Get Outside!

One of the biggest reasons we homeschool, at least in my mind, is so that the kids can be outside as much as possible. Articles and studies abound on why it's important for kids to have unstructured time outdoors. I just know that I spent lots of time outside when I was a kid and it had such a strong impact on my imagination, on my comfort in the outdoors, on my awareness of my natural surroundings.

We lived in a weird little neighborhood when I was little. Not too many houses, but plans for houses that didn't get built. Which meant that I had space to roam. My kids don't have the same space to roam and indeed my decision to not let Guthrie cross the road yet is the bane of her existence. However, they both have the freedom of the yards on either side of us and that, balanced with a lot of time in the woods camping and hiking, is ok for now.

We spent the month of October working on a science unit as our main lesson block in school. That meant headed out to Smith's Island every Monday morning (we only missed one) to hike the loop and just explore. 

There was a lot to see on the island itself, but watching the lock and dam work was pretty fun too. And the old men fishing.

'

During the rest of the weeks I taught about the 'Four Kingdoms' - Earth, Mineral, Plant, Animal - spending time talking about the shapes the earth takes (islands, volcano, river, etc), minerals and how their formed, the 3 types of rock, etc, etc.

It was a fun month and I totally underestimated the interest in mineral week. A couple of weeks before we had attended a homeschool field trip to Fryxell Geology Museum which was pretty cool, so maybe that helped.

Starting the week off with a hike was pretty great. It definitely changed our rhythm, but it was only for a few weeks so who cares! And watching the environment change week to week as we settled into Autumn was pretty amazing, though I think John and I were more impressed by that!

first week down and other happy things

We survived our first week of school! Every night I fell asleep with the kids while I was putting them to bed. Every. Night.

I forgot about the exhaustion. I'm hoping that doesn't repeat this week or we made need to make some changes.

The first week of school is all about settling in and figuring out what doesn't work. What the kids aren't ready for, or what I thought they might love but instead totally hate. There wasn't much hate going on last week, but I am reworking our math unit for the month --- more on that later. I may have overestimated the need to "make math fun" when really Guthrie just likes to count.

She asked me Saturday night if we can take a special math field trip this week and just drive around and look at house numbers.

Uh, sure? Does it involve a coffee stop for mom?

I may, or may not, ask her to map the neighborhood via house number. We'll see how long her love of addresses lasts!

Everything else though was a good fit. My goal is to get firmly into our weekly and daily schedule by mid-October.

Monday mornings I always try to get up extra early to prep for the week. My plans are made in advance, but then come dr. appts, weather changes and sometimes my original plan needs tweaking.

This morning Tegra was pretty thrilled that I woke her up to walk before sunrise. And guess what? I wore a long sleeved shirt and long pants and I was cold! At least until we got going. Autumn is on it's way for sure!

I'm ready for it in a way I wasn't a few weeks ago, so bring on the cozy.

Yesterday it rained. That in and of itself is a fabulous thing. It's been over a month since our side of the river got rain and we really really needed it. This is not normal for us at all and, well, the several hours of steady rain was really appreciated.

I took a class in sock knitting last week and finished a small pair for Laithe. I was so darn excited. I may have done a little happy dance. Sock knitting has eluded me for at least 2 years, if not longer 3. But, toe up 2 at a time seems to be working. I'm hoping I totally get into it because I get tired of hats and fingerless mitts.

The bacon is almost out of the oven and I have high hopes that I won't burn it this time. Like I do almost every time. I don't know what my problem is. But I need to go keep an eye on it.

Happy Monday!

winter homeschooling

Maybe you've noticed that my regular school postings have dropped off. Going to be honest here, this winter uhh, trimester? has been a bit of a drag.

It's not that we didn't read awesome books or do some really great projects, or learn some cool stuff, it's just that it was not that exciting to write about. I started a few posts and it was like blah blah blah, workbook, reading, math, sorting, reading, library, homeschool playgroup, reading, painting, reading, reading, reading. Reading took the place of our extended outside time.

Seriously, we read a 300 page book in 4 days. My voice was hoarse. Thank goodness for chapter books because if I had had to read 300 pages of picture books I would be off in the loony bin. I have a limit of about 5 a day. Laithe was surprisingly good with it. As long as I let him sit by the heater.

