Hey Kari, what did you do this morning?

Motherhood, where turning your head for 2 minutes = 1+ hours of extra work.

(you are only seeing 1/2 of Annika's "art piece")

My big 4 year old

Happy Birthday Saben!

Its going to be a busy day tomorrow....

Random Pics

St Patrick's Day party
Mommy's clever idea to make up for lack of a bath tub

Cousin seth with Grandma

Cousin Seth with Great Grandma.

(apparently he only sits still & doesn't cry when people kiss his head)

mirror mirror

Oh the joy of having a bathroom mirror for the first time in 10 months. I almost forgot what I looked like. Our friend built us this mirror and it is absolutely gorgeous. It made my day to get it hung up today.

If you look on the bottom of the counter, you will notice my husband's dirty q-tip. Apparently he believes that just because I have not purchased a suitable trash container, he can just leave them willy-nilly on the counter as he pleases. It is super gross.

On another gross note, I was reading back in my blog from last year, trying to remember when we started our bathroom remodel and I noticed that I TALKED ABOUT POOP ALL THE TIME.

Thank you for sticking with me through the potty training phase, I was grossing myself out just reading what I wrote back then. Why on earth did I tell everyone that I used prune juice to make saben poop? And that it was messy to clean up? GROSS!

Speaking of which, we started Annika sitting on her potty seat this week and I'm really hoping, praying, begging for an easier time this go around. Otherwise watch out, this blog will be filled with poo again before you know it.

Some days, I feel inspired to run ahead of the parking ticket person (did they ever get a new name besides meter maid?) and stick a dime in each parking meter that is empty so no one gets a ticket.

On other days, I watch someone get a ticket from "The Interceptor" (the little parking meter car has this in big letters above the bumper) and silently cheer that some lazy good for nothing finally got what they deserved.

Other days, I get stuck behind a Sherwin Williams truck and wonder for the 100th time why anyone would want to cover the earth with paint, why does it look like blood and lastly, why on earth do they still use this slogan that is so weird, even if it is their original one from eons ago. Then again, it did cause me to give them free advertising on my blog. Brilliant.

From Sherwin Williams:

"Our historical logo is one of the most recognized company logos in existence. Created in the late 1800's, the logo's purpose was to represent the company's desire to help beautify and protect the buildings of the world. It was a symbol of a young company's enthusiasm, idealism and hope regarding its future and the possibility for achievement that hovered on the nation's horizon. Over the years our "Cover the Earth" logo has become a figurative emblem signifying integrity and service."

L-I-E

In the last couple of months, my son has become a quite proficient liar.

Did you hit annika?
No, she's screaming bloody murder because she hit her head.

Did you go potty?
Yes, I went two minutes ago. (funny how I didn't hear it and his pants are still zipped up...)

It started slowly with teeny lies and now we are up to 3-4 whoppers a day. I can usually tell when he is lying, but man....what to do.

I think I found a solution today, but I'm wondering what others have done....grandparents, parents, people who think they know exactly how they will parent someday.....

It's the whole catch 22
a) you're only 80-90% positive he is lying so its scary to just accuse him and go based on that.
b) if you get him to admit he is lying, and he tells the truth, how do you deal with punishment/rewards? Still needs a punishment for doing something wrong and lying about it, but on the other hand, a reward for finally telling the truth.

Argh. What have I gotten myself into? Can I just say this is 10x harder than training horses or dogs? : )

hand holding

I have always thought that if I were "rich", right after the live in housekeeper, I would want a personal shopper/stylist. Someone who knows my style and brings things for me to look at & pick to buy. My own personal curator.

Nothing makes me more miserable than a day of fruitlessly shopping - not seeing what I am looking for, or finding it but it being way out of my price range. Or post children, going out and having none of the styles looking familiar at all, let alone something I might actually wear. (embrace the leggings kari. you can do it!)

Anyways, I usually just give up and don't buy anything, especially when it comes to furnishing our house. So I was delighted when Orange Poppy volunteered to come up and help plan our basement colors, carpet, furnishings etc.

We spent a fun rainy saturday pouring over pictures, hitting up the fun stores here in town and she filled my head to bursting with fun ideas to give our space some character. While the husbands cared for cranky kids who wouldn't nap. Thank you husbands! I am so excited about what we have planned!

