then all this became history

All Summer in a Day .. or so.

2011-08-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

One of our first summer experiences was that our trusty camera finally gave up the ghost. Robert tried to fix it, but it didn't work.

We do have a smaller, less-fabulous camera though, so don't worry this blog post won't be all text! And we are at the moment gratefully borrowing a nice camera from Robert's mom. So hooray!

On with summer! In June we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary with a simple trip to the temple grounds and family dinner out.

In July we celebrated Charlotte's 6th birthday. The BIG surprise for her was a new member of our family:

We presented her as a family pet, but that Charlotte got to settle on her name. So meet Flora! We also told Charlotte that while Flora isn't strictly hers, she has the opportunity for Flora to become her own pet if she can get to the point of being in charge of all of Flora's care.

Robert built this awesome hutch so that we can keep Flora inside the house. The kids love to greet her in the mornings, and she comes out and hops around the family room and kitchen for about an hour or so every day.

Our garden did pretty well this year, too. Robert built raised beds for almost everything and we had good success with potatoes, strawberries, onions, pumpkins, beans, peas, beets, carrots, and broccoli (until the aphids and cabbage moths discovered it - then it was all over for the broccoli). The kids each got their own raised bed to plant whatever they wanted in, which was a great learning experience for us all! We're planning to keep it going throughout the winter months if we can.

Our big adventure came in August, with a family reunion in eastern Idaho. We decided to make it really great and visit Yellowstone National Park while we were at it.

We camped all the way there, while we were there, and all the way home again. It was so much fun and such a great way to see places we wouldn't have from a hotel room.

We hiked around a little here and there...

waited out a thunderstorm in our tent ...

made campfire pizza ...

(they didn't like it).

We climbed rocks ...

and dipped our toes in freezing cold lake water ...

and kept ourselves entertained during long stretches of car-riding - without the help of a DVD player!

We discovered wildlife ...

(that's a bat house in the middle of our campground)

and played in the dirt. A lot.

At Yellowstone Park itself, we saw lots and lots of geysers and hot springs. No bears, though. Or buffalo. Or moose. Or wolves. Which was sort of alright with me.

The kids loved working on getting their official Yellowstone Junior Ranger patches, it was a great introduction to the park, and we had a lot of fun working on it together.

And some random family/people shots:

Okay, that's it for now. Next up is the actual family reunion, but I think this is a long enough blog post for now, don't you? Whew!

"A book, a challenge, a blessing." And a new journal!

2011-05-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

So my good friend Cortney is hosting a reading challenge - to read the entire Book of Mormon in 30 days. It begins on June 1. I'd already decided that I wanted to read the Book of Mormon from start to finish over the summer, so that works out to just about perfect.

I have to confess, though. I couldn't wait. I started reading already yesterday. And I realized that getting it done in 30 days is not necessarily going to be my greatest challenge. Because in addition to my scriptures, I settled in with a new journal and pen, and all of my Book of Mormon study guides and reference books, some of which contain more pages in them than the Book of Mormon itself. I figured I was all set, and then realized that my biggest challenge this month is going to be just ... reading. Just the scriptures. Without getting all caught up in commentary. Because I love my reference books. I love insightful commentary. But this time - just this once! - I want to keep it real and simple. Just the Book. Oh, okay, and my journal. So I can write down my own, you know, insightful commentary.

Alright, also because I simply cannot resist a new journal.

Anyway, anyone want to join me/us?

In the Garden

2011-05-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

Here's just some stuff that's been happening in our garden this week. I took these photos yesterday and already it's different today! (We planted flowers in the kids' "garden labs" in addition to their seeds, and I planted and re-arranged a bunch of our pots.) I love love LOVE this season of change and growth!

Our old backyard picket fence - recycled!

A lesson in physics and engineering.

The vegetable beds. Notice the progress on our new fence!

Apple blossoms.

Kids' "garden labs." Where they get to do pretty much whatever they want with minimal parental direction.

Ahh ... I love Spring.

Calvin Turns Four

2011-05-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

Calvin turned 4 on Mother's Day. We were both treated to Robert-made cinnamon rolls in the morning - hooray!

The following weekend, we had his party. A planet themed party, with a solar system cake - complete with asteroid belt ... um ... bowl. Also, I noticed my mistake with Neptune and turned it on its side later.

We hung paper stars up everywhere ...

And I made this "comet toss" game, but we didn't officially play it. A few of the boys tossed comets at it, but we didn't keep score or anything. Still, Calvin thinks it's pretty cool so maybe we'll hang it in his room ...

I can't believe how much sooner this makes both kids in school feel. Yikes!

Conference, Easter, and Science!

2011-05-23T21:17:00.000-07:00

So here was my brilliant idea for keeping us focused over Conference weekend (completely stolen from someone else, of course):

Friday night we read the story of King Benjamin's tower, how he gathered all his people together and they pitched their tents all around so they could listen to him. Then after the kids went to bed, I put up our tent in the living room. It took up the whole living room. I decked it out with all the spare pillows in the house, blankets, and we set up the laptop on a chair in the corner. We had coloring and Conference Bingo (with snacks as prizes). And did you notice Charlotte's portrait of President Monson there on the armoire? I don't know if he ever really wears bow ties, but she was pretty proud of her rendition. A good time was had by all.

Well, almost all. We were also harboring conjunctivitis. I don't know about anyone else, but I was uncomfortable and exhausted pretty much all weekend, and barely took notes during any of the talks (I usually take lots of notes). We spent pretty much all of the following week down with Pink Eye. All of us except for Calvin - the lucky duck!

For Easter, I made Charlotte a new dress, and Calvin his first ever tie. Here's Charlotte modeling her dress. Calvin, while he proudly wore his tie for all three hours of church, didn't want to wear it for a picture (that's him in the corner rolling around on the floor).

And somewhere in there, just for fun, we made colored carnations with food-colored water. Always a classic household science experiment.

The Rest of 2010

2011-01-10T21:02:00.000-08:00

First of all ... SNOW!!!

Our grassy snowman was so heavy he fell over not long after this photo. We didn't even get a chance to name him ...

The snow day got Calvin's seal of approval, with a wink and a thumb's-up.

I filled some spray bottles with colored water and we painted the backyard until the kids got too cold.

Later, we found Gromit cozied up and ready for a long winter's nap. Would any other cat let their kids do stuff like this to them?

We celebrated St. Nicholas Day, as is our tradition. The kids woke up to find their stockings filled, and a gingerbread boy and girl waiting for them at the table.

Charlotte also got invited to go roller skating with our neighborhood friend. She'd never been on a playdate quite like that, so I tagged along for moral support and to snap a few photos.

The other mom and I did the YMCA, leaving my 5-year-old daughter completely embarrassed. I feel a little bad for how much I'll probably humiliate her in 8 - 10 years (and I won't even have to dance in order to do it!).

The kids were a big help making Christmas treats.

Christmas itself was a bit of a happy blur, and the very few photos I took turned out ... well, they didn't really turn out at all. We spent Christmas Eve with Robert's family, then drove back so we could wake up to Christmas morning at our own house (and we actually all slept in a little! Yay!). Then we hosted Christmas dinner for my family after all the flurries of wrapping paper and kids getting super spoiled by aunts and uncles and grandparents. After that, we celebrated my mom's birthday, then my brother's birthday, and had such a rockin' New Year with friends that we didn't come home until after breakfast the next morning.

Whew!

We then welcomed Bird E. Bird (mostly known as just Birdy) to our growing menagerie. Birdy has been a fixture at Robert's parents house ever since he was found in one of their trees about 13 years ago (?) Our house is equipped with plenty of noise and kid antics for him to enjoy from his perch high in the corner of our playroom. And we've been enjoying his chirps and funny bird ways, too.

Finally, a couple of things I made this last week. The first is a storyboard made from poster board, clear contact paper and packing tape, to help the kids reinforce storytelling and "beginning, middle and end". The second are a gaggle of cupcakes for Charlotte's class, to celebrate her half-birthday (since she has a summer birthday). I took the idea from Hello, Cupcake! ... and while they're not as good as the photo in the book, I still think they're pretty cute! And definitely delicious (I used the frosting recipe in the back of the book that uses Marshmallow Fluff).

Project 31: The Grand Finale! Finally!

2010-12-29T21:20:00.000-08:00

Finally ... the rest of October!

Saturday, 23 October

I found this great recipe for dinner rolls made with pumpkin (or other winter squash) in Sunset Magazine and I made them again and again and again ...

Sunday, 24 October

In my written book-style journal, I sometimes will come across a page or two left accidentally blank. I don't mind it; it reminds me of the white space I need in my life sometimes, that space just simply to breathe and be. Today was one of those days.

Monday, 25 October

We harvested the last of the green onions from our garden! I chopped them up, tossed them in jars and put them in the freezer to use all winter long.

Also, I bought the kids some learner's chopsticks on a recent trip to the I.D. in Seattle. Frozen blueberries are their favorite things to "practice" with.

Tuesday, 26 October

Robert and Charlotte learned how to play Tiddlywinks ...

... while Calvin helped me do some baking!

Wednesday, 27 October

I learned how to make these cute little fabric flowers to teach the Relief Society sisters in November. (Post-November: these flowers are now the latest trend in our ward! The Sunday after I taught how to make them, I couldn't believe how many girls in Primary were wearing them in their hair!)

Thursday, 28 October

Playing Uno with Uncle Scott.

And Mama's new coat hooks! Bought with birthday money from my mother-in-law. I love looking at them every day. Thanks again, Kathy!

Friday, 29 October

Both kids were bumble bees for Halloween this year; this was just the day Charlotte got to wear her costume to school. They were the easiest costumes ever: black pants, yellow shirt with electrical tape stripes (comes right off, so they can wear their shirts later!). I loosely stitched some tulle in to the back of the shirt for wings, and the antennae are headband+pipe cleaner+pom-poms. Robert went as a beekeeper and I was a flower garden. We got lots of "oh, that's so cute!"'s at the ward trunk-or-treat.

Saturday, 30 October

We celebrated my birthday a day early. Robert made me this to-die-for chocolate cake. Which is pictured in plastic because that's how it was when I remembered to get out the camera, and I was in a near chocolate coma and wasn't thinking straight enough to take the plastic wrap off. Oh man, I still dream of this cake.

Sunday, 31 October

And finally, since Halloween was on a Sunday this year, we decided not to go trick-or-treating, and instead partied with our dear friends the Warners. I totally stole this photo from Jenni's blog post of that day, because I brought my candy-corn apron but not my camera. And because it's a rare photo of me that I actually like. I don't look 33, do I?

Project 31 Continued

2010-10-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

Thursday, 14 October

Late night baking for tomorrow's breakfast. It was Cortney's mom's baked oatmeal, one of our favorites.

