homecake

Snow, finally.

2012-01-16T15:36:00.000-08:00

After a two year hiatus, we finally got some snow!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-02T16:25:00.000-08:00

Well, we've reached the very end of winter break. It's raining hard and already quite dark outside. All the Christmas flare is stored away again, most of the cookies are gone. It seemed like it went on forever - probably because we didn't do much which was just enough for me! We actually took the whole two weeks off from schoolwork. Freedom! The boys usually do pretty well with getting everything done, but that's not to say they always do it happily. We didn't even take the summer off, so I really needed the break.

Christmas was lovely. Good times with our family, wonderful gifts we've all been enjoying and playing with. I've had several leisurely, hot, peppermint baths (a gift of scented bath salts)and snacked on way too many gluten free frosted holiday cut-out cookies. Anyway. We get back to our routine tomorrow and since the bridge tolls have finally started, Chris will be leaving by 6:30 so I'll be up and going then as well.

Here are a few photos.

On Christmas Eve we attended the candlelight service at our neighborhood church and then walked home with our candles still burning.

...the kids getting their first glimpse of the presents under the tree early on Christmas morning.

And then they unpacked and unwrapped their socks on our bed.

Yogi, Henry, and Beck study the latest Lego book together.

The family gathers for brunch and more presents.

Finally at the end of Christmas day, I looked in on the boys before I went to bed and this is how I found Yogi. Apparently, he'd been working on the puzzle he got from Auntie Emme right up until the moment he fell asleep.

Bird Fight on My Hand

2011-11-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

This is from our latest visit to Campbell River Valley Regional Park. Last summer you could say the birds were interested in the seeds on our hands, but now that it's winter they were downright enthusiastic. We couldn't keep them away! It is truly a unique experience to have these little creatures perched on your fingers.

Cubs Do the Strangest Things

2011-11-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

Last week in cub scouts the entire pack assembled outside of Top Pot Doughnuts - the place where Grampa Tommy takes all the kiddos when he's visiting. They assembled "LED Throwies" which included a magnet

and then pitched them up at the big doughnut where some dads were waiting to straighten things out and make it look good.

I'm still not clear as to exactly why they did this, but at the end of the event, the big doughnut was twinkling with tiny multicolored lights and everyone got a glazed old fashioned to go.

Not bad for a pack meeting!

The Pumpkins

2011-10-29T21:01:00.001-07:00

Portland Mini-Trip

2011-10-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we drove down to Stumptown for a quick visit. It was my darling niece's 7th birthday so we packed up a batch of gluten free cupcakes, a few little gifts, and headed down. The best present of all, of course, was just for all the cousins to run around together.

We spent quite a bit of Saturday at the park where Pritam had a soccer game and our kids got busy on the seesaws which was a novel experience for them. After the game we rambled in Forest Park to enjoy the fall colors and it was there where we saw our first ever crawdad and this strange little mouse.

I don't know if something was wrong with him or what, but he was perfectly comfortable nibbling on a seed pod right in the middle of a heavily used path.

He was the size and shape of small grey pom pom and had very clean looking, delicate white feet. Was he was a baby?? In the end we shooed him across the path and into the forest duff on the other side.

Cubs in the House

2011-10-05T19:34:00.001-07:00

After sitting for a year on the waiting list, the boys finally got spots in Pack 144, Washington's oldest cub scout pack and one of the oldest in the country - over 80 years running. The pack has close to 100 boys and they meet weekly at a local elementary school to do all kinds of fun and crazy stuff. Tonight they're running around in the park next to our house playing Capture the Flag in the dark (and the rain!) with glow sticks. It's pretty impressive!

Over the course of the school year they have 4 weekend long campouts and the first was a few weekends ago to Blake Island. The island is only accessible by boat so all the gear had to be packed up and lugged onto a chartered boat. These photos are from that first trip. You might want to get comfortable; there are a lot of photos here!
The pack is primarily a dad and son pack so with the boys in separate dens, Chris is very busy! Beck is a Wolf Cub and Yogi is a Tiger Cub.

They had unseasonably warm, clear weather for the first night and day.
That's the Space Needle you can see through the tent window!
Fishing was a big hit with both the boys.

Yogi got a "segment" (small patch) for his shirt for participating in the sea otter swim and believe me, he earned it! That water is cold! Beck impressed his den mates with his double s'more. On Saturday night they had a candlelight ceremony for all the new boys earning their Bobcat badge. Both Beck and Yogi participated.

Brand New!

2011-09-26T22:19:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome a brand new American citizen! Here she is holding the proof.

And with that, we have completed our adoption. I guess you're technically not required to apply for citizenship for your adopted baby, but it was always our intention and we're finally done. The new hair style is compliments of her preschool teacher, Metti.

And just for fun, here she is at the beginning of our journey together three years ago. This was taken within an hour of meeting her:

Cabin Trip Part 2

2011-09-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

(Look carefully at Yogi's hand.)
Ok, this is the craziest thing that's happened to us on the trail! When we first started down the path at Campbell River Valley Regional Park we noticed that the Chickadees and Nuthatches were acting very strange: hovering right in front of us, buzzing around us - just not the way typical birds act. And then later down the trail we ran into some people with sunflower seeds on their hands and the birds were landing briefly, grabbing a seed, and then flying off. The people kindly offered our kids some seeds and much to their delight, the birds immediately began perching on their hands. Sometimes they would land and stare for a long time. Other times they would pick through all the seeds looking for just the right one before taking off again. It really was a major thrill for all of us!

On the Trail

2011-09-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Well, hello again. My last post was from the spring and now we're done with summer. Not the weather; that finally just arrived! The last 8 days have been over 80 and today it's close to 90 which is more like late July / August weather. But enough about that. Chris prepared all sorts of pretty pictures from our last trip of the summer so I'm here to share those along with a few words of explanation.

It was a fantastic summer - a trip to Hawaii, a family session at summer camp in Eastern Washington, relatives visiting, and nice times with those that live here, and finally we spent a week up at the cabin. It was a week of rambles through the woods, on the beaches, and in some new parks we discovered just across the border in B.C. A week of rest hours and campfires, and happy hours with chips and salsa on the deck.

This first batch of photos are from the trail. Above you see us at Crescent Beach in B.C. Here's a bit from their community page that captures the feel of the village nicely:
A sense of peace permeates the shady back lanes, and a walk along the ocean front path passes history in the form of rustic log houses, beach front cottages and heritage homes nested in mature trees.

We spent our time on Blackie's Spit, a nature preserve and home to a large variety of interesting birds. Chris caught this Goldfinch mid-air!
The next few photos were taken at Serpentine Fen Bird Sanctuary. We saw more blackberries than birds, but we did get to watch a Great Blue Heron catch and gulp down several fish.

This next one was taken on the "Listening Bridge" at Campbell River Valley Regional Park (more about what we saw there in the next post!).We walked through old growth forest (though this picture doesn't show the big trees) at the Stimpson Family Nature Preserve. The trail was so quiet in there with the thick forest duff.

Here we are at Aldergrove Lake Park.

And finally Beck, Chris, and I high stepped it through the tall grass to check out the heronry.Unlike last spring, it was very quiet so we thought the whole place was empty. But suddenly we heard some loud grunting, squawking, brawling noises and looked up to see a heron coming in for a landing - apparently with some food for her hungry family. They must have nested later than most.

Our "Nachrwok"

2011-05-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

Many weeks ago we spent a few more days up at the cabin and both of the boys wrote about it in their journals. Today I'm posting Beck's words straight from the page:

I sow frogs at the kabin. There we went to a nachrwok. We went off the trail and so the frogs in a skunk kabig swamp.

One frog wus broon and the uthr wus green. One wus as big as yor pom and the uthr wus as small as a coder. We also saw a squisht wun.

Urban Heronry

2011-04-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

It's April, but winter drags on. We haven't even cracked 50 degrees for days and the rain keeps drizzling down. On the bright side, we spotted another heronry - this time in a busy urban situation. It was actually a few weeks ago on an outing to the Ballard Locks with my sister-in-law and my neice that I noticed several herons in a large Alder tree. Then my eyes scaned over the tree and noticed a few big nests with herons actually sitting in them! I knew I had to bring Chris back for a photo shoot before the trees leafed out so we went back last weekend and here are the shots.
The herons above were actually building this nest together. We saw one of them delivering sticks to the other to place on the nest.

There were only about 4 nests altogether.

This is the setting at the locks. The nests are in the Alders to the right of the Fir tree on the other side of the locks from where this photo was taken.

The Heronry

2011-03-15T16:31:00.000-07:00

This post is actually the second part of the previous one which I meant to write weeks and weeks ago after our last weekend trip up to the cabin. That's me standing below a heronry also known as a heron rookery.

