moving

i'm moving. new address: homeofthebudds.typepad.com :)

a couple days ago we got a card from this really great sixth grader we know telling us he's graduating from high school! holy crap i feel old. my first year of teaching little kids at church he was in kindegarten i think. its funny that i only feel old when i see other people growing up.

my blog broke yesterday. i wasn't too worried - mostly i was just frustrated that i couldn't blog about it :) but when someone in the help group recommended i delete it and start over i decided i better call in superhero bryan and he fixed it right up. and recommended i think a little more quickly about moving the blog over to something like typepad. so i guess i better get on that. thanks again bryan!

new discovery

"mom! when i sneeze, if i snort like a pig, the sneeze (snot) goes back in my nose!"

score!

on our library trip today I was quite pleased to discover that they were having a book sale. this was as many as i could grab in the time allotted (by the children of course) while staying within my budget (cash i scrounged from my bag). i found a couple of deck building/designing books for dave, lots of kiddo books - they had a buy one get one free special (although they didn't really mention that the free books were in a special box over in a corner.) and the really exciting part - three old school dessert cook books. i saw two "joy of cooking" books and thought about buying them because i keep hearing that everyone should have that one. the first was published in the 60's and was going for $20, and the second was ten years younger and the bargain price of $6. both exceeded my budget. just look at these beauties. i wonder if cake mixes were relatively new at the time this book was published. it has all kinds of varietes i've never heard of and all kinds of great things to do to them. and the pie book doesn't really look delicious (it's a good thing cook books have gone color), but i can imagine that i'm gonna gain several pounds due directly to this book.

hand me down

remember this picture? isaiah's a bit more active tonight than ellen was on that night. he wasn't at all interested in holding still. i suppose a flash would have helped, but then it's weird lighting. but you get the point - this, i think is the only article of clothing that will be handed down from ellen to isaiah. i suppose it should be obvious, but it was funny to dave and I that it fits them differently. for instance the shirt was always long on ellen, but poor isaiah's belly keeps peaking out.

summer solstice/redesigned park party

tonight we went to a summer solstice party (wasn't that yesterday?) in a nearby town that was a citywide event and had dual purpose of debuting a recently redesigned park/rec area. the park was pretty outstanding. it's pretty huge and among various athletic fields they had super cool playground equipment that i've never seen before (and that's really saying something) and back to back sand and water play areas - so it would feel like the coast. (you can tell i'm becoming an oregonian because now i say coast instead of beach.) the event was completely free and they promised and delivered free dinner (hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, drinks). the only problem was that about 800 people showed up and there was one lone guy working one lone grill. the food line was insane. that was pretty much the main attraction. it took two hours for us to reach the front. i say us, but really it was just dave. ellen and isaiah couldn't take it, so i took them to find something exciting. the city brought in a drumming group that was somehow associated with the park designer. they were pretty impressive. and the kids loved them of course. ellen and isaiah found some kids to dance with. ellen did some serious dancing. and here was the great reward for dave's two hour wait: one of the great rewards, anyway. we also scored another hotdog and a hamburger and two chip bags. definitely worth it. :) actually, in typical dave style, he struck up conversation with the guy next to him and now they're best friends and we're supposed to go visit them soon. and after dinner, our favorite storytime lady, Teresa, entertained the kids for a bit.

cakes

dave's company has very casually hired me to be the official birthday cake maker. this works out great - i get a chance to bake and try new things, other people eat it for me and then tell me its great, and i get a couple bucks to boot. this one is the second one i've done so far, and there's another coming up in the next week. and, i also made a cheesecake for the first time today. it came out pretty good. i've decided that new york style cheesecakes are not beautiful picture worthy things, so i'm sparing you that. isaiah did not see me make it, but must have heard the mixer cause while it was cooling in the oven, he started banging on the oven door and wouldn't rest until we had sampled it. (word to the wise, warm cheesecake - not so tasty. much, much better cold.)

permission

me: ellen???!? (looking for her in the backyard. and then finding her in the front filling up the watering can) you need to ask permission before you go over the gate. ellen: i did mom. me: you did? who did you ask? ellen: me

mom knows best

ellen: mom? me: yes? ellen: can you remind me? me: sure. about what? ellen: i don't know. you know me.

reading party (minus the books)

the library had a summer reading party today, complete with animals, games, pet rocks and... free ice cream!!

self portrait tuesday

on sunday while i was uploading the gazillion pictures of cherry picking fun, dave and i had way too much with the alpaca sample and making fake mustaches. unfortunately for this picture, but fortunately for me, i have no stubble to hold it in place, so i had to scrunch up my lips to keep it still. there's about fifty more very similar to this one.

technology generation

ellen is such a technology generation kid. in her magazine we read tonight there were arrows in a maze, pointing the way to go. she kept calling them "clickies". (you know like a mouse clicks on the computer)

little stud

sometimes i sing isaiah a little song that goes something like this: "isaiah budd, you're such a stud" sung to the tune of part of "down by the bay" i think the last time i sang that to him was at least a week ago. Today, ellen was calling Isaiah, trying to get him to come back into the kitchen. "Stud! hey little stud. come here little stud. Stud! come back in here stud. Good job little stud."

it's summer (almost)

my plants are growing up. we've got cherries and berries galore. we saw baby alpaca's this weekend. and now i've got some baby spiders on the way. i'm not sure what to do with them. they're right by the front door, and i'm not really thrilled with that location. i'd really like to hose off the whole front porch but i don't want to just kill this poor spider mom.

after a wonderfully, summery fathers day dinner of papa murphy's, watermelon and cantaloupe we went outside for some cherry picking and major weed pulling. ellen wanted to make sure you all saw the "nut" the beautiful garden. dave says this is the sort of picture the grandkids will see and remember me by.

things are growing!!!

we have two cherry trees in our backyard. Last year we got nothing, but this year they're everywhere! here's my zucchini popping up. you really must appreciate how amazing this is that I'm intentionally growing something and it's working! this little guy was not visible when i took the previous picture. two hours later there he was! i know this is ridiculous, but i'm really dreading the idea of thinning my crop. (for those of you non-gardeners, you're supposed to plant a lot of seeds and then thin out what comes up so they're spaced well and can grow properly.) I'm rather attached to my little plantlings and i'm really quite sad about the idea of picking some to throw away. and the corn is growing too. well, one row is. the back row isn't really working very well. oh well, lesson learned for next year.

