Zoo

We visited the favorite zoo of Thomas today. A yearning for sisterly company as well as a double jogging stroller rotting away in the garage led me to call Kristen last week and arrange a pick up. In my blond brain I was thinking the 31st was the last day I could use my zoo pass before it expired which would have given me the perfect drop off point of my last baby gear. I wanted to deliver it before the snow set in. It wasn't till 3 hours into the trip I flipped the card over and discovered it expired on the 31st of July. We enjoyed each others company, seeing the cousins play and talk. My her boys have grown! When we turned to leave Mr. Steel and Thomas were very put out their cousins weren't coming with them. Good thing October is just around the corner!

Portland to coast....

Greg says, "get me to Starbucks for a mocha...then HOME!"

this is my...I'm soaked from walking in the rain for nearly 2 hours face...ps. rain is better than sun!

Here is Greg after his longest leg. Oh yes, he did walk in jeans!

I'm wearing shorts (gasp!) please put the camera down, it does happen occasionally and quite frankly more often than a dress.

My first leg of the race was a gravel road mostly down hill for 5 miles. I was passed by this lightning fast speed walker, I figured if I kept my pace behind her I could gage my speed. It was funny to see her peek over her shoulder and pick up the pace several times. I DO love to make people paranoid. My average time for that stretch was 12.1 minutes a mile. The second leg was up and down hill for 7.8 or something miles. I averaged a 13.4 minute mile. It was a fantastic feeling passing the arm band knowing I gave it my all. Thanks to another team member I was not left to think the whole time because of her I-pod. Not even I wanted to spend that much quiet time with myself. I admit I felt a bit competitive and pushed myself to get a better time than Greg ;) tho...if I hadn't been jogging with city girl so much I think that this weekend would have had much more sordid results. Would I do it again? Yeah, with the exception of sleeping in the back of an SUV.... no that was truly NOT fun at all.

verse for today

Philippians 2:3-5

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each one should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus"

thankfully inspired

My writing....not my blogging, has bin nil this month. I think about it allot but the time escapes me. The day seems already full of life and activity's, of which I did not plan. Writing happens best for me in the AM and I am afraid if I want to get any of it done I must get up earlier. This morning my kids slept in so I got the chance to do some novel outlining. Yesterday I did jam of which I am glad of and today I will push on toward school readiness. Thanks to you Kristen for pushing on in your writing. My insane jealousy is driving me to keep up with you, or at least follow your trail.

school soon!

We are all excited for something new to engage our days with other than play and mini lessons. This year will not be all fun, but having a school room will defiantly make our days go more smoothly. Most of last year my time was spent checking on what Mr. Steel was entertaining himself with..often times it was soap in the bathroom. With the ability to contain our lessons to one room it might improve our odds for a smooth schedule. My fingers are crossing. Last night we attended a bon fire. Thomas and my girl ran around and played while Mr. steel threw log after log on the fire. That boy loves a fire. It made for a pleasant evening and upon arrival we stayed up and watched a movie. This AM I am regretting the movie, all three are falling apart and fighting or crying. Good thing the sun is shining! Plus I'm happy because I got a whole 45 min to myself before the first one stumbled out to greet me. Perhaps I will try to sew today, why not they are already cranky.
:op

?????

Momentous occasions swamp parents with with overwhelming pride. Sadly, most of Mr. steel's milestones have provided me with less desirable feelings. There was that time he went upstairs while I had company and learned to climb...out the window onto the roof(2 years old). Perhaps some of you remember him weening himself off of his plug during the day....and then chocking on a piece of plastic until I gave him the baby Heimlich and mouth sweep(1 3/4 years old). Today my precious boy learned to follow the leader. Too bad it was a dog and cat crossing the highway. If you don't know Mr. steel you might think I'm one of those irresponsible parents, let me assure you this is not the case. Whatever the reason God blessed me with a boy who attracts danger like a flower to a bee. So far we are both living through these "experiences" but seriously...if this is 3 1/2 whats 16 going to be like? I'm baffled. I asked him why he crossed such a dangerous road and he replied "I was worried about the dog." ***long sigh***

laying it all out.

