Pot of Gold

The rain typically rolls in from the east...the direction all our fabulous windows face!  Today we had an even better storm than normal.  We watched it roll in, pour, and then roll out leaving us with golden light and a rainbow.  The rainbow ended in our yard.  Not kidding, it was a beautiful, breath taking view and I am happy with my mediocre attempt to capture it.

Magnetic Personality

Eva floating a paperclip!

We played with magnets today.  I had a bunch of paperclips, iron filings, numerous small magnets and one powerful neodymium magnet.  We moved the filings around, made different lines of force, chased them, and floated them with our hands.

Five Minutes, Tops

I always stack these cool blocks. Numerous times a day. Over and over and over. I just can't help it and all of my kids get such enjoyment out of knocking down the tower. You would think it would get old and the tower would just stay there for a while (even an hour or two), nope. It sits there for around 7 hours in the dark and is immediately toppled when Maeve enters the living room first thing in the morning.

I love the simple enjoyment of my kids!

My Ham

Credit for this photo goes to Kureen Schwarz.


Apparently Maeve clapped and raised her hands, just as they asked, at a birthday party this weekend. She was thrilled to be a part of the group. This is quite unsurprising. If I take her to the store she spends tons of time catering to the crowds of people who flock around her cute smile, blond hair and sunny disposition. It makes shopping difficult as I have to answer questions and allow her time to visit with almost every passerby. We joke she might be our politician!

Here Fishy, Fishy

We have the friendliest fish I have ever seen. They flock to your hand if you touch the tank, follow you as you walk by and unlike other fish we've had they don't tend to swim away at every movement. It is strange.

Maeve takes advantage of this and climbs up to watch them. They flock right up to that cute face. As a side note: Isn't she getting tall?!

Angry Bird

Okay, not the best picture I've taken. I find Elias with a different stuffy on different days. He isn't necessarily attached to any of them and sometimes they make an appearance for weeks at a time, sometimes for a day. Quite often there isn't one about at all.

This particular creature came from his Tatik. She brought each of the kids a bird from the Angry Birds iPod game that has been such a hit. He calls it his bomb birds and they have been role playing Angry Birds all week. Thanks for the fun, Cheryl!

Older by the Day

I've been really thinking about our dog lately. She is old, allergic to everything, scratching herself into a bloody mess and arthritic. I'm terrified she won't be around much longer and yet feeling guilty about how easy it will be without all her issues. She is a wonderful, sweet dog. She lets the kids climb on her, is always where we are and still lays with her paws out to the sides of her body. So here is to some pain free years of happiness left!

Hanging Out

Eva NEEDS to hang. She has since she was old enough to crawl. She does it everyday and when she has had a stressful time, needs to do it even more. When we are on a trip, one of the first things she does is find a spot that will work for hanging. We have found that couches tend to work the best.

I keep hoping I can get her to try a trapeze class. She used to hang off the car, in a full pike, through an entire TV show. She outgrew the car last year and it was with sadness she moved to the couch to hang. A bar doesn't work as she likes to brace herself, not just hang down. I love watching her face get calmer as she holds herself up!

Missing Post

Craig is in Cupertino this week getting some "face time" with the coworkers. It is part of working remote and only happens once every few months. The last time, we went out as a family since we were homeless and it broke up that two months. That means for Maeve it was over half her life ago that dad left for one of these trips.

She spent the first day he was gone roaming from his office, to the bathroom, to the kitchen and to the swimming pool window. She signed dad and wandered a bit aimlessly. By evening she was truly confused, but let me put her to sleep. Today was a bit more distracted, but she definitely showed moments of "looking" for dad. So, I figured I would post a picture of her and that wonderful father she is missing. Just a few more days...

Oh, Brother...

I ordered a sewing machine last week. I had an old one that was a difficult to use. If there was a project I wanted to sew, the excuse that it was a pain would put the idea on the back burner and it would fail to get done.

Eva and I have numerous projects planned (tank top dresses, blanket pillows, wings). Elias was talking about making costumes and bags for some of his "gear". I also have ideas floating around in my head. Now I just need to find the time to acquaint myself with this machine so I can then teach the kids. This hasn't happened in the last, busy week and might not happen this week either. I'm hoping!

Unexpected Audience

Eva felt the kitty would want to watch her swim, but wouldn't be comfortable near the water. Craig's reaction, "Why is there a kitten staring at me through the window?" I think he thought I put it there.

