Emergency Alert!

Old Navy has 50% off of their already marked-down clearance!

(Plus another 30% off for suckers with Old Navy credit card! I signed up for one. I couldn't turn down another $50 off.)

I got an adorable dress, hat, and coat for Cozy, millions of shirts for the girls, and cool super-hero Ts for the boys ($2 each)! Fun, fun!

Pretty, Pretty House

Tony and I are house-hunting junkies right now - not that we're in a buying position at the moment. Still, we're casually looking for our dream farm. It's a fun hobby, and who wouldn't want to drive around, taking in the fall scenery?
Sofia and I LOVED this one.
Sadly, it didn't qualify for several reasons. First and foremost, it's acreage consisted of a riding ring and wetlandish horse trails. Not exactly the uses we had in mind for our land.
Secondly, it only had two bedrooms.
You know a house is great when you think a bathroom is beautiful, even with the laundry room as a part of it!


Path to the barn.


Stone fireplace.


Mudroom entry - complete with saddle racks.


So long, pretty house, I hope your next owner loves you well!

You Pack It In - You Pack It Out!

When we woke up this morning and saw the sun streaming through our windows, we knew it was field trip day! We're studying Zoology this year (beginning with flying creatures), and Theler Wetlands is the perfect place for a nature walk....and walk....and walk.

I didn't notice that it was a one-way hike until we reached the end of the trail. Anthony was all, "Well, yeah. Didn't you look on the map at the beginning of the trail?"

No, I was too entranced with the beautiful entrance gate and lovely naturalistic landscaping at the trailhead. Moms get distracted by that sort of thing.


Lovely estuary - views of the hood canal! You're right on the water the whole time. And we saw tons of birds! I'll be back in the spring, and I expect to see myriads of ducklings from all of those Mallards! We also saw a couple great blue heron, a wood pecker (not one tree away from us! Pecking its little heart out! I took a picture of its stomping grounds), and I finally saw a Kingfisher swoop down after a fish! What alerted me? It's distinctive call, of course. Tony will be so proud!


We crossed so many things off of our nature scavenger hunt, but I really wished I had brought a stroller. It was totally stroller friendly, and half-way through the hike, my Cozette-holding arm was feeling the burn and James was sitting down to draw pictures in the gravel. I coaxed him along with blackberries that we weren't supposed to be picking, and Anthony gave him a few rides.

The funniest parts of our outing:

1. BooBoo insisting that these were dragon bones.


2. This sign. I can just picture myself posing for it.


3. Jonny being so sweet as to tell an elderly gentleman (out for a walk - minding his own buisness) that there was a "potty right over there, if he needed to use it." So considerate.


I can't wait to go back...with a stroller....once I can feel my arm again!

Boo-caso

BooBoo is so creative. I'm not sure if he finger-painted this creation or if it was just a lucky spill, but he was SO excited to show me the elephant!

Halloweeny Fun

When we drove up to Rachel's house (a mere hour late), we could see a string of pumpkin lanterns lighting up the window, but they STILL tried to turn all of the lights off and "surprise" us. Yes, we were SHOCKED, because we didn't expect ANYONE to be at a party we had been invited to. :)


Why were we late? ...Annika's Heidi costume (which she's decided is a gypsy costume) took quite a little time to finish. But doesn't she look like just the cutest little milk maid?!


...and Grandpa the Bee Keeper with the cute little Cozy bee. (We'll see if I get around to doing her "little red riding hood" costume, but, in the mean time, BooBoo's hand-me-down works great!)


Sofi and her mini-me, with their "trainer", May (Aunt Betsy).


Tony made his costume out of a McDonald's bag on the ferry. It's a life-sized Plankton (from Sponge Bob) mask.


Sofikins, dunking for apples. I think all of the uncles managed it, with the go-all-of-the-way-underwater technique Anthony pioneered.


The hostess with the mostest.


The family preggo at the moment.


Preggo's hubby trying on Anthony's costume.


Ahh, party fun.

Sewing...and being Slovenly

OH, how I hate deadlines. I admit that they help me accomplish things, but I still really detest them. Thanks to a very exciting and fun Halloween Party coming up, Sofia and I are sewing like crazy, at the cost of all else, to finish a couple costumes in time - Annika'a and Sofia's.


It's a good thing my husband is such a tolerant person. He didn't even seem to notice that our bedroom looks like this...


Beth, these are my curtain ideas. What do you think?

What Blogging Looks Like At My House

Work = Money

That was the title at the top of the paper before I used it to blot a stamp on. Can you see why I need helpers? ...just a little bit busy and distracted.

Anyhow, work = money is a concept we've been trying to instill in our kids for years. However, instilling it is usually a lot of work (that doesn't pay very well...ok - it's just massive delayed gratification).

We tried paying them per chore that they completed during each pay period. There were spread sheets and weekly paydays that required exact change. It was complicated and nightmarish.

I love the new system (based very loosely on Cheaper by the Dozen). On the clipboard, I have a list of jobs that I'm willing to pay people for in October, along with the going rate.

Play with the baby while I sew or cook $2.00

Clean the upstairs bathroom $5.00

Wash and dry all of the downstairs baseboards $3.00

When the children sign up for a job, they've committed to completing it. After it's passed inspection, I initial it, and they are paid at the end of the month.

This list serves two purposes. First: it saves me from the constant "what can I do to earn money" question. Second: even if they don't do everything on the list, it helps me remember what I need to get done if the kids are feeling lazy and not particularly motivated by cash.

