New Skirt

This is what you do when you get a new skirt. Play in the dirt.

We got the fabric at Esthers. Lazy Day skirt pattern, which in the past has taken about 1 hour but this one took a little longer because I mismeasured the hem ribbon. The skirt is extra long so given B's slow growth will hopefully last a few years. I also started to make a pair of pants for M but messed up the cutting. Soooo I have to get a little more fabric so I can try again. What a drag.

Rhubarb Pie anyone?????

First rhubarb pie of the season made the other evening. A sort of Memorial Day tradition over the past ten years or so. Each year the crust is a little different. This year I went with an America Test Kitchen crust and it worked very nicely. Crisp, sweet - easy to roll out. Anyway, we have a backyard full of dirt right now and lots of room for planting. So next spring I think the pie plant will have a place in our new garden. I have read that I should plant one plant per pie-eating fool...so that means two plants for each of us.

This is the start of my flower garden. One of three pots with an easy flower - Nastursiums. I have been super antsy to get things going around here and feel like I have a million items on my to-do. Three pots for flowers was the compromise I came to between the need to plant an entire garden in the 10x20 ft spot that I dug out earlier in the spring, and the reality that it cannot be planted or tended to until the backyard project is complete. So the 10x20 will be started mid june and until then there are these three pots. I should really consider the pots as training wheels which is a good place to start when you know next to nothing about plants.

Backhoe is still here

As soon as the "workers" leave, these guys claim their territory. B has found the horn to the backhoe.

Big dirt pile and the beginning of a wall.

Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight

Cardboard, duct tape and pipe insulation - oh and a Grampy. The pipe insulation was a great idea. You can whack away without fear of pain. The helmets and shields make the play that much more fun.

Memorial Day

S.F. Memorial Day events honor the fallenDaniel Linsley (12) of San Jose was part of the Bay Area Women's and Men's Historical Representation Society that attended the Memorial Day ceremonies at the Presidio Cemetery on May 25, 2009. (Frederic Larson / The Chronicle)

Thoughts on this Memorial Day:

I have always enjoyed this three day weekend. In years past I hadn't given much thought to its significance. It had always been a time for get-togethers and picnics and to celebrate the summer ahead. It is an opportunity to celebrate the life we have. But with having had served in the Navy and now being a mother with children who may choose the same path E and I chose - not to mention our country has been at war for the past 6 years, I feel this day should be more about what it was intended to be; a day to memorialize those who have lost their lives in war for our country. But I feel their sacrifice has been forgotten by many. I want a parade or an acknowledgement by a larger community that life has been and is being lost for us. Its an acknowledgement that should bridge party lines. There were so few ceremonies in Seattle proper; not a single parade, few flags and I am sure many forgotten graves.

So on this day my thoughts are for:

Mothers:

With sympathy and with reverence we greet you on the soil ennobled by the blood of your courageous sons, whose sacrifices have created a bond between us which can never be broken. The world cannot measure your tragic loss. You have suffered in silence and alone with courage and love. You have given to the Great Cause something more precious than your own life blood. And the altar of freedom is wet with your tears. -

French general speaking to American mothers who traveled to France where their sons were killed. (From the 1933 film Pilgrimage)

New graduates of USNA Class of 2009. They have the largest number newly commissioned Marines of any class in USNA history. What a humbling moment for these young kids. They are stepping into some demanding leadership roles in very harsh environments. President Obama's speech to USNA class of 09' - he captures the essence of USNA...and his message seemed so much more personal than Clinton's littoral warfare, tip of the spear speech in 1994.

White House Commission on Rememberance - those who have died for our country up until Desert Storm.

Washington Post: Faces of the Fallen - men and women who have died in the Afghanistan and Iraqi conflicts.

Another Low Tide Weekend

New moon, lower tides. One of the lowest this summer season. The weather was georgeous to boot. This is a beach that I haven't been to since my high school marine biology class. I think we were collecting or identifying seaweed specimens. Anyway. Its a new favorite low-tide destination for me to bring the kids to as long as the weather is good. Next time I'll be sure to bring a full picnic and the mindset that we'll stay for awhile. This stop was tucked into a full morning of activity which included looking at baby chickens at the nursery, getting cookies at the grocery store and playing at the park, then another visit to Nana (who is doing better than last weekend).

