...still doesn't mean I have time to do much about it. But the winter/Christmas photo should really be updated to a springtime apple blossom photo I took almost a month ago now. See, I have good intentions. I still manage to take photos of the kids. Sometimes. We had a fun farm visit at our CSA farm in Scott Valley this past weekend. But I forgot the camera. Milking goats and shearing and baby chickens and kittens and puppy dogs and yummy food.
Meanwhile at home I have stacks of mail and other papers and things to be read/dealt with piled on horizontal surfaces awaiting me to do something with them (recycle, shred, file, respond to, throw away after the cat has a hairball upon it). I've retreated from my desk because it wasn't that comfortable to sit at anyway and the crazy paper piles overtook it as well. I keep hoping my red couch in the front room will exhibit magical powers by folding the piles of laundry I keep washing and piling upon its cushions.
Even though are spring is still very chilly here, the ants have manages to exert themselves on my sticky floors. I attacked the weeds out front last weekend but only managed to clear a small area around the mail box. Our weed whacker has a leaky gas tank and wouldn't start. I still haven't planted pretty flowers out front in the annual or perennial variety. Matt and I did manage to prune our apple tree before it bloomed out completely.
Around the house:
*Evalyn just had her tonsils and adenoids out. She had some pretty enlarged tissue back there that was causing obstructive sleep apnea. Her surgery was last week and it's amazing how after just a couple of days she was back to her old self and back at school on Monday. And listening to her breathe at night is restful rather strained. The biggest challenge was motivating her to take her antibiotic 3 times a day. We're on Day 6 of her 10 Day chart. The BIG reward: silk flowers from the dollar store!! : )
*Henry is into everything and says the funniest things. "Mommy I'm a hundred hungy!" is one of my favorites. He loves to play with our neighbors black cat/kitten Huck/Otis who spends most of the day at our house when his owners are away. Jadie isn't too thrilled with this especially when he sneaks into the garage and eats her food! Henry is really loving the trampoline Uncle Dougie got the kids for Easter. I was nervous about it at first but have mellowed out now. I still say no flips or somersaults though. I'm just glad to send him out for 5 jumps when he gets restless and then of course he stays outside a lot longer!
*Linnea is already into size 3 clothes and is as opinionated as ever. We're having some success with potty training. (ie some days she wears big girl undies and somedays she wears a pull-up all day. yeah, pretty pathetic on my part. ) She is very cute with her imaginative play and how she rotates between what toys or dolls are her favorite to sleep with. It's fun how she tags along with H&E during their outside play. She consistently calls them "En-ghee" and "Em-ma-in"
*Hazel is everyone's little darling. She's 4.5 months and all smiles. She just talks and coos and eats and sleeps. Aside from having a consistent night time wake-up to eat, she is the sweetest easiest baby. Henry can always get the biggest laughs out of her and Linnea is very protective of her and her toys. "Haytzels" she will declare. And she is very good about running to her crib and putting the baby's paci back in. They're all good with that actually. I keep waiting for her to roll over consistently so she will sleep on her belly and keep her thumb and or paci in her mouth. She's at that age where we still swaddle her so she doesn't knock the paci out. If we don't swaddle her she will sometimes find her thumb or she'll just knock the paci out and get mad.
*Daddy and Mommy just roll with the punches and are both trying to figure out how to motivate ourselves to work in exercise time and eat better. Our latest equipment purchase is: the T-Bow. Pretty cool tool. Definitely gives you a good workout. When you actually use it. The DVD it comes with has the added bonus of teaching you German while learning the different moves.
At the end of the day you will find us watching the original Little House on the Prairie series (were still on Season 1) with the kids and having fun conversations about life back in the day. Matt and I try not to be distracted by the southern CA trees and hillsides rather than open prairie land. I have major flashbacks to my own childhood with all the live oak trees and mustard flowers and golden hillsides. They really should remake it on the real prairie, though it would lose a lot of it's nostalgia.
Oh, and during the day I've been spending a lot of time working on the Children's Discovery Garden at our local community garden. It's a really neat project incorporating educational demonstration beds to teach where our food comes from as well as outdoor play areas including a bean tee pee, a sunflower house, a willow tunnel and a butterfly garden (the part I'm most involved with). So while my own yard and garden is seriously neglected this year (again) I'm helping build a really amazing community garden. That's got to count for something right?
And so it goes.... time to get dinner figured out so no photos for you! And you still have to look at my winter banner!
