Friday, May 20, 2011

Funny Story Friday

For Mama's Day, my kids got interviewed. Here are a few of their adorable responses to questions posed.

What is mommy's favorite food? (William) Oatmeal, pancakes, raisins and grapes.
*Ha! I don't like the first 3 at all!! The last I will tolerate on a rare occasion, but the bursting of the grape in my mouth I do have issues with.

If mommy were an animal, what would she be? (William) A goat because they have horns that you can take off and blow into!

What is mommy's job? (Natalie) To take care of her kids. Mommy cooks food for us. She also makes people treat us nice. She doesn't want anyone to hurt us. She plays with us too.

What is mommy's job? (Lydia) To clean up and load the dishes. SOMETIMES to do the laundry. To organize and clean the table and play with us. Also, to bake cupcakes and cookies and play with me everyday.
*Ok, I love the truth in her SOMETIMES laundry. HA! That is me. Note the current button on my blog saying that I blog to avoid laundry. Actually, I am avoiding Mt. Bailey at this very moment!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

On expectations

In the past, Mother's Day was often an unpleasant day for me. It all stemmed from unmet expectations that were thought to have been expressed, but weren't. And to clarify, the expectations weren't even quite realized!

The day would arrive and some years my sweetie would need to make a mysterious store run the night before or morning of. Irritation crept in and well, once that happens I easily let the day be ruined. A few years ago, Ted and I sat down when time had passed from the day and I could communicate clearly. It was a good talk. We got to the heart of what I needed and this was even news to me. I told Ted what I'd love is for us to have a tradition and the one I picked was a zoo visit each Mother's Day. We've trekked to Portland, Seattle and this year Tacoma for a day at the zoo.

I love my 30's. In my 20's, I expected this poor man to read my mind and do just what I needed. If I had to ask for something, I let the blessing be robbed and instead would feel frustrated. Today, I am comfortable verbalizing my needs as a wife and mom. When those needs are met, I am blessed and grateful for a husband who's heart is to bless me. Ever since we had our mother's day expectations talk, I have felt so blessed and honored each year.

Ted does more than just take me to the zoo each year, but the extra is raspberries on top. (I don't like cherries.) What I'd like to encourage is women to verbalize their needs and CHOOSE to be blessed when what you express happens.

Mother's Day

This year, we spent a beautiful day at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, WA. We wanted to stay local and this gem has a special place in my heart being I once worked there.

It was a perfect day. There is nothing like me being with my family. I love it! I photographed them racing down hillsides and drin
king up sunshine. My heart is full, I just love being a mom. At dinner, Ted asked each of the kids to share something they were thankful for about me. Mid-way, I was in tears. From the mouth of babes..... nothing like it. Natalie gave thanks for how hard I work to take care of everyone. Will loves how I cuddle him. And Lydia likes to play with me. Thank you precious offspring for a day I will remember always. You are sunshine to my soul and I give thanks every day that I am blown away blessed to be your Mama.

The top picture is us outside the Zoo. Please n
ote: all 4 of my kiddos are present! One is just in utero still. Oh sweet one, I can hardly wait to hug you too!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Into the Wild You Shall Go!



DISCLAIMER: We have released butterflies into the wild, NOT our children. They are wild, but we are working to domesticate them.

For the last month, we have been housing caterpillars that transformed to chrysalis that are now butterflies. I was first going to say caring for, but really the caterpillars arrived in a sealed container complete with their own food so not a whole lot of care went into them the first 2 weeks.

We were amazed at how quickly the tiny caterpillar's fattened up and got hairy! It gave Natalie and I the wiggles to just imagine touching them. By t
he time they transformed to chrysalis, the entire bottom of the container was filled in caterpillar poo. Which, by the way, does have an odor. At least to prego nose here. Ted was kind enough to handle the transition of attaching them into the butterfly enclosure.




It is quite miraculous watching them emerge and become butterflies. There has been a lot of excitement in our dining room! Normally, we would have released them soon after, but this cool spring has delayed that. Today, however, is release day. These beauties only have a 2 week life cycle and so the clock is a ticking.


I would recommend this fun activity for all ages, with or with out kids. We found our discovery here: http://www.insectlore.com/

Friday, May 13, 2011

Funny Story Friday

I've never been "lucky" when it comes to winning things. At my senior prom, prizes were being given away left and right. A year membership to a local gym, a television/vcr combo (I'm dating myself now), a dorm size refrigerator, a year's supply of apple shampoo. Oh, did you catch that? A year's supply of apple shampoo and guess what? Yes, yours truly won that one. Ha! My date was gracious enough to go on stage and accept the 2 gallon jug with pump to attach for me.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

kiln dreaming

I have always loved pottery. I enjoy both throwing and hand building. I LOVE the sensation of clay oozing between my fingers and creating something from a heap of clay. I never know what I'm making until I get going, it seems with me the clay leads the way.

I've taken pottery classes before. Once I even took one with Ted. We were newly married and the Metro Parks District in Tacoma offered a night course on hand building. We signed up and had a blast! I will note, Ted did not care for hand building. The engineer in him yearns for symmetry and so the second week the instructor guided him to the wheel and there he found enjoyment. I was a tiny bit torn as I enjoyed hand building, but had always wanted to try the wheel. I didn't have the courage to ask the instructor, being an extreme rule follower, since after all the class was hand building. I later took a class on the wheel.