Looking back I could, in theory, see the past 3 months as a sort of a cozy time. I think there's not been enough space between now and then though. Right now it's still like, please please please don't let it snow anymore and please please please let me make it to our spring break!

Please!

It would be fair to say that I was unprepared for homeschooling in the winter. And it's not like we didn't go outdoors. We did, almost every day, but it's not the same as the lingering outside time of sumer, or even fall, or, hopefully, spring. It's a hurried, let's walk fast so we can keep warm or, ok you guys go out and the longer you stay outside the more likely it is I'll make hot chocolate. Ready? Go!

The past month though was the toughest because of the roofing project. They started it the week of the 18th of February and completed it 5 weeks later. There were a total of 4 workable days in that entire span. Including weekends. They worked 2 Sundays! And I wouldn't let the kids play in areas where their materials or tools were. So, we were kind of stuck. And for much of that we were down to one car - between snow drifts and a brake issue my car was just kind of done. Add that to the fact that we were needing to be mindful of our pennies because we were getting a new roof and it just made for a very long couple of months.

Long.

Saturday was so nice out that we spent almost the entire day outside - until the wind got too cold (bringing with it a few inches of snow). It was like the perfect taste of what's to come. But we've got awhile I think as it's not been too much above freezing since then. The weatherman says that this is the coldest March since 1965.

I can see that we're on the downward spiral though (maybe in more ways than one). That I've only got the remainder of this week and then next until all 4 of us have 2 weeks off and we can come back renewed and refocused.

But, oh the boundaries are being tested. And my fuse does get short. On the other hand Guthrie has had some big breakthroughs with reading and some of the things she struggled with at the beginning of the year are no longer even a small issue.

One of the goals I had for this year was making sure that Guthrie could easily transition into a classroom if need be this fall. I mean what if this year had just been a disaster? Or if we really could not live on one income? Thankfully that is not the case and so I care a little bit less now, but I'm pretty confident that she would be fine, which makes me happy for her.  I don't necessarily know why. Maybe it's just great to watch your child have successes and struggle to do something she really wants to.

So, onward! Towards spring and many an outdoor lesson!

Until then though, I got my seeds in the mail today. Tomorrow my hands will be in the soil, even if it is just potting soil in my dining room.

                                

happy equinox!

Yay Spring!


The birds were out in full force this morning. As was the sun.

And the wind.

And it was -7 because of the wind when we got up this morning.


But Guthrie donned a tank top nonetheless and shouted, repeatedly, about Springtime.

I don't entirely blame her, but the rest of us were in multiple layers. What's weird is remembering how warm it was this time last year, like possibly a/c on kind of warm. How we never really had any snow and then this year it was late, but there hasn't been a day since the beginning of February that didn't have snow in the forecast. I wish I would have taken both Chemistry and Meterology in college instead of just Chemistry.

I'm putting in my seed order this weekend. Even though it seems ridiculous right now, I'm feeling a little late to the seed starting party. Our last frost date is right around the end of April, but with the weather, I'll probably hold out till mid-May because maybe it's the next ice age.

Strange to think that in 8 weeks we could be having our first strawberries of the season -- which is good because we just finished off the last jar from last year and it's not been pleasant.

So, here's to spring. With its changing light, from blue to yellowy-green. And its eventual warmer weather and Laithe is so looking forward to going barefoot.

WIP Wednesday

The following are in progress today:

- a birthday quilt for Laithe. Someone is getting a big boy bed for his birthday - which is good because he is way too big (width and length) for his crib mattress on the floor. I haven't made a quilt in a long time and let's just say I will never be teaching "math for sewing" at the homeschool co-op, but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

- a roof. well, part of a roof. It's probably 1/3 done and hampered by the next thing on the list.

- the never ending snowstorm(s). We had one last week that was kind of pithy, but this one is not as pithy and right now there is a small part of my brain that is pretty sure we're beginning another ice age and that spring will never come. I told my mom this morning that this storm could have at least had the decency to come when everyone was excited about snow -- like in December. Or even January. Heck even the beginning of February. John was reminiscing about a blizzard once during spring break when we were in college. Bleak I tell you. Bleak. We will be 1/3 roofed forever!



That's pretty much it. John has a cold and took the past two days off work. He sounds like darth vader albeit a little higher pitched. Actually high enough pitched that my first thought is that one of the kids is wailing somewhere in the house, it's disconcerting.