Proof: the bathroom my 8-year-old cleaned today.


Easy Cheesy - Mac and Peasy.

(...and no, we don't know what that means, but we say it all of the time anyhow.)

Finally

I know I got started late putting those children to bed, but STILL! You'd think two hours was plenty of time to fall asleep in.

I separated James and Jonny. Jon fell asleep almost instantly, but then James wouldn't stay in bed. At about 11:30, I gave up.

Me: James, do you want to go for a drive with Mommy?
BooBoo: Yea, yea, let's go to the car!
Me: Ok! Put your shoes on!

Me: James, do want a snack at McDonalds (so I can get my Diet Coke)?
BooBoo: French fries!

Me: James, should we go to the grocery store too?
BooBoo: Zzzzzz.

The best part - I got to eat his fries.

A Quilt Update

I think I'm at fiftyish 9-patches....but I'm considering doing 2 of these quilts - which means I need 140. The pink and green one is my new favorite.


I finally got my zig-zag sewn together. ...and just in time, because ten minutes later, James was doing this...


I decided to do it at a diagonal (thanks to the brilliance of my niece, Autumn), but Jonny informed me that it's not a zig-zag anymore. He says those are obviously stairs. Now it's my Jonny Staircase Quilt.



Meanwhile, my Alpha quilt is still sitting in a hamper, waiting for additional quilting, mending, and blind-stitching.

A Healthy Cup of Poison Death

This is Jonny's "Cup of Poison Death". Anything you put in it becomes deadly poison - that Jonny is immune to.

James keeps trying to steal it, so I think we'll have to make another trip to the dollar store.

The Opposite of Glamour Shots

Ok. These are definitely NOT glamorous, since I took them of myself, in the eyeliner I wore to bed last night.

Now you know how truly slovenly I am, but - hey - that's just another testment to it's staying power, right?

Confessions of An Eyeliner Junkie

I've always known I needed a little eyeliner....well, now I need a lot.

Every time I'd buy one at the whatever store, it was always such a disappointment. It wouldn't stay where I wanted it for more than ten minutes. Who wants smeary, drifty eyeliner?

Now Mary Kay has turned me into a total, total addict. It started with "steely", and, once I discovered I could go jogging or take a nap without it shifting or smearing, I was totally hooked. Now I have black and navy blue too! Fun stuff.

(..those brown ones are just waiting to be thrown away.)

Cozy and Odie

Cozette is sure going to miss her big brother (and favorite non-mommy person)this week. Why is Odie her favorite? Easy. She's his. Anthony Loves babies and thinks making them laugh is a great hobby; thus, little sister lights right up when she sees him coming.

And where O where has our Odie gone? He's off for a week of male bonding with Grandpa, culminating in the long-awaited hunting trip. I miss the little stinker already!

I'm Still Waiting...

....to hear Smoke on the Water.
Sofia is taking a "community education" class - beginning rock guitar. My wonderful brother provided a loaner guitar and amp. So far, we're at a scale and a couple of "power cords" that she can't remember. Cords are a new concept coming from the violin. Actually, they'll be learning Welcome to the Jungle and Sunshine of Your Love.
I offered the class to Anthony first. He wasn't interested. He doesn't forsee a day when he'll need to attract chics. :) ...they'd probably be the wrong kind of girls anyhow.

I admit it...

...sewing parties are more fun. I'm starting Halloween costumes. IF I finish them, you'll definitely get to see pictures!

Duuh Dum Dum Dum

James has been humming a wedding march all day. I thought it was odd until I realized there was an almost-wedding in Monsters Vs. Aliens.


I made a whole bunch of these for my Mary Kay party today. There was a cuter one, made from scraps of the girls' curtains, but Kirsten chose it....thus, no photo.

Anyhow, it's a good thing my neighbor noticed the May Kay vehicle in my driveway: otherwise, I would have had NOBODY at my party. Thanks guys.

Really, my house is clean and I'm wearing makeup - what do I have to complain about. (It sounds like my husband's lucky day, nicht?) Tony told me not to worry - he's my friend, and he bought me a vanilla coke to prove it.

Help

I've been decorating Cozette's "nook" (in the corner of my room). It's slow-going, and I think I need to my coherce my little sister into coming over and helping me.
I FINALLY got this picture frame put together (Tony and baby, me and baby, Grandma Cozette), after spray-painting the inner mat blue and the frame pink (it used to all be a very garrish gold), but I'm super-impared with arranging things on a wall. Rachel, help me!

There's good news and there's bad news....

The good news is that I finally found my dream home. It's a gorgeous old five-bedroom house on ten acres. Farmy and sweet. Lots of room for kids to run free (without being hit by cars)!


What's the bad news? Well, it belongs to someone else...and isn't even for sale. At least now Tony has a clear vision of what I'm looking for. This is the farm that hosted the second annual Farm Fair (raising money to start a Kitsap Community Food Co-op).


We went mainly for the million-dollar pony rides and the raffles, but I was also a big fan of many cute vendors - selling aprons, recycled craft goods (nearly as cute as my own ;), and hand-made japanese block prints (do you think she'd take Sofia as an apprentice?)



Too short Pony rides that James could not wait for.


Cider press demo...I still don't understand how it works, but the kids had fun rinsing their apples, chucking them in, and watching them be ground to a pulp.


James says we need one of these.


I think we need at least five of these.