Here Comes Christmas!

The day is approaching. Am I ready? Of course not! I think that I am heading out to the big Hanna Andersson sale today at Valley Fair to score some clothes for the girls. I'll wrap them and put them under the tree. T gets so much more excited about clothes if they are presents to unwrap. For example, I ordered some gymboree underwear online. When a big envelope came in the mail for Tierney, she was so excited. You have never seen a girl fawn over panties so much. She always searches through the underwear drawer for the "panties that came in the mail."

Our tree is truly beautiful this year and hard-earned. We literally found our tree at the furthest point on the mountain farm away from our car. We had to trek back up the mountain with our newly cut tree. It was quite a hike, in the rain. Fortunately, we had hot cider waiting for us back in the van. We had the tree lit and trimmed in record time that day and Mike put up the lights on the house. Juliana says "Wow" anytime she sees Christmas lights. It's fun to drive around town with her at night and listen to all of her exclamations over Christmas decor.

Our solar panels were installed in one day and they are up and running. They even hauled away our broken solar pool heater that was going to be a messy job for us to do on our own. Unfortunately, they thought that meant that they should install the new panels on the roof where the pool heater had been. They had already gotten started bolting in the braces when Lance noticed and stopped them. All was right in the end, though, and we look forward to our first PG&E bill post-installation to arrive.

My parents came up last weekend for a nice, visit. Tierney has been wearing the tutus Gramma got her ever since. I'm going to have to peel her out of them before I can ever get the chance to wash them.

Mike finally got a much-deserved pay raise after two years of pretty dismal business at his job. It seems, we hope, that the cabinet-making business is finally picking up speed after all of the economic distress of 2008-09. His boss wanted to give him a raise many moons ago but was hanging on the precipice of just trying to keep Mike in a job at all. It's been rough, but I think that things are going to improve. Hurray!

I have my second appointment with my Midwife on Wednesday morning. This time, I'll be almost 14 weeks, so she should be able to get a heartbeat on the doppler. Sometimes, I feel huge and ready to breakout the maternity wear already. Then, after a run and a night's sleep, I'll drop a couple pounds of water weight and feel pretty darn normal in my clothes. I am certainly bloated, but not baby bumpy yet. I have been crying at every sappy, or not sappy thing on TV, though. Good grief, I'm pretty silly with hormones.

Coffee time so that I can brace myself for the mall madness. . .

Happy Holiday

We went down to Bakersfield for the Thanksgiving holiday. The girls were wild about playing with their cousins. Juliana "loved" on Eleanor so much that Eleanor lost quite a bit of hair in the process. Tierney gets so excited to play games with Emma that she absolutely refuses to sleep, lest she miss out on some fun. As a result, they are pretty wacky with sleep deprivation and Juji has caught a cold. We are trying to get our naps back into the daily game but it is proving to be difficult with T. Tierney watched "Sleeping Beauty" for the first (and fifth) time at Grandmas and now is even more in love with fairies. Flora, Fauna and Merriweather are pretty fascinating. She thinks it's hilarious the way that they fight over whether Briar Rose's dress should be pink or blue. We had fun cooking with Grandma and eating the yummy results.

Juliana said her first three-word sentence to me yesterday. She was humming in my lap and I was trying to talk to Mike. She put her hand to my mouth and said, "No, don't talk!" Okay, then. I am not allowed to talk, sing or look at her when she is composing. I must not disturb the genius at work.

Tomorrow I am registering T for preschool. I am looking forward to seeing how external discipline will effect her behavior at home. I am hoping that it will help her with the structure that I am not always able to provide while minding J and the house. I know that she is going to LOVE preschool. Every time we've visited, she's thrown a fit when we have to leave.

Mike is on a mission to get Solar Panels on our roof by the end of the month. Merry Christmas! That is our big Christmas gift. I hope Santa can still land on our roof. We want to get them in by the end of the year so that we can get the tax credit back when we file the 09 taxes. It's a big chunk of change but it is a better investment with a much quicker return than anything we could invest our money in market-wise. Plus, the salesman hit one of Mike's buttons when he said that in 10 years we'll probably want electric cars and they will be a big energy consumer that solar will help with. Mike is like "in 10 years? I want one NOW!"