I did enjoy having everyone cozy at home during the snowpocalypse. We're all back to our proper schedules today though.

This morning, after lessons, my goal is to do a bunch of housework. Everything feels so crowded and cluttered. Possibly because it is - I swear you can't walk 2 feet in any direction without stepping on either a toy or part of a nebulizer or fabric. And it's not like I haven't been doing anything the past few days, it's just that apparently I haven't kept up. 670 square feet of living space tends to fill up fast when we're all here and using it - and keep going out in the snow so that there are a lot of damp, frozen accessories strewn about.

And I just caught Laithe trying to shove a pizza crust into the heater vent.

Yes, housework is in order.

Which is kind of unfortunate because what I'd really like to do is curl up with my book and a blanket next to the window and fritter away the day.


Happy Wednesday!

WIP Wednesday

A blowing snowy afternoon here. After yesterday morning's 65 degrees it feels really, really cold. The expected wind chill tomorrow night is like -30. I'm not ready quite yet for spring, but I miss puttering in the yard. I've almost had enough of a break from it. And I'm ready for us to be able to be outside without so many thick layers.

I realized that since it's post-Christmas I can start sharing what I'm working on again and there's already been a fair bit of crafting and knitting this morning so time for a WIP update!

The kids and I are working on a sky scarf. The idea is to record the color of the sky every day and then knit a row for every day to make a scarf. At the end of the year you'll have a sort of weather record. Every morning during circle time we discuss the weather and look at the color of the sky. Winter here is a lot of light blue sky and some white and gray.

I've been pleased that we've mostly kept up on it - there were a couple days here and there that I kind of guessed at. I'm hoping we'll keep it going for at least 6 months, but I'd love for it to be a 12 month project. The idea is that Guthrie will take it over in a few months when she's had more knitting practice.

The other project in the basket is a new cowl for me. Because everyone needs more than one - and I've had my other one for 3 winters now. Time for a new one! I picked up some Boboli yarn at Knit and Knot, our newish LYS, and it's got rayon in it.



Makes it kind of shimmery and smooth, but well, I'll just get used to the ease at which the strands split if my needle hits them wrong.  I do love the color though and I'm using Stephen West's Purl Ridge Scarf pattern - a free ravelry download. It's a bit mindless, which I need right now as my last few projects have needed more focus.


Think of us eating brownies and reading chapter 4 of The Long Winter --- it's the first blizzard of the year in October, and looking outside at our own blizzardy conditions this afternoon.



Maybe I can go a few more weeks until spring!

happy august

Oh August.

There's that song line I love this time of year-
at the dead end of summer
with the bugs singing louder than God

The bugs are indeed louder than God. Cicadas in full throttle for the next weeks, there's nothing more quintessential midwest summer than that sound. Guthrie's noticed how a few weeks ago they were just at night- when the fireflies were still here. Now they're all the time, except the middle of the night. You can hear them with the windows closed.

And it does feel like the dead end of summer. Possibly rather the cul de sac of summer. Round and round we're going on our bikes.

We did get some rain though. Enough to crack the tomatoes. Which I don't really care about, but I was a little miffed. Does that mean I'm a true gardener?

I dug down to see if I could fine any little potatoes in our boxes, but didn't. I found myself being more and more worried about that as the night went on. Silly I know. There's nothing I can do about it. It seems like everyone else is getting tiny potatoes. We did put ours in rather late though. The internets say 85-90 days and I think we're only at 60ish. Hmm.

Keeping ourselves busy -- the kids were in the pool yesterday by 9:30. that was a bit early for me, but isn't that was summer is all about?

Enjoyed a free day at the Quad City Botanical Center. They have a really great set up there in the summer. Lots of independent play time for the kids, some independent shade sitting and knitting for mama. Good all around.

Got the sleeping bags out of the basement for camping. I've not been looking forward to that.

Basement + 3 years = bugs, small creatures, a very cozy home for who knows what. My fears were unfounded though. They didn't even smell musty. Instant fort for the kids while they air out for the next couple days - because i'm sure on some level they're musty, right?

too hot inside meant shaving cream and colored ice cubes on the back porch. Idea via Meg at Sew Liberated. they enjoyed it although Laithe is of the non-messy age right now - the dirty hands are fine until suddenly they're not. Guthrie went through it too, she is decidedly out of that phase now.

today the morning was spent at the zoo with John's mom, Ami (or however you spell the name guthrie made up for her) and another friend. tomorrow The Fair! friday fall/winter/school clothes shopping - shoes and jeans and a raincoat for Guthrie.