Friday, 15 October

A pumpkin chocolate tart for Jenni's birthday. To nobody's surprise, it didn't turn out as pretty as Martha's, but it tasted lovely!

Saturday, 16 October

It's pumpkin patch time! The patch we like has so many fun things for kids to do, we totally spaced taking a photo of the actual pumpkins in the patch.

Also: Party in the Playroom! I had already picked up the dinosaurs before thinking to document the festivities.

Sunday, 17 October

The kids confused everyone they talked to at church when they said "We're decorating a gingerbread house today!" I guess the haunted gingerbread house tradition hasn't yet caught on in these parts (actually, this is the first year we've done it, but it was so much fun I think it may become annual)!

Monday, 18 October

Smartypants.

Tuesday, 19 October

Sibling bonding over video games!

And this is why I don't exercise. Rolling out 16 homemade tortillas was quite a workout in itself.

Wednesday, 20 October

I woke up to this little balloon dancing in the air from the heater vent. I pointed it out to the kids thinking they'd be in awe. But they weren't. "Oh yeah, Mom, it was doing that yesterday." Drat.

Also, I made the paneer for the first time ever (usually it's Robert). When I was done, I had all this whey I couldn't deal with throwing out. So I've been using it in our bread instead of water.

Thursday, 21 October

A visit from Alicia and Trixie!

Friday, 22 October

Playing dress-up! He's a dog, and Charlotte is a fancy lady taking him out for a walk. Not pictured are a pair of purple fuzzy slippers. Because you need those when you're a dog. Of course.

Project 31

2010-10-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking, really since the first of the year, about doing a 365 Project here. But it seemed so daunting and I didn't feel like I could commit to a whole year. Enter the creative rut I've been in for the last couple months. It's time to climb out of it and start taking photos again, at the very least. So I decided that I could do a Project 31 ... one month (my favorite month!) of taking photos (at least one every day) and posting them here. Yes, that I can do. And so.

Friday, 01 October

Newly arranged family photographs in my newly painted bedroom!

One of my favorite spots in the house. The cabinet is an old Westinghouse radio cabinet my mom found for me at Goodwill. I replaced the knobs, and plan to re-do the speaker screens in something colorful. My canning supplies are stacked in front, and the laundry mountain is just around the corner - but this little spot in the kitchen always makes me happy.

Saturday, 02 October

We watched General Conference today, here in our living room. We don't sit together as a family in this room nearly often enough. Today was so good for that.

Sunday, 03 October

He looks fierce, and he'd like you to believe that he really is.

Monday, 04 October

Homemade peppermint lavender laundry powder! Yes!

Tuesday, 05 October

I see this time of day more often than I should. Also, I need to dust.

Wednesday, 06 October

A view of my children from the kitchen just before dinnertime.

Today's harvest!

Thursday, 07 October

Charlotte's teacher inspired us to walk around the neighborhood being "spiderweb detectives".

We brought our magnifying glasses (or, as Calvin would say: "fine-a-mine" glasses) and everything!

Friday, 08 October

A visit to Grandma and Grandpa Miller's house while Grandma was making soap.

Saturday, 09 October

Kittens at Grandma's house!

Sunday, 10 October

Grandma and Grandpa Ennis are back in town. And they brought Uncle Scott with them! Auntie Jess was here for a couple days, too, so we had Uncle Aaron and Auntie Chrys come on over, too, for a lovely family dinner and visit.

Monday, 11 October

We decided to move FHE to Tuesday nights for the next few weeks so that Charlotte could take a jazz dance class with her beloved Miss Stephanie. It's quite different from ballet and she isn't loving it as much as she thought she would. I hope the next 7 weeks aren't too horrible for her!

Tuesday, 12 October

I found a new use for all the many many mason jars in our garage - science experiments!

Wednesday, 13 October

There's really only one reason why I would be drinking teabag tea from a mug with honey. (I prefer it loose, in a cup, straight up.). We've caught a cold.

To be continued ...

Summer 2010: Part 2

2010-10-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

Here's Part 2: Washington, DC

We went to DC to visit family: Jess and Drew (plus Kami and AJ); Scott (and even got to see Daniel and Rachelle!); and Mom and Dad who have been there all summer to help Scott after his accident.

Here are photos!

Robert and Calvin at the biggest pencil ever! :)

While walking down this pathway between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Monument, we got caught in a sudden downpour. It was awesome! It's August in DC, so the rain was warm (not like our frigid northwest rain) and the drops were huge. The kids were miserable, so I decided to sing. Yes, I became that person. I totally sang "Singin' in the Rain" and "I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine" at the top of my lungs, because my kids were so grumpy and there was nothing else I could do about it: we didn't have a car or an umbrella, and the closest shelter was waydownthere at the Lincoln Memorial.

We were soaked through and through by the time we got there, and smiling for the camera was definitely not going to happen.

The rain stopped on our way back toward the "pencil", walking along the other side of the reflecting pool. I love this photo - that little flash of happy pink against the lonely old WWI memorial.

We also went to the Museum of Natural History, where I let the kids have one of the cameras. I think this is my favorite shot:

They have a fossil lab there, with windows all around so you can see the scientists at work. This guy actually opened up his window and talked to the kids about what he was doing - they were totally captivated! Charlotte wanted to know if he was a real paleontologist. So I encouraged her to ask him! She did - but he said he was actually a chemist. Super cool, because then we talked about how all different sorts of scientists work together.

They had a really great butterfly exhibit, which Kami, Charlotte and Calvin went to with Jess while Robert and I stayed with A.J. and watched a movie about a chrysalis. I love this cousin shot inside the exhibit:

And of course Jess and I had to go see the Hope Diamond! It was gorgeous, but I'm more impressed by its history than the actual rock:

We visited George Washington's home at Mount Vernon:

Washington's innovative threshing barn; he had the horses actually trample the wheat, which would get sifted through small holes in the floor - the wheat berries would fall to the cellar below and the stalks stayed above.

And we visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. Which was our favorite thing to see, I think. His entire house was so innovative, and the grounds were absolutely breathtaking:

A ride in Grandpa's wheelchair on the way to the house.

Petting mimosa plants!

I was a tiny bit ga-ga over the vegetable gardens.

We saw some cool plant life on the forested walk from the cemetery back to the visitor's center, too.
Oh, New England forests are so magical to me!

We went to the National Zoo:

And the Library of Congress:

We actually were able to catch up with an old friend at the Library of Congress, and then we went walking around downtown (without the kids - they stayed with Auntie Jess). We passed by the Capitol:

and visited the National Archive, where we saw original copies of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights, as well as the Magna Carta, and the official documents that brought about women's suffrage.

We also went to this great amazing French bistro. Oh my goodness, if you're ever in DC, you must go to Bistro d'Oc and have the creme brulee. Months later, it still makes me happy to think about food like that.

I had to take photos of the Navy Memorial, too, of course:

This is pretty much, right here, my childhood image of my dad.

We spent time with family, of course:

Watching Jeopardy!

And then we came home:

This airplane ride will forever be known as "Washington-Chicago-Washington DC!"
Maybe next time, we'll stop over for a while in Chicago! (I've always wanted to visit there ... )

Summer 2010: Part 1

2010-10-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

Oh, this is getting ridiculous! I can't believe it's already October and I still haven't blogged the rest of our summer. So many excuses ... But! I'm giving myself a new challenge this month, and it means I need to have everything else done first. So here I go, here's the rest of Summer 2010!

To begin, after camping, the next big thing was a trip to the zoo with some of our dearest and sadly out-of-town friends who came for a quick visit!

I can't even begin to explain how awesome it was to see them (or how I managed to miss snapping any photos of Madam M!!) and to re-connect. They were the first friends Robert and I made as a couple after we got married. And we've seen each others' children get born - literally! There's definitely a special place in my heart for this cute family.

Speaking of children getting born, Charlotte did that once! Five big years ago. So we celebrated! With a woodland theme pool party. Of course.

She was shy about getting sung to.

We also saw a whole lot of Caspar Babypants this summer. At the library, a high school theater, at the waterfront for a friend's birthday party, and on this big slab of shadeless concrete in the middle of one of the hottest days of summer.

Calvin and Charlotte had these little cardboard guitars, so we brought them along so they could "play" with the band. Calvin felt pretty special when Caspar commented on it (in a "nice guitar!" sort of way) from the stage.

Next! We had a whole Miller family hootenanny at Uncle Alex's family's cabin on Whidbey Island. The weather was perfect for kite flying, so we did!

We had some great fun with all the driftwood. My favorite was trying to see if we could get from way down the beach back to the cabin without touching any sand - and yes, we did it!

Don't worry, I didn't leave him hanging there; I just had to take a photo-op break.

Hooray, the whole family!

To be continued ...

And now for the obligatory Kindergarten post!

2010-09-01T22:07:00.001-07:00

I thought I was going to get our whole summer blogged before I had to write this post, but it just ain't happening. I'll get there, I promise!

The important thing now is that CHARLOTTE STARTED KINDERGARTEN TODAY!

Here's what I wrote on Praiseworthy yesterday, and it pretty much sums up how I feel about it:

I don't prefer happy endings. Don't get me wrong, I think they're great. I just prefer an ending that leaves me wondering what's coming up next. Because one thing I've learned from life so far is that nothing really ever ends.

Maybe that's part of what made today a really great day. You see, it's the very last day of my life as a mother without kids in school. My oldest starts kindergarten tomorrow. And like good mothers everywhere, I'm excited and nervous and sad and proud. I both can and can't believe how fast the time has passed, just like everyone said it would. I feel like everything I've ever learned from or taught her in the last five years culminates here; that we will be leaving some important part of ourselves in today when it ends. And it's a bittersweet feeling - the kind of feeling I love the best. Because it leaves me dying to find out what's coming up next.

As for how Miss Charlotte feels about it? I think the photos do the best talking:

After school we went out to a special celebratory lunch with one of her oldest and best friends, Payton (and his mama and sister), who also started Kindergarten today.

Complete with chocolate-y ice cream, which is what's on her face.
That's my girl!

She decided that the bush made a really great back-scratcher.
Silly-awesome!

Oh my goodness, how they grow!

Roughing It: or Still Life With Cheetos

2010-08-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a tradition three years in a row to have a summer weekend camp-out with some of our most excellent friends, and I have to say it's one of the highlights of our recent summers!

This year we ...

Roasted gigantic marshmallows

and pineapple

Ate a whole lot of Cheetos, and then a few more - and then Cheetos and marshmallows together!

What is that in my mouth - marshmallows or Cheetos? I'll never tell!

Brought the watercolors along - fun!

Didn't mind the rain one little bit

Seemed years and years older than she was just yesterday

Increased our numbers (last year almost half these kids were babies - they just seem like more as they grow!) We're may need more campsites soon

Played with flashlights

and on the beach. I didn't even pull out my camera (all these photos were taken by our friends the Teeples) so you won't see how fully waterlogged our kids got after everyone else left; so glad we packed extra changes of clothes and some warm blankets!