Greg looked at getting a job local, a fire job. Last night he attended the meeting and was very disheartened because we couldn't afford for him to take the job. The house in OP is sucking all our resources of late and the payments went up because taxes are sooo much higher than they were last year. sigh. Today is a day I have no idea what God is thinking. I would like, for once, for the answer to be something so obvious it would be likened to a semi truck in my lane heading towards me...make that a bright orange semi! You see it coming from far away and whammo it hits. yeah, my analogy's are a bit weird but I'm sure you get my point. God could say "here it is...its coming in this many months"...and then it will happen. I admit the thought of Greg being home in the evenings and at lunch was ever so enticing, this too I have to give up. Back to the same old same old.

She had one more????

Nope, but this pic was way too cute to pass up! We watched my friends 4 month old boy and

enjoyed the use of a new technology called a baby timer. It flashes a red light when, lets say, the baby needs a change etc. too cool. My girl also got the chance to dote on him since her brothers are way to old to get carried around. Mr. steel informed me that this baby is his favorite.

one two throw

My garden is beyond jungle height. The sunflowers surpassed the fence and the tallest stands a whopping 8 ft. My tolerance for zucchini ran out the other day and I decided to huck the suckers over the fence. Ridiculous how a huge plant could have such small roots. The tomatoes are over sized and causing me much frustration because of the all together lack of fruit...or would that be vegetable? Whatever the case one of those was just wasting space so off it went to the chickens. For some reason I am excited for fall and squash, even an occasional misty morning. School is starting too and with it the chance to teach another one of my sweet baby's to read. I wont lie and say its always fun because its not, but when they learn something new, the feeling of parental pride is more than wonderful.

Kristens hat

here is a pic of the most recent yarn adventure I took..Kristen's Christmas in July,

...even tho its August

apple pickin' time

Thomas, the careful picker

apple in the box, plop

The kids love when we go picking to make apple sauce. They run from tree to tree picking juicy, ripe apples..and eat a few on the way.

sneaky apple eater!

A debate of sorts

There was a time when I had just turned ten, my mind previously held by stuffed animals and toys, had taken a turn. Boys were nice, but the real concern to my juvenile self was womanhood. I had a friend who seemed on top of the subject and asked her opinion. "When are you considered a woman?" She paused before her lengthy grade schooler answer, the just of which went like this. "I think your not a woman until you have boobs. My friend says your not a REAL woman until you get your period." I admit I was disheartened to hear the last response. I spent days in angst. My mother finally asked me what was wrong and put a small amount of salve on my wounded pre-pubescent soul. You would think after all the years I have spent hearing this argument played over and over I could learn to ignore it or that other females would be done debating. Sadly this is not true. Oh the words are not used so blatantly as in my youth, but the meaning is certainly still there. Ladies don't use boldface truth, they use comparison and assumption. Like assuming everyone in the room is of the same mind, or comparing what you did to others methods. Its a trap you fall into that only gets worse as a mom. Now your femininity is not the only thing being questioned, its your mothering. I have a hard time swallowing is the phrase super mom, "oh I couldn't do that much stuff, your just a super mom"
God gave us all talents and ability's, no person is the same, that is why people can do the same thing so differently. So weather you breast feed or bottle feed, work or stay home, have an obgyn or a midwife to deliver....your a woman and no one can take that away from you but yourself.

