Who or what makes you laugh so hard that milk shoots out of your nose and why? Slapstick, dry witty comedy, your kids, Monty Python? —Kassie

This could almost be a Wordless Wednesday post. I could just throw that photo up here and be done. There are lots of things that amuse me—Kids in the Hall (I actually saw them live once), Eddie Izzard (“Do you have a flag?”), Scrubs (“Frick on a stick!”), the parenting-illustrated-with-crappy-pictures blog, Better Off Dead (“Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.”)—but the one person who is guaranteed to get a laugh out of me, no matter how stupid the joke, is Troy.

You know how with some people you just have that perfect laughter-inducing chemistry, that humor shorthand, so that things that would be mildly funny with someone else become utterly hilarious when you’re with them? That’s how we are. Sometimes all he has to do is raise an eyebrow and I crack up. I’ve known Troy for 17 years and have been married to him for nearly 16 years, and he still finds the spin on any situation to make me laugh, every single day.

I’m taking part in a blogging group called Reverb Broads that will be suggesting daily blogging prompts this December. I won’t do it every day, but I’ll be using them occasionally throughout the month as they tickle my fancy. If you want to join in, feel free! Go here or here to learn more.

October 2: Annalie’s been doing a lot of drawing on her easel chalkboard lately. I thought this one, of a pear on a branch, was particularly good.

October 3: Class in in session. (Homeschooling can be kind of awesome. In our dress code, pajamas and bedhead are perfectly acceptable attire.)

I looked out the window of Elliora’s room and saw four deer across the street in our neighbor’s yard. (One of the deer is just to the left of frame, behind a bush, so I didn’t bother trying to get it in the shot.)

October 4: I couldn’t get Elliora to lie on the couch for our monthly photo session; she kept rolling away. I tried to sneak some photos in one day when Katy happened to be in her bedroom while we were in there playing, but I couldn’t get Elliora to look at me for a single photo. Oh well. This is very representative of 10 months.

We got a new chair from our neighbors who were getting rid of it after it didn’t sell at their garage sale. Elliora loves it and has already figured out how to push it up against the couch and use it to climb up.

October 5: Troy had to come home on a lunch break. I grabbed the opportunity to take a photo of him and the girls. (He normally wears civilian clothes on his commute and changes into his uniform at work, so we don’t see him in uniform very often.)

Elliora, just reading in her chair.

October 6: My friend Carrie, who is married to a Swede and used to live in Sweden, mentioned that October 4th is National Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden, which inspired me to try making some tasty Swedish cinnamon buns, also called Kanelbullar. I knew that Swedish pearl sugar I bought just because it was pretty would come in handy someday.

I went painting pottery with both girls, and all things considered, I won’t be doing that again anytime soon. I managed to keep Elliora entertained and paint at the same time but it was exhausting.

I painted this sign (“NO WHINING. Kthx.“) for my friend Katie as an unbirthday gift for her to hang in her high-school English classroom.

October 7: Elliora decided that her toy basket looked like a comfortable place to sit.

October 8: We were invited over to our neighbors’ for pizza and the last swim of the summer in their pool. I was sitting in their living room when I glanced out the window and saw they had “Live long and prosper” painted along the inside of the fascia on their front porch, so you’d see it as you walk out the door. I’ve been over there a half-dozen times and never noticed it before.

Elliora on the left at 10 months; Annalie on the right at 17 months, in 2005.

October 10: Elliora has discovered a love of being underneath tables. We’ve discovered how many gross things and choking hazards normally live underneath our tables.

October 11: Elliora has also discovered the basket by our fireplace where we keep firewood and old newspapers. She takes her job of spreading every last sheet of newspaper around the room at least once a day very seriously.

Speaking of Trekkies, Elliora looks adorable in her ThinkGeek Starfleet Academy Cadet onesie, don’t you agree?

October 12: It’s really hard to make mashed-potato casserole look pretty.

October 13: I love it when geeky friends come bearing geeky gifts. Well, technically Laura painted the bowl on the left for me because I painted a dottery bowl for her with a BBT quote (which I never got a photo of, I just realized). And Sonja mailed the bowl (with quotes from the song Friends Forever in the Scrubs episode “My Musical”) to me, she didn’t give it to me in person. But the point stands.

October 14: These apple-pie cookies (via smitten kitchen) were extremely delicious. I kind of want to go make another complicated, time-consuming batch right this very second.

October 15: Elliora getting a taste of fall. (Har har.)

