Room For A View

With some help from wonderful, willing & handy neighbors, we
transformed our view at home. First our next door neighbor pulled out
our horrible & overgrown bushes from the front of the house
(landscaping to come...later) and then our neighbor across the street
helped us remove the horrible & filthy awnings...and disposed of them
for us too. Whoo! Now we can see out the front (porch) windows and
the big window. I may need to invest in an extended handle window
cleaner/squeegee though...

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Following Directions

I told Simon to put on his underpants & then put his books away.
Technically, he followed directions.

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Best Dinner

Kuh-kuh the Birthday Critter

Dad took Anson for a dance

Brotherly love, mostly

Photo book gift

Looking at the photos

Anson ate half a grilled cheese, some chips (real potato ones), half a cookie-ice-cream sandwich AND half a cupcake. Lucky kid.

Simon's dessert face

Dessert part two...b/c Simon insisted that we have birthday cupcakes. We smuggled in the gourmet filled cupcakes from Arnie's and squeezed a few candles on for mom and Simon...just for fun for Simon.

Anson's cupcake

My mom celebrated a birthday earlier this month but was out in WA with my sister & her family at the time. Last night we went out to celebrate with the Grand Rapidian contingent.

Factors that made it the best meal/party/event in a long time:

1. We went to Bostwick Lake Inn out in Rockford (?) - one of mom's current favorites. It was ideal b/c we sit outside, there's water with fish & boats, there's fresh air and space for kiddos, it's not a big deal if they spill, and there's also live music.
2. The guy playing last night, Sam Corbin, was really good -- and excellent for background music. I remember last year there was a whole band & it was too much, too loud. We loved this guy. Both kids danced plenty (even though no one else did other than dad when he "helped" Anson) and a few of us bought CDs. Nice.
3. The kids ATE THEIR FOOD. This is no small miracle. We ordered one kids meal & they split it, happily, and nothing from my emergency stash had to be pulled out. They just ate.
4. Those Arnie's gourmet stuffed cupcakes are ridiculously good. We smuggled them in, probably very much against restaurant policy, but no one said anything. Yummers.
5. The food is good there. Really good. We shared 3 appetizers amongst us all & they were all good, and I heard only completely satisfied comments from everyone about their meals. And the kids ate theirs. Did I say that before?
   
6. Diverse beer & adult beverage options. Yay. We all had something different, we were all happy.
7. The weather was perfect.
8. Mom had "ride home" treats b/c it's a little bit of a hike...Simon ate them both b/c Anson didn't seem to want them, so both kids were happy.
9. Because it's outside & because Tia & Andy & Grandma & Grandpa were all there the kids were entertained, fed, cared for, loved on, danced with, shared with...they were happy. And it was okay for Simon to get off the bench & dance, go look at the boats & fish, wiggle around. Perfect.

If only every dining out/party experience turned out so well! I could just relive that night over & over & over for weeks - or months - and not tire of it. What a gift!

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Re-learn through the eyes of a child

When I got home from grocery shopping it was a bit of a frenzy in the kitchen. Both boys were hungry for lunch (as was I) but I had several things that went in the freezer or fridge and it was 80+ degrees. At one point Anson grabbed a six-pack of yo-baby yogurt (which he LOVES) and took off with it. Somehow I didn't notice this. He threw the whole thing in the recycle bin, which is where the cups go after the yogurt is eaten & the cup is rinsed out. My little recycle baby.

It's amazing what lessons kiddos learn just by watching. I remember not long ago when we used disposable diapers on Anson due to travel or diaper rash or something. Simon watched us change a diaper & throw it away. "Diapers don't go in the trash!" he was incredulous. I explained to him that usually they don't, but we were using a different kind that could only be used once, and wasn't that silly? He was mystified. To think! A diaper that couldn't just be washed & used again!

Like Water for Coffee

I've been meaning to get groceries for a few days and today I finally got out of the house. Some weeks this in itself feels like an accomplishment, and today I was deeply proud of myself. The boys & I all had breakfast, everyone went to the bathroom or had a diaper change just before heading out, I made sure I had everything with me I needed: cloth grocery bags, diaper bag, my travel mug of coffee.

