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Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Hello ladies.




Meet Luke, Leia, Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Hedwig, Yoda, & Chewie




Seriously? Seriously.

Wanna guess who named the chickens?

A: Princess Leia





Friday, October 14, 2011

Kitchen counters. Before/after


Before: Boards were put down to create a work surface.







After: they were finished with a high sheen for a nice wet look. Turned out more "gray granite-y" and less "white with gray veins" then I had wanted. But they are beautiful, and who can argue with that. Who?



Quite the change. Right?

Do you see the dish dryer in the back? That is for baby bottles. Fake grass. Love it. We use it for everything except kid's stuff.

And the charming unfinished wall? It is screaming for some tile. Soon baby, soon.
We have a few projects on the list that rank a higher priority. (closets in the bedroom, perchance...or giant gaping hole in hallway...hum)

And today's post is brought to you by....




Elliot. (super excited to be able to rock some Princess Leia buns.) ( itty bitty little Leia buns)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

To judge and be judged.

Link to article I liked...I think I must like it be because the author's style...'cause I am not a runner....and I spent my final WEEKS of pregnancy whining loudly. I must identify with the writer's style, or general premise more than the CRAZY pregnant lady that is the subject. Whatev'. Just cut and paste the link.

http://www.moxiebird.com/2011/10/area-pregnant-woman-does-thing-gets-judged-for-it.html

Speaking of judging (which no one was, right?). I decided for concrete countertops. Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I will post pics soon. Very lovely results :)

Additonally, there will be a new (or 7 new) additions to our family. Tomorrow. Pictures to come. Elliot is very excited and we are namestorming like crazy monsters.....

Stay tuned!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Entry table. Dirty walls. & Defining space.

We found this nice entry table at Renewal, in Boise. One of those must-buy this-table moments. (ever get that feeling?)



Here it is the day before we started to paint the living room white. Do you notice the ugly dirty seafoamy walls? Can you even see the table with those dirty walls glaring at you?


We are considering painting the table gray...to match the china hutch, window sashes and 1 dining chair. You know. The gray I have painted Everything else!

All is still in process but it does feel nice to have a table defining some entry space. Espec a nice heavy wood piece. (can i get an amen for real wod furniture)

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Ugly lights have to go. Stat.

Dining room light was bad. It had to Go for a few reasons. It was broken, poorly installed, singed the ceiling. Oh so ugly.





Can you see in this terrible and unclear photo that some of the fake candle parts on this brassy masterpiece are tilted, cockeyed, broken and ugly?



If i turn off the light you can almost notice something else. Smoky black marks on the ceiling above each candle. That is safe, right?



Here is the new light (pic tis a week or so out of date)and a quick peek at how the main floor is progressing. Remember what it used to look like?

Here is a pic of move in week.





1) furniture is arranged and we are no longer in boxes. 2) living room wall is still horribly painted. Gag. 3) do you see my folding table/dining table? This has been replaced (happy birthday me). I had a vision of a big, thick, rustic farm table. Pics coming soon.

Let sleeping babies be

Henry's last day in an infant carseat.




Growing up a little more each day.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Preschool blues

First day of preschool for Elliot. We were a little nervous because she is just not a morning person.





I don't know. I think it went pretty well.




Friday, September 16, 2011

Kitchen update.

This is that kitchen about 2 weeks after the move.




Hi sad Henry.

The kitchen is coming along. Izaak framed in one of the doors into the kitchen. This was to create some wall space - in one small kitchen there were three doorways, a funny jut, and a window. No unbroken walls. Hard to plan the layout of a modern, updated kitchen.

Most of the cabinets were found Second Chance. A local reuse home store. Some other cabinets have to be custom made because of some odd dimensions. We canibalized supplies on hand and parts of another cabinet to do this. (did i mention this is on a wee little budget?) I am thankful that Izaak can do stuff like that. No sweat just throwing that together. Right honey?



Yes. I am cooking in this space.
Meals are being generated.