Last summer I noticed big groups of herons hovering and circling above some alders near the cabin. Being summer, the trees were covered with leaves so I couldn't see what the herons were doing after they dropped down into the canopy, but I had a feeling that something important was going on in those trees.

And sure enough, when I made a point to investigate now that the trees are naked, we discovered this community of nests. Some trees had up to six nests, all about 2-3 feet wide.

We took the boys to see them the next day under a bright blue sky and icy wind. The trees and their nests were swaying back and forth and I could imagine what a lovely nursery that would make.

It's funny that I grew up here and have seen Great Blue Herons my entire life, but I've never seen a herony. I wish we could see it full of baby birds, but I'm sure that would upset them all too much.

Weekend Away

2011-02-01T12:33:00.000-08:00

After a six month hiatus, we finally made a weekend trip up to the cabin. Mom and Dad generously offered to have Ember so it was just the four of us this time which made it quieter, simpler, and easier to do some serious walking and exploring. It was a nice break and a balm to my gridlocked muscles. I'm never as relaxed as I am by the woodstove in the cabin. The livingroom becomes as dry and hot as a sauna - warm enough that they boys were down to their underwear and I took off my Patagonia fleece which is mighty rare for me in the winter.

Plus it's just so pretty there. Even when it's totally socked in and matte grey with clouds and mist, the water, sky and land become a study of the softest greys and blues. And without any wind, the water looked silky flat. Later the sprinkles became real rain which roughed up the surface a little. The boys worked on this raft, loaded it with shells and rocks, and then launched it out to sea. Later we looked for it, but it had quietly disappeared.
Yogi in the mist.

Birthday Bowling

2010-11-07T20:50:00.001-08:00

I had to save these for a separate post since there were so many cute shots. The birthday activity was bowling which was a first for our kids. (Actually, I think it may have been only a 2nd or 3rd time for me!)

A few times the ball took an impossibly long time to make it to the end of the lane -- which gave the kids enough time to gather and contemplate it's journey.

Weekends

2010-11-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

The end of another weekend. I used to look forward to weekends, but in some ways they're even worse than the week days. It probably all comes down to expectations: I think weekend = fun, relax, sleep in etc... but instead it's more like weekend = extra cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, moving stuff from one part of the house to the other which is definitely not the good time I was expecting.

At least last weekend was fun. We road-tripped down to Portland to spend the weekend with my sister-in-law, father-in-law, and my darling niece to celebrate her 6th birthday. I actually felt relaxed - something that's becoming ever more elusive to me. Plus we went out to Por Que No? for some super tasty Mexican food. And on Sunday morning Sat Kaur made me the most wonderful cup of coffee made in an Italian stove top moka pot. I'll have to get myself one of those.

Here are the photos:

Hanging out in the basement. Pritam is the tiger!

Sat Kaur helps Ember into some dress-up clothes.

Pritam as a tiger.

Dinner at Por Que No?

My Three Favorite Trick-or-Treaters!

2010-11-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

The Viking, the Chef, and the Garden Fairy

That's a lobster in Chef Beck's pot.

Making the rounds...

The after-party!

Fall Weekend

2010-10-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

This morning we carved our pumpkins and for the first time, the boys actually tried out the tools and made some of their own cuts. Ember didn't quite get the idea. We pulled all the seeds and gunk out of her pumpkin and then she kept scooping it back in. It's funny how much the boys have talked about Halloween. They carefully plan their costumes, change their minds and plan a new one. And they keep asking me when I'm going to break out the "decorations!" We have exactly one decoration: Mr. Bones. So Beck and Yogi got busy and made some paper towel ghosts and ghost stick puppets and stuck them around the house. Which is just perfect anyway.

I keep trying to get outside to take a walk today, but by the time I get it together, it's pouring again. After lunch during which the sun was shining, we packed everyone into the minivan for a walk around Magnusson Park. When we got there it was raining lightly so we started off. After about 10 minutes, it was nothing short of a deluge. The kids were soaked - especially Beck who rode his bike around the track two times before we headed back to the car. We got home, stripped off the wet clothes and sunk deep down into our mugs of hot cocoa instead.

All in a Day

2010-10-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

I shot these little videos earlier this week. On Tuesday Ember has ballet and the boys both have swimming lessons. This is the third year the boys have taken lessons and finally they don't look so much like they're just thrashing around in the water. Progress! Here are the clips.
Beck's dive.

Beck swimming

Yogi swimming

Ember in ballet class

Nature Trail

2010-10-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken at one of our newest favorite walking spots. It's a nature trail with some ponds in an area that was formerly a Naval Air Station. It officially opened late last winter and we've walked it several times each month since. Maybe the coolest part about it is a Pacific Tree Frog breeding ground where we've seen many little frogs. We've also spotted a coyote, a very active bee hive that the boys accidentally stumbled upon, a quail family that lives in a brush pile, cedar waxwings, hummingbirds, herons, bald eagles, woodpeckers, lots of ducks. Not bad for a being in the city.

In the Heart of the Canyon

2010-10-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

I just finished this book which left me a little nostalgic for my own summer days spent in the parks. A great read.

Here we are again...

2010-10-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

So long since I've sat down to write my blog. It feels a little strange and awkward and I'm sitting here thinking that I can't remember how to put the photos in. I think about the blog often, but I simply don't have time these days. We're working on that - this week Ember will start at a Montessori full-day preschool. For now she'll just do two days a week, but as soon as we can we'll up that to five.

Chris and I look at each other and wonder what were we thinking last spring when we settled on homeschooling both boys and having Ember at home too. The truth is we weren't thinking because too much happened during the first 6 months of 2010. The foot surgery and the long recovery period, the road trip to CA, and then after we returned my doctor found a "solid mass" on my right ovary. We lived through a couple of scary days considering the possibility of cancer, but I had the surgery, they removed my right ovary, and it turned out to be just a big tumor. A week post-op we cruised to Alaska and the day after we returned we had some very dear friends visit from Colorado for another week.

Summer slid by and then the official school year started. And that's when things started to get really rough on me. Ember is bored and frustrated. I'm pulling my hair out trying to keep her busy while I teach the boys and take them to all their classes (swimming, archery, art, Kumon reading...)I've been dropping her off at a "drop-in" preschool which is limited to 4 hours a day, but squeezing in a drop off and pick up time is just adding to the craziness. Add to that the laundry, the constant vacuuming, picking up, kitchen and bathroom cleaning -- well, you get the picture.

Ember. As it turns out, she has been the most challenging of our kiddos. She likes A LOT of attention all the time, she is extremely possessive and volatile and gets angry fast. Don't get me wrong - she's also funny and quick to learn new things, she loves people and is super friendly. It's just that this situation is not meeting her needs. Or mine, for that matter.

I'm hoping things start to open up a bit with her spending more hours at school. And I'm hoping to re-start Homecake. We'll see how it goes.

Photos. You can see me and Beck flying kites at the mass ascension event at the Whidbey Island Kite Festival.

Beck and Yogi standing proud on a fort they discovered on the beach.

Hello again

2010-04-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time. Sorry about that. I'll be brief: My foot is pretty much healed up and I'm back to walking regularly. Ember turned 2! I turned 41!! We spent 17 days on a road trip to LA (more about that later when Chris has the photos ready). We got a 10 foot magnetic whiteboard for the basement. That pretty much covers all the exciting news. Here are some photos:

There was a particularly warm day in March and we visited some childhood friends of mine on Whidbey Island. So lovely.

Lovely

2010-02-24T15:20:00.001-08:00

A friend shared this with me the other day. She saw it on PhD in Parenting which is well worth a visit, too.

Now and Later

2010-02-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

Well. It's been a long week. After a few days Beck got over his stomach flu, but then on Friday night I came down with it. After two pregnancies I've done more than my share of throwing up, but this bug kicked my butt. And I'm still not feeling exactly right. Yogi got it 12 hours after I started and is still having symptoms.

The good news is that my foot is feeling better and I've caught myself not really noticing my foot for little periods of time -- not feeling anything either way which is how I normally feel about my feet. A good sign. I have my next doctor's appointment on Friday.

So other than running to the bathroom and grabbing my barf bucket, I've been busy planning a little trip to Vancouver Island which we'll take this summer. After I read THE ADVENTURES AND SUFFERINGS OF JOHN R. JEWITT CAPTIVE OF MAQUINNA I decided I'd like to see the place where this story played out especially since it's so close - just north of us off the west coast of Vancouver Island. We'll be taking a day trip on the M.V. Uchuck III out to Yuquot, also known as Friendly Cove, which was the summer home of Chief Maquinna and the Mowachaht/Muchalaht people. I'm planning to spend some time with the kids studying more about the NW Coastal Indians before we go so they have some idea why we're there. It's very remote so it will be an adventure. Here are a few photos:

This is the boat we'll take from Gold River out to Nootka Island.

