Art

I love Art! No, I am not an artist by any means, I don't draw well, I don't know any of the hundreds of techniques artists use, and I know very little of the various mediums. The closest I've ever gotten is trying to manipulate my very basic digital camera to see things the way I do. Very tricky indeed! I dream of one day being able to attend art school. Glass? Metal? Ceramics? OHHH the possibilities are endless. Until then, I will borrow books from the library, and read about various techniques.

I also love color, especially in our home. We have had no art on the walls, until I dug out an old gift sent to us from Jaime's grandmother on his fathers side. Grandma Ganoza is from Peru, and from what I've heard, she visits quite often. Every couple of years, we receive a package in the mail with miscellaneous items from her trip. About 7 years ago we received this tapestry, which sat rolled up in the closet of our many homes.

I think it is made of either sheep or llama wool. This picture doesn't show the rich colors, again, failure on my part to manipulate my digital camera. I absolutely love this tapestry! I love the red roofs, and the women by the stream. It makes me smile whenever I walk by it.

Peggy Chun lives in Hawaii, and I love her work too. She suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, and has over the years lost the use of all extremities. She now paints digitally with her eyes. My all time favorite is Banana Patch Heaven, but I also like Spirit of the Paddles.

Seattle has many talented artists! We've run across several no-name artists at farmers markets and street fairs. Many thanks to all of the artists who make our world a more beautiful place!

Junkie

I am a self proclaimed junk food junkie! I've been like this for as long as I can remember, and this past Christmas my mother commented on how even as a young girl, I loved my sweets. I go through phases, at times I do pretty good. I don't buy junk, don't eat much junk... then it happens, I'm at the grocery store, thinking..."I deserve a treat", after all I don't have a weight problem, never have, why shouldn't I indulge??? Don't get me wrong... I think the occasional treat is fine, but once I have some, I can't seem to stop eating until it is all gone. I will slowly munch on candy & chocolate until it completely disappears. Very little will power.

I'm trying to change my eating habits for myself and the little ones. I want to be around a long time, so I can return the favor and torture them when I'm old! =) Just kidding. The worst part for me is Noah is following in my footsteps. He constantly asks for 'sugar snacks', and thinks whenever we are out and about, someone needs to buy him a treat. It's tough, because every where we go, there seem to be those darn little candy machines that only require a quarter. I say 'NO', then I have to listen to all sorts of whining and negotiations. I've gotten good at taking healthy snacks with us, and not buying junk! Except... when I go to the grocery store! OHH my weakness. Make every bite count, is what goes through my mind every time I eat or prepare food. Bella is nursing, and she depends on me to provide her with essential nutrients.

In an effort to eat better, I prepare snacks for myself that I can munch on during the day. I'm not a 3 meals a day kinda gal, I prefer to graze all day long! I chop fruit and veggies, get some dips ready, cut some cheese, have healthy crackers and nuts available. That way when I'm hanging out with Bella and want to 'snack', I can go to the kitchen, grab a handful of goodness, and munch/crunch on it while hanging with Bella. I need to get back into the habit of baking. I think that would help round out my snacking.

Noah is reluctant to eat healthy, thanks to me! I have noticed if I bake something healthy, or just leave some chopped items on the table, he too will walk by and grab something to munch on. What are your tricks/tips on eating better? Have a favorite recipe you'd like to share? I'm always up for something new.

Fire!!!!

I have said it before, I'll say it again, I should not be allowed in the kitchen!

Today, after picking Noah up from school, I decided I am cold, I'd like to have another cup of tea. So I put on the hot water. Bella was fussing, so I sat down, got cozy with my favorite blanket and began nursing her. Sniff, Sniff... is something burning?? Shortly after the kettle starts to whistle, so I go to the kitchen, with Bella attached... and guess what I see??? Yep, FIRE!!!

My chowder from last night boiled over, guess that was what caught fire... and this is the second time this year that I've done this. Maybe I'm subconsciously trying to burn down my ICKY kitchen???

Check out my kettle!

Sunshine!

YES!! The sun is peaking through grey clouds! Is this possible in the middle of winter?
I love sun, it feels great.
Can't wait for spring!