alpaca

driving home from church today we saw a sign directing us to an alpaca gift shop. we thought that sounded like tons of fun, so we drove a bit farther than we expected to and eventually found the farm/gift shop attached to a house. we let ourselves in the shop and the farm and looked around to our hearts content. dave and ellen started calling the alpacas and they started coming in. this kinda thing always freaks me out a bit if there isn't someone around who knows the animals and if they're friendly. (dave thinks i'm hilariously ridiculous.) The owner lady saw us and she and her dog came out to give us the official tour. it was quite interesting and she fed the animals so we could see them up close. we learned an amazingly lot about alpacas. For instance, if we wanted one as a pet, we could have one for only $500-1500. But you should never buy just one, because they're highly social, so we'd need two. $1000 bucks and we never have to mow the lawn again. that doesn't sound so bad to me. After the tour and information, I felt I should buy something, so I purchased two high quality skeins alpaca/merino wool to make a scarf or hat with. I was told that once i used alpaca, i'd never be satisfied with anything else.

starwberries.

today we went strawberry picking at a local farm. they weren't as tasty as i was hoping, but ellen and isaiah didn't seem to mind a bit. isaiah was a mess after a few minutes but did a great job getting strawberries in the box. and ellen had a wonderful time too. and we could be done whenever we wanted (who knew bending over to find tasty strawberries wouldn't be the most comfortable thing to do for more than five minutes. poor strawberry pickers.) we got a nice two pounds for 1.70

another zoo trip.

isaiah really got thrilled with the penguins dave made friends with a goat talking to the chickens. isaiah did a great chicken impersonation. we missed a picture of ellen's current zoo favorite - the scorpian. dave and i decided we finally figured out the perfect vacation. half going somewhere fun and half tooling around at home. it's quite nice.

dress up

luann has several little girl halloween costumes that she let ellen play dress up in. here she is as a waitress. she waited to get back in her "normal ellen clothes" before she would take our orders though. and here's princess belle ellen can actually walk in heels. a feat i am still trying to understand and accomplish myself. she went down steps and over things and everything. my daughter is, once again, obviously a genius. and cinderella and of course, cleopatra. here ellen demonstrates her newly learned princess wave. isaiah spent this time dusting. poor isaiah had a rather rough trip. he wasn't really happy for more than about five minutes at a time. he got sick, he got some weird rash all over his body and was incredibly clingy - even when he seemed to be feeling okay. we think he might have been overwhelmed with all the people and that he might have missed playing with ellen. (how sad!) ellen, on the other hand had the time of her life. i think she said about five things to me the entire trip.

and the reason we were all gathered in the first place...

ashley's graduation ellen's got shawn's sunglasses on. they looked almost as big on him. :) i didn't do a lot of picture taking, so i apologize i missed getting a shot of everyone.

there's a big open field at the park and maggie (the dog) likes to run there it seems. it was quite funny to see maggie running running and then ellen running after her as fast as her little legs could carry her. this picture looks like she's given up and is finally just walking, but believe me - she was really bookin for a bit.

san jose cont'd

isaiah loves to slide. really loves to slide. and he likes to do it all by himself. you do have to remind him to sit down, but after that, he's good to go. i count "one, two three go!" and he scootches his little bum along the slide until he's sliding down. and he's never fallen off yet. :) ellen played bus driver taking passengers various places. Grandma Cece even jumped on for a bit.

san jose trip

turns out i took i lot more pictures than i thought i did. so i've decided to overload you with almost all of them. ellen and isaiah were both quite excited to be allowed to bang on a piano.

ellen is funny

ellen has entered advice giving stage. today i heard these two gems: "mom, be careful don't poke out your eye when you're cutting that apple." and when i was washing the kitchen window behind the sink, standing firmly on the floor, "mom, be careful not to fall into the sink. but you're too big." (meaning, she guesses that even if i did fall in, at least i wouldn't go down the drain cause i'm bigger than it.) and while this doesn't qualify as advice, it did make me smile: after an extension cord fell out on her when she was looking for a movie (i swear, i'm a wonderful housekeeper, really) she got a bit upset. i told her it was safe now and it would't fall again. she must have misunderstood because she through her crying she replied: "mom! that's not good news either!!!"

stickers

there was a bit of fun today as i remembered the stickers that kristin sent (thanks!) both kids thoroughly enjoyed sticking them and resticking them. they wore them all day long. we also went to the city office to pay a bill and they got police badge stickers so isaiah was covered with hearts and a police badge. ellen stuck her badge on her leg under her skirt (undercover!) so she just had a bazillion ice cream cones visible.

aaaggghhh!!!!

Today was one of those hideous days when you wonder if your child has the same super powers that Jack-Jack of "The Incredibles" was blessed with. Ellen was just nuts. Mean nuts. And i turned into that wide-eyed-yelling-bad-mom lady that you see in the grocery store sometimes. And then I remembered the whole modeling bit and that she's probably being mean when she's mad because she thinks i'm being mean when i'm mad. And went back yet again to the super-hyped-up-consistent phase. Poor kid sat in the trouble chair or her bed for most of the afternoon. And then went to bed an hour and a half early because Dave's working tonight and when you make bad choices all day, you don't get to do fun things like play games and stay up. Isaiah isn't feeling real well either, so I'm sure that didn't help things. When he started yawning I figured maybe they both should just go to bed and start again tomorrow.

dave has super powers

are you all aware that not everyone in the world gets a reaction to mosquito bites????!????? this is shocking to me. For some reason, it's perfectly normal to me that some people respond worse than others, but to get nothing at all? That's just utterly amazing. Dave, as you may have guessed, has been mosquito bite free his entire life. Or at least mosquito bite reaction free. So as I'm laying in bed trying to just survive my way through the insanely irritating itching on my ankle from yet another ill placed bite, he just falls easily falls asleep. But good news! He has passed his immunities on to the kids. I saw a mosquito mid-slurp on Isaiah's cheek and smacked it away (really freaking Isaiah out in the process) and Isaiah's got just a small red pin point dot the next day. But no big itchy mess. And Ellen has never complained of a bite. So we're helping the species progress down that micro-evolutionary path. I guess Dave is really, but still I should get a little credit.

okay now this i'm proud of.

i made ellen's pink hat last night after she went to bed. and it only took about an hour and a half. but you shouldn't be so terribly impressed. this super cool loom thing is ridiculously easy. i keep wondering if its all going to fall apart or if i'm really actually knitting because it can't be this simple. and thankfully, ellen loved it and decided to wear it to church today. she picked her own outfit today. she does almost everyday actually, but this is one of the few times it doesn't match perfectly. usually she's very conscientious about her colors matching exactly. isaiah played fashion consultant, trying to convince her to go with the jeans instead of overalls, but the girl knows what she wants.

