send him good wishes

the babes are sleeping and i have some homemade rice pudding simmering on the stove. i've been like a little kid the past 30 minutes waiting impatiently to fulfill my sweet tooth. hurry up and thicken!

tomorrow is andy's interview for med school. from there it's just waiting. and waiting. so send him some good vibes for tomorrow. he's a bit anxious. so we're going for a treat when he gets home tomorrow. i couldn't wait that long, so i had to search our pantry and fridge for something to tide me over until then. i'm sure the little ones will be happy when they wake. kai will surely walk down the stairs any second now saying something like: "what do i smell? it smells kinda sweet. like sugar?!"

happy tuesday!

cocoapotamus

(this title has nothing to do with this post, it's a funny word kai made up today. his definition of a cocoapotamus: a big animal with a big horn on his head who blows a whistle. and he walks slow. no, no. he walks fast.)

so on to the post .... our kitchen. some of you haven't seen our updated kitchen. actually finished last year. but i had a few moments of a pretty clean kitchen today and the kiddos were outside with andy so i decided to take some photos.


where i spend a lot of waking hours. chopping, mixing, pouring, chopping, mixing ... you get the idea! i like to cook. wish i could do it more.
and gas cooking! where have you been all my life? oh, how i love this stove.

view from the sink:


notice the two yellow papers on the right cabinet in above photo? this is them. a little reminder for me lately when i'm having a difficult day parenting.


where most of our meals are eaten. on the beautiful tile table andy made. and our dying centerpiece of market flowers.

happy week to you!

school drop offs getting better

ok. so the first day of preschool was effortless. no fussing, no crying, lots of interest. the 2nd day started with some resistence to go to school. the drop off was a bit harry, some crying and wanting me to stay with him. the 3rd day, torture. really. from the moment he woke, down-right refusal to go. and screaming once we arrived. the teacher said he settled about 5-10 minutes after i left. the 4th day, was still horrible but a tad better than the 3rd. and this morning, no crying!! actually confessions