Oasis

This is a little bit of our paradise. We have clocked numerous hours in this pool during the few months of living here. The sunlight streams through the windows at 6 am, making mornings golden. We have yet to water that green lawn. The kids will spend lots of time on the play set during the winter months and with the addition of a zip line and trampoline in the future, I can't think of why you wouldn't want to hang out here.

Oh, and let's not forget the great people watching!

Glow Memo

Eva discovered the glow-in-the-dark letters yesterday and after we found a black light she spent part of today closed in the laundry room. We figured out we could open the closet door over the kitchen opening and make it dark. It also has what a closet doesn't, a metal washer and dryer to stick magnets to. I left some messages when she left the room and she would go "glow" them. I love the learning fun!

Monkey Platters x Three

I create a platter for my kids to munch on many afternoons. In this instance I had to create two platters and a table full for my La Leche League meeting. During this one meeting a month I try to give them something to do that is out of the way. They love playing with the babies, but neither one has much volume control and Elias, in particular, can not stop talking and talking during the meeting.

If I create them each their own special platter, give them a new movie, book on tape or have them play a game, I can usually keep them occupied for an hour or so of the meeting.

Atom Bits

Our molecular kit came in and Elias was all over it. We started with a water molecule and discussed a bit more, deciding we want to find a good book of molecules and how we use those molecules. Water is obvious! So now I'm on the search for a kid friendly (with adult help) organic chem book.

He quickly shifted from chemistry to Minecraft and began to create molecular structures with all sorts of bonds...he made up new molecule names and figured out exactly what they would do and how he would use them in his world. Always going, this kid!

Dinner Smoothie

Smoothies are a treat. We all love them and I try to make them often. A smoothie helps me add in extra nutrition in a fun way. We add in greens, omega oil, flax/protein powder. They also give me a chance to use up fruits and veggies that might not be perfect; wrinkled blueberries and less than crisp spinach. They taste fantastic since they are half fruit. They are cold, refreshing and filling!

Pond Pursuits

My koi pond is looking better and better. We still need a pump to send the water through a filter, but the plants have been helping with the algae problem and you can see the koi a bit more clearly. They love the new plants and are becoming a bit less skittish since they have places to hide.
The water hyacinths were pretty, but it is hard to beat that perfectly formed lily pad flower!

You Have to Crawl

Elias pulled out the tunnel today and had it immediately usurped by his baby sister. I don't think she had seen it since learning to crawl/walk. She was thrilled by the rolling structure and kept picking up an end and looking down it. She didn't want to go in it because that involved crawling! After several demonstrations by Eva and some encouragement from the camera, she decide to give it a go. She made sure to stop and give me a good picture. She then came over to the camera to take a look at herself. What a ham!

Random Structures

We have an extensive assortment of building material at our house. Legos, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, Magnaforms, blocks, marble runs and these colorful disks that Eva quite enjoys. I try to pull them out and strew different boxes of builders around the house. My kids often strew the results.

They seem to make great pathways for Mouse Trap mice too.

Country Club Living

We live right near the 8th tee of a golf course. Being so near the tee means we only see a few golf balls in our yard. However, they do happen. The kids love finding them, I hate wondering if we will ever have a broken window or knotted head. According to a friend, the only golf balls we should get are from left handed, bad golfers... Here's hoping there aren't many of them!

My Three

There they are, all three of them: Maeve (1), Eva (4) and Elias (7.5)

Trying to get a picture where are three are looking at the camera AND smiling is close to impossible. I do like this picture; it has all sorts of interesting things in it. Maeve is trying to figure out what her siblings are doing. Elias and Eva are almost holding hands. Eva, as usual, is wearing a big grin and, as usual, has chocolate around that grin. Elias is looking at the pond where he will quickly go when this photo shoot is done. None of them possess combed hair. Amazingly, they are in relatively clean clothes and there is an incredible lack of scabs and bruises. They are lovely.

Planning

Sometimes inertia takes over and we spend a week or two having little interaction with each other or others. Before our camping trip we were bursting with creativity, adventure and starting a few routines that the kids were enjoying. After the camping trip it seemed easier to not strew or engage and just let the kids watch movies, swim and play video games. When I realize that we are getting grumpier and not enjoying this I try to find a way to get us back on track. Often it means I need to be proactive and strew, offer and get excited about my own projects.