Friendly Cove from above.

Another Fun Day with Young Children!

2010-02-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Monday, 7:30 am. Chris walks into the kitchen: Hey, did someone poop on the kitchen floor?

Yogi: Oh, yeah. I did, but it was just a little accident.

Monday, 11:30 pm. Beck: Daddy? I'm almost done spitting the vomit out of my mouth. (This was actually just the first episode out of many, many last night.)

Jumping On the Bed

2010-02-09T20:33:00.000-08:00

Report From the Couch

2010-02-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

Oh boy. I'm on week four with the crutches and it's getting pretty old. About the only thing that feels exciting right now is the fact that this will be a very good tv week -- season premier of Survivor and The Amazing Race and of course tonight is another episode of The Bachelor -- which sadly enough, has been the highlight of my week for the past few! Do you see how bad this is?! Seriously, I'm feeling pretty bummed these days. I miss walking, I miss moving freely, I miss feeling productive.

And on top of all that my foot hurts. The stitch line where they harvested the bone starts to throb after just a few minutes of being vertical. I look down and my foot is reddish purple and slightly puffy all over and it feels like the whole thing is going to burst out of that line of stitches.

On the positive side, I have read some fabulous books lately. This was great and this was even better. Such lovely writing delivering stories I can't put down. And I'm almost finished with this which is a collection of essays and recipes. I just love her funny, descriptive writing and I'm itching to try several of the recipes, too.

We saw this film the other night which I enjoyed and made me laugh out loud.

And this felt a little homemade, but left me inspired and talking with Chris about what dreams we'd like to live with our family. I love this stuff!

Snow Day! (Guest Blogger: Chris)

2010-01-31T15:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took the boys up into the mountains for a sledding birthday party. We met the birthday boy and other families at a sledding hill in Hyak, just beyond Snoqualmie Pass. We've had no snow in Seattle this winter, and so this was a welcome opportunity. The boys got bored with the sledding fairly quickly (the slope was not as steep as the "sledding hill" next to our house), so they dragged me into the woods for a snowball fight and snowman construction. A picnic lunch and birthday cupcakes finished a fun morning.

Foot Report

2010-01-31T14:39:00.000-08:00

I'm now a little over half-way with my time on the crutches -- the "stilts", as Yogi calls them. The stitches were removed last Friday and I'm starting to exercise my big toe (which amounts to bending it back and forth 100 times a day). The whole thing is becoming a big drag. I'm tired of the pain and the hassle and of sitting around most of the day. Plus, I'm finding it really hard to sleep. On the bright side, I've gotten a lot of reading in.

Because you asked!

2010-01-23T10:26:00.001-08:00

Drum roll, please....TAH DAH!
There's my foot. Ok, I know it may not look pretty to you, but Dr. McInnes was really excited about how neatly and quickly I'm healing. He said the surgery itself was beautiful. This is a relatively new procedure - one that's been done on knees and ankles for awhile now, but they've just started trying it out on toes.

Based on Beck's reaction, I told him he may not have a future in medicine.

There's Dr. McInnes with my foot. The other guy is a physical therapist.

"Real Animals"

2010-01-23T10:09:00.000-08:00

The boys went to the zoo with my dad the other day. When they arrived back home they burst through the door full of excitement to tell me that they had seen a "real owl" -- as in a wild owl who swooped through the trees above their heads in the shady, wooded outdoor habitat playground area. And this, of course, was at the end of an afternoon seeing all kinds of real (but not wild at all) exotic and interesting animals.

I think this is the same distinction kids make about school vs. "real life". And that excitement they felt at seeing the real owl? That's the same place I'm trying to touch by homeschooling and having them spend as much time as possible doing real things in real life.

Beck's 6th Birthday!

2010-01-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

This was actually Beck's first birthday party so we decided to do something special for him -- and what could be more special than a private party at the Lego store before regular mall hours?!

Our group coming together in front of the store.

Inside the store during the initial presentation. Those two employees are explaining which sets the party goers could choose from.

Beck, busy building his new set.

All the kids quietly building. It was a very industrious party!

Yogi trying out some sound effects with one of his pieces.

We finished off the party with a big hit of sugar -- Top Pot doughnuts washed down with chocolate milk. Don't you love Ember's party attire?

My Left Foot

2010-01-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

So. It's over and the surgery went well, I guess. I haven't actually seen my foot as it's covered in dressings, wrapped tightly with an ace bandage and then sheathed in a big velcro strapped boot which makes it look something like a Frankenstein foot. The doctors did end up doing the bone graft so I have two incisions - one on my big toe where they did the repair and one where they went in to harvest some bone. Unbelievably, the pain has seriously diminished since the surgery on Friday. I'm still taking some pain relief, but not much.

Now I'm just trying to focus on keeping my foot up. I'm only allowed to let it be down for 10 minutes at a time and then only when necessary. This makes doing pretty much anything I usually accomplish impossible so I'm relying on my parents who are so generously helping us out.

Right now they have all three kids and are out doing errands. It is so strange to be home and have it quiet. A little surreal, actually. And it's strange to have my whole life come to a halt. No more plans, schedules, play dates. I'm hoping my dad will still take the kids on the weekly hike we do with other homeschoolers and take them to their weekly sports class, but I can't do it either way. And as much as an inconvenience as this is, the slowing down and quieting down of our life is nice.

Lego Organization

2010-01-19T11:17:00.000-08:00

So, I'll know my kids are seriously getting older when Legos (and organizing them!) stop being one of the main parts of my job as house manager. Here are a few sites that caught my eye to help with our legos:Box 4 Blox is a clever storage / organizing tool that simply sorts all your legos into like size groups.Be sure to check out the video to see it in action. And then this site has a nice article on how to organize your legos for efficient building.

We still just sort into 4 categories using a 3 drawer organizer and one big lidded tub, but I'm always looking for good ideas!

The Thompson System:

bodies, body parts, and completed figures
accessories
itty bitties

all the rest.

Just Because

2010-01-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

Out With the Old!

2010-01-03T08:14:00.000-08:00

Well, happy new year to you! Here we are in 2010 already and I have to say that so far it's been a fabulous year! Of course, it doesn't hurt that my sister had the kids for 5 hours yesterday (a Christmas present to me and Chris). We hung out in our clean house (usually that state only lasts a few minutes) and then went to a local and wonderful little restaurant called Pair for a schooner of beer, a small oval platter of Pommes Frites, and some conversation about our house goals for 2010. Next on the list: upstairs fireplace. When we got home I even had time for a lavender bubble bath. It was lovely!

What else? After a visit from my sister in law and niece I decided to rearrange the living room furniture. The idea of spaces having energy came up in conversation and I decided that it was time to change up the energy in our common space. I'm not sure if it's a better arrangement, but it sure feels good.

And let's see, on New Years after the kids were in bed, we sunk into the couch with what I thought would be a nice feel-good movie. It was Julie and Julia, but we didn't make it through because I couldn't stand Meryl's Streep's take on Julia Child. My god, she was annoying. It was like watching a large, drunk, horsey clown. I can't imagine the real Julia was quite that bad because how could anyone stand to be around her long enough to learn how to cook?!

Beck lost his first tooth this morning. I remember how excited I was when that one came in. The new one is twice the size and across the top is a neat row of bumps. So cute!

Here are some photos of the recent hair cuts. New hair, new teeth, new living room! Out with the old, in with the new!!

Christmas 2009!

2009-12-31T08:28:00.001-08:00

Here, have a piece of my freshly baked Monkey Bread and let's talk about Christmas!

I thought it was about time I posted a few Christmas photos especially since our tree looks like some strange Freaky Friday specimen on the back deck now. It was so dry and twisted by Christmas morning, but still smelled amazingly good. Here are some photos of the big day!

Ember got a wonderful shopping cart which she immediately started driving around. Chris has since put foam bumpers all over it so our walls our safe.

The boys were so excited for about a month leading up to Christmas and they seemed to love all of their presents. They get distracted by one or two at a time and then a few days later they start investigating something else from their pile of goodies.

The Doink-It Darts were a huge hit for Beck and everyone else! It's a magnetic dart board using rare earth magnets and it works wonderfully! Notice Beck's super short hair. Chris took the boys to a barber this time and all three of them came back with pig shaves.

Our little Princess Ember with a new CD of African music.

Here the boys are setting up a new Playmobile set called the Magician's Workshop.

The cousins and the boys at play!

Unwrapping chaos.