This time of year always makes me feel like I'm scrambling to fit everything in. To keep us out of the house because we all know the weather will indeed change and we'll be regretting we didn't spend every opportunity we could outside barefoot with the fewest clothes possible.

it's too hot to think of a clever title.

I know everyone is sick to death of the heatwave, but humor me just for a second - it's 11:00 pm and the heat index is 95. Which just means that it's actually only 85, but there's 80% humidity.

It makes you want to sit in the dark buck naked.

And where do you think the other three members of my family are right now? All asleep in the one non-air conditioned room in the house. I don't know what their deal is.

So, anyways.

Last night we had a dinner picnic at a local lake and it was so noticeably cooler out there. I always forget how much heat radiates off the asphalt in the city.

That was the last mention of the weather, I promise.

The entire family is now slightly afraid of the garden. I so deeply underestimated how much things would grow this summer. My planting strategy was based on last summer's crappy weather. At this point I'm needing to tear some stuff out in order access all the plants. When I'm standing between the two raised beds you can't remotely see me from the house. The kids get scared when I'm on the other side of the bed. I don't think they would do well in a jungle. However, I do have green tomatoes by the bushel. I've counted my tomatoes before they've ripened before, so I'm hiding my crossed fingers so as not to tempt fate, but (said in a whisper) I think it's going to be a good harvest. And the green peppers are rocking this year. I've got a good dozen close to harvest. I'm not sure though how you tell when a green pepper is done though - any helpful hints?

On the less jungley side of the garden the sunflowers are in full bloom and just so cheerful! This is the first successful year for sunflowers for me and I'm so happy. Maybe a sunflower house is really a possibility next year.

The inside of the house hasn't changed much, except that we've removed the vanity in the bathroom and torn out a good portion of the floor. In the interest of saving costs we are demo-ing the bathroom ourselves as much as we can.

Can we talk for the moment about how not awesome it is to have the only working toilet be on the third floor. And how equally not awesome it is to not have a sink anywhere near the changing table? It is awesome though that the shower is still somewhat accessible by the adults. The kids are getting spoiled in the jacuzzi tub upstairs - which is pretty much a swimming pool for them. I, however, am not up for a long bath in this weather.

I did like seeing the history of the bathroom as we pried and ripped away. Layers of flooring and wondering who put it there - who is doing what we're doing and picked it out. I wish we knew more of the history of this house.

And then there was that 3/4 inch layer of particle board. Maybe I'm out of turn here, but my gut says it's a bad idea to use my old ikea bookcase as subflooring next to a toilet, even if I am desperate. Call me crazy. So after that we dig around some more and John takes a break and then hears me say - oooh shit. huh. . . He yells - what was that about? Me - well, you should probably just come see this. Apparently like 80 years ago someone needed to access the pipe next to the toilet. Hmm, maybe it was to put in indoor plumbing? And so cut a 6 x 10 inch hole in the original flooring. And then didn't put anything over it. It's likely this was the true cause of the catastrophic leak. Everything gets wonky and leaky and, you know, soaks through the stellar barrier that is particle board, and woosh, and yay there's a hole! The path of least resistance! That's just my guess though. It's also likely that the hole meant that the damage was not as bad upstairs as it could have been.

Give it up for home ownership! Whoop whoop! John and I now feel like we really own this home. You know, because three years of mortgage payments didn't make it sink in.

We've got guys coming - tomorrow the floors, Friday the kitchen ceiling. Both with excellent recommendations, so that helps with the anxiety of all this. It is stressful though. Mostly I want my dining room back. It's our biggest multipurpose room and now it's also full of kitchen stuff - at least until we know when the ceiling will be going in. I realized that I need to be canning soon, so that means hopefully a ceiling between peaches and tomatoes, but no flooring until this is done with. At least on the kitchen end. Crossing my fingers the bathroom will be done soon. I can see why our backyard neighbor took to peeing out his window last winter- it does indeed suck to have to climb stairs in the middle of the night when you need to go - let alone when your kid needs to go too. But, rest assured L & J of next door, we will be done with this project before winter- so you won't be seeing any yellow icicles from our house. (yeah, the backyard guy made some amazing yellow icicles last winter.)

