Cleaning = mayhem?

"Boys, after lunch, I want you to clean our your dress-up bins. Let's remove things you don't play with anymore or that don't fit." "OK."

"OK."

After a few minutes I hear, "Oliver, cover my face with the police hat. Uh, all the way."

Then I see this.

Don't you like the toy pistol next to Nutmeg?

Perfect roast chicken, marbelized celeriac, bread, wine, wow

Long title short, last night's dinner was fantastic. It totally hit the spot. My chicken was wonderfully seasoned; every bite was a starburst of flavorful, chickeny perfection. Though I had wildly under-salted my bread, it was beautiful and made a great platform for olive oil and butter. I never got to the "color" in our meal, but the roasted celery root was golden and good. Look at this perfectly marbelized chunk. Gorgeous, eh?

We have a wildly busy day ahead: Tae Kwon Do, a birthday party, exercise sessions and we're hosting a second grade potluck tonight. It's a gorgeous day outside though, and I've started things off right with a fresh batch of Apple Cider Muffins. These are spectacularly good- make some for yourself soon!

PS- Did y'all see this Wes Anderson-inspired skit on SNL last weekend? Priceless! Brilliant!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Jack, Harry Potter, had an absolute blast with his pal, The Declaration of Independence, last night. Meanwhile,Oliver enthusiastically dressed as Cinderella, and he, Tom, Percy and I headed out around 6. After one house, at which the entire family answered the door, he turned to us and said, "I wanna go home and change into Iron Man." I'm not totally sure what prompted his desire to take things in a different direction, but we simply said, "Sure thing, honey." Frankly, it was nice to drop Percy off and leave him behind. And Ol, T and I had a marvelous time together.

This morning, the boys engaged in the most harmonious candy trade ever. J tried to pull the wool over Ol's eyes one time, but everyone immediately called him out on it, so he sheepishly backtracked. It was hilarious. Ol received a bat-headed Pez dispenser last night, and you'd have thought he won the lottery. Jack felt similarly about his "King-sized Hershey bar." I didn't have the heart to tell him it was just a standard one. I reminded them that they'd need to choose about 20% of their respective stashes to donate to the candy bin at school (which is donated to a local shelter), and even that was an unbelievably smooth and agreeable process.

Today started with a rainy bang but the skies have since calmed. I had a meeting and then returned home to cook -fresh granola just emerged from the oven; bread is next- and catch up. Lovely, lovely. Happy November 1st, all!