The Dads

The Mamas

The coolest kids I know!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

2010-08-09T22:12:00.001-07:00

So all summer, it seems, I've been failing to blog. Meaning to get around to it and actually getting around to it, it turns out, are two different things. And SO! So ... so ... so ... the next few posts are a recap of what we've been up to instead of writing about it. And with about three weeks of summer left, yes there's more to come!

Let Your Light Shine On Me

2010-06-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

Oh, it has been rainy! And cold! And dreary, dreary, dreary! Don't get me wrong, I love living in the northwest and embrace the rain and the gray winters. But this year, April showers brought ... May showers. Which brought ... June showers. Ugh.

Good thing we know how to have a good time indoors, too!

Charlotte's last dance recital of the year:

Next year, if she decides to dance again, she'll be in the older age group. Which is good, because although she adores her teacher and loves being on stage, I think she's been a little bored this session with the same steps she's been learning for the last year or so. It's time to move on. Calvin will be old enough for dance next year, too, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes if he still wants to do it!

My brother Spencer, his wife Nancy, and their kids Josh and Vanessa came up for a week-long visit, too. And who didn't take any photos? That's right. Lazy little me. It was fun having them around, though. My brother tells some great Navy/Army stories, and it's always nice for the kids to get to know their cousins better.

We also got to host some of Robert's family, though just for the Memorial Day holiday. Which happened to fall on his mom's birthday this year. Robert made yummy cookies and ice cream, and we all ate too much and had a nice visit. So glad they could come!

That's Robert's sister Kristine, her husband Alex (their baby, "cousin Robert" was sleeping), Charlotte sitting on (the birthday girl!) Grandma/Kathy's lap, Grandpa/Ron on the floor, Great-grandpa Parker, Calvin, another of Robert's sisters Diane, and me.

Here's one with Robert swapped in for Alex, who took a turn taking the photo.

And some random candids from around the house:

Cousin Robert! Oh my goodness, he's so dang cute.

Oh, I love watching grandparents (great-grandpa in this case!) and babies interact.

Yes, it's been fun, but we still won't mind it if the sun ever does decide to come out for the summer!

A Grand Day Out

2010-05-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Charlotte said she was sad because she didn't know very much about dinosaurs. We've checked out books and magazines and movies on the subject, so I thought it might be fun to go look at the real thing. We had a great time yesterday at the Burke Museum and then running around UW campus for a while. Here are some photos of a few of our adventures (no dino pics, though, photography isn't allowed inside the museum):

After we oohed and aahed at the giant triceratops head, etc. etc., we picked tiny flowers. Handfuls of them, and then threw them up in the air. Didn't get a photo of that, sorry, I was too busy frolicking.

We played with public art ...

... climbed up and sat under huge gorgeous cherry trees (where we also played tag and dodged the students lounging in the grass and professors hurrying along the pathways).

We did some lounging of our own.

Hung out on lamp posts ...

... and were amazed by cool old architecture. I wanted to show the kids the UW library's children's literature section, which used to be in a whole big room by itself but isn't anymore, which made me a little sad. But we did go find a Winnie the Pooh book and read it by some big windows overlooking some ginormous rhododendrons. And we saw a familiar face, too! We ran into Robert's sister's husband's sister, which isn't as confusing as it sounds, she's the kids' Uncle Alex's sister. What a crazy small world!

All in all, it was a really great day. The kids were even well-behaved enough that I dared a trip to U-Village and even walked around Anthropologie a bit with them, where true to their promise they didn't touch anything!

A Giveaway Over at Praiseworthy

2010-05-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

My friend and Praiseworthy blogger, Jenni, made these cute baby bibs and a tutorial on how you can make them, too! Just in case you don't want to, though, she's giving a couple of them away. Go on over and check it out!

Calvin is 3!

2010-05-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: www.familyfun.com

My baby boy turned three yesterday and I am in shock.

Thomas S. Monson said: "If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly."

I miss them already.

Still, it's a pleasure and an honor to watch them grow, and as hard as they can seem sometimes I wouldn't trade these years for anything.

That, above, is the cake he requested, and I did make it and it turned out just as cute as it is in that photo. But someone - ahem! - played with the camera and all my photos turned out really really dark.

Except for this one, below. Which is my favorite anyway.

Calvin and his Jenni!

A Runner's Sonnet

2010-05-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

My oldest sister reminded me of this sonnet today. It caught my breath, and ... well ...

My bones are rods of pain that prop my heart,
my legs, my lungs, and pieces of my brain.
I run. The rest of me is wasted parts,
dead weight that dares my cadence to sustain
a pace marked by the time it takes each foot
to rise and fall like some iambic curse
that screams a perfect rhythm when it's put
in place in paved, pedantic, measured verse.
The road becomes a sonnet which I write,
compelled to breathe each rhyme that sears my throat.
The road is black; my lines are thin and white,
compared to that which those before me wrote.
I stride to hide my tears within my sweat
and face the finish-line without regret.

- T. Scott Ennis, September 2008

There are Some Who Call Him Tim

2010-05-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

You might remember the guy with my kids in this photo from a previous post about our general shenanigans. He's my brother, Scott.

He's a marathon runner.

And a triathlete.

And a poet, and a father, an awesome uncle. He can speak Afrikaans. He's the kind of guy who jumps out of airplanes because he's afraid of heights. He used to pay me $5 to clean his room for him before he had a girlfriend over to our house. He's charming and witty and smart and funny.

He's also, as I type, in a coma.

Last week, in training for his next triathlon, he and his bike collided with a car. He was airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries; thank goodness he was wearing a helmet, it saved his life.

In baby steps, his body is making progress in the direction of healing, though it's likely to be weeks at least before he wakes up. And even after that, the road to recovery is going to be long and hard.

As for me, I am sad. And grateful. For the prayers of dear friends and total strangers, for my children who keep me thinking and smiling, and especially for the hope found in the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ which offers peace and joy even in the midst of our greatest sorrows.

Here's to you, Scott: may you heal well and wake up in good time.
Dust. Wind. Dude.

It's so tall ...

2010-04-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

"It's so tall," he says, "[even] Philippe Petit can't go on it!"

A Springtime Soiree

2010-04-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had a small gathering of a few friends for some backyard spring-time/Easter-ish fun. The plateau winds were a bit fierce for the little ones, though, so the only thing we actually got to do in the backyard was hunt for eggs. Then time to come in and warm up again!

We did a little painting, decorated these cute little bug cakes, and ate lots and lots of sugar - including these adorable ice cream treats that Jenni made.

(Jason brought the camera, Mark took the photos - thanks guys!)

A Peaceful Protest

2010-04-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

One of our children did NOT want Macaroni & Cheese for lunch today. She was so angry that we couldn't have sandwiches (I had just made bread but it was still too hot to slice), that while I was making the hateful lunch, she posted these all over the house:

On the playroom mirror.

On the toy shelf.

The back of the sofa.

On the playroom chair.

On the world map.

On the alphabet wall.

And the television.

On the bookcase.

On the kitchen counters and drawers.

On the pantry door.

And, of course, the refrigerator.

On the windowsill.

And the dining room chairs.

We had it anyway, and she was totally cool with it in the end. But I had to give her props for staging a creative, effective, get-the-message-across, peaceful protest. Hooray, that's my girl!

Edit: She said to me, when I asked about the "no"s all over the house: "I was so angry that I didn't want to use my words." Seriously, my proudest moment as a mother so far.

The Dinner Table: Extra Special Edition

2010-04-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a moment today that inspired me, and maybe will inspire you too.

We took a page from SouleMama's book today and made a better effort to make dinner time special. Even if it was just pizza and orange juice!

Both of my tablecloths are special to me. Splurges, purchased at a store I can't afford anymore, they remind me of all the good friends we've had around our table in the 7 1/2 years we've been a family. Even if I never iron them anymore.

We have fancy napkin rings, which I do love to use. But these ones are extra special. Charlotte and I made them last summer with a sturdy cardboard tube and extra paper from her birthday invitations.

Handmade flowers created by one of my dearest friends. A happy reminder that fresh-cut flowers are just around the corner!

By the way, tonight's spinach and olive pizza was a raging success! Neither of my kids picked off a single topping (they normally pull off everything and just eat bread and sauce). Definitely doing that again!

A New Dress in the Springtime

2010-03-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd be one of those moms that buys/makes matching outfits for me and my daughter. But I couldn't resist this time, and it was so! much! fun!

I went on a shopping trip with some girlfriends to this great little fabric shop in Seattle and found this beautiful green fabric with orange flowers and doilies all over the pattern (from Amy Butler's "Lotus" line). I knew I had to make a skirt with it.

Later, on another shopping trip with the same girlfriends I found this adorable dress. I thought it would be perfect for Charlotte, but one glance at the price tag and I knew I'd have to make it myself.

If only I could find the right pattern to get me started. And then I remembered that my sister bought a cute girl's dress pattern that might work ... it was perfect! I used the pattern for the bodice, and the approximate measurements for the skirt, and made my own modifications from there. I didn't want it to be too matchy-matchy, so I used some of the same fabric from my skirt and then threw in a bunch of others from that same line for the dress. I'm shocked, actually, that it turned out so well!

The pattern had a full, gathered skirt, but I broke the thread so many times trying to make the gather in all that fabric that I gave up and decided to take a couple panels out and pleat the skirt instead. One pleat in the middle of the front and another in the middle of the back.

It's too big for her, so the tie-in-back is cute and useful! It's really long, too, so she'll be able to wear this one for a good, long while.

It's not exactly Project Runway, but I loved taking this pattern and making it my own. And it was really shockingly easy. No crazy techniques or special skills required, this was seriously a if-you-can-sew-a-straight-line sort of thing.

A Little Madness in the Spring

2010-03-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

We are so covered in dirt when we come in the house these days. Because we've been spending a whole lot of time here:

We've extended our vegetable garden into the flower beds. Actually, we've done this before, last year there were winter squash plants where these tee-pees are now. We put fencing around them to keep the chickens (like Daphne, pictured here) out once we plant seeds there. We hope the peas and beans we'll be growing here will do better than the butternuts and pumpkins did! This year, much of the squash will be planted in the bed at the top of this photo, just east of the chicken coop, where we've been digging out grass and putting in compost. That little stick to the left of the wheelbarrow is a new apple tree.

Ever impatient, I had to see something sprouting, so I planted some seeds in peat a few weeks ago:

Lettuce! Cucumbers! Zucchini! Pumpkins!

Also ...

And I've been working on a new quilt:

I love, love, love springtime. The days are so full and busy and crazy-mad and I just LOVE it!