But then yesterday I went to pick the final carpet color and realized that somehow the neutral color I had planned did not match the rather neutral wall color we picked. (the gray carpet was too blue and the blue/green had too much yellow in it) And I wished she were back, full time, to hold my hand for the entire process.

Do I do a totally different carpet color? (beige instead of gray?) tweak the wall color? (but then it might look exactly like our bathroom we just did) Spend an extra $700 to get carpet in a better color? (we are buying dirt cheap carpet, so a slight step up isn't all bad...unless our basement floods again) Seriously, what is my problem? Why is this so hard? I guess that's why design centers exist - for people like me that get completely overwhelmed by all the choices.

Wish me luck and someday when we finish all this I'll post a photo tour. Still waiting for the bathroom towels I want to go on sale, then I'll post the bathroom tour...

Oh and I forgot to mention the 3 hours Kyle & I spent "thrifting" on Sunday. We came home with exactly one rather funny rabbit figurine for .99 and that was it. Obviously we need some training.

And now I've officially used up my boring rambling quota for at least 1 1/2 weeks. sorry about that. : )

Birthdays & food ramblings

We have entered the period of birthdays. Three of us in just 3 weeks.

Mine comes first and I had a lovely day celebrating last week. Kyle stayed home with the kids in the morning because Saben was sick and I was going to have to cancel plans to meet up with some friends. (awesome husband award) After enjoying a nice peaceful shower, I headed off for my birthday brunch/board meeting. Sounds boring maybe, but so nice to just hang out and not have the kids interrupting every 5 minutes.

While I was gone:

Saben: I need to get mommy her birthday present
Kyle: What do you want to get her?
Saben: one of those noisy things
Kyle: What? Where?
Saben: At the nursery
Kyle: Where is the nursery?
Saben: I know where it is...

Full of faith apparently, Kyle loaded the kids in the car and Saben directed him to the Garden Spot where we had seen some windchimes the week before.

Last time we were there, Saben had asked me to lift him up so he could rattle them (what exactly is the word used for "activating a wind chime" Chiming it? I know, TINKLE it. Much better.) After tinkling the chime, he asked me to buy one. Thinking it might be fun to have in the garden, I casually mentioned he could get me one for my birthday, never dreaming he would actually remember.... I can't wait to be even more strategic about this for mothers day, I had no idea it would actually work... hmmm.....

Saben picked out the giant $600 chime for me but settled for a cute little clay one (kyle forgot how violent our winds get, I'll have to be careful). Kyle got me a computer printer and annika "picked out" a little red flowered houseplant. : )

In the evening we went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant ever - Prospect Street Cafe. Whenever we go, we always ask the chef to do little tasting plates of whatever he feels like making. (Kyle knows the guy, he rides mt bikes when he's not cooking). They went all out for my birthday (we also had a gift certificate) and our meal went something like this:

Duck breast on a crispy wonton w/ hoison guacamole & mango salsa
A "BLS" sandwich - a scallop w/ bacon & shredded lettuce, sandwiched between two little crisp triangles of grilled bread
Shredded Potato pancake topped with horseradish cream, raw salmon & tuna and crispy leek shreds

Sea bass two ways - cooked on a bed of pureed potatoes & raw ceviche style (marinated in lime juice w/ serrano chiles)
Cold smoked pork loin medalions w/ maple apple shreds, a butternut squash ravioli and brown butter sage sauce
Duck breast slices w/ candied kumquats & kumquat sauce
NY Steak slices w/ risotto cakes stuffed w/ fontina
lamb chop w/ bean & goat cheese springroll (the springroll was much tastier than it sounds)

flourless chocolate cake dessert

It was incredible (yes, that's a 9 course meal) and I probably messed up some of the sauce/side combinations, so if Spencer finds this - sorry!

Every single bite is so fabulous, he cooks all his meats perfectly, has amazing textures in the sides, awesome sauces.... I never was a huge fan of raw fish, duck, or lamb and now those three are my absolute favorite. After tasting the steak compared to the lamb & duck, I almost wondered why anyone even bothers with steak. And I LOVE steak. (it was NY steak - not my favorite. Maybe a ribeye would have stood up to the lamb & duck) Last time we were there we had fois gras for the first time ever and I fell madly in love.... Then there was the green papaya salad, caviar...I could go on and on. Seriously, the only great perk of kyle owning the bike company is getting treated great by this guy. : )

Now I am scurrying to plan Saben's party next week...and finalize paint & carpet for our basement...and making green bread for st. paddy's day tomorrow. Phew.

