My Feral Kids

I let my children run feral in the yard most of the day while I disinfected my kitchen and bathroom in recovery from Drew's month of bachelorhood.  Three cheers for rubber gloves.

The most I could keep on this hoodlum was a pullup and her spawning salmon hat:

Genevieve took matters into her own hands and cleaned her sister up:

I made up for my lack of a dinner plan by meeting Drew on the porch with a vodka tonic after work:

The garden is where I want to be, weeding away its last month of oversight.  What a treat to come home to this hydrangea and rose explosion!

The winter hats I can't explain:

This sweetness helps me forgive the afore mentioned kitchen and bathroom trauma.

Turning Into Home

We're home, and home is a whole new world.  While the girls and I were being spoiled by grandparents, daddy was home busting his ass on completely revamping our upstairs (and drinking beer and watching late night TV).  In the month we were gone, he made our one bedroom, one bathroom living space into a two bedroom, two bathroom HOUSE!

When I went upstairs to check it out I was in awe of what I was seeing - it was nothing like I had pictured it would be.  Drew and I spent many late night hours pouring over house plans, reworking, rethinking, digging in heals, compromising, running numbers, making spreadsheets, ordering materials - I was involved in every square foot of planning.  What I wasn't involved in was visualizing anything because, well, I'm incapable!  I imagined our upstairs turning into tiny rooms, a bathroom you couldn't stand up in, a landlocked house boat of sorts.

Instead, here is how we'll live:

Built in hallway storage galore,

a bedroom for the girls (and a place for all of their girlhood accoutrements),

a tub for baths to replace our kitchen sink ritual, a shower with a view, and no more going downstairs to pee in the middle of the night,

and our very own bedroom.

I'll keep you posted as this project progresses, unless we devour each other from living in our 200 square foot guest cottage before it is all wrapped up.

This was the best homecoming I could have dreamed of (but not visualized).

Last Day

Tomorrow we start our journey back to Edison.  We spent our last day close to family with a picnic at Coal Point,

 

and a fishing lesson from Uncle Darren.

It's hard to say goodbye to this place for another year.

Anchor Point Beach and Mickey's Wide Mouth

We spent the day here,

a glorious beach to ourselves in Anchor Point. 

My nieces know how to settle in to a campsite,

and Darren and Erica know how to take full advantage of a milk crate:

I love this photo of my mom and Marguerite:

This land of the midnight sun really is a breathtaking place.

Thanks for fire building and gear hauling and beer cooling Darren, it wouldn't have been a proper day in AP without that Mickey's Wide Mouth.

Shopping, Tyranny and Ducat Love

The stars aligned, my daughters were content playing with their cousins, and I slipped out the door to meet Cory at Homer's Jeans for....shopping with no kids!  I certainly do fall into the "I love clothes, and I love shopping for clothes" category, but rarely do I indulge.  From there we went out to lunch, talked about our babies, our bad posture, our dreams, our lack of good sleep.  What a treat.

Genevieve put her best self forward today and took a welcome break from tyranny,

and sweet Marguerite has found a new and deep connection to a stack of coins that she moves from one pocket to the other.  She tucked her money into bed tonight, covered up by her lamby blanket.  Sister loves her ducats.

Lunch Revisited

We went for a car nap today to seek out peace and quiet and to enjoy the wild flowers on Ohlson Mountain.  Marguerite complied and fell asleep 20 feet out from the driveway.  Genevieve - well, Genevieve doesn't comply with much.  She talked and complained non-stop until I gave her my iPhone, then got sick and projectile vomit sprayed my mom's never-been-vomited-in new car.  Today I am grateful for upholstery cleaner and hot showers.  Here's the vomit source keeping me company while on car detail duty:

Marguerite has been doing a lot of Baby Bee nurturing the past few days, thousand-yard nursing stare included:

It's hard work being a lactation station.

 

Bad Wrapping and Bread

Truth:  When I do this bad of a job wrapping a present, I scapegoat my daughter.

Here's the no-knead bread my mom baked to take to Luca John's birthday party this afternoon.  I watched her start this last night after dinner.  My category of "really easy" isn't the same as hers, but I think I can do this too.