A good chance meeting at the beach

We had a really nice chance meeting with the Fullertons at the beach the other day. Makili and Lucy had a swell time running around in the water together and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Amy is actually due today so we're anxiously awaiting the big news. So exciting. Summer time is here.

Not exactly how I saw things going down...

Makili turned 4 last Friday and he tells everyone he tells he see that he's 4. I was really pumped about it and when they were at Ann and Larry's last Thursday night, I decorated a little bit, and made and cooked cupcakes for nine hours until they were charcoal bricks and then Becky helped me make more, and I made him a card and picked him a bouquet because he's always asking for one.

But alas, the poor kid barely was able to enjoy Cars 2 (nowhere near as good as the original and FULL of guns and violence) or his gifts because he was so sick.

But he's the cutest 4-year-old that ever existed. Just so you know.

My little one turned 2.

Seeing these pictures just breaks me down, because for some reason I feel like I can see all at once how he has grown. My baby is no more. Intellectually I know this, but somehow I just saw it for the first time. Remick chose his birthday activities (except for the big block of the day in which I had to go to work) and it included cereal, the beach, rumble tumble (postponed until the next day), popsicles, and pizza. I love this crazy, willful thing so much.

He got a box from Grammy the night before his birthday. He opened the gifts with gusto and when I asked what was it? He would answer "It's mine! It's someping and it's mine!"

UPS

When the UPS truck arrived the other day and the woman got out, Makili screamed at the top of his lungs,

"Dad, the man that sells boxes is here."

Farewell to a good group

We had a send off party for this year's exchange students. They were a really great group. I will miss them!

This new friend.

This new friend of mine brought me dinner tonight. She made me the most delicious smoothie you can imagine, and a sandwich on bread she baked, and homemade frozen yogurt. For real. Like delivered it to me at the farmers' market while helping me take down my tent and pack up all my unsold stuff. I can't even begin to express my friend crush. I am totally having a moment over homemade frozen yogurt which is pretty much the bees knees and kicks store-bought ice-cream's ass. And when delivered by new friend while at work after sitting in a tent on a 85+ degree day equals the greatest confection conceived by the mind of man and just about the sweetest expression of friendship I can imagine. I feel lucky.

Taking Mr. Potato head too far

Me Want Junk Food

Little Remick is quite a hoot these days. Aside from being VERY two and refusing to do anything cooperatively, he is also my little diabetic in training. Last week when we were up at Ann and Larry's, Larry asked me what he would eat for dinner. I quickly responded that he won't eat anything - he just likes junk food. So then there was a hilarious half hour when Larry would offer him something, and no matter what it was healthy or not, he would reply "Me Want Junk Food!"

This little one is quite certain he is every bit as big as Makili and therefore should be able to do ANYTHING his brother or any other bigger kid is doing. Yesterday we took the kids swimming. Makili is pretty good now having had a series of lessons this spring, and though he wears a "bubbble" is able to go about on his own quite well. Remick is quite certain that he can swim and spent the whole time trying to push out of our arms, jump off the side onto kickboards when we weren't ready, and even tried to swim out to Raph one time when Raph was three body-lengths away. He was a pretty good sport too about nearly sinking as far as things go. He and his brother spend hours jumping off the furniture together and creating obstacles and games out of it. "Falling on my face" is a favorite one.

Remick also has THE most dramatic pout you've ever seen. It takes in his whole face and makes his look rather funny. It cracks us up through and random strangers too.

We've also learned that bugs like him. He'll scream at night - "OW! Ow! My back (or leg, or arms, etc)." He screams so much that we'll go in there at say 2:00am and it will all be over a bug bite. It is rather exhausting.

My favorite thing about Remick is how he likes to hug for a like half an hour after he wakes up. He'll just sit on my lap and tell me stories and hug me around the neck. It is so nice.

