Art, and certainly drawing, permeates our life. This first foray into portraiture was inspired, I think, by Lucia's Louvre sketches on Holly's blog. He and I haven't spoken about it, but I think her art made an impression on him.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Portrait
First recently sketched me as I sat on the couch watching tv. (This was the day after my 3 hours of sleep post-DC and Kinder throwing up in the middle of the night. I very rarely watch tv during the day.)
Art, and certainly drawing, permeates our life. This first foray into portraiture was inspired, I think, by Lucia's Louvre sketches on Holly's blog. He and I haven't spoken about it, but I think her art made an impression on him.
Art, and certainly drawing, permeates our life. This first foray into portraiture was inspired, I think, by Lucia's Louvre sketches on Holly's blog. He and I haven't spoken about it, but I think her art made an impression on him.
Nisei WWII vets stamp
If you want to learn more about it and sign a petition, go here.
(Thanks to Cap and Ellen O. for the heads up.)
(Thanks to Cap and Ellen O. for the heads up.)
Kinder's 6th birthday party
Kinder drawing and coloring his birthday cd covers before the party started. First was his sous artist and was a big help.
First and his best friends playing "jankenpo" (Rock, Paper, Scissors) while eating a lunch of sushi and pizza.
Kinder can only take so much being amongst a crowd. Every now and again I would come across him and Lukas hanging out on or behind the big bed (the coat bed of my childhood when my parents would have big parties) playing by themselves.
Holly and Lucia are missed often by me as they spend six months in Paris. Here, during the alternative Hot Potato game, their spirits were with us. It was great to be able to spend some time outdoors and get some fresh air.
The Ben 10 cake, a Bette Hagman's feather light yellow cake with decadent white frosting from Living Without...kids (ever so vigilant and caring) asked First whether he was okay to be eating the cake and grown ups were surprised and delighted as they tucked into a GFCF cake that was just as good as "regular" cake.
Winding down with cousin, Auntie and Uncle, and my cousin, Momoko.
The birthday song.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Making breadsticks
A happy way to end the day. The kids love making these GF breadsticks from a bag (Chebe brand). We rarely get to knead dough so this is a treat.
I was in an inexplicable black mood for most of the day. Being a peripheral bakers' helper was therapeutic.
Tried to get a holiday photo...may have succeeded.
Can you guess whose hands are who's?
Monday, November 19, 2007
It's bullet time
• Kinder's birthday party was great. We had quite a crowd, but the energy was warm and happy and we had a good time. Pictures to come.
• First has become a boob man. Today he was singing a song of his own making about how much he loves boobs. He thinks they're funny, he's magnetically drawn to them. It's been embarrassing and poignant and a lesson in tolerance and patience.
• I canceled Austin. First has been expressing fear of separation and it just started feeling less and less worth it. Cap was amazing in his immediate and genuine support and understanding. So we'll work on a plan B to celebrate togetherness sans kids. The smile of relief on First's face when I told him this morning spoke a thousand words.
• Looking forward to a period of reflection and quiet as we head towards the solstice. The kids have been pretty media saturated (for us, which is still so much less than most, but still, a lot, for us...and there we have a circle) and I am longing for some rhythm.
• Within hours of Kinder's party ending I felt like I was back to myself. Suddenly I had space to think and time to relax. This continued into today. I watched Anna and Lukas for a few hours, the kids played and I picked up my knitting for the first time in weeks. I baked brownies for our neighbors to make up for the ruckus we created in the hallways and house yesterday with our nearly 40 guests. There were vegetables back in our meals. The kids and I read in bed for almost an hour tonight.
• Both kids had meltdowns today. Afterwards it was like that dry, clear, blue that comes after a summer storm blows away a stagnant humid front.
• First has become a boob man. Today he was singing a song of his own making about how much he loves boobs. He thinks they're funny, he's magnetically drawn to them. It's been embarrassing and poignant and a lesson in tolerance and patience.
• I canceled Austin. First has been expressing fear of separation and it just started feeling less and less worth it. Cap was amazing in his immediate and genuine support and understanding. So we'll work on a plan B to celebrate togetherness sans kids. The smile of relief on First's face when I told him this morning spoke a thousand words.
• Looking forward to a period of reflection and quiet as we head towards the solstice. The kids have been pretty media saturated (for us, which is still so much less than most, but still, a lot, for us...and there we have a circle) and I am longing for some rhythm.
• Within hours of Kinder's party ending I felt like I was back to myself. Suddenly I had space to think and time to relax. This continued into today. I watched Anna and Lukas for a few hours, the kids played and I picked up my knitting for the first time in weeks. I baked brownies for our neighbors to make up for the ruckus we created in the hallways and house yesterday with our nearly 40 guests. There were vegetables back in our meals. The kids and I read in bed for almost an hour tonight.
• Both kids had meltdowns today. Afterwards it was like that dry, clear, blue that comes after a summer storm blows away a stagnant humid front.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Drained but in a good way
Must. Go. To. Bed.
Mike D. is here for a visit which has been wonderful. Cap picked him up around 3:00 this morning (flight was delayed) and Mike surprised me, my bedhead and all, by waking around 8:00 (5:00 CA time).
He showered us with gifts and the kids set about building right away with their new construction sets. Me, I got a big blue box from Tiffany with a lovely yellow teapot and matching sugar bowl and cream pitcher. My bling itch was majorly satisfied :-)
We went out for breakfast at a local diner, with a stop to see Vinny for my traditional chinese herbs. By the time we got home it was time to get ready for our first family concert at our local performing arts center. The kids were none too happy about having to pause their building again.
The concert was a lot of fun, appropriately interactive, and our seats were great, first row of the first balcony. And it was cool to see Cass' brother, who is the concert master!
We got home and ate, Mike was craving pizza as most northeast expats do when they return to the home region and he and I indulged in a pepperoni and garlic pizza. Yum.
Cap and Mike then took off for coffee and dessert before heading back to the performing arts center for an evening classical concert that we had tix for (the first of a Saturday night subscription).
The kids watched an ep of AFV for movie night while I began prep for Kinder's party tomorrow (and talked to Wendy for the first time in ages). After their show was over, First really wanted to help me, as he has been doing more of lately.
He neatened up the couch draping the throw against the back of it and arranging the cushions just so. He cut the hemp laces for the necklace making area while I measured them out. He moved the little chairs and then sprayed and wiped down the little table which we arranged to create the face and hand painting area.
He has been changing again and seeming older. Kinder, too.
They went to bed around 9:00 and then I made the potato for the alternative hot potato game that we played at Lucia's party. It took way more paper than I had anticipated and took a really long time to make! Holly, I had no idea.... In this version of the game, when the music stops, whoever is holding the potato gets to unwrap a layer of it and receive the treat that appears. Then they leave the circle. The game continues until the last child has unwrapped their layer finding a treat.
I tried in vain to locate Kinder's birthday cd song list that we had compiled together yesterday, but I think it may have gotten accidentally recycled. Unfortunately, this means that Cap will not be able to burn the cds and printout the covers tonight. C'est la vie.
The eggs are boiled and in the fridge (for deviled eggs), the brown rice is cooked and warm in the rice cooker (for Sri Wasano's Infamous Rice Salad from the original Moosewood cookbook), the bathroom all sparkly, the living room set up with the activity areas (a third activity will be drawing and coloring your own puzzle), and I am headed to bed.
I will awake at 6:00 and bake the cake, make the rice salad so it can marinate and chill for a few hours and make the deviled eggs and frosting, too.
I need the early start because Cap will be out tomorrow morning driving Mike to the airport (he'll be flying to Beantown to see his sister) and gone for at least two hours.
I'd like to have some time in the morning to straighten out the kids' room, too.
No pictures of Mike and the kids, the camera batteries needed to be recharged...
Mike D. is here for a visit which has been wonderful. Cap picked him up around 3:00 this morning (flight was delayed) and Mike surprised me, my bedhead and all, by waking around 8:00 (5:00 CA time).
He showered us with gifts and the kids set about building right away with their new construction sets. Me, I got a big blue box from Tiffany with a lovely yellow teapot and matching sugar bowl and cream pitcher. My bling itch was majorly satisfied :-)
We went out for breakfast at a local diner, with a stop to see Vinny for my traditional chinese herbs. By the time we got home it was time to get ready for our first family concert at our local performing arts center. The kids were none too happy about having to pause their building again.
The concert was a lot of fun, appropriately interactive, and our seats were great, first row of the first balcony. And it was cool to see Cass' brother, who is the concert master!
We got home and ate, Mike was craving pizza as most northeast expats do when they return to the home region and he and I indulged in a pepperoni and garlic pizza. Yum.
Cap and Mike then took off for coffee and dessert before heading back to the performing arts center for an evening classical concert that we had tix for (the first of a Saturday night subscription).
The kids watched an ep of AFV for movie night while I began prep for Kinder's party tomorrow (and talked to Wendy for the first time in ages). After their show was over, First really wanted to help me, as he has been doing more of lately.
He neatened up the couch draping the throw against the back of it and arranging the cushions just so. He cut the hemp laces for the necklace making area while I measured them out. He moved the little chairs and then sprayed and wiped down the little table which we arranged to create the face and hand painting area.
He has been changing again and seeming older. Kinder, too.
They went to bed around 9:00 and then I made the potato for the alternative hot potato game that we played at Lucia's party. It took way more paper than I had anticipated and took a really long time to make! Holly, I had no idea.... In this version of the game, when the music stops, whoever is holding the potato gets to unwrap a layer of it and receive the treat that appears. Then they leave the circle. The game continues until the last child has unwrapped their layer finding a treat.
I tried in vain to locate Kinder's birthday cd song list that we had compiled together yesterday, but I think it may have gotten accidentally recycled. Unfortunately, this means that Cap will not be able to burn the cds and printout the covers tonight. C'est la vie.