And as a side note, we have homeowners insurance from Travelers and they have been just *awesome* to work with. In fact, except for reimbursements that will have to come at a later date, our case is pretty much closed. Less than 2 weeks from when I called. Pretty darned impressive if you ask me. So very thankful for a good experience with them.

Man, this has been one long - winded post. Yikes.

I know I said I wouldn't talk about the weather, but the heat index is now 89. It's going in the right direction at least. Slowly. . .

WIP Wednesday

Every dang time I'm just floored by this. This whole growing food thing.

Do you think it'll ever get used to it?
How do you go from this little nothing:




To this overgrown, tomatoes taller than me, cucumber completely taking over, monstrosity of green:



I cannot overstate how much I love having the raised beds! Love, love, love it. I can head out early in the morning, pull a few weeds, do some watering, putter, in my work clothes. It's just so easily managed.

And things are looking good!

**you'll have to forgive the low quality of these photos. it was hot. it was 8 in the morning and 85 degrees - without humidity. the 'real feel' -what they call the heat index in these here parts -is 91. awesome. another real feel day of 115!

dirt everywhere

When we moved in here 3 years ago we knew eventually we'd put in some raised beds for vegetable gardening. This year was it! I was getting super stressed out about not having the bulk of my veggies in the ground yet, but this spring has been so weird and we've gotten so much rain and late frost that I need to just relax; we'll be fine. I probably need to just relax anyways, but that's a different blog post.

So we (mostly John) made 4 raised beds for 80 square feet of garden space. For now I think this will be plenty, but I would bet that we might put it more at some point. Originally I wasn't going to put a ton of fill dirt into them because our dirt is actually quite good, but we ended up making the beds with 10 inch boards and a little compost might be good, etc.

1600 lbs of dirt and 18 cubic feet of compost later. . .

The only reason I know how much the dirt weighed is because it was written on the package. It was not helpful information to have while we were hauling it into the backyard.

And now, I've got about a third of it planted with the rest hopefully going in by this weekend- maybe Wednesday if the weather is good. I need a bunch of tomatoes and I'm going to try pepper plants again. We shall see how that goes. And before you go and think I've planted a bunch of dead branches they're actually bean and cucumber supports that I fashioned out of tree branches from a tree John cut down earlier this year. I'll be interested to see how they hold up in the wind. While I'm waiting for the vegetable garden to come in at least I have my little herb garden --- it is going a little crazy with all this rain. It smells wonderful though and look -- flowers on the snap peas! Yay!And as a side note - there is indeed dirt absolutely everywhere. Summer has officially come to our little neck of the woods as there seems to be more mud inside my kitchen door than outside it.

87 degrees

Last Monday the heat was on - in fact I turned it up because I was freezing.

Yesterday it was 93 and today it was 87.

Uh, hi Spring?


Last night dinner was on the back porch and box fans were set up in the windows. Chicken salad sandwiches and popsicles all around. And sweaty kids. I forgot what summer-sweaty toddler is like.

This afternoon was sprinklers in the backyard with the neighborhood kids and books on the back porch. And then I caved and turned on the air conditioning.


And then I cursed because we still haven't gotten ourselves together enough to fix the ducts that would mean air conditioning in our bedroom. And then I had a rhubarb cocktail*.


good night all - there's a box fan calling my name!




*just follow this recipe, i use a little less sugar - -- and add vodka!
excellent celebration of spring!

wip - the yard edition

Ok spring, rather, ok Iowa, what the heck? I know I shouldn't be surprised by your fickle self, but dude, you are such a tease. We've had a good handful of days of amazing over 70 degree sunshiny weather and then this weekend Guthrie said, 'mama, why does it have to snow?' Not that it stuck, but meh all the same.

The handful of beautiful days means that I have a good start on my yard this year - unlike last year when I felt like I was playing catch up until I decided to throw in the towel. Newborns and c-sections will do that to you. My garden journal reads something like 'pfft. whatever. the tomatoes were good, the weeds were excellent, and if we don't have a good year for raspberries next year I'm ditching them. bare minimum done for fall cleanup. maybe next year I'll have more, energy, time, something.'