dirt is cool.

we worked in the dirt again tonight getting it ready for some vegetables to be planted in it this weekend. this time, i was smarter and protected my tasty lower back with a huge ace bandage, hoping that would keep the mosquitos away. it was also colder all day long, so hopefully i won't have any fresh bites as the ones i already have are annoying enough. ellen orchestrated this picture, telling dave to say to cheese and me to take it. (isn't that a nice hat) and she wanted to be sure everyone could see all the worms she collected. isaiah didn't seem to believe it when i first showed him that he could put dirt in a bucket, but then he started belly laughing and had a wonderful time. and he only ate a very little bit.

water painting fun

we did some water painting this morning. isiah joined in for the first time. he had a little bit of trouble figuring it out... but then he got it and there was no stopping him. he whipped through three of these masterpieces. i was a touch distracted working on some awesome pipe cleaner sculptures when i noticed him swallowing rather hard - you know, really forcing something down - and saw the new and improved paintbrush.

holy moly i can knit! (sorta)

i went out and bought the knitting looms that pam was talking about. and i started making a scarf. isaiah and ellen were very excited to help and and as soon as i finish my scarf, i've been commissioned to make ellen a pink hat. ellen practices with a pipe cleaner the one problem, i discovered today, was that i did not read the instructions thoroughly enough and so decided to do a quick scarf to hat convert. dave models it so beautifully. it's a bit tall (hence the long roll up) but it'll do in a pinch as the first thing i've ever successfully knitted.

living in oregon has turned me into a weirdo

i'm really beginning to like the look of dreads. quite a bit actually. i'm not sure i have it in me to wear them myself. but maybe i'll mature into it. :) i've been looking for a picture to show you the look i'm thinking of, but all the people on the internet look rather freakish. i have in mind something much more normal looking. update: i just read all the info on that site and got rather intimidated.

this strawberry was fine this morning.

i'm thinking its birds. or else worms, but they're hanging suspended in mid air so i'm leaning toward the birds. i really don't want to put up chickenwire - that kinda ruins the vibe. but not getting to eat my strawberries isn't helping the gardening vibe either. poop.

i broke down and joined the gym around the corner from our house. I say broke down because for some reason I've been thinking it was a bad idea. I think I just don't like the idea of joining a gym - I like the philosophy behind being active and getting excercise from taking walks with the kids and things like that. But that wasn't working out so well for me so I joined up. They have a mandatory orientation that you have to pay for and I was a bit annoyed by the thought of that. I went on Tuesday and it was actually incredibly helpful - mostly because we spent the majority of the time in the weight room and she showed us how to use the machines correctly and what you would want them for (like, this machine is great for improving posture). So I came home all pumped and excited to go this morning - and I actually did go and tried several machines I've never touched before. And now I want to take some sort the class offered through the community so I can really figure it out.

garden tragedies

some sort of detestable mean thing ate my strawberries!!!! I don't like cats, so maybe it was a cat. Dave insists it must have been a dog (he's not so much a dog fan.) Any ideas on how to protect my prized strawberries in the future? I showed Ellen and she frowned and shook her head saying, "That's not good." Yesterday was a particularly sunny day and after Isaiah went to bed, Dave and Ellen and I were out working the dirt, getting it all ready for planting. This morning I woke up to discover five or six mosquito bites all along my pant line on my back. Truly one of the more annoying places for itchy bites. Dave helped me apply bandaids this morning to try to alleviate any pant rubbing, but they fell off (taking a shower probably didn't help their staying power)and I had to try on my own this afternoon. aarrgh.

a little less hedge and little more vegetables.

this was a weekend of yard work. exciting, yard altering yard work. you see the huge, completely out of control hedge - that's it about half as big as it was last weekend. that's as tall as it's gotten but i've been doing a lot of trimming and thinning over the week getting ready for the chainsaw. we took away three truckloads like this. there's the last load of the day (although not the last load of the hedge - there's still at least one more waiting to go.) and you can see the the hedge looks much more like a hedge. the unfortunate thing is that when it gets that big, it's not really so much a dense hedge as really tall branches with leaves on top. so it's now really ugly three-four feet tall branches and stumps. it'll just have to be ugly this year, and then as it grows in over the summer and rest of the year, we'll have to train it to be a normal size and shape. we also worked up the nerve to ask our neighber if we could borrow their roto-tiller. (when i say we, i mean dave) dave tilled the location of the soon-to-be-ours shed that we're going to purchase in the next month or so and also a place for a vegetable garden for me. that tiller is a monster. there were a few tense minutes (for me mostly) as he figured out how to use it with chopping himself to bits. but after a few minutes it was no big deal. i'm hoping maybe we can borrow it again and put it to use on the ivy that's taking over various corners.

i'm starting a garden

i've wanted to since we got here, but with being pregnant and then having an infant, it just didn't really work out. so this year i'm starting. i'm starting with vegetables and two fruits i think ellen will enjoy - blueberries and strawberries. i'm going with containers for these two and i'll plant the veggies in my new garden space. very exciting.

late night snacking

i had a late night hotdog snack last night and was found out by both kids who insisted i share. so we sat down and i got about one bite.

ellen really likes washing dishes

i try to encourage it.

no babies here

isaiah has become a little boy. he's talking! he normally says mom (MA!) and dad (DA!) but today he's been following directions (go get your water isaiah) and pointing out things he sees like a dog in the car next to us (daw! wao - dog, woof). yesterday he meowed at the cat we saw on our walk. and he's been walking around like crazy - he even speed walks if he's going somewhere he shouldn't.

a little help please

if you are related to me, either by marriage or friendship, would you please post your important dates in the comments - things like birthdays, anniversaries etc. i want to be more conscientious about such things.

mini bundts

today i took the kids to sur la table and got a new pan - a mini bundt pan. i felt like a bit of a traitor for buying something non demarle, but they don't make this kind. i've been wanting to make little chocolate bundt with a peppermint icing. i love making little mini individual things. i just about decided demarle was stupid cause this pan was so much cheaper and seemed to be just fine. but then i tried to get the cakes out and remembered why demarle is good. the first two were a disaster. it seems that there is an art to it, and i eventually got the hang of getting them out (turn over and basically try to throw them out.)

crafti-kids

isaiah has entered crafting world. he made his very first picture tonight - almost completely by himself - i just helped with the glue. and ellen was proud of hers, of course. and finally isaiah was utterly fascinated by my tree, cloud and house-turned-tent sticker collage. he wouldn't give it up once i let him see it.

