Give a boy a pulley...

 One day with Makili in Home Depot, he became obsessed with the clothesline pulleys we saw.  That is just the sort of thing that he latches onto.  So I bought him two nice $3 pulleys for his birthday.  Which of course produced the accompanying obsession with where to put it and "will you please hang it NOW!"  I really am too short, so I put Raph on the job.  Next thing I knew, he had chopped down trees to make a 2-level tree fort, because according to him, "there wasn't another place that it made sense to use the pulley."  Makili now can use his "crane" to get things into the (totally unsafe and a insurance liability) second floor, which happens to be where he spends ALL his time now.  Unfortunately, I gave him two pulleys and he just found the second one.  I hope that doesn't lead to a another floor!

End of an Era

Today is Ege's last full day in the United States (for this year any way.)  We had a lovely visit with his family, and now I REALLY want to go to Turkey.  I wonder how I can convince Raph to go to Turkey with me instead of Hawaii:)

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This hot

Birthday List

Unlike Remick, Makili is acutely aware of what comes with birthdays: parties, kids, pinata, and of course gifts.  I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get away with the "no gift" thing at his party again this year.  We'll see.  It doesn't help that he has a working list with Annma that I found on the table today.  Apparently, they regularly review the list, makes changes and add new items.  Here is the list today:

• watch
• art supplies
• pants
• shoes
• bracelet that glows in the dark
• rope
• plain toothbrush
• shirt with cape
• calculator
• eye patch

The following items have been crossed off the list:

• basket with cover
• computer that fits into our pocket that slides open
• pencil with hook to hang
• letters
• Zapper
• mask
• case, like a pencil or eyeglass case

Spontaneous Trip

I was convinced to go to Acadia with my children and 9 other people this week (8 teenagers!)  I drove 5 hours in the rain, slept in my car with my children (maybe sleep is the wrong word), drove 5 hours back the next day in the most glorious sunshine imaginable.  It was so beautiful!  and exhausting! 

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No bites

My Dad sends my kids regular packages in the mail.  Surprises for no reason.  Such that every time "the man in the brown truck" (as Makili used to call him) pulls into the driveway, Makili looks at me with a twinkle in his eye and says "I bet it's a box from Opa!"  They've received gyroscopes, and hula-hoops, kites and whirligigs.  And recently - fishing poles!  They spend a lot of time fishing off of the back deck, though they haven't caught much.  Isn't that fun?  My Dad is so cool.

Who needs pants?

Last Weekend in the Sunshine

Last Weekend

I feel like I need to post some pics from last weekend before the new weekend is upon us:)  Delivering my first flowers of the season to market today.  Gardens are almost completely planted.  So we can have more lovely afternoons like this one sea-side.

My Little One

 We had an absolutely wonderful weekend.  And yet as I was perusing all those pictures I couldn't help but stop over an over again on these pictures of my little one.  I am just so completely in love with him at the moment.  My friend Amy described this age as all earnestness all the time.  And it is so true.  His language is complete adorable.  His little body is so squeezable.  I just want to stop him from growing forever.  Good thing I tied my tubes or I'd be trying to make more of him.

A few Remickisms:

• He constantly tells me he's hungry, and when I ask him what he wants to eat, he says, "you pick."  So I'll say pretzels (or fruit, or cheese, etc.) and he'll emphatically say "No!" (this is both really cute and really annoying.)
•  He hasn't quite figured out how to use certain words, like he says, "Why her isn't coming?"
• He's fearless. 
• He loves to swim.  Like a lot, and will without hesitation jump in the pool and sink straight to the bottom if not watched.
• He's just become interested in letters, even though the only one he routinely knows is the letter R.  (Bad mother.  I had Makili schooled in all his letters at 2!)  He loves to play a game at the post office when they're allowed to move to another linoleum square on the floor when I say a letter in his name.
• He LOVES to help in the garden, particularly planting beans, although watch out because he will plant them anywhere.
• He almost never wears his shoes on the right feet.  or pants.
• He loves to snuggle.
• He loves to bake, and of course to eat all things baked.  When Annma shows up, Remick expects scones.  Or else.
• He hates to eat dinner.  anything called dinner. even when it means no ice cream or dessert.
• He loves to find bugs, and frequently exclaims, "Mom I see something!"
• He loves music and is always singing me little songs, and when I ask him where he learned them, he tells me, "I just found them."

This Week's Family Activity

 Treasure hunting according to Makili.  Otherwise known as geocacheing, is the newest obsession of my boys.  It is pretty amazingly cool.  People hide treasures out in the woods or where ever.  And they put an assortment of worthless crap in the boxes that kids love.  So we bring crap and drop it off, and the kids get to pick new crap.  But the in process, there is a lot of arguing over the GPS, which the kids pretend to understand, but they actually have no idea.  But we get to be outside together and in beautiful weather.  And they get to find treasure.  Makili keeps asking me to find some treasure that is buried with an X on top.

Baseball

 The kids went to their first baseball game last weekend.  Portland Sea Dogs!  They were super-interested in it for about 1.5 innings.  OH. My. God. Baseball is seriously the most boring sport ever and I have decreed that there will be NO baseball players in my house because I certainly could not endure watching endless games. 

Unfortunately, they started advertising in the 2nd inning that kids were invited to "run the bases" after the game.  Which of course Makili heard and immediately wanted to do.  So we suffered through the entire game and then waited in a ridiculous line (and we thinking we were smart to be at the front of the line, but they screwed us over and made us be at the end!) and Remick faceplanted in the middle of the base runs.  But I suppose it was the perfect day to subjected to such torture.  It was 70 and sunny in beautiful Portland.  So I suppose it could have been worse.