Still working on the kitchen. The next step is countertops, then wall tile. We have the opportunity to get cement countertops nearly at cost. It seems like a good way to go. Stylish but super tenant durable. Anyone have experience with these? Good idea, bad? Let me know what you think.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The real tragedy of today was not getting winded while going so fast on the bike (with kids in the back trailer) trying to get to the store to buy the thing on hold that i swore to Elliot she would have today...getting there 5 minutes before they closed...only to learn that they closed 10 minutes early (bummer moment for a 4 yr old).

Nor did the tragedy occur when my untied shoelace (hurry too much to stop and tie it) caught in the bike chain and my gracious dismount looked like a bike-kristen-pavement sandwich in front of no less than 6 other ladies and 2 sidewalk fixing gentlemen.







No. The real tragedy* occured when we got home and i started to get dressed to go out (finally) to an adult-centered dinner (finally).
I needed bandaids (triage, seriously) for my wounds. Bandaids options: My pick of star wars or toy story themed. My lovely summer dress and heals, a buzz lightyear elbow, and woody on my ankle. Not quite the vision of adultness i had been shooting for. Sad me.



*tragedy in the light hearted sense...clearly. Not meant comparitively to other pressing world matters.


Thursday, September 08, 2011

Moving down the block.

The end of July saw us move down a few blocks. A bit rushed and under planned. I found it too hard to pack with any sense of organization with 2 littles underfoot... And with Izaak out of town up until we moved.

To streamline and simplify our lives, we tore out the kitchen, bedroom closets and most of downstairs the day before getting a uhaul. Ha ha.




Really. We moved into a rental that had been treated very roughly by the last couple of tenants. It is a work in progress. Needs some tlc before going back on the rental market.

It is nearly impossible to tell. Yet, the pic in the upperleft corner is showing you the bottom of the ugliest fan ever, and seafoam colored sponge-painted walls. Terrible. The two pics on the right are of the kitchen. Dreamy, right?

Solid chaos for the first week or two. (right, Maia?) We lived with our stuff in two rooms upstairs while Izaak added flooring. A bit like camping. Camping without smores is nearly totally without appeal.


Henry is a climber and our stuff was stacked in towering towers of climbable fun. I spent hours corraling and pulling him off of shelves.

We transitioned from a tidy and tiny place...doubled our square footage (or more) but nearly all of it needed some work done.

Needless to say the kids were a little disoriented with the change of space and routine -but all is good now :)

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Elliot's lemonade stand.

Elliot has been desperate to have a lemonade stand, ever since we stopped at one earlier this summer.

We obliged and facilitated. With 2 looming and dark caveats.

#1) she had to make and sell her own products with as little adult help as we could get away with. NO store package of cookies or carton of Newman's limeade.

#2) she had to work and hustle her booth. Solo. Mama would not be an employee of the stand.

Hard work. And reward. She was also told that she could decide how to spend the money. If she works to earn, she can decide how to spend. (easy to say because we thought she only make a few dollars to blow on candy and a juice box)

Game on, sister.



She made an easy sugar cookie recipe that I found for her. Mama directed and did oven duty. But little lulu has moves in the kitchen. Colored sugar was the best part.

She spent a week posing with her table and chair to get the feel of free enterprise.

"do I look like a real lemonade stand girl, mom?". A thousand times a day.

She also used cloth napkins to practise picking up cookies with touching with her fingers. Because that is a gross violation of safe food handling.




Oh. And sister hustled. She sang charming ditties. She flagged over cars and blocked in oncoming bikers and runners. She upsold and made package deals for bulk buyers.

She also gave her mean face to cars that raced by without pausing.

She worked in the sun for hours until a gallon of pink lemonade and 2 dozen cookies found new homes.

And the financial rewards? What pittance did she scrounge together for a trip to the candy store? Oh you wonder.

She made more than I made at my first job. Nearly $10 an hour. Candy store plans got scrubbed because there were some Star Wars action figures just calling to her. Luke now has all his buddies...and a Darth Vader to boot.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Yee Haw. Henry is 1.

Cupcakes for breakfast, served with a bib from Grandma. Day is off to a lovely start. Happy birthday, darling boy.