look what came in the mail today!

chris sent me (okay ellen too) an article from a magazine about fun things to do with tissue paper and a box stuffed full with every variety imaginable!! how exciting1

i took the kids to the zoo this morning because i decided i need to be more active and it was only a little bit rainy, so why not? and last night i made the mistake of telling ellen that maybe we'll go the zoo sometime next week. she woke up pumped and ready to go today. so we went today. isaiah's been several times, but this was the first time that he got very excited to see the animals. his favorites were the bats and the monkeys i think. ellen made good use of her binoculars that she got at christmas. on the way there, she kept saying "maybe we'll see an elephant doing this (making the sign for pooping)" because last time we were there we got the full show. she talks about that experience quite a bit actually. alas, the elephants were just playing and there was no poop show. i forgot about that little phenomenon called "the fieldtrip". that place was packed. packed packed. it started to rain after we'd been there for about an hour and all the field trip chaperones made dashes for covered exhibits and places to eat lunch. so we did get to see several animals without lovely (but unaware) seven year old bodies acting as filters. notice the binoculars being used to properly see the polar bear that is three feet away. and at this point she's checking out the boy that's standing in front of us.

ellen loves the scented markers that bryan and kim sent her. sometimes she likes to smell them... and sometimes she likes to draw with them.

aren't they just so incredibly cute??

i'm very excited about isaiah's new shoes. he's been walking everywhere, but he uses his toes to balance and so he can barely even stand up in real hard sole shoes. i put them on and he just sorta whimpers and gingerly stands up. his feet also might be rather wide for regular shoes, i'm not sure. anyway, i finally bought some of these robeez knockoff's (i have no idea if that's how you spell the brand name). and i think they are so cute. ellen dressing up as dave going to work and pretending to be him so exhausted when he gets home.

i've had some blog shananigans lately. if you ever notice my links gone, feel free to let me know. (thanks, joanne.)

sooner or later

at least a couple times a day i vascilate on the timeline for this adoption. dave does too. when i immerse myself in the info or see the pictures of the kids i'm ready to go for it today, thinking lets get this kid safe. bring him here, I'll help him. And when I take a step back, I think we don't really have any room, we're just getting ourselves setup, we're not in a diverse neighborhood, maybe we should try to move first, maybe i should get a job and save up some money first etc etc etc. all of the delay motives seem fixable. for instance - no room - get a bunk bed. problem solved. not in a diverse neighborhood - we're 30 minutes from portland. i know of at least one group we can get involved in there. the real fun is when dave and i are at different poles about what we should be doing. today when he came for lunch i was about to sign up for a preadopt class (the first step in signing with an agency) and he says he thinks we won't be ready for a couple years. we have no clue which road to take. i know with ellen we weren't 'ready'. or with isaiah. are you ever really ready? thoughts?

work is nice (sometimes)

this weekend was one of yard work mostly. and a few other things. Late Friday night dave went frog hunting with some friends (just catch and release). they also called and spotted some owls. Sounded like fun times. Saturday morning dave worked on a fish tank and then came home and worked on the yard. After her nap, Ellen went out with him. When Isaiah woke up, we went out to see what they were up to. Dave had been showing Ellen how "helicopter seeds" fly and she thought that was great. Even better, she decided, would be to take off their wing things and line up the 'nuts' (these are not seeds mom, they're nuts) she loves lining things up. dave was actually a bit tired, if you can believe it, so isaiah helped him rest. fighting the yawn. Today, we went to Imago. I love Imago. A lot. I think I've mentioned that. I feel like i'm home as soon as I walk in the door. It's weird I know. Especially that I feel most at home in an auditorium full of the funky city folk that is imago. (Dave and my appearance is rather boring comparitively.) And then, on the way home we stopped at Costco and Winco, my two favorite food stores and stocked up on the wonderful things that you can only get at them, like super good bulk granola and big costco muffins. And when we came home it was my turn to do yard work while Dave supervised the children. I trimmed back our hedges significantly. In process it was quite impressive, but once it was done it's no longer apparent that I did any work at all. They still look huge and in need of a trim. I know this is going to sound like I'm usually a lazy bum, but being sore from accomplishing actual work is quite exhilirating. I'd much prefer to have sore muscles from doing something productive than from a work out. It can be quite nice to have a chance to go for a walk or a bike ride or swim or whatever. But it's exceedingly wonderful to combine the two things and have something crossed off a list to boot. I think I can think this only because most of my time is spentwith kiddos, and while that is very good and worthwhile, you don't tend to see a lot of immediate results from your work. starting and actually finishing something, that will stay finished for a while - unlike cleaning the house - is really really rewarding. And I can also think this because I don't do it very often. If I did yard work every weekend, I probably wouldn't get such a kick out of it. Once everything was cleaned up Dave deemed it a Taco Bell night and off we went. Turns out Isaiah is not a fan of Taco Bell. He didn't eat anything - this is truly amazing as Isaiah is always eating. On the way home there was a thunder and lightning storm and Dave kept Ellen outside to watch it for a while. She was pretty impressed. And now we've come home and the kids are sleeping and I get to blog. Good stuff.

oops, sorry!

I just realized i have posted no kid pictures recently and since I am fully aware that is the highlight of this blog, I sincerely apologize. yesterday as we were walking, ellen fell and skinned her knee. dave was recommending that she walk it off and showing her various techniques to do so. she adopted one in which she held on to first her knee as she walked, and gradually moved up her leg until she was holding on to her shorts. she continued to hold on to her shorts for a good hour or two after the injury. i remember doing that as a kid. dave tried to get some video of the kids, but they were much more interested in doing the filming than being the subject. isaiah, the master vacuumer.

race stuff

i've also been thinking about all the race stuff that comes with transracial adoptions. race stuff always makes me kinda nervous - i just don't know the manners. what you're allowed to talk about, what's offensive etc. so sorry if i cross a line. feel free to educate. what will the kids experience? what will it be like for them at school? (both ellen and isaiah and our liberian kids?) i've read its no different than any other african american would experience. I've never had to embrace that before - i've always been on the side of working to keep everyone nice and loving each other. this will put me on the side of...what? of the same, but still working through stuff with the kids who will experience it. (does this sound completely naive?) i've also read that the only tension some families have felt is directed toward them as the caucasion parents by other african americans. dave was saying we'd probably need to move to be in a more diverse area. that seems like a really good idea. and i also don't know how it would work. if we move, at this point anyway, we wouldn't be able to afford the adoption. so much to think about.