The low tide revealed a hole-in-the-wall perfect for walking through. The boys were discussing who should go through first - and possibility that when they walk through they'll be in another dimension. Whatever - silly boys.

Looks like the little boy was bravest.

The hole-in-the-wall was also a bridge to a small outcropping. Fun to walk across and get a little feeling of daring.

The Big Dig

A few months ago I wrote about a garden digging project here. That project didn't need a backhoe excavator. It was a slow dig accomplished during nap time with the verbal help of one young man. That dig was done a month ago. This is the next digging project and this time we have some real help.

I guess this is a three wheelbarrow project....an indicator that it was wise to hire help because we don't own a wheelbarrow. That would have taken a long long time.

Staging area....who knew there were so many different types of garden tools in the world.

Some afterhours dirt rearranging. This project has provided entertainment all day for each kid plus the neighbors.

Look was delivered to our door this morning

We thought Cousin C would like this. At 7:30 this morning this was dropped off in our driveway! We have it for a week!

Organization

Organization time. Laundry is a huge problem in this small house. I have three laundry baskets, two dirty laundry bags, seven places the laundry is stored once it is folded. At any given time during the week there is at least one basket of laundry/ folded or unfolded sitting at the entryway, sofa, bedroom, bed, top of the stairs bottom of the stairs, bathroom. Usually it is more than one basket. And one basket takes up alot of room and two or three take up even more. I have tried doing laundry all on one day once a week, doing kids one day adults another. Doing it as needed. I have tried leaving it all unfolded on our bed and then dump the empty baskets back in the basement so I won't be tempted to leave the laundry undone only to be swept back into the baskets at bedtime. I have tried not folding just throwing stuff into drawers - yikes! And the shenanigans go on.

A few problems have existed until recently. And NO too many clothes is not a problem. We are frugal in this way I think. Anyway...not enough storage is first. Seriously. Each kids had one drawer basically and no hanging space. This might be enough for some people, but we do have alot of great hand-me downs and they deserve a place too. Second problem is the basement is not geared to process the laundry - only wash it. So it gets processed on the couch, bed etc. and it never makes it far from there. Third and probably the real culprit. Me. Basically the solution comes down to this: Just do it. Wash it, fold it, put it away - pronto AND enlist the help of the little ones.

So, we have new drawer systems from IKEA for each kid. Six baskets each with a few extra in the bigger closet for the hand-me-downs. They are awesome. The kids can open them on their own (old drawers were super sticky) The labels are to "help" so that they can kinda know where stuff goes and know where to find it. We'll see how it goes!

Some shots from Mom's Garden

For all of you who are missing the spectacular spring show. The garden is amazing at this time of year.

Weekend away

About once a month we head to my parents home for the weekend so that I can meet with friends for book club. Book club is a great excuse to get over there, but even without the excuse I probably would go over because it is such a nice change of pace. In the summer the trip is especially nice as we can go above deck on the ferry. Today on our return trip there were some kids - somewhere on the bow of the ferry blowing bubbles into the wind, sending bubbles back to where we were sitting. Thank you kids for keeping my kids entertained!

My family has some acreage with plenty of open space and a stream running through it. A decade or so ago the stream (The Creek) was designated as a "salmon stream". This means the habitat should remain as natural as possible so that the salmon will return to spawn. If we were super adventurous we could follow the stream from the sound to the lake where it originates - a distance of 3-4 miles but I'll save that for when the kids are older.

For now we are satisfied with playing in parts of the creek closer to home. Part of the forest bordering the creek is second growth forest, full of nurse logs, hemlock, mossy rocks, rocky stream beds, salal bush and ferns. These second and old growth forests (few and far between these days) are so cool and lush. Its the perfect playground for kids as well as animals.