Nothing like a old western theme party to get the creative juices going. Saddles, lassos and chaps. Oh my!



So nice to have a handy hubby around. When I say tepee, he says how big. Perfect. Elliot got a chance to wear her dad's hand-me-down chaps. Henry wears baby Izaak's little ol'vest.
































Asking Izaak to take pictures results in a lot of him...with guests. That's just fine, honey. But none of the cute cake I made. Not a one.






























And way late into the night. The sun itself already asleep for hours. Another son has set for the night.




Wednesday, June 15, 2011

How to make me think that you are not as cool as you probably think you are.

Just throwing this out there.  But does anyone agree with me that Red coupes with spoilers and after market mufflers are not automatically awesome (or sexy cars)? 
I'll say that there are red coupes with spoilers that lovely to gaze upon.  But that is because they are exotic or luxury vehicles.
Taking any ol'dodge neon or ford focus or (heaven forbid) a honda civic and tricking it out and then rumbling past me on the freeway does not make you look cool. period.

Cutting me off on the freeway and giving me a so cool tilted-head-nod-thing in your red-coupe-with stupid big-spoiler-tricked-out-honda-civic-that sounds strangely rumbly?

 I think you look silly. 
There.  I said it.     

Friday, June 03, 2011

Congratulations o Husband of mine.

Sure, I am a couple of weeks belated.  BUT the sentiment has not faded. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO IZAAK!!!

He did the nearly impossible (or at least fairly complex task) and completed his college degree.  Yah!  go graduate! 

For those that didn't know....Izaak started back at BSU in January 2009  as a nearly 29 year old college freshmen. He went full-time year-round and as of May 2011 he finished!!!  Yippee. 

And Yippee to me. (huh?) You know that iconic image of a poor college student surviving on top raman, coffee, and cheez whiz?  Right?  Now add a wife (me) and two children.  Yippee that this phase of life is past (until grad school, but that is another story).  Note: being a college student is much easier when done at 18 with no independents (my version) rather than at 30 with a family (Izaak's version).   However, we have had fun on this ride and are the better for it

AND the end is the same.  HE is oh so educated now!!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

And being peed on got me in a tither.

In an  unscientific use of statistics I would say that we have used cloth diapers 98% of the time with Elliot and Henry. 2% of the time we are traveling or have a broken washer (or no washer) and use disposables. Currently we are away from home staying with family…and have been using disposables full time.

My summary of how I like it. 0%.


Cloth Diapers. After the initial cost outlay they only require an extra load of wash every other day or so. Done. Finito.

Disposables. Other than the paper crinkle sound that I don’t like. And a funny chemical baby powder smell that I ignore. Well I have been peed on twice this week. IN. PUBLIC. By a fully dressed, paper diaper wearing Henry. After I spend $20 on a box of convenient diapers labeled “for little movers” . PEED ON 2 TIMES! IN. PUBLIC. That, in economicspeak, is a poor return on my investment.

How many times have I been peed on by a baby in cloth? ZERO TIMES.

So, to anyone who ever told us that cloth diapers are unhygienic and gross (or thought it secretly in thier head but was too polite to say it outloud, even though your face grimaces and we totally know who you are)  well guess what?  

gross = poop and wiping.

The type of diaper you use doesn’t change poop and wiping. But the type of diaper you use impacts your experience of walking through a mall with a huge urine spot on your shirt (say, all down your back if baby was sitting in an Ergo when he offended).

Huge urine spot on shirt of an adult = unhygienic and gross.

Monday, May 09, 2011

Link Around the Town

Well.  Since I have given myself NO time to update the blog - YET I have had plenty of time to stay updated on everything else that I like to read (funny how that works out)  I have a list of links to share with you.

And I promise that as soon as the new power cord to the "big laptop" is purchased and I update my photos then I will excite and entertain you with the adventures we have been having. (We learned last week that you cannot use Radio Shack pieces and electrical tape to hobble together a suicidal cable forever.  Sometimes, even with TLC and frugal desperation, these things DIE).