The eggs are boiled and in the fridge (for deviled eggs), the brown rice is cooked and warm in the rice cooker (for Sri Wasano's Infamous Rice Salad from the original Moosewood cookbook), the bathroom all sparkly, the living room set up with the activity areas (a third activity will be drawing and coloring your own puzzle), and I am headed to bed.
I will awake at 6:00 and bake the cake, make the rice salad so it can marinate and chill for a few hours and make the deviled eggs and frosting, too.
I need the early start because Cap will be out tomorrow morning driving Mike to the airport (he'll be flying to Beantown to see his sister) and gone for at least two hours.
I'd like to have some time in the morning to straighten out the kids' room, too.
No pictures of Mike and the kids, the camera batteries needed to be recharged...
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Bling
I'll admit it. I have always wanted a diamond ring. Not an engagement ring, but a ring of my choosing, some fine bling.
But, I/we have never had the money for that kind of thing and I know enough about the diamond trade to know that I would have some mixed feelings about owning a diamond.
During my travels today, I came across a diamond ring I could have. It cost $6 and is stretchy and comfortable. It made my girly self happy :-)
(Click on the photo for a closer look!)
But, I/we have never had the money for that kind of thing and I know enough about the diamond trade to know that I would have some mixed feelings about owning a diamond.
During my travels today, I came across a diamond ring I could have. It cost $6 and is stretchy and comfortable. It made my girly self happy :-)
(Click on the photo for a closer look!)
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
A glimpse in
I am cleaning up my desk area today. It's a good day for it. It's a typical first day of period laying in kind of day. It's a grey day outside, but the light is hitting the yellow leaves just right and it feels cheery.
Kinder is fever-free this morning and clearly feeling much better. He's been doing a lot of hiding from First and jumping out to say "boo!"
I awoke around 5:00 am practically panting from a nightmare, but it is a fast receded memory.
As I was going through the piles on my desk, I came across this packet of place mats (called "luncheon mats" in Japan). An aunt gave them to me/us back when we lived in Cambridge...this would be a minimum of six years and three moves ago.
I love them. They are made of washi, a type of traditional Japanese craft paper. Place mats made of paper. Only in Japan? Maybe not, but a dilemma they have posed for me, nonetheless.
There's the Yankee spirit in me that feels like it would be a waste to use them, for they can only be used once.
There's the romantic in me that just knows there will be the perfect moment to unveil them, to the crows of delight of the just right set of guests.
There's the pack rat in me that has packed and unpacked them, still in their plastic, still with their weathered 400 yen price tag, three different times, and has been completely okay with that.
Then there's the me that stood holding the packet for a minute or two, trying to decide whether to just chuck them or not. Part of me longs to just chuck a lot of stuff as I try to simplify and organize my space and things.
I wonder what else I will find as I go back in there...
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
F**k!!!
There's a big lesson here and I've learned it...but it feels like something always comes out to bite me when it comes to handling our finances. And it freaking hurts.
Cap and I had our once every six months or so difficult money conversations this morning. It was long, but worth it, for me. He lost out on some work time, so it was doubly hard for him.
Afterwards, I took a fresh look at our numbers in order to formulate a workable budget, something we have never been able to stick to successfully over our decade-plus together.
My shocking discovery. Spoiler alert: Turns out I am a big, f**king idiot.
I've been feeling like I have been spending less money since moving to NJ. But, working without a budget, I could never be certain.
I started charting our bills. I did this for nearly a year, but realized after six months or so that this wasn't doing much...not giving me any new information. The initial satisfaction of creating a form and typing numbers into it regularly, soon faded away.
Our credit card bill kept going up incrementally, but slowly enough that I was never alarmed enough to pay closer attention.
What I realized today after spending some time with the conundrum that is our financial life, was that for over a year now, I have not been sending money to the credit card for all the little, budgeted charges that I was making, mostly online.
Or, for the bigger, reimbursed charges for Cap's professional spending.
I was paying our paper bills, including partial payments on the credit card bills (which started getting closer and closer to the minimum payment which I also did notice, but did not pay closer attention to), but simply forgot to pay the credit card company for specific charges (ie. things that I would normally use the debit card for, but because it was an online transaction or a bigger ticket item for which we could earn more significant points, I used the credit card) as they occurred.
(Also, we carried some hefty debt coming into this, especially from the move itself)
It seems such an obvious thing NOT to do, but there it is.
In the now over a year that we've lived here, I have yet to fully go through all my paperwork AND create a workable and habitual system of book keeping/desk work.
Life happens, especially (adjusting to) homeschooling two kids and living somewhere new, and now I'm paying a high price for continually, and unconsciously, putting this work on the back burner.
Ugh...
Cap and I had our once every six months or so difficult money conversations this morning. It was long, but worth it, for me. He lost out on some work time, so it was doubly hard for him.
Afterwards, I took a fresh look at our numbers in order to formulate a workable budget, something we have never been able to stick to successfully over our decade-plus together.
My shocking discovery. Spoiler alert: Turns out I am a big, f**king idiot.
I've been feeling like I have been spending less money since moving to NJ. But, working without a budget, I could never be certain.
I started charting our bills. I did this for nearly a year, but realized after six months or so that this wasn't doing much...not giving me any new information. The initial satisfaction of creating a form and typing numbers into it regularly, soon faded away.
Our credit card bill kept going up incrementally, but slowly enough that I was never alarmed enough to pay closer attention.
What I realized today after spending some time with the conundrum that is our financial life, was that for over a year now, I have not been sending money to the credit card for all the little, budgeted charges that I was making, mostly online.
Or, for the bigger, reimbursed charges for Cap's professional spending.
I was paying our paper bills, including partial payments on the credit card bills (which started getting closer and closer to the minimum payment which I also did notice, but did not pay closer attention to), but simply forgot to pay the credit card company for specific charges (ie. things that I would normally use the debit card for, but because it was an online transaction or a bigger ticket item for which we could earn more significant points, I used the credit card) as they occurred.
(Also, we carried some hefty debt coming into this, especially from the move itself)
It seems such an obvious thing NOT to do, but there it is.
In the now over a year that we've lived here, I have yet to fully go through all my paperwork AND create a workable and habitual system of book keeping/desk work.
Life happens, especially (adjusting to) homeschooling two kids and living somewhere new, and now I'm paying a high price for continually, and unconsciously, putting this work on the back burner.
Ugh...
Back from our trip
A rare family photo taken at the FDR Memorial in Washington DC. We spent time there with Marc and his wife and baby daughter. (Marc is a friend from my teen years and has the distinction of having been my boyfriend from ninth grade to spring break of our senior year of college.)
It was a beautiful autumn day after a mostly cloudy and rainy weekend. Our trip was fun and it will take me awhile to organize the many photos we took.
We saw Ellen, Jen and their kids, went to the National Zoo and the Air and Space museum, and took looks at the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, Washington monument, Vietnam and Korean War memorials (on Veteran's Day alongside throngs of vets), the White House, and the Capitol building. We strolled along the reflecting pool and mall, as well.
Cap's workshop went well at the conference he attended, our hotel room had a great view, and we had meals at two restaurants with GF menus: the Austin Grill in Alexandria (where Cap remembered we had eaten once a long time ago) and Legal Seafoods in Arlington. We also had a couple of meals at Whole Foods in VA and MD. Their presence, seemingly everywhere, a comfort, but also an indication that we weren't very much off the beaten path.
We returned late Sunday night and Kinder woke at 2:00 am throwing up in the family bed. I was a zombie yesterday after 3 hours of sleep, today I'm pretty sleepy, too.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
My seven year old dragon
First was born in the year of the dragon. I remember Dr. Li chuckling, I detected ruefulness, saying that my baby dragon (still in utero) would be getting into some battles with my mother, who is also a dragon.
What he didn't mention was that I would be butting heads with him, too.
Me, the horse. But, I am a special horse, a fiery one, born in a year/cycle that parents of maidens of yore would lie about in order to improve their daughters' chances for marriage. For, who would want to marry a girl who was a fire horse?
I know it's normal for clashes and conflicts to arise when raising a child with love and passion. But, it kind of sucks, too, when it is all so new and unfamiliar. I need to buck up. I mean, he's only seven.
What he didn't mention was that I would be butting heads with him, too.
Me, the horse. But, I am a special horse, a fiery one, born in a year/cycle that parents of maidens of yore would lie about in order to improve their daughters' chances for marriage. For, who would want to marry a girl who was a fire horse?
I know it's normal for clashes and conflicts to arise when raising a child with love and passion. But, it kind of sucks, too, when it is all so new and unfamiliar. I need to buck up. I mean, he's only seven.
I'm in the lucky space!
...this is what Kinder crowed to his brother as he dove into the crook of my armpit as we settled in for the night. The lucky space.
On a day like today when, by the end of it, I was wondering if it is ever possible to go a whole day without any unpleasantness on our parts, but especially mine. No complaining, no whining, no butting heads over the slightest (and truly unimportant) details, no abrupt answers to seemingly dysfunctional questions...
Even on a day like today, I am the lucky space.
Instant cure. Immediate balm. How lucky am I?
On a day like today when, by the end of it, I was wondering if it is ever possible to go a whole day without any unpleasantness on our parts, but especially mine. No complaining, no whining, no butting heads over the slightest (and truly unimportant) details, no abrupt answers to seemingly dysfunctional questions...
Even on a day like today, I am the lucky space.
Instant cure. Immediate balm. How lucky am I?
Wall of hats
Last night, as our co-op dinner guests were departing (after a mellow, lovely, time change winter-is-coming feeling meal of turkey chili, corn bread, salad and peanut butter cookies), we could not locate Anna's hat.
All of us were used to this sort of thing and we murmured reassurances to each other that it would crop up somewhere, sometime.
This morning, the boys noticed both Anna and Lukas' hats hung up on our wall of hats. The children apparently took it upon themselves to place their hats where hats should clearly go.
(The wall of hats is by the door we used to use to come in and out of the apartment and so was out of our visual field as we said our good-byes...)