So, this year the front is mostly cleaned out, the back is mostly cleaned out. The larger veggie bed is awaiting some dry days for the installation of a pseud0-raised bed. Not entirely traditional because I'm really just trying to fight the erosion that is taking all my excellent soil. We have lovely soil here. I planted some peas and then covered them for the snow, then appreciated my laziness in not getting the cover taken up when yesterday it hailed for a bit. They're pretty much protected from everything but the directions the wind has been taking has left them well, it's been a bit tornadic back there lately. The raspberries are pruned with the middle row ripped out because they're planted way too closely. The strawberries, well, we will see. It might be that they just need some refresher plants this year.

As Guthrie was coming home the other night she proclaimed to her Amie - look at my bloody heart! Her 'bloody heart' is just beginning to bloom and is always one of the first signs of true spring for our yard.

Last week our seeds from Seed Savers arrived. Most exciting mail I've had since that new bra came a couple months back! I'm making the decision to only grow what I want to this year. Such a novel approach to gardening I know! I let Guthrie choose several of the varieties so we will be having purple carrots, purple beans and purple radishes. Thematic, no?But we also joined a CSA for the season and we are expecting the first delivery of eggs this afternoon. I know! Delivery - like to my front porch! So excited. Some days I love this town. I'm hoping the CSA will mean I can stop shopping for produce at Hyvee and that my trips to the farmers market will be less stressful as I can go just to pick up the extras. It does get stressful with two small children to try and get enough tomatoes to can a decent amount. My biceps are pretty stellar though.

This afternoon we're taking an adventure with my mom to the sky bridge to see the flooding. The sky bridge is like the highlight of Davenport with anyone under the age of 10. Many parents we know use it as the ultimate reward for good behavior. Seeing as how we're going to see flooding, any more planting is on hold until we get some dry days. Then the lettuce and radishes will go in. Guthrie is in charge of the radishes this year. I think it will be exciting for her - and hopefully successful. And maybe this year I will like radishes more. Thank goodness John does.

Oh! I also tried another round of asparagus. Wild asparagus grows here in the most neglected ditches and drains in the country and do you think I can get any to grow in my yard? If it doesn't work this year I will call it quits. Until next year probably where I will dig out another bed I think *might* be more suitable.


One of my goals is to post what we're using our CSA produce for this summer. I think it might make me more accountable or something. We'll see. The first round of non-eggy produce should be arriving in a couple of weeks. I could use some rhubarb soda in my life these days. It's one of my favorites!

So, Iowa. Get it in gear please. We're anxiously awaiting days spent outside rather than in!

indeed. a blizzard.

well. 21 inches of snow later. 21 inches of pure powder and 40+ mile an hour winds and holy cow the drifts are something to behold. most of our front yard is knee to thigh deep. john's mom's front door was buried waist high.

it's awesome!

we bundled up this morning to play and dig out our front walk and cars. it was easily the deepest snow i've ever shoveled. easily. like 3 layers with the snow blower.

we gathered snow to make snow ice cream later. yum!

laithe got put in a mei tai on my back and came out to shovel with us. he was good with it until nap time got too close.

i'm hoping for a walk with guthrie later but i'm not sure she'll be interested. hopefully, because tomorrow will probably be too cold to go out as wind chills tonight are in the -15's probably.
so we're hunkered down with coffee and hot chocolate, knitting, watching fantasia, french braiding hair, napping, probably some candyland, i plan on roasting a chicken later. the only thing we're heavily missing is a wood stove. but we've got electricity and heat and 4 wheel drive so we're thankful. john ventured out to check on the moms. got patty somewhat shoveled out and then helped get my mom's car out of the neighbor's garden. she was supposed to go to work last night but couldn't even see the road visibility was so bad.

quite an adventure, but i'm glad we're on this side of it.

hope your day is cozy too!

oh and happy birthday laithe! good day to turn 11 months old!

blizzard.

i'm blogging in the middle of a blizzard.

this is what the current special weather statement says:

... STRONG BLIZZARD CONTINUES TO RAGE WITH LIFE THREATENING CONDITIONS ACROSS EASTERN IOWA... NORTHWEST ILLINOIS AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI...


my family is getting annoyed with and making fun of me for my total fascination with this.

but, DUDE, it's my first real blizzard. John. i didn't grow up in the midwest where it was all 7 miles in the snow uphill. barefoot. instead it was all, rain again today. for the 30th day in a row. wanna fill some more sandbags?

so bear with me.

it's totally blowing sideways and there is thunder and lightning!
loree you would be totally impressed.

ok going to go watch it rage across our backyard some more!

eccentric

Last night we're finishing up reading James and the Giant Peach and the author describes one of the characters as having eccentricities. Guthrie immediately asks what that is.