I made a lot of duds. That's the hard part about creating. You really do end up with a lot of "junk" that can leave the artist with a surplus of attempts. In writing, the "junk" fits nicely in a manila folder. Lots of written junk can fit into a manila folder. But pottery doesn't store away so easily. I threw away a couple bowls that were down right hideous. They were so heavily weighted that it was a work out to grab it from the cupboard for morning cereal. And then there was the adorable pear rattle. However, I had not wrapped the small balls inside in paper so they fired to the bottom. Thus, the result was a pear rattle with no rattle. I threw these things out and thought no more of them.

Sometime later, I visited Ted's office expanse, aka a tiny cubicle. Sitting on his top shelf were the bowls, "rattle" and other useless attempts I had done away with. I was flabbergasted. Apparently, he had dug them out of the garbage and wasn't fond of me throwing away such masterpieces. Ha! Yet, it blessed me then that he'd do such a thing and even more now that I reflect on it. This man is nuts about me and I about him. I am thankful for that.

So, finally, back to kiln dreaming. A few months back I saw an email for a free kiln and I jumped on it. To my surprise, I was the first responder. 2 weeks ago we brought it home and this summer I am going to work on firing it up. It's a little one, perfect for a beginner kiln owner like myself. In the meantime, I am dreaming of all the lovey's I can create with my kiddos.

Home Update

We are still in forward motion! The inspection has been completed and we've reached on agreement of what items need to be repaired and what items we will do ourselves. Our excitement grows and grows! If closing happens on time, we have 17 days to pack up! The kids are so excited to help pack and label boxes. What a different journey than just 2 short years ago when we moved and they were too small to really help. The next step is the appraisal which takes place later this week. For now a good mantra is just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. Just keep swimming. More updates to come....

Friday, May 6, 2011

Funny Story Friday #11

Last Saturday my main squeeze was helping a friend move and so the kids and I went on adventures. One of those adventures lead us to Lattin's Cider Mill off Rich Road in Olympia. This place has been a treasure and through pictures of past visits, we can see our kids growing up. Traditions are a beautiful thing!

Well, last Saturday turned out to be sunny! We loaded up with hot dogs, a shared fritter and of course some yummy cider. After filling our own bellies, we went to feed and say our greetings to the farm life.

Natalie enjoys peacocks as their feathers are quite amazing. The male was giving it his
all displaying
a
nd shaking his feathers to a female that couldn't have been more oblivious to his antics. She was starring at the ground which seemed to be more entertaining to her than the male displaying his heart out. As Nat and I stood there, she felt bad for him. "Ahhhh mom. Look at him. He's trying so hard to impress her." I agreed. After more observing, she concluded, "If I was a female I'd marry him mom."

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

13 - 10 = 3

We had 13 chickens and now we have 3. We needed to scale down our poultry operation or more accurately the poo in which 13 chickens creates. With our rental home on the market to be sold, calls for showings meant daily poo patrol. When we move to town, we will be able to have 3 hens, so we downsized the flock in preparation for what we believe is coming.

I am tickled beyond hysterics for the 2 awesome homes the birds went to. I couldn't have chosen better homesteads for them. 1 friend took 6 and the other 4 and now they are enjoying the farm fresh eggs we've come to love.

The chickens we kept are Harriet who is the only original we began this adventure with and our only layer hen that doesn't lay. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Lydia's hen who is a barred rock like Harriet. I actually saw them cuddling yesterday outside our patio door. Seriously, who knew chickens cuddled? The third is Lilly (pictured) who is just the sweetest egg layer, feathered friend there is.

We've really fallen in love with hens and I am thankful that at least for now our 'year with chickens' continues. Who knew one could get attached to chickens? So, here we are not exiting poultry just clearing out a surplus.

Monday, May 2, 2011

mutual acceptance

These 2 words were music to our ears last week. We found a home, made an offer and after 5 days of going back and forth with the seller, we reached on a price we both agreed upon. We are in the center ring of real estate circus now. Home inspection, appraisal and other hoops that can bring this hopeful process to a halt, BUT it feels so good to be moving forward. We are excited about this house!

The house is in town, but on .75 of an acre. The backyard is a wilderness, one my kids could easily transition to. We could keep our rabbit and 3 of our hens. There are neighbors, but none in view from the backyard. It is near a lake that we would have community access to and well the Bailey's are part fish so that pretty much rocks for us. The home is move in ready! Just what we need with baby 4 on the way. The home is in a great school district as my 2 elders will most likely be attending in the fall. And, did I mention the neighbors dog is named Bailey? Come on, how perfectly confusing could that be!?!?


God has been faithful in the entire process. I wish I could say the same for myself. Most times I am hopeful and trusting, but there have been days and even weeks that I've cried out to God asking what in the world is going on. He has grown me in this and for that I am thankful. HE has been faithful to bring our family to our hearts desire with each and every home and I am humbled reflecting on that today because we surely don't deserve it. All glory to God! I will keep the blog posted on how the fiery circus ring show goes. Either way, we trust in HE who always provides and always has our best in mind.