We are going to get our Christmas tree on Saturday and I am excited. I need to get the house clean and ready for the tree. First, I need to get myself off of the couch. I just cannot get enough sleep lately. I am forcing myself to walk to Starbucks today despite the crummy weather. If I don't get some exercise soon, my muscles will turn to jelly.

Happenings

Juliana has taken me by complete surprise this week and has decided to potty train! She runs over to me, does a little impatient dance, points at her diaper and says "poop, poop." We go to the potty and she does her thing, complete with wiping. I am excited to think that I might have a brief window of no diapers before the newby comes.

I was kind of hoping that this time around might be at least slightly different than my previous pregnancies in the morning sickness department, but no luck. It came on more gradually this time, but every day gets consistently worse. I just tried my normal jogging route to Starbucks and ended up having to turn around at the halfway point. I just was too lightheaded and icky. It's irritating because the longer I lay on the couch, the more restless and nauseated I become. It takes a lot of determination to even stand up, let alone really go somewhere or be active. Sigh. 3 girls, here we come!

New craft blog up

I am starting a second blog for my crafty stuff. I hope to eventually take custom orders for kids' stuff via my blog/etsy. I have no idea how to fairly price my items yet (fair both to my customers and myself), so it is still very much a work in progress. I am going to post photos of the things I complete for my girls and kind of open it up to anyone who would like something made. I kind of want to do an assortment of things to keep it interesting. If I just made diapers day after day, I think I would go a little batty. The website is www.freckledfabrications.blogspot.com.

Catching up

Our summer has been so lovely. The weather has been remarkably steady and nice. We've been outside on long walks soaking in the sunshine. Much to my delight, my girls do not seem to have inherited my tendency to burn. They are so golden brown I am amazed. For some reason, they haven't been keen on swimming this year. I guess they are like their Daddy and need a really warm pool to get in. I have really enjoyed swimming and watching them play in the backyard. Tierney does summersaults and rolls while Juliana makes a beeline for the nearest mud hole. That girl can cover herself in mud so fast it is astonishing.

We had such a nice vacation in Lake Tahoe with my family from Bakersfield. Wave running, bike riding, date nights, a few minor injuries and good food was had.

Tierney potty trained early in the summer and I have been spoiled by the luxury of less diapers. Juliana even used the potty by herself the other day. Dare I hope for a diaper-free 2010? I won't get my hopes up too high.

Mike's work seems to be picking up again and we are relaxing a bit. I have regained my ultra-frugal ways that had been slipping when we had a nice run of stress-free work situations. I am back to pretty much making as much as I can myself at home and buying as little as possible. I have gotten back into some sewing projects as a result and just ordered up some custom woven labels with my new logo. I think that I'll eventually decide what I'd like to make to sell and get an Etsy.com account. Here is my logo, which I love.

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Look Inside >> July/August 2009

Having the Flu X 4 = One Crummy Week

Yeah, we all have had the flu this week. I have somewhat of an understanding of how frustrating menopause must be with the constant hot/cold flashes. As fast as it has come on, it seems to be leaving (hurray!) and I think that we all will be well tomorrow for my UC Davis mini-reunion. All of my college roommates and summer roommates are meeting up with our families for a barbecue and movie on the lawn in the Santa Rosa hills. It should be grand. As long as Mike's discomfort follows my schedule, he should be functioning tomorrow. I've got the hummus and guacamole made, strawberry lemon water kefir fermenting in the frigidaire and clothes washing for the morn. Oh, and a super cute kitty purring in my lap. Good times.

New Kitties!

Gabriella or Gabby -- she is a lovebug

Amos, a peaches and cream tabby fuzzball.


