A Peek at the First Couple Weeks of School

Peanut and I have had a couple of dog check-ins with these two pups. Sophie, the smaller one, loves to play hide-and-seek and we've got her pretty well trained. She's awesome (and Brinkley, after 4+ years of us visiting, still won't come near us voluntarily, haha.)

This one spends a lot of time on homework now, although he also spends a lot of time getting sidetracked and diving deep into things that really aren't required. But the love of learning never stops.

Peanut and I took our read-aloud to the pool. Might be my new favorite spot to read.

Bob is coming along nicely!

We fit in an evening swim with dinner at the pool one night. Probably should have let Bug stay home to get started on his homework, but it was just too nice out.

I got out for an early morning walk, which I haven't been doing much of this summer, and was blown away by all the wildflowers down by our creek, which still has water in it! Unheard of at this time of year. It's really beautiful to see what a wet winter can do for our state. Maybe not quite as wet as last year, but it has made for some different plants popping up, or lasting longer than normal.

Peanut started LAC again--practices two time a week and he says he might do a couple swim meets this year. We'll cross our fingers that he's at least willing to give it a try. But I'm glad he gets the swimming time either way.

School water polo started again. Bug is a captain this year and trying to do everything he can to improve the team. He started a lunchtime club last year that meets one day a week to go over different rules and plays and just help the kids learn the game a little better. They're going to film the games this year and watch some of the footage, too.

First game could have been worse (and would have been if Amador hadn't pulled way back after being up like 15-2). 2 of those 7 goals were Bug. Our team just doesn't have the coaching to dig them out of this history of losing badly to most of the teams in the league (and our league happens to have a lot of REALLY good players in it--the ones who are going on to play D1 polo in college at some of the top schools in the country.)

Love seeing these cute moments with all the animals cuddled up in one part of the cage. I spent 3 hours doing a deep clean on the cage that morning and I think they were all so excited to snuggle into the fresh bedding downstairs in their stink-free cage. I love animals, but sometimes wish we had outdoor pets without cages to clean. Not sure what that would even look like, haha.

And finally, I'll end with this awesome burger that Peanut made for us the other night. He gets a monthly cooking kit and these burgers and drink were from a couple of his kits. He was actually testing out the recipe so he can make it again in a few weeks for some friends he wants to have over. I can't wait for him to be able to take over a night every week all on his own.

We've had some other fun these past weeks, but I'll give those days their own posts.

My New Career

26. That is how many times separate trips I made yesterday in the car. 5 of those were errands I did because Bug was in an ice skating class for 1.5 hours and it's too far away to be worth going home, 4 were for my doggy jobs, but the rest were driving the kids to and from all the places they needed to be yesterday. No wonder why I feel like a taxi or shuttle service.

It did make me feel a little better once I added it all up because I've been feeling really unproductive lately, and like I'm hardly ever home. Seeing that number validated both those feelings. My productivity is pretty much all focused on driving from one place to another, and I AM never home. Sometimes I get to stop by the house between trips, but yesterday, my longest stretch at home was less than an hour, until 7:40 p.m. when I finally was done taxiing people around (thank goodness we right up the street from the church so the kids are able to come home from those activities on their own.) Makes it hard to do all the little things, like folding laundry, cooking, and doing dishes.

I don't know how people with more kids do it.

Random Bits of Life

I love my early morning walks, even if it has been getting darker and darker as the weeks go on. Anytime I can sneak out for a walk near sunrise or sunset, the sky is pretty amazing, and those walks at the beginning of the day are what keep me going. I need that time to myself before I enter the fray.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but we got our first rain of the season. It was warm out, which reminded us of a southern rainstorm, even if there wasn't any lightening, and it only came down hard for a couple minutes. The boys ran outside to enjoy the short storm.

Peanut lost another tooth--that's 6 so far--and once again proved to be the easiest tooth-loser of our three. He started complaining that it hurt to bite into his dinner that night, but I didn't think the tooth felt quite wiggly enough to pull out. Two hours later, while brushing his teeth, he spit into the sink and the tooth came right out. So quick and drama-free.

