny again, then I will be the one who decides. You will be small and I will be the boss."