So, after spending a weekend with Grandma and Grandpa's new kitties, we were considering getting one for our home. Tierney was in tears when she had to leave "Annie" behind at Grandma's house. She said that Zoli (our 9 year old cat) needed to have a baby. I went to the shelter here in Fremont and found two kitties that fit the bill. I brought the family back to meet them and choose between them. Talk about Sophie's Choice! The kittens had never met each other, but hit it off in the little room they put us in to get acquainted. Of course, then they say that they are having a 2-for-1 kitten special since there are so many coming to the shelter this year. Long story short -- we came home with two kittens. Here they are in all of their cuteness.

More progress

We have Grass!

Yard progress

Top soil and sprinklers are in. Now time for planting.

Sod arrives Tuesday at 9:00AM!

The Daredevils

Loving the fishies ride.
Juliana loves to read her books. Daddy has bedtime down now by reading "The Bear Snores On" to her. She likes to cuddle up with the book under her arm and doze off.
Yummy ice cream cones.

Chocolate, of course.
We had to pry Juji off of the firetruck. She loved it.
They have the all-time best playground at Gilroy Gardens. The girls were in heaven.



We went to Gilroy Gardens and had a ball yesterday. Tierney is at the age where she "gets it" and just loved everything about it. She decided that she likes "fast and slow" rides. She finally tried riding the moving horses on the carousel and decided that she does like going up and down as well. She is such a daredevil that she would have happily gone on the roller coasters but she was too short to ride. Juliana doesn't seem to be aware that she is a little person. Anything that she sees older kids doing, she just jumps right in and tries out herself. Tierney woke up this morning telling me that she had been dreaming about being on the rides at Gilroy Gardens. Hurray for season passes -- we'll be back soon.

T has also been having some growing pains. Her mind is racing faster than her vocabulary can keep up. She gets frustrated a few times a day because she says she "can't find the word" to tell me what she means. She stops and starts the sentence over again a few times before she melts down into sobs. It is reminiscent of the pianist on Sesame Street lamenting how he'll never get it right. Poor T. I do love how she uses words like "fascinating" and "indeed" in casual conversation. Cutie Pie. Juji is really trying to talk and I should start teaching her more signs. "Book" seems to be coming out now along with "broken". Instead of saying "that" when she points at something, her universal word is "Tih-tih." Maybe that means "this." She is an amazing little analyst and figures out how to open or take apart EVERYTHING! All of the batteries are missing in things because she keeps taking off the backs of remotes and toys. Now if only the two of them would share their toys and keep them reasonably tidy, we could have fun all of the time. I am weary of housework this week and have been going a bit batty. It is time for a toy boxing of outgrown items. Yet another task I don't look forward to. The garage is packed with such boxes of kid stuff. Mike wants me to sell/give away all of the outgrown clothes to make room in the garage. I told him that I would happily do that as soon as he makes that all-important appointment at the urologist's office. I am not throwing anything out until I know FOR SURE that I won't be needing them again :)
Riding on the twirling garlics.

A New Direction

I think that I need to take a new direction in my blog. I originally started the blog just as a
"mommy blog" to keep family and friends up to date on baby news, et cetera. Well, as poor Juliana's bare baby book is proof of, I just don't have the interest to write about every hilarious thing they say or do the moment they do it. By the time I sit down to my computer, they are asleep and I want to focus on myself for a change. Hence, the sparse postings :)

I think that I'll start to kind of keep a journal of my work through the blog. I have really been exposed to a lot of new ideas and methods of mothering through my Holistic Moms Network group of women. I am really into learning more traditional methods of food preparation and am digging the results. So, you will start to see more photos of food along with my other creative endeavors. It will be a great way for me to record my progress for myself and to keep track of the things that I am learning. Winter had better come soon so that I can get back to knitting. Ever since my knitting went on a hiatus in October, my hair-twirling habit has returned with a vengeance. I now have short little chunks of hair that won't stay in a ponytail since I have broken them from constantly having them wrapped around my fingers. Argh. Idle hands.

I will still, of course, be reporting on the family happenings. I just don't want you to be like, "hey -- why the heck is she telling my how to render pork fat into lard -- complete with pictures?" These posts are more for myself (I know, how dare I) and you will probably either be amused by them or roll your eyes. So, just a warning that strange things may be ahead.