As I was running out the door to pick up Bean one afternoon, I gave the boys a fun writing challenge  from the 7 Day Writing Blitz through Brave Writer. Create words out of unusual writing tools. This is what I came home to:

Warning signs written on the kitchen floor in ketchup. Points for creativity, for sure.

Science class is going well, even if some kids don't seem as focused as others, haha. But I'd say at least half of them are actually learning a lot, and the others still seem to be enjoying it (and hopefully picking up a little of the actual science.) I am loving the challenge of finding age appropriate activities to bring the topics to life and spark an interest in something scientific.

This weekend was the General Conference for our church, which means 10 hours of speakers and music. This year also brought the monumental announcement of our weekly church service being reduced to 2 hours in order to give families more time to study and grow together at home. Maybe it's the homeschooler in me, but I am overjoyed. I've been hearing rumors about 2 hour church for most of my life, and have been anxiously waiting for the day. It came too late for me and my babies to enjoy at the time it would have been most helpful, but it's still a nice change. And I love the focus on teaching at home--we've been joking about homeschool church for awhile now.

Daddy-o got home from his mission reunion this morning. It was a fast trip, but he got to see his mission president, some of the missionaries he served with, including one of his best friends, as well as his brother and his family, so not bad for 36 hours. And our kids are finally old enough that it really isn't a huge hardship for me when he's gone. We miss him, but life carries on.

A Day Off

Bug went to work with Daddy-o today, and with the other two in school this year, that meant I had almost 6 hours in a row(!) to take care of my stuff, without kid interruptions, without staying home from any fun family activities. I haven't had a day like this since we moved here.

And what did I discover? I need a lot more than 6 hours to catch up with everything, haha. I kind of already knew that as I was making my list of things I could do today. It had about 20 different things on it, and that was a conservative list compared to what was running through my head.

Of course, everything took longer than I hoped, but I did take care of a few emails, scheduled a few things like field trips and dr. appointments, worked on the next two weeks of the science class I'm teaching this year (more on that later when I manage to catch up on blogging, which did NOT occur today), ate 2 meals in peace, did four loads of laundry, and took a walk. And then I had the rest of the afternoon with Peanut for a mama date to get ice cream and go to the STEM class at the library (and tackle a couple errands as well, which he didn't mind too much.)

I didn't get any laundry folded (and just added four more loads to the pile, haha), or cleaning or organizing done; I have a dozen blog posts I want to write with hundreds of pictures to go through and had hoped to have some time for reading and/or watching a tv show, but those things will have to be squeezed in on a normal day. I wonder if I my kids were all in school every day, if I would ever feel "caught up". I kind of doubt it (and am sure plenty of people who do have their kids gone all day every day could confirm that.)

But I'm grateful for what felt like a break and a chance to tackle some of the things that are always racing through my mind throughout the day.

Summer Days

Summer has mostly felt busy, which it always does during swim season, but Monday was our first day of no swim practice and we had a pretty classic lazy summer day. I didn't even take any pictures to document it.

We had a slow start to the morning,

did a little reading,

made some Ooblek,

biked to the library,

checked out a game (I LOVE that our library has games and toys to check out),

made popcorn and played a round of Rummikub,

did some more reading,

ate dinner outside, 

and finished the night off with a little ice cream.

There were still little fights, and crying kids, and messes to clean up, and too late of bedtimes, but all in all, it was a perfect summer day.

The Quirky Things That Make Them Them

Want to know why Peanut, who 24 hours ago swore he hated bell peppers, has exactly 16 bell pepper slices to go with his lunch? Because Bug ate 16 for dinner the night before and Peanut wants to beat him in the superhero Olympics tonight, which requires bell pepper since they give him super powers. I'm just glad he's eating them again.

This contraption kept us at the Livermore Innovation Fair for an extra 30 minutes as we waited for them to open it back up for demonstrations because once Bug saw it, he couldn't leave without getting to try it. It was pretty cool how the pegs are lined up to play the cymbol and drums as the wheels on the cart turn, but we were all very ready for lunch by the time he discovered this.