"Well, it's when one person likes to do things that everyone else thinks is a little strange. Like if you grew up and had 20 of the same kind of cat. Or small glass ponies all over your house. People would think that was kind of weird, but you would love it."

This is met with a look of uncertainty.

"Also one could say that if a small girl demanded to sleep with a brush and dryer sheet every night she might be considered eccentric."

Much giggling - as she clutched her brush and dryer sheet closer. She smiles at me and says, "I'm eccentric."

Yes dear, you certainly are.


*****
We're in for some crazy weather - some foot of snow and blizzardy wind and then -15 wind chill. And my favorite - THUNDER SNOW! It's not winter until we've had some thunder snow. I'm predicting a family snow day tomorrow, but we'll see. Wish us luck! We may be headed over to the neighbor's with their secondary heat source!

first snow fall of the winter

We had our first snow of the season this past weekend. I'm slow getting pictures posted- so much going on around here these days!

Of course Guthrie and I traipsed outside for a good while. The boys took a cozy nap.

This is the first winter Guthrie has actually really enjoyed the snow. Like really, really enjoyed it. So, I'm hoping for some serious snow because we've never even made a snowman with her.

Once we finished shoveling the sidewalk I suggested she just keep on shoveling herself down to the Coffee Hound.

She totally went for it.
It's totally only a block and a half. Don't get all child labor on me.

Hot chocolate and latte rewards ensued. It was sweet seeing her little shovel track on the way home.

A little less sweet, though no less humorous was the absolute fit she threw about her snow pants. More precisely the crotch of her snow pants. And I thought jean fits were bad! Girl hasn't worn jeans in at least a year. They, and I quote, are not working out for her. Needless to say amongst the kicking and screaming on the floor, the likes of which we haven't seen in awhile, the phrase "THIS IS NOT WORKING OUT FOR ME" was uttered at least 50 million times. Not even joking.

In fact I feel fairly comfortable saying that we hear that phrase on a daily basis.
Apparently a lot of things are not working out for Guthrie. Socks, zippers, bread folded crookedily (sic) vegetables, toothpaste tubes, challenging toys. We did teach her that what she is doing is called being shrill as things not working out for you demand a certain volume and tone. This has diffused the situation on many occasions. I mean how can you be irritated beyond belief when someone under 4 feet tall screams about mismatched buttons "THIS IS NOT WORKING OUT FOR ME" and then in a totally normal voice says, "that's called being shrill. I am being shrill right now. did you like it?"

I digress.

Shrilly and I had fun. We came in and stayed warm the rest of the day. Then we kind of had to stay in for several more days because of the wind chill. Tomorrow we have a blizzard watch.

We had a lovely autumn this year. Makes the sudden move into winter a little hard to stomach. It's like capital W winter around here. We usually don't do this until January.

Guthrie and I have a little getaway coming up this weekend -more about it after we get home probably. I am determined not to let -30 windchill impact our plans! It's our first mother-daughter pre-Christmas trip. I am very excited.

hope it's a little warmer where you are!

fallish kind of day

I got to work from home today, which was much needed after a busy with laughter and excitement weekend.
Additional cups of tea, downtimes demanded by a sleepy 8 month old, small breaks to get dinner together and switch the laundry. These are the things I like about working from home. That and I get so much more accomplished. On my most frenzied day with a sick baby and endless phone calls I still get more done at my kitchen table than on the slowest day at work.

Starting dinner I noticed how much the light has changed these past couple of weeks. I mean there's the obvious daylight savings time drastic change, but the light is getting that almost-winter cast to it. It took forever for that kind of light to happen last year, but this year it seems right on time. Maybe we'll have a super snowy winter. I've got a 4 year old waiting for the first snow with almost as much excitement as her mom.

The light made me happy we're having my favorite fall soup for dinner. And made me wish again we had a wood stove. Oh well, I've got Iron and Wine on the cd player and a hot drink in my hand, counts for something.

Happy Fall!



