Friday, June 28, 2013

Quote of the Day

Genevieve:  Mom, may you please put me in time out?  I made the choice to hit my sister.  She wouldn't give me Sunshine back, and even though we aren't a hitting family it was all I could do to get my doll.  I already told her sorry, so time out is probably your only option.

Parenting fail.

Genevieve:  10
Me: 0


Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Bouncy Castles and Talking Smack

Last year, when I blogged about Genevieve's birthday party, I talked a little smack about bouncy castles.  This year I present to you a full and complete exhibit of hypocrisy:


The hours leading up to G's party were touch and go.  She woke up too sick to bounce, laying on the stairs of the castle was the most she could muster.


Our plans for an outdoor party were drenched in rain.  Drew's back was hurting.  Things sucked.  "Well, either this is going to be a complete disaster, or we'll pull it off" were Drew's calm words slung towards his stressy wife.  

It worked out.  

We took cover under the porch.  Kids bounced for hours.  Tylenol saved the day. 















 



Thursday, June 20, 2013

Hibachi Terror

Japanese food is Genevieve's favorite.  Today was her REAL ACTUAL FOR REAL I'M FIVE TODAY birthday.  Family dinner found us circled around a hibachi table, excited for the fire and chef tricks. 


First came fire.  Then came fear.


Whoopsie.  Should have saved this one for 10.  Things improved when the fire involved chocolate.


 Happy Birthday sweet G.
 

Happy 5th Birthday G!

My strawberry harvest moon baby turns 5 today.  I read her birth story this morning over coffee while her busy growing body sleeps in and gears up for a day she'll surely fill with exuberance and wild imagination.  This girl who made me a mama.  "I'm so glad your my daughter" I tell her every night at bedtime.  "Me too" she whispers back. 





Sunday, June 16, 2013

Day O' Daddy

For Father's Day the girls and I released Drew from his usual Sunday morning of being bossed around by all three of us and sent him off to work on art, something he loves and hardly has time for.  We managed to leave him alone for three hours and then decided to deliver cards and flowers to his "office."





We spent the afternoon at the beach.


Happy Father's Day Drew.  We sure do love you.

Cardboard Mama

Three days and two nights away from my little family.  I was out of cell phone range, far away from home and working hard.  I woke up on the hour, wondering how Marguerite was managing her first night without me. 

What I didn't know is that in my absence a very important woman appeared to take care of everyone.  Surely I would have rested easier if I'd known she was there.

Enter Cardboard Mama, imaginatively constructed by Genevieve. 

She cooked.


She put Marguerite down for her nap.

 
She grocery shopped and ran errands.


She kept up on the laundry.


She worked in the garden.



She enjoyed a glass of wine on the deck.


She read the girls their bedtime story.


She (ahem) took care of business with Daddy.


Cardboard Mama, we wouldn't have made it without you.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Friends, A Rogue Turkey and Early Morning

We had more visitors from Homer this week, and somehow I didn't take a singe picture of Jamie and her sweet little family.  Dang!  Jamie managed to get this gem of Ike, mid-makeover from the Vallee sisters.


He ended up looking gorgeous.


Sunny summer days, catching up with old friends, a rogue turkey in the yard, and first harvest.  It's been a good week so far.




I've even managed to catch some quiet early morning hours to myself.



I'm gearing up to be away for two nights for a work trip.  These will be my first nights away from Marguerite.  She'll be fine and I'll be fine, I know, but the geographical and technological divide of a three hour drive and no cell phone service rattles me a bit.




Sunday, June 9, 2013

Quote of the Day

Genevieve:  Marguerite, look at me and listen.  This is important.  When you take a pig for a walk, you have to bring an umbrella.  Understand?
Marguerite:  Yes, Genevieve.  I really do.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Shovels and Wheels

Drew can make anything involving wheels oh-so-much fun for the girls.



It's not all fun and games, though.  Sometimes his wife hands him a shovel and dictates a plan:



Mulch mountain is gone!  We started planting today with what we had around.  I'm hoping to glean from my existing perennial beds to fill this space in -  and actively resisting the urge to go to Christianson's and spend hundreds on new plants.....

I do want foxglove along the fence.  Anyone have some in their yard I can come dig up?!







Thursday, June 6, 2013

Pomp and Circumstance and Home

My sweet G is all done with preschool. 


This is her teacher Ms. Punky, in her 39th year of teaching littles (and their parents) how to navigate a school year.  I'm in awe of her.



We launched straight into summer mode with friends coming to visit and road tripping to see even more friends. 

My brother's best friend Matt and his family came to stay.  Moira is touring colleges in the lower 48.  This makes me feel old.  My girls love her to pieces, so it also makes me feel hopeful that she goes to school in Bellingham so we can see more of her.  I will be her Washington mama, cook for her when she needs something other than pizza or dorm food, and let her use the washing machine when quarters run low. 




I loved having Alaskan friends who I've known forever see my Edison life.  Sharing a home and a meal makes a beautiful benchmark. 

More sharing of meals and home came with a visit to Mike and Shelley's on the Key Peninsula.  Their house was my sanctuary when I was in college and too far away from home to go home.  Now they are in the process of packing up and moving to North Carolina.  Their house and garden have character in every square inch, and I was grateful for one last visit. 



 

I looked up "home" in the dictionary.  It said it all.  What Mike and Shelley gave me when I was so homesick for my own home and family,  home away from home, a place where one is as happy, relaxed, or comfortable as in one's own home.   A proverb for their next adventure to North Carolina, your home will always be the place for which you feel the deepest affection, no matter where you are.  The feeling I had when I pulled into our parking spot, road weary from traffic and keeping two little girls happy while in the confines of the car, home sweet home used as an expression of one's pleasure or relief at being in or returning to one's own home.

We're home.