The Blessing of a Skinned Knee

2009-12-30T14:31:00.000-08:00

The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book had some good stuff in it. Refreshing, straight-forward parenting advice like the kind I get from my parents. I liked the idea of parenting that is "good enough" -- "Consider that "good enough" can often be best for your child, because when life is mostly ordinary and just occasionally extraordinary, your child won't end up with expectations of herself and those around her that can't be met on this worldly plane."

I feel like I often run into children (especially in our neighborhood) who think very highly of themselves - they're precious, pampered, greedy, rude and imperious. So it's nice to read a book that includes these teachings:

*Accept that your children are both unique and ordinary.
*Teach them to honor their parents and to respect others - family, friends, and community.
*Teach them to be resilient, self-reliant, and courageous.
*Teach them to be grateful for their blessings.
*Teach them the value of work.
*Teach them to accept rules and to exercise self-control.
*Teach them the preciousness of the present moment.

And finally a lovely quote that the author attributes to "a modern educator".
Try to see your child as a seed that came in a packet without a label. Your job is to provide the right environment and nutrients and to pull the weeds. You can't decide what kind of flower you'll get or in which season it will bloom."

View all my reviews >>

Mom's Birthday

2009-12-23T09:40:00.001-08:00

Here's the little zippered pouch I made for my mom for her birthday! I'm getting better at these, but that curved zipper is still a little dicey for me. On the last few bags I've added the zipper pull charm which adds a lot, I think. Plus I love going to the bead store. It's like a candy shop without the calories. All those pretties!!

Beck was telling a mom friend of mine about celebrating his grandma's birthday. She asked him which birthday it was...

the mom: is your grandma 1? or 2? or 3? etc...

Beck just looked at her and said, "No, you have to count by 10's!"

See, all the homeschooling math IS working!

Gingerbread Play Date

2009-12-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was pretty wiped out after a super fun, but slightly exhausting play date -- which is what you get when you mix Christmas anticipation + decorating gingerbread with all the candies you can imagine + 6 kids. And then right after that, I had to take Ember to her well child check-up and by the time I got back home I needed a break. So, I told the kids they had to go and watch some TV.

Yogi opened his eyes wide and said,

"What? Why?? Did we get too much exercise??"

The photos:

Working at our BIG table - perfectly sized for 6 kids and their gingerbread houses!

Beck's finished house.

Margaret and Yogi worked together.

Yogi's finished house.

Some Christmas Bits

2009-12-20T12:02:00.000-08:00

The kids got their annual photo with Santa the other day and now suddenly Ember knows Santa. She keeps looking at our past Santa photos and yelling out something like, "Dnta! Dnta!" And then she points to her mouth because the Santa she met gave her a candy cane which apparently was a pretty big deal to her! She also yells this out when she sees any kind of holiday display or Christmas yard decoration or even random people wearing a red coat like the lady we saw in a store yesterday.

And then we've been playing Christmas music here at home and the boys are starting to listen to the words and sing along. This year they noticed the line, "...you better not cry I'm telling you why! Santa Claus is coming to town!" I heard them have a long conversation about it while they were playing in the living room. It went something like this:

"Wait a minute! Why can't we cry? That doesn't make sense. Why would Santa say we can't cry?! What if someone hit you in the face? Then you would have to cry! And you would still get presents! That's not right. Right, Mom??"

Adventureland

2009-12-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

We actually made it through an entire movie last night! This was a great film -- probably in part because I was the same age in 1987 as the characters in the movie. Plus I had the same crazy, fun "summer only" jobs and experiences. Nostalgic, funny, uplifting, sweet. Watch it.

the Curve of Time

2009-12-15T15:43:00.000-08:00

The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a pleasure and an inspiration to read. The author was an early unschooler; she loaded up her kids onto a 25 foot motorboat for several months of poking around and exploring all the bays and inlets near Vancouver Island off the coast of British Columbia each summer. Her adventures took place in the late 1920's and early 1930's when visiting still-used winter Indian villages and remote logging camps, seeing abundant wildlife, and enjoying the stillness and wildness of the coastline was still possible. It made me want to do it with our own three kids!

View all my reviews >>

'tis the season

2009-12-14T20:39:00.000-08:00

Some bits and pieces of the season:

Against my warnings, the boys left their advent calendars out and Ember popped open most of the little windows and scarfed down all the little chocolate pieces.

We lost Mary from our Playmobil "Jesus Set" (as Beck calls it!)

I bought "The Essential Now That's What I Call Christmas!". I played it for my book party, loved it!, and then brought it to my parents and somewhere in the transition it disappeared. Gone.

We attended out first ever Feuerzangenbowle with some German friends. The kids loved feeding the fire, but the drink was for adults only!

The kids got to see Santa arrive by chopper at the museum of flight.

I talked to Ember about seeing Santa and every time I said the word Santa she put her finger to her lips and said, "Shhhhh". Not sure where she learned that, but it cracks me up every time!

The Pain in my Toe

2009-12-14T20:22:00.000-08:00

Big news: I have to have open toe surgery on January 15th. My left big toe has a "pothole" in the joint bone which needs to be filled. Little pieces of cartilage are breaking off and getting caught in the joint which is terribly painful when it happens. So, unless I get it surgically repaired, they'll have to fuse that joint together at some point.

Anyway, the worst part is that I won't be able to put any weight at all on my left foot for 4 weeks and then I'll have limited ability to walk for another 4 weeks. That's a long time when you're normally busy on your feet all day with three young kids!! My parents have generously offered to be here 4 full days a week so between their help and a few days of vacation time from Chris, I think we're covered.

More on Moo

2009-12-09T10:44:00.000-08:00

I just have to put in another plug for Moo cards! We recently ordered our second batch with all new photos. They are just as wonderful as the first time, but we thought they'd been printed a little dark. So, we emailed the company and asked what we could do about that. And you know what they did? Re-printed the entire batch and sent us this improved second set, for free! It's a great product and a great company! If you see me, ask for one of my new cards!

Goodreads

2009-12-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

So, you might have noticed my new widget on the sidebar over there. It's for Goodreads, a website to manage your literary life. Please go check it out and start your own "bookshelf" because:

1. It's a great way to keep track of what you want to read and titles you want to remember

2. It's a perfect place to read reviews and get more information about books

3. You can see what your friends are reading, how they reviewed what they've read, and you can recommend books to them

4. It's fun, it's free

5. And I need more Goodreads "friends"

Click on my bookshelf link above and check out my shelves! And then go start your own and friend me.

When Yogi Messes with Beck's Toys

2009-12-09T10:29:00.001-08:00

"What?? (Beck picks up his lego Glatorian.)

"Yogi, stop putting crystal boobs on my Bionicle!!"

Now, that's a sentence I never thought I'd hear!

It's Beginning...

2009-12-06T20:07:00.000-08:00

to look a lot like Christmas!

See those red bulbs? I think Ember has pulled down and broken about 10 of those so far.

We let the kids take complete control of the tree this year: they picked it out and except for the lights, decorated it all themselves.

And as soon as it was up, they got busy under the tree using it as a background for playing with all their little figurines and set-ups. You can see a Star Wars guy laying there on the floor by Yogi's feet. Apparently there's a Jawa still hidden in among the branches somewhere!

Grundens

2009-11-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

Here are the last of the photos from our trip up to the cabin last weekend. You'll notice the rain gear which the boys also wore for Halloween. Those pants are Grundens which is what commercial fishermen wear. I wish I had discovered them a few years ago because they have given us a new and wonderful sense of freedom in our rainy weather. Seriously, the boys last so much longer outside, they stay dry, warm, and clean. I love it! Also, I bought all three kids neck gaiters which have made a big difference as well and yesterday at REI we got waterproof gloves for them. Isn't it great? Now we can be outside and be comfortable all year long! I had a boyfriend a long time ago that said, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes."

Beck catches some air as he launches his stick.

The boys just can't stay out of the water!

Yogi and I are talking about something and it must be good!

Beautiful Ember.

Ember tries out a stick.

A Weekend Away

2009-11-22T22:55:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday night, late and I should be in bed, but Chris and I wanted to get this done while the photos are still so fresh! We just returned from a weekend at the cabin. (It feels like I'm always writing that!). Another wonderful time. We spent one day at the Vancouver Aquarium and one day staying closer to home except for the trip to the beach in our rain gear.

The best part of the aquarium trip was that the place was not at all busy and we didn't get rained on. The worst part was when Chris handed me Ember so he could go use the bathroom. I'm not even sure why he was carrying her, but when he left for a few minutes, she went completely crazy screaming and writhing around. People were looking at us so I put her down and she did this weird sort of elbow crawl between two garbage cans still screaming. So I picked her back up. Chris returned and then she looked over at him, gripped me tighter and said Mama. I don't get toddlers. The rational part of me knows this is just a phase, she'll be fine, blah, blah, blah, but the emotional side of me always feels a little hurt when she's so fierce in her rejection of me. It passes and then we have all kinds of wonderful, sweet moments too. But when she wants to, she can be really awful.