Kids!

Things around here have been a bit busy but uneventful. Is that possible??? Noah and Bella have been sick. Although Bella is feeling better, Noah is still sluggish. He's been home from school quite a bit these last two weeks, first from snow storm, then he got sick. We've had lots of time to talk and just hang out.
I asked Noah, What are your interests?
What's that? He asked
Then we came up with a long list of his interests. Noah is very reserved, and doesn't share much, so it was great to see his face light up with excitement as he talked of his interests.

• Caves
• Rocket Ships
• Ninjas
• Pirates
• Bouncey Houses
• Gymnastics
• Swimming/diving
• Bugs
• Pinata
• Castles & Evil Kings
• Hot Wheels
• Flying Carpet
• Sling Shots
• Tattoos
• Dragons
• Huge Bubbles
• Monster Trucks
• Reptiles
• Super Heros
• Hot Lava
• Cutting things in half
• Swords
• Submarines

Maybe we could incorporate some of these things into a Birthday party? Bubbles, Pinata, and a Bouncey House sound like loads of fun. Hopefully it doesn't rain... a real possibility in April.

Passion

What's your passion?
HMMM, I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up... oh wait a minute, guess I am sorta grown??? Right?

I'm reading this great book, 'Work with Passion-How to do what you love for a living' by Nancy Anderson. I'm only about 27 pgs in, but I'm hooked. Hope I have enough time to read the entire text. A paragraph in the introduction grabbed me with this:

"Begin your journey toward a more passionate life by eliminating the distractions from your life. Distractions include spending time with people who drain your energy, surfing the Internet, watching too much television, overspending, overeating, overworking, and oversocializing."

Some of these are obvious, like TV and the Internet. I too am guilty of squandering many hours, especially on the Internet. Others... like oversocializing, were not as obvious... to me at least. It goes on to say that it is important to have some alone time just for thinking and being. This I completely agree with. We don't have enough 'alone time' to just be ourselves and do absolutely nothing, a time to think. We are constantly overextended by family, friends, work and other obligations. Sometimes it is unavoidable, other times we need to learn to just say 'NO'. This is very difficult for me.

Anyhow, I hope you all will take more time to figuring out what your 'Passion' is. If you've already found it, Congratulations! I'd love to hear about it.

Advice

Tonight while Noah was brushing his teeth, he called me into his bathroom. Why? He wanted to tell me his secret for getting your teeth extra clean.

• First you brush really really good.
• Rinse toothbrush, then brush again but only with water.

This last step is REALLY important. It will make your teeth 'shiny'. So there you have it, next time you want really shiny teeth, try Noah's trick, he swears by it.

Knitting

I couldn't knit if my life depended on it! But my mom is so talented, she can knit all sorts of great things. Here are a few items she has made for Noah and Bella.

Lady Bug Blanket for Bella

Zoo Animal Blanket for Noah

Cardigan for Bella

Sweater for Noah


Thank you Mutti!

Song

Noah sang us a new song tonight... it was soooo cute!

I love the mountains
I love the rolling hills
I love the flowers
I love the daffodils

the rest was either hummed or muttered...

So, during dinner I started to sing it, but I added
I love the ocean
at the beginning of the song. I was quickly corrected. That is NOT how the song goes. I asked if I could add that part, because I really do love the ocean.

ummm uhmmmmm well, okay if you really do love the ocean, you can sing it that way if you want to. Thanks Noah for teaching me your song.

More Snow!

Last night while Noah and I were making dinner, we noticed it was snowing... again! For the second time this year! I love it!!! Here are a few more photos.

Time to go outside and play!

Another storm

After watching the news this past weekend, I learned we had yet another storm headed our way, due to hit last night... and it did. The weather was nice yesterday morning, so Bella and I headed out to the yard for some fresh air. I wanted to check on our leaning Locust Tree, which is leaning towards a little building on my neighbors lot. Luckily no one is living in it.

