9yo: “But why do you have to go?” - because people in my team work very hard, and they deserve a day off. So I’ll go. But I’ll be back soon! 9yo: Because you’re trying to help people? - yup. And do some pretty cool science.

Note: they are, in fact, no longer behaving. But in the best possible way :) Happy holidays everyone!

“Horsey! Horsey! Horsey! Horsey! Horsey!” Me: ? “Horsey! Horsey! Hooooooooorsey!” Me: Awww, do you like the horsey! “No.”

Teeny tiny twins. (They are behaving. Nothing was unwrapped)

Twin baby, completely asleep in my arms: “Red, red!” Spouse: Oh I wonder if that’s is favorite color! Me: *worried in Kubrick.

5yo boy to my 9yo daughter: “is that other girl real, or a doll?” That other girl was my 7yo. Who looks identical to Shirley Temple.

The girl, in a nutshell: 7yo: Sis, is Santa make-believe? 9yo: No, sis, Santa is real! (They both know he’s not. 9yo knows because it doesn’t make sense, and 7yo knows because she is Sherlock freaking Holmes if Sherlock was even more awesome. They just don’t want to break one another’s heart)

Happy holidays, or happy “leave a trail of breadcrumbs and some milk behind so they can keep their childhood wonder a tiny bit longer” day for those who celebrate!

Also, vibes:

I firmly believe this girl will set the heights of the world on fire long before she is 17.

“There are some things I can climb and then feel very glad. But then there are things I can climb, locked inside, sad. Nothing has its perfection, sometimes thing’s aren’t at their best. There’ll be tweaks I need to fix, even in a test. 1/2

It gives me untold delight to stop using bank of America. That is it. That is the post.

Me: Hey, did you girls see that huge thing back there? It was so pretty! Girls: What? Twin 1: It was a fish. Twin 2. Yes. It was red.

“…keep that mask on. But one day... One day you’ll find yourself someplace safe and without worries and without everyone watching, and it’ll just fall right off… You will cry for…everybody… we’ve lost along the way, and you’ll be glad you had it on”. Matt Dinniman The Butcher's Masquerade (Edited)

20 grant applications this year. No hits. Sigh. We keep going. But it is exhausting.

New bank account (BoA has no branches in Alabama and they are predatorial leaches, and I feel I need to say sorry to leaches). Yeah, let’s buy groceries at Publix with it! “Fraud alert, your card as been blocked.” Sigh. Good thing I learned my lesson and kept the old one for a bit longer.

It is surreal to me that the post I made about the 22 month old twins cleaning up markers because I sang to them is the single highest liked post I’ve ever had on this platform. Well, I post stuff like that all the time. ;)

Small blessings. At least it wasn’t singing.

“Are you taking something for weight loss?” (Rude) Me: Nah. Terrified of needles. It’s simpler than that: the twins sleep better, and I can walk again. “That’s it?” Me: Well… I walk a LOT. It’s really boring, but works for me.

What?? Brown??

The only medication I take is occasionally Tylenol. When I was a kid, my Tylenol equivalent tasted foul. It was a white bitter pill. I hated it. Which, I later realized, was by design. Explain to me then, what are these Tylenol red pills that looked like M&Ms and are disgustingly sweet?

I’m alone with the twins while the girls are at a party. They spill color markers everywhere. A mess. I thought “ you know what? I can try.” I sang the cleanup song. They freaking cleaned up. Amaze. Amaze. Amaze.

A friend “an then this amazing thing happened!” Me: Amaze! Amaze! Amaze! Friend:… you’re really excited for Project Hail Mary, aren’t you? Me: AMAZE!!!

Ok, so listen, the twins learned that dinosaurs roar. It’s adorable. But it has an hilarious consequence. There’s a little Sesame Street book where Elmo finds an apple with a worm. Every single time, they both roar when they see the worm. Essentially, my kids think that worms are dinosaurs.

- Hey, so how did school go? 7yo: It went well but they had a weird rice. It had vegetables, and tasted a bit… soapy. - Soapy? Did it taste weird to you 9yo? 9yo: No! 7yo: Well, it tasted soapy to me. Daddy do you think it had cilantro? Me: What. No, what? What do you know about cilantro?

9yo had a project on turning a shoe into something else. She turned it into a pool. And they had to write a short story. “My pool dreams of people swimming in the space of thoughts” We try to raise them, but honestly, I am clueless as to where this comes from.

Sigh. Transformation into Santa 30% complete. Aging is unfriendly, y’all.

Me: How did your test go? 7yo: Dunno. Me: What was it about? 7yo: It was an iReady test. There hard questions, like 56:7, but I think I got it right. Me: I…. What? 7yo:.. Me: You… you haven’t learned multiplication, have you? 7yo: No. Me: Did… did they tell you how that test works? 7yo: No.

Piano teacher “So do you know what forte means?” 7yo: Oh yes, I know Forte! Our teacher at school taught us about dynamics, and.. PT: What word did you just use??? 7yo: Dynamics? PT: Girl I have students three years ahead of you that don’t know what that means!

Nobody told me the sheer amount of bills you get as an adult and I’d like to request a refund for adulthood, it’s clearly a pyramid scheme.

“Mr Dalliard, we’ve been activated!”

Sigh. Tired.

This is one of the few songs (that’s a lie, I don’t know why I lied there. Sorry.) that I can hear in a loop while walking. Just something soothing about it. What are your 1 loop songs?

Mood:

Ain’t they a beaut? :D

Well this is a new one. Never been wished “a pleasant life” before.

Anyone at Harvard need a super well-trained undergrad next semester? Cell culture, molecular bio, microscopy and data analysis. Very careful and rigorous. Good lab citizen. Ready to jump in and learn/get some data! Has light course load, so plenty of time for research! Let me know of any leads!

Factsz

Hey folks in Dresden, I have a very good friend that is a microscopy expert there in a bit of a tight spot - anyone have any openings ? DM me!

AI cannot tell my twins apart.

PSA: do not send requests for letters of recommendation during Thanksgiving weekend. Give us, like one weekend without emails, please.

Oh it’s that time of the year again!! Happy

Baby friend?

Normal and great 🫩 > Microsoft triggered a viral furor when it revealed a Teams update to tell your company when you’re not at work. Now Google has done the same. Forget end-to-end encryption. A new Android update means your RCS and SMS texts are no longer private. www.forbes.com/sites/zakdof...

I just drove three miles to find my spouse’s prescription because I thought I had left it in the shopping cart. It was in the trunk of our car. Nothing else of value is getting done today.

As the babies now sleep (a little) better, I have gone back to 3h walking/day. The thing is, this is a gorgeous place to do it, but it isn’t Boston. It gets boring. The only thing helping me through it is the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks. Those things scratch an itch I didn’t know I had.

We just got word that 7yo’s class pet, a hamster named “Pringles” passed. First sentence out of her, in total agony, was: “but who will take care of him now?”

“What color is this ball?” “Azul!!”

A reminder that the first US born pope will visit Turkey for Thanksgiving. :P (Look, I’m sure it’s important but come on..)

“I wish I could write poetry like you sister.” “You can. It’s not just words, and the words barely matter. A teardrop can be poetry.” I can’t. Even. With. These. Girls.