Spiritual training

Saben: "Jesus dies and grows again, dies and grows again and dies and grows again! Over and over!"
Mommy: "Are you sure that's right?"
Saben: "That's what Mrs. Stevenson told us" (preschool teacher)


Saben: "In Chapel today (preschool) they had an egg. Each week until easter we open an egg and there is something inside about Jesus. The eggs today had teeny tiny things...like a donkey....and a metal cup that you drink beer out of!"

Mommy: "um.....do you mean a cup for drinking wine out of?" (he meant a communion cup I think)

Big questions

Saben has hit the "question stage" full stride lately. Here's just a sample of some of the things he's asked lately:

"mom, what's inside my tongue?"
"How do they make metal?"
"How do they get the metal out of the rocks?"
"What is the sky made of?"
"How do they make cars?"

Notice a definite theme about how things are made. Then yesterday we saw one of those big black beetles upsidedown waving his legs around. I tried to flip it over, but it just kept going upside down so I told him it was dying and was probably hurt.

Saben: "Mom, when I die, I don't want to lay on my back and wave my legs around"
Mom: "Don't worry, you won't do that Saben, that's just the bug"
Saben: "When will I die?"
Mommy: "When you are a lot older I hope"

This Morning

Saben: "Mommy, I don't want to die"

So we had a discussion about going to heaven when you die and how everyone will be in heaven with him when we all die because we love God, how God loves us, how no one will be mean anymore in heaven, yadda yadda.

Saben: "Will the chameleons be in heaven too?"

For some reason Saben always calls Aliens chameleons. Its so funny. So we had a big discussion about how we don't know if aliens actually exist, its just how we imagine creatures on other planets might look.

And then on to Revelations....

Saben: "Mommy, will we ever come back to earth after we go to heaven?"
"Will the old earth go away & be broken before God makes the new one?"
"How does God make the Earth? How does he make the sky? What is it made of?"

At this point I said I had no idea what the sky is made of and we'd have to look it up in a book or on the internet because its hard to remember how everything on earth is created or made. His very next question was:

"Mommy, I want to look on the internet to see how they make picture frames"

From God, heaven, death...to picture frames. Phew. We also touched on soldiers at this point, that's been an ongoing theme as well, trying to figure out why people fight eachother. It was funny because he was watching the superbowl with me and kept wanting to put them in "bad guy & good guy" categories. It was hard for him to understand it was just a game and both sides were good.

But seriously, my heart was bursting the entire time, I just love him so much and its so amazing to hear him asking all these questions. Listening to a child thoughtfully sort these things out is so beautiful and heartbreaking.

friendship

How to know you've got a great friend:

When your childless friends let you wash sheets with throw-up all over them in their washer & dryer. (because your washer & dryer were unhooked just 4 hours before you child decided to vomit all over her bed.)

When you friend loads the not-too-vomity but still yucky crib bumpers into the wash for you.

When your friend looks in her washer and see chunks inside that did not magically wash away and picks them all out herself instead of calling you over to do it. (and you feel like a complete moron for not shaking the sheets out somewhere before washing them)

When your seriously crazy friend also folds your kids clothes for you instead of just shoving them into the laundry bag.

Thanks Vale (and Abe), you are awesome!

Hailey

On Saturday we went down to meet lovely Miss Hailey. After a brief meeting, the uncles and grandpa managed to get Saben & Annika wound up completely out of control with plenty of screaming, laughing, yelling - luckily poor Hailey slept through the commotion. (The hyperness may have had something to do with the 2 hour car ride followed by milkshakes too)


We couldn't be more excited, it is so fun having babies around to cuddle! Shauna and Pete were beaming, despite lack of sleep and she was pumping out the aura of "wow, I did it, I delivered this gorgeous baby all by myself". I love the self confidence that comes with that sort of childbirth. (birthcenter, all natural, no complications. Read here if you want the full story.)

"Where's the baby Annika?"

"Eye"

Seth

I just realized I never put up some pictures I took a month ago of our nephew.... It was quite the photo shoot (my first one ever with the new camera on someone other than my kids). Seth had a few accidents on the bed because I forgot to tell them they could put his diaper back on and then I managed to take nearly the whole shoot on ISO 100 (we were indoors) by accident. Whoops. Lesson learned.

Still, Seth is adorable and defnitely a natural in front of the camera. : ) We had lots of fun.