LINKS:

Tina Fey's Prayer for a Daughter :  Amen Mama Fey.  My aunt tipped me off to Mila's daydream (and her bored? mama). You can see Where Children Sleep.  It sort of reminds me of one of my favorite books that I own Material World.  You can read more about that project at the NOVA site.  On a lighter, sillier, and more worldly note - you can check out CatalogLiving.  Basically, a very silly person has scanned in photos from catalogs (mostly pottery barn) and writes captions highlighting the unrealistic staging of catalog houses. 

Friday, April 15, 2011

Henry and my Anne Sullivan moment

I am getting my morning manna coffee and I hear a squishy squishy sound.  Henry, sitting on my hip, has taken his hand out of his (teething drooling) mouth.  It is drippy wet. Squish squish.  His little fist is pumping.  Thumb up in the air.  Squish squish. 

“Henry” He looks at me, smiley toothy grin.  I make the same fist pumping motion back up him. 
He erupts in monkey noises.  Ooo-eee-hehehe.   Bouncing on my hip.  Okay.  The coffee can wait (not really, I'll just bring it with me).  

What just happened?  Henry is hungry.  And for the first time in 7 months is asking for me to feed him.
  

He is a caveman.  Ugh, what is this magical flame I have just found.  Lo, I have made fire. I am so clever.

I am Anne Sullivan:  Yes Yes Henry. It is water.  Waaaa-ttteer.  Water.  (No.  Yep.  I know that it’s water.  I’ve been trying to tell you that for months now.)

Breakthrough. 

We did baby signs on our 1st lap through parenting (with Elliot).  Not terribly purposeful before solid foods (“cookie” sign is a hard sell to a 3 month old baby)  BUT we loved that she could communicate with us more easily when she was first learning how to talk.  It was a way of supplementing her early and pre-linga skills.  Maybe we averted some toddler frustration because of it.  I don’t know.  Elliot was just so chill that not much rattled her with or without sign language.   

We liked signs because she could talk when her mouth was full.  Because I could prompt her to say thank you from across the room without anyone noticing (or without me yelling).  It was a nice tool in our parenting batman belts. 

(I also think that it aided her language acquisition.  But I will let others write articles about research in that area.  My population sample size (of 1) is not sufficient to comment)

AND.  That brings us to this morning.  Henry finally got it.  And by the time I sat down to type this post – He had asked to nurse 3 TIMES in 20 minutes.  Because he can.  Because he is like a caveman and invented fire and wants to keep lighting fires.  And I keep feeding him because I am Anne Sullivan – sign language teacher to babies (well.  Really.  Sign language teacher to my  babies…and only about 15-20 signs.  But still - I’m cool.)  

Thursday, April 14, 2011

That is so my Elliot

Here is a video that Izaak took of sneaking into Elliot's bedroom in the middle of the night.  Seriously it was after midnight.  four and a half hours after she had gone to bed. 

Unbeknownst to us (at least until the sneaking into her room with a video happened) she was awake 'doing her lessons' in bed with a notebook, a crayon, and a flashlight.  She is three.  She doesn' t have any lessons.



Tuesday, April 12, 2011

anyone keeping a tally?

law school
1 more waitlist.
1 no
1 invitation to summer semester to compete for a seat.

2 schools still quiet.

and 1 family in minor crisis over the decisions looming:
 to move to Florida. Wait, do we even want to leave Boise? We do like it here, oddly enough.  and Florida is a 52 hour drive away. 

to change grad programs?  Oh, my lands, that the LSATs were for naught.

to buy an airstream and forgo all notions of stability and adulthood...just tooling around the open road in search of contentment.

Ahh.  decisions to decide.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Books for extremists

Well.  thanks to our local library sale we are all stocked up on random books.  We love the spring warehouse sale.  $9 for a bag of books.  We pack 'em in and load it up. 

I spent a bit of time at the section labeled women's studies. Which, being of the female persuasion, seemed like a good place to look for books.   Do you wonder if there was a table labeled man's studies?    Well, no.  There was not.  Men don't seem to be as prolific of writers about their sex as women are.  AND because there would probably be lots of inappropriate things at their table.  And, its a family event. 

