From the phone

So we found the card reader, brought it home, and before we could even download any pictures, Remick pulled out all the pieces and now we can't find the cord.

But I had some pictures on my phone. The first few are from the farmers' market.


Brave Boat Harbor hike recently...
Common ground fair in September. SO fun and I think it was worth the 4+ hours in the car!
Remick the cutie early this summer eating pasta, his favorite.
I HAVE to find the card reader, because I am just about dead from the cuteness of Halloween around here. I have one damn-cute pirate who walks around calling people "scurvy dogs" and a little robot who cracks me up. Besides, I have to start writing down the hilarious stuff Makili's been telling me lately. The two of them are just SO cute (and exhausting:)

Still Can't Find the Cardreader.

We still can't find the card reader, so I can't show the update pictures, but there hasn't been much progress this week anyway. Larry went out of town, and Raph actually had to work, so there is only so much that can be accomplished in three hours of sunlight. (I won't mention the fact that things really move slowly when you get the machinery stuck in mud:) We did get the inside ready for interior demo which will happen on Sunday, most likely.

In the meantime, we're camped out in a small apartment for the next few months. It is probably only 450 square feet, so our house is going to feel like a palace when we move back in. We are going to be able to move back in someday,right? RIGHT? The kids and I are enjoying being here. We can walk to the playground and the beach, and we're close to the library, so we've been having some new adventures.

We're also really close to Makili's new preschool, which is great, and he loves it immensely. Remick and I have really been enjoying hanging out together, too, which has been fun.

My Dad surprised us by showing up on Monday. It was so great, and we might even drive out to see him tonight!

I know, I know

Where are the pictures, right? Well, as you can imagine, we aren't living in our home right now and our headed to our third temporary residence tomorrow. This one will be our "home" until the read deal is livable, hopefully around Thanksgiving. Anyway, I found the camera! Now I just need to find the card reader!

We have a roof and it is shingled! The team accomplished SO much in the course of a week! Raph and our friend George were working in the dark trying to cover up the remaining holes in the walls, where the plywood hadn't been put up yet. There was only so much they could do though, and we did get some water in the house from that incredible storm on Thursday night. But, most of the ceiling in the downstairs was coming down anyway, so I suppose it isn't too big a deal. After we move all our stuff and clean my cousin's house today, we'll head over there and hang plywood and clean more stuff out so that the really messy job of taking out the ceiling can begin. Like with the outside, it will feel SO much better when things start going together instead of coming apart.

Anyway, pictures coming soon.

Progress

After a week of packing boxes and eating off of the floor:

We got this:
This, by the way, is the kid corral:

And then came this:




There, Dad, now you can tell Google Earth to update itself!

waaa

I feel it is good for posterity's sake to document things. So to be fair I was a complete ball of tears this morning. The roof is half off already and it isn't even noon, but cleaning out the house, cooking for our dear family members and friends who are helping us, caring for the kids, keeping up with job work, is more than I can do alone. Raph went to soccer last night and hurt his foot again (the last time he did that was a week after I had a C-section - another super-convenient time!) And then the schedule was pushed up a day and I feel completely overwhelmed. Slowly, though, I've gotten things done this morning, and I'm hoping by the end of the day, most everything will be out of my hands. I can't believe I don't have a roof.

Oh my.

So it has begun. It was supposed to be Saturday, but instead I already have a roof stripped of shingles. I'm trying to find my happy place (I'm sure it's under some of these boxes somewhere.) Nevermind fighting off sickness and Makili's persistently raging fever. This isn't insanity, right? right? RIGHT?

Serenity now. Serenity now. I'm going to focus on this instead of the mounting anxiety:

Another Recent night...

We have these friends who have starting rotating "happy hour" once a month. It has been so nice to have a time to see each other on regular basis. The first time we got together with them I was the only one with two kids, but everybody else was pregnant! And now there are babies everywhere! Makili loves these nights because he gets to play with everyone else's toys! He has been asking all week when he can go to Adeline's house again! He also happened to love her. He pretended to be a baby bird all night and she was the momma bird!

An understatement: Busy

We've been a little distracted around here. It's tough to find our way to the bathroom.

I am in the process of emptying our entire house by Friday because...drumroll please...the roof comes off this weekend! OH MY GOSH! No stress or anxiety at all. We'll be living in a hotel room for a few months until it's livable. Except for next week when we're sort of homeless:) Again, no stress there:)

I spend much of everyday emptying the house, which started off as cathartic and fun and now feels totally overwhelming. Raph comes home and convinces me to take off on some adventure instead of helping. Yesterday for example, he convinced me to go on an epic mushroom hunt with the Masterson clan. This is a recent interest of ours and we are learning a lot. George actually eats them, I just like to pay attention to them and learn about them. I'm not quite brave enough for eating them yet. But the boys had a terrific day. Raph led us through an actual swamp, with the stinkiest mud ever, which was totally ridiculous. I'm laughing about it now. And Theo found a porcupine up in a tree. I was very proud of Makili for hiking nearly 3 miles on his own! He felt he had to keep up with the big kids I guess.

My little ham...

I just wanted a little smile before work.

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.

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.