Yo, Here We Go

2010-03-24T21:09:00.001-07:00

I didn't think it would ever happen to me, but I'm afraid I have finally experienced blog burnout. I'm tossing around some fun ways to keep it going more regularly - little tricks for myself to keep motivated. For now, though, here's a regular old post on what we've been up to the last month or so!

Playing with babies:

That's our newest Miller nephew, Robert.
"Baby Robert" at our house, to avoid confusion.

And taking irresistible photos of little baby toes:

Playing with cousins:

Edward, Charlotte, Adrienne, Calvin, Colette.

And Grandpa:

Oh! How this boy loves his grandpa (Robert's dad)!

And Uncles and Aunties:

Uncle Scott (my brother) and his cute "SO" Kristen.

With funny Uncle Aaron (another of my brothers) and just plain FUN Auntie Chrys!

Drinking root beer (the kids just call it "ro-beer")

And eating peach Pi:

On 3/14!

Re-discovering first toys:

My friend Cortney made this for his first birthday.

Nursing this sick kitty back to health:

We're still not sure what was wrong, but he seems to be doing a lot better these days.

Playing and falling IN LOVE with a best-friend's new puppy:

Loving this photo one of the kids took of our playroom:

And generally goofing off:

Also! Maybe you know this and maybe you don't, but I'm writing for another blog with some amazing girlfriends. It's called Praiseworthy. It's lovely. And I'm hosting a quilt-along there! Come check it out.

Coming Clean

2010-03-07T22:32:00.000-08:00

Just a note on the pillow post ... I should have thought to add that, no, I didn't make the quilt on my bed. Making a full-size and a twin-size for the kids for Christmas pretty much filled my big-quilt-quota for the next 10 or so years. I don't think I'll ever have the patience to make a king-size one. Plus it was much, much less expensive to just buy it!

Thanks for all your input, too, by the way! I went with the last one ... for now ... :)

Pillow Conundrum

2010-03-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

It's a dumb thing to blog about, but I can't decide how to arrange the pillows on my bed. Some of them are new, as is the quilt, and are trying to find their place ...

(I think I like this last one best ... )

What do you think?

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

2010-02-15T21:00:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day Breakfast!

Seattle's such a great city to live near. We don't go visit often enough. But we did today! We wanted to take a trip to the Seattle Asian Art Museum, since we've been learning about China in honor of the Lunar New Year. And also it's one of my favorite museums to visit with kids - very family friendly. But it was closed for the President's Day holiday. So we went to Chinatown instead! Yes, we missed the festivities - the parade, etc. - that all happened on Saturday. But for the kids' first real visit to the big city, we thought it best to keep it low key. We'll do the whole shebang next year.

We did have a lot of fun, though, even with out the rain and the crowds (imagine that!). We visited the Kobe Terrace Gardens ...

(There's always time for a photography lesson!)

(Crouching Tiger!)

... we shopped at Uwajimaya ("Hello Kitty stuff, Mom!") and had some sushi (Yum. And dang. I hadn't realized how much I miss being so close to good sushi. I'm going to have to learn how to make it now.)

And the kids had their first ride on a city bus. Which I do believe was the highlight of the whole trip for them:

(Charlotte's ecstatic; Calvin's mesmerized.)

It's Coming, It's Coming!!!

2010-02-05T22:13:00.000-08:00

Also this week ...

Who Needs Thursday Anyway?

2010-01-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Friday

Something New

2010-01-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

In other news, I've been writing with some friends on a fun little project called Praiseworthy. Go check it out!

I Sort Of Can't Believe I'm Doing This

2009-11-21T17:53:00.000-08:00

So, in 1990 I was twelve. I was in 8th grade. My mother gave me a fill-in-the-blanks diary that year. It was a Ziggy diary. I'll let you guess which Ziggy. Last summer, my mom gave me the diary again, inside a boxful of my stuff she had been keeping in her storage unit. Most of it is blank, and so I'm totally throwing it out. But, for your entertainment and mine, here are some of the things I did fill in (with my comments in brackets, but I'm keeping all the 8th-grade spelling, grammar, and punctuation the same. You know, for posterity):

- what i value most ... My life, and my flute!! and my books, family, and my friendships.
- what i hope for myself ... To become the very best I can be. Even if it's not the best someone else can be.
- what i would like to be good at ... The flute, dancing, and school.
- i want to continue my studies at ... The University of Washington
- i would like to become ... A florist. [Oh. My.]

A Few of My Favorite ...
- Jokes ... What do you call a dog with no legs? It doesn't matter what you call him. He won't come anyway! (HA, HA!)
- Memorable movies ... Beaches; Rainman; Gleaming the Cube [This list cracks me up.]
- Memorable books ... Island of the Blue Dolphins; Bridge to Terrebithia; Summer of the Swans; The Rose beyond the Wall; Jacob have I 'ed; Calvin & Hobbes - Weirdos from Another Planet
- my favorite movie stars ... Alyssa Milano; Dustin Hoffman; Tom Cruise [This list? Also cracks me up. Alyssa Milano?!]
- TV shows ... Alf!; Cosby Show; Just the 10 of us; Full House; Perfect Strangers; Quantum Leap** [The two stars means I really liked that show.]
- Musical Groups ... B52's; The Cure; Rush [is crossed out]; INXS [is also crossed out]; Yes [has a circle around it with an arrow pointing to the word "sorta"].
- Songs ... Love Shack (B52's); Roam (B52's); Channel Z (B52's); Love Song (The Cure); Pure (The Lightning Seeds) [Please note that every single other 12-year-old on the planet at the time loved (an understatement) New Kids on the Block - I still don't even know all their names.]
- munchies ... Dorita Ranch. Potato Chips. Crackers marshmallos Apples DORITOS JUMPIN' JACK CHEESE TORTILLA CHIPS, DOUBLE-STUFF OREO'S.

- the most important current events were ... The IRAQ + Middle east crisis. The going down of the Berlin wall. The re-unification of Germany.

Both of my "secret crushes" were named Tim, and it seems that one of them was already my good friend's not-at-all-secret crush (ooh, scandal! :) I thought that being one of the youngest in my family was my favorite thing about my family; my parents, it seems, didn't treat me like an individual and were always telling me I had to do stuff. I appear to have written a very sad poem "about a homeless little boy who lives on the street, and he sees a man, and the man walks away. and a poem about two very broken hearts" (neither of which is actually in the diary, so don't even bother asking - I know, I'm morbidly curious too :)

It was so entertaining to cast back 20 years and see this glimpse of myself then. I remember some of it, and some is news to my 32-year-old self. And wow, as totally fun as it was to look through this thing, there's no way on earth I'd ever go back!

The Utah Files

2009-10-23T23:34:00.000-07:00

So a bunch of weeks ago, I got a phone call from my mom that my dad was in the hospital. Which has happened before, but this time ... this time, well, let me put it this way: In about a day and a half, my brother and his wife loaded up their car with me and my kids and all our stuff put together for a trip to Utah that would last who-knew-how-long. We ended up being there for about two weeks - and what a two weeks it was! Dad was in the ICU for most of that time, and then later had open-heart surgery and is now at a rehabilitation center recovering and working on being well enough to go home and get back to his awesome life. We are so grateful.

We also had a little fun here and there, and even a few photos to prove it!

These first ones are especially special to me. I remember when the fact of my dad's diagnoses of Parkinson's disease really sunk in for me. It was the day I realized that he would probably never play "Hands" with my children (who weren't even close to being born at the time). When I was little, my dad was the strongest person on the planet, I was convinced, because he could lift us up like this. I was always wobbly and afraid of falling, but this game sort of signifies rare time spent with my dad, who was so often at sea during my early childhood. In light of all that, it was important and meaningful to me to see my oldest brother carrying on the game with my kids:

We have many similarities, this girl and I, but she is definitely way more confident than I ever was at her age!

We were also lucky enough to be in Utah at the right time to welcome the newest member of the family, Robert Alexander Booth - known around here as "our new baby cousin Robert!" The kids think it's hilarious that the baby has the same name as their dad. Both Roberts were named for Bob Knox, my mother-in-law's father. And can you ever forgive me for posting sideways photos? I've tried to fix it twice - I suppose this is the sort of brain-lapse that happens when one hasn't blogged for a while. They're cute anyway, right?

A little help from Uncle Alex, of course.

Okay, now here's the shameless section of this post. Calvin doing his Awesome Dance in the middle of a greasy burger joint, to some 80's song I can't remember. I wish I'd taken video so you could more fully appreciate the awesomeness. Love the fist action, every time. Again with the sideways photos, sorry.

Meanwhile, Charlotte has discovered Root Beer. "Oh Mama, I LOOOOOVE Root Beer!" Oh my.

And finally, no road trip would be complete without photos of what-happens-when-you-give-the-kids-the-camera. And while it was so very tempting to post, I have omitted the photo out the window of the police officer who pulled us over on the way home and gave my 3-years-older-than-me brother his first ever in his entire life, even though he *always* speeds, speeding ticket.

Ok! That's it! Happy Halloween week!

In Search of a More Meaningful Halloween

2009-10-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

(Me and my sister, circa 1981)

I adore Halloween. True, it wasn't always so. For many reasons, I never really felt like celebrating it; and in recent years I've discovered just as many - if not more - reasons for not only celebrating but really finding meaning in what's become one of my favorite holidays ever.

I sometimes wonder about the founders of our modern holy-days, and what they would think if they could see the way we celebrate them. At its beginning, Halloween (and the few days following it) meant something really important to people. And while my kids will certainly be dressing up and trick-or-treating right along with everyone else, I've been thinking about how to make Halloween and the Days of the Dead mean something more to our family. Here's the beginning of my idea so far:

The Days of the Dead are celebrated by in one way or another honoring our ancestors. And though the rituals and *ways* of celebrating might seem foreign and something this Mormon girl can't really relate to with integrity, I do know a thing or two about ancestors and honoring the people who literally made me what I am. And so I think, what a perfect month to talk about genealogy with my children! What a perfect excuse to pull out old photographs and hang them up on the walls (along with the usual spooky accoutrements, of course) so we are always looking at them for the next few weeks! What an absolute SNAP Family Home Evening is going to be for the rest of the month! :) I will be telling stories about my kids' ancestors every Monday night this month, showing photos of the people in the stories wherever I can. Then on Halloween morning, I'll help them each decorate a special picture frame where they can keep a copy of their "favorite" ancestor in their rooms, to remind them of who they are and where they come from, until next October when I hope we'll do it all over again.

That's my plan, anyway, and I think it's a good one, so I just thought I'd share.

Happy, Happy October!

Our Weekend at the ER

2009-08-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

No, no not that ER. (We've never been to that one, actually - knock on wood!) No, we spent the weekend with Robert's family at Ensign Ranch, a Church-owned property in Central Washington (designated by a big ER on our calendar - a friend thought it was odd that we were planning a trip to the emergency room, and for the whole weekend!) and had a lovely time.