Here are some shots from our aquarium trip:

Now, would you believe that out of all the fabulous sea animals we see at the aquarium - like Beluga whales and their small grey, comma shaped babies, like white-sided dolphins jumping in perfect unison, like bizarre gigantic river fish from the Amazon. Out of all the amazing things we see there, Beck and Yogi have decided their absolute favorite is the Garden Eel. These little guys are about the size of #2 pencil.

Beck and Yogi spent a long time giggling at these blue jellies.

I'm in there somewhere.

Beck watching the dolphins from below.

Yogi.

Ember.

Food

2009-11-17T08:29:00.001-08:00

I never anticipated that food would be such an issue when I became a mom. It takes up so much time: breakfast, second breakfast, cleaning up from breakfast, snack packing, lunch (three ways), cleaning up from lunch, dinner planning and prep, dinner which is often met with, "I'm not eating that!" And then there's dinner clean-up, and loading and unloading the dishwasher. And the various food accidents that occur throughout the day. There's all that and then there's all the conversation around it, the whining, begging, refusing, complaining -- the negotiating!

So, I had to laugh the other day when the first words I heard for the day which came from Beck who was laying next to me in bed were,

"Let's start eating!"

Same Song, Second Verse

2009-11-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

Time is flying by these days. Each morning I lay in bed and think, well here we go again! My planner is heavy with classes, field trips, new friends, dental appointments, leaf raking, home managment tasks and EMBER which I wrote in all caps since she is SO MUCH WORK right now.

She's learning to feed herself and is pretty determined to do it all by herself (!) so the floor, the table, her chair, and her clothes are all a disaster every time she eats. Today, after I had her all cleaned up, she found Beck's unfinished peanut butter and jelly sandwich and made a second giant smeared mess everywhere. It reminds me of a song we used to sing at camp: Same song, second verse, could get better, but it's gonna get worse!

I guess the most important news right now is that we've met so many wonderful, interesting, fun, and welcoming families in the homeschooling community. It's been a joy. I've planned a little gathering at my house with many of the new moms I'm getting to know and I'm really looking forward to it!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

And here they are (trick-or-treating at Infospace)! We had two perfectly dressed little fishermen and one beautiful garden fairy. The boys just added the authentic fishing nets to their new rain gear (purchased from a marine and fishing supply store)and they looked like they just got off a fishing boat. Ember didn't really know what we were doing, but she got right into it and had a great time carefully placing candy into her bucket. Later when she noticed the boys actually eating candy, she gave them the funniest look and starting making complaining noises like, "Hey, no fair! Where did they get that candy?!!" Funny!

Beck carved the small pumpkin all by himself and added the details on Yogi's pumpkin on the left. I carved Beck's (the one in the middle which had an impossibly hard rind on it. My wrist still hurts!) I used Beck's drawing as a guide.

Yogi and Beck just before neighborhood trick-or-treating.
Ember peeks out the mail slot while Beck and Yogi ask her for candy!

Trick-or-treating with Chris at work.

Halloween Pumpkins

2009-10-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

I think we're experiencing Halloween inflation. We've already been to 2 Halloween parties, (and invited to a 3rd which we didn't attend), we've been trick or treating in costumes at Chris's work and already collected gobs of candy and it's just Halloween today!

We'll hit the neighborhood tonight and I'll post some photos of the kids in costume. Here are some shots of us carving pumpkins - the ones we got at that organic farm a few weeks ago. My right wrist is still throbbing in pain from carving Beck's pumpkin. The rind on that one was more like a layer of formica which made carving it almost impossible. Ouch.

Yogi's Night

2009-10-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

This morning Yogi woke up and turned to me and we had this brief conversation:

Yogi: "Boy, that was a tiring night!"
Me: ???? What do you mean? Why was it so tiring?
Yogi: (Giving me an incredulous look...) Because I was so tired!

Mildew Be Gone!

2009-10-28T16:51:00.001-07:00

I know this is very "Good Housekeeping" of me, but today I'm sharing a tip with you that worked a miracle on a very stubborn problem: mildew smell in the laundry.

A little background: a little over a year ago I washed a load of towels and then accidentally forgot about them. It's not like I left them sitting in the washer for days, but our washer and dryer share a small room with our furnace and when the furnace is running, the room gets quite toasty. So by the end of the day after washing the towels on hot and then having them sit there in that warm room, they smelled bad -a sour, musty, mildew smell. In the past I've actually thrown out towels or washcloths that end up smelling of mildew because I've never been able to get that awful smell out and there is nothing worse than drying off with a stinky towel. It's gross. But this time it was an entire load of towels -- our good matching towels in the right colors -- not just spare towels we might use for swimming.

So, over the course of the year, each time I use one of those towels I cringe from the smell and then kick myself for making such a stupid mistake. That is until a few weeks ago when I found this tip on the internet which I am now passing to you! It worked perfectly. Here's how you do it:

To Remove Mildew Smell from Towels:

The Vinegar Method
Put your towels in the washing machine, using the hottest water available. Add one or two cups of white vinegar. Do not add detergent, fabric softener, or any other products at this time. Run the washer.
Leave the towels in the washer and wash the same load again just as you would normally with laundry soap. Again, use the hottest water available. Don't use fabric softener or any other products.
Dry the load in the dryer using a high heat setting. Towels should be thoroughly dry when you pull them out. If they're not dry, put them back in, or move them immediately outside and hang them in the sunlight.

That's it. One time and problem solved!

Table-Scrap Tank

2009-10-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot this darling little tank:

For building instructions see the link from this blog: MicroBricks

Microscale Legos

2009-10-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

"Duck bot"

"Snail bot"

Lately we've gotten interested in Microscale lego construction. It's pretty amazing what people can do with just the tiniest bricks and these don't come as sets. You have to think them on your own. In case you're interested here are a few links:

the brothers brick

or this Lego Microscale Flikr group

And here are a few of my favorites we found on the internet:

Fall Days

2009-10-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

Suddenly it's fall. Over the past few days we've had some of the heaviest rain I've ever seen in Seattle. Drenching, loud, rain. We even lost power for a few hours - not because it was windy, but somehow related to that rain, I'm betting.

Yogi is all better. There was one night last week, though, when he couldn't sleep so he found me and Chris and said his stomach felt "weird". And even though he didn't seem sick, we know enough to take any talk about sickness seriously and got him the vomit bucket and a hot water bottle. That's what really gave it away. He was so delighted about getting the hot water bottle, he had a hard time concealing his excitement. After a little while I went in to check on him, leaned down to give him a kiss and noticed that his face was totally hot and red. He smiled sheepishly and told me that he tried the hot water bottle out on his face! What a little nut!

Anyway, we had a nice week. It looks like we sold the subaru today.

Here are some photos of our field trip with some other homeschoolers to an organic farm. We picked apples and pumpkins, took a short hay ride, tried carmel apples and enjoyed the scenery!

Another Few Days Away

2009-10-10T09:12:00.001-07:00

We spent most of this week at the cabin again. I just can't help it with this beautiful fall weather. My favorite weather, my favorite time of the year. The first night Yogi got an ear infection so we were up together for many hours and spent the next day at a walk-in clinic in Bellingham. Poor guy. Yogi's had a hard time lately! But the following day we spent back in Crescent Beach wandering the lovely paths on Blackie Spit.

Our time at the cabin is so valuable. It's the only place where the kids get to hear frogs and coyotes at night, where we watch pairs of bald eagles riding the thermals, and hear the strange honking/croaking of the Great Blue Herons as they criss-cross the sky throughout the day. Beck and Yogi even got to hold a little tree frog that they found on the deck. "It feels sticky!" And with the big sky setting we watch the cloud play and the sky colors change, notice the path of the moon and the beginnings of snowfall on the distant mountains. I felt a visceral response in my body as we arrived this time and I walked off my road trance in the fields. It's quiet there. And even with three kids there is a stillness that I can't seem to capture in our life here in the city.

Mom and Ember

We walked along this stream and kept seeing beaver logs. At the end of the walk we spotted their lodge!

In Dunsmuir Gardens...

On Blackie Spit

Our Treetop Adventure

2009-09-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

As promised here are a few shots from our day trip to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park in West Vancouver. It was such a thrill!

The photo below was taken from the Treetop Adventure which I think is a relatively new part of the park. We talked a lot about the Ewok scenes from Star Wars because it seemed like just stumbled onto the set.

The Tears are Coming!

