GUESS WHAT...

GUESS WHAT...
Originally uploaded by xinacoconuts

...Time it is? :-)

THANKSGIVING PEOPLE

THANKSGIVING PEOPLE
Originally uploaded by xinacoconuts

So our camera kicked the bucket earlier this week, and we're having to
rely on ye olde camera phone...don't let the poor quality of the picture
fool you...this has been one of the best days since arriving in this
green and pleasant land!

THANKSGIVING DINNER ROLLS

THANKSGIVING DINNER ROLLS
Originally uploaded by xinacoconuts

Rolls made from scratch over an 18hr period...
--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

THANKSGIVING PIE

THANKSGIVING PIE
Originally uploaded by xinacoconuts

Damn! Now that's an apple pie!

Royal!

Royal!
Originally uploaded by xinacoconuts

Getting ready to head out an do an obscene amount of holiday grocery
shoping!

COMMERCIAL BREAK

go to WE NEED NEW NEEDLES (Rik's notebook) to see quickie sketch of Young Master Super-Speed.

(also to see what else Rik has been jotting down, and to hear the depressing music he's been listening to...)

SOME SUNNY DAY

Thanks to the Astonishing Sarah Belcher, here's some new pictures...
(Hella and Royal spend an hour or two every afternoon at the Belchers' house, hanging out with Sarah and her Astonishing Offspring, Ingrid and Malcolm...)

Ingrid hurt her knee, so Royal had to check it out


Royal and Malcolm speaking telepathically


Sometimes Hella is sad


Sometimes Hella shines


Hella is beautiful


Royal is happy

BAD-ASSSSSSS!!!

Look at that picture!
Isn't it easy to imagine him as Batman...
No, seriously...
President by day, kicking ass by night.
We are so excited!
It's about time we got a LEADER to lead us!
It's a brand new world!

Obama '08

Obama '08
Originally uploaded by xinacoconuts

Waiting in line to vote!
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

HALLOWEEN 2008

So...

In the strobe-light, whirligig hurricane that has been our lives for the past month, Halloween kept getting pushed to the back burner.

We had some vague ideas about what to do, but nothing definite.

------

Jump ahead to 4pm on the day...Christina gets home from work (Rik is off on Fridays), the parents have some coffee and then get busy cobblin' together some creations...

We had a store-bought bottle of fake blood and then whatever we could scrounge from toy boxes, closets and still-unpacked boxes.

This is how it ended up...

Lots of smiles!


and

Lots of blood!


We went out with our bestest friends Sarah, Ingrid and Malcolm (Josh works late), but unfortunately didn't get any pics of them! (Ingrid = mouse, Malcolm = lion, Sarah = hot mom).

Boris was THE KING OF DEATH IN THE WINTER


Spike was A ZOMBIE PIRATE FROM BEYOND THE APOCALYPSE

(we didn't get any good pics of JUST him)

Hella was SUNRISE, FAERIE OF THE MORNING LIGHT


Royal was INDIANA SPEED, ROOTIN' TOOTIN' ADVENTURE BOY

Royal was completely excited about the whole idea of getting free candy...every time somebody put something in his bag, he had to show everybody around what he had gotten!

Since it was his first REAL Halloween, we let him have as much candy as he wanted...he gorged...then spent the night crying with a belly-ache!

Classic!

BOTH FEET ON THE GROUND

So...

I was going to scan in and post the Halloween drawings the kids have done over the last few days. But then I realized the printer/scanner isn't yet hooked up from the move.

So...

You're gonna have to settle for another picture or two...

All on their own, the kids started having small book parties in the mornings.
They typically are ready for school 20-30 minutes before they have to leave, so they raid our bookshelves looking for interesting things. In this picture (happens to have been taken the first day of school), Boris and Hella are reading Edward Gorey's "Gashlycrumb Tinies", while Spike looks through the "Book of Bunny Suicides". Royal is just snogging his Stinker-eater...as usual...


This is one of those unplanned, offhand shots that turns out really well. We were at Gravelly Point (a park right next to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) early one morning, watching the planes take off. The sky was crisp, the air was sharp, Boris was being beautiful...

REWIRED

Back online at last.
Here's a few pictures from recent weeks...

Royal is a baby no longer...


Xina and Hella outside National Air and Space Museum


Rik and Royal in National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden


Hella excited to be riding the Metro


Walking the boys to their first day of school in Virginia with our new house in the background. (Can you tell Spike was nervous?)


Meeting the boys after their first day of school in Virginia.

Columbus Day!

Columbus Day!
Originally uploaded by xinacoconuts

Every boy should have a purse to go with a fancy new haircut!
;)

THERE'S A WHAT-NOW COMING..??

Friday, 09-12-2008, 10am

...eek!

The Adventures of Royal and His Split Scalp!

The Adventures of Royal and His Split Scalp!
Originally uploaded by xinacoconuts

more to come...
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END OF AUGUST

Recent things of note...