On Saturday another arborist came to give me an estimate. He quoted high. I asked why it is so expensive to take down a tree these days, and he stated the obvious. With the recent storms we've been having, and all the wind, they have more work than they can handle, and prices have skyrocketed! Great. He suggested I wait several weeks, and prices may drop. What if my tree falls???? He says Locust Trees are strong, and it may hold. My reply was that I don't want to take a chance... especially with all the crazy weather we've been having. After a little more chit chat, he mentions my neighbor is his guitar teacher. Who Vicky?? Yes Vicky. He goes on to say he will drop the price by $100 and will not charge tax, but I will still have to wait about 2 weeks. Deal!! This saves me about $150 all together.

This morning I checked on the tree again, it is still standing, even after the crazy wind from yesterday. I am counting my lucky stars!

German Style Red Cabbage

My mom taught me how to make this a few years back. This is comfort food for me.



1 head of red cabbage
1 medium onion
1-2 apples
2 bay leaves
6-8 cloves
vinegar
sugar

• Quarter cabbage, then slice into thin strips
• Saute diced onion in a bit of olive or butter until transparent
• add sliced red cabbage and cook for about 5minutes or until soft
• add a splash (to taste) of vinegar(I use apple cider vinegar) while cooking cabbage
• peel & cut apple into small pieces and add
• add bay leaves and cloves
• sprinkle a little sugar (about 1-2 tsp)
• add enough water to almost cover cabbage, but not quite.
  

Cook for about an hour or so, you may need to add water along the way if it gets too dry.
Add additional sugar to taste if you want it sweeter.

Budget

Have you ever wondered... where did it all go? Money that is. This is where my handy dandy budget comes in! Three years ago I created a budget using Excel to keep track of our spending...and I mean ALL of it! Why Excel vs some other savvy personal financial planning software?? I already had it, I already knew how to use it... and it did the job just fine.

In the beginning, it was more of a tracking device than an actual budget. The toughest part was remembering to save all receipts, and getting Jaime to do the same. After about a year of 'tracking' our spending habits, I felt pretty good that our expenses were being logged accurately, for the most part.

I was shocked to learn that most of our disposable income was going to fast food/dining out! Were we really eating out THAT much??? Apparently so. 2-4 times a week added up to several hundred dollars each and every month! This is where the REAL budget came in, and it took a full year to implement. We often went beyond our budget, and dipped onto our savings. By the end of the second year, we noticed a major improvement. We were eating out about once a week vs 2-4 times. This second year was tough, and some months were a lot better than others. We made a lot of life changes in this second year, making it difficult at times to track/stick to our budget. We moved from Hawaii to Seattle, purchased our first home, and enrolled Noah in preschool.

In the third year, things started to settle a bit, but we still incurred some unexpected expenses. We had to replace our roof, replace main water line from meter to house, and we added another beautiful addition to our family... Bella!

We are now entering our 4th year of budgeting, and I think it gets better every year! This year we hope to pay off all of our bad debt, (car & credit card), and I'm working to reduce our food bill. I'm researching local farms and looking to purchase half a pig, and some local beef. Jaime is a big meat eater!! While I do this, I'm also trying to stretch our meat by eating more grains and vegetables. For example, instead of serving several pork chops and mashed potatoes (Jaime's fav) for dinner, we take one large pork chop, chop into small pieces and cook with green beans and Kabocha. If and when we get our garden started, hopefully that will provide us with some veggies. I hope to start baking bread again. Buying in bulk and cooking from scratch seems to make all the difference, and tastes great too.

We buy used whenever we can, and don't buy things that we really don't need. Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between a need and a want. We are working harder than ever to really stick to it, and rethinking many of our purchasing decisions. I'm excited to see where our budget takes us this next year.

My forest

One of the reasons I love our property is because we have so many trees on it. We have several big ones in the back, and three closer to the house. Near the house we have a cherry, birch, and 'The Monster' as the arborist called it. The Monster needs to be thinned... badly.

This past week my mom and I were walking through the back end of our property, when she noticed one of smaller trees was majorly leaning towards my neighbors shed. Upon closer inspection, you can see a mound of dirt around the base where the roots are near the surface. Must have been that bad storm we had several weeks back. Darn, guess that one needs to be cut down.