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Drumming at home
Kinder set up a drum kit and was drumming away while I prepared tonight's common meal in the kitchen. I came out and he explained how he figured out that the drum sounded different when it was propped so that it wasn't sitting flat on the floor.
I want my kids to be who they are, but have to admit that I've always loved drumming and am thrilled that he does, too. First has been practicing, as well, and checks in with his brother to make sure he's keeping up in his own progress.
I want my kids to be who they are, but have to admit that I've always loved drumming and am thrilled that he does, too. First has been practicing, as well, and checks in with his brother to make sure he's keeping up in his own progress.
Ellen's book
So cool, my friend Ellen has a new book out. I remember the days when writing a paper was pure, absolute, unadulterated torture. Way to go sweetie!
http://www.amazon.com/Family-Bonds-Genealogies-Feminist-Philosophy/dp/0195314751/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-6387017-4855960?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194447519&sr=8-2
That's the long web address...I can't figure out how to make it a link that you can just click on....
It's called Family Bonds and can be checked out at Amazon.
For fans of Ellen, feminist philosophy and Foucault :-)
http://www.amazon.com/Family-Bonds-Genealogies-Feminist-Philosophy/dp/0195314751/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-6387017-4855960?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194447519&sr=8-2
That's the long web address...I can't figure out how to make it a link that you can just click on....
It's called Family Bonds and can be checked out at Amazon.
For fans of Ellen, feminist philosophy and Foucault :-)
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Latkes
...they're not just for Chanukah around here.
Once the autumn air starts to feel crisp, we start making and eating latkes in our household. My love of latkes began with Chanukah celebrations, most notably Diane's, back when we lived in Cambridge and she in Somerville.
We do love our potatoes, and so it seemed natural to introduce latkes into our home cooking repertoire. First loves latke sandwiches (a latke in between two slices of bread with mayo :-) for breakfast the morning after we have them for dinner...anyone who's ever lived with me knows where he gets that kind of stomach/appetite from.
I began making latkes in autumn/winter with vigor while we lived in Sacramento. With our move back east and the acquisition of cast iron pans, making them has become an even more easy and fruitful endeavor.
Tonight, First volunteered to assist and he worked on learning the ways of the vegetable peeler. He didn't make it to the grater because the onion fumes were getting to his eyes. He returned for the mixing of the grated potatoes and onion, GF all purpose flour, salt, eggs and potato starch.
This fall, I am trying hand grating and am surprised at what a difference it makes. The latkes have been, in my opinion, superior. Tonight, I grated the taters right into a colander. The potato starch I got from the bottom of the puddle of potato water was fantastic. Plentiful and much more solid than I've ever seen.
The kids and I tucked into the warm and crispy-round-the-edges latkes and ate a pretty silent dinner (too busy eating to talk :-) First was the last to finish and I ran to grab my camera to document at least the final luscious bite, but, alas, I was too late and this is the shot I got (he'd look happier except he's got terrible head cold symptoms---hence the pile of tissues!)...
Once the autumn air starts to feel crisp, we start making and eating latkes in our household. My love of latkes began with Chanukah celebrations, most notably Diane's, back when we lived in Cambridge and she in Somerville.
We do love our potatoes, and so it seemed natural to introduce latkes into our home cooking repertoire. First loves latke sandwiches (a latke in between two slices of bread with mayo :-) for breakfast the morning after we have them for dinner...anyone who's ever lived with me knows where he gets that kind of stomach/appetite from.
I began making latkes in autumn/winter with vigor while we lived in Sacramento. With our move back east and the acquisition of cast iron pans, making them has become an even more easy and fruitful endeavor.
Tonight, First volunteered to assist and he worked on learning the ways of the vegetable peeler. He didn't make it to the grater because the onion fumes were getting to his eyes. He returned for the mixing of the grated potatoes and onion, GF all purpose flour, salt, eggs and potato starch.
This fall, I am trying hand grating and am surprised at what a difference it makes. The latkes have been, in my opinion, superior. Tonight, I grated the taters right into a colander. The potato starch I got from the bottom of the puddle of potato water was fantastic. Plentiful and much more solid than I've ever seen.
The kids and I tucked into the warm and crispy-round-the-edges latkes and ate a pretty silent dinner (too busy eating to talk :-) First was the last to finish and I ran to grab my camera to document at least the final luscious bite, but, alas, I was too late and this is the shot I got (he'd look happier except he's got terrible head cold symptoms---hence the pile of tissues!)...
Catchin' up
It's been a busy week...funny, it feels like much longer has passed.
I've been eating a lot of prosciutto lately. I used to like it, now I love it. It's something I would sometimes treat myself to by getting a sandwich somewhere, but these days, I've been buying it at the big Whole Foods, the yummy domestic kind, ten to twelve slices at a time.
I've been hating my hair/haircut. The whole point was to have it be less fuss, and now I'm having to mess with hair paste and a blow dryer...
We have to get the air conditioners out of the windows! All of a sudden it's colder and the apartment feels downright drafty.
We visited Anna and the kids this weekend which was a lot of fun. We leave for Virginia/DC in a few days. I'm looking forward to this trip. It's our family vacation for the year though Cap will spend about half of his time participating in a conference.
Halloween was a lot of fun. I crammed to finish the costumes and it turned out to be a magical night of trick-or-treating.
Here are some random visuals, odds and ends.
The cover and some sample pages from First's comic book featuring Write Man.
Kinder enjoying some tunes on Cap's iPod.
First wrapped this gift for Tobias and Elsa, a book he chose personally. It looked so pretty I had to snap a pic.
I was going to post two videos, but...I think because the computer I'm on has an older operating system, the one step video posting option I used when posting from Cap's laptop does not appear available.
I've been eating a lot of prosciutto lately. I used to like it, now I love it. It's something I would sometimes treat myself to by getting a sandwich somewhere, but these days, I've been buying it at the big Whole Foods, the yummy domestic kind, ten to twelve slices at a time.
I've been hating my hair/haircut. The whole point was to have it be less fuss, and now I'm having to mess with hair paste and a blow dryer...
We have to get the air conditioners out of the windows! All of a sudden it's colder and the apartment feels downright drafty.
We visited Anna and the kids this weekend which was a lot of fun. We leave for Virginia/DC in a few days. I'm looking forward to this trip. It's our family vacation for the year though Cap will spend about half of his time participating in a conference.
Halloween was a lot of fun. I crammed to finish the costumes and it turned out to be a magical night of trick-or-treating.
Here are some random visuals, odds and ends.
The cover and some sample pages from First's comic book featuring Write Man.
Kinder enjoying some tunes on Cap's iPod.
First wrapped this gift for Tobias and Elsa, a book he chose personally. It looked so pretty I had to snap a pic.
I was going to post two videos, but...I think because the computer I'm on has an older operating system, the one step video posting option I used when posting from Cap's laptop does not appear available.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Barbra was here
Barb came out from Oakland for a visit. She arrived last Thursday night and the kids and I oohed and aahed at the nighttime Halloween displays we saw as we drove out of town to pick her up at the airport.
That night, Kinder was thrilled to have First back in bed with him again. First was completely better from his illness (during which time he had slept in the big bed) and Barb was getting the big bed for the duration of her stay.
(The futons were booted from the livingroom when we upgraded to the Ikea couch-bed and dumped the broken futon frames. With no where else to put them, we had them in the kids' room, the only place they fit, the middle of the floor. This proved to be popular as they then could jump off the top bunk onto a soft surface. Within a week or so, they started sleeping on the piled futons and began reading together by the light of flashlights after lights out. After weeks of this set up, I finally cleaned and reorganized their room so that now the futons are against a wall and there is a cleared play space in the center of the room again.)
It took me pretty much the whole day to get that room in shape. The night before, Cap had moved my brother's old desk into our room and now the sewing machine is on it and I'll eventually turn it into a craft table. I moved their dresser and then the two futons. I was amazed at how well my back held up and, again, chalk it up to traditional Chinese medicine.
This is what the kids did while I worked:
Barbra and I went into the city Friday and met Cara and Rachael for a late lunch at my now reliable café in the Village where I had the yummy vanilla rooibos tea. We shared middle eastern food and caught up with each other before sharing an unsatisfying chocolate dessert and setting back out into the rain.
It was such a freakin' cliché, but I felt "young" again being with them. The images and rushes back to college memories made me aware of the passage of time.
I love walking through Penn station. I have felt it every single time I get off the train and do my trot-meander through the sights and sounds and warmth of that particular slice of humanity as I head to the connecting subway line.
On Saturday, I worked on Kinder's costume (he thankfully switched over to a mummy in order for me to manage to get it done by the party he was going to Sunday morning) and Barb went over to Cass and Bob's. It rained heavily for most of the day and soccer was canceled. That night B and I went to a Turkish-Mediterranean place in town for dinner and then up to the university theater to see Bill T. Jones. The performance was pretty stunning. I apreciate how his art is just accessible enough for me to feel like I "get" it while my imagination and wonder are being tweaked in delightful and devastating ways.
Sunday, Cap took the boys to the party at Felicia's and Anna and the kids came over. Anna drove down alone and we had a few hours together before André brought the kids over via bus form the city. It was great to see all of them, it was even okay to see André. It still makes me sad to think of how much I adored and felt a connection to him and have it be obliterated.
Yesterday Barb, the kids and I went to my favorite local diner which was fun. B grew up around here and they really don't make diners like this out on the west coast. We stopped into Whole Foods and Staples on the way home for some supplies: prosciutto for me, white paper for the kids (we make them reuse the back sides of paper for their drawing, but their output is huge).
We only took a few pics during our visit...it happens when there's so much fun and activity. The pic of B and me was shot by Kinder.