October 17: Rainbow sparkly fingernails! The polish (Rainbow Connection, natch) is from the OPI Muppet collection. It made me happy every time I glanced at my hands. Too bad it chipped and peeled so easily. But I’ve been told I should try a base coat next time and that might help.

October 18: Elliora is a climbing fool.

October 19: We went on a leaf walk for science, collecting red and gold leaves and talking about why trees change color in the fall. Annalie copied a list of words for handwriting practice and just to help her learn the words. I threw a couple of pictures in there and told her to write the words for the pictures. The picture for #6 was a tree, and I had to laugh when I saw how Annalie had spelled it. When I pointed her mistake out to her, Annalie thought it was pretty funny too. She said, “I don’t know what I was thinking. I know how to spell ‘tree!’”

And Troy’s here! Yay!

May has been a busy month. The mosaic above is only a small sample of what we were doing between the 2nd and 11th. That doesn’t even cover the time we spent at my sister- and brother-in-law’s farm with Troy’s mom and stepdad, or having dinner with Jenn and her boys, or Annalie’s zoo birthday party or painting pottery or toasting marshmallows with Katrina & her family and Joe & Kassie.

Or the fact that Sonja and Noah are here now for a two-week visit!

I have tons I want to tell you about. I have photos that I need to edit and Flickr, and blog posts I want to write. I am kind of resigned about the fact that mostly I won’t get to write them, though. I’ll be too busy feeding the baby and teaching Annalie and doing laundry and entertaining our guests and meeting up with friends and taking a quick trip to New York to meet Sarah and Suzy. I’ll do my best though, because I want to be able to read those posts in a year or two and remember this jam-packed, crazy fun month.

How’s your May going so far?

And where she lost her first baby tooth, right next to the new gap, the new adult tooth is coming in. This tooth just fell right out as Annalie was wiggling it. She and Elliora and I were just lounging around on the bed, hanging out, and suddenly Annalie said, “Hey, my tooth just fell out!” She actually had to search for it on the bed because it fell right out of her mouth.

In other news, we have not dropped off the face of the earth. We’re still here, still chugging along. How about a list?

• Elliora is growing and changing every day—she will play happily in the exersaucer long enough for me to get Annalie’s lunch made, and she flips herself over like it’s nothing and can almost hold herself upright in a sitting position.
• Annalie is extremely glad spring is here at last and tells me at least once a day that spring is her FAVORITE season. She spends a lot of time outside these days, wearing whatever she wants.
• Troy is still working crazy hours and getting home just in time to put Annalie to bed most nights. When he isn’t working he’s awesomely doing all the laundry in the house or unloading the dishwasher or doing our taxes.
• I am spending lots of time reminding myself that I am not just spending hours nursing and holding a baby when I could be doing something “more useful,” I’m preparing Elliora to meet the world as a secure, confident person, and even managing to get a bit of crocheting done occasionally. I’m also trying to figure out how to parent two kids without losing it or driving one of them to a life of crime. So far so good, mostly.
• Troy and I have gotten about halfway through Season 1 of Fringe—a show I’ve been meaning to watch since it premiered—thanks to Carrie lending us her DVDs! We are quite enjoying it. I actually know some of the stuff that’s coming down the road because I’ve watched a couple of random episodes at my parents’ house, and it’s interesting watching these early episodes knowing about the weird stuff to come.
• I really do intend to care about blogging again someday; it’s on my long-term to-do list. For now, though, eh. It’s just on the back burner. I think about things I want to blog every day, I just don’t quite get around to it. I miss it though. If you miss hearing from me feel free to check on my Flickr, which gets updated a bit more regularly.

Wow, this post was all over the place. Sorry about that. I’m also sorry if you’ve commented on this site recently and not gotten any reply from me even if you asked me a direct question. WordPress has decided to stop emailing my comments to me again. Probably I need to update to a newer version. Who knows.

What’s new with you?

Before I could answer, Annalie replied, “No thanks, I’m good.”

The blanket I’ve been furiously crocheting for Jen‘s Three is done! I finished it in the wee hours of this morning because Elliora is apparently teething and needed to be held and consoled when she was awake from 9:30 last night till 1:30 in the morning. Yes, you read that right. My babies come out of the womb with superhuman stay-awake powers. (Troy: “Gee, I wonder where they get that?”) You might think staying up till 4am to finish a project is nuts. But I am a night owl, and the blanket was so very close to being finished, and I’m leaving tomorrow for a week-long trip to Omaha with the girls while Troy stays home and works crazy hours to finish some project. I wanted to finish it and get it shipped before I leave because Jen could theoretically have the baby before I get back home! Here’s hoping.