On the child front, Tierney and Juji are becoming very sisterly. They are fighting like cats and dogs! Tierney has discovered that she really wants ownership of HER things and does not want to share. Juliana is learning how to grab and hide things she wants to play with herself. Tierney will throw toys up to high shelves or walk around with them on her head rather than let Juji join in the fun. So, at the moment, there is a lot of whining and screaming throughout the day. When they do decide to play together, however, the giggles are endless. They really crack eachother up. Juliana donned her swim goggles today and we dunked under water and kicked around. T decided that the water was too cold to get in and played near the stairs. The weather has been so cool of late that the pool has not caught up to the 90 degrees we had today. I'm not worried. It will be warm soon enough.

Gotta go strain the kefir. More on kefir later. With really funky photos :)

On my own

Nana and Papa have left for a trip to Oregon and I am on my own this week. Tierney and Juji are already restless and I will have to plan some outings this week. Maybe a trip to the zoo or Gilroy Gardens is in order. I have several people supposedly coming by today to test-drive the Subaru. Suddenly I have all of this interest in the car I have had to drop in price by $3K since I initially listed it last year. I realized that no one will be here and I have strangers coming to my house. I will be scheduling them for the evenings when Mike is home from here on out. I am the type of person who does not answer my door when I am home alone. Just not worth it, you know? I had left my phone in my car all weekend and just charged it up to find that I had eight new voicemails. How does everyone know to call when my phone is dead?

We've Got Dirt!

One more step toward having a backyard greenspace is completed. We have drainage pipes in, excess clay soil hauled away and have now installed 6 inches of topsoil to the backyard. The girls have made mighty fine messes of themselves exploring in the dirt. Now, to plan the sprinkler layout, install them seed/sod the lawns and install plantlife, planter boxes and a play structure.

There was this old-school, galvanized steel jungle gym like this one that I would pass by on my walk several times a week. It looked like it had been there for many years and that the kids probably weren't playing on it any more. I had been working up my confidence to knock on the homeowner's door to inquire if they would sell it when, one day, I noticed that it was GONE!!! I went round to the front of the house and saw the owners heading out the door. I asked them if they had already sold the swingset and they said that they had hired someone to take it to the dump! They said it was a shame because they would have gladly given it to me for free. This has taught me to be braver and follow my bargain-hunting instincts. There is another in the neighborhood that looks forlorn . . .

Juliana Plays the Blues

Juliana recently figured out how to play her harmonica. She digs it. She really has a musical ear. She remembers a tune and sings it back to you. She seems to have Skip to My Lou stuck on repeat in her head.

Update

Wow, I knew I had been slacking, but it has been a month since I last posted. Apologies. We have been enjoying the ever-changing weather and doing a lot of work gardening and installing drain lines in the backyard. Tierney and Juliana are working just as hard to undo all of my work by picking all of my flowers. The flower-picking stage is so very long in little girls. Tierney has been gobbling up sugar snap peas from the garden like candy. I think that she has finally reached her limit and won't eat them anymore. It is a good thing that produce is seasonal and there is always something new around the corner. I am bummed because all of my seedlings except some tomatoes fried up the first day they were outside. The soaker hose that I thought was feeding them water was riddled with holes and never got to the far end of the garden. So, now I am having to plant starts after investing so much time/money in the seedlings. I hate that! My first year trying the garden was so successfull and the past two years have been bummers. I guess I do better when I am following the instructions strictly rather than thinking I know what I am doing and winging it.

Tierney suddenly decided that she is finished with diapers and within a few days completely potty trained herself. I had gotten tired of buying the disposable pull-ups just to have her pee in them so I converted some of her old prefold diapers to training pants. The return to cloth seems to have done the trick! She has never wet her diaper at night since and only a couple of times in the day because she was caught up playing. It's amazing how you think that it's never going to happen and then -- bam -- she's getting up herself in the morning and using the potty all by herself before she goes in to play. I love it. My diaper laundry is cut in half!