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birthday pics soon to come! i promise!

my ocean

Yesterday was a really, really long day at work. For the second day in a row. I keep reminding myself it'll be a good paycheck after our vacation, but really that just couldn't matter less to me. I missed my family. Laithe tried to make up for our hours apart last night by nursing all night. Literally all night when he wasn't even hungry. He'd spit up and then go back for more. Last night was a family bed night. They've been more frequent these past couple of weeks which is to be expected with all the changes in routine and school. There will be some extra stretching today as my back struggles being nestled between a constant nurser and a super long almost 4 year old. There's really nothing like going to bed and waking up to your whole family though. I love it. Those quiet moments when half the family is still asleep and half is slowly waking. When John and I can talk quietly over our kids. Nothing like it.

Our weather is changing. Quite abruptly these past couple of days. There's something to be said for having spent years in a place. It is nice to be able to recognize the beginnings of the next season. To know what to look for. I realized as I was sitting in traffic yesterday waiting to cross the Mississippi that we've been in Iowa 5 years now. I was shocked. I have no idea if we'll stay here or for how long, but no matter what this place will always hold a special space in my heart. See above paragraph for the biggest reasons.

As I was sitting there though watching the wind whip through the drying out seed corn. Through the soy beans starting to yellow. I was reminded of that part in Sarah, Plain and Tall - one of my most favorite stories as a kid- when she talks about how the prairie grass looks like the ocean. When I was little the closest thing I saw to prairie grass was the ripening wheat on the road to my grandparents in Dufur, Oregon. The wind would blow and the wheat would move wave-like and I would think, I know exactly what you're talking about Sarah!

In fact I had no idea. (story of my life) There is nothing like waist or shoulder high indigenous prairie grass waving in the wind. It doesn't bend- it undulates. It is so intensely beautiful. The grass responds to every little cord of wind blowing through.
Suffice it to say that while I was missing my family so much and knowing I wouldn't make it home for another 4 hours, watching our oceanic prairie for a few minutes was something I'm so glad I didn't miss.

hot hot heat

we're warm here.
the thermometer only says 91 but with humidity the "heat index" is 107.

we didn't have a "heat index" in the PNW.
neither do I remember a discussion of wind chill.

thanks midwest.

thanks a bunch.

we totally needed that expanded vocabulary.

savoring

We've had several great summer evenings at our house. The weather hasn't always cooperated, but that's why we have a porch, right?
I've been trying really hard to find little ways to say 'yes' to Guthrie so that I don't feel like I'm always saying no. Yes, we can go to the park tonight! Yes, we can swim in your pool. Yes, I'd love to catch fireflies with you after we get ready for bed.
It's making me appreciate this summer so far.
You know how everyone says that Christmas totally changes once you have kids? It's all suddenly magical again, etc. Well, it seems that this summer is just like Christmas - except with heat indexes of over 100 and lots of thunderstorms. I'm reminded of how I loved summer when I was little because it seemed like there was just so much freedom.


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I posted this week on facebook that I was deciding to relinquish control of my yard this year and just do the best I can without feeling the least bit bad about the weeds. It's just not possible to work full time, have a 3 year old and an almost 4 month old and no weeds. Not if I want to savor this summer -- which is exactly my goal.

The vegetable garden is growing good though- I put most of my yard energy into it. We got a beet this morning! And 6 lovely green beans! I love green beans from the garden. Love them. We have a ton of tomatoes starting too. I hope it dries out before too long or they will all be cracked before they can even start ripening.
For the 3rd season in a row I've got a crappy raspberry crop. The first year due to dry weather and us not having a hose because we'd just moved in. The second year because I'd had to do major pruning because of morning glories. This, the third year, we went out this morning, I in my long sleeved shirt and muck boots, Guthrie in her tutu and underwear clearly ready for a morning of raspberry harvesting only to find that the torrential rain last night had made most of the berries fall off the bushes crushed and slimy. Crap.
I'm going to call around to the couple of berry farms I know of around here to see if I can get a couple flats. I was so looking forward to raspberry jam to go with our strawberry.

******

Poor Laithe. How he's not getting his due time in this blog.
Guess what - he's rolling over! Mostly from belly to back although there've been a couple back to bellies. And he's scooting around a little. Not nearly enough for me to be concerned about leaving him anywhere just yet, but still, the beginning of crawling. Thank goodness we have a few more months before we have to seriously baby proof the house.

Check back tonight for a photo essay on his progress.

He's still quite the good-natured baby. Such a joy in our household.