cultural removal

joanne recommended i look at compassion international about my cultural removal concerns. Kinda randomly, I found an article of one guy telling why they decided to adopt internationally. He said that he really believed that it was important to keep kids in their culture and to help them there. hence the existence of so many sponsorship programs. and yet there are some kids that need to be "rescued." that are at risk for being sold into prostitution or are abandoned (he adopted a baby girl from china). this made sense to me. a lot of sense. but as i'm writing it up i still wonder if it wouldn't be better to some how figure a way to get them into a foster/adoptive home there in their country. and even as i write that i'm not quite positive why it's so important to stay in the culture you were born into. I realize that it's tied up in your identity, but why is having two cultures bad? someone educate me.

i just finished making my first paid-for dessert.

even more liberia (i think you better get used to this topic)

here's another thing to think through before adopting internationally - would it be better for the child to send whatever money you'd be spending to lots of kids (via trusted agencies/charities) to make their lives better where they are now? so they can stay in their culture, maybe even with their birthfamilies? or is it better to transport a couple half way across the world to grow up in america? on the one hand it seems crazy to take people out of their culture etc. and if by giving the money i would have been spending anyway - it seems like a lot of peoples lives could be improved instead of one or two. on the other hand, think about just the educational opportunites that would be available for those one or two and what they could do with that. go back and change an entire village? city? the country? i wonder if it's bad/another red flag to be thinking that the kids could be returning to liberia and working for change. maybe that would be imposing expectations on them or something. hmmm.

banana bread is on its way

okay Jeff, Geoff, Dad, Jill, Anne, and Amberlee: I baked, packed and mailed your banana bread today. expect it in about 3 days. (hopefully it's still good by then.) everyone except one lucky winner has four little mini loaves. one lucky winner got five, but then i realized five doesn't exactly fit very well. hope you like them and thanks for helping me out.

tattoo

the aforementioned mother's day tattoo. ellen told me exactly where i should put it. there was supposed to be another on my other foot, but silly me forgot to take off the protective covering so i firmly affixed the tattoo to that instead of my foot.

my dearest family

ellen's birthday is approaching, and dave and i would like to humbly ask that if, perchance, you are planning to purchase something for her, would you consider something other than a toy? I promise you she has been very well outfitted with toys and we are, in fact, reaching a bit of a problem logistically with toy storage. Instead, if you would like (please feel no obligation) you might consider some sort of educational dvd (the Leap Frog ones are outstanding - she currently has Letter Factory and completely loves it. or Signing Times or something similar) or a book? or craft supplies like glitter glue or pipe cleaners or things along that line?

Wal-Mart Effect conclusions

i've finished "The Wal-Mart Effect". The overall tone seems to be along these lines: Wal-Mart is not all good. Wal-Mart is not all bad. They are gynormous. They are here to stay. Since they are so big and so here to stay, it would be really really nice if they would use their incredible power for good. say, for instance, to impose fair labor laws in all of the factories they buy from - whether that be in the U.S. (not as big of a problem) or oversees. One doesn't necessarily need to boycott Wal-Mart. It won't have that big of an effect. He compared that to boycotting automobiles. Instead, let's work to hold them accountable.

pretty darn hot.

it was hot here today. muggy hot. freaking hot. it's currently 12am and 81 degrees hot. so hot that for dinner we started with a popsicle picnic on the lawn, then moved inside for yogurt and ice. which we followed with ice cream. i'm going to have to work on shopping for some non sweet cold things.

liberia info

i've started talking with the agency that does liberia adoptions. part of it is better than i thought - the kids aren't in orphanages at all - their in individual foster homes (only one - no moving around) and almost all of them have had a structured home life from the beginning. so the vast vast majority don't have the attachment issues that i worry about. the things that "require a very committed family" (the agency's words) are poor or no health care, malnutrition and little to no education. i don't know a lot about these things yet, and what if any of these have permanent effects. i looked into malnutrition a bit, since that seems the most serious, and it's not just a matter of getting calories back into their bodies. depending on at what point in a child's development it occurs and how severe it is, malnutrition can have permanent effects on growth, cognitive abilities and a body's ability to function. one thing i read said the effects can mirror aids. i'm not sure what no health care means - is that just we'd need to get them caught up on shots? or something more serious? there are some pediatricians that are trained in being able to recognize potential problems that aren't normal in the US population just from the kids referral photo. and the education thing isn't as huge of an issue, because most of the kids aren't old enough to have missed school yet. although the few that are, are dreadfully dreadfully behind. i asked about homeschooling to catch them up and they said generally it's not the best idea because the school can better deal with whatever issues there might be.

joyful stickers

today we received a package in the mail from bryan and kim(very exciting!) and one of the things in it was a sticker book for ellen. she was thrilled out of her mind. ellen: (looking over the book and sighing deep contented and thrilled sighs) this is beautiful. these stickers [give me] joy.

banana bread delayed a bit

i'm sorry to tell you that i did not have any time to make banana bread today. i was too busy applying my mother's day tattoo (picture to follow), reading the Wal-Mart Effect, taking a walk with Isaiah, having a pizza picnic, admiring my flowers and consuming my chocolate. i'll try to work it in tomorrow. :)

holy crap

I just started reading a book, "The Wal-Mart Effect". I'm nine pages in and I've already been shocked multiple times. shocked enought that i'm stopping to blog it. here's some of the shockers for you: *Wal-Mart entered the grocery world 15ish years ago. (most of the chains are closer to 100 years old) "Today, WM sells more groceries than any company not just in the US but in the world...In the same decade that WM has come to dominate teh grocery business in the US, thirty-one supermarket chains have sought bankruptcy protection; twenty-seven of them cite competetion from WM as a factor." *" Wal-Mart isn't just he largest; it no longer has any near rivals.Wal-Mart is as big as Home Depot, Kroger, Target, Costco, Sears and Kmart combined. Target, which is considered Wal-Mart's nearest direct rival and its most astute competitor, is small by comparison. Each year Wal-Mart sells more by Saint Patricks' Day, March 17, than Target sells all year." *"WM's sales in the US are equal to $2060.36 spent there by every U.S. household in the last year. (WM's profit on that 2060.36 was just $75.00)" which means to me that they're making their money on sheer volume. i used to really like wal-mart. after all it's the cheapest place to get things like school stuff or picture frames or toys or whatever. but recently, i've become convinced that they're not really helping our economy at all.

banana bread

does anyone want some banana bread? i'll be making a double batch this weekend and don't want to eat it all myself.... seriously, please? anyone? i'll be happy to mail it to you.