I got myself a grain mill for my birthday/mother's day and I am having a lot of fun discovering the new way I can cook with it. I am learning a more traditional method of cooking with grains that involves sprouting and drying them before grinding them. I have always had difficulty with digestion and am really liking the new methods I'm experimenting with. I have ordered sample bags of several different grains like Kamut, Spelt, Oat Groats and Triticale to try out in recipes. I've finally gotten a rhythm going in making bread and yogurt on a regular basis. My goal is to make dinners for the week on Sunday and freeze them so that we can always have a homemade dinner ready when Mike gets home -- even if I have had a trying day. We don't eat out much, but we do tend to have a lot of cereal for dinner if I have not gotten dinner ready by 6:30. I'd love to be able to send Mike to work with lunch so that he wouldn't need to buy it, but the man is averse to leftovers of any kind as well as pre-made sandwhiches. I don't know what else to do about that!

We had a wonderful Mother's Day at the Tule Elk Reserve State Park outside of Bakersfield. The kids all played with water toys and rode their bikes and scooters. We had yummy omelettes a-la-Dad and really enjoyed the day.

I'll upload some photos soon.

New Spring Pics in the Slideshow

Egg Hunt with Holistic Mom's Network in Gilroy, Easter at Nana and Papa's, backyard demo, outdoor time. Enjoy.

Backyard Fun

We've been really enjoying having a backyard this season. I say this while there is currently a backhoe parked on my front lawn and 3 foot trenches creating cross-hairs in my back plot. Our deck and patio are swell and the kids are excited about the pool this year. They are finally old enough to play together outside and this is fabulous news for me. Lance spent his birthday on Monday playing on the backhoe, prepping the ground for our forthcoming lawn. The drainage and sprinklers are going in, soon to be followed by a truckload of dirt, lawn seeding, raised beds and (fingers crossed) a play structure. Mike is Debbie Downer on the idea, but I think that Janet and I are getting him a little warmed up on the idea of a swingset. Moms understand the need for the kids to go and play while Mommy catches her breath. I did a whole bunch of research and found one that I like that would fit in our space and, lo and behold, I just found it on super-duper sale at Costco.com. I'll have to figure out how to sneak that into the landscaping plan/budget. I think I could build it in the night and he wouldn't notice the 11 foot high construct adorning our yard. If I could just sell that dang Subaru I could pay off my loan and have some moola for the swingset. Stupid economy.

On the economical upside, Mike's shop just won the bid to do Condoleeza Rice's cabinetry in her new house in Palo Alto. She has come home to roost and resume a position at Stanford. Mike has only worked 20 hours of this past pay period, so news of work is good news! It sounds like they are getting some new jobs approved and are heading toward better times. Thank goodness. Mike's boss just bought the business April 1st and it has got to be pretty scary taking on a business in this economy. So, if you have any cabinetry needs, give him a call ;)

Sisterly Love

Our first pool dip of the season. The water may have been only 70 degrees, but the air was a sweltering 96!

The first dunk is a shocker.


We seem to have gotten that dream come true when your children actually want to play together. Of course, they have squabbles like all of us do, but these girls truly love each other. Tierney tells me so all of the time. Tonight, Tierney smashed her finger and Juliana cried along with her in sympathy. She also climbed up on my lap where Tierney was clinging and patted her on the back to soothe T's tears. Sweet girls! We've been hanging out on the patio in the morning and evening as the weather cools. They love to run and ride together.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, I have 33 minutes left of my 32nd birthday. It was a grand one, too. I always remember my birthday as being rainy or on Easter. This year has to be the best weather in memory. I got to snooze a little longer than usual on the couch while T ate her breakfast and watched Sid the Science Kid and J slept in. After a warm cup of coffee on the back patio, I packed the girls into the stroller for a walk up the hill. We stopped at Starbucks for an iced coffee and some vanilla scones before heading to a new park. This particular park has signs warning that it is "private" and only for the residents of Cameron Park. I have passed it by on many occasions, thinking that it is an awfully nice park that no one is ever using. Well, today was so nice and it had a great hill to run up and down, that I ignored the signs and stopped there to play. The play structure literally had cobwebs on it and a thick coating of dust on the slides (all of which ended up on J's pants and belly). It was in need of love and we provided it. There musn't be any children living in "Cameron Park." I had a whole speech planned to respond anyone who tried to shoo us out. But really, I don't think anyone could tell two girls as cute as mine that they had to go :) We came home for some naps and a relaxing movie. Lance and Janet took us all out to dinner and we came back for some chocolate cake and ice cream at our house. I stayed up late making cake last night and had to keep myself from taking "just one little slice" all day. Now, my belly is full and I am happy to go to bed one year older.