We slept in bunk beds!

We made friends with the horses - their pasture was right outside our bunkhouse door.

We played with cousins!

And went canoeing.

And fed a possible obsession. Growing up in this town, I'm sure we won't see the last of photos like these.

We also flew kites, ran away from yellow-jackets, skipped rocks in the lake, ate yummy food (Robert was the cook!) and lay down on the grass to watch the clouds go by. Since we were at Ensign Ranch, we also got to read some words of a prophet, hanging on the wall of the reservation office: "In all of life, have much fun and laughter; life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." (Gordon B. Hinkley) A lovely time, indeed.

Is Everybody In Who's In?

2009-08-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

Let me know by the end of the day tomorrow (Tuesday). And if you have any questions, be sure to ask!

Shake up Your Stash!

2009-08-06T23:47:00.000-07:00

So I've been doing a lot of sewing lately. Curtains for our dining and family rooms, and quilts for each of our bedrooms plus one for the living room. I'll post photos as soon as I take some! But for now, I'm a bit tired of looking at the same fabrics over and over again. Anyone want to help me shake things up with a fabric swap?

Here's what I'm thinking: A scrap swap. Any size goes, as long as it's at least 2 1/2 inches square and fits inside a quart-sized Ziploc bag. Fill the bag with as many pieces as will fit, but make sure to keep it interesting with a good variety, say, at least 10 different prints. Want in? Leave a comment here or email me with your snail-mail address: rachelthefaire (at) gmail (dot) com. Do it by Tuesday, August 11th and I'll email you your swap partner's info. by the end of my day on the 12th. Let's get things sent out by, oh, the 19th, shall we? That gives a week, is that enough time?

Scenes from the Backyard, vol. 2

2009-08-06T23:40:00.001-07:00

Today, the weather felt downright cold. Which is a lovely relief from last week's record-breaking heatwave. It just about blew my mind that it got hotter than it's ever been in the history of record-keeping here. Here are just a few of the ways we survived:

We've also been spending a bit more time in the garden, since first it was entirely too hot to be inside, and now it's so pleasant outside! We're harvesting beets, carrots, and swiss chard:

One of these things Charlotte loves to eat, and the other she will only eat under very certain conditions. Can you guess which is which, and what the conditions are?

Mama Said There'll Be Days Like This

2009-07-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

Today was full of everything. Except for the pictures to prove it. But it's alright; I'll explain later.

It got off to a frustrating, tear-filled start, but began to get much better as the kids and I drove out to a town even smaller than ours for some fabric shopping. On the way home, our CD of the primary songs for this year came up, and right in the middle of "My Eternal Family" Charlotte said, "Mom, I'm going to be strong and righteous and kind, and help out so that you don't have to do it alone." If you're a parent, you know just exactly how that made me feel.

In the afternoon, I skipped the grocery shopping in favor of filling up the pool and letting the kids run around the yard with the little neighbor girl (who came knocking at the door just as I was about to pack the kids in the car and drag them to the grocery store). They also had an impromptu tea party, complete with ginger cookies. Can I tell you how much I love tea parties? It's just such a natural environment for teaching civility. Like today as the teapot was being wrestled over, it was the perfect opportunity for the words "Having tea is all about serving one another; here, let me show you. Would you like another cup?" to escape my lips.

I set my sewing machine up on the picnic table and worked on Calvin's quilt upgrade (he's grown out from under his baby quilt - thank goodness it's summertime!)

We had popcorn, watermelon and smoothies for dinner al fresco. Just as we were cleaning up, Modest Mouse's "Float On" came on the radio and we danced around like maniacs while we cleared the table.

So many times I wished I'd had a camera today (I sent the "good one" with Robert, who was off on an adventure). And then it occurred to me, that while it's nice to have pictures to look at later, to remind us of days like this, it's more important to actually have more days like this - I hope we have so many that they'll be etched into my children's memories far more profoundly than any picture could express.

This Month is Such a Special One ...

2009-06-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

We were in birthday party heaven this weekend, with two at our house yesterday and one today (not at our house, thank goodness!).

We started the day with a family brunch for my niece Kamden, whose 3rd birthday is the day before Charlotte's 4th.

The kids made Fruit-Loop necklaces first thing, so they'd have something to snack on while they waited for Grandma and Grandpa to show up.

Jessica made awesome waffles, and we got a little fruity! :)

Pretty Kami!

Jess made Kami her own personal cake ...

... and inside ... so fun!

Calvin could barely stand that it wasn't his birthday so he thieved the blown-out candles from Kami's cake and sang "Happy to you, Calvin!" and blew them "out" again!

Kami sitting with Auntie Chrys (my fantastic new sister-in-law), and Grandpa (my dad) in the background.

In the afternoon, we did Charlotte's party, which I themed loosely around Alice in Wonderland. We did invitations with a picture from the book (from the chapter "Pig and Pepper") which said "For the Duchess. An invitation from the Queen ... "

We put out the kids' ancient castle (I made it when Charlotte was *maybe* two from the box our TV came in, and we've been playing with it ever since) and some kid-sized tables and chairs in the yard. We hung these *super* simple tissue paper pom-poms (a rare Martha success!) in the trees.

The kids made "mad" hats. Well, the girls did anyway ... we couldn't interest the boys. *Shrug*

Here is my sister, graciously modeling one of our fabulous hat creations.

We had "Eat Me" cupcakes, "red-less" velvet cake (we left out the food coloring) and cream cheese frosting, which seems to be what I always end up making for birthdays these days.

And "Drink Me" juice boxes.

We played "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?" only we called it "Who Stole the Tarts?". We were planning on doing "Pin the Caterpillar on the Mushroom" too, but we ran out of time.

And just because I hardly ever post photos of me and Robert, here you go.

Our favors ... a chocolate bar covered up with fun paper.

And of course, Queen Charlotte herself!

I would say "I can't believe she's 4 already!" except that I can. She is growing up fast for sure, but I love watching it happen. She's an amazing girl, and we are blessed and honored to have her around!

Scenes from the Backyard

2009-06-03T20:42:00.000-07:00

We read a chapter from Peter Pan today - and I could hardly believe it, both kids sat still and listened! It was awesome! Then I read a chapter from my own book ("Things I've Been Silent About" by Azar Nafisi) while the kids splashed in our little pool and climbed trees. It was awesome! (Edit: I totally just said that twice. It was really that awesome, though! :)

This is yesterday. I love simple summer dinners outside - scrambled eggs, grapes (which were a little sour, but I was so excited to see California grapes - we haven't been buying them all winter because they're imported - I snatched them up and we loved them anyway!) and asparagus. Perfect!

We're eating frozen blueberries these days at snack time.

And ... who hangs art on the side of their house? When it's cheesy thrift store art I don't have to care about - ME!

Art, Chickens, and Ballet. They go together, right?

2009-05-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been awhile. I have no excuses, only very good reasons. Like I've been sleeping a little here and there. :)

First, because some of you asked to see pictures, here's that thing I did with the kids' art in our stairway. This is just the beginning - there's plenty of art, wall space and green paint to go around!

In other news, we took the chickens outside! It was their first glimpse of the world outside their nesting box in our master bathroom (yeah, I've been showering in the kids' bathroom for a few weeks!). They should be outside permanently in just a few weeks. We've yet to come up with names for them, but we're getting closer. I'll keep you posted!

And finally, we had Charlotte's last dance recital for the year this week. We totally showed up on the wrong day (but not just us - there was another family that thought it was on Monday, too!). Luckily there's a playground nearby.

After that, we went out for Thai food and called it Family Home Evening.

Here are some shots from the actual day, of Charlotte on stage in her tutu:

(This one's her "are we done with this yet?" look ... but I think it's nice anyway.)

(And this one's all: "I'm outta here, I can see cookies over there!")

Constant Motion

2009-05-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

That's where we've been this weekend - in constant motion. Which is fitting, since we have spent almost all of it celebrating our own little blur of activity.

First up: a bike of his very own, and helmets for both kids. I have a feeling we'll be doing this jaunt around the neighborhood quite a bit in the coming months:

Also, we saw this cool little spider along the way. I'm always glad when I choose to stop and point these things out to my kids, rather than just passing by. Even better, of course, when they point them out to me.

And today we went to the zoo - our first visit of many (I hope!) for the summer.

I could sit and watch elephants all day ... but there were monkeys to be seen! And tigers! And whales! (Which we ended up skipping this time, we were all zoo-ed out before we could get there.)

Also, this blue-tongued skink. So cool.

I know, I know, you don't come here to see photos of zoo animals. Here are our animals instead:

Calvin had a great time riding along on my back where he could see just about everything pretty easily - much better than a stroller.

Charlotte and her BFF Sophia. Katelyn's back there, too! I think Jason probably got a better shot of all three girls ...

Cute girly-girls!

Here's Robert wielding Jason's super-mega-camera-deluxe.

And finally, our Spring King!

Ready to spring into action ... "Look out 2 - here I come!"

Of Animals and Cookies

2009-05-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

Just a couple shots from yesterday with the chicks. Robert and Charlotte really share a love for animals in a way that's different from me and Calvin, I think. So while they were hanging out with the chicks, Calvin and I hung out in the kitchen with a couple Oreo cookies. :)

Signs of Life

2009-05-06T16:46:00.000-07:00

We've been busy this spring, which is why I've been so sparse here. And still there is so much to do! Here's a little peek into what we've been up to so far:

Tulips and new rose leaves.

Ah, blue skies and clothes dried in the sunshine!

Raspberry canes. I'm already salivating.

The hydrangea emerges.

Getting ready for eggplant and tomatoes.

Robert building the "aviary."

Charlotte and her impression of a rocket ship.

Treasures. :) I'd rather have them on my windowsill than all over my lawn!

And finally, some more recent shots of "the girls" ... still yet to be named. We're waiting until we know which ones we're keeping:

They're looking much more "chicken-y" don't you think?

Up next: Calvin's birthday. Because that's the Big Thing that's happening next. Can you believe he's going to be TWO?!

Simple FHE: Joseph Smith

2009-05-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

So, I struggle with Family Home Evening. Making things simple is not really one of my strong points, and so it's hard for me to come up with simple gospel lessons that are also fun for the kids. I feel, somehow, that I have to teach them everything all at once. Which is totally stupid. It's definitely important to me, though ... what's that quote about wise parents never missing an opportunity to teach the gospel to their children? I want to be wise and establish this weekly opportunity while the kids are young, so that we have less of a chance of missing out as they get older.

This week, though, I think I've got the simplicity thing down. Here's what we're going to do:

I took a picture of Joseph Smith from my collection of gospel-art-from-the-Ensign. Mounted it onto construction paper. Cut it into 6 puzzle pieces. I labeled the backs of the pieces as follows:

1 - He wanted to know which church was true.*
2 - He read in the Bible that we can pray to know the truth.
3 - Read James 1:5
4 - He went to a grove of trees to ask Heavenly Father in prayer.
5 - Sing "On a Golden Springtime"
6 - While he was praying, he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and they answered his prayer.

