Putting Down Roots May 12, 2013

As long as we have been together, G and I have never lived in one apartment/condo/house for more than 4 years. And we recently passed 3 years in this house. But I am hoping we are going to be here a long, long time. Because I hate moving. And, we have great neighbors, are near to good schools, can easily access a fantastic biking and running path, are seeing interesting new construction starting (welcome to Bothell, McMenamins!), and did I mention I hate moving?

So, with a plan to stay in one place, we are embarking on a grand plan to put down some literal roots. After consulting with a food forest designer, ordering a bunch of trees, and pricing out deck supplies, G is committed to many hours in the backyard (I have mentioned my seasonal allergies right? and needing to keep the baby alive? I did do some weeding today though…) and in the next few years we should be awash in rotting fruit organic produce.

We both do like a lot of color in the yard. No sparse, organized gardeners we.

 

OK, none of those are food but we do have that as well.

(Blueberries, strawberries, chives. Other food is planted, just not very photo worthy right now.)

It did break my heart though to prune one of our new peach trees. I know that you are supposed to remove all the fruit the first year and I did (well, saved one)….long term thinking, long term thinking.

 

(Before, and after.)

G worked a lot on the front of the house flower boxes this weekend as well. I need to get some pictures of those soon! We definitely have the most colorful flowers in the neighborhood!

8 months of shopping days left until Christmas! April 24, 2013

Since Baby C was born on Christmas Eve I think I will constantly be aware of how long until Christmas this year. Today she turned 4 months old! No stats yet (we visit the pediatrician on Monday in concert with M’s 5 year appointment) but this baby is S.O.L.I.D.

So far so good with the 3-6 months clothes but I am certainly not buying any more, and I had to get a new round of bigger cloth diapers due to a small case of plumber’s crack.

This month baby C has made good friends with her hands (so fascinating!), some chewable toys (or even handy clean kid underwear if one were to, say, prop her up on clean laundry while folding…), her tongue, and in the last few days her adorable feet!

She also had her first big tub bath (um, with “help” from two sisters who are convinced that the baby wants lots of toys and noise at all times) and turns out to be one slippery kid! She does like standing with lots of support and seems to be getting good head control, but rolling over—either way—is far from her mind.

Days are spent trying to distract her during tummy time…

sacking out in the swing…

(first picture there is some vigorous thumb sucking, but I could not catch it on camera well) and going for walks.

(It was almost 70 today and during the actual walk there was a blanket on her, so no worries about cold feet please.)

Finally got her in a sweater that I 95% made last summer, finally crocheted internal ties on this winter, and sewed the one button on last week. Just in time too.

Some struggles on the photo shoots today as she just wanted to be chewing on her hands, toys, or failing those, her dress.

Then there is always the problem of not being able to actually sit up yet.

And the risk of hat malfunction.

Or just plain crankiness.

But I think we got some good ones.

This is one (mostly) happy, easy going baby. Goes to bed pretty easily and sleeps a long time (knock on wood), tolerates her sisters, gets dragged to every lesson and put in and out of the car, stroller, baby carrier, whatever multiple times with nary a complaint. She might have, and we don’t like to mention it, a bit of a drooling problem. Which causes a neck rash problem. But overall, we lucked out with this baby and just snuggle her up every chance we get!

Worth the traffic. I think.

The Skagit County Tulip Festival was in fine form this past weekend—the rain even let up for a day or so. Well, an afternoon at least. Last year was our first attempt at the festival and we went on a weekday. This year, a weekend. With 7 of us in the (old model) Highlander. And a baby who can indeed scream, destroying the initial “is this baby the best baby ever or what?” impression she had given to her visiting grandparents. Let’s just say the road in and out of Mount Vernon was quite backed up and might not hold any fond memories for any of us.

However.

The tulips were beautiful.

The frolicking was free.

The girls love their grandpa!

And each other!

The baby is willing to be in the baby carrier.

And four of us got new hats at the street fair.

Which is good, because some of us can really carry off a hat.

Mostly Tulips, or adventures in straight horizon line photography April 30, 2012

My parents came for spring break a week or two ago, to hang out with the kids while G and I worked. I think the kids had a good time (although C was battling a week long flu-or-cold-or-something and M showed a bit too much Grammy favoritism). Hopefully my parents did too! I did make chocolate custard tart one night for dessert, so that should have helped.

The last day of the visit, we were able to visit the tulip festival. This is our 7th spring here in WA, and every year I have wanted to visit the tulip festival—finally, this was our year. Except for a late start and a GPS that kept wanting me to drive directly down the street that was closed for an art festival, we made it there in time to enjoy good weather. The tulips lived up to their promise. My even camera holding, only sometimes.

 

The girls got their faces painted, and exhibited their usual antics. This seems to have led to the world tipping slightly.

Then C slipped in the mud and there was an unhappy half hour or so. Mine made the less happy when discovering that the “restrooms” were a line of port-a-potties. Not very fun with a 4 year old!

However we then hit the street fair, C was bribed calmed with a new puppet, M got a balloon flower, we all had a wonderful dinner, and the evening ended on a high note.

Yay tulip festival!

Wait, People have their Trees up already? November 28, 2011

I have just gotten used to the idea that it is November. Shoot. This work thing is not always working to my advantage methinks. I also managed to miss every cyber Monday sale I was interested in (work day + kid bedtime + west coast timezone = sales over when I can get on the computer).

But, I did have an exciting discovery today—that outfit I made for M is a finalist! Woohoo! Big money, no whammies folks. And I would love your vote if you can spare the click…Vote For ME! (Mine is in the Fabric-Wearables category)

I have so many other projects to share…if only I was home during nice daylight hours with willing models. But for now, a quick flyby post.

This dress is just about done save for some hand stitching needed to cover up a slight discrepancy in facing length:

(Old Ottobre pattern, I want to say from 6/03 but I will check later to be sure).

And I mailed off a scarf for my dear mother’s birthday knit using yarn and a pattern from the Knitspot Fall in Full Color club:

(It looks more scarfy in real life when you can see the whole thing, but time was of the essence. As usual, I had put off the blocking and end weaving for a few months….)

And we did just get back from a fun holiday vacation trip:

Where C got all trendy…and planked:

We were with two other families and jointly cooked Thanksgiving dinner. We now have enough mashed potatoes and cranberry fig sauce to last a long, long time.

Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to go plan some Christmas sewing.

Pond shots July 18, 2011

G’s parents live in Oberlin, OH now, a smallish town with a great college, some good restaurants, a yarn store and a separate fabric store, a soon to open artisanal ice cream shop, a long paved bike path, and a one screen movie theater that was showing Harry Potter in 3D for just $8/person on Friday night.

Also, a pond with both a white and a blue heron, which I admired mightily and finally dragged myself out with camera in tow to try to capture. I am not a heat person, so I was walking very slowly! Sadly, the white heron was not there, and the blue one flew off as soon as I was in the ideal spot to photograph it. Sigh.