Full Weekend

I can't believe what a full weekend that was! I'm exhausted, exhilirated and really sunburnt. In addition to LOTS of work, we had a LOAD of sun, beach, swimming, running in the sprinkler, making a "water slide" (which is our little tykes slide with a piece of plastic at the bottom and water sprayed down it). There was some excitement today about a snake, which we first feared to be a copperhead, then some sort of rattle snake, since it was shaking its' tail like a rattler but it didn't rattle. We thought maybe it was a juvenile rattler. So we called my good friends at the center for wildlife who assured us that there are no rattlers in Maine, and that the poor thing that Raph was in the process of trying to catch and relocate (crazy, I know) was actually an Eastern milk snake, and a great ally in the quest to downsize the rodent population. I actually can't relate all that went down this weekend, but I can say the gardens are MUCH closer to where they need to be, my children have way more vitamin D than they did this time last week, and we all need a good aloe rub down.

What Have I Done

Raph has been hinting that I need to cut Remick's hair. I cried the first time I cut Makili's hair, and I knew this was the last time I'd see one of my babies transformed into a little boy before my eyes. It was time though. Everyone, and I mean everyone, thought he was a girl, despite the most boy outfits you could imagine. His hair got stuck in the bib at every meal. Half of the time it was in a matted mess. Still, I did cry. And I'm still trying to believe this little boy is mine. If it weren't for all the silly faces he made in our little photo shoot I might not be sure.

Coming Out

Things are starting to come OUT of the greenhouse and into the garden which is such an exciting time. With no fan on the greenhouse, I have to be constantly aware of the weather (though admittedly during this rainy cold spring, I haven't had to worry as much), since one sunny day without open doors can result in trays of dead seedlings. So coming OUT is like liberation for me.

Makili has been a huge helper in greenhouse. One day I went in the house with Remick for something and when I came back he had prepared an entire tray of peat pots with potting soil, watered them and everything. He's pretty amazing. And really, quite good at the gardening thing. It's very cute.

Remick on the other hand is a complete and total menace. He loves to play in the potting soil and dump it all over the greenhouse. He'll dump the seeds all over the place too. But he likes to be out there with me too.

I'm a lucky gardening momma.

At the Table

Makili has made us laugh out loud several times in the last two days.

Yesterday when Ann was here we were telling her that she needs to just move in already. I pointed out that she has some strengths that I lack (patience, cleanliness to start). Makili chimed in, "I think you should move in. (he paused) But, Paka needs a Mama." Ann really laughed at that one and then added that she was looking for a wife.

Last night at bedtime we read about about astronauts. So this morning as we were cuddling in bed I we had a conversation.
mom: Do you want to be an astronaut?
Makili: no
Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Makili: a daddy.
Mom: That's so nice, but you can be a daddy and have a job. Like Daddy is your daddy and a teacher.
Makili: (quiet, thinking)
Mom: You could be a doctor and help people? Or a farmer?
Makili: I want to be a farmer but still live in your house.

Is that prophetic? I went on to explain that he might want to live in his own house someday, but that I will still be his mommy and Raph would still be his Daddy, etc.

Then over breakfast today, he shared,

"I think when we get bigger, we should change Remick into a girl and I'll be the daddy and he'll be the mommy and we can live in our own house."

Oh Yeah

Raph got me a new battery and charger for mothers' day, so here I am again. Friday was a blissfully beautiful day. I decided that being a good mother and wife and cleaning the house and cooking yummy dinners wasn't getting me anywhere, so I fed the kids cookies for lunch, let them trash the house and then ignored them for my garden. It was great. Actually, everyone was happy.


Makili went to a birthday party on Thursday (don't get me started on his social agenda is WAY more full than mine) and came home with a party bag that had some candy in it. He obsessed over this candy all night on Thurs and all day on Friday, carrying around his Dots, which he calls "Opa's favorite candy." I finally got so tired of telling him no, that I told him he could eat one. He tried a tootsie roll and promptly declared he didn't like it. He had a second tootsie roll in the bag in a sealed wrapper, which he then gave to Remick since he didn't like it. I had already fed Remick cookies for lunch (again SO tired of fighting that one) so I wouldn't open it for him. He walked around trying to bite it open for seriously an hour.Then he finally succeeded. What a look of triumph he had as he came over, chocolate running down his face and covering his sweatshirt. I might never open a wrapper for him again.