Maybe it's time to.....

complete my family emergency kit that has been sitting in the laundry room half put together. No, the warning was not for us directly but with all the seismic activity I will feel more comfortable with my kit finished.
love and hugs and do you have your emergency kit complete? B

Things I Love Right Now!

There really isn't any interesting news about the kids so I decided to do this post instead.

Things I love right now:
D (always top of the list)--leader of the boy squadron.
For M: I love to see him riding in shopping carts, walking anywhere, running his sideways crab run, climbingcrawlingsliding on the big play thing at the Y, doing his chores again, getting himself dressed again, going potty (goodbye diapers--he is about 97% night trained as well!!!), and cuddles (when he will give them-- a bit stingy with these now).
For G: reading Hop On Pop (he read the whole thing yesterday with a bit of assistance from me), "reading" to M without being asked, wanting harder chores because his old chores are 'boring', making jokes that sometimes make sense, when he is so excited he can barely tell a story and keeps saying "and then guess what", doing his homework, whistling, saying he doesn't want to do something and then he is so excited when we do it, and winking at me.
For E: the look that passes between us when one of the little kids says something outlandish, doing his chores or homework before school because he is scheming for a play date with someone, reading a "good food" book and enjoying it (he has been stuck on "junk food" reading too long), when he finally admits he doesn't know it all and asks a question or opens himself to something new, surprising me by doing work that I didn't realize he was up for, when he acts as a leader for the little kids and convinces them to work together on something as a surprise (like cleaning the playroom without being asked), and his smiles.
love and hugs and have a super weekend! B
PS I think I may have just found the key to getting G to stop chewing the nails (which currently barely exist); I said that when he is a grown up Dad one day his kids would ask to hold his hand and then say "Daddy, why are your hands so gross?". He started to cry and said he wanted to stop; hopefully he has reached bottom--- he has admitted he has a problem and he needs help. Now to find the method to help him.

Accepting Spring

I had some trouble accepting that spring is happening here already.

But it seems to be.

Early spring is here. And it has been beautiful.

It has been so clear we could see the Olympic mountains.....

Old Man Rainier (M calls him Mr. Volcano)

And all the way to Mount Baker to the north.

I should have just enjoyed it and not worried about spring coming too early because the rain begins again tomorrow.

love and hugs and enjoy spring whenever it chooses to arrive, B

PS Another sign that we are kind of out in the sticks: I had to write a note in the neighborhood newsletter for next month warning everyone that we have had coyotes roaming the neighborhood. Coyotes are sssssooooo creeepy. Don't let your dogs out alone.

Random Notes

Great Wolf Lodge was fun. We just stayed Saturday night. I think there are life lessons that the kids are learning. Like when we were in the wave pool: you have to get back up as soon as you are knocked down. You can just lay there, but you get run over again and again and feel so much worse. Hopping right back up and getting your feet under you is the best way to go. Life lesson right?


We are going to have a SPECTACULAR weather week for Presidents Break. Sunny and mid50s all the way through. Not to rub it in to everyone who is snowed in, but I am because you could be here right now soaking up the sun. My daffodils should be busting out all over by the weekend. President's Break here lasts a week; usually it gives people a chance to travel away from the gloom, but this year this is the only place not gloomy. Maybe global warming should simply renamed global weather change; it is not necessarily colder or warmer than usual, but weather is drastically different from the norm.

Why does it make me feel so productive to go through and unsubscribe to a bunch of email junk mail that I unknowingly signed up for? My inbox will now be only things that I actually want.... maybe.

Why is it so hard to throw away the kids Valentines? They abandoned them the day after their parties so why shouldn't I just toss them? Same with their art projects... sometimes it is so hard to toss their 'work' ; and sometimes I have no heart and toss everything in sight.

I have started to think about homeschooling. I think about how it would solve the whole problem of them doing so many extra pages after school and having to go back and reteach skills. Why should I just work with them after school when I could just teach them the stuff in the first place? Funny how things change. I would have never thought of homeschooling even a year ago. Not totally seriously thinking about it, but fantasizing about what it might be like.... and then scared of what it might be like.

love and hugs and will write a real entry sometime after break, B

Valentine Flowers

I have been forcing bulbs. I went a bit over the top this year. I have already forced some hyacinth and currently have amaryllis, hyacinth, and crocus in bloom.

In the next few days I will have a second amaryllis open and another round of hyacinth. I used to force the amaryllis in soil but have gone all hydroponic since I had a terrible time with soil gnats.

My new love is forcing crocus. They have done very well (though they are extremely thirsty). You can use any tiny container. Below is a votive candle holder with pebbles and 3 crocus bulbs.

To have spring flowers in the middle of winter is a treat. It takes a bit of planning ahead (buy some extra bulbs in the fall and stash them in the fridge), but is worth it. The kids have enjoyed watching them and M is very into reporting how much they have grown.

love and hugs and isn't it funny how my bulbs blooming inside in February makes me happy but the ones blooming outside are driving me to distraction? B

PS-- I'm trying to teach myself to tie shoes left-handed so I can teach G. I had D show me and he condescendingly said "It's just like you do it". Well, the basic method is the same but left-handed it is all backwards and wrong.