(*Text is almost word-for-word from the example of the First Vision story in the Nursery manual, lesson 21.)

I will hand the pieces, in order, to the kids so they can put the puzzle together and end up with a picture of the person we just described. Then, if their attention spans are still with us, we'll read an abridged version of the First Vision from the scriptures.

And that's it.

Oh, also I promised Charlotte that we could play one of our new games - either "Hi-ho Cherry-o" or "Hungry Hungry Hippos" (I know, really reverent, huh?) - that we found in great shape at Goodwill today. So if all else fails, we'll at least have another family game night (which we're trying to establish as a regular Sunday night thing - last night was our first, and it was really fun, so yay!).

Los Pollitos

2009-04-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a birthday, of sorts, at our house. Although technically, I think it was Wednesday. In any case, we added a few new family members today!

Welcome to our "red light district" ...

This is the Barred Plymouth Rock - she'll eventually be sort of black/white stripey. We can already tell she's a plucky one, and very curious.

Here is one of the Buff Orpingtons (on the left) and the Ameraucana (on the right), to whom I'm already pretty attached. She seems to be a little unsure of herself in her new surroundings - I can relate. If she turns out to be a he, oh, I'll be sad.

The two "Buffys" and the Barred Rock, having a snack and getting to know each other better. I haven't really attached much or anthropomorphized the "Buffys" - aside from calling them that - I think because it's hard to tell them apart right now, and if all four chicks are female, we'll most likely be saying good-bye to one of these two.

Robert made a cool little plastic window in the nesting box so that the kids could see inside. It lets in some natural light for the chickies, too, and gives them a little bit of a view besides the walls of a cardboard box.

Here is their eventual home, in process, yesterday. It looks a lot taller than it really is.

I have to admit, I wasn't too sure about this new adventure when Robert first came up with the idea. But now that they're here, it's going to be hard to part with one of them (we're only keeping three).

Any ideas for names?

Easter Hunt!

2009-04-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

We are so digging Cailean's awesome idea, and we're definitely doing it next year. (Ok, Cailean, I know it's a SugarDoodle idea, techincally, but we got it from you so it will forever be your idea around here.) But this time around, we just did the typical (minus the bunny - I don't think I've really ever recovered from the story my brothers told me when I was maybe 5 or 6 about my dad shooting the Easter bunny on a hunting trip - we just told our kids we were hiding their baskets for a hunt, and had them go searching from egg-clue-to-egg-clue to get them). Here are just a few photos from our rainy Saturday egg hunt with our Renton friends:

Calvin ate, like, 4 of these sandwiches - whoever made them, I want to know what you spiked them with! ;)

And this photo? Totally kills me. When did she become such a little lady?

On Parenthood

2009-04-12T23:04:00.001-07:00

I came across this quote last week, and it really resonated with me. It isn't strictly about parenthood, but to me it became all about parenthood as I read it:

"There are events in the future, and not very far ahead, that will require all our faith, all our energy, all our confidence, all our trust in God, to enable us to withstand the influences that will be brought to bear against us. ... We cannot trust in our intelligence; we cannot trust in our wealth; we cannot trust to any surrounding circumstances with which we are enveloped; we must trust alone in the living God to guide us, to direct us, to lead us, to teach us and to instruct us."

- Joseph Fielding Smith, 1950

I don't know about everyday life in 1950, but this sure sounds like good advice for modern parenthood to me.

Come Into My Parlour*

2009-04-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

So! Here are some "during" and, well, since it's still not totally done, "during" photos of our living and dining rooms, which I've been painting. Today I had a girl from our ward come over and play with the kids so I could - and did! - get a bunch done. It's just lucky for her that I ran out of paint, or I might have been tempted to keep her here all day while I finished the job!

This is the used-to-be red-accent wall behind the piano. I started taking pictures off the wall and then decided to pull out the camera - and I'm ever so glad I did! I don't think I would have been able to put the pictures back on the wall in the right places otherwise.

This one's in the dining room, and you can see the ever-so-slight-but-all-important difference between the old beige and the new beige. You can see up in the corner, that we're painting the ceiling, too. I just don't really dig white ceilings if I don't have to have them to brighten up a room. The beige is light enough, and our ceilings are high enough, I'm putting the two together!

Here's another one of the red wall, for context. You can see in the upper-left corner the old/new, and our paint sample swatches in the middle-right. And also our overnight bag, sitting there since last weekend, and the dining room blinds, and a box of office files (don't you like how I said that - as if we had an actual office!).

Speaking of office, here it is, such as it is. The window on the right is in the entryway and looks out on the porch; the window on the left is a sort-of three-way bayed wall/window at the front of the house. Earlier in the week I ordered this computer armoire for this corner:

Sweeping to the left, here's the front window. The orange chair really belongs in Charlotte's room, but we're short on seating until I find the perfect upholstered cushy reading chair for that space. Anyone have any suggestions for how to hide the outlet the lamp is plugged into?

And finally - here's the un-accented wall! I thought it was going to take some getting used to, since this wall has been that deep red ever since we moved in. But the light just reflects off the wall now, instead of getting sucked in, and I think our pictures look so much nicer hanging there - they don't disappear into the red, I just love it already.

Hooray, we can finally hang Robert's cuckoo clock from Germany! I have been resisting putting it there, because that corner has been so crowded and dark. But now I think it couldn't go anywhere else (of course, it's only decorative for now - the chains are just way too tempting for little hands to grab and pull).

Sofa, naturally, and into the dining room (that window way back there is the kitchen sink window). I just love books in a dining room.

And another dining room-from-living-room shot. Blue tape on the windows = I'm not done painting yet! That wall is still the old beige until I make my next trip to McLendon's for paint!

So that's it. It's coming along. Come visit for real anytime! (Next step for these rooms, I think, is to pull out the carpet and put in hardwood - so it'll be in all of the downstairs - which I think will be really nice with the new paint. Lucky me, I often see the previous owner of our house at the library with her two kids, so I was able to ask her who she hired to do the hardwood in the first place!)

*Oh, and can you guess the song I have had running through my head since I typed that subject line? The British spelling should give you a hint.

Conference Weekend Photo Gallery

2009-04-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

We went to Robert's parents' for Conference weekend, to get some visiting time with them, and because they have BYU-TV.

Calvin became the View-Master.

Notice Robert in the background, still in his pajamas - now that's what Conference weekend is all about, isn't it?

A girl and her grandma.

A boy and his grandpa.

Here's Robert getting ready to fold his arms.

We also played outside:

And found some interesting things growing in the garden!
(Robert's mom suspects this is an ancient artifact from the family's early years. It was out by the old swing set - does anyone know the identity of the pirate who buried this treasure?)

The kids' Miller cousins came over for a few hours, too, but I was too busy visiting with the adults to take photos - except when Charlotte and Edward came into the kitchen to play ball. I had to ask myself, even though I know the answer: Why doesn't she play this nicely with her brother? Ah, well. Hooray for cousins!

A Proverb

2009-04-02T13:53:00.001-07:00

Has anybody else heard the saying:

Our house is clean enough to be healthy
and messy enough to be happy

I just love that.

... and Got Sick, Sick, Sick!

2009-03-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

We've been sick. We have not played outside, even when it was sunny (we spent that day at the doctor's office getting diagnosed with "not-flu-nothing-we-can-do-go-home-and-get-some-rest"). We have not been to church. We have not commemorated Mr. Roger's birthday (it was the 20th) or the first day of Spring (also the 20th). We have not visited family like we planned, or worked in the garden, or made progress on any one of our various projects. We have not folded the laundry or cleaned the bathrooms. We have not looked forward to making - or eating - dinner.

It's getting better, though, and I hope we'll be normal again by the weekend.

Before we got sick, Robert went and turned 32. Photos from the blessed event are having trouble uploading, so here's a link. Photos courtesy of our good friend and photographer extraordinaire, Jason Teeples. Grandmas - there are some good shots of the kids in there! And video!

Finally, here are some photos of the kids in their new pajamas, which came in a package from Grandma Miller today. It was a much needed and very appreciated diversion from our usual doom and gloom around here lately! Thanks again, Grandma!

(One of those marks on his head is from falling and smacking his head on a box while he tried to follow me to the bathroom. In the dark, dark middle of the night. The other mark is jam, I think.)

(Trying so hard to look happy. Today was pretty miserable for this one.)

(Not pictured: Me "attacking" Robert with a toy lion while he tries to take the picture.)

Oh! And how could I almost forget? Here's a thing that Charlotte's been learning these days - largely untaught by us, by the way, she is pretty much coming up with this stuff on her own (with a little help when she asks for it, of course!):

Robert and I were reflecting that although it's been miserable to have all four of us sick all at once for an entire week, it's been an amazing learning experience, as well. We've had to help each other out and lean on each other in ways that we're not used to. We - well, really *I* - have had to let a lot of stuff go, and that's been awesome. It's been really refreshing to truly and honestly not care if the dishes and laundry piled up or the toys got left on the floor or whatever. And I've been amazed at how put-together the house is anyway, since we've all pitched in to help out. We've all been a little emotionally on-the-edge, too, and when Robert showed me a trailer for "Where the Wild Things Are" and I started to cry because our kids are growing up so fast, right before our eyes, and there is so much that I choose to miss out on because I'm preoccupied with my own issues, we had a good conversation about things that we can change in our lives to remedy that. It's been good.

Keep in Mind ...

2009-03-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

This has been one of my favorite pieces of art for a long time. I even loved it before I ever saw it, and this is why:

"This poor little caryatid [an architectural support - like a column - sculpted in the shape of a woman] has fallen under the load. She's a good girl - look at her face. Serious, unhappy at her failure, not blaming anyone, not even the gods... and still trying to shoulder her load, after she's crumpled under it.

"But she's more than just good art denouncing bad art; she's a symbol for every woman who ever shouldered a load too heavy. But not alone women - this symbol means every man and woman who ever sweated out life in uncomplaining fortitude until they crumpled under their loads. It's courage... and victory.

"Victory in defeat, there is none higher. She didn't give up... she's still trying to lift that stone after it has crushed her... she's all the unsung heroes who couldn't make it but never quit."

(From Robert A. Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land")

On Saturday I had the unexpected opportunity to attend Deseret Book's Time Out for Women. At first I thought of all the reasons why I couldn't go - the dirty dishes in the sink; the mountain of laundry I *still* have to fold (seriously, I should take a photo or you won't believe how huge it is!); the general wreck my house was in because I moved furniture around on Friday; the unplanned Primary lesson; the grocery shopping; etc. And then I realized that these were exactly the reasons why I *should* go. And so I did. And it was worth it. And here, for what they're worth, are some of the thoughts I came away with:

* Appearances are important, but not in the way we often think about them. There is a reason to have a tidy home and outward appearance - it leaves us free to concentrate on other, more important things. It's when the appearance of things *becomes* the focus that we can get too caught up in them and lose sight of what matters most.

