Wordless (almost) Wednesday

If you want your ponytails to be the same length, don't cut your own hair.

Sisters becoming Friends

In between mischievous moments.

Hunting

Looking

Rough Skinned Newt

Taricha granulosa

WASH YOUR HANDS!

Bear Out There!

Exactly one year after this we are visited again!  Weird!  This morning The Pathetic Doberman went running off into the woods, barking her fool head off.  We thought she was chasing the new fawns that are now just old enough to graze in the pasture with their mom:

But we were wrong! A neighbor, who doubles as a census worker and knew we had kids, passed our driveway this morning and saw the bear hanging around.  He drove down just to let us know and warn us to keep the kids and dog inside.  The same dog that kept him trapped in his car when he needed to gather our census information. Wasn't that thoughtful? Thoughtful of the neighbor to warn us and of the dog to protect us-from bears and census workers...

And sadly, this guy is no longer with us.  We saw him on the side of the road, hit by a car.  Note to self: Do not get attached to, nor name, the local wildlife.  RIP Buck.

M's Vacation

Once a year, M gets to take some vacation time.  His boss asked him where he was going to go during his vacation.  The beach?  Camping? 

How about working?  Yes, bright and early on his first day of vacation, M pulled the old carpet into the van, went to the dump, went to the hardware store, and stocked up on Pergo.  This morning he made another hardware store list to go along with his work/vacation plans and he is gone again.  But he didn't leave until he pressure washed the porch with the help of the three older kids.  IJ is pressure washing, S is scrubbing with a scrub brush, and E is brushing on a cleaning solution.  His plans are: re-flooring the dining room, office, and boys room, building a shoe/boot rack out front, building a picnic table, siding the well house and chicken coop, and staining the deck.  Some vacation!

Smoothie So Good...

...it will knock you off your chair!  Before bath:

After bath:

Can you see the bruise in the shape of a cup's rim?  On her forehead and across the bridge of her nose? Once you stop looking at those gorgeous eyes that is...

Absence Makes the Heart

Not grow fonder!  Goodbye Green Shag Carpet!  Hello PERGO!

World's Best Cat

I tell you, this cat is something else!

A Hug...

...A Kiss...

...And a Smile

(The cat took it out on the dog when she was released.  Very Funny)

What Day is it Again?

Yesterday was so surprisingly hot, the dog and cat called a truce to escape the heat.  Baby D is in the playpen behind them.  He isn't resting.

He discovered he can move his arms!  He spends every waking minute moving those arms up and down and all around!  This wears him out quickly, so he needs a lot of catnaps.

School is out and all our activities are over, so we quickly forget what day it is.  If M had a normal job in an office, we could at least guess if it were a weekday or a weekend.  But since he is home, I remember the day with S's help and our breakfast menu.  Today we had cereal, so it must be Thursday.

During this morning's catnap, S and I did some reading (Greg's Microscope-great book!) and took some cheek cell samples:

These are real cells from S's cheek!  I took the picture down the eyepiece (maybe someday we will get a digital microscope that will hook up to our computer!  Then I will post all sorts of strange pictures!).  He was so excited!  The first thing he said was, "Those are MY cells?"  The second thing he said was, "Can I go outside now?"

I love summer break!

Some Days...

...I just want to clobber her!  Here she is, pulling our science experiment up by the roots!

Baby D

He is getting so strong!  Look at him hold up his head!  And only 2 months and seven days old!

Completing Him Challenge

M proposed to me July 11th, 2001 at the most northwestern point of Washington State: Cape Flattery.  We were finishing up our week-long road trip and enjoying the view.  M said to me, "Are you sick of me yet?"  I said, "No..." He smiled and asked me to marry him!

 When M called me His Future Wife

We were married November 2, 2001.  It was a Friday.  I took the day off school (as did L and A) and M took the day off work.  We drove up to the Skykomish River where M took me on my first bull trout survey a year earlier.  Some lady from some strange church performed the ceremony.  She was the only one who would drive so far and marry us without making us go through premarital counseling!  L and A were my bridesmaids, my bouquet came from Haggen, and my dress was a simple formal from the Bon Marche.  We dressed in a tent and my parents brought sandwiches and banana cake (ew) from Safeway.