Projects Completed

Seems to me that 3rd grade is going down as the year of the project. This time two projects overlapped. we were not yet done with the famous African American timeline when this beauty landed on our laps: create a Valentine box that can hold 32 valentines, uses recycled materials and must have 3 moving parts. Those of you snowed in on the east coast grab your recycling bucket and put the kids to work now. E first came up with a list of items to make that would interest him. Then he stood in the pantry looking over the variety of materials available. He had to have the oatmeal tub for the control tower and we brainstormed and came up with the empty nut container as the top "windows" of the thing. He then set to work drawing, covering and decorating. It turned out terrific! I like that as the kids drop in cards they can watch it drop through the 'window' section. E loves the guy he drew with binoculars. Four moving parts was the final total: a door, 2 planes on pipe cleaners that"fly" and an elevator.

This is a project I have been working on for 2 years.....

I did blog2print and turned the blog into a book. It looks great and was simple. The pictures and stories are saved and I have to say that it was easier than keeping up my photo albums. For anyone who wants to keep the cute quotes, stories, pics, but thinks it would take too much time this might be a good solution. The photo albums are getting cumbersome to label pics and insert, never mind even getting the prints ordered online, but I am 6 completed volumes into the photo album format and hesitate to abandon it totally.

OK one last project that has been completed for a while, but I know was finally delivered.

I told you in an earlier post that this was harder than any other quilt I have done. It is also sort of insane. I just kept thinking about monsters. And then the fabric came and I knew what I had to do and figured out that it had to have pockets.. and that required button holes... and then the monsters had to attach inside the pockets yet still be removable... and it just kept building. I didn't even get a pic of the back which ended up with a pattern to it instead of just a plain muslin back like I usually do. Sorry if it scares baby C, Jill.

love and hugs and finishing projects feels so good... maybe I should look at the mountain of laundry as a project,B

Picture Time... Finally!

As we stood in the emergency room in late October, D and I (planners that we are) were looking at M in the body cast and make mental lists of things that would have to be cancelled or put off until a much later date. Pictures for Christmas/M's 3rd bitrthday were one of the things on the list. But happily this weekend we finally got to go have pictures taken.

I love Portrait Innovations. Inexpensive and good solid shots of the kids without being too posed (as long as you step in a bit). I don't know if they love or hate parents like me. When we met our photographer I told her that I would like to get the shots done first that I knew we would want to use. Then we could do an extra stuff or other backgrounds. I know my kids. The longer it drags on, the less likely we are to get anything usable out of them.
Picture one:
M was barely cooperating at thebeginning. He lay there for a few shots and then leaned in to E.....
And soon after was pulled from the room by D.
E went on to do his individual shots and I have to say this time he was terrific, best of the bunch. No rabid dog, over practiced smile. No hunched shoulder and raised eyebrow suprise shots. All natural and happy looking and really hard to pick the best shots of him.

G has reached the age of the camera curse. He is now fighting the fake smiles as well as he is now burdened with glasses and the glare that goes along with them. We could've done pics without the glasses but they are really a part of him now. He is so good about wearing them.

M sat outside the portrait room and pouted, but when he started to cry I had to step in and bribe (sorry D, but I couldn't have him with red eyes, runny nose, and face red from rubbing). A few gummies and he slowly warmed up to the idea of pictures.

What you can't see on his individual pose is that M wouldn't so it without his guys so big brothers are standing on either side just outside the frame. Cute! Cute! Cute! I only chose the white background pics. There were sets done on black background and gray background, but I really got attached to these of my pasty white children on the pasty white background. The other set of outfits was not as coordinated for group shots and I just didn't like any, the kids didn't seem as fresh as they did in the first. Here's an example:

And we basically knew we were done when G reached for his weapon:

When D pointed out that G's hand looked like he was reaching for a gun I knew we were all too punchy to go on. We got what we wanted and I have to say the price is right for professional portraits. I used the disk they gave us to put these on the blog and hopefully D will add new pics to his FB.

"Soup"er bowl Sunday was terrific; neighbors came over for fun and chili. I don't know if any of us really tried to watch the game. I didn't even watch commercials this year. But fun was had by all.

love and hugs, B

Love Those Apples!

Apple truck yesterday. Again, who can turn down 23 pounds of apples for $12 fresh from Wenatchee. M was tickled because he got to walk over to the truck with me this time; last time he was in the big cast. G and M are both experienced with apple truck treats: when kids go to the truck the man gives them an apple as big as their head. I really wanted a pic of M with his apple, but it was half gone by the time we arrived home and I got everything unpacked. D also likes the apple truck because he takes some to work and people pretend to be his friend for a day(just kidding!). Winter selection is not as terrific as fall--Red Del, Golden Del, Fuji, and Gala. I chose Golden this time because I can do a lot with it. Will definitely make Dutch Apple Bread again; OK, it says bread but I thought it was much more cake like and put it in a pan like a snack cake. You can look it up on allrecipes.com. I tried to hyperlink, but it didn't work today.
love and hugs and remember an apple a day keeps the apple truck in business so go buy a box next time you pass, B

Various Picture Catch Up

Potty training is exhausting. Must nap to recover...... or it could be a sugar crash from all the M&Ms and candy corn bribes.
We played outside last week and the kids went crazy with the sidewalk chalk. Each child is pictured with his creation.

OK..he had some help.

No, he's not mine, but he could be if his mom would just get distracted. He fits right in with my bunch ---can I have him A?

Pretend photographer pics.. the light was interesting here but I don't think I got it right.

Moonrise. This was taken at 5:15 one afternoon. Pretty, yet sad at the same time.

I could have sworn I told these flowers to go back to sleep.. you can see they listen just as well as the boys.

love and hugs, B

Need a laugh? I just laughed through lunch here. {And I think I just actually hyperlinked!!!! Yea Me!} The pics from design magazines are perfectly set for humor.