The Nap-less Wonder Crashes

Juliana hadn't napped all day, despite my efforts. At about 5:00 p.m., Mike called me while I was grocery shopping to tell me that she had finally crashed - literally. She was playing on her sheepskin rug, leaned over to reach for something, then, BOOM, she was out like a light. Thankfully, she had a soft spot to land!

A Rainy Respite

T has been into hats lately. Even three at a time.
The girls watch the rain from the window, longing to go outside.



We have had a couple of weeks with just absolutely fabulous weather. We've been back at the parks and outdoor events -- it's been great. I must say, however, that I do not mind the return of the rain this week. The hills in March have been so gloriously green, I am not ready to give them up yet. Hopefully, the rain will prolong the lushness a couple of weeks longer this season. Spring is definitely my favorite season in the bay area for sheer beauty. The light has this cheerful quality that can lift me from any mood. Our garden is doing well. We've composted and mulched. My peas and potatoes are in. I am just waiting for my seedlings to mature for transplantation. If I'm lucky, I might be able to plant my tomatoes in the back yard this year. It all depends on when we get the backyard topsoil in and garden box built. Next year is more realistic. Maybe I can get some late season lettuce and carrots in back there. We'll see.

It's time for Mike and I to get really serious about prepping for next month's half marathon. I have been doing my 5 mile circuit three times a week with the girls, but I haven't been timing myself or really pushing it. We had thought to try and improve our time on this go-round, but I don't know if either one of us have the competitive spirit this month to make it happen. I think that we are going to get distracted and want to go off on a tangent in the trees :) The event is in Humbolt at the Avenues of the Giants state park. I am really looking forward to camping in the redwoods. We'll be by the eel river and the girls can frolic in the water. I do hope it is not raining by then! We already ran in the rain at Big Sur, thanks. I am strapping the weather shield on the double jogging stroller today and heading out. It's kind of refreshing to walk in the rain while not in a race. Especially when my destination is a hot cup of coffee at the Starbucks on top of the hill!

Cody's Visit and trip to Santa Cruz

We went down to Santa Cruz today to visit the Marine Study Center at UCSC. The weather was absolutely perfect and we stopped by the beach on the way out of town. Tierney was so excited to play near the water, she couldn't contain herself. She jumped and giggled with glee, then fell down in the water on her bum. Both girls were exhausted but too wound up for sleep when we got home. They just crashed and I am not far behind. Unfortunately, Tierney has dumped an entire bottle of water on our bed that has soaked our bedding and mattress. Her new menacing habit is to open anything with a screw-top and pour it out. We can no longer have soap in the bathroom or unattended drinks in the house. I have never seen a girl make such messes with food/drink. It is the never ending phase. Looks like we have to dig out the air mattress tonight. Here are some pics and a little video of today:

Too Many Tortillas

Tierney has an obsession with flour tortillas that has lasted much longer than any of her other fleeting food fancies. Well, last night I woke up to her crying. It sounded like a different sort of cry, so I was pretty sure that she was still asleep and having a bad dream. Sure enough, I go into her room, lean down to rub her back and she cries out "TORTILLAS! Mommy, the tortilla is ripped!" Oh, the horror! A ripped tortilla! Life is pretty good when the worst your imagination can come up with to form into a nightmare is a ripped tortilla :0

Yesterday the giant dumptruck and its accompanying Bobcat tractor came to our house. The expert bobcat driver not only negotiated the side of the house, but got to the backyard and finely shaved away a good foot and a half of rock/clay from the yard. I am really amazed at how close he could get to the trees and not damage them. He still has to return today to finish up because the dumptruck was at its weight limit. Here are some before and after photos:

Photos and Fun

The ladies over for playsilk dyeing.
Making Rainbows.
My fence was grandly decorated during drying time.
Yeah. She climbs. Even when nude and on the phone.
D - D- D - she is trying so hard to talk now. She tends to get the first syllable of words.
Swimming at the Silliman Center.

