Solstice

The solstice has become one of my favorite days to celebrate. I know that is a growing trend. In fact, I like to tell the story of the farmer who told me, "we don't celebrate Christmas. On Christmas, we just go to a friend's house and cross-country ski. We don't do gifts though." And I asked him, "Do you celebrate the solstice?" He replies, "Well yeah that's when I might buy my kids something that would improve their lives - like a new mandolin or a fuzzy pair of socks." OK. So you celebrate Christmas on the Solstice but act like you're some how above the materialism of Xmas. Got it.

Really though, I love the idea that from today forth is growth of light. And I like celebrating that. It's like a beginning.

Last year, I decided that we'd do our homemade gifts on the solstice - make that a special family night. Then this year rolled around and in fact I didn't have time to make any gifts. I snuck a few minutes late last night to make stencils to paint a racecar onto a sweat shirt for Makili and a bike for Remick. Today I spent the afternoon tiling the rest of the shower (I feel cool saying that for the record. Raph's Uncle Joe did all the hards parts, but who's counting?) Raph made a tasty chower and we had a really lovely family dinner. It was a nice night. This month has been so stressful, that it is nice to bring the holidays down a few notches. Christmas certainly will be mellow too since we have no grandparents in town on the day of and we have no money:)

We had a really nice solstice celebrate at the Mastersons' on Sunday night too. A bonfire in December? How cool is that?

WIRED

We're wired again! YEAH! And I'm typing on this computer while sitting at a table!!! So now we can move on from scenes like these...
To scenes more like these (please note unpacked boxes and vacuum hose lying all over the floor)









I understand now that "finished" is a relative state. For now, I couldn't be happier with how things have turned out. A working shower is on the short list, though honestly the bath wasn't too bad this morning:)

Occupancy Permit in HAND~!!!

That's right we're moving home! And maybe I'll even post some pictures soon!

Remick only fell down our new stairs once yesterday:( and we had a nice family dinner of veggie dogs around our working wood stove (our only heat source aside from space heaters.) Even though the flooring is a work in progress as is the tiling and there's not a speck of trim on any window or door (actually there are only two doors at the moment), our team of generous family and friends accomplished an incredible amount in two months. Our house is going to look SO COOL!

So thank you.

to Larry - with the master plan who spent endless hours at my house
to Joe - who makes Makili beyond happy by installing his favorite aspects of the house - the potty and lights!
to Craig - for being willing to do all the stuff that nobody else wants to do but needs to be done
to Ann and Gina and Grammy - for watching the kids countless hours so that Raph and I could work, and for cooking us yummy treats, and doing our laundry!
to Opa and Grammy - for financing part of the project!
to Matty - for helping me pull nails and collect barn boards
to George and Nicole - for helping on so so many occasions
to Tim - for helping in the home stretch!
to Brett - for his current help on the kitchen island
to Mark and Isaac - for helping at crucial points
to Tim Gallagher - for awesome barn boards and lots of free trim
to the Rees clan - for volunteering for clean-up duty, babysitting and helping with the roofing!
to the Fullertons, Sally, and Tim and Tamara - for generously sharing your houses with us at important times!
to Jason - for helping out on his vacation
to Emma - for painting prowess and architectural insight
to Gardiner - for supplying heaters and other needed things!
to George Whitney, Brian and Gardiner - for affidavits that allowed us to get our entryway approved~!
to Nadine - for babysitting services - ever so important!
to Shipp and Brian - for donating tools and supplies
to Grace and Gina and Matty - for sharing your menfolk!

THANK YOU SO MUCH! You all deserve really awesome Xmas gifts, but we're out of money, so I promise to make you something really cool:) as soon as I have time! Seriously though, my gratitude is not expressible. I only hope all of you will make use of our house when able and know that we couldn't have gotten to this point without you.

Like Moons

Spending time with the "cousins" is undoubtedly the funnest part of going to Ann and Larry's of late. Five kids 3 and under is pretty busy though. So much activity. And they are so cute.Thanksgiving was the first time in a long time that I've seen little Rudy who has gotten so big! He likes activity and to be held all. the. time! Much to Matty's frustration. It was fun to see what a cutie he is becoming.