Woven throughout the last week plus has been increasing sleep deprivation as the Red Sox advanced to the World Series and then won it, Sunday night. Many of the games kept me up till 1:00 am and I am tired! Go Sox :-)
This morning, I finally sat down with the kids to play The Secret Door, B's gift to them. It was a fun cooperative game. The kids are fed (latke sandwiches, the de rigeur leftover breakfast after a dinner of latkes---they're not just for Chanukah around here :-), Danielle just dropped off a crucial piece for First's costume that she found for us in Sear's yesterday (thank you thank you), and Cap is about to sit with the kids for some table time.
I need to get dressed and face the music. First's costume needs to be tackled and if we're getting a pumpkin for him, it needs to be today (or tomorrow, I guess). As it is, Kinder's pumpkin has yet to be carved.
Big sigh, back to reality, serenity now!
That night, Kinder was thrilled to have First back in bed with him again. First was completely better from his illness (during which time he had slept in the big bed) and Barb was getting the big bed for the duration of her stay.
(The futons were booted from the livingroom when we upgraded to the Ikea couch-bed and dumped the broken futon frames. With no where else to put them, we had them in the kids' room, the only place they fit, the middle of the floor. This proved to be popular as they then could jump off the top bunk onto a soft surface. Within a week or so, they started sleeping on the piled futons and began reading together by the light of flashlights after lights out. After weeks of this set up, I finally cleaned and reorganized their room so that now the futons are against a wall and there is a cleared play space in the center of the room again.)
It took me pretty much the whole day to get that room in shape. The night before, Cap had moved my brother's old desk into our room and now the sewing machine is on it and I'll eventually turn it into a craft table. I moved their dresser and then the two futons. I was amazed at how well my back held up and, again, chalk it up to traditional Chinese medicine.
This is what the kids did while I worked:
Barbra and I went into the city Friday and met Cara and Rachael for a late lunch at my now reliable café in the Village where I had the yummy vanilla rooibos tea. We shared middle eastern food and caught up with each other before sharing an unsatisfying chocolate dessert and setting back out into the rain.
It was such a freakin' cliché, but I felt "young" again being with them. The images and rushes back to college memories made me aware of the passage of time.
I love walking through Penn station. I have felt it every single time I get off the train and do my trot-meander through the sights and sounds and warmth of that particular slice of humanity as I head to the connecting subway line.
On Saturday, I worked on Kinder's costume (he thankfully switched over to a mummy in order for me to manage to get it done by the party he was going to Sunday morning) and Barb went over to Cass and Bob's. It rained heavily for most of the day and soccer was canceled. That night B and I went to a Turkish-Mediterranean place in town for dinner and then up to the university theater to see Bill T. Jones. The performance was pretty stunning. I apreciate how his art is just accessible enough for me to feel like I "get" it while my imagination and wonder are being tweaked in delightful and devastating ways.
Sunday, Cap took the boys to the party at Felicia's and Anna and the kids came over. Anna drove down alone and we had a few hours together before André brought the kids over via bus form the city. It was great to see all of them, it was even okay to see André. It still makes me sad to think of how much I adored and felt a connection to him and have it be obliterated.
Yesterday Barb, the kids and I went to my favorite local diner which was fun. B grew up around here and they really don't make diners like this out on the west coast. We stopped into Whole Foods and Staples on the way home for some supplies: prosciutto for me, white paper for the kids (we make them reuse the back sides of paper for their drawing, but their output is huge).
We only took a few pics during our visit...it happens when there's so much fun and activity. The pic of B and me was shot by Kinder.
Woven throughout the last week plus has been increasing sleep deprivation as the Red Sox advanced to the World Series and then won it, Sunday night. Many of the games kept me up till 1:00 am and I am tired! Go Sox :-)
This morning, I finally sat down with the kids to play The Secret Door, B's gift to them. It was a fun cooperative game. The kids are fed (latke sandwiches, the de rigeur leftover breakfast after a dinner of latkes---they're not just for Chanukah around here :-), Danielle just dropped off a crucial piece for First's costume that she found for us in Sear's yesterday (thank you thank you), and Cap is about to sit with the kids for some table time.
I need to get dressed and face the music. First's costume needs to be tackled and if we're getting a pumpkin for him, it needs to be today (or tomorrow, I guess). As it is, Kinder's pumpkin has yet to be carved.
Big sigh, back to reality, serenity now!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The spirit of Dora lives
Kinder and I just had a surreal experience that made us laugh.
It is warm and wet today so all the windows are open. We were in the front room which faces the street that the high school is also located on, two blocks away. Beginning around 10:30 on weekdays, there is a fairly steady stream of foot traffic on our street. Students walking past our house on their way to or from getting something for lunch. We have a few bagel and pizza places a stone's throw from here.
Well, a few minutes ago, we were serenaded by a bunch of teenaged boys singing the Dora the Explorer theme song at the top of their lungs as they walked back to school. We didn't recognize the song immediately, but it dawned on us at the same time what the increasingly familiar tune was.
Sigh. It was both hilarious and lingeringly poignant.
It is warm and wet today so all the windows are open. We were in the front room which faces the street that the high school is also located on, two blocks away. Beginning around 10:30 on weekdays, there is a fairly steady stream of foot traffic on our street. Students walking past our house on their way to or from getting something for lunch. We have a few bagel and pizza places a stone's throw from here.
Well, a few minutes ago, we were serenaded by a bunch of teenaged boys singing the Dora the Explorer theme song at the top of their lungs as they walked back to school. We didn't recognize the song immediately, but it dawned on us at the same time what the increasingly familiar tune was.
Sigh. It was both hilarious and lingeringly poignant.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Tagged
Tagged by Holly, here are eight things about me...maybe there will be some surprises.
1. I've played air guitar in the last 48 hours (to Matt Pond PA in the kitchen).
2. The first conversation I remember having with Cap was on his freshman hall (right under mine). He commented on my True West t-shirt. I was a big fan of Sam Shepard's in high school and the shirt was bought when I saw an off-Broadway production of his play, True West, starring Dennis and Randy Quaid as brothers. Cap and I were probably nineteen and eighteen. We were friends through our four years of college and didn't begin "dating" until two years after graduating.
3. I've baked two GFCF apple cakes in the last 24 hours. It's a great recipe from "Living Without" magazine. We have apples coming out of our ears. The second one came out particularly delectable.
4. I used to have a recurring nightmare as a kid. It involved a white picket fence, but was tense, suspenseful and kind of scary. I was being followed, but perhaps not pursued. It was never clear. There was also a big, fleshy, thing, that looked like the insides of a human and I always associated with a heart. But, the white picket fence would always, eventually appear and I would walk along next to it. The dream stayed with me for years, but I stopped having it sometime during adolescence.
5. The kids and I watched an Iron Chef episode the other day. They now know what arctic char is. I love that show. I really like the Food Network channel in general, especially Alton Brown. I also like other reality-based shows. I love The Amazing Race, and am currently hooked on America's Next Top Model (the contestant with Asperger's Syndrome drew me in initially) and Survivor: China. Wouldn't be happening without the dvr, but there you have it.
6. As a young girl, I loved the books: A Little Princess, the series of All-Of-A-Kind Family books and the series of Little House books. I was an avid reader until I had kids.
7. I love the ocean in winter. I imagine retiring to a home by the sea and I think a big draw for me is to be able to spend time sea-side year-round. I also love the wind and being amongst towering trees.
8. Something else I used to do more of before having kids is travel. Travel for pleasure is now something inconceivable (because of cost), but I hope that in five years or so this will change. I'd like to travel with them, but I guess I'd also like to travel on my own, and with Cap, too.
Now, how does this work, am I supposed to tag someone else?
1. I've played air guitar in the last 48 hours (to Matt Pond PA in the kitchen).
2. The first conversation I remember having with Cap was on his freshman hall (right under mine). He commented on my True West t-shirt. I was a big fan of Sam Shepard's in high school and the shirt was bought when I saw an off-Broadway production of his play, True West, starring Dennis and Randy Quaid as brothers. Cap and I were probably nineteen and eighteen. We were friends through our four years of college and didn't begin "dating" until two years after graduating.
3. I've baked two GFCF apple cakes in the last 24 hours. It's a great recipe from "Living Without" magazine. We have apples coming out of our ears. The second one came out particularly delectable.
4. I used to have a recurring nightmare as a kid. It involved a white picket fence, but was tense, suspenseful and kind of scary. I was being followed, but perhaps not pursued. It was never clear. There was also a big, fleshy, thing, that looked like the insides of a human and I always associated with a heart. But, the white picket fence would always, eventually appear and I would walk along next to it. The dream stayed with me for years, but I stopped having it sometime during adolescence.
5. The kids and I watched an Iron Chef episode the other day. They now know what arctic char is. I love that show. I really like the Food Network channel in general, especially Alton Brown. I also like other reality-based shows. I love The Amazing Race, and am currently hooked on America's Next Top Model (the contestant with Asperger's Syndrome drew me in initially) and Survivor: China. Wouldn't be happening without the dvr, but there you have it.
6. As a young girl, I loved the books: A Little Princess, the series of All-Of-A-Kind Family books and the series of Little House books. I was an avid reader until I had kids.
7. I love the ocean in winter. I imagine retiring to a home by the sea and I think a big draw for me is to be able to spend time sea-side year-round. I also love the wind and being amongst towering trees.
8. Something else I used to do more of before having kids is travel. Travel for pleasure is now something inconceivable (because of cost), but I hope that in five years or so this will change. I'd like to travel with them, but I guess I'd also like to travel on my own, and with Cap, too.
Now, how does this work, am I supposed to tag someone else?
Day trip
Yesterday the kids and I took a day trip north and west and met the Fiber Arts crew for apple and pumpkin picking. Our goal was for First to pick a pumpkin from a patch. The drive was beautiful, the foliage finally reminiscent of my memories. We drove just over an hour.
The pictures were taken before it all went wrong... I failed to pack enough to drink and it turned into a hot afternoon. There was little shade and the kids' cheeks turned pink early as they ran through the corn maze with their comrades.