This girl, who turns 14 next week, cannot get enough play time. I'm so glad that she loves to have fun and hasn't decided she's too cool for us, or running around with friends of all ages at a playground or museum or wherever. She's got an infectious excitement for life.

10 Things I've Learned Living in the South

1. That we really can get used to anything. If you'd told me that first summer that I was going to not only get used to the hot, humid summers, but actually embrace them and get a little excited at that first feeling of tropical swamp when I step outside in the morning, I would have laughed. Sure, it's not fun to run in, or do yard work, but it makes hanging out at the pool pretty nice, and we don't need sweatshirts to go out in the evening.

2. There really are differences in food culture. BBQ and coleslaw are both better with a vinegar base. I'm a convert. And while we're at it, fried pickles are amazing. And they really do eat a lot of grits, and mac'n'cheese in the south.

3. As a group, Southern people really are more friendly. Yes, there are nice people everywhere, and we have had neighbors in other states who we got to know a little, but in the south, it's the majority, not a special few. People really do sit on their porches, they wave when they drive by, and say hi when out walking the dogs. In stores, its not unusual to chat with the people around you. There's a very neighborly feel to things.

4. Spring is the most incredible time of year. I've always been a summer fan, but that's because we didn't really have seasons in California, and summer was more like spring everywhere else. But spring in the south is it's own kind of special. It feels like everything bursts into bloom, one right after another--Bradford Pears, Dogwoods, Azaleas, and Crepe Myrtles. And even though winter isn't harsh, it's just enough to really appreciate how gorgeous all the flowers and green are.

5. There is an endless supply of new insects to discover, and some of them are REALLY big.

6. While I will always love west coast beaches, the Atlantic is so much more family friendly. The water gets warm, the waves are small, and the beaches are flat so you can wade out for a long way in shallow water. Our kids have been completely spoiled getting to spend their vacations at the beaches in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

7. When you can easily get to another state in 2 or 3 hours, and major cities aren't all that far from one another, many people consider 5 or 6 hours a full day of driving. Growing up where we would drive 8 hours and still be in the same state, we had to be road warriors and have driven many 12 hour days. Splitting an 8 hour day seems crazy, but plenty of people out here do it.

8. Neighborhood summer swim leagues are so fun! We didn't have these where I grew up (maybe had something to do with the fact that I'm pretty sure there was only one neighborhood with a community pool and we didn't live in it. And that may have been because the average high in June is 71 degrees.) But this has been one of our favorite things about where we live now.

9. Friends can become your family. Even though we'd never lived really close to most of our family, moving across the country from everyone really made it hard to see people these last 8 years. But, in the absence of family to spend holidays and long weekends with, we created traditions with our friends. Thanksgiving with a bunch of neighbors, birthdays and holiday cookouts or dinners with friends--we've had a lot of love and support over the years from people who feel a lot like family. And while we may be happy to be moving closer to family, we're going to miss all our friends as much as we've missed our family.

10. You can bloom where you're planted, wherever that may be. When we moved out here, three of us had never been to the state of NC, and Daddy-o had only spent one weekend in Charlotte, interviewing with Bank of America. Our knowledge of our new home city/state was pretty limited--I was expecting a SF-type city, since Charlotte's population is similar, and was a little underwhelmed by the few blocks of Uptown as we drove into the city. We knew a couple other families who were moving out here at the same time from the same MBA program, but otherwise had no connections to anyone for several hours in any direction. We had no idea what we getting ourselves into.

And then, we began to explore. We discovered all of the history that we'd only read about, fell in love with the beautiful natural habitats that are so different from the west coast, and started making friends. We created a community, from church, our neighborhood, preschool, and later, our charter school. We took vacations to explore all these new areas we had access to and fell in love with a new place every time. Charlotte became home incredibly quickly and has been just the right place for our family these last 8 years.

Bitter-Sweet

We've always suspected that this day would come, but there was a part of me that hoped it wouldn't because change is hard, and life has been good.

After almost 8 1/2 years in Charlotte, we're moving back to CA.