* Emily Watts shared this anonymous verse, which I hadn't heard before:

With thoughtless and impatient hands
We tangle up the plans
The Lord hath wrought.
And when we cry in pain He saith,
‘Be quiet, man, while I untie the knot.’

* She also asked the question: What if the fruits of our parenting labors have less to do with how our children turn out and more to do with how we turn out? (Which made me think/realize: At the end of my life, I will not present my children to the Lord - I will only present myself.)

* I thought of Rodin's "Caryatid" (above) when one of the presenters said, "The struggle is worth it!"

* During Kim Nelson's presentation I had the thought: "You are not firstly a mother; you are first (and foremost) a daughter - Heavenly Father's."

* And Kris Belcher reminded us that Heavenly Father will give us trials we can't handle - otherwise, what is the need for an Atonement? He gives us trials that we cannot overcome by ourselves but with God, all things are possible.

Crafting it Forward

2009-03-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

So, my friend put this great invitation up on her blog, and I just couldn't resist playing along. I modified the rules a *little* bit, but not enough to make a difference in the spirit of the game. Here's how it goes:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some limitations:

1. You will not know what it's going to be, and there are no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. It’ll be done this year. Translation: you may be waiting a little while.
3. Most importantly, you must offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog (or Facebook or whatever, if you don't have a blog) get something made by YOU!

Line Upon Line: The Most Important Things

2009-03-09T20:38:00.000-07:00

Today's lesson: Everything (from playing tag to washing the dishes) is more fun when you're a butterfly.

Oh, wait. I think we knew that one already.

The Fastest Little Pillow in the West. Also, I Hate Making Dinner.

2009-03-06T22:16:00.000-08:00

So I've had this little throw pillow with colors that I love and have wanted to make some others to go with it for our family/playroom sofa. Enter springtime and 2 yards of the perfect fabric! Aside from painting, I think throw pillows are one of the fastest and least expensive ways to transform a room. And there's almost no such thing as too many! I worked out the easiest way in the universe to make them, too, with no cutting and minimal sewing ... Here, I'll show you!

Here is 1/2 yard of washed and pressed fabric. This amount will cover a 17" pillow form.

Lay your fabric out right-side up, and then fold in the selvage ends like this - so that the side with the fabric info. is on top - and so that it measures about 18" square.

Zig-zag stitch along the top and bottom (the open edges) with a 1/4" seam allowance (or as close to the edge as you can get away with).

Turn the pillowcase right-side out like this, and press. (See that selvage edge? It's such a clean, smooth line and you didn't even have to sew it!)

Now stitch around the edges with a 1/4" seam allowance. This will reinforce the seam you made on the inside, and it will give the pillow a more finished, "piped" look - only you didn't have to spend the extra money or time on piping.

Stuff your pillow form in carefully - it'll seem like a tight fit, and you'll think you're about to bust a seam, but just go slowly and don't worry!

Here's the backside - much nicer than the last ones I did where I used ribbons to try and hold the "envelope" together - this one, by contrast, has plenty of overlap (which means no pillow form overflowing out the back! And no sewing on ribbons that fray and look awful after one trip through the washing machine!).

And here it is, hanging out with its new pillow buddies! (The one in the middle is where the palate came from.)

In other news ...

I hate making dinner. I love to cook, but I just loathe making dinner. Here's the deal: For breakfast, we're pretty typical with our cereal or toast or oatmeal (with the occasional I'm-not-a-zombie-this-morning-so-I'll-cook-something). Lunch is pretty much at the kids' request (which usually means PB&J, macaroni & cheese or something equally kid-typical). Snacks are usually apples or yogurt or whatever. But dinner is - at least, in theory - THE meal where we try new things and learn not to say "yuck" and make sure we're eating our yummy vegetables. But I am so disorganized in this area of my life that I never have the ingredients around to make something well-balanced and fabulous by dinnertime. 4:00 (or even 5:00!) pm rolls around and I'm wandering aimlessly from pantry to fridge trying to come up with something - anything - edible I can throw together. I'm annoyed with being so ... BAD at this making dinner thing. And so we're back to the weekly menu-plan idea. Which I've tried a few times and loved, but not enough to make it last, I guess. I'm inspired this time, though, by this menu-planning sheet on kootoyoo. I'll let you know how it goes. And I know some of you out there are faithful menu planners, so feel free to pass along your tips on how to make it work for good!

Magic Dance

2009-03-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

Charlotte had her first ballet recital today, and oh my goodness I think there must be nothing in the world that's cuter than a bunch of little girls in pink and purple tutus. Charlotte did most of the steps in her dance (which was a nice surprise - during the last rehearsal she just stood there) and a good time was had by all.

This is the best photo (I think) of Charlotte alone ...

And here we are together - I'm telling her how proud I am of her, and she really just wants to get down and play with the other kids. Oh well, so it goes. (At least it wasn't last week's declaration that "Mom, I don't want to be 8, I just want to be 16!" To which I didn't really say much but something lame and practical like "Well, good luck with that!" In retrospect I should have been a little cooler and said, "Hey, that's great. 16's an awesome age." Mental note: Be cooler.)

Ballet and New Paint

2009-02-28T15:12:00.000-08:00

Charlotte's been taking ballet classes and I finally brought the "good" camera last week - her last class before her first recital on Monday. This is the only photo I was able to get of just her alone ...

It's not through a studio or anything, and it's just held in this community center (sort of reminds me of Billy Eliott, only without the boxing). But it's her first class ever, and she's just having fun at this point. There's a jazz class right after her ballet class, and she's pretty entranced by that - I don't know if it's the older girls or the cooler music. Funny thing, the teacher turns out to be a woman that went to school (we're talking from 3rd grade through high school) with Robert. I'm sure he never would have imagined bumping into someone he knows in our little town. But apparently it's a small, small, small world.

Also, last week I spent in a painting/reorganizing frenzy unleashed on our family room/studio/playroom. The walls were this yellow color with a sponge-painted accent wall. Which is a style that has its fans, to be sure, I'm just not one of them. It's in our entryway, too (which is getting painted in the next few months, I think) ... and after we first moved in, and a very stylish friend of mine popped in unexpectedly and said in THE nicest way "Oh! Are you going to keep this color?" Hm. Well, anyway, the new color is one that Robert suggested. It's what we had in our old house for the kids' room. And it feels just so much more ... us. I love it.

Here's a corner of the room during the painting frenzy.

That same corner after.

And this is my little corner.

Cuteness All Around!

2009-02-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

Look! I made some more dresses! And these kids are cute! How much better can a blog post get?

These ones are a bit different from the other one I made in that they're reversible, and much easier to make. I made the pattern from looking at the dresses at this Etsy shop (while I love to support handmade, I just can't pay $40 for a girl's dress when I know I can make it myself, you know?). I didn't trust myself to get the bottom hem just perfectly lined up right, so I folded the fabrics to create a layered look on one side and thus avoid the issue altogether. It's a bonus that I think it even looks cuter that way.

We Heart Cookies!

2009-02-16T10:33:00.000-08:00

Next year, I'm totally making these. (Thanks for the idea, Patsy!)

Life's Too Short ...

2009-02-14T15:53:00.000-08:00

... to stash away beautiful fabric. Or, for that matter, to put boring curtains in your laundry room:

In other news, Charlotte's been revisiting old episodes of Blue's Clues since our VCR works again. Inspired by the episode in which Steve and Blue make things out of recycled stuff, we made a couple cardboard guitars. They were a big hit for a few days (and then they fell apart).

(She says she'll get a real one when she's older. Guess what, Charlotte? We have two real ones already - which your mom and dad swore they'd learn how to play. Someday ... )

(Calvin had great guitar-smashing style)

Hanging By a Thread

2009-02-10T16:10:00.000-08:00

I just had to share this image from A Print a Day. It illustrates so well just exactly how I feel sometimes. I took one look at it and said: Yes! That's it!

Boys Don't Cry

2009-02-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

I keep telling him that he's not allowed to wear make-up until he grows up and becomes an aging British rocker.

I wonder if Robert Smith started his career with spaghetti sauce?

Chasing the February Light

2009-02-03T21:06:00.000-08:00

I'd been watching and waiting for some inspiration to pick up my camera and start taking photos again (aside from kid photos, of course) when I read today's post at SouleMama (yes, I admit it, I am a SouleMama addict!). I had a lot of fun today following the sunlight around the house, and I love how it sort of tells a story about where we've been today (though it doesn't include the walk into town - it's been a whole winter since we've done that, and I swear that walk got longer over the past few months!):

And this one's really just for Cortney - see, the birds do love their feeder!

From Our Library: "How Groundhog's Garden Grew" by Lynne Cherry

2009-02-03T00:12:00.000-08:00

So I was going to have this posted for Groundhog's Day, but ... Well. Here it is. Another great book!

This one's a favorite for introducing little kids to gardening. It all starts when Little Groundhog is caught taking food from someone else's garden, so Squirrel teaches him how to grow his own. The pages are filled with great illustrations of seeds and sprouts and full-on plants, as well as birds and insects. It covers pretty much everything, but doesn't seem like an instruction book - to a kid it will be just a story with lots of fun pictures to look at, but it's also good reference for when you're in the garden ("remember how Little Groundhog did XY and Z?"). And yeah, the illustrations are awesome. Did I mention that?

The Creative Soule

2009-01-31T15:20:00.000-08:00

If you are waiting for your turn with one of King County Library System's copies of The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule, my sincere apologies for taking so long to return it. I will try my best to get it back before the due date, and then go out and buy my own copy. We are taking quite a few (metaphorical, of course) pages from this book these days, including but not limited to: holding family drawing time (we're not regular yet, but it's still new), letting the 3-year-old embroider with a plastic needle on burlap (go wild, kid! Stitch whatever you want!), and making birthday crowns and re-usable celebratory banners. There are so many lovely ideas in this book, I will be keeping the library's copy for as much time as I am allowed. And then, yes, I am going to buy my own. It's definitely worth having around.