i'm a red flag

according to a book i'm reading about international adopting (How to Adopt Internationally by Jean and Heino Erichsen) motives for adopting are very important to the success or failure of the adoption. makes sense. i'm not sure what a failed adoption is (you can't possibly give the kid back???) but my motive of wanting to help in the world is suspect. or the proper wording is "While [these response] may be given in all sincerity, their potential for failure is higher." the first example in this category is "we want to adopt a child orphaned in Afghanistan because of the war; in Hondurus because of the hurricane" etc etc. apparently a red flag flies up and the social worker begins to wonder if you have some kind of need to have someone be grateful to you. hmmm?? i suppose i can see how that could happen, but ummm i don't think i have that problem. its preferable, according to this book, to have motives along the lines of: "we don't want to get involved with local birth mothers." "we don't want to wait two to three years for a baby." "our family has all boys and no girls; all girls and no boys." weird.

my first blogger sighting!

at costco yesterday i saw someone who's blog i read periodically! when i passed him i thought, hey that looks like brian eberly. but i didn't say anything cause i'm silly. but when i got home, i relied upon blog world verification (i posted a comment and asked on his blog) and he recognized me too! its a small world after all.

ellen quote

ellen just got up from her "nap" (never actually fell asleep i'm pretty sure) and i told her i was excited cause i wanted to help some kids from liberia. she looked at me very closely and touched my face very gently and searchingly. "but mom, you don't have a beard." (beard sounds like liberia.)

more adoption

since i've entered the adoption world all of about 3 days ago, I've heard a lot of - "you do a lot of research, a lot of investigating and then you go with what feels right". i was a bit aprehensive about this because nothing really felt right and how could you spend thousands upon thousands of dollars for something that didn't feel right? and on the flip side whats so important about a feeling anyway? i got another agencies packet in the mail today - the one that had the minority program. they sent all of their information and i flipped through it and lo and behold something feels right!!! liberia. i never really thought i'd want to adopt internationally. But: Liberia has had a really long civil war that was officially resolved a couple years ago. but not everyone seems to have heard that announcement and there is still a lot of conflict and strife and unrest and just horribleness. a lot of parents are either dying or hoping to give their kids a better life by placing them up for adoption. i want to adopt kids from liberia! yep - did you notice that plural? i feel rather strongly about a sibling group. all of my concerns seem to not even come into play with this idea (that's probably because i haven't had enough time to come up with new concerns - but still.) in this case, ellen and isaiah do not need to be the oldest. it's just a different ball game. they don't recommend you travel to pick up the kid(s) because its unsafe. the agency brings them to you. that's interesting because i wasn't sure how to work out any travel arrangements - ellen and isaiah and other kids on a plane for countless hours...me on a plane for countless hours...leaving ellen and isaiah at home...don't think i could stomach that. etc. typically you are matched with a kid very quickly. but then it takes 6-10 months to get all the paperwork finalized and everything ready to go. this is good because i think isaiah should be a bit older before we add to the group. typically i would worry about this waiting period and what kind of psychological stuff is going on with the kids during that time. But they have excellent (so they write) small orphanages that sound really good. I'm happy that they're concerned about that too. and get this - the icing on the cake - there are some grant programs for some of the fees - and it's the cheapest program i've seen so far! holy moly.

sugar cookies

today i made and we decorated sugar cookies. this has been on my list of things i want to do with ellen for a good six months or so. she had a very good time, and only succombed to the put-the-stick-full-of-frosting-into-your-mouth-instead-of-on-the-cookie temptation a couple times. i had more fun that i thought was possible mixing up the colors. did you know its nearly impossible to make a non pastel color? i'm starting to think this should be basic knowledge (since the frosting is pure white) but i tried to make red for a good five minutes before i settled for dark pink. ellen was perfectly happy to have two pinks. yes i know they're easter cookies and colors, but i love pastels and its spring and that works just as well. isaiah did just a little cookie decorating, and a bit more wax paper and cookie eating. i had the paper taped to the table, but he found an opening and had great fun ripping it off. i also gave him a stick with just a small small dab of frosting cause he kept begging for one after watching ellen and i. but he didn't even pretend to frost - he just stuck it right in his mouth.

adoption lessons/thoughts/ramblings

here's the first thing to know about adoption. i'm sure you've heard this already, but let me reiterate. it's freaking expensive. like around $20,000. holy crap. i knew this going in, but was somehow hoping that one of these agencies i found would be cheaper. if you adopt an older child through the state i think it's virtually free. in face i think they subsidize you (or i guess the child). but that goes against the one thing i'm pretty sure about - that ellen and isaiah need to be the oldest. *sigh* it costs several hundred to apply and another several hundred to go to their orientation. it's possible to get a tax credit of about 10,000 that can be used over five years. so that's good. and some companies offer a reimbursement plan for adoption. but generally not 10-20000 worth. here's another thing - don't have a bunch of biological children first. birth mothers seldom choose families that are full of kids already. i think i'm the easily discouraged type. somehow i've always envisioned this process as going rather differently. i always kinda thought i'd run across someone in my day to day living that needed some help and i'd offer it. whether it's the kid or the pregnant lady, i pictured it much more organically. from what i've picked up (not 100% on this) that's called independent adoption and even that costs lots of money for lawyers and things. you can't really go into this hoping to fulfill your dreams for kids in your family. (although i suppose if you've gone through tons of emotionally painful infertility stuff, money wouldn't be a big thing. it's not that money is such a big thing to me, its just that i don't have it.)i think you gotta be motivated by helping/saving a life. cause that's priceless and worth whatever it takes to get the money needed.

big nose

last night i woke up to ellen hollering for me. when i went in she looked very concerned and asked "are you guys alright??". i think she had a bad dream about dave and i. i reassured her and she fell back asleep. this morning she woke up talking about and getting very upset about "a door on [me] and [my] big nose." i think somehow i got smushed by a door and got a big swollen nose in her dream. she talked about this several times through the day, always with a little sniffle. tongiht as she was going to bed she started freaking out and crying crying saying she was worried about me and my big nose and the door on me. i told her i would be careful and she said "okay mom. i need you to be very careful of the door." poor kid. it took a good ten minutes of trying to give her other ideas of what to dream about to calm her down. we suggested dreaming about moped rides and going to the zoo and elephants and ice cream and painting and going on adventures with diego and everything we could think of. she got rather excited about all these options and then added in a whisper: "and one more dream about a big nose" with a little guilty smirk on her face!

