All this sun and bare skin and family we haven't seen in a while. It's all I can do not to walk around ALL day taking pictures.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Bare-footed Bliss
All this sun and bare skin and family we haven't seen in a while. It's all I can do not to walk around ALL day taking pictures.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
A story.
Once upon a time, there was pretty young lady. All the guys were interested and fought to take her out on the town. Two gentlemen in particular sought her attentions. They tried all kinds of tactics to win her over, and get her into their car.
While they were arguing a dashingly handsome chap happened upon the scene.
While the gents duked it out for the ladies attention, the stranger made his move. He smooth talked his way right into her car after sharing stories of mashed bananas and Japanese toy cell-phones.
One of the gents tried to talk some reason into the stranger, making him realize what he was up against,
but the stranger was not deterred. He and the lady traveled many miles together, created a language of their own, and shared toys.
She even brought him his pacifier whether he wanted it or not. They both lived happily ever after.
While they were arguing a dashingly handsome chap happened upon the scene.
While the gents duked it out for the ladies attention, the stranger made his move. He smooth talked his way right into her car after sharing stories of mashed bananas and Japanese toy cell-phones.
One of the gents tried to talk some reason into the stranger, making him realize what he was up against,
but the stranger was not deterred. He and the lady traveled many miles together, created a language of their own, and shared toys.
She even brought him his pacifier whether he wanted it or not. They both lived happily ever after.
Monday, April 07, 2008
FINAL REMINDER
Comment Contest Ends Tuesday April 15! Every comment enters your name into a drawing for a package of hand-made goods. (Not this quilt, but you never know...I thought it might get some attention.) Good luck.
New Boo-boo, Mud Boots, and Sugar
Makili and his buddy Sam had a little accident and Makili got a new wound - you can see it there on his lip. This one really wasn't my fault, for the record. He really likes tylenol and really thought by sucking on the end he'd get some. What a disappointment.
I brought the kids to our house today to go out in the wetland. I was hoping to put them to work watering our newly planted trees and adding mulch and what not, but Morgan wasn't a happy camper so we frolicked in the mud for a short while before heading back inside...
to make cookies. Morgan perked up for that.
I brought the kids to our house today to go out in the wetland. I was hoping to put them to work watering our newly planted trees and adding mulch and what not, but Morgan wasn't a happy camper so we frolicked in the mud for a short while before heading back inside...
to make cookies. Morgan perked up for that.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Oh Yeah...
I never was able to scan that picture of Raph and I when we were younger, but my mom sent me this one of us in San Francisco several years ago. Our lives were simpler then.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
A Full Day's Work
What a busy Saturday. So full, so fun. I started off the day searching for host families at the Family Resource Center's annual toy sale. I was early and so I also set out all the clothes for sale which was A LOT! It just so happened that in doing so however, I bought two grocery bags full of clothes for $10. I couldn't stop myself. Some for Makili, some for others, all fun. I got to chat with lots of other moms and also think I might have found a few host families. YES!
while I was there, Raph went on a hike in York with Makili and had some fun of his own. We came home and played with his new toys and books, and got a bath. Makili refused to get out even though he was slipping all over the place.
Nadine called to see if we were interested in going to Fort Foster with her and the kids, since her husband isn't feeling well. We were in the process of deciding what we were going to do outside since it was nice, so it was perfect. Raph packed up his bike, giving Jack a riding companion. Unfortunately, I had my camera on the wrong setting and missed some awesome shots, but there were still some cute ones...
After that we came home and planted five trees that we got from the Arbor Day Foundation. Five more to go tomorrow. We ate calzones and are finally catching our breath.
while I was there, Raph went on a hike in York with Makili and had some fun of his own. We came home and played with his new toys and books, and got a bath. Makili refused to get out even though he was slipping all over the place.
Nadine called to see if we were interested in going to Fort Foster with her and the kids, since her husband isn't feeling well. We were in the process of deciding what we were going to do outside since it was nice, so it was perfect. Raph packed up his bike, giving Jack a riding companion. Unfortunately, I had my camera on the wrong setting and missed some awesome shots, but there were still some cute ones...
After that we came home and planted five trees that we got from the Arbor Day Foundation. Five more to go tomorrow. We ate calzones and are finally catching our breath.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Days Pass
I've been pretty busy lately and the days have been zipping by. Raph has been taking the computer to finish grades so I haven't had the luxury of endless computer time. Between babysitting, which has been fabulous in the nice weather, cooking, my book group, making posters for the toy sale at the Family Resource Center, looking for host families for exchange students (my part time job), I have been feeling comfortably challenged to get things done. We were supposed to have people over for dinner tonight and I anticipated cooking all day, but that planned changed this morning. Makili has been sleeping GREAT - like through the night for the last week. Last night however, he didn't sleep so hot, woke up early this morning and we couldn't get him back to sleep so Raph got up with him so I could get some rest (my book group had me out until 11:30 last night). And then he went down for his morning nap, which lasted close to three hours, but woke up with a fever. Since our friends also have little ones, we decided that maybe it wasn't a good idea. Which honestly means a relaxing night for me.