The boys were great at the store, we found lots of deals on things we needed anyway, and we got out of there with three of us smiling, ready for lunch and feeling good.

I sipped on my coffee a bit while I was out, but mostly forgot about it. When I got home I decided to pour it back into the pot to heat it back up. I noticed that it looked a little transparent. I realized I never put a new filter or coffee in...I just ran it through with the old filter & cold soggy grounds from yesterday. I'm not surprised I forgot; I'm surprised I didn't pay enough attention to notice the lack of taste. New pot brewing, Anson's down for a nap, and Simon's waiting for me to play games with him.

Follow Up: Puppet Picture

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Summer Weekend

In an effort to embrace life and my children for whatever they offer, I've been working on relaxing my expectations and thinking. Instead of being more focused on what needs to get done I'm looking at my children & their abilities & interests and taking learning opportunities wherever we can find them - however inconvenient it might be. You may think this is an obvious or easy thing to do...but as you can hear from my last post, it's not exactly either for me. We're getting there.

Friday morning began with a playdate. My sister, brother-in-law, 3-year-old twin daughters and 7-month-old son came over for about an hour and a half, I think. They live across the country so this is a rare treat in itself. It was their first opportunity to see our home and neighborhood, and we came up with a few projects & snacks for the big kids to work on. Great fun for all!

Saturday began with brunch at my parents house since my sister, brother-in-law & 7-month-old were heading back home to WA later that day. We ventured down to the school playground behind their house for more activity.

Saturday afternoon we finally tackled a project we'd been putting off "for a better time" for a few months, I think. Anson "helped" from his pack & play, and...

Simon got right into it. He tried to help with his play tools but quickly realized the screwdriver didn't fit, so we helped him use the real ones. He was so proud! The best part is that we now (finally!) have a bureau and therefore enough storage space for both Adam and me to put our clothes away.

Another project I'd been hoping to accomplish since we moved in to this house consisted of shelves for the boys' bedrooms. We had two wood shelves & four wood brackets that needed work. I found several great colors of leftover paint through Freecycle and let Simon choose the colors for his shelf & brackets. We still have to do a few second coats, but expect pictures when they're finished. They look great - and again, Simon was deeply proud of his involvement.

Saturday afternoon Simon and I had also made some "message boards" out of cardboard scraps and clear contact paper. I put one up in my kitchen for quick reminders, phone messages, etc. and assisted Simon in making a little one to practice writing letters & numbers on too. We headed out to look for wet-erase markers (after 3 stops: go to an office supply store for them! Walgreens & craft stores don't carry them.) and ended up with a few extra project items from the craft store clearance rack. Sunday afternoon Simon and Adam made several critter puppets...again, look for pictures soon.

Time for a little gaming squeezed in somewhere too...as well as a little D&D strategizing Sunday evening.

And Anson chugged along through it all, "helping" as he can. Did I mention that he's walking everywhere now? He pretty much has no use for crawling anymore. It's toddlin' adorable.

The final "project" of the weekend was an amazing salad...I reinvented a cobb salad I ate once at Old Chicago (excellent) and tweaked it to Lange perfection: hormone-free grilled chicken, organic raisins, organic hard boiled eggs from free-range hens, organic baby bella mushrooms, organic strawberries, organic cherry tomatoes, shredded sharp cheddar, a generous sprinkling of dulse and a dash of crunchy "salad topper" (I don't know what they are...but we didn't have sunflower seeds that I could find and happened to have acquired a bag of salad topper crunchies along the way...) all arranged on a big pile of organic baby spinach leaves. I would have crumbled some bacon on there too, had I the time & ingredient, but it didn't feel lacking. I used an organic balsamic vinaigrette dressing; Adam used an organic dairy-free ranch. We decided after this meal that we need to look into some larger bowls for "big-salad dinner" days in the future. Yes, we had seconds. Yummm....

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