2009-09-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh. I'm feeling overwhelmed these days. We just returned from a few days at the cabin where we took advantage of our Nexus passes and day tripped in B.C. a couple of times. And then returned home to a messy house, a mountain of laundry, a computer that is so slooooow that I can't check the 141 emails in my inbox. Oh, and after the few days off, I'm trying to back into a routine with Beck's lessons - a situation that feels pretty fragile anyway. At one point today he said, "Mama, the tears are coming! I'm not sure why, but the tears are coming for real!!" Sigh. (This always brings up my own uncertainty about this path...Am I doing the right thing?!)

But the big news is that today we bought a new car - a new 8 seater Toyota Sienna mini van in Silver Shadow metallic. It smells good, it's roomy and wonderful, but I'm feeling a little guilty about it. It's true: we do need a new car and the mini van makes the most sense, but I'm on this frugality kick lately and after realizing that we can actually fit all three car seats in the back of our little Geo Prism (which gets great gas mileage, BTW) I'm wondering if we really needed so much extra room and luxury. The one nice thing is that we now we can take our little day trips and include extended family which comes up a lot.

So. That's it for now. I have photos so hopefully we'll put those up this weekend.

These Late Summer Days

2009-09-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well, we're into our second week of homeschooling and for an update about that, head over to the organic learning project, but be advised: it's not feeling so organic these days!

I love these late summer days - still warm and crackling dry, but the light is different - the shadows more stretched out and it's quiet. Ahhhh. No more baseball games, no more summer sports camps in the field adjacent to our house. It's blissfully quiet and we're spending these long afternoons enjoying our home and the yard. The last two afternoons I've spent sewing while the boys play outside.

Things really have changed for us. The boys play so well together and literally spend hours creating various set-ups and scenarios with their legos and all kinds of random stuff they decide to use. One day I see them "driving" my crocs across the room with a load of mini-figs on board and then like today Yogi kept coming up to me and calling me "boss" which cracked me up even though I'm not sure what the story was! We've been having some issues with our aging Subaru and for a few days the mini-figs kept having urgent conversations involving the "engine light!" coming on. It interesting to see how driven they are to play like this.

And so I've had a little more time to keep up with the housework, laundry, and even get some sewing done. Speaking of sewing,I've made two new kinds of bags. The first is a free pattern I got from Quilting Arts Magazine. I love the size and shape of the bag, but I had a very hard time trying to sew the sports zipper around the curve. The directions for that part said, "attach zipper" which wasn't too helpful! I made it as a present for a good friend so if you're Lisa, keep your eyes closed because here's a photo of it!

And the other bag is a pattern I found from a crafter blog called happythings. Now, I love this pattern because it's super simple, quick, and turned out perfect on my first try. I lined my drawstring bags with soft flannel so when the kids open them up and stick their hand in, it's yummy soft. These bags will hold sets of "story chips" which I've been working on lately. You can see them in the photos which we'll post in the next few days.

Other than that, Chris is making progress on our table. The legs are done. He used 6" x6" beams and they're pretty beefy. He also bought some cherry wood to make a contrasting border.

Blackie Spit

2009-09-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more shots from the last weekend at the cabin. The first three are from Blackie Spit in Crescent Beach. See, I told you the weather was lovely!

The Work Table

2009-09-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

You will never guess what's sitting in our garage right now. It all started when I asked Chris if he could build us a large work table for the basement. It would be really handy for all of our projects and for the kids and for those BIG art set-ups. Our basement space is so large and pretty empty. It just seemed like the right thing for the space.

Soooooo, Chris checks Craig's List and 12 hours later we have a 10 foot long, 4 foot wide piece of old bowling alley lane sitting in our garage. Apparently there are specialized crews for breaking down old bowling alleys and they salvage the heavy wooden lanes and try to sell them to local people who then list them on Craig's List and sell them to people like Chris! It's made out of 2" thick pieces of vertical grain Yellow Pine. This will be a massive table! We'll post photos as it develops.

Last Weekend

2009-08-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

The blacksmith at the Heritage Museum made this in front of us and gave it to us to take home.
All three kids wanted a closer look at the various items in the Chinese Herbal Medicine Shop!
Beck and Chris in evening light.
Me and the boys out in the field.
Running in the field.

Easel Painting

2009-08-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Go on over to The Organic Learning Project for photos of the boys painting on the new easel that Chris built. And if you've been following our basement fireplace project, you can have a peek at the final result in the background!

Summer Weekend

2009-08-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

We just got back last night from a long weekend spent at the cabin. And thanks to our nexus passes we were able to bypass the typical 3 hour summer wait lines and cruise right into Canada for some fun day trips. This time we visited a living history museum in Burnaby which was surprisingly un-crowded, spent a day walking on Blackie Spit where we got some nice sightings of a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers hammering away on an old snag and soaked up some street music with a side of fries in White Rock. We were lucky to have perfect, balmy summer weather. The kids were happy, we were relaxed. It was lovely all around.

Of course, the day I spent getting organized and packing for the weekend almost killed me. All in a day I:

1. Put in 3 loads of laundy and folded 5
2. Baked bread
3. Opened all the mail and paid bills
4. Sewed 3 bibs with snaps (used the Amy Karol pattern in Bend the Rules Sewing - which I highly recommend!)
5. Packed for myself and 3 kids
6. Made a big batch of macaroni salad
7. Took care of the kids!

Hopefully tonight we'll get some photos of our adventures up here. Stay tuned!

In the Pool

2009-08-08T21:49:00.001-07:00

Suddenly it's the middle of August and summer just keeps marching by. Last week it was so incredibly hot we literally spent 5 whole days in my parents' pool. One day I realized we'd been in the pool for 6 hours straight and by the end of 5 days of this, I started to feel a little antsy. This week it's been unseasonably cool.

Yogi's new Playmobile nautical set was a big hit for underwater play.

Ember became very confident in the water and kept trying to swim on her own. She was jumping in, pushing off the edge, going under all the time, and happy and giggling the whole time.

Bread

2009-08-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed the price of bread lately? We used to buy wonderful sandwich bread at our local bakery, but recently they've raised their prices to $5.50 + tax per loaf and it just kills me to pay that much. So, I talked to my sister who bakes all her own bread and consulted with an old friend who also does it, and they pointed me to this SUPER EASY NO FAIL bread recipe. I've done it several times now and have had 100% success. In fact, it's almost too successful because when I take it out of the oven in the evening and it's sitting there in all it's warm crusty loveliness, Chris and I tend to eat way too much of it!

I've taken the recipe and made it even less fussy than the NY Times version and it still works wonderfully. I like to mix it up in the morning and bake it either for dinner or after dinner when the kids are in bed. I also don't mess with the "damp towel" and I prefer a smaller dutch oven which makes a rounder loaf since it can't spread out so much. I also found that it has more sourdough-like overtones when you let it rise for 18 - 24 hours - which you may prefer, but I don't. Here's my version:

Super Easy Dutch Oven Bread

Ingredients:

¼ tsp. active dry yeast
1 ½ cups warm water
3 cups flour – + more for dusting. can be white, whole wheat, or a combo…
1 ½ tsp. salt
cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting (I don't do the dusting...)

Instructions:

1.In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Set aside for 10 mintues.

2.Add flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky.

3.Cover bowl with plastic wrap or plate and let dough rest at least 5 or 6 hours (the original recipe says “at least 8 hours, preferably 12 – 18 or even 24) at room temperature (around 70 degrees). The bread takes on a more sourdough like flavor the longer you let it rest. At 5-8 hours it tastes like a hearty peasant bread.

4.The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Use a rubber spatula to scrape dough down from edges of bowl. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes.

5.Sprinkle a board with flour. Dump dough onto board and sprinkle a little flour on top. Fold dough over on itself once or twice. Fold into a loose ball and put back in bowl.

6.Cover with plate or plastic wrap and let rise and rest for 1 ½ hours more.

7.20 minutes before dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats.

8.When dough is ready (finished resting for the last 1 ½ hours – step 6), carefully remove covered pot from oven and lift off the lid. Dump or scrape dough into hot pot. Put cover back on and set into oven.

9.Bake for 15 minutes.(This is how I do it, though the NY Times recipe says 30 minutes for this step.)

10.Take cover off and cook 15 minutes.

11.Remove from oven and put loaf on rack.

12.Eat!

Hot, hot, hot

2009-08-01T20:03:00.000-07:00

I just read that this past week was the hottest week in Seattle on record ever. It's still warm - near 90, but it actually feels pretty comfortable. Ok, enough about the weather!

The Beads

2009-08-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when we got back to our house I saw that a little package had arrived for me. Remember a year ago when we got back from Ethiopia and I mentioned the string of ancient hand-hewn beads that we bought in a little shop in Aksum? The shop was full of very old and interesting artifacts. And in fact, the beads we bought had been found in farmers' fields in the area and they were beautiful, mysterious, and very, very old. Anyway, the shopkeeper carefully wrapped them up in a piece of newspaper and they've been sitting in that fold of paper ever since.