I started to talk to them about things they would like to do and was getting nowhere. "Later, I want to watch a show." So I wrote "Eva" and "Elias" on my board and listed the things they like to do and a couple of plans we had on the calendar. This started a great discussion of interests and ideas. Elias and I purchased tickets to the King Tut exhibit, I found out Eva really likes the zoo, they asked to restart the smoothie/reading sessions. The things I brought up as ideas were often not commented on, but sparked others. I didn't write everything down, but was able to get a feel for the types of things they are in the mood to do. Hooray for creative discussion!

A Bit of Berbere

I'm back in the groove of cooking! Yesterday I stopped at Babylon Market and picked up some injera and berbere spice. Today, after some research, I picked out two Ethiopian recipes to try. I have made Ethiopian once before and it turned out well, but really wanted something with a berbere sauce. The dish on the right is a red lentil stew: onions, tomatoes, garlic, berbere and lentils. The second dish really hit the spot for me, it is potatoes, carrots and green beans in a caramelized onion and berbere sauce. Yum!

We served it with some cottage cheese to tone down the spice for the kids. The lentils had to be restocked as they were consumed quickly. I'm still thinking about how wonderful those carrots turned out. Everyone declared it satisfactory.

For Laughs

Mischievous pixies... Eva and I spent part of the evening reading out of her pop-up book of fairies. I was not expecting this guy and he had us in laughter for quite a while. We then discovered that the shadows created by the pop-ups could be tilted and make new caricatures that were even better than the fairies themselves!

Always a Giggle

My grandmother had this book when I was a kid. The Monster at the End of this Book is always a good book for loads of giggles.

The real point of this picture is to point out that wonderful man in the middle. He spent his day doing yard work, swimming with Eva, he stuffed diapers, washed dishes and kept the kids entertained while I did some computer catch up. Not only did he do all this wonderful work, but he also made me coffee, complimented everything I cooked, and gave numerous hugs and gave generous amounts of love to all of us. I love this man!

Home From Afar

While on a camp trip at Whitetail Campground, at the top of Mt. Lemmon, we walked up to look out at our home city. This isn't the best view of Tucson, we saw a better one, but it is a view of our house. We are now living right where the long road towards the right goes through the green belt. It is awesome to be so close to the base of the mountain!

Back to College?

This is my makeshift rolling pin. It is reminiscent of my college years where I used a Strawberry Hill bottle to roll out cookies, crusts and pizza dough. (Best thing that came from my roommate of the time, that bottle.)

Here I am, in my new house, looking for the rolling pin. I haven't used this since the move and I look in every drawer it should have been in and then every drawer and cupboard it shouldn't. I thought we were doing pretty well with the move; only one item missing and one broke. Was I going to have to add my rolling pin to the tally?

If I had been organized, this lack of a rolling pin wouldn't have occurred in the middle of making pie crusts for my quiches. Instead I was left scrambling to find something before my crusts dried out. I didn't have time to weight it down with beans or anything that would have made the process easier. As I finished up the fourth crust I reached into the baking drawer to pull out a scraper and there was my rolling pin, exactly where I looked first!

Think I need a bit of sleep or maybe my eyes checked?

Critter Corner

This new home has brought us numerous new adventures. Living in a more riparian landscape has brought encounters of all sorts. When we moved in there were a family of raccoon's living in the crawl space. Monsoons have brought out the tarantulas, tarantula hawks and desert toads. We have javelina, scorpions, birds of all sorts and lots and lots of insects.

This morning Eva rescued a toad from the pool and I pulled out this guy, or more likely a gal given the 1.5" length. This is a Great Black Wasp. They are similar to a Tarantula Hawk in that they lay their eggs in a paralyzed host; they use crickets and katydids instead.

Spark

In honor of Maeve's 1st Birthday, I have decided to post two pictures.

The first was taken a few hours after birth; she was so welcome, a relief after a couple years of stress and heartache. You can see the blonde hair that attracts so much attention.

The second was taken today. This bundle of joy is no longer a baby, but a full blooming toddler with oodles of personality. She is friendly; she will reach out to strangers to be held. She is full of smiles, spark and a general happiness that makes everyone smile. I already miss the baby, but look forward to what this Spark of mine will show us this year!

Unexpected Blooms

The koi pond outside my front window and our first showing of water hyacinths. These were a gift from a friend who was thinning out her pond. I had no idea they bloomed!