Line Upon Line: The Macaroni Files

2009-01-30T14:56:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since we've used Charlotte's chore chart. I think we needed a different motivation. So here's how we're doing chores this time around:

Every time *any* of us does a chore we get to put a macaroni from the canister into the bowl. When the canister is empty, we all get to go out for ice cream together (our town has a cute little ice cream shop where they sell made-right-here-in-Washington ice cream - yum!). We have a list of who is supposed to do what, with stipulations for extra help when we do rare things (like clean the whole house, for example :). You don't get to put a macaroni in the bowl if someone else has to do your chore (like if Mom has to empty the silverware basket in the dishwasher at the end of the day because Charlotte didn't do it), but you get double macaroni if you work together as a team. I'm hoping this idea works because in theory it will encourage us to work together - if we all do our chores, we'll all get to go out - and because, well, I really want the ice cream. :)

Faking Summer

2009-01-30T14:46:00.000-08:00

The sky was so beautiful this morning I thought we'd go have our lunch on the picnic table outside. Wouldn't you know, by the time we got ourselves ready and headed out, the sky was grey-ish. We had fun anyway, and then when it got too chilly we headed back inside. As I was cleaning the dishes, I glanced back out at the deck, and saw our little picnic table bathed in this little shaft of sunlight. That late-January northwest sun is such a tease!

Dress Up

2009-01-30T14:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a little glimpse into the dress-up scene at our house. Dressing up, by the way, is apparently required if you want to dance around the playroom.

Blog Art

2009-01-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

Ooh, look, it's my blog put to art!




Cailean says that the more a word is used, the bigger it
appears. Huh!  I never would have guessed!

Book Review: "A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers"

2009-01-18T16:23:00.000-08:00

If William Blake had run an inn, there would surely have been dragons in the kitchen and angels in the attic. Nancy Willard begins this book with a short story about her introduction to William Blake when she was 7 years old. Which is just a few years younger than I was when I saw this book in the basement of Sam Weller's bookstore in Salt Lake City, and simply had to have it. I have loved it ever since, for the illustrations, for the poetry, and for the introduction it was to Blake in my life. If William Blake had run an inn, there would be fantastic stories to tell about it, which is what Nancy Willard has done.

I would share some of my favorite excerpts with you, but really what I want to do is just gather you and your children all together, get everyone cozy and read it to you. Since that's impossible, I'll just say:

"You whose journeys now begin,
if you reach a lovely inn,
if a rabbit makes your bed,
if two dragons bake your bread,
rest a little for my sake,
and give my love to William Blake"
(from the Epilogue)

Other books by Willard and/or the Provensens that we like (and really, they're the only other ones we've read so far):

The Voyage of the Ludgate Hill: Adventures with Robert Louis Stevenson by the Willard/Provensen team

A Peaceable Kingdom: The Shaker Abecedarius illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen

The Buck Stops Here: The Presidents of the United States by Alice Provensen

Line Upon Line: The Slacker Files

2009-01-15T22:11:00.000-08:00

You probably thought that art and educational projects went out the window over the holidays. And you'd be very close to right. A few really fun things have begun to emerge, though, since we've been home and a lot less frazzled.

Charlotte rarely draws faces - when she has a paintbrush, she tends to dwell in the more abstract (these days she's really fascinated by mixing colors - we only buy primary colors plus white, and eventually we'll add black, so if she wants orange or purple or pink she has to mix it up) and with a pen or pencil in hand, she'll most likely make a list (hm ... I wonder where she picked that up? The other day, though, she started putting a "dot" at the end of each line of "writing" - and she's been noticing punctuation in her books and wondering what it's for, so that makes sense). So! When she *does* make something that has a face - and even last Sunday, arms and legs! - we really notice. And take photos:

The other exciting thing is actually one we started before Christmas. I'd seen this kit where you could make two felt animal-shaped toys - the shapes were all cut out and they had holes punched where you'd lace the yarn and came with things to decorate them with. It was actually a really cool looking kit, so we bought one for our 6-year-old niece. And then I decided that for us, we didn't need no stinkin' kit! Our craft corner suddenly sprouted a small stack of felt sheets and a bed-pillow sized package of "cloud" filler. I also bought a "children's needle" which is like a plastic yarn needle. It won't go through your kid's finger, but it also won't go through fabric.

And so! I thought I'd just cut something out, let Charlotte decorate it, and then I'd stitch it up and she could help with the stuffing. After a consultation on which animal she'd like to make, I cut out two giraffe-like shapes. Then I gave her some buttons to glue on, which I secured with thread later (I'll do it differently next time - it was hard to push through that glue once it dried!). And then our giraffe sat there on the shelf while I madly finished up the Christmas projects, and stayed there until we got back from Florida. When I picked it up and started sewing the pieces together, Charlotte came over: "What are you doing?" "Oh, I'm stitching your giraffe so that we can stuff it and make it into a toy." "Can I stitch it?" "Um ... well ... sure." And so she did. All by herself. I did hold the pieces together for her and monitored the whole sharp needle situation (oh, and I added the rick-rack mane and tail, with her direction on placement), but the stitches are entirely Charlotte's:

It was definitely a lesson in sitting still for one of us, and in patience for the other. But so worth the time, don't you think? And when she was done, she said, "Mom, can we make an elephant for Calvin tomorrow?" Which, even though I thought we should probably take a break from all the stitching for a day or so, just so we don't get burned out on all the sitting-still and patience, you know, was just exactly the best thing she could have said.

Coming up: Ballet classes (photos next week - she actually started yesterday, but the photos I took didn't turn out at all - bummer!).

Oh, Yum!

2009-01-12T17:04:00.000-08:00

I was just sitting here looking around for an apple cobbler recipe, and found this fabulous article at Epicurious.com (which is such an awesome place to go for recipes - it's like Martha, only actually doable by normal people). If you can't bring yourself to click on it based solely on my recommendation, you should know that it's titled "Top 10 Money-Saving Ingredients" and it includes links to lots of yummy-looking recipes. So useful, since these are pretty much the main ingredients that we buy around here (minus the steak and chicken, of course). I took one look at the photo of the Curried Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Stew with Garbanzo Beans and wishing I could make up a great big pot and invite all of you over for dinner. Someday, maybe we can do that. But today, go on over and find some inspiration of your own!

Book Review: Elizabite by H. A. Rey

2009-01-10T23:02:00.000-08:00

So most of you know how important good children's books are to me, and some of you have even asked for a list of my favorites. I thought maybe it would be fun to feature some of them here every once in a while, with a little review of why I love them so.

We'll start, because it seems to keep getting requested at story time for the last few days or so, with:

"Elizabite: Adventures of a Carnivorous Plant" by H. A. Rey (of Curious George fame). It begins:

"You would not think that plants like meat.
Well, some plants do. They catch and eat
Small insects, such as flies and ants,
And they are called CARNIVOROUS PLANTS."

I actually found this book a few years ago - the last time we were in Florida - at a swap meet. It was love at first sight, really. It was fun to discover a lesser-known character in the H. A. Rey legacy, and it's really fun to read.

A lot of children's books are overly moralistic, I think, or they're too obviously trying to teach something. Which is all good, don't get me wrong, but I also love books that are just plain fun. Which is what this is. Among Elizabite's adventures are snipping off the tail of a dog who tries to steal her frankfurter; and an encounter with the ample tush of Mary the Maid ("a tempting aim for an attack!"). She also catches a thief and lives happily ever after.

The pictures are hilarious, of course: Elizabite catches a mosquito and the other little bug in the picture is drawn covering his eyes, aghast; Doctor White, the botanist, with his mad-scientist-like hair and long white lab coat, rushing into the room holding a roast turkey, to save Professor Appleface's beard. Just for instance.

And I'm also a bit of a sucker for children's books that don't "talk down" to kids. I am a believer in going ahead and using those big words with kids, and then explaining what they mean. You know, phrases like, "He soon obtains the evidence despite the new barbed wire fence."

Finally, it's not too short or long. I like it for when we don't have a whole lot of time - like when it's past bedtime and attention spans are dwindling. Also, Charlotte loves it. Which counts for a lot.

Random Holiday Photos

2009-01-10T22:42:00.000-08:00

Just a few photos from the holidays that have been sitting on Robert's laptop ...

This year was Calvin's first out-of-womb snow experience. He was alright with it at first ...

... and then ...

Robert and Charlotte built this snowman (who is, Charlotte said, a girl) followed by a snowball fight which I didn't get any photos of because my arms were full of toddler-who-refused-to-set-foot-in-that-awful-stuff-again.

Charlotte had full creative license this year on the gingerbread house:

Oh! And - I told you this would be random! - this is the teaspoon that mysteriously found its way into the oven alongside the bread and got baked there:

Our very own, very simple Christmas-before-Christmas:

And here we are on Christmas Eve at Walt Disney World. We're on the tram here, from the parking lot into Animal Kingdom. Notice Calvin's hair is already sticking to his head - it was warm and humid!

We saw lots of exotic animals, of course, but the kids were most excited about animals they could pet:

Here's Charlotte's one experience with a "live" Disney character while we were there. We've never seen "Lilo and Stitch" but she would have been nervous anyway. Here, Stitch is trying to convince her that it's alright by being extra super nice to Auntie Diane's "Mickey the Mouse":

Finally, the coaxing paid off:

And here we are (minus Diane, who's taking the photo) just outside "Africa" with the huge baobab tree in the far background:

Well, That's a Relief!

2009-01-08T21:11:00.001-08:00

It seems as though there is hope, after all, for our beloved children's clothing resale shops! Go here to see today's release by the Consumer Products Safety Commission, clarifying the law with "guidance intended for resellers of children's products, thrift and consignment stores."

I'm totally printing this out and taking it to my local consignment shop tomorrow. If you think of it, you might bring a copy with you next time you go shopping as well.

That said, I'm still up for that shopping trip if anyone wants to join me!

Oh, and please do still consider supporting our friends in the handmade toy business - they will still suffer if this law doesn't change.

The End is Near! (But my goodness, I hope that changes.)

2009-01-07T22:29:00.000-08:00



I was in our local women/children's consignment shop today, when the woman working today passed along the news that she wasn't sure they'd be open after February.  It seems that the newly enacted Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which takes effect February 10, covers used clothing as well.  If you want to sell it - at a consignment shop, on Ebay or Craigslist, or at your summer yard sale - you'll have to pay a third party laboratory to test it for harmful chemicals.  Like lead.  In your  100% organic cotton children's clothing (and no, not all of my kid's clothes are 100% organic cotton - but it would still apply!).

I knew this law applied to toys, and was moderately upset that many crafters who sell their awesome wares at places like Etsy would have to shut down because the fees for testing are enormous.  But retroactive to all children's clothing?  Causing thousands of secondhand shops to close their doors?  I only buy my kid's clothes at consignment shops so that I can afford to dress them in well-made clothing rather than those of the cheaply made WalMart variety.  And what am I going to do with all these perfectly good outgrown clothes that Goodwill won't even take because it will be illegal for them to sell?

I thought it was sad that many handmade toy shops were going to have to close up shop, but today it hit close enough to home that I wrote my first ever letter to my representatives in the Other Washington about it.

I really hope this law gets more reasonable.  In the meantime, anyone want to join me for a consignment-shopping spree sometime before February 10?

Oh, and here are some links for more information:

Los Angeles Times Article

Handmade Toy Alliance

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act Information