That is, until my sister-in-law visited in June. She's interested in jewelery and has a friend who is a jeweler and who owns A Small Extravagance, a jewelry shop in Kentucky. So, my sister-in-law took the beads back to Kentucky and with her jeweler friend designed my beads into a lovely necklace. And that was what was in the little package!

The Ethiopian beads are separated by tiny earthy colored sapphires. I love the whole look. So pretty, so unusual, a little exotic, and so full of special memories. The store we found them in was like something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Dusty and falling apart and bursting full of beautiful artifacts. We had spent that day walking through ancient tombs, sharing the dirt roads with camels, young boys with their goat herds, and women wrapped up in gauzy white Netela with jugs of water on their heads. In fact when we first walked into the shop I asked if it was a museum. So, finally, it's done and I'm wearing it and remembering our stories from Africa. And someday when she's all grown up I'll pass it on to Ember.

We Survived!

2009-07-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

Oh, yes! It's cooler today! I've thought a few times about posting in the past week, but I've been too preoccupied with trying to keep cool. A few days ago I drove the kids my parents' house to spend the day swimming in their pool and we still haven't gone home. It was just too darn hot. One day it was 106 degrees in our neighborhood and 96 in our living room in Seattle. And this in a place where nobody has air conditioning. We did have a few fans, but the transformers started to blow from the heat and we lost power for about 6 hours on the hottest day. So, it's been bad. But I can't complain too much since my parents are out of town, their house is much cooler than ours and they have a pool which is where we've spent the last three days. We'll clean up here and go home later today.

The Usual

2009-07-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

In Hawaii.This is how I wish I felt right now.

We've been busy as usual. Yogi turned 4! I sewed my first bubble pouch. It didn't turn out that great, but only because it was my first try. My first run-through with a new pattern, my first darts!

Hmmm. What else? Just cleaning up, catching up, laundry, food, more laundry, more cleaning up. The usual.Oh, and I'm working on a new song on my uke: Island In the Sun.

Legos on Ice

2009-07-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I pulled open the freezer,looked down and did a double take when I saw our ice cube tray. Each little section had a lego mini fig frozen in the cube of ice. I guess the boys have moved on from lego/water play to lego/ice play! Chris popped a few out and took some shots.

The Aloha Bag

2009-07-11T22:41:00.001-07:00

My latest: The Aloha Bag. I bought this fabric when we were in Hawaii last week. Initially I wanted a Hawaiian print, but didn't find any that I liked so I went with this pretty tropical batik. Then on the flight home they passed out these little packets of Macadamia nuts. I found myself staring at the packaging and then it hit me! A tiny humbug bag!

One Year Ago Today

2009-07-07T21:05:00.001-07:00

July 7, 2008

July 3,2009

Hawaiian Dreams

2009-07-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hello! It's me again and we're back from paradise. Two weeks in Hawaii - one week on the big island hiking in Volcanoes National Park, watching sea turtles in the bay, swimming in view of the incredible coastline, experiencing the Kapono tidepools with the coral gardens - big sky and big weather. And the other week on Kailua beach on Oahu - fabulous house with private pool and spa, the warm emerald green bay for body surfing, the coconut palms and tradewind breezes, the tropical fish, the hammerheads, the ting geckos popping up -- I've never experienced anything like it. It's the stuff of dreams. Pure tropical fantasy vacation.

Of course it wasn't all perfect. Chris passed a gallstone and lost his glasses on the beach. And driving on Oahu is crazy because they don't mark the roads very well. We spent a lot of extra time driving back and forth across the island. One time we had just driven over and could see Kailua and then after yet another screw-up, we were heading back to Pearl Harbor on the other side of the island. But then finally we'd land back at the house, settle in poolside for an iced beverage on the beautiful stone patio - or on the white sand beach. It was lovely.

New Humbug Bag

2009-06-16T21:59:00.001-07:00

I made this one as a gift for one of our preschool teachers, but Chris photographed it for me before I send it off tomorrow. The funny thing is that as I finish each bag, one or the other of the boys grabs it and wants it. "Oh, I love this one, Mama. I'm going to use it to store some legos..." I think each of them has about 3 bags now!
And speaking of bags, I bought some new patterns off Etsy from a shop called Keyka Lou the other day and I'm so excited to get started! Besides being darling and reasonably priced, here's what she says in her profile that sold me:

All my patterns are designed to be simple to complete in 1-3 hours, so they are great to have on hand for making gifts or just a quick weekend afternoon project in between all the other stuff you have to take care of in life.

I'm starting with the Bubble Pouch (pictures below), but I also bought the Small Satchel and the Easy Envelope Clutches.

In the bath

2009-06-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

Playing with their legos in water is their latest thing. Usually it's in the sink, but sometimes the mini-figs find their way into the tub as well.

Camp For a Day

2009-06-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

During college I spent my summers working at Camp Sealth, a large residential summer camp on Vashon Island. So I was really excited that this past weekend they had a family day with all the traditional camp activities available. We took our relatives who were visiting for the week, packed a picnic, and headed out for a day of camp. Just being there in the place where I made so many summer memories and good friends, and laughed the hardest I've ever laughed in my life - it made me more than a little nostalgic. Plus it was so fun to see our own kids experiencing a taste of camp. They loved it!
Here's Grampa Tommy with Ember on the Boata Dock.

An abandoned hummingbird's nest with four tiny, perfect eggs.

Yogi waits to get his craft project ironed. He made a fuse beads square.

On our hike back from the archery range we spotted a Western Tanager in the distant trees - a bird I've rarely seen.

Cuties

2009-05-30T22:33:00.000-07:00

And here are the kids who were messing around under the light box.

Tah-Dah!

2009-05-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

Chris made a light box this weekend for photographing the boys' lego creations and I had him snap a few shots of my little hum bug bags. Recognize the fruit fabrics? I used scraps from the napkin project I did for Christmas presents. Aren't they cute!

Checking In

2009-05-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hello there. I'm just checking in since it's been so long. And while I do feel a little guilty, I'm also enjoying the time that not blogging has opened up. Of course it's not a lot of time, but instead of spending those precious few minutes a day writing about what we're doing or what I'd like to be doing, I've been doing more!

I recently got a Fluke ukulele which is the most fun I've ever had on a musical instrument. After years of struggling with my guitar and never having much success, I got the uke and suddenly I can play! And it's so small and light, I can take it anywhere. Seriously, it's a blast! Here's a utube bit of someone demonstrating the flea - same company, but a little smaller than the fluke.

And I've been sewing. I'm finally making the little "humbug" bags - a little twisted zippered bag that's darling and useful and perfect for all my little scraps of fabric and for gifting. Here's a short tutorial - although I bought this pattern for making it a tiny quilted bag.

And I'm on a do-it-yourself kick these days. Thinking about turning our yard into an edible landscape, an urban homestead. That won't happen this year, but maybe we can start small and make it part of our homeschooling journey. My sister's yard and what she's able to grow is AMAZING. Well, in terms of being an urban homesteader, she's way ahead of me!

Anyway. I'm not throwing in the towel entirely for this blog and I'll try to keep photos posted, but I'm easing off a bit.
Check

Busy, Busy

2009-05-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile, hasn't it? It's Ember's fault. She is so busy these days, busy pulling all the books off the shelves, all the tupperware out of the drawers, all the bandaids, all the little baskets of toys, all of anything and everything she can get her hands on, she dumps it and drags it around the house. She is such a little sweetie and if I see her doing it and tell her to stop or put things back, she's delighted to comply. It's just that I can't be everywhere she is all the time. Usually I'm a few steps behind trying to put away the mess she leaves in her wake.

But besides that, we've been getting some bids on finishing the fireplace downstairs. It's plumbed for gas so we're having a gas insert installed and covering the old bricks with some new seagrass limestone tile. The insert we want is from the Regency contemporary collection, but instead of the blue glass fire bed we're thinking of going with spa stones and river rock accent pebbles. Still working out some details, though.

And I've been trying to work on a little sewing project. It's a pattern for a small zippered bag that I bought when Yogi was a baby. I can only manage a few minutes at a time, but I actually did make some progress last week.

And the weeds. Well, what can say?! I've already complained about those plenty of times. Just don't look at some of the gardens in the back yard. It's bad!

Ember's at it again. I still haven't had a shower and it's almost 10:30 in the morning. The garden beckons, my sewing project awaits, and the laundry is piling up. Time to go.