My shirt is from ThinkGeek.com, in case you’re wondering.

And hey! The good news is, this blanket is baby-tested and -approved! It was actually sitting next to us, and Elliora reached over and grabbed it and wouldn’t let go. Then she tried to stuff it in her mouth.

Okay! So now that’s done. Here’s my to-do list for today:

The only one I might have trouble with is that last one.

It’s late and I need to go to bed because I actually have to leave the house tomorrow, but I want to write this down before I forget. It would be a shame if I forgot the details of how Annalie has made me and Troy breakfast in bed three times in the past two weeks.

First was Valentine’s Day. She came into the bedroom while I was still lying in bed nursing Elliora, a shy smile on her face and completely dressed in her Valentine outfit. She carefully crossed the room, balancing a large plate filled with a toasted cherry Pop-Tart, a mini evil cookie with pink heart sprinkles, a glass of milk, and a paper flower. She set the plate on the bed next to me and said, “Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you like the breakfast I made you.” She sat and proudly watched me eat, taking the plate and glass with her when I was done.

Next was Troy’s birthday. Troy gets up before Annalie does, so she compromised by taking him breakfast in the office. She prepared a tray with a bowl of Lucky Charms, a clementime, and a handmade birthday card and carried it downstairs without spilling a drop of milk.

This morning, I was awakened by Annalie walking into my bedroom with a full plate and a cheery, “Happy anniversary, Mom!” She grinned at me over the plate laden with a bowl of Lucky Charms with milk, a glass of milk, a snickerdoodle, and a little bowl containing the crocus we picked on our walk the day before. We talked about how I used to make breakfast in bed for my mom sometimes when I was her age; she marveled at how long ago that must have been, and wondered if Gramaw still remembers that.

Gramaw does, I told her. I know she must because I will always remember these breakfasts in bed you made for me, sweet girl.

p.s. New banner! This one is one of my favorites. Brenda based it on a vintage tray (just like this one I randomly found on Etsy!) we have hanging in our dining room.

Spicy Peanut Noodles has been one of my go-to meals for over a decade. It’s sort of a trademark of mine. I’ve served it to a lot of people over the years, and I always get requests for the recipe.

The recipe I originally based this on had a different name. Over the years this dish has become known by the name Spicy Peanut Noodles in our house. It’s not really a very descriptive name for this recipe. Something like, “Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry with Noodles and Spicy Peanut Butter Sauce” would be more accurate. But I kind of like our shorter name for it.

Troy, in a burst of culinary eloquence, once described this dish as “exquisite!” It’s one of his favorite meals, so it’s no surprise that he requested I make it for his birthday dinner last week. I decided partway through the meal prep that I should really grab my camera, take some photos, and blog the recipe so the next time someone asks me, I can just point them to this post.

Spicy Peanut Noodles
makes 6-8 servings

NOTES: One of the nicest things about this recipe is its flexibility. If you don’t like peppers, you can substitute eggplant or snow peas or green beans or whatever other vegetable you think would taste good in a stir-fry. I almost always make it with chicken breast, but you could leave that out, or use pork or tofu instead.

• 1/2 c. peanut butter
• 2/3 c. water
• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 1/4 c. lime juice
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 2 T. sesame oil
• 2 T. peanut oil or vegetable oil
• 1-2 T. grated ginger root
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in bite-size pieces
• 1/2 red onion, sliced lengthwise
• 1 leek, sliced into matchstick pieces (white and light green parts only)
• 2 small zucchini, cut into thin strips
• 2 sweet peppers, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 carrot, washed and cut into matchstick pieces or thin slices
• 12 oz. Linguine, broken into thirds
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

1. Make the peanut sauce: In a heatproof measuring cup or bowl, combine peanut butter, water, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and sesame oil. Microwave at High for 2 minutes, stirring twice. (Or combine ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until mixture is warm and smooth.) Set aside.
2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook linguine al dente. Drain and return to pot. Add a little of the sauce and toss to prevent noodles from sticking to each other.
3. In wok or large nonstick skillet, heat 1 T. peanut oil over med-high heat. Add ginger root garlic, and onion; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add chicken and cook, stirring, till all chicken is cooked, 3-4 minutes. Add chicken to the noodles.
4. Add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet. Once it’s hot, add vegetables and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until vegetables are just tender-crisp. Add the rest of the sauce to the skillet and stir till heated through.
5. Add vegetables to the noodles and chicken in the pot and toss it all together till everything is mixed and the sauce coats everything. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve warm or at room temperature.