It's a good move, for good reasons. Daddy-o gets to make a career change and has an opportunity waiting for him that sounds like his dream job, running a conglomerate of small family businesses. We get to live within a day's drive of all of our siblings and parents (some are a long day, but still way closer than the other side of the country) and will see so much more of them. We will be living about 30 minutes from where I grew up, where I still have friends from high school, where there are so many places I love. We will be closer to the coast, to beaches, to big mountains, to good snowboarding, to where they grow almost every food imaginable. It really is a good thing.

But I am so sad.

I have loved living here. This is our family home. We moved around so much the first few years of our marriage, and those first few years with babies and business school were so stressful and exhausting, but then, we came here, and we were at a good spot and I have so many positive associations with living here (and I think I've totally blocked out the 8 months of awful that were my pregnancy here). It hasn't been perfect, but it has been amazing.

This is the only place our kids really remember as home. This is where all their friends are. We're in a good place with school these days, we have a beautiful home we love, we have lots of traditions and places we visit and places we still have made it to. Life is good here and having to say goodbye to all of this is going to be awful.

The problem is having our hearts attached to more than one place, especially when they are 2700 miles apart. Wherever we are, we're missing something. We have roots where we grew up, roots in San Diego, and some pretty solid roots in Charlotte that are going to hurt when we pull them up.

Every day, as I walk away from the school after dropping Peanut off, I have tears in my eyes because I am so sad to leave behind this community of people who have been so supportive of our kids. Every time I hear the kids laughing with their friends and watch them playing some elaborate, complicated game they have invented, speaking their own language (sometimes literally), I wonder if they will find the same types of friends again. I walk the dog, saying hi to the same fellow dog walkers I have seen regularly for years now, and miss them already. When we got an offer on our house, and I am grateful it happened so quickly, part of me wanted to turn it down because I am jealous that this new family is going to get to live in this house that we love. It's hard to imagine that there won't be any more trips to warm beaches, or Charleston, or Savannah, or our favorite apple orchard in the fall. Even thinking that I won't ever see my favorite cashiers at Trader Joes, or farmer at Latta Plantation makes me sad.

But I am grateful that we have lived somewhere we have loved so completely. We've had amazing experiences, made life-long friends, learned incredible lessons and we get to take all the memories with us. And I know we have new adventures waiting for us. We'll make new traditions, find new favorite places, and make new friends. It's just hard to embrace change.

Resolving To Be Late

A couple weeks ago, Daddy-o and I were talking about what change(s) we could make that would help our family. The atmosphere in our house has been leaning towards frantic hysteria all around and we've all been a lot more frustrated/angry/sad/annoyed/crazy than any of us would like.

What we came up with: a New Year's resolution to be late. Thinking through our day, our most difficult times are when we are trying to go somewhere--to school, to church, to visit friend, to bed--it doesn't really matter where. Having a deadline of when some transition needs to be complete leads to crying and yelling more often than not and while there may be many parts to this equation, the one that seems to be easiest to change is how we, as the adults, are looking at it.

I like to be on time. So does Daddy-o. Before we had kids, we were pretty much never late to anything. And even with kids, we are not habitually late--I have in my mind a time we need to leave about 10 minutes before our actual time, and so even most of our "late" days, we still make it where we need to go just before the start. But the cost of being on time might be too much. I know that for me, the obligation that I feel to meet the time deadline, even if it's just for bedtime, overwhelms everything else and is the most important thing at that moment. And that might seem like a responsible thing, but when it involves other people, who I am only able to semi-control, it makes me act a little crazy.

The other day, as I was trying to rush everyone out the door for school, and getting really annoyed that the kids didn't seem to understand my urgency and were getting ready in their typical lackadaisical manner, it hit me that I send them off with a bad taste in their mouths pretty much every day. When they leave our house, usually they know that I'm frustrated with them. Even if it's one of our better days, I've interrupted conversations and laughter at the breakfast table to tell them to hurry up and I've rushed and pushed to get them out the door on time. Is this really the feeling I want them to have after family time?

