You’re Soaking in It!
30 Jan 2010 2 Comments
in i do stuff, leta joy
This is why I do not ever paint my nails. The last time Lokie went to Aunt Banana’s house, I took the time to give myself a manicure. Two coats of polish plus a topcoat, and less than 24 hours later this is what my nails looked like. All of the wiping bottoms, washing my hands, washing dishes, etc. that I do on a daily basis is hell on the nails. Where’s Madge when I need her?
Squishy Cheeks
15 Oct 2009 2 Comments
in i do stuff
Over the weekend we went to see my BFF Juju and her little honey pie, Lexi. Traveling with a one year old ages you, or I should say, me. I don’t want to wish her precious early days away, but I really can’t wait until Lokie is easier to travel with. For Arwyn we just throw a couple of movies, something to draw with and a couple of books in a bag and we are good to go. Piece of cake. True, it wasn’t always this way and I can remember the days when I dreaded making a trip across town with her. I flat out refused to go anywhere for the first six months of her life. Things gradually got easier and now she’s a great little travel companion. So I am looking forward to Lokie growing into that stage.
We went to a harvest celebration at Juju’s church (more pics to come), I made my first ever trip to Whole Foods (loved it, wish there was one here), we ate, we talked, we wrangled kids. That pretty much sums up our trip. It gets harder to carve out girl time when we have little ones to tend to. I’m dreaming of a weekend getaway…
Happy Campers
28 Sep 2009 3 Comments
The Master of Ceremonies takes over the grilling duties in Bubby's absence.
Four couples and their offspring ventured off into the woods on the west side of town this weekend and all of us emerged (though not unscathed) on Sunday. Some of us are missing some skin but what’s camping without some battle scars to remember it by? I am still trying to dig out of the mountain of smelly campfire laundry piled on my basement floor.
- After leaving the campfire in a fit of rage, BW watches the forgettable sunset.
I can’t believe people do this for weeks at a time. Or that someone might be so twisted as to consider this a “vacation”. It was way too much work for that. And I really missed by cozy bed. But overall it was a relaxing, fun weekend. It was nice to just sit outside and not do much of anything all day. I didn’t really want to head home to reality. Let’s just stay in the woods and play rummy! Thanks for the memories, guys!
This little camper fell asleep on my lap. Can't remember the last time that happened!
You Ain’t Got Nuthin’ on Holidog!
21 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
This weekend we took the girls to a local amusement park. It was the first time we’d taken them to something like this. We hadn’t planned on taking Lokie, but our regular babysitters (grandparents) were unavailable and this was the last weekend that the water park would be open, so we decided to give it a try and take her along. All I’m going to say about that is…it wasn’t horrible.
Arwyn had a fantastic time and we hope this is something we’ll be able to do more of in the future. I can remember visiting the park when I was about four years old when it was merely Santa Claus Land. Bubby and his family went every year when he was a kid. It is pretty cool to visit a place with your kids that you remember from your own childhood.
Thanks to our kind neighbors for supplying us with tickets! All of the pictures from our trip can be found here.
A Spot of Tea
17 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
After playing this game with the girls today, I decided we had to have a tea party lunch. I love it when I have ideas like this and am actually able to pull them off immediately. Nothing fancy was required. I pulled an actual tablecloth out of the cabinet, put some water on to boil and we had ourselves a tea party lunch. The hostess served heart-shaped cream cheese and jam sandwiches, organic grapes, mini vanilla wafers, and black cherry tea with milk and honey.
I’m not much of a frou-frou, princessy-type mama but I do love a good cup of tea.
Beat the Heat
30 Jun 2009 1 Comment
in i do stuff
One evening last week we took the kids downtown to play in the fountains. We went in our van. Down by the river! … Anyway, they had a grand old time splashing around for about an hour until the creepy crawly critters started to come out to chomp on little legs. My camera no longer feels the need to work properly and I’m wondering if it got splashed a few too many times? This was a great free evening, except for the ice cream we got afterwards. That was great, but it definitely was not free.