I called several, about 7, tree specialists/arborists, 3 promised to come and give me an estimate, only one showed up. He was a real talker, told me all about trees, how they grow, why this and that happens, how people don't take care of their trees, how his house & shop were broken into, his brand new truck stolen, a piston went out on his best chipper... you get the picture. Since he was so talkative, I thought I'd ask about thinning The Monster. Bill (the arborist) was upset! Someone had just chopped The Monster years ago, just 'topped it', which has apparently ruined the look of this beautiful old tree. He said it was going to be a pain to trim/thin it, and keep it beautiful. He recommended only cutting 25% at a time, and starting at the bottom, it would cost about $1,000 for each trimming/thinning... WHAT??? Gulp! That was hard to swallow. I was informed it would be cheaper to take The Monster down. NO WAY! I love The Monster, besides, it is so old, and has been around so long, what gives me the right? Besides, it provides us with wonderful shade in the summer, beautiful yellow leaves in the fall, and lots of leaves to rake up. We make huge piles of yellow leaves, Noah jumps in them, then we compost what we have room for. It's great fun and exercise. I will do what I can to save The Monster for future generations.

Exhaustion

The kiddos are tucked in and sleeping, kitchen has been cleaned...house has not, laundry has been folded but not put away. Whew, what a day! I did manage to get myself to the library to get a few books that were on hold, just to learn that I couldn't check them out because I had an outstanding fine of $11.10! How could this be??? Oh yeah, all those books that I checked out shortly before Christmas needed to be returned/renewed. Whoops! The librarian informed me she could only take cash, or I could get on a computer and pay over the web with my Credit Card. Well, the High School across the street from the library had just let out and was flooded with loud obnoxious teenagers. No free computer in site. So... I pick Noah up from school, run a few errands, go home and pay my fine, and head back to the library. That will teach me to return my books on time! I'm usually really good about it. As for the teenagers... I was one, and will eventually be the mother of one. YIKES So scary, and yet so exciting!

School

Today was Noah's first day back to school. I work up early to prepare his lunch and breakfast for us. With all the noise in the kitchen, Noah sleepily stumbled out, rubbing his eyes. It was still a little dark out. He wanted to know what I was doing up so early, then smiled when he realized it was just the two of us, Bella was still sleeping. After snuggling by the heater, a disappointed look covers his face as he realizes today is a school day. Once at school, he refuses to get out of the car, holds on to his carseat, and announces he is 'never taking off the seat cuffs' (aka hand cuffs). On the way home, I learn of a fatal shooting at a local high school about 20-30 minutes away. HMMMM Homeschooling sounds more appealing by the day.

A New Year!

Whew, the Holidays are over, and life is slowly returning to normal. Tomorrow my mom flies home to Wisconsin and Noah goes back to school.

I can't believe another year has come and gone! A sure sign that I'm getting older. I'm not big on New Year resolutions, but I have a bunch of things I hope to accomplish this year. All of the usual stuff... eat better, exercise more, love others, etc. On the top of my list is starting a garden! I really hope we can make it happen this year. I hoped to get it started last year, but then we found so much garbage buried under the blackberries that Jaime cleared. We also found an old dilapidated shed that we had to break down. We still have a lot of work to do. If only this rain would slow down long enough to get some fresh air.

Our future garden.... hopefully next year this time it will look totally different.

How did they work?

Some of you may be wondering... did Eva ever try out those cloth AIO (all in one) diapers? Yep, sure did! All three worked out great, I have likes and dislikes about each. All in all, each worked as well as a disposable.I used microfiber terry inserts, which also worked great. I bought a hemp insert, but haven't used it yet.