One thing I remember about the ceremony (besides crying so hard-happy crying- I could barely say my vows) was being irritated with the feminist weirdo pastor.  I specifically wanted her to say "You may kiss your bride," but she changed it to, "You may kiss each other."  What kind of crazy liberal talk is that?  I already know we are equal-duh, but I wanted to be his bride!  Grrr! We kept the ceremony short and sweet so we could head off to the San Juan Islands for our honeymoon!

We spent the weekend exploring the island and having fun, but the weekend ended all too quickly.  We did, after all, have a grown up life to return to!

Honeymoon Hike

He's Home, and He's Ticked!

M and the boys are home from their Cub Scout camping weekend.

"Smile Nice for your Mom."

They all had a great time.  M took a group of boys hiking on Saturday.  And it rained a lot!  The first morning some families had puddles in their tents!  But M is ticked.  Seriously.  I'm not kidding.  He has two ticks burrowing into his flesh.

He was able to pull them out after learning that burning and suffocating are no longer recommended forms of tick removal.  So now that the bugs are removed and preserved in rubbing alcohol, and we determined one left its mouth parts behind (I love microscopes), I am on serious disease watch.  I'm watching M very closely for signs of Lyme or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

We called the 24/7 consulting nurse, but all she could do was look information up on her computer.  Really?  We already did that.  Why do we even have 24/7 nurses?  Unfortunate for M, I think I'm going to make him see a doctor tomorrow and get a prescription for antibiotics.  Just in case.

This might be his worst Father's Day ever!

WHO knew conventions are fun?

And if you change the question mark to an exclamation point, you get the joke!

I met dear C and two other local moms at the convention and spent the day browsing vendor booths full of homeschool treasures.  I had a great time.  First, someone had an extra ticket at the entrance and gave it to me-free.  Then I entered two raffle drawings and won them both!  I have a family pass to the hydroplane museum and a tote bag with some goodies from Mango Math.  I just know my little fruit bats will love Mango Math.

I think my favorite part of the day (besides seeing my friends) was when I changed D's diaper and turned around to see F with a handful of crumpled twenty dollar bills- $200 worth!  I thought, "Where on earth did she get that kind of money?!?  Did a drug dealer drop it here in the bathroom?"  But then I remembered that the money was mine.  I obviously don't carry cash very often.

My feet are killing me, so I'm going to make a cup of coffee (or not- it is 6:15 PM) and go veg for awhile before I dig into my treasures.

Super Food

I haven't done a Vita Mix love post for awhile...but I'm still loving my green smoothies.  I did take several months off from making anything because of the baby and all, but now I'm back in the saddle again.  I have to eat something now that I'm off dairy again...sigh...

I just got my Azure Standard order this week and this month I bought something I've never bought before: spirulina!  Yum!  So I made my very own Superfood Smoothie with mango, apple, banana, spirulina, and orange juice.  It was awesome.  And that is why I took a picture and wasted some of your precious time.

Completing Him Challenge

I read about the Completing Him Challenge on another woman's blog.  And I'm in!  This year has been a crazy, hectic, life-changing year and no one knows it more than my dear husband.  This is my attempt to bring us closer together again... not that we are drifting apart or anything.  But he has to put up with a lot of moaning and groaning on my part for having to move here.  And having a new baby always causes a mom to feel out of whack.  So my first challenge is to write about how we met, our dating days, and what from those days has gotten lost in our busy lives now.  I will post a link to the Completing Him Challenge later...

M and I met in 1999 while volunteering for the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association while building a smolt trap on Ten Mile Creek in Lynden.  M was the guy who knew everything about smolt traps and was the official from WDFW.  I was a lowly college student who suddenly realized one day that I better get some volunteer hours on my resume if I ever wanted to get a job when I graduated.  And that's all I remember about M from 1999.  I volunteered again in 2000, this time as an Accounts Receivable clerk desperate to get out of my cubicle.  M again was the guy who knew everything.  On orientation day, he pointed to me and said, "You were here last year weren't you?  Tell me, how can you tell a cutthroat trout smolt from a coho smolt?"  Uhhhh.... "Spots on the dorsal fin?"  And that is the first conversation I remember having with my future husband.

 M at Lake Sammamish: I took this picture and then felt very self conscience about it.  What kind of weirdo takes a picture of their boss?  Me.  Sigh...