I had thought about hats and figured it was late enough in the season and they wouldn't need them. I was wrong. But, that's what happens when I'm clutching various items and slinging a few bags and fiddling with my keys to get doors locked. The kids take off once they've gotten their shoes on and dash down to the swings out back.
So, they were hot and thirsty when we finally began the climb into the orchard. The kids and I were all exercising patience at this point because we were not there to pick apples. Of course, we enjoyed nibbles here and there (I had a scrumptious Fuji).
Then, Kinder started freaking out, no, FREAKING OUT, saying that something was hurting him as he jumped about, screaming in terror, grabbing at his pants. All I could think was that there was a bee in there getting more and more pissed at all the commotion, trapped and stinging away.
Luckily, it wasn't a bee. It was a bunch of prickles that he must have picked up as he tromped through the trees with Malik and his friends. Malik is a wonderful boy we've met through Fiber Arts who Kinder adores.
Nathalie, a new mom I met, helped me pluck out every offending fiber from the inside of Kinder's sweatpants. He was so traumatized that he wanted me to pick him up and carry him out of the orchard which I simply could not do. He is rapidly approaching 50 lbs. By this point, both my guys were grumpy and I led them out of the stand of trees.
As soon as we were back to the open field next to the orchard, First literally collapsed onto the ground. He was tired and thirsty. I wanted to go get our car which I had left by the farm market and bring it over to the orchard to drive it up to the pumpkin patch which was up and beyoned the apples.
I should have known when First said he'd rather wait for me there, alone, that something was wrong with him. But, I was somewhat harried by then... I called Kelly on her cell and told her that I was leaving First at the edge of the orchard and she said they were starting to walk back out to have a picnic, so I left him there, after directing him into a patch of shade, telling him the rest of the group would be there in a few minutes.
Kinder and I hiked back to our car. I went to the bathroom and then we bought some water and cider. We drove back to the group and I was glad to see First up and with the kids who were kicking a soccer ball around.
But then, Kinder said he wanted to stay in the car and First climbed in through an open window because he couldn't get into the car fast enough. They ensconced themselves in their car seats. I wanted to sit and eat with the group so I left them in the car with snacks and all the windows down. The cars were parked right on the grass of the field where we were picnicking.
After about fifteen mintues, Kinder called out for me and when I got to the car, First was nearly in tears saying he wanted to go home. I immediately realized that he was feeling awful. So, we abandoned our plans of pumpkin picking and decided to go home.
We drove back up to the market to use the bathroom and then took off. First threw up twice during the ride back, the poor guy. He took it all in stride and after the first time, I covered him in a blanket. He'd leaned over enough to throw up on the floor of the car instead of all over himself. There was barely any vomit on his clothes when we got home. This was a pleasant surprise for me.
Once home he threw up three or four more times even though there was nothing left in his system by then. I set up a plastic tub and some towels in the big bed and he slept fitfully until about ten when he finally stopped throwing up.
Cap and Kinder slept in the kids' room and I slept with First. He was burning up around 3 am and I got up and tended to him with a cold washcloth to his forehead for about 30 minutes. This seemed to help as he fell back into a deeper sleep. I remembered my mom doing the same for me...
I was up for a couple of hours because Kinder came in before I fell back asleep and it is hard for me to fall asleep once I'm sandwiched between the two kids. I finally crawled to the foot of the bed and curled up and slept there.
This morning, First is keeping his water and banana down. He doesn't feel feverish anymore and is quietly and alertly resting in the big bed. I managed to get the kids appointments with Vinny for this afternoon which I'm happy about.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Saturday 7:30 am
Out of one of the front windows I can see a tree across the street starting to turn red around the edges. So beautiful.
It was rainy and windy last night 'round midnight. I crept about the apartment closing windows wending my way around a new arrangement of furniture. Cap moved the computer out into the front room which is our living/dining room.
The kids use the computer every day, they have a 15 minute time limit which works out well for now. They have favorite websites bookmarked (they are not allowed to surf) and a kitchen timer they know how to use so are pretty independent. They mostly spend their time at Ben 10 sites, Noggin, Nick Jr. and PBS Kids. Occasionally they'll check out the money sites (the presidential dollars and state quarters) or Magic Treehouse site.
The front room has clearly become our daytime domain and it made a lot of sense to move the computer out here. I think eventually it will become more of a learning resource and proximity to our work space (the dining table) will be beneficial.
Taking the computer (and its little table and printer and printer stand, our old night table) out of the big bedroom will also facilitate the further transformation of that room into more of a haven for Cap and me.
It's his primary work/reading space and now there will be enough room for us to stretch in there.
We also decided to try out using the apartment door that opens into the front room as our main entry and exit. We have two apartment doors, one at each end of the apartment (I like to call our place doughnut shaped---our four rooms are arranged in a circle and you can, actually you have to, literally travel from one room to another in a circle, no hallways. The front room and the back room---the kitchen---are connected by doors which open into the common second floor hallway which is the landing between the first and third floors of the house. When we have people over, especially if there's food involved, we open both doors and use the common hallway as our own personal hallway between the kitchen and dining table in the front room, it's a straight shot, rather than going around through our bedroom (the big bedroom called that because our bed is the big bed). As in front room, our room, kitchen. If you went the other way it would be front room, kids' room, bathroom, kitchen.
So, we moved our shoe shelves into the vestibule space in the front room which has much better access to the coat closet (our bedroom closet) and the chest containing our winter hats, scarves, gloves, etc.
Where the shoe shelves were before, a cd shelf and book shelf now reside. That door will now be used only when we have groceries to pop right into the kitchen. The back door is the one you come to first as you come up the stairs from the first floor, so now our trip into the apartment will be a bit longer. It may feel counterintuitive for awhile.
I woke up this morning with some mild stomach burning for the first time in about a week. I was a bit chagrined, I like waking up free of that. But, last night I could feel some tightness. Yesterday had some stressful moments and the half an eggplant sub for dinner probably didn't help things (Friday night is pizza/sushi/family movie night.)
I have noticed that my portions continue to remain much smaller. I often feel full after the smaller amount of food and I am more often feeling hungry, which still fills me with wonder because it's such a new experience for me. Yesterday, with the summer-like humidity, I impulsively pulled on my orange pants and was surprised that I could actually close them. This means I've lost about an inch off my waistline the past few weeks.
I got Cap to come to bed to talk to me while I fell asleep last night and the happy by-product was that he ended up falling asleep before me. Our sleep schedules have always been different. For a long time, my work schedule meant that I was asleep by ten and up by six. Nowadays, things aren't much different, but I still do better with eight hours of sleep and try to be in bed by eleven.
Cap is a night owl. Once he started having a more traditional work schedule, in Sacramento, he started working on going to be earlier, but for him this meant by midnight rather than one or two or three.
So, we've never had the kind of night time routines I see people have on tv (and I imagine they do in "real" life). Brushing your teeth together already in your pajamas, climbing into bed together, reading side by side in bed, talking about your days in the dark, whispering, giggling, snuggling playfully...
The air wafting in from outside feels cool, almost cold right now. The sun is lighting up patches of trees and I feel good!
Today Kinder has soccer in a couple of hours, we have Anna's birthday party in the afternoon and then we're off to Manhattan to see my family. Jiji (my dad) is in town for less than 24 hours and we love to see him when we can. Sandy (my sister) is working in Flushing today (the Chinatown of Queens) and will be bringing over shumai and pork buns, mmmmmmm. Cap's baking an apple pie if he has time (if not I'll bake an apple cake) with some of the apples we picked last week.
And tomorrow, Norb (Danielle's husband) has graciously agreed to babysit the kids so that we can go out. I'm taking my hubby out to a movie and a meal. Probably The Darjeeling Limited (there's a special place in my heart for Owen Wilson circa Bottle Rocket and I'm a fan of Wes Anderson's work) and the vegetarian Indian place downtown. That was unintentional, Indian food paired with a movie set and shot in India.
It was rainy and windy last night 'round midnight. I crept about the apartment closing windows wending my way around a new arrangement of furniture. Cap moved the computer out into the front room which is our living/dining room.
The kids use the computer every day, they have a 15 minute time limit which works out well for now. They have favorite websites bookmarked (they are not allowed to surf) and a kitchen timer they know how to use so are pretty independent. They mostly spend their time at Ben 10 sites, Noggin, Nick Jr. and PBS Kids. Occasionally they'll check out the money sites (the presidential dollars and state quarters) or Magic Treehouse site.
The front room has clearly become our daytime domain and it made a lot of sense to move the computer out here. I think eventually it will become more of a learning resource and proximity to our work space (the dining table) will be beneficial.
Taking the computer (and its little table and printer and printer stand, our old night table) out of the big bedroom will also facilitate the further transformation of that room into more of a haven for Cap and me.
It's his primary work/reading space and now there will be enough room for us to stretch in there.
We also decided to try out using the apartment door that opens into the front room as our main entry and exit. We have two apartment doors, one at each end of the apartment (I like to call our place doughnut shaped---our four rooms are arranged in a circle and you can, actually you have to, literally travel from one room to another in a circle, no hallways. The front room and the back room---the kitchen---are connected by doors which open into the common second floor hallway which is the landing between the first and third floors of the house. When we have people over, especially if there's food involved, we open both doors and use the common hallway as our own personal hallway between the kitchen and dining table in the front room, it's a straight shot, rather than going around through our bedroom (the big bedroom called that because our bed is the big bed). As in front room, our room, kitchen. If you went the other way it would be front room, kids' room, bathroom, kitchen.
So, we moved our shoe shelves into the vestibule space in the front room which has much better access to the coat closet (our bedroom closet) and the chest containing our winter hats, scarves, gloves, etc.
Where the shoe shelves were before, a cd shelf and book shelf now reside. That door will now be used only when we have groceries to pop right into the kitchen. The back door is the one you come to first as you come up the stairs from the first floor, so now our trip into the apartment will be a bit longer. It may feel counterintuitive for awhile.