The last shot of the Tulip before she destroyed it.
T gardening.

Tierney likes to invite Juliana to "take a turn about the room -- it's SO refreshing!" They walk hand-in-hand back and forth between rooms.

We had our playsilk party yesterday and had a lot of fun. Kids/babies everywhere, lots of moms and plenty of playsilks were dyed. It was nice to have so many people over to the house. I don't "entertain" that often and it was fun to get to do so. We'll probably do another dye party in the fall. I need to perfect my colorway technique and we can do some fun yarn dyeing.

The grand clean-up

Well, I finally finished painting the new shelves yesterday. They are set in and I now have to get to work cleaning up the mess that has bred like rabbits over the last week and a half. I swear, if one part of your house in in shambles, it triggers something in everyone's brain that not cleaning up after one's self is A-OK. So, now I am in mad-cleaning mode. I have friends coming over Saturday for a playsilk party, so the pressure is on. I have to clean today so that I can prep the materials, silks, dyes and food for Saturday. We are going swimming at the Silliman Center this morning, then I am officially diving in. So far, it is fun to organize my sewing materials on the shelves in rainbow patterns. . .

Tomorrow, Mike's boss, Joe, is retiring from his company after having owned/operated it for at least 30 years. We are heading over to the shop for a barbecue in his honor. Joe is selling the business to John, the fellow Mike works directly below. All will remain pretty stable for Mike during the transition, but John is still pretty nervous about the whole thing. Work is kind of slowing down and they are pressed for jobs right now. Hopefully, it will pick up as the weather warms.

Yay for surprises.

I came home from Bakersfield last weekend and got a lovely surprise. Mike had been at home alone for a bachelor weekend and I thought that he would spend most of that time riding his bike on the peninsula. When I walked into the house, however, I saw that he had been otherwise occupied. He built and installed two new floor-to-ceiling cabinet/bookshelves in the family room! I had been talking about these for a couple of years as being on my wish list. I got my birthday present early! So, this week we have been painting them and getting them finished up. The chaos of ensuing construction is disorienting, but it should all be finished in a couple of days. Then, I'll actually have places to put some of Tierney's things and my sewing stuff AWAY! Hurrah! I seriously get crazy when my house is crazy. I am not a clean freak by any means, but clutter drives me mad.

Allison and I took a sewing class based on what our Berninas can do last weekend and I learned some good tips. I also got all jazzed up to do some more sewing, so I have been working on a couple of fun projects. It is the first anniversary of the mother's group that I co-founded, so I made some really cute tote bags with our logo on them. It was really fun making the logo "patch." I am inspired to make acheivement badges for T now -- like a potty patch :) We need some incentives. . . she did, however, use the potty at a friend's house yesterday for both #1 AND #2 (I'm sure you want to know this). I was so proud! I am also making cushions for the girls' adirondack rocking chairs, and some wool/lycra interlock pants and shorts for Juliana. I made a dress for T from ottobre design magazine that is super cute, I must say. I am still very slowly knitting the second sock from the pair that has killed my knitting jag.