 The only picture of me working.  Because I took all the pictures.

M hired me to work for him in 2000 on weekend bass tournaments, electrofishing surveys, and occasional bull trout surveys.  We spent a lot of time driving to work sites and talking and getting to know each other.  He liked to quiz me on my knowledge of classic rock and talk about politics.  It was all very innocent.  After all, I had a boyfriend and M was way older than me (and he had a lady friend).  And he was a single dad with two daughters.  He had no business getting interested in someone like me.  Call it destiny or the hand of God or the meddling of sweet ten year old A- we ended up dating by the summer of 2001.

 M on a bull trout survey.  He is that little dot above the old growth log.  I nearly died on this survey, but I got to hold M's hand when he pulled me out of the water ;)

We didn't go on normal dates (romantic dinners in restaurants, movies).  Our romantic dinner and movie looked more like pizza while watching The Emperor's New Groove with A.  But we still had so much fun!  We went to Mount Baker with the girls and hiked.  We walked at Lake Whatcom and went swimming with A.  We went to the beach with the girls.  We drove out to Whidbey Island with A.  We watched the fireworks over Bellingham Bay on the 4th of July.

When the girls went to visit their mom, we went on a week long camping road trip that ended in M proposing to me.  It was a wild six weeks of dating.  But I like to count the two years we worked together as dating too- but without the kissing!  Because that is what marriage is: work.  The wild fun part ends when you come back to real life and have to pay the bills.  I think having a good working relationship with M has made us successful; he is the big picture guy and I'm the detail person.  We were like Mulder and Scully in the X-Files!  

Since we had kids right away, the spontaneous trips around the state stopped.  No one wants to drive more than two hours with a crying baby in a car seat or chase a wild two year old over a cliff.  But we do still get to the beach a lot and spend as much time outdoors as possible.  I'm getting so good at Classic Rock Trivia that I can name not only the band, but sometimes the lead singer!  And we never get away from the fish talk.  So I guess we are still doing all the things we did when we were dating...only without the Sobes and Sour Skittles! 

Twin Firs Vacation

The strange thing about hot sunny Sundays is that it feels like we still live in the old place and we are just here for the weekend. 

M starts working around the house as soon as the caffeine hits his system.  He burns the accumulation of boxes and branches and the kids rediscover the pond. 

I join them with the baby and we watch the kids play.  Grandad joins us too.  We head up to the house when the kids get cold and start the baths. 

 Grandad makes a lunch of tiger prawns, scallops, mussels, and artichokes.  The kids do their best on lunch and go back outside. 

M goes out back to mow the pasture (and discover bees nests) and I sit outside watching.  I can't possibly get any work done because I'm nursing a baby and watching a two year old. 

After mowing, M and the rest of us watch a movie to escape the heat.  And then M makes dinner! 

So tomorrow when we wake up and we are still here and have to go to work and homeschool, today will seem like a dream...

IJ Gets His Black Belt

After three years and four months, IJ got his black belt!  What an incredible journey!  I'm hoping to get M to guest blog about the subject since he is so much better at Taekwondo talk than I am.  But I can say that IJ has really impressed me and I am so so proud of him.

I've written about our day in another post because I want to focus on what was really important:

 Off with the color belt...

...and on with the black belt!

 S, M, IJ, and the Master of their school

S received his senior red belt and a trophy for earning his five stripes.  IJ received a belt with his name embroidered on it in gold letters, a new uniform with a special black collar, and a giant trophy!  But I think he is most excited about his new nunchucks!  We are so proud of IJ!

The Rest of the Story

Today was a bad day to travel with these kids.  We had to leave early to get our two hour trip done by 10:00.  We rushed through breakfast and got out the door.  We skipped stopping for coffee just in case we hit traffic (bad, bad idea- we were never able to stop and get me coffee.  Keep that in mind while you read-use your Paul Harvey voice- The Rest of the Story).  Within an hour, E threw up her breakfast.  I tossed her the ziplock bag I was using to transport my knitting project while she finished (I learned that from experience: always travel with ziplock bags).  Luckily we were a mile from a rest stop and could clean her up.  The whole trip the boys were bouncing off the walls.  They kept the baby awake so he cried.  I was going crazy.  E threw up again when we were almost to the school.  This time I had an old pop cup for her (this is why I keep my van messy-just in case).

