Saturday, September 25, 2010

My little ham...

I just wanted a little smile before work.

Friday, September 24, 2010

weekending (last weekending)










I was obsessed with trying to get a nice photo of Gina and Craig on our hike last week. Craig didn't enjoy that do much. I have a lot of pictures of the two of them with a very serious Craig. It was a nice hike though. nicer even when Larry picked us up as we started up the very big hill! I love this time of year.

oh, and some of you might not know about Raph's love for lizards and turtle, particularly tiny ones! Imagine his happy joy to find a teeny-tiny little snapping turtle that he needed to "save" and bring to his parents' pond. (after a lot of fondling and a photoshoot of course) He's so cute.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Same, but Different

It is so interesting to watch the personality of my little one emerge more and more. And so fascinating how different he is from his brother. He truly thinks life is one big joke, and he is the punchline. Much of the time all you have to do is look at him and he starts laughing in his goofy, naughtly little way. Likewise, instructions and directions are just part of the joke too, which means that I now have two children who don't listen to anything I say (these new three year old behaviors are something else). This can be difficult, like yesterday in the bike shop with Dad. I've never been so happy to strap my children in the car in my life!

But in many ways my two boys are so different. One of the biggest areas of difference between them is their interest in animals. Makili does not like animals. I try not to say this in front of him because I don't want him to "learn" that about himself, but he is totally afraid of big dogs, and really doesn't care much for any animals! Remick on the other hand LOVES all animals and LOVES to put little Cricket into a submission hold until she lets Remick love her to death.Both of my boys love to be outside, though currently more Remick than Makili. Makili spends so much time happily playing with cars and trains, building tracks and garages. I love how he can play independently. Both boys have really been enjoying drawing lately, and it has made me realize how little interest Makili had in drawing at Remick's age. He has only recently begun to want to color and draw and seems to be a bit behind his peers in that realm. But what he seems to lack in 2-dimensional prowress, he makes up for in 3 dimensions. He makes cool stuff out of play-dough (and real clay when mom lets him have it).
When Makili was a babe he ate pretty much anything. Remick however wan't cut from that cloth. He is picky. He likes grains and berries. No vegetables. Oh and how the child loves sugar! In fact the only vegetables that we seem to able to get him to eat are roasted beets and carrots - pretty sugary stuff. Realistically, he'd be totally happy to eat bread and rice all day, peppered with blueberries and raspberries for dessert.
When my two get along it is totally sweet. Sometimes Makili is SO good at sharing and distracting. At this moment they are both "jumping" on the couch - a favorite pasttime around here. Remick will not allow himself to be left out of anything. Anything his brother has he has to have too. Anything his brother does, he has to do too!
Look at that sweet little face.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Back to Life

We're trying to find our regular rhythm around here. Raph has been back to work for a few weeks, we are at the tail of the flower season, exchange students are mostly tucked into their new homes, and we're over the first sickness of the season - hand, foot, and mouth disease. This week we try a new pre-school, which holds a lot of promise (and respite for me!)

I bought some wigs last week at the new Savers that opened up (I heart Savers) and they've been a big hit. I find myself enamored with cool dress up stuff lately. I bought an awesome hat at a yardsale with Ruthie on Friday. Ruthie, Raph's grandmother's sister, is my new buddy. She's been calling me to go yardsaleing with her on Fridays for a month or so now. It is so fun to hang our with her 80? or 90? year old self! I think she likes me too.





Mostly we're just trying to find the rhythm of our daily activities - the things that never end: cleaning, and cooking and gardening. (like this carrot tomato bisque I made last week that rocked) But we're also hiking (this is hands down the best time of year!), enjoying our last minutes in the ocean - even surfing - and preparing for winter. WHICH includes trying to get permission for a second story on the house! I'm going to apply for permits today! That is exciting and scary at the same time!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Labor Day Part III

The weekend just kept getting better. My mom came on Monday! We did a lot of fun stuff this week, but mostly my mom just helped me keep my head above water while things finally start to wind down around here. We went to Ogunquit Beach this week at sunset and it was beautiful. That was after I convinced everybody to come with me to glean vegetables for the food pantry. I had a lot of fun anyway! Makili woke up at 3 am screaming for Grammy! We sure were sorry to see her go!








Friday, September 10, 2010

Labor Day Part II

On Sunday after I had an exchange student event at Fort Foster, we used the pavilion for a get together for some of our friends who have similarly aged kids. It was so great to see them and I look forward to the days when our kids are a little older and we can all sit back and eat great food together while our kids run around together entertaining themselves (is this a fantasy or what?) It was awesome, though I was pretty wiped out and didn't make it that long. A lot of babies getting a lot of love and unfortunately I had the camera on the wrong setting for most of the day before I figured it out, so the pix don't capture how truly beautiful it was that day.








Labor Day Part I

We had a very full weekend with friends and family. It was lovely and I have so many pretty pictures to post. I'm still working on the preschool situation which I hope to have resolved to a happy point today, but I have to start getting some of these pictures up. Our good friends Ryan, Jess and their daughter Rachael were at our house when I got home from work, so we went to the beach and made an awesome meal from the garden. It was really lovely.