Any one still with me?  No.  Okay I'll keep talking anyway.

I walked away with 2 books.  Both wildly biased and bossy.  I had a hare brained idea to read a staunchly feminist book.  And an anti-feminism book. At the same time.  And compare.   

I don't know how I think of these wild and crazy ideas.  I must be fun like that. 

To summarize.  I was humored and insulted by the radicalness of both books.   Not consistently humored or insulted.  Just sporadically.  Does that mean that I am not a good feminist?   Because I don't necessary identify with the dish they are serving (read: sahm).  But.  I am a terrible unfeminist also.  I am just riding a fence and thinking the grasses on both sides of the fence are colored crazy. 

But maybe that is the way it goes with causes that people are willing to fight for.   Causes make people crazy and nearly unrelateable to everyone who isn't quite on the same page. (*cough* pro home birth *cough* pro vegetarianism *cough*)

What are some of your causes?  Anyone willing to share? 

Friday, April 08, 2011

um.

I really blanked on a post title.  There is a space for one.  But sometimes a post doesn't need one.  Or, doesn't easily have one.  Or, (which is more true) I can't think of anything snappy enough.  Like Henry standing at window  sounds lame.  Even though that is totally what this post is about. 
Yep. 
So here is a good title: Here is Kristen, yet again, showing off her kids and attempting to make you wildly envious. 

I just was wishing that I could make that sound catchier. 

Without further ado.  My amazing son.



walk into bedroom to find the littlest man looking out the window.


This guy is always happy to see his mama


close up on the FATTEST BABY FOOT EVER.  seriously.  They barely make socks to fit those sausages...let alone shoes.



one-handed show off

close up of his cute face (and yummy elbow dimples)


Something exciting must be happening outside.

Hey. Henry.  Say hi to your mother for me.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

yah. It's been a while. I hear you.

Four short weeks ago, I was awed like a mom at the little inchworm who was learning to just barely drag himself 3 body lengths. 

Yaw. 

He figured that out real quite.  Drag-Crawl-Pull up-Furniture walking (OK just barely).  We are rocking through the milestones.  Rockin'  in Boise. Got that?

Hey btw.  Annie.  Did that feeder get fixed?  I fiddled with buttons and drop down menus.  I swear.  But the back pages of blogger are a crazy-jungle-labyrinth. 

I have photos...I will upload photos...tonight?  perhaps.

I will try and be better about updating the site.  Because I am backlogging in my head on funny things to overshare with everyone. 

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Ballet continues to thrill us

Caption (from top left clockwise) Elliot and someone else, Elliot and other people, Elliot stretching, Elliot and some other girls.


Also, I learned (the hard way) today that Henry's hit myself on the with a maraca cry is almost identical to his finger stuck in the handle of a Tonka truck cry.  But both of these cries are different than his boxed myself into a corner and don't know how to turn around so I am totally frustrated cry. 

Silly baby boy. 

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Quick funny

Izaak clipped this from our local paper.  It's been on our fridge all month and thought I'd share it.  The juvenile in me likes to snicker at this ad everytime I go to open the fridge.

The cheapskate in me was like:
Wha-at?  25 bones for stupid ole spaghetti and no host bar!  rhah-diculous.

Monday, March 07, 2011

Lesson in opposites and the ever incredible Inchworm



The Inchworm goes
 





 

Up. Down.


Cutest little play romper, right? A shout out of thanks to my Aunt Pam. I can't believe that it fits him already.







Happy.  Sad. 



It is frustrating when you put in a lot of effort and don't hardly move at all.  You should have heard his sound effects.  The wind up purr, the growl, the howl of frustration. But he tries.  Oh boy, does he try. 


Hello mama.  *Muah*




 

Bye Bye baby

Can you picture me sadly waving as his little tush scoots past me?



 

My Girl.  My Boy. 

Do you see that stream of drool off Henry's chin?!?  That is what we are living with.  Crazy wet baby kisses. 



And that folks is your lesson in opposites for today.  Thank you for your rapt attention.  Please stay tuned for all of the other interesting stuff that you could learn here. 

Boise Over and Out

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