I woke up this morning with some mild stomach burning for the first time in about a week. I was a bit chagrined, I like waking up free of that. But, last night I could feel some tightness. Yesterday had some stressful moments and the half an eggplant sub for dinner probably didn't help things (Friday night is pizza/sushi/family movie night.)
I have noticed that my portions continue to remain much smaller. I often feel full after the smaller amount of food and I am more often feeling hungry, which still fills me with wonder because it's such a new experience for me. Yesterday, with the summer-like humidity, I impulsively pulled on my orange pants and was surprised that I could actually close them. This means I've lost about an inch off my waistline the past few weeks.
I got Cap to come to bed to talk to me while I fell asleep last night and the happy by-product was that he ended up falling asleep before me. Our sleep schedules have always been different. For a long time, my work schedule meant that I was asleep by ten and up by six. Nowadays, things aren't much different, but I still do better with eight hours of sleep and try to be in bed by eleven.
Cap is a night owl. Once he started having a more traditional work schedule, in Sacramento, he started working on going to be earlier, but for him this meant by midnight rather than one or two or three.
So, we've never had the kind of night time routines I see people have on tv (and I imagine they do in "real" life). Brushing your teeth together already in your pajamas, climbing into bed together, reading side by side in bed, talking about your days in the dark, whispering, giggling, snuggling playfully...
The air wafting in from outside feels cool, almost cold right now. The sun is lighting up patches of trees and I feel good!
Today Kinder has soccer in a couple of hours, we have Anna's birthday party in the afternoon and then we're off to Manhattan to see my family. Jiji (my dad) is in town for less than 24 hours and we love to see him when we can. Sandy (my sister) is working in Flushing today (the Chinatown of Queens) and will be bringing over shumai and pork buns, mmmmmmm. Cap's baking an apple pie if he has time (if not I'll bake an apple cake) with some of the apples we picked last week.
And tomorrow, Norb (Danielle's husband) has graciously agreed to babysit the kids so that we can go out. I'm taking my hubby out to a movie and a meal. Probably The Darjeeling Limited (there's a special place in my heart for Owen Wilson circa Bottle Rocket and I'm a fan of Wes Anderson's work) and the vegetarian Indian place downtown. That was unintentional, Indian food paired with a movie set and shot in India.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Finnish delight
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/16/parentchild-dancing.html
Check it out, from the folks who brought us Moomintroll and Cap :-)
Check it out, from the folks who brought us Moomintroll and Cap :-)
Inspiration
Some of the things I am drawing inspiration from this week:
• Last Light, Matt Pond PA's new cd.
• This blog written by a homeschooling mom who has spent much of the past few years healing her family through "everything-free" food:
http://everythingfreeeating.blogspot.com/
• Brotherhood, a series on Showitme which is a cross between The Wire and The Sopranos.
• Shortcomings, the new graphic novel by Adrian Tomine.
• Holly's blogs.
• A mug of decaf organic earl grey in the morning, a mug of fresh ginger and lemon at night, both hot, both with the amazing and expensive local honey. (I am thinking I need to cut out the middle man if possible...)
Some things I want to be more inspired by/be inspirational in doing:
• my relationship with my man
• my relationship with homeschooling
• cooking with the farm vegetables
• Last Light, Matt Pond PA's new cd.
• This blog written by a homeschooling mom who has spent much of the past few years healing her family through "everything-free" food:
http://everythingfreeeating.blogspot.com/
• Brotherhood, a series on Showitme which is a cross between The Wire and The Sopranos.
• Shortcomings, the new graphic novel by Adrian Tomine.
• Holly's blogs.
• A mug of decaf organic earl grey in the morning, a mug of fresh ginger and lemon at night, both hot, both with the amazing and expensive local honey. (I am thinking I need to cut out the middle man if possible...)
Some things I want to be more inspired by/be inspirational in doing:
• my relationship with my man
• my relationship with homeschooling
• cooking with the farm vegetables
Stuck in the middle with me
Maybe it's the humidity. After some fall crispness a warm and humid front has descended. I need to remember to talk to the Chinese docs about this persistent relationship between humidity and my disappearing energy.
Confession: my kids have become ardent fans of "AFV" (America's Funniest Home Videos).
The Choice organic decaf earl grey tea I sip in the morning with a dollop of my fave local honey soothes and awakens. Bergamot suits me, I think.
My regimen of Chinese herbs have improved my energy and I'm having a peach of a period. (No pms, a wild cleansing of my GI tract, sleepiness and sleep, no honkin' clots.) It's been about three months since I started.
But, after the busy-ness of last week, this week I feel sluggish. I knit, I play with the kids, I cook, but then in between, I'm a lump.
Maybe it's the rebooting of my cycle.
Maybe it's the downside of actually feeling better in some ways.
Maybe it's the humidity.
Confession: my kids have become ardent fans of "AFV" (America's Funniest Home Videos).
The Choice organic decaf earl grey tea I sip in the morning with a dollop of my fave local honey soothes and awakens. Bergamot suits me, I think.
My regimen of Chinese herbs have improved my energy and I'm having a peach of a period. (No pms, a wild cleansing of my GI tract, sleepiness and sleep, no honkin' clots.) It's been about three months since I started.
But, after the busy-ness of last week, this week I feel sluggish. I knit, I play with the kids, I cook, but then in between, I'm a lump.
Maybe it's the rebooting of my cycle.
Maybe it's the downside of actually feeling better in some ways.
Maybe it's the humidity.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Apple picking
We went upstate to go apple picking this weekend. Last year's outing was fun, but not familiar. This year, I wanted the drive up to the Catskills and soak in the fall foliage, the stuff of my childhood.
My sister, Mike and my mom met us at a great orchard. Nothing fancy (no HAY RIDES! no CORN MAZES! no TONS of STUFF to BUY!) and in fact when we got there, it was cloudy, chilly, and so quiet and dilapidated in appearance that I wondered if we were wandering into a Stephen King story :-)
We picked Cortlands, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and are pretty sure we got some Winesaps in there, too. I had no idea that Red Delicious apples, picked fresh off a tree taste almost like a completely different apple. Absolutely...delicious! This orchard used to be organic, but is now a low spray one. I think they might be amongst the cadre of small farmers who are fed up with/can't economically deal with the increasing cost and bureaucracy of being certified organic.
We met this fuzzy critter on our way out of the orchard. The kids and I could have spent the rest of the afternoon with him. He was very interested in moving along, not interested in half eaten apple cores...
We drove to a nearby college town to a park that Sandy and Mike knew about. They love this region and come up often to hike, lunch and stroll. We had a typical family picnic with tons of yummy food: various onigiri (rice balls), a cold rice pasta with zucchini and tomato, chicken hotdogs, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, tamagoyaki (Kinder's favorite kind of eggs), and chips.
The kids played with various permutations of adults, it was a gorgeous autumn afternoon.
And the cherry on top was getting to see Ben after nearly ten years of not. He is now teaching at this univerity and he joined us for lunch and play. He took us on a tour of campus and we spent a few hours catching up and soaking each other in again.
Lovely.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Soccer
So, amongst the flurry of activities, Kinder announced that he did not want to ice skate this fall (my idea---Cap's uni has a rink with homeschooler classes), but wanted to play soccer instead. It was the first time he had ever expressed an interest and I was surprised, to say the least.
On Saturday morning, we drove around the south end of town looking for the field. It's weird, but lately, I've been winging it more when going to new places. For some reason, the days of printing out the Mapquest/Google maps directions are becoming more and more infrequent. Maybe it's passing the year mark of living here.
We finally found it and Kinder ran right out to join Silke and Roger's group (this program for 4-6 year olds is coached entirely by volunteers). I ended up hanging out with First, Kelly, Lila and Pippa (Cap joined the soccer players when Silke and Roger called out for parent helpers) at the playground on the edge of the field and watching Kinder from afar.
After about the half hour mark, I kept glancing over not knowing when the class was over. It turned out ot be an hour long and my historically stamina-less child, the one who lets out long and loud complaints whenever having to walk more than ten minutes, the one who last winter in the midst of the best snow play ever in the backyard with Elsa and Tobias plopped himself down into a snow bank after ten minutes and watched for the next twenty, the one who has, on occasion, felt chest pain and shortness of breath after bursts of running---he played soccer for an hour, running, kicking, dribbling, listening and following to directions successfully---and was fine!
Big, big surprise. A happy one. Things are starting to change in him as he approaches his sixth birthday.
Draft to post
Just learned that when a draft becomes a post, it is posted under the date of the original draft. So, don't miss the new post on "Superheroes" which comes before the knitting post even though I finished it after....
A return to knitting
The swift arrival of chilly and damp weather has brought with it a return to knitting.
After my haircut the other day I had a rare few mintes to myself while out and so went to the fair trade tea and gift shop across the street from the hair salon. I picked up some local honey, one of my must-have culinary and health items, and found a birthday gift for Danielle which was perfect: a whimsical marriage of form and function that I thought she would really appreciate (she did). I wish I had taken a picture, it was a wooden stand in the shape of a nose and mouth designed so that when you rest your eyeglasses on them, they complete the "face".
I noticed that the yarn shop a few doors down was having a retirement sale and was lured in. I'd been thinking I wanted to knit Cap a scarf and so needed some new yarn. I found some great wool skeins, for him, and for me or someone else. I had forgotten how expensive yarn is...I hadn't bought any since a few seasons ago in Sac when I knitted a bunch of wonderful Christmas scarves for the children in our life.
It's been wonderful knitting again. Time for myself where I am zen. I've noticed that I am more relaxed while knitting than I used to be. Despite this, some may notice that the scarf is tightening as I go along, a habit which I'd like to break at some point.
I'm trying a new stitch, the seed stitch. As it turns out, the yarn I am using is not ideal to showcase the stitch because it changes color and texture (the yarn is not uniform in thickness) and it's difficult to see the pattern of the stitch. But, it knits a flat piece, which I wanted, and I don't like the garter on both sides look.