Royal is now sleeping in a bed instead of a crib.
Hella's haircut has transformed her into an amazingly cute pixie.
Spike has been named the 9th Marvel of the Modern World.
Boris has started second grade!
Christina is loving being a working woman.
Rik is covered in warts.

Pictures...

The Real Hella Katchoo

The Real Hella Katchoo
Originally uploaded by xinacoconuts

Sarah and family are visiting Texas and she was kind enough to cut
Hella's hair for me! I think it reflects Hella personality totally and
completely!
Thanks Sarah!

SPARKLY

"...the central dynamic of our race has never been a conflict between good and evil but rather between enlightenment and ignorance.

Ignorance makes the headlines, wins the medals, doles out the punishment, jingles the coin, yet in its clandestine cubbyholes (and occasionally on the public stage) enlightenment continues to quietly sparkle, its radiance outshining the entire disco ball of history.

Its day may or may not come, but no matter.

The world as it is!

Life as it is!

Enlightenment as its own reward."

Tom Robbins, 1997

THE PLACE WHERE WE COME FROM

A WEEKEND AT THE VILLA INCOGNITO
DAY THREE

Well...

The morning was spent recuperating from the lack of a normal bedtime the night before. Our kids don't do so well when they're sleep-deprived. There was house-cleaning, cooking, playing with Star Wars toys...usual stuff...

Then, Aunt Robyne stayed home with them while I went to work.

We didn't even get any pictures...

Tomorrow, Mommy comes home!

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SOUNDTRACK:
Apples in Stereo
The Misfits
Iron & Wine
Les Savy Fav

LIVIN' IN A SHOE

A WEEKEND AT THE VILLA INCOGNITO
DAY TWO



Potty Mouth: Spike loves to push buttons. If he finds out something that makes you gasp, you will never get him to stop doing it. One of those things he's discovered that gets a reaction out of grown-ups is curse words.

note: To Spike, jerk, stupid, and shut up are all curse words.

note #2: He also knows most of the not-so-cute ones.

Today, it had become a bit of a problem, so I gave him permission to say whatever words he wanted for the rest of the day. Under the condition that he and I sit down at the end of the night and have a discussion about it.

After a moment's hesitation he blurted out, "Can I say shit?"
"Today only," was my reply.
"What about stupid big fat jerk?"
"Sure."
More hesitation...
"Fuck?"
I'm pretty sure he didn't notice the teeniest bit of hesitation on my part...
"Yes, if you feel like you need to," I answered.

He gave me one of those deep, immortal stares that he has, raised his eyebrows, smiled, and went back to his Batman action figure.

He didn't mention it again the rest of the day.



Slumber Party But-Not-So-Much-Massacre:
We ended the night by putting a big pile of blankets and pillows all over the living room floor, busting out the Twizzlers, stringing up a sheet as a tent, and watching Gamera, Hercules, Conan, X-Men, and Star Wars movies...I'll have to let you know tomorrow which kid lasted the longest...



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SOUNDTRACK:
Peter, Bjorn & John
R.E.M.
M.I.A.

A MOMENT OF SILENCE, PLEASE

In a village by a waterfall, a family is mourning the loss of its youngest daughter - she died, then she was born.

A life lived in reverse.

We cry for ourselves. We cry because we never got to know her. We cry because it hurts.

But just for a second think about what life was like to her, through her rear-view mirror way of looking at this world...it was probably one hell of a ride.

Imagine careening through the streets of life by only looking in the rear-view...

Wouldn't you laugh, with your head spinning, and people and places and things whizzing by too quickly to comprehend..?

With that perspective on life's highway think of how interesting it all would be...

You wouldn't have to suffer the tedium of dinner parties with people you dislike, the drudgery of high school, the stomachaches and headaches and any other kinda aches those of us driving sensibly through life with our hands at ten & two have to endure...

Your life would be full of adrenaline, speed and thrill!

So, though Lillian's life was short (in the way we measure things), it had to be full of high-octane excitement. I'm sure she enjoyed herself.

Please rev your engines.

GONE, MOMMY, GONE

A WEEKEND AT THE VILLA INCOGNITO
DAY ONE

Christina (a.k.a. Mommy, Xina, Eena, et al) has gone. She went to New York to visit a friend who...well, let's just say right now she needs her friends to come visit. 'Nuff said about that.

So...

Rik (a.k.a. Daddy, and...um...Rik) is home from work for four days (except for that pesky shift Saturday afternoon...couldn't get out of that one...).

We are going to whoop like cranes, dance like bears and have a grand time (like pianos..?).


First, though, there must be breakfast (Mommy is crazy and decided to make her infamous Morning Glory Muffins, from scratch, at 6am this morning)...


Next comes housecleaning...


Rewarded, of course, by gorging ourselves silly on watermelon and Pop Tarts for lunch (Pop Tarts not shown).


An afternoon full of video games, wrestling, running around naked in the backyard during a rainstorm (poor little Hurricane Dolly's leftovers), a movie and off to bed only about an hour past the usual time...an a-ok first day.

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SOUNDTRACK:
The Black Keys
Bob Dylan
Architecture in Helsinki