Best Moment

2009-05-04T20:30:00.001-07:00

There was a moment this morning while I was sitting at the computer and I watched a robin and tiny hummingbird working their way through the verbena just outside the window here. That was the best moment of the day.

Weeding and Dreaming

2009-04-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is, but lately I've been feeling absolutely starved to do something creative. I'm even considering learning to weave - something I've wanted to do for a long time. I even went to our local weaving store and checked out the looms. Maybe someday I'll get a used table loom and make some delicious handwovens. It looks like the best place to start with that is to take a beginning weaving class at that store, but I don't think that'll be possible until next fall.

So, for the time being, I'm going to try to do more sewing. The truth is I have so little time for anything that being creative feels more like what I do in my thoughts and dreams. And anyway, it's spring which means any free moment goes into the garden, my "weed garden" as Yogi referred to it. And to mowing and edging. Anyway, that's what I've been up to: weeding and dreaming.

All Sorts of Experiences

2009-04-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

We just got back from another week at the cabin. The weather was actually lovely for a change and the boys spent hours and hours simply playing outside in their boots in the fields and the stream. I love that just two hours north of our big city we can be in a place where you can still hear frogs and coyotes at night, where osprey and bald eagles and great blue herons cruise across the sky, where you can watch the comings and goings of the clouds over the snow-capped peaks in the distance, where there are moments of stillness, of silence. I feel so inspired there and sometimes I try to put my finger on exactly why. Is it the open spaces, the simplicity, the lack of TV and computer, the air, the quiet, the big sky? All of it together?

One day we went to the farm auction in a nearby town. It's held twice a month in a dedicated old wooden building where they have a little lunch counter which only opens for the auction.

The auction started, the first animals came out, the auctioneer started his patter, and the kids looked so surprised by the whole scene.

Beach play.

And even a trip to the Vancouver Aquarium. This is Skoona, the sea turtle.

Desert Girl

2009-04-17T07:52:00.001-07:00

Chris is still working on our trip photos, but I grabbed a few of sweet Ember Jane. Just couldn't help myself!

Britains Got Talent

2009-04-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this? I hadn't even heard of it so it was a fun surprise! Here's to living your dreams!

Too much to do!

2009-04-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

Spring is my least favorite of seasons.The weather is usually disappointing, the birds wake me up too early, but mostly it's because of the weeds. The weeds that are prolific in a few of my beds, the weeds that I spent several hours pulling out from around the roses yesterday. And I'm not finished!

Speaking of yesterday, I was in the (typical for spring) I-need-to-get-something-done! mode all day. Finally at almost 5 pm I came in and sat down on the couch to read with Beck. After the first book I was suddenly overcome with fatigue and I told Beck I needed to take a break for a few minutes and then I didn't lay down as much as tipped over onto the couch and fell into a deep sleep. I woke up when Chris came home from work and Beck was snoring next to me.At least Yogi and Ember were in their beds! The silent house felt strange at that time of day.

Easter

2009-04-13T21:12:00.001-07:00

My wonderful niece, Margaret, spent the night with us to help with all the Easter preparations. She even volunteered to get up at 4:30 am to hide the eggs - the hard-boiled, hand-dyed eggs inside, and the chocolate filled plastic eggs outside. She set an alarm, had a flashlight and did it all beautifully.

But a few hours later when the boys woke up and looked outside, we noticed that the plastic eggs were opened - split apart like bright butterflies around the yard. Chris tried to tell us that maybe it was an air pressure problem or that the temperature change caused it, but I took one look and thought: squirrels or raccoons. Upon closer inspection we saw that next to each egg was a little pile of crumbs and some foil wrapper -definitely not the result of air pressure or temperature issues! - so there's probably a raccoon hiding under a bush somewhere nearby with a very bad stomach ache!

And what did we do? Just collected and cleaned up the plastic eggs, had the kids help us refill them with the remaining chocolate and Margaret hid them all again - this time in the basement. It's funny that they never asked us why we happened to have the open bags of chocolate candy on hand.
Yogi insisted on using his Halloween pumpkin to collect his eggs!

My Bloggy World

2009-04-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

Last year I started this blog because of all the information and help I got from reading other people's adoption blogs. It was on various blogs, not from our agency, that we learned what to really expect: wait times, referral process, travel information... And, of course, it was fun to connect with others going through the same thing, to see their photos and hear their stories. Now that our adoption is complete and I've moved on to our next big project (homeschooling), I find that my blog reading interests have shifted as well.

Now I'm looking for information about homeschooling - how families are approaching it, what they're reading, where their inspiration comes from, what projects they're doing, what their lives are like. And once again, I've found some great sites! I've also started a homeschooling blog of my own called the organic learning project. I know it's crazy considering how little time I have for blogging at all, but I just can't help myself!

Here are some of my new favorites:

Camp Creek Blog
Mama-Om
noticing project
and from one of the noticing project photographers: Mayfly
Cherrio Road

Over the past several days...

2009-04-07T20:17:00.001-07:00

Well, it's finally turned into spring around here. Last week it snowed and now it's in the low 70's. Yesterday we were at the zoo and spent some time in the meadow area where I just laid on my back with my face in the sun letting it soak in, getting a little sun drunk while the kids ran around me. It was nice!

Over the past several days we've had out of town relatives visiting, I turned 40, and now we're back to our regular swim / preschool schedule. Turning 40 was uneventful - except for the fact that I spent several hours in a walk-in medical clinic because Ember came down with pink eye. I did think about it more than any other birthday I can remember. It doesn't seem old - well, at least I don't feel old, but it's definitely not young. So here I am in the middle, middle aged.

I'm getting a little impatient to be done with preschool now. I like the school and the teachers very much, but with the weather getting nicer, I'd rather be doing other things with the boys - or just having more freedom in our schedule to hit the road, go to the cabin, have a picnic on the beach. It'll happen soon enough.

Homeschooling

2009-04-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended my first "Parents' Night Out" with the Seattle Homeschooling Group. I was a little nervous not knowing anyone else there and wondering if I'd fit in, feel comfortable or welcomed. Sometimes I feel like I don't really belong in any group - a bit more liberal than mainstream, but then among very liberal folks I'm sure I seem pretty mainstream.

Anyway, it was a surprisingly good time! I was able to connect with a few other moms, conversation was easy and fun, I felt like I fit in just fine. I felt like I found "my people". And it also happened to be the last day to register Beck to attend our local school which I didn't do. So, we've officially made our decision. We're homeschooling and happy about it!

T@B

2009-03-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

Here's my new heart's desire. We saw one of these in the campground and it looked so cozy and inviting and fun! I just wanted to hit the road with a stack of good books, some art supplies, and my hiking boots. If I were to get one, I'd choose the clamshell version with the kitchen on the outside. Brand new they cost about $20,000, but I saw a minimally used one for $9,500. Oh, the wanting mind.

Death Valley 2009

2009-03-29T22:22:00.000-07:00

The cousins on the dunes.

We arrived back home last night after spending one glorious week in Death Valley. It was hard to come back and I actually felt a little glum about returning to the cold, gray weather and all the household chores. Same old thing.

But at least the trip was wonderful. We were able to do several full day hikes with the boys while Ember rode along in the backpack. Beck hiked on his own two feet and Yogi did some of each. It's so exhilarating to be outside, traveling along the trail, all that big sky stretching out forever, away from people and cars and noise. I could've easily stayed a few more weeks - especially since it took a few days to calm down after all the stress of packing and preparing for the trip.

There were some precious moments: of silence, of sun on skin, the gravelly voice of ravens, wind in Junipers, the smell of Mesquite, the night sky full of stars, firelight on the kids' faces. I want more of all that! And I think there's a part of me that needs more of it.

As soon as we get the photos organized we'll post a bunch - maybe even a slide show!

Ember and the English

2009-03-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on my nightly walk I ran into a woman, a mother of many ranging from 3 - young adult. I see her frequently and she met Ember just after we brought her home. Anyway, yesterday she saw me walking alone and we had a short rather strange conversation.

woman: How's your daughter? How's the English coming along?

me: Oh, she's doing great! She just turned a year old a few weeks ago. (Thinking that would answer the question about English.)

woman: So, what does she say? Does she speak English or Ethiopian?

me: (Huh?!) Well, you know...she's only a year old. She isn't saying many words yet. She says bye-bye and that's about it.

woman: So, is she still speaking Ethiopian?

me: (Huh?!) She was only 4 months when we got her. She was born in Ethiopia, but she wasn't speaking yet. Not Amharic or English. She was just a little baby. Why? When did your kids start to talk?

woman: Oh, they were all talking by 3 months.

me: (Huh?! Not sure what to say at this point since I'm thinking she's either crazy or seriously confused. I just wished her a pleasant evening and was on my way. A little strange if you ask me.