got bit by the baby bug

pam asked if i was getting rid of clothes because we're done having kids. that's kinda funny, because we just started talking about baby budd #3. we really want to adopt so i've started looking at and asking for more information from various agencies. it's amazing all the different choices and options out there. right now the two main programs we're looking into (and it's been about a day, so don't read this like these are final well thought out decisions or something. this is still exploratory) are involve minorities or incredibly open adoptions. with our very limited knowledge, the things that are important to us so far are 1) that ellen and isaiah will be the oldest. 2) that's about it so far. the minority program is cool because i'm all about helping where there is need. and embarassing as it is, i admire angelina jolie and how she's making her family be a sort of 'world family'. the family is bigger than our ethnicity, social class whatever. and it isn't important to me, but if it was, we wouldn't even qualify for a 'traditional' adoption (i have no idea what to call it...just a normal run of the mill, not a special program adoption) because you have to be infertile. isn't that weird that different babies have different qualifications? i can understand for medical needs or something - but for race? weird. the attraction with the really open adoptions program is the agency itself. their main focus is not on fulfilling the dreams of adults who want babies, but of helping pregnant women. as a result, they've needed to create an adoption agency. i like that approach. it means that the mothers have really thought this through. they're not pressured, they're not full of regrets, they're confident this is the best decision. they also believe that having the birth parents in the child's life is the healthiest way to go about things - for all parties. so its not just a one time meeting or letter exchange that a lot of open programs consist of, but basically you're making the birthmother (and maybe father?) part of your family too. wow. that's terrifying and wonderful all at the same time. so i'm eagerly anticipating those manila envelopes coming to my mail box.

ellen's artwork

yesterday morning while dave was working on fish tanks, ellen and i made this art for him. my favorite part

things i really like: installment #3

granola. i love granola. and it was over lent that i finally realized the tastiness of granola in one's yogurt. i used to think that was weird. now it's just tasty.

things i really like: installment #2

our ipod makes walks and bicycle rides much more interesting.

things i really like: installment# 1

my "hydration pack". those very words sound nerdy. and i look like a geek wearing it. dave raised an eyebrow when i brought it home. but i really really like it. for lots of reasons: 1 - i get thirsty during the day. and i'm sick of jealously looking at ellen and isaiah's water bottles. and my own water bottle just gets heavy. 2 - it's compact - it's not a huge thing. i can fit a deceptively large amount of things in it, but not everything i normally lug around. for instance, diapers don't really fit well. so it's only for short trips or for long stroller walks and that makes it kinda exciting. 3 - it's got tons of little handy pockets and places for things. 4 - i bought it for $19 at costco. the next day i saw one at fred meyer for $40 that wasn't even half as cool. the $40 version did not have a little dust cap for the mouth piece. it did not have an insulated tube to keep the water cold. it did not have three (or four?)pockets. it had one. and it just wasn't as cool.

way too many baby clothes

i went up into the attic to look for some boy clothes for a friend of mine and was shocked to see all these boxes upon boxes of baby clothes. i guess i'm a hoarder too. i've decided that this is way more clothes than i will need if i have triplets even so i'm going to divide them into lots and sell them on craigs list and donate the money to the darfur crisis. once i started going through them, i remembered why i had so many. they're mostly all girls clothes (i was wiser about what i kept with isaiah) and they are just so dang cute. it's hard to get rid of cute things.

ellen poses

isaiah poses

ellen quotes

since cindy likes ellen quotes so much, here's another. we walked over to the library today to drop off a book. it was closed so we dropped it into the book drop. ellen: mom! when i'm the mom i can drop stuff in there. me: yep ellen: right now i'm just a human kid. but later i'll be a mom. and i can push my kiddos in the stroller and drop stuff in there.

isaiah's been learning lots of important things

today isaiah made the life altering discovery that his finger fits perfectly in his nose.

hmmm

some days i feel over my nosering. and other days i feel like maybe i should pierce something else.

i just heard ellen yelling for me from her bedroom where she's supposed to be sleeping. ellen: mom! mom! mom! mom! me: (going in) yes, ellen? ellen: mom there's a problem. me: really? what is it? ellen: i want to get down and read a book. she's so funny.

so it seems that ellen believes in reincarnation. tonight at dinner she was talking about later, when she was a cat, she would be pink and say meow. and then after that maybe she'd be a humpback whale. and then a bird. i suppose if one were to go by the reincarnation theries i've heard about, which by no means makes them accurate, she would be 'going backwards'. hmmmm.

trike tips?

anybody have any tips on how to teach someone to ride a tricycle? i'm afraid that is not my strong suit.

typepad

i'm strongly considering moving my blog over to typepad. check out all these different templates. there are so many more options and you have so much more control over how your blog and posts look. (and that's what i'm all about - options and control). the down side is 1)it's not free. and 2)you can't really take your old blog with you. i suppose this would be a great motivator to make the hardcopy version of this blog that i keep saying i want to make. and i suppose it wouldn't go away. it would just sit still and stop growing. that sounds so sad.

darfur

my sister jill has been passing along some info on the darfur crisis and how to help. check it out.

kiddos

isaiah playing piano and cracking up because ellen pretended to sneeze. he thinks sneezing is downright hilarious and ellen is the best at producing the fake sneeze he thinks is funniest. ellen offering her hands for photographing.

ellen cracks me up

this may just look like some diapers to the untrained eye - but something is missing... see anything suspicious in this picture...? zoom in to the bottom and there you see ellen has sorted through and removed all of the diapers with a pink stripe to keep for her special stash. she really likes pink.