And it's these moon-like eyes that really get me. Oh so delectable.

About Friendship

A friend sent me a note this week that made me cry. She said she was using Thanksgiving as an excuse to make resolutions with relevance to things that she is thankful for. She said that she was thankful for our friendship, that I had really helped her in the transition to two children, and that even though we don't see eachother too often, she is thankful for the fact that we can pick up where we left off with no hard feelings. It really made me cry.

I feel like since Remick was born I've been apologizing non-stop for my life - "my life's a little crazy right now because..." In a lot of ways I've felt like I barely have had anything to give to anybody else, which of course is never true. It sure made me feel good to know that I had impacted someone. When, by the way, will I feel calm enough to not have to apologize for life? Ever?


Also this week, I got to see some really good friends from college for dinner (without kids nonetheless!) It is so nice to be able to pick up where we left on (even if they all seem pretty glamourous to me. I felt like an boring mom compared to them.) It's nice that I still like them a lot all these years later.

Beach Weather

While they were putting in our new windows!!!, the kids and I had a really fun day at the beach the other day, what may possibly be the last "beach day" of the year - and I use that term loosely. It did however almost hit 60 degrees! It was absolutely gorgeous! Aside from a little tatrumming, we had so so so much fun and it felt good to just be outside.




I've been meaning to write about my little Remick's burgeoning vocabulary! He has been a little sponge! He definitely has over 50 words - let's see how many I can think of: mom, daddy, opa, makili, paka, baby, eat, milk, more, ball, blanket, thank you, did it!, cereal, airplane, no, yeah, mine, balloon, I love you, stuck, truck, yuck, hot, out, down, doggie, kittie cat, birdie, apple, belly, eye, ear, water, juice, help, grape, shoe, sock, book, all done, duck, airplane. I can't think of any more at the moment, but I know there are more. It seems like every day he adds more!

The only one

This for some reason was the only picture I was able to upload from my parents' computer. Super frustrating!

Pretty Bummed

I'm really dreading going home tomorrow. It really is a vacation to go home to you parents' house when you have small kids. We've had so much fun this week out around town and in my parents' backyard. Makili is completely enamored with Grammy and makes pretty much all decisions based on whether or not Grammy is coming. He told me tonight that Raph and I could sleep with he and Grammy if we wanted. I'm a little worried about how he is going to deal with going back tomorrow.

It's also fun to be in your hometown and be aware of how your perspective of it changes year after year. I find the architectural elements in Pittsburgh so fun. I was hoping to find some architectural salvage item that might pull something into focus in our house, but didn't score that point yet. It's always fun to look though:)
The rest of the picture are only on my parents' computer because we had an overloaded hard drive issue. So I'll post a few more tomorrow. I also didn't take enough cause I'm out of practice...

700!

We had a short, sweet visit with my brother, Amanda, and Kaylee this weekend while at my parents' house in Pittsburgh. It was fun to see Kaylee and the boys play together.

Joe on the balcony from the "master" bedroom
Bathroom is on the right and that wall in the back is the gable end facing
the driveway;that staging plank is about 13 feet off the ground, and you
can see it sticking out the window

Plasic windows

Makili in the kitchen
Larry in the bathroom downstairs

Progress has resumed with the return of Larry. This past week he and Joe have worked every day building walls and ruffing in the plumbing and electricity. Demolition is almost complete. The ceiling in the other downstairs bedroom is going to come down and then it will all be done. The next major things to happen are all plumbing and electrical finished and inspected, stairs built, house made water tight, walls insulated, and then we can talk sheetrock. Most of the windows are not cut out to keep rain out. There are two more on the road side, and we are talking about fixed windows on that gable end. The amount will depend on how much they cost.

Halloween Fun

Yeah, so I've actually had Remick in about 50 costumes. My Dad was kind enough to send me a card reader so that I could download pics of these robot ones. Oh my god, was he cute in it. Yesterday he was a ninja, and today he's going to be an adorable skunk! Makili is so stinking cute in his pirate costume, that I can bear to have him take it off. He walked around the farmers' market on Thursday calling everyone a "scurvy dog." It was hilarious. He makes a "pirate face" every time he speaks pirate, which you can see below.

Some walls down and an octopus (from the phone)