Next week I am hosting 10 of the women from my Mom's group at my house for a Playsilk Dyeing Party. We all ordered silk blanks and are going to make rainbows, colored scarves and night skies. I made these as Christmas gifts and thought it would be a fun thing to do. The UPS man delivered a HUGE box of silks to my house the other day and I now have to cut some lengths from the 50 yard bolt and roll hem the edges. I am really hoping that the weather is nice next weekend so that we can do most of the work outside. Tierney will be so excited to have her friends over to play. Yesterday she was playing at a friend's house that had all kinds of art stations set up. It was great because she got to do some painting on an easel. All week she had been seeing me and Mike painting the cabinets and really wanted to help. She finally got to do some painting of her own. The Mom who set up the art playgroup is much more relaxed about the kids making a mess than I am. It's not that I mind them getting messy or making the mess, I just don't want to have to clean up yet ANOTHER mess. Tierney is such a mess-maker doing everyday things, painting at home is a huge chore for me. We still do it, but I admit, it's not very often. Anyway, it was nice that she could paint there as she was much more restrained in her mess making as a guest. That's why I really like the gardening tools she got for Christmas. She can play to her hearts content, get all dirty and since it is outside and in the garden -- no mess for me to clean up!

We just turned in the cover crop I had in our garden beds for the winter. Along with the compost I had applied a couple of months ago, the cover crop really helped to aerate the soil. I have been working on getting the clay soil balanced out with humus over the past few years. Our compost bin has really helped toward that goal. Tierney got kind of grossed out by the bugs and worms she kept finding, but I was ecstatic. I told her that "we want the worms and bugs! If they want to live in our soil, that means that the plants will want to, too!" I have peas growing up poles already and almost all of my seedlings have sprouted. I still need to do a few more seed starts, but plan on sowing some of the warmer weather crops. I figure that if anybody can just sow seed directly in the garden with success, it must be Californians.

The sky just got really dark and hail has begun to fall -- I've got to go show T the tiny balls of ice!

Life is getting so much more interesting

These girls are really becoming very expressive females. Tierney is really making some leaps in her reasoning ability and Juliana is beginning to toy with language. Tierney has always played "out loud," meaning that she is ALWAYS vocalizing what she is thinking. I'll be in another room and will hear her narrating her play. Today she was playing with her model dinosaurs, describing their different food preferences, whether they were friends with the trees or not, and telling them that biting her was not nice. She uses deep, booming voices for the larger dinosaurs and pretends that my hair claws are T-Rexes. I was doing some juicing and slicing vegetables when she asked me if she could help. I told her that I was using sharp knives and that it was a job for grown-ups. She told me "I am not big, I am small (puts her head down in sorrowful shame at her size). I will get bigger and bigger and when I am big, I can help you! Right now I am small and I can't reach (looks around the kitchen). I can't reach the mixer, I can't reach the bananas, I can't reach the carrots. I can't reach anything . . . I have a knife that's just my size! (digs in silverware drawer for her toddler knife). I gave her a toy carrot to slice :)

Juliana has entered a new stage this week. She's got the walking down and is now working on the talking. She is trying so hard to tell me what she's thinking. She is now signing "num-nums" for nursing and she signs "kitty" the same way that Tierney did -- by rubbing her fingers together (the way Mike and I do when we are calling Zoli over to us). When I don't give her what she wants, like my cell phone, she now really is starting to throw tantums. She arches her back and throws her head back. It's pretty violent and she has hurt me a couple of times. I have to really hold onto her so that she doesn't hurt herself! She is especially posessive of me and will not tolerate Tierney being in my lap AT ALL! If I am trying to read T a book before bed, J is instantly there, batting at T and crying "mama, mama." It's nice to be loved :)

We went up to Eric and Bobbie's to met them for a snow day with the Morrisseys. Unfortunately, the dry weather we've had this winter meant that we had to go almost all the way to Tahoe to get any sled-worthy snow. We had lots of fun and Tierney thought that eating snow was the greatest. I couldn't go three steps before she would throw herself down and put her face into the snow for a lick. With many-a-dog in attendance at the sno-park, we had a quick lesson on white snow versus yellow snow.
Juju is very adventurous with any sort of ride-on toy. I remember T taking a while to warm up to these things. She is also a climber -- oh, man, is she ever a climber.
Out to Victorian Tea with Nana on Juliana's birthday.
T finally wears the birthday crown I made for her.

She loved sledding with Daddy!We made the snowman she had been looking forward to all week.
Sharing Daddy's lap is a more peaceful event.