I tried Fuzzi Bunz first, and was surprised that Bella wore it for 6.5 hours and no leaks! She is not a heavy wetter. This diaper is very very simply made. Workmanship is not superior, but it did work. The elastic on one leg is tighter than the other. I've heard/read similar stories, apparently no diaper is exactly alike. They are very soft!! The second time she wore them, she made BIG POOPS, and it held too... Bella only poops once or twice a day, and when she does, Huggies cannot hold it. Very easy to clean, dries quickly. Price $17.95

Rumpsters were tried second. These are my favorite out of the three. Bella wore it for about 4 hours and stayed very dry, then pooped, all of it stayed in the diaper, no leaks! Made out of hemp & organic cotton. Inserts are sewn in, and unfold for washing, or adding additional inserts if you have a heavy wetter. They are trim, but I think they run a little small. A size small is for 8-22 lbs, but I don't think a 20 lb baby would fit these. I also don't think a really chubby baby would fit these. They have a low rise in the front, different from the others. They wash nicely, but take a little longer to dry. These are also the most expensive, running about $24 for one pair! OUCH

Bumgenius! are the most economical out of the three. You can get package deals, and they fit a baby weighing between 8-35 lbs. Basically, one size fits all. On Bella they seem a little big and bulky. I think she weighs about 11 or 12 lbs. They seem to be made better than Fuzzi Bunz, but worked just as well for me. Bella wore it for about 6 hours, and started to leak a little around the stretchy tabs. Sell individually for $17.95

These diapers can also be found used on Ebay, or craigslist. I have seen both Fuzzi Bunz & Bumgenius! on craigslist. These are much cheaper, you just don't know if they have been properly cared for. If you use the wrong detergent, your diaper could become leaky or repel urine. For the really ambitious who know how to sew, (I know there are a few of you out there)check this out.

Corn Chowder

Nothing like a nice hot soup to warm you on a cold winter day.
This is one of my favorites!

Corn Chowder:

Melt
2TB Butter
Splash of Olive Oil

Saute chopped
1 medium onion
2 stalks celery
2-3 cloves garlic
Thyme- to taste

Cook until veggies are translucent
Add 1/4 cup flour, mix well

Add 4-5 cups of broth (chicken or vegetable)
Bring to a boil

Add 2 cups milk & 3-4 chopped potatoes
Bring to boil for about 8-10 minutes

When potatoes are cooked
Add frozen corn (as much as you like)
Add canned smoked trout (any smoked fish will do, or smoked bacon)

YUMMY!
Great with a nice salad and some good bread.

Tree House

Jaime works incredibly long hours on a regular basis, and with Christmas being right around the corner he has been working even more. Despite having only one day a week off, Jaime has taken the time to build Noah a fanatistic tree house!! YAY DADDY!

Conversations

Chatting with Daddy

Telling Uncle Jeremy all about it.

Hee Hee, I'm wearing Uncle Jeremy's hat!

A Warm House

What am I thankful for today? Yes, a warm house! A storm passed through here on Thursday night, and over a million people were without power. I think many of them still don't have power. We were without for only 14 hours, which I thought was long. We are very close to SeaTac airport, maybe that's why we got our power back relatively quickly, compared to others. We have several huge trees on our property, which I love! One of the biggest trees is right outside our back door. I was so worried that one of the branches was going to fly through a window, or come down on the roof. Whew! We were spared. Others are not so fortunate. Many perfectly healthy strong trees came down.

Thank you for my safe warm house!

Turn OFF your TV

We've worked very hard to limit the amount of time Noah spends in front of the TV. It helps that we've put the TV in the basement, and only have about 4 channels. In the past, he has watched very very little, until Bella was born. It is winter, it is too cold/wet to be outside, Bella is crying, I need to cook dinner, clean house, wash laundry, these are all things I tell myself to validate Noah watching TV. Yesterday Noah wasn't listening, and was being very disrespectful. I took away TV time for the day. He was hysterical! I couldn't believe it. He screamed, cried, threatened...all for a television program. It blew me away, and made me realize I need to spend more time with him.

It took A LOT of effort, but we had a wonderful afternoon together.
We...

• played legos
• talked story
• made & shared a snack
• bathed Bella (he was most helpful)
• danced in the living room
• played paper airplanes
• he read Bella a book
• Noah peeled & chopped carrots for dinner
• Noah set the table with silverware, poured water for us

While tucking Noah in, he gave me a hug and said, "I love you sweetheart" That's what I always say to him! I left his room with tears in my eyes.