So, it might be a little weird to make a goal to be late, and I'm not actually planning on trying to be late, but I am going to try to let go of the need to make being on time the most important thing. I'm pretty sure that my kids knowing that I love them and that I enjoy my time with them right before I drop them off for a day at school is the most important thing I can do during those last few minutes of transition. Giving them one last hug and kiss, and actually meaning it, before I turn of their lights at night will probably shape their health more than those extra 5 minutes of sleep. Having a general sense of calm and happiness in our home is going to do more for our experience as a family than what is happening wherever we are going.

If getting everyone up with plenty of time to get ready and offering a gentle countdown of how much time is left isn't enough, then we just might be late.

Black Cats or Broken Mirrors

I don't know if someone in our family crossed paths with a black cat or something else to bring on the crazy bad luck we've been having, but it's been quite the expensive couple weeks. Home repairs, car repairs, and people repairs are all necessary now.

Week one, Peanut hit Daddy-o with his head under the chin so hard that it cracked one of Daddy-o's teeth.

Less than 24 hours later, the transmission died on our van, which led to a one-car week, and then two more trips to the repair shop for subsequent issues.

Bug twisted his ankle at school somewhere in there, and then kept having problems with it in soccer.

Week two ended with a crazy half hour--Daddy-o stepped on a rusty nail while mowing the lawn, and then 5 minutes later, Bean slammed her finger in the door, recovered pretty quickly, but turned right around and cut herself with a pocket knife. Apparently between looking at the hole in Daddy-o's foot, and her own cut, she couldn't handle it, fainted, and cracked her tooth on the kitchen floor when she hit the ground.

As if the van and teeth repairs aren't enough, our dishwasher is finally giving out. It's been struggling for awhile, but I don't think we're going to be able to put off replacing it much longer. And unlike the microwave, which we've gotten along without for about 8 months now, I don't think we want to try life without a dishwasher.

We've really had to remember to be grateful for all the things that aren't going wrong. We're all alive and fairly healthy (other than the teeth). I got a clean-bill-of-health from the dermatologist after a few skin biopsies (and it had been years since I'd been in, so with my family history of skin cancer and my personal history of lots of time in the sun, that was kind of a big deal). As of his recent well-check. Peanut is solidly on the weight growth curve (between 10-25% for the first time since birth!) Everyone is doing well in school (I got to hear lots of nice things about all three of my kids this week at parent/teacher conferences). Things could certainly be worse (but I really hope the bad-luck streak is finally over.)

Random Summer Moments

Trying out new hair.

  

Earning a little extra cash selling cookies at the neighbor's lemonade stand.

 

Exploring ridiculously large bedrooms in model homes.

 

Playing games as a family and almost making it through without tears.

Partying it up, drumming on random surfaces with the most awesome hippie guitar player.

 

 

 

Crafting away, and loving on those crafts.

RAK

Peanut and I were the recipients of a little Random Act of Kindness today coming out of the grocery store. As we were returning our cart, a woman and her toddler who I had noticed at the checkout area stopped us and the woman handed me a package of Play-Doh. She told me she wanted to give Peanut a little Easter present because she had bought a bunch of stuff for her son and wanted to share some.

My first thought was How incredibly nice! I can't believe someone would do that! I thanked her profusely and Peanut was grinning as I handed it to him, so I knew she saw our gratitude, but then, as we walked off in opposite directions, I started to question why she would do that.

I had actually picked up that box of Play-Doh from the clearance aisle, where it was obviously misplaced and asked the cashier how much it was because I figured if it really was a deal, we could always use backup playdough. But when she told me it was $4, I decided I didn't want it since we didn't actually need it and it wasn't some crazy deal.

Had the woman overheard that and felt bad for me that I couldn't buy my child a $4 pack of playdough? Did we look destitute? We were on our way home from a 3.5 mile run so I'm sure my sweaty face and dishelved hair didn't look the greatest. And Peanut was still in his PJ's and wearing a slightly dirty sweatshirt that has gone through 3 kids. Maybe it wasn't that she thought that I couldn't afford the playdough, but that I couldn't manage to take care of my child or myself. I wondered if I should be offended, or feel guilty that she'd spent the money on someone who really didn't need it.

