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.