I was delighted when First said he wanted to help make the second ball of yarn (he had watched me do the first ball out of the corner of his eye a couple of days earlier). He wound the yarn around the back of a chair as I unwound the skein and then he rolled the yarn into a ball. For anyone keeping track, great fine motor and eye-hand coordinating exercises. A practical art building up to his first knitting project which will probably begin this winter.
These pics were taken by Kinder.
After my haircut the other day I had a rare few mintes to myself while out and so went to the fair trade tea and gift shop across the street from the hair salon. I picked up some local honey, one of my must-have culinary and health items, and found a birthday gift for Danielle which was perfect: a whimsical marriage of form and function that I thought she would really appreciate (she did). I wish I had taken a picture, it was a wooden stand in the shape of a nose and mouth designed so that when you rest your eyeglasses on them, they complete the "face".
I noticed that the yarn shop a few doors down was having a retirement sale and was lured in. I'd been thinking I wanted to knit Cap a scarf and so needed some new yarn. I found some great wool skeins, for him, and for me or someone else. I had forgotten how expensive yarn is...I hadn't bought any since a few seasons ago in Sac when I knitted a bunch of wonderful Christmas scarves for the children in our life.
It's been wonderful knitting again. Time for myself where I am zen. I've noticed that I am more relaxed while knitting than I used to be. Despite this, some may notice that the scarf is tightening as I go along, a habit which I'd like to break at some point.
I'm trying a new stitch, the seed stitch. As it turns out, the yarn I am using is not ideal to showcase the stitch because it changes color and texture (the yarn is not uniform in thickness) and it's difficult to see the pattern of the stitch. But, it knits a flat piece, which I wanted, and I don't like the garter on both sides look.
I was delighted when First said he wanted to help make the second ball of yarn (he had watched me do the first ball out of the corner of his eye a couple of days earlier). He wound the yarn around the back of a chair as I unwound the skein and then he rolled the yarn into a ball. For anyone keeping track, great fine motor and eye-hand coordinating exercises. A practical art building up to his first knitting project which will probably begin this winter.
These pics were taken by Kinder.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Superheroes
The boys went to a homeschool day at our local art museum yesterday.
Comic books and super hero lore have been a vivid facet of Kinder and First's lives for the better part of a year. They were in Cap's childhood and adolescence, too, and it was serendipitous that he could take them to this one off session centered on the museum's current "Superheroes and Superheroines" exhibit.
They did a gallery walk and then worked on art projects creating and developing their own super heroes/heroines. They worked on cover art (the piece at the top done by Kinder, a picture that spans what would be the front and back covers of a book) and capes with painted logos (below, photographed by Kinder).
Their superhero charcaters were: Writeman (First) and Superdraw (Kinder).
Superdraw's power is the power to draw things in the air which than take actual form and matter thwarting the plans of villains.
Writeman's power is that when he looks into someone's eyes they know what they want to write, if they want to write something.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
New 'do
My hair guy came through today. It's not quite as short as I'd envisioned, but I think his advice/instinct was good and I'm happy with the cut. (It was hard to get a good shot of the whole 'do with Kinder vying for frame space :-)
Our high elevation walker
First likes to walk at the highest points in a room. He much prefers solid, hard surfaces to soft, cushy ones. Chairs, tables, desks, stools, headboards, footboards (is that what they're called?), dressers...
I actually like this about him. It's unique. His agility seems so natural, such an animal state, and is beautiful to watch. And for a kid who is "in his head" much of the time, it's a welcome break for this mom to see him in a "zone", where he is not thinking so much. It looks kind of therapeutic.
I guess I thought he would grow out of it, but he hasn't, at all. At seven, his body has become long and pre-gangly. I wish I could build him bars and ledges, taking full advantage of our high ceilings. Because, not surprisingly, he doesn't do this high places walking anywhere other than in our home.
I actually like this about him. It's unique. His agility seems so natural, such an animal state, and is beautiful to watch. And for a kid who is "in his head" much of the time, it's a welcome break for this mom to see him in a "zone", where he is not thinking so much. It looks kind of therapeutic.
I guess I thought he would grow out of it, but he hasn't, at all. At seven, his body has become long and pre-gangly. I wish I could build him bars and ledges, taking full advantage of our high ceilings. Because, not surprisingly, he doesn't do this high places walking anywhere other than in our home.
Introvert
Some strands coming together.
Jamie began things by talking to me about some books she'd read about introverts (months ago). From these conversations, I started to think about my introvert tendencies, as well as, First's.
Then there was Fiber Arts on Monday and our co-op meal last night.
FA felt, for the most part, chaotic to me. The kids were having a blast and were very energetic running in, out and around the house. Kelly's house is fantastic for this. It's an old, roomy house where all the rooms have two ways to exit and enter (great for running through). Their yard is a masterpiece, really, with three levels, two slides, an in-ground dipping pool, nooks and crannies, sloping and flat surfaces, and lots of green.
My kids were happy to play, like last week, but I could feel my energy, which was low to start with post-weekend, begin to drain almost immediately. It may have unfolded differently had I had a project to plunge into, but with all the busy-ness lately, I haven't gotten anything organized. (The kids' Halloween costumes and a knitting project are on my mental radar.)
The co-op meal felt very different to me last night, in large part, I think, because I was a guest and not a host. There were times during the meal that I could feel a familiar "freezing up" feeling followed by a detaching of my mind from my body. Exactly the kind of thing I would feel at parties back when I used to go to parties.
I struggled to stay put, there were six of us around a table and I wanted to just "be" with them. I forced myself to interject comments and even found myself telling some stories, but awkwardly, almost blundering, not fluid.
I realize that hosting gatherings, which I love to do, provides me with a way to be social without having to be "extroverted". All the cooking, fussing about, keeping an eye on things, keep me involved and cuts down on the amount of time I need to "small talk".
There's a down side, too, which is when I am hosting people with who I'm already close to. Then I often feel I've been cheated out of "quality" time because all I was able to do was make the equivalent of "small talk". I often feel this way when I get together with family.
Then this morning, on one of my Yahoo groups, I read some posts about introvert parents who are homeschooling, and their tips, stories, insights. It was an interesting and timely conversation.
And all of this has kind of settled into my head, reminding me that I'm an introvert.
I forget this because I am also very interpersonal. Once I connect with someone and become friends with them (which requires some one-on-one time...usually not a lot, I am quick to fall in love), I place a high value on spending time with them. Because we've moved so much in the last half dozen years, I've had to forego a lot of this because there simply isn't enough time in my days to talk to everyone I'd like to on the phone.
What I have found is that this doesn't matter in maintaining my friendships. More often than not, I will see someone who I haven't seen in a year or more and we can just fall into the intimate and warm communion that I remember. Literally, it's like we've jumped the space and time continuum.
We've been quite busy the past few weeks. Kinder is an extrovert and he has been showing me this fall that he is ready and wanting to do more outside of the house, outside of our core.
Fiber Arts, art class, co-op dinner, drum and movement, soccer, swimming, our schedule now includes planned activity every day of the week except Thursdays and Sundays.
Every weekend between now and Christmas has a planned activity.
Something else to keep in mind as autumn deepens. In order to create and maintain a good energy for myself, I need to be more vigilant about protecting my time alone... doing something other than watching tv!
Jamie began things by talking to me about some books she'd read about introverts (months ago). From these conversations, I started to think about my introvert tendencies, as well as, First's.
Then there was Fiber Arts on Monday and our co-op meal last night.
FA felt, for the most part, chaotic to me. The kids were having a blast and were very energetic running in, out and around the house. Kelly's house is fantastic for this. It's an old, roomy house where all the rooms have two ways to exit and enter (great for running through). Their yard is a masterpiece, really, with three levels, two slides, an in-ground dipping pool, nooks and crannies, sloping and flat surfaces, and lots of green.
My kids were happy to play, like last week, but I could feel my energy, which was low to start with post-weekend, begin to drain almost immediately. It may have unfolded differently had I had a project to plunge into, but with all the busy-ness lately, I haven't gotten anything organized. (The kids' Halloween costumes and a knitting project are on my mental radar.)
The co-op meal felt very different to me last night, in large part, I think, because I was a guest and not a host. There were times during the meal that I could feel a familiar "freezing up" feeling followed by a detaching of my mind from my body. Exactly the kind of thing I would feel at parties back when I used to go to parties.
I struggled to stay put, there were six of us around a table and I wanted to just "be" with them. I forced myself to interject comments and even found myself telling some stories, but awkwardly, almost blundering, not fluid.
I realize that hosting gatherings, which I love to do, provides me with a way to be social without having to be "extroverted". All the cooking, fussing about, keeping an eye on things, keep me involved and cuts down on the amount of time I need to "small talk".
There's a down side, too, which is when I am hosting people with who I'm already close to. Then I often feel I've been cheated out of "quality" time because all I was able to do was make the equivalent of "small talk". I often feel this way when I get together with family.
Then this morning, on one of my Yahoo groups, I read some posts about introvert parents who are homeschooling, and their tips, stories, insights. It was an interesting and timely conversation.
And all of this has kind of settled into my head, reminding me that I'm an introvert.
I forget this because I am also very interpersonal. Once I connect with someone and become friends with them (which requires some one-on-one time...usually not a lot, I am quick to fall in love), I place a high value on spending time with them. Because we've moved so much in the last half dozen years, I've had to forego a lot of this because there simply isn't enough time in my days to talk to everyone I'd like to on the phone.
What I have found is that this doesn't matter in maintaining my friendships. More often than not, I will see someone who I haven't seen in a year or more and we can just fall into the intimate and warm communion that I remember. Literally, it's like we've jumped the space and time continuum.
We've been quite busy the past few weeks. Kinder is an extrovert and he has been showing me this fall that he is ready and wanting to do more outside of the house, outside of our core.