And then I had to stop myself. Because who am I to question why someone does something nice. I know how fun it is to do the random kind act. I know how good it feels and I know that whenever I do things for someone, I hope it makes them feel good, too. Whatever the woman's thoughts were, I'm sure it came from a place of kindness and her purpose wasn't to make me feel bad or guilty. And really, if I didn't overthink it, it did make me feel good. It's always nice to get a reminder that there are good people everywhere, doing little things every day that make someone else smile.

And now, Peanut and I are going to go play Play-Doh. Because the new stuff is always better than the old. And apparently, I have to help him make a white zebra with rainbow stripes because that is what is on the box, so that is obviously what this package is for.

What I Learned on Summer Vacation

After a whole lot of togetherness, a little alone time is incredible.

Ice cream for breakfast isn't as fun as it sounds, although it does make the kids happy.

Sunday interviews are great for helping the kids feel involved in their scheduling and chores.

Too much of a good thing can be fun. It can also wear you out.

Canary melons are our favorites melons.

Trains are late.

Music in the park is a great family activity.

Gypsy tomatoes have the best yield, Cherry 100's taste the best.

Eventually, the mosquitos will come out.

I can run faster than I think.

The letter "n" is more important than you might realize.

Our kids live in their own time zone and there is no pulling them out of it.

I'm a sucker for a cute, baby animal.

Repsonsibility. . . What's That?

Taking the week off from everything has been a nice break. I've managed to hardly nag anyone about anything and the few things that I've asked them to do, like changing the guinea pigs cages or making sure the animals have food and water (we stuck to the absolutely critical stuff this week), they've done quickly and without any further reminders. I guess the lesson there is that if I don't require much from them, they might actually do it happily.  Or that they only like taking care of animals, but no other chores. Highly possible.

The kids have played lots of Legos, watched lots of T.V., held a few guinea pigs, we've hit up a couple kids-eat-free nights so I haven't cooked much of anything since Monday, and amazingly, the house isn't as trashed as I expected--mainly because the kids have either been holed up in Bean's room with the Legos or sitting in front of the T.V. any time we've been home.

 Not that we sat around doing nothing all week. Wednesday was our crazy long day in Greensboro, and then Thursday, the two older kids did a single day camp put on my the Red Cross and local police and fire departments (and apparently the bomb squad did a demonstration with their robot which the kids loved!) Thursday morning wasn't pretty. They'd gone to bed way too late after such a busy, active day and then had to get up at 7:30 to have 20 minutes to get dressed and eat something.  I won't call out specific kids, but someone cried off and on the whole 20 minutes and begged to stay home and go back to bed. Luckily, they ended up loving the camp, so all that was forgotten by the time I picked them up at 3:30.  And doubly luckily, they were going with friends who came to pick them up so Peanut got to sleep until 9.  Thank goodness.  Poor boy was cranky enough with that much sleep.

And then today, the day I've most been looking forward to. Upside-down day. And pajama day, for those so inclined. Daddy-o got back late last night and was working from home, it was pouring when I woke up, and all signs pointed to it being a perfect day for laziness.

 We started with ice cream sundaes for breakfast.

 Which was as exciting as I'd hoped for these kids. We eat pretty well around here most of the time, but this week has felt so junky and I almost didn't want to do this because it's seriously the ultimate sugary breakfast, but I knew because I'm usually such a stickler for good food choices, they would be very surprised, and I wasn't disappointed. And I did get natural ice and made the toppings myself, so it was pretty "clean" for an unhealthy breakfast. And it's summer--seems like this should happen once in the summer.

Upside-down day also meant popcorn during morning T.V., a cooked dinner for lunch (I figured it was about time that I cooked something--we don't usually eat out 3 nights in a row when we're at home), and pancakes for dinner.

And now I'm trying to decide if tomorrow is "Clean the House" day, or if we ride this out through the weekend and get back to normal on Monday. I think it might be time.

The Happenings

I've already blogged a couple of the more exciting events of the past week, but here's all the other stuff that didn't make headlines:

Going away party for THREE families we're friends with.  Yes, it feels like everyone we know is moving away this summer.