Tonight is the sort of night I wish we had a TV. I would love to stare at a screen and veg out. I feel really good about not having a TV in our house and truly feel it is good for kids to be without, but occasionally I want to be passively entertained. I'll probably read instead, since I happen to be reading Beyond the Rainbow Bridge which is about Waldorf education and preaches the no-TV theme anyway. Maybe that will make me feel better about the fact that I'm reading instead of staring at a screen, which is what I would rather do.
Makili has been doing great, aside from the horrible burn, the fever, the splinter from the deck yesterday, etc. We apparently can't feed him enough. He seriously would eat forever. He has never said "enough," but begs for more no matter how much we give him. He is very interested in laughter lately. He has this fake laugh, similar to a cough. He'll look at you with light in his eyes and do his laugh-cough until you laugh, which of course makes him laugh for real and back and forth and on and on. Could be worse. Oh and he is also interested in rock climbing (see below).
This is the Perkins family, who will be hosting an exchange student next year. We had a good time at their farm on Wed. Makili was interested in Bud and Ginger, the horses even though it was bitter cold in the wind.
Tonight is the sort of night I wish we had a TV. I would love to stare at a screen and veg out. I feel really good about not having a TV in our house and truly feel it is good for kids to be without, but occasionally I want to be passively entertained. I'll probably read instead, since I happen to be reading Beyond the Rainbow Bridge which is about Waldorf education and preaches the no-TV theme anyway. Maybe that will make me feel better about the fact that I'm reading instead of staring at a screen, which is what I would rather do.
Makili has been doing great, aside from the horrible burn, the fever, the splinter from the deck yesterday, etc. We apparently can't feed him enough. He seriously would eat forever. He has never said "enough," but begs for more no matter how much we give him. He is very interested in laughter lately. He has this fake laugh, similar to a cough. He'll look at you with light in his eyes and do his laugh-cough until you laugh, which of course makes him laugh for real and back and forth and on and on. Could be worse. Oh and he is also interested in rock climbing (see below).
This is the Perkins family, who will be hosting an exchange student next year. We had a good time at their farm on Wed. Makili was interested in Bud and Ginger, the horses even though it was bitter cold in the wind.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Two Years, though it seems like forever
Yesterday Raph and I celebrated out second anniversary. The "cotton" anniversary as it turns out. I told him, well i think that makes it my year! I tried to scan an old picture of us - one of my favorites- from our first trip across country, while we were at my sister's house. We look so young, even though it was only six years ago. Raph has long curly hair, and we both look tan and skinny, after our summer white-water rafting and eating tomato sandwiches. But alas, I couldn't get the scanner to work and all our old picture including our wedding photos are on the external hard drive and so I'm left with this shot of us under the moonlight on lava in Hawaii. It is, I admit, one of my favorites.
I did finally finish his quilt top, his anniversary gift. I actually finished two quilt tops yesterday. The one on the left is for Raph. The colors are kind of wild, but the fabrics were picked for meaningfulness - some rafts that I printed on hand-dyed fabric at the Guild, some ocean fabric, etc. THe other quilt is a baby quilt, that I'm going to quilt myself since it is small.
We celebrated by taking ourselves out to dinner last night. Unforunately our favorite Thai restaurant is under construction so we had expensive, sub-par Thai food. It was the company that mattered though. We bought Makili a banana at the health food store on the way, which made him very well-behaved, albeit messy, during dinner. And we spent half our dinner laughing at him, banana covering every inch of his face and his ever creative ways of getting to the banana all the way inside the peel. The restaurant compensated for their sub-par food by allowing us to leave a complete mess of bananas all over their tables.
Raph surprised me with some gardenias, my favorite flower. We have a joke because our first Valentines day, he bought me some daffodils that were pretty darn close to being dead. I cried about it and he said, "I bought them because they smelled good!" He told me he tried to find some dead flowers for me yesterday, but couldn't ad so opted for the gardenias. Whew. Oh the joys of sharing your anniversary with April Fool's Day.
I do truly feel lucky to share my life with Raph. He is so patient, and gentle, and genuinely good. He is the perfect calm for my storm, port for my bumpy seas. I tell him all the time, "We're lucky to have each other." And I mean it.
I did finally finish his quilt top, his anniversary gift. I actually finished two quilt tops yesterday. The one on the left is for Raph. The colors are kind of wild, but the fabrics were picked for meaningfulness - some rafts that I printed on hand-dyed fabric at the Guild, some ocean fabric, etc. THe other quilt is a baby quilt, that I'm going to quilt myself since it is small.