You Did Not!

It's been really windy and rainy here. So windy that our power went out last night. As a result of lost power, my alarm clock failed to wake me this morning. I finally woke on my own, to a gloomy morning. I decided to wake up slowly, after all, it is still so dark, it must be early. When I finally get outta bed and checked the time... GOOD GRIEF it is late! I had only 30 minutes to get Noah out of bed, dressed, fed, school lunch made. Anyone who knows Noah, also knows that sometimes he can take almost 30 minutes just to start eating. He likes to take it slow, talk, and enjoy himself. I also had to change and nurse Bella.

As we're heading out the door, I decided to trade my jammies for jeans, and threw on a jacket. As I'm driving, I notice my hair is everywhere... very messy. Oh Well, I can drop Noah off quickly and no one will notice. I'm telling Noah a story, and... oh my... what's that smell??? Great, I forgot to brush my teeth. Wonderful. NO PROBLEM, I tell myself. I won't talk to anyone, just smile and nod. I drop Noah, and head home. Whew... Then I remember we have no bread, potatoes.. etc, so I drop by the store, since it is on the way. I tell ya, I just wanted to get in and out, not talk to anyone since I had morning dragon breath. Babies are huge people magnets... especially ity bity ones. So of course, several people stop to chat at the store. At this point I thought... Screw it! I'm talking to everyone who looks our way! And so I did. It was great fun! Try it sometime.

Yes I did. I went out in public without combing my hair or brushing my teeth. EEWWWWWWW
Hopefully that won't happen again!

They're Here!!

In an effort to create less waste, I've decided that cloth diapers are worth a try. I ordered three different ones, Fuzzi Bunz, BumGenius, and Rumpsters. The Fuzzi Bunz are the thinnest softest ones, and the Rumpster is really cool because it has an insert as part of the design, and you can still add another insert if you need more absorption. I'm just worried that they won't wash clean, or that Bella will be wet and leaky. It is definitely worth a try. I'll let you all know how well they work, and which ones are my favorite.
I'm so excited to try these!

Freedom

I had an outing today. All by MYSELF! Bella was napping, and the guys were making rubber band guns out of left-over bamboo scraps from our flooring. So where did I go? The library, just six streets over. I know... DORK!! Right? I absolutely love going to the library. As a child I read quite a bit, but lost the joy of reading as a teenager and young adult. When Noah was born, I rediscovered books, and the library for that matter. It was fun and so quiet! Here are a few of my latest finds. I can't wait to read! The funny thing is, I don't have enough time to read all of these books. Oh Well, I can try.

• My Friend Leonard by James Frey (very twisted)
• Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah
• Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (thanks Rachel)
• Clearly Delicious by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz & Judy Ridgway
• the petit appetit Cookbook by Lisa Barnes
• Kidnapped in Yemen by Mary Quin

Treasure

As some of you may or may not know, laundry is a chore that I avoid at all costs. Until Noah complains he has no clean clothes, and I have already worn everything I have several times. Lately laundry has taken on a new twist. Who is designing pants for young boys these days? Have you ever noticed that most of them have anywhere from 6-8 pockets???? This person obviously doens't do laundry. For Noah, pants with multiple pockets are his favorite. He loves to stash things away for later. Today while doing the wash, I had to check EVERY SINGLE POCKET on I don't know how many pairs of pants. Here are a few things I have found over the last month or so:

• Pennies
• Rocks, sticks etc
• Hand-drawn treasure maps
• Snacks
• Sticky candy
• Smashed Spider
• Snot rag
• Rollie Pollie

Shattered

I have... had ONE very nice piece of cookware. It was an oval white casserole dish that my friend Heather gave me about 5 or 6 years ago for Christmas. I absolutely love it and use it all the time. Tonight, I made it explode...shattered it in my kitchen. How??? I placed it on the stove due to lack of counter space, accidentally turned on the wrong eye on my stove, which apparently concentrated too much heat on one particular spot of the dish. As much as I love to cook, I'm dangerous in the kitchen! There you have it. I don't think I should be allowed in the kitchen for the rest of the week! I haven't even thrown it away yet... it's just sitting on my kitchen counter... in many pieces. I will miss the oval white casserole dish. Noah has offered to buy me a new one for Christmas.