2 appointments for Peanut--he's looking pretty healthy, but every single doctor we see seems fixated on fattening this baby up.  Guess it's time to feed him coconut oil by the spoonful.

2nd swim meet:  Bean broke her 25 yard breaststroke record by 15 seconds!  Probably the biggest time improvement she'll ever see in her swimming career (that's the type of success you see when you don't stop on the lane lines to catch your breath :)).  It was really fun to see how proud she was.

Poison Ivy.  Again.  I do not have good luck when it comes to summer weeding and am returning to my No-Way-Jose stance on gardening.  Not quite as bad as last time, but its around one of my eyes, which makes me look pretty scary.  Good thing I can wear sunglasses most of the time I'm out of the house.

3rd week in a row of a 5+ hour playdate, not to mention several shorter ones, with our friends which resulted in the comment/complaint, "We NEVER get to play with them!"  My thought, "What have you been doing the last 5 hours?"

Chores.  Tackled the mountain of clean laundry, been working with the kids to get a good morning routine going so we can keep up with the daily stuff.  Maybe next week we can streamline the process so it doesn't take all morning.  It was not my goal to spend the entire summer cleaning up.

New job at church heading up this organization for our congregation.  Little overwhelmed (and still in the state of not even knowing what questions to ask or what exactly this is going to mean), but so far, it seems juggle-able and the potential to provide worthwhile service feels good to me.  I've layed pretty low for the last couple years, it probably really is my turn.

8 trips to the pool (at least for Bean--no one else had to make all 8), 5 to the grocery store, lots of quiet reading time, 2 big rainstorms, numerous night wakings, even more baby hugs (love that he's learned to give hugs!) and big kid snuggles.

Not a bad week.

DC Outtakes

 It might have been just a little windy while we were in D.C.  Some of us weren't exactly excited about that.

 Some of us were.

 It may not have been windy enough to actually get air, but Daddy-o's hat did on the second day and was lost to the Tidal Basin all in the name of getting a good shot of the Jefferson Memorial.

 It may have been a little sunny, too.

(Squinty eyes and the tongue--I just want to squeeze this baby!)

 7 year olds may have gotten very silly when it comes to pictures.

 5 year olds may have gotten a little intense and may have needed some hugs to get over the fact that sometimes we took pictures of more than just him.

 These kids might have spent the entire week walking around like eskimos--it was a little chilly because of all the wind, but their hoods ALL.THE.TIME were a little over the top.

 We may have taken too many pictures--and stopped getting real smiles, especially from Bug--after about the first hour of the week.

And we just might have listened to more crying in the car than any of us could handle, which resulted in be willing to do anything to get Peanut to stop, even if it meant having to clean up a box of tissues that he had torn into itty, bitty little pieces.

But in spite of it all, it was a great trip!

On The Way Home

They're doing a lot of work for a new freeway going in a couple miles from our house and its made for a lot of interesting things to watch on our drive to and from school.  This morning, we got to see a controlled burn of a house--pretty exciting!  It's been sad, though, to see all the trees come down--feels much less forest-like in our neck of the woods these days.

Dreams

Random discussion on our dreams this morning--

Bean apparently has had a reoccuring dream over the last few years of a bear trying to put her in the washing machine.  Where does something like that come from?!

Bugaboo had a dream the other night of a giant bug band who knocked out the mail carrier and were playing songs in the back of the mail truck.

And even in my dreams, I know I'm not allowed to eat the cookie dough.  Kind of sad that I couldn't even have a momentary lapse in the food restrictions long enough to taste it in my dream.

Right On, Man!

I've been accused of being a hippy occasionally throughout my life (and for the record, I *think* that there were only a couple times when this was actually said critically--at least, I never took the other times as an insult), but I've never really thought that I am, although I do not like wearing shoes and do own a tie dye shirt.  I'm sure most real hippies would laugh at the idea of me as a hippy.

But the last couple years, I have had to admit that I can't totally deny it, either.  Daddy-o (who is so NOT the hippy type) and I joke all the time that if you'd told him 10 years ago that he'd be married to a cloth- diapering, water-birthing, organic-eating, grass-fed-cow-buying woman, he would've run the other way. 