We celebrated by taking ourselves out to dinner last night. Unforunately our favorite Thai restaurant is under construction so we had expensive, sub-par Thai food. It was the company that mattered though. We bought Makili a banana at the health food store on the way, which made him very well-behaved, albeit messy, during dinner. And we spent half our dinner laughing at him, banana covering every inch of his face and his ever creative ways of getting to the banana all the way inside the peel. The restaurant compensated for their sub-par food by allowing us to leave a complete mess of bananas all over their tables.
Raph surprised me with some gardenias, my favorite flower. We have a joke because our first Valentines day, he bought me some daffodils that were pretty darn close to being dead. I cried about it and he said, "I bought them because they smelled good!" He told me he tried to find some dead flowers for me yesterday, but couldn't ad so opted for the gardenias. Whew. Oh the joys of sharing your anniversary with April Fool's Day.
I do truly feel lucky to share my life with Raph. He is so patient, and gentle, and genuinely good. He is the perfect calm for my storm, port for my bumpy seas. I tell him all the time, "We're lucky to have each other." And I mean it.
Monday, March 31, 2008
30 Days of Photos: Day 14
Not my best day and not my best photo either.
Horrible Mother. That is pretty much how I felt today. The day started off with a squabble with Raph over the computer. Not at all necessary, but I've been computer-deprived all weekend while he was finishing a big project for the class he's taking at UNH, and just wanted to do the e-mail/blog run through before school today, but he was in a hurry and taking the computer and I was feeling underappreciated for all the effort I put in to give him lots of time to work on his project all weekend, which was in essence no break for me. Any way, that started the day.
Then the worst thing happened. I stopped at the library to pick up some new books (Beyond the Rainbow Bridge and the Einstein bio, both of which I'm very excited about) and decided to stop in at the coffee shop to say hi to the owners, with whom I'm friendly. So of course I have to get a cup of coffee, you know support the community. And often I actually crave coffee, but today I really wasn't in the mood, and almost didnt go, but figured oh I should stop in and say hi. So I did, and I got my small decaf with room for cream and I am trying to add the cream, while holding Makili, he grabbed the cup and spilled it all over both of us. He started screaming and I thought it was his hand that he had used to grab the cup with. I was embarressed and apologizing and it wasn't until a minute later, that a man there pointed out that the coffee had spilled on his leg too and he was wet. The coffee had collected at the top of his booties and gave him a second degree burn around his little ankle, but I didn't even know that until we got to the car and I went to change his clothes. He had long ago stopped crying and I thought he was fine. imagine my horror to pull off his sock and find skin blistered and missing. Horrible. Traumatic. I spent a large part of my otherwise tough day crying about it even though Makili seems to have gotten over it just fine. (He really liked playing with the Neosporin box.) Nadine, the woman I babysit for, is a nurse-practitioner. She checked it out and said he'd be okay and that it happens to everyone, but it still felt pretty shitty and i still feel like a second class mom today, despite hearing everyone's horror stories all day long. It's like I was inducted into the "real mom" club today. Everyone else appears to have had awful things like this happen too, but I can't say that makes me feel much better.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Free Time / Teaming Up
Nadine's husband is away for the weekend and Raph has a huge paper due on Monday for his UNH class, so Nadine and I decided to get out together today with the kids and hit a hike. Yes we have snow again even though it had all just melted at our house, but that made for good mud play. It was pretty cold, but the blue skies are hard to argue with.
Then they came over for pizza. When I invited them, Nadine said "Sure, but we don't tread lightly." When we were kids, our family friends, the McNeishes, would come over. We referred to them (5 children) as the swarm because there was a flurry of activity and mess that sort of followed them around. We have a picture of Sue and Larry, the parents, kissing in our living room, and a completely blurry mess of kids and toys flying around their perfectly in focus kissing moment. Having the kids in our tiny little house sort of reminded me of that. Jack was going from room to room inspecting our things and most likely looking for candy. Sam was running in circles and being a snake on the floor while Morgan was climbing any chair she could find. And we were busy making the homemade pizza while Makili was crying for pear in his high chair. It was fun though I did feel the same sort of sense of forgotten calm that would follow the swarm's visits when they left. Good day.
Then they came over for pizza. When I invited them, Nadine said "Sure, but we don't tread lightly." When we were kids, our family friends, the McNeishes, would come over. We referred to them (5 children) as the swarm because there was a flurry of activity and mess that sort of followed them around. We have a picture of Sue and Larry, the parents, kissing in our living room, and a completely blurry mess of kids and toys flying around their perfectly in focus kissing moment. Having the kids in our tiny little house sort of reminded me of that. Jack was going from room to room inspecting our things and most likely looking for candy. Sam was running in circles and being a snake on the floor while Morgan was climbing any chair she could find. And we were busy making the homemade pizza while Makili was crying for pear in his high chair. It was fun though I did feel the same sort of sense of forgotten calm that would follow the swarm's visits when they left. Good day.
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