Hawaii

It is winter, it is wet and grey, and I REALLY miss Hawaii.

After living there for half of my life, it feels like home. I miss the ocean, warm breezes, and the smell of tropical rain. I know in my heart that one day we will return.

Jaime and Noah playing on the beach.

Bananas

Wapio Valley (Big Island)

Favorite time of day

My favorite/busiet time of the day is Dinner Time. Why? Jaime comes home from work, the house smells great, and we all sit down at the table together to reconnect. It is a special time in our day, especially since Jaime works so much, and so late. He often tells me to eat without him... but I don't. It is the only quality time on a weekday that our family has. When we first sit down, we all are tired, hungry, and down right crabby. After our bellies are filled with a nourishing home cooked meal, everyone feels better and we laugh and joke before getting ready for another day. So... Friday nights are extra special, because there is no rush to get Noah to bed, and we can sit at the table and chat that much longer. I especially love having breakfast for dinner! Breakfast is my favorite meal... so why not combine the two?

What is your favorite time of day?

Sibling Rivalry

Sibling Rivalry... not here, not yet.
Noah is so sweet to Isabella, here a few things he regulary says regarding his new sister:

• Is she my 'REAL' baby sister?
• Can I pet her?
• Can I wash her toes?
• Can I touch her butt?
• Mom, she pooped... again!
• She's crying, pick her up RIGHT NOW!
• Don't be a fussy baby (high-pitched voice)
• Isabella is a kind baby (this is new)

I'm excited to watch their relationship blossom.

Thank you Fatima for being my beautiful sister and friend. Life would be empty without you!

I love them

Flowers...

Lunch with Isabella

Isabella and I are reading an animal book, chatting about the pictures, animals, colors...etc It's 11:30 am, and my stomach is demanding I feed it. So, Isabella and I go to the kitchen while I figure out what I want to eat. Suddenly, she becomes unhappy, starts to cry, and shortly after falls asleep on my shoulder. SWEET!!! Now I can eat lunch. I lay her down, and heat up some left-over tomato soup. As I sit down to eat, she starts crying again. Convincing myself that I can eat really fast and go settle her, I take a huge gulp of soup, successfully burning my mouth. Okay, maybe I'll settle her while my soup cools. Again, she quickly falls asleep as I am holding her... I decide to eat. Every slurp of my soup results in murmurs of protest, until she is completely in dreamland. I lay her down and go to finish my lunch. Guess what happens next? Yes, she starts crying again. Is it just me... or is there a pattern developing here?

And that...was lunch with Isabella.

Ecological Footprint

What are you doing to minimize your ecological footprint?

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately... maybe because being wasteful, taking advantage of our disposal society makes me feel so guilty. Usually it is out of laziness. For example, I purchased cloth shopping bags, to take shopping of course, and I often leave them at home. Why??? I'm not sure. Lack of planning? Perhaps. Although I am getting better. Currently all I do is:

• recycle (mandated in Seattle, and so so easy)
• use cloth shopping bags, sometimes

A few things I plan to do to reduce my waste, minimizing my ecological footprint:

• use cloth bags for ALL shopping
• buy cloth napkins
• buy quality food storage containers... (I tend to toss cheap recyclable tupperware)
• buy products with minimal packaging
• buy food composting bins, to compost veggie scraps
• think more about cloth diapers... (having trouble with this one)
• buy used if possible Freecycle, Craigslist

Also, I ran across a yahoo group called The Compact, and its members pledge not to buy anything new for an entire year. Food and medicine being the exception of course. You buy used, borrow, or barter. HMMM intriguing, although I would have to get Jaime to go in with me or it wouldn't work.

Noah Bakes

We borrowed a kids baking book from the library, and Noah REALLY wanted to make this cake. The candy sprinkles sucked him in. Can you blame him? He was so proud of himself and his cake. He even made the frosting. It was so so sweet. Just to his liking!