Then there was book club....this club was started nine years ago, in a bar with three members; Heidi, Jennifer and I (our first book "Bridge over the Dhrina") 7 more have joined our ranks over the years. Friday's meeting was a little unlike others in that one of our "founding members" is moving to Colorado next month. So instead of talking about the book (which we are pretty diciplined about) we had other stuff to talk about. One of those things is the 17 babes born during those 9 years and 2 more on the way. Also, Jennifer left us with her list of the books we've read - 96 in all. YIKES! Its been fun and hope there are many years to come.

A visit with Nana after the farmers market on Saturday. Nana has been laid up for a month with a back injury and some unexplicable side effects as a result of the meds she was given. We need to get her out of the rehab center soon and our health care system is in dire need of attention. Qualified and caring people please apply! M was so sleepy and Nana was so happy to have her latest great-granddaugher (with 84 years in between them warming her hip in that sterile place.

After naps and one tomato plant purchasing errand we stopped off at a favorite driftwood beach were bigger kids had left their fort for littler kids to play in.

This was the calm after the storm created by B putting her hand into the red ant nest. She just wanted to pick up an and. She screamed probably more from seeing the ants crawling all over her hand than from the bites (they don't hurt) but it was traumatic nonetheless.

Hope you had a super weekend.

Surrender

I was so deep in the motherhood trenches today I could hardly stick my head out for fear of getting another incoming to the head. It seemed that bad. C stayed home from school. After a sibling "scuffle" which ended in ear-piercing shrieks by B (who I am sure is not completely innocent but I'll spare the details) I uttered ungracefully "YOU are not going to school today" knowing full well as the words came out of my mouth that this would be more of a punishment for me than him. I didn't see any logical way to go back on my fateful words and so my words stood and he did not go to school.

He and I butted heads off and on all day. However I was not going to let him get the better of the day I had planned. In retrospect I was glad I had a plan for there were bright spots in them that brought me out of the trenches with my arms high above my head. Here are those brighter moments.

1. Goodwill drop off with a drive through a new neighborhood.

2.Visit to the nursery to get potting soil.

3. Planted nastursiums and cosmos with C.

4. Replanted the dying Venus fly trap.

5. Trying to teaching C how to "read" a map.

6. No potty accidents by B.

7. M took two long naps.

8. Made pizza for dinner.

9. E came home early (thank you reserved parking spots and 15 minute commutes) took the kids for a walk and I had a few moments to myself while cooking dinner.

The best part of all - tomorrow is another day. Learn from today and move on.

Look who is getting around....

Sliding backwards and rolling but moving nonetheless...no scooting for this one.

Oh and swinging....

Happy Mother's Day weekend:: 4 beach trips:: 2 park trips:: 2 picnics:: 1 burger joint:: 1 garage sale (our own - bye bye junk!) : 1 sunburn (mine):: 1 sleepy family:: Smile.

Lunch at the Beach

First I wanted to document how many darn bags I walk out the door with for a day like today. After dropping C off at school the girls and I go to the YMCA. At the YMCA there are different rooms for different age kids (hence two diaper bags mentioned in a little bit). Then rather than come home after school for lunch, we'll head to the beach/park/friends house. Anyway, I have to figure out how to reduce this down from two bags to one. From left to right, back to front: diaper/potty training bag for B, gym bag, lunch cooler, beach bag, purse, diaper bag for M. After all of this packing and loading, I realized (halfway to school) that I forgot the backpack....at least it wasn't the tent for those of you who know the story.

Full moon coming up and we have a week of good low tides. So we'll spend time at the beach as along as the weather is good. We like the sandy beaches of course but I prefer to bring the kids to the less crowded rocky, drift-woody and SEAWEEDY beaches. That way I don't have to pack a bunch of toys and they spend more time exploring and less time arguing.

Yes that is seaweed. B did not like it which was a little unusual. Up to her knees (our ankles).

Rock climbing. Both were looking for octopuses. Little do they know octopuses don't care for the tidal zone much, but I wasn't going to tell them that. On our list of finds today: sea pens (I think that is the name - orange in color, super slimy), purple star fish, purple rock crabs, mussels, filtering barnacles, and a great blue heron.