 Yellow jacket nest, right next to the cherry tree that my children play in.

At the ceremony it was hot!  By the time we got there, all the good seats were taken.  We had to sit way up at the top.  And climbing up a set of bleachers holding a baby in one arm, holding a two year old's hand with the other, and trying not to drop the diaper bag was a challenge!  As we watched the ceremony, the girls cheeks got pinker and pinker.  E was hungry after losing her breakfast; she kept asking for food.  She was swinging her feet and accidentally tapped the seat in front of her.  The lady turned around and snapped, "Stop kicking us!" which made E cry.  I leaned over to my mom and stage whispered, "It would be too bad if E had to throw up again!"  Baby D nursed nicely for awhile, but then he needed his diaper changed.  And S needed to use the restroom.  Luckily Grandpa was there and could take him.  I had to climb back down the bleacher with the baby and the toddler, while Grandpa climbed down with S.

When we got back, the half-time demonstrations were in full swing and we had gotten separated from Grandpa and S.  I had to sit on the floor with Baby D and F until it was over.  When a high ranking black belt was going to break five thick boards with his palm, the announcer asked for quiet so he could concentrate.  This was when F announced loudly over and over, "I have a noise!  I have a noise!"  I decided there was no way I was going to climb back up into the bleachers but my mom was able to pass the camera down to me.  This was when F decided to break loose and run 3/4 of the way across the gym.  During a quiet part no less.  I followed in hot pursuit, still holding the baby and the diaper bag.  I got to where I could stop her and offered fruit snacks, my ace up my sleeve.  She planted her little behind on the ground and behaved nicely after that.

 Happy to be home again

Until it was time for the kids to receive their black belts.  Since I was standing, I had no problem walking right up to the front to take closer pictures of IJ.  F followed nicely, still eating her fruit snacks.  When they were gone, she decided it would be fun to crawl under my skirt and play.  I'm glad my skirt was nice and long and didn't give anyone an extra show.

The drive home was hot and crazy with the boys still bouncing off the sides of the van.  I really need to reconsider the seating arrangement.  By the time we made it home, after eight hours on the road, I didn't want to be anywhere near my dear children.  But they wouldn't leave us alone.  And they had lost all privileges, including video games.  So we had to do things with them, like play baseball and teach them how to play a board game.  S reminded me about five times that if he was able to play video games, he would be leaving us alone.  I actually had to tell my sons that I didn't want to see them for the rest of the day and they had to go to bed NOW!

Baseball in the driveway

All I have to say now is, thank goodness this day is finally over, the five kids are asleep, and I can go to bed!

Anyone for a Picture Fix?

School News

Our school year is coming to an end.  We finished reading The Story of the World today and the boys finished up their geography workbooks.  We went through what is left of their language arts books and decided what to do and what to skip.  I'll have the boys and E work a few mornings a week throughout the summer, just to stay in the groove.  But we are basically done!  Now for the hard part: packing everything up!

Baseball Season: Over

And what a way to end it!  IJ had his last game yesterday.  There were two outs and one of the stronger hitters from the other team was up.  IJ was playing second base.  The kid hit an incredible line drive; the ball was fast and about 3 1/2 feet off the ground.  "It was so cool.  My instincts said, 'Put up your arm' right when he was swinging the bat and I did," he says.  And the ball just smacked into his mitt and stayed there.  His teammates jumped up and down.  The parents were cheering and shouting for him!  One dad said, "[IJ] deserves two trophies for that catch!"  And the awesome thing was that (and I can say this because I am his mom and I know) his body was poised like he caught the ball on purpose.  His knees were bent, his arm was strong, and he had a very Zen-like look about him.  But I know he didn't catch it on purpose.  I know it was his Taekwondo reflexes.  He was doing without thinking.  After the game, the coach gave IJ a knuckle bump and said, "You made my day today.  You are definitely the most improved player on the team."  M and I are so proud! 

Frolicking, Flying Friday

I took over 100 pictures in the 30 minutes I was outside while D slept.  I could have done the dishes, but I didn't.

Double-headed Dandelion

Double Dodo Buttercup

Random Assortment of Wildlife

Two-Legged Sparrow (aren't they all two-legged?)

Flying Lessons