Fiber Arts, art class, co-op dinner, drum and movement, soccer, swimming, our schedule now includes planned activity every day of the week except Thursdays and Sundays.
Every weekend between now and Christmas has a planned activity.
Something else to keep in mind as autumn deepens. In order to create and maintain a good energy for myself, I need to be more vigilant about protecting my time alone... doing something other than watching tv!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Massachusetts
Another trip to MA under our belt. Part of me feels like I have an internal countdown, noting that each trip we take there is taking us closer and closer to being back there. Particularly when we go to Boston, something knocks around in my soul as we make the approach on the Pike, and Newton and then Brighton comes into view.
On our way up to MA, we stopped in to see Anna and got a tour of her new place in CT. I was surprised by the tinge of longing I got for single family home living. It's a great space.
We spent a few hours Friday in JP meeting our new nephew, Theo, and hanging out. We took the kids to a playground behind El's house in the hopes of catching her as she got out of school (she couldn't meet up, but we ended up seeing her Sunday). It was a summery day.
Then we drove down to Karen and Brent's. Cap went on to his dad's to get some work done, the poor guy was seriously behind the eight ball on a particular project. The boys spent a lot of time digging and building with Will on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They worked on a cinderblock fort way in the back of the yard and in the dirt circle closer to the house.
Here's a pic First took of the trench shortly before we left on Sunday morning (originally three holoes dug individually, which were subsequently connected).
And here are the happy diggers in their trench.
If I could bottle the feeling I had, bursting joy, peace and wonder, as I watched Kinder and Will at 7 am Sunday morning, them down by their holes, me on the deck, the wind blowing vigorously, the giant pines and their comrades swaying and rocking, the sky gray, the air full of early sutumn chill and microscopic droplets of moisture... oh, oh, oh, my kind of moment.
We spent part of Saturday at Jake and Evie's. Nancy, Alexandra and Cecilia (Cap's aunt, cousin, and Kinder and First's second cousin) stopped by on their way back from an outing down the road to ride the trains. The hens were out, Pops plucked loads of raspberries off the bush which the kids could not gulp down fast enough and then we all took a tromp through the woods that stand at the back of their property.
After saying our good-byes to Karen and crew (always bittersweet) we drove back to Boston on Sunday. We stopped into a Finnish bakery near Jay and Aim's and Cap chose a blueberry-walnut coffeecake to bring over.
We had a nice visit with Amy's parents who were also there. I got to hold Theo again and the kids played nicely together. Cap got to watch the Pats, it was a nice Sunday afternoon with family.
Jay and I took the kids to the playground and El was able to meet us, which was nice (Eleanor is a friend who I met when we taught together in an inclusion program for kids on the autism spectrum, she was the general ed teacher, I was the special ed teacher---a twist of fate which has resulted in a close and beloved friendship). Jay and I spent some time amusing ourselves creating the story of a very athletic looking woman who was there with her four sons...juvenile, but fun :-)
We headed out of town around 5 pm and ate dinner over at Mike and Julie's after picking up provisions at their local Whole Foods in CT (Mike is Cap's best friend from teenhood). Cam, their son, is such a cool kid, and the kids had a blast playing. Mike and Cap watched the Red Sox highlights and Julie and I looked at the portfolios of the current cast of America's Next Top Model on the CW website, followed by Nathan Fillion's recent appearance on Ellen on YouTube. Fun was had by all.
I wish I had more pics, but the memory stick filled up fast because there was a bunch of old stuff on there (our desktop is SO slow these days I just avoid it at all costs and that's where we store our photos).
On our way up to MA, we stopped in to see Anna and got a tour of her new place in CT. I was surprised by the tinge of longing I got for single family home living. It's a great space.
We spent a few hours Friday in JP meeting our new nephew, Theo, and hanging out. We took the kids to a playground behind El's house in the hopes of catching her as she got out of school (she couldn't meet up, but we ended up seeing her Sunday). It was a summery day.
Then we drove down to Karen and Brent's. Cap went on to his dad's to get some work done, the poor guy was seriously behind the eight ball on a particular project. The boys spent a lot of time digging and building with Will on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They worked on a cinderblock fort way in the back of the yard and in the dirt circle closer to the house.
Here's a pic First took of the trench shortly before we left on Sunday morning (originally three holoes dug individually, which were subsequently connected).
And here are the happy diggers in their trench.
If I could bottle the feeling I had, bursting joy, peace and wonder, as I watched Kinder and Will at 7 am Sunday morning, them down by their holes, me on the deck, the wind blowing vigorously, the giant pines and their comrades swaying and rocking, the sky gray, the air full of early sutumn chill and microscopic droplets of moisture... oh, oh, oh, my kind of moment.
We spent part of Saturday at Jake and Evie's. Nancy, Alexandra and Cecilia (Cap's aunt, cousin, and Kinder and First's second cousin) stopped by on their way back from an outing down the road to ride the trains. The hens were out, Pops plucked loads of raspberries off the bush which the kids could not gulp down fast enough and then we all took a tromp through the woods that stand at the back of their property.
After saying our good-byes to Karen and crew (always bittersweet) we drove back to Boston on Sunday. We stopped into a Finnish bakery near Jay and Aim's and Cap chose a blueberry-walnut coffeecake to bring over.
We had a nice visit with Amy's parents who were also there. I got to hold Theo again and the kids played nicely together. Cap got to watch the Pats, it was a nice Sunday afternoon with family.
Jay and I took the kids to the playground and El was able to meet us, which was nice (Eleanor is a friend who I met when we taught together in an inclusion program for kids on the autism spectrum, she was the general ed teacher, I was the special ed teacher---a twist of fate which has resulted in a close and beloved friendship). Jay and I spent some time amusing ourselves creating the story of a very athletic looking woman who was there with her four sons...juvenile, but fun :-)
We headed out of town around 5 pm and ate dinner over at Mike and Julie's after picking up provisions at their local Whole Foods in CT (Mike is Cap's best friend from teenhood). Cam, their son, is such a cool kid, and the kids had a blast playing. Mike and Cap watched the Red Sox highlights and Julie and I looked at the portfolios of the current cast of America's Next Top Model on the CW website, followed by Nathan Fillion's recent appearance on Ellen on YouTube. Fun was had by all.
I wish I had more pics, but the memory stick filled up fast because there was a bunch of old stuff on there (our desktop is SO slow these days I just avoid it at all costs and that's where we store our photos).
Fedora
I walked in on Kinder playing by himself the other day and this is what he looked like.
I just added a group pic to "Flowing".
Little nemo in slumberland
When we moved here last year, Cap took the kids to a local art museum to see a comic book exhibit. He fell in love with an original sized bound edition of "Little Nemo in Slumberland". I gave it to him (he never would have bought it for himself, good Yankee that he is). Me, I'm with Oscar Wilde, who said, "anyone who lives within their means, suffers from a serious lack of imagination".
Here they are on a recent evening before Kinder and First went off to slumberland themselves.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Video uploaded
It messed a bit with the formatting of the post, but I uploaded a video into "Flowing". Check it out.
First co-op meal
The co-op meal last night was a smashing success. There were six adults and seven kids. The food was devoured, very satisfying for this cook. The kids played harmoniously (at one point the air was full of their voices chanting, "stop the war!") and the grown ups chatted amiably about various topics. There was a balance of getting to know each other and simply hanging out.
Interestingly, First had thought it would be a "homeschoolers" dinner and was surprised there would be schooling families coming over. It wasn't an issue anymore than that, just made him go hmmm :-)
I did end up spending the bulk of the day in the kitchen. My pace is manatee like when cooking. The kids helped make the apple cake which burned ever so slightly on the outside, but on the inside brought me back completely to my mom's apple cake which I loved growing up. The red Thai curry was ridiculously simple. I had forgotten that Cap uses the recipe off the red curry paste jar---love that! The tzatziki was good, but I don't think the yogurt agreed with my stomach. I woke up this morning feeling it. I also made carrot tofu scramble, one of First's favorites, which was a hit with the others, as well.
We did check out the ice arena because we ended up running a book up to Cap that he needed for class. The arena is right on campus. We saw Lucy and it was very invigorating in the cold air watching kids and their grown ups skating. I plan on taking the kids skating next week. Roger said that he may bring Lukas and Anna, as well, which would be nice.
Also, discovered that the little Y has some better family swim times, including an earlier time on Saturdays.
Today will be a stay-at-home day. We're all still in our pajamas. The kids are drawing and I'm about to do some qigong exercises. I'll be doing laundry and packing and getting ready for our weekend in MA. We may see Danielle and the kids this afternoon, but otherwise, should be a very quiet day.
Interestingly, First had thought it would be a "homeschoolers" dinner and was surprised there would be schooling families coming over. It wasn't an issue anymore than that, just made him go hmmm :-)
I did end up spending the bulk of the day in the kitchen. My pace is manatee like when cooking. The kids helped make the apple cake which burned ever so slightly on the outside, but on the inside brought me back completely to my mom's apple cake which I loved growing up. The red Thai curry was ridiculously simple. I had forgotten that Cap uses the recipe off the red curry paste jar---love that! The tzatziki was good, but I don't think the yogurt agreed with my stomach. I woke up this morning feeling it. I also made carrot tofu scramble, one of First's favorites, which was a hit with the others, as well.
We did check out the ice arena because we ended up running a book up to Cap that he needed for class. The arena is right on campus. We saw Lucy and it was very invigorating in the cold air watching kids and their grown ups skating. I plan on taking the kids skating next week. Roger said that he may bring Lukas and Anna, as well, which would be nice.
Also, discovered that the little Y has some better family swim times, including an earlier time on Saturdays.
Today will be a stay-at-home day. We're all still in our pajamas. The kids are drawing and I'm about to do some qigong exercises. I'll be doing laundry and packing and getting ready for our weekend in MA. We may see Danielle and the kids this afternoon, but otherwise, should be a very quiet day.
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