Home Again
23 Jun 2009 2 Comments
Last week we made a trip to my hometown to visit Aunt Banana for a few days. We filled the days with visits and activities, with lots of park and play set time thrown in. You gotta love a visit that includes greasy food, garden hoeing, library visits, swinging and fresh tats. For the first couple of days I’m always amazed that I actually kind of like it there. It’s quiet and peaceful, it feels safe there, I worry less about something happening to the kids. But by the third day I am bored out of my mind, completely out of ideas for what to do with the kids and can’t wait to get back home and sleep in my own bed. It is nice that we live close enough to make short visits but far enough away that I feel a sense of relief when we drive away. It’s a strange sort of combination of feelings. I’m always glad to go, but equally glad to leave.
All photos from our trip can be seen here.
Summer of ’09: Day 1
27 May 2009 Leave a Comment
in arwyn dae, i do stuff, lokie rai
Yeah, I know today is not actually the first day of summer. Summer solstice and all that, yada yada. But it was my first day of solo parenting after a four-day holiday weekend, the first weekday that we did not have school and it was hot, so therefore it was day one of many for us. I think I did a pretty good job of entertaining the troops today. This morning after breakfast we made a trip to the “train bookstore” (aka Barnes & Noble), met up with some cousins, played at the train table and bought a new set of early reader books for Little Miss Going to Kindergarten. Then it was home for lunch (all of us), reading books, writing practice (Arwyn), and nap (baby). Bubby sent me a message asking if we’d like to meet up with him on his lunch hour, so we packed up again and headed to the park for some swinging (Arwyn), snacking and walking practice (Lokie). After two quick stops we arrived back home again for dinner prep (me), dinner consumption (me and Arwyn) and dinner refusal (Lokie). After cleanup and cartoons it was time to make some sort of car (?) out of dining room chairs and a diaper box. The kids are in the process of a quick trip to Grandma’s with Bubby, then will be home again for baths and bed.
If this is any indication of the rest of our summer, I’ll be a puddle of sweat, popsicle sticks and crumpled up receipts by August.
Peas & Dots
06 Mar 2009 2 Comments
in i do stuff
I don’t recall being a very picker eater as a child, but I could not stand peas. Despised. Loathed. I picked them out of every single thing. If one snuck into a bite of food by accident, I grimaced as I reluctantly swallowed it down. Pea salad? GAG. I had a serious hate on for the peas. When Arwyn was a baby I could barely stand the smell of the smashed up baby food sweet peas. It kinda made me want to hurl, but because I knew they were good for her, I continued to feed them to her (and hold my nose). Lo and behold, she liked them then and she is still willing to eat them now. Granted, not with a whole lot of enthusiasm, but they eventually make it down the hatch. Now that Lokie is beginning to self-feed I am once again purchasing the little plastic containers of fruits and veggies. The complete and utter irony is, I now feel compelled to add peas to certain dishes. Is this some sort of weird “mom” hormonal thing? “Children must eat peas in order to survive.” I can stomach the little green monsters in shepherd’s pie, chicken pot pie and a few other select items. Frozen, not canned. When my sister was here for dinner recently she expressed her shock that I, of all people, prepared a dish that included peas. But you still won’t be catching me anywhere near a pea salad.
I purchased these green polka dot cuties in the hopes that adding a splash of color in the house would help get us through the remaining weeks of winter. If I have to buy cute napkins in order to survive, then I guess that’s what we’ll do.
Sprouts & Rust
05 Mar 2009 2 Comments
in i do stuff
Wandering around the back yard, I spotted the daffodils making their first appearance of the year. Spring is coming! I hadn’t noticed them yet, so was glad for this exercise to open my eyes. Funny how you see things differently when you are searching for something.
This hangs off the back of the house. I have no idea what it is, but this was my favorite shot from the back yard series.