So yes, I have not blogged as of late because I overheard a conversation which made me feel frustrated at my sex... at all those women.

why didnt I just get a skein of yarn?

chocolate bars. Its an addiction. I'm not talking about Hershey's here, think Italy, Spain, Switzerland and more recently Porto Rico. Chocolate is similar to coffee, taste varies by country and region. Specialty coffee and chocolate shops are littered up and down the coast. Perhaps its the excessive amounts of rain and clouds driving people to depression eat. Seizing every opportunity of monetary gain, a new confectioner seemingly crops up at the first sign of precipitation. Whatever the case we have an abundance. The most recent to my knowledge is a little yarn store. As if yarn isn't addictive enough, they also sell crazy chocolates from around the world. Specifically, they sell a 70% dark chocolate from Porto Rico that is astounding. Dark chocolate is on my do not eat list, but I sampled a sliver...or rather a hangnail worth and couldn't stop thinking about how fantastic it tasted. Finally, I gave my mom a few dollars and told her to stop by when she ran into town. When she arrived home she had the chocolate in hand. "ohhh, there it is..this is gonna taste great" I thought to myself. It was when I flipped the package over to unwrap it, this is when I got my surprise. "$8.50 FOR A CHOCOLATE BAR!!!! Why on earth did you buy this!" I stared at my mother in shock. She looked puzzled and replied," I thought you knew how much it was?" I answered quickly," I would never buy a chocolate bar for $8.50! That is crazy....." 16 slices for $8.50=roughly $.53 each dime size square. CHOKE!
It WAS fantastic tasting, but you wont find me laying out cash like that on a single chocolate bar, seriously it was no box of truffles. At least my adventures made for an interesting, if not quirky blog.

Creative learning

Its no lie that every day is a learning opportunity for a child. Today I would like to share a couple of ideas for learning during the end of summer break. I am by no means an expert so please comment your own ideas to share.

Take a walk and focus on attributes. Something like, "Do you see those trees? What is the same about them? What is different." or pick up objects and go through how they feel and look. "Is it smooth or bumpy? What shape is it? What does it smell like?"

Bake! Its one of the best ways to introduce your child to measurements. Take your time talking about the difference of a half cup to whole. Let them crack an egg into a separate bowl. Not really as scary as it sounds, you just have to let go of the "this is more mess than learning" mentality.

Make whole made play dough and color it yourself. There are many recipes on the Internet and though its not nearly as smooth as the real stuff, your kids will love playing with it because they were part of making it.

The biggest part of learning at home is having YOU relax. Its okay if they mess things up and do it wrong. Here is the definition of learning, the basic point I am making is, learning involves mistakes and accidents..in fact we learn best from our mistakes.

learning–noun
1.knowledge acquired by systematic study in any field of scholarly application.
2.the act or process of acquiring knowledge or skill.
3. the modification of behavior through practice, training, or experience.

a few shots to catch you up on the three

the top is our adventure day, we found Halloween costumes for 5 bucks each. The bottom is a bubbly day, our friend loaned us some bubbles and her front yard.

write!

Today I pulled out my computer for a reason other than blogging and surfing around face book. I wrote. My sister gave me a copy of the snowflake guys, how to on novel writing, and it has been amazingly helpful. Today I did my character outlines, let me clarify,..I did some of them. Mostly I named. It was really fun to look up all the meanings and then assign the name to the character's supposed personality. Way more fun than naming your own children! Why you ask? because when is it okay to have your child's name mean ugly stinking marshland? too fun!

it just so happens

As I glanced through the fantastic yarn selection at my local store I came across a lovely skein of cream. Now the question arises, should my sister get a surprise its early Christmas package in the summer or does she want to get it when its snowing????

record of things

My children love, love, love to hoard. Their mother love, love, loves to throw! Today I went through their piles of stuff in their room and 'edited' out the things they could live without or rather I could live through not picking it up the upcoming weeks. In my flurry of sorting and stacking I noticed most of the grime in their room was entirely dirty clothing. At the other house we had a laundry basked at the end of the hall. I neglected to carry over the tradition, so today I bought a little basket to remedy our lifeless floor covering. While standing back and admiring the shiny floor, I noticed there was now room for our old dejected record player sitting in the attic. I hauled it down shoved it under the kids table and am currently dreaming of happy nights with children quietly listening to vintage Disney records. (I did say DREAMING) in any case its fun to thumb through all the oldies and remember the not so long ago days I was sitting in our attic listening to the same stories and unknowingly giving my own mother some peace and quiet.