sarah budd and the horrible, no good, very bad day

last night i started feeling rather sick with a cold. i didn't take any medicine but apparently by about 3am i was pretty miserable with a sinus infection. i actually had a dream where someone (i think it may have been joanne) was telling me to get up and take some medicine. so i woke up, and took some medicine. it didn't help too much. today was spent doing quiet, sick things, like not getting dressed and watching long movies (monsters inc instead of the normal sesame street/dora) i basically just sat in my wonderful glider and waited until nap time when i was hoping hoping that i'd get to go back to sleep again. i don't remember actually falling asleep - i thought i just laid in bed for an hour, but dave says i did (he came home for lunch). at about 2 o'clock (which is naptime) i remembered that i had a demarle show tonight. I thought, well, i'll just take a nap and suck it up. by about 3 o'clock i was ready to call and cancel, but then realized it would be extremely tacky to cancel three-ish hours before you're supposed to show. so i figured i just wouldn't touch any of the food. so i got up, took a shower, which always helps, and set about to start making the cake that i always take. isaiah was awake, but ellen was still sleeping. I got everything out and realized i was out of oil. crap. i tend to wait till the last minute to make the cake so its as fresh as possible, so i didn't have a lot of time. i let ellen sleep another twenty or thirty minutes and then woke her up to go to the store. i still had to get both kids dressed since this had been a pajama day so by this point i was really short on time. we got to the store and got our oil and got the cake made just fine. while it was cooking ellen, isaiah and i were sitting at the table munching an apple. ellen ran out to get her water (still in bed from naptime) and came running back into the kitchen and smacked her face incredibly hard right onto the kitchen table. i thought my poor baby had broken her nose. she was screaming bloody murder. i even called dave at work and freaked him out asking what a broken nose would look like. but after about 15 minutes of death wail, ellen calmed down and said "i'm okay mom. it's okay now." in the calmest voice in the world. isaiah had been crying and screaming this whole time as well, cause i guess it's pretty scary to see a bloody ellen whose screaming. ellen then told me "i like bumping my nose on the table." "you do? why is that ? because of the attention you're getting?" "yes!" she replied. which broke my heart and set us all off crying again. poor girly likes getting injured so i'll give the her some attention. gee whiz - what a great parent. we all settled down and i started getting dressed for the show. i put on a bit of perfume, which isn't really normal for me, but i found it in the medicine cabinet and thought it would be fun. i sprayed myself straight in the face. it felt like i had gotten it into my eyes, but they didn't burn and i didn't go blind so i figured i was fine. i was starting to get antsy because dave wasn't home yet and i needed to leave. about the time i tried calling his cell, i noticed a police car pulling past our house real slow. i had horrific visions of him being in an accident or something, but dave had pulled in on his moped right in front of him and the officer was just wondering about his moped and making sure it was all street legal ( i think). so i rush out the door after watching that exchange from the kitchen window and went off to my show. i found the house just fine and the host and her friend and i started making the food (with them doing all of the food touching). she warned me her oven was a bit hot, so i turned it down some and made a mental note to check the food before the timer went off. the first thing, cream cheese tartlets, cook for about 15 minutes. i checked them at 10 and they were all rather crispy looking. nice little burned peaks of cream cheese. whooops. so for the next thing, asparagus, i think i pulled it out too early so it was a bit limp. and then for the chicken, somehow i hadn't communicated the ingredients we would need properly so it was a bit of an experiment with some new ingredients. i never did try it but nobody complained, so it must have been okay. but pretty much none of the food that i made came out well. and that's not good when its a cooking show. as everyone was ready, i grabbed the plate of cream cheese tartlets and dropped half of them on the floor. it was a great group of women who all knew each other really well and had a lot of fun with each other so the night was very entertaining. when it came to order time, everyone who ordered decided to take advantage of the sale this month. this is generally a great thing and i always sell a lot of the sale item. this month, however, the sale item is the business kit. it's an incredible deal and it was really what everyone should have bought (based on what they wanted and were planning on spending anyway). the only bummer is i now have five new reps who have no intention of ever selling anything (so i won't make any money later) and i'm not 100% sure, but i don't think i get any sort of payout on the business kit. so all of that and i didn't make a dime tonight. which is not all bad, cause it was really a fun show. but it was seriously a crazy day.

benchwarmers

on saturday night, dave and i had plans to go play cards with some potential friends. i say potential because i had never met them and dave only met them once. but at the last minute something came up and they had to reschedule. as those of you with kids know, you do NOT waste a babysitter. so we found a movie to go to and headed out to that instead. We saw "Benchwarmers" with Rob Schneider, David Spade and Napolean Dynomite (Jon Heder), and Nick Swardson - one of Dave's favorite stand up comics ever. It was probably the dumbest movie i've seen in a long time. but it was trying to be dumb and overacted and that made it quite funny. alright, very funny. it was a sort of prubescent boy flick with lots of gross things, and senseless overboard things that would have killed people in real life, but just sort of knocked you over in the movie. anyway, i'm talking like i hated it, but i didn't. it was a good laugh.

pooper scooper

dave and i have lots of conversations with ellen about various jobs she could have when she gets older. we talk about all kinds of possibilities - everything from mcdonalds to a police officer to a postal worker to a librarian. pretty much anytime she notices someone working we think about it as a possibility and what might be fun about it. for instance, she really thought sweeping would be fun about working at mcdonalds. here's the latest: (during a diaper change) ellen: I really like poop! dave: you do?! i know i know, maybe when you get older you can go around to people's yards and pick up all the dog poop. would that be a good idea? ellen: yeah!! my poor, poor baby.

a little less pleasant and a little more mean

i am becoming convinced that there are not even ten level feet of street in our little town. those tiny little inclines that you don't even notice in a car are painfully obvious to my pleasant** little legs. i bought a bike yesterday so i could start working on becoming more lean and mean (as in a lean-mean-muscle-machine). i went out this morning and did a little loop of the town and just about killed myself. i wasn't so much out of breath or anything, but my legs weren't real steady when i got off and i was this close to puking when i came inside. seriously everywhere i rode, everywhere, was either an incline or the following decline. i wonder if its better for muscle development to do short spurts (incline) and rests (decline) or slow and steady (that level land in l.a. i took for granted). a couple days ago i drove around trying to plot out a trip that would be the proper amount of miles i was trying for and started to notice the hills and dips then. i realized i was never going to survive on my cruiser and i needed a bike with gears. so off ellen, isaiah and i went to target yesterday. its not the easiest thing in the world to take a bike off a rack and steer both it and a shopping cart of kids around a store. so now i have an extra bike - anybody want a beautiful black cruiser that's seen pretty much nothing but the inside of the garage for its entire two years of life? i need to sell it.

isaiah's blue chair

"> here's isaiah walking around. it's not an especially intriguing video, but you can get a feeling for how excited he is to be mobile, and see the treasures he likes to cart around. (by the way, he's been walking completely on his own for four or five steps before he crashes down the last few days. i suppose i should get a video of that too.)

random pictures for your viewing pleasure

here is ellen holding her "kiddos". from left to right we have unnamed kitty (the one in a back. we're currently working on a name), kitty kitty kathy, kittykitty snoozins (the gray tabby) and lola (pretty much only her red hair is visible.) ellen likes to take her kiddos places, put them down for naps (during which we all are required to whisper) and put them in trouble chair. on wednesday when baking cookies i learned something random - cookies with nuts don't cook at the same rate as those without. (the darker ones in back are nut free)weird.

mm-mm good

" here's a small snippet of isaiah REALLY enjoying his apple sauce.