We recycle, clean with vinegar, compost, garden (poorly), and send zero-waste lunches for our kids, complete with cloth napkins and cloth snack bags.

I wear my babies, had the last two babies using hypnosis for pain relief, breastfeed, and make my own baby food, as well as most of our food from scratch.

At any random moment, I may have the dehydrator running with soaked seeds and nuts, lentils sprouting, saurkraut fermenting, a freezer stocked with homemade granola bars and muffins, and bread baking, which was made from flour I ground myself.

I've homeschooled, use holistic and alternative treatments for health issues, participated in CSA farms, and am trying to figure out how to have chickens in our "no chickens" HOA run neighborhood. 

We've been researching rain barrels and straw-bale homes, and my dream would be to live totally off the grid.

I guess you could say I am a little bit crunchy.  But isn't being crunchy pretty mainstream these days?

Life by the Lists

Five Favorites
1. Peanut has only been waking up once a night for several nights now.  Sometimes that one feeding lasts for 3 or 4 hours (I fall asleep all the time), but it still feels like he's going to get the night sleep thing sooner than later.

2.  This elimination diet I've been on has at least been good for my baby weight loss--down to 7 pounds less than I was when I got pregnant with Peanut and only 10 more to go to pre-kid weight.
3. The kids have been really busy with making books lately and I love that they can stay so busy creatively--and they've actually been doing a decent job at cleaning up the craft room (as long as I remind them several times).

4.  Brussel Sprouts--It's kind of sad when you can get so excited about a food that most people don't even like, but its one of the best tasting things I've been able to have the last couple weeks.  (I just realized I've never posted the recipe for these--have to do a post soon.)

5.  7:30 Bedtime.  Peanut isn't usually ready for bed quite that early, but once the big kids go down, the house gets amazingly quiet and I can suddenly think straight again.

Five Worsts
1.  How many times a day I have to strap a sad little baby into his carseat so we can do a school run, and most of them seem to be right at nap time.

2.  Trying to keep up with the laundry.  Just when I finally get the mountain taken care of, it reappears.  I've taken to storing our clean clothes in the Pack'n'play in the corner of our room.

3.  As the weather has cooled and its feeling like fall, I keep feeling nauseous because my memories of last fall are all so strongly tied to feeling sick.  I'm hoping that goes away before the holidays, but rereading some blog posts from last fall left me totally queasy.

4. Peanut still won't sleep in the car.  We tested him out on a road trip to the temple in Columbia, SC, 1.75 hours away, and he didn't nap the whole way there, or back--only a 10 min. nap in Daddy-o's arms the entire 6.5 hour trip.  Not looking good for a fall beach trip, or even apple picking up in the mountains this year.

5.  Making delicious baked goods that I can't eat.  The kids have been loving the zuchini bread, pumpkin muffins, oat bread, whole grain cookies.  Eggless rice flour pancakes just don't quite cut it.  I can't wait to be able to eat more foods.

Five Recent Reads
1. The Unhealthy Truth--scary look at our nations food issues in connection with food allergies.

2.  A Thousand Splendid Suns--fantastic book, although it was pretty depressing most of the way through.

3.  Mini Shopoholic--my guilty pleasure read.  There's really nothing worthwhile in this series, and I don't identify with the main character at all, but she's so over the top, ridiculous that they make me laugh.

4.  Throw Out 50 Things--Haven't finished my 50 yet, but its inspired some purging.  Goodbye, junk in the garage, old bottles in the bathroom, maternity clothes, and some of the too big pants (but I have to be realistic--we're eventually going to have to wean, and given my track record in that area, I don't want to be caught pant-less).

5.  The History of Love--good read, although I felt like the ending was a little messy.

Top 5 To Do List
1.  Buy the kids some new pants so they don't have to wear high waters anymore.

2.  Finish the last 2 little projects I want to do for Peanut's room.

3.  Mend the clothes I've had piled up all summer.

4.  Clear out the shelves and cabinets in the playroom so we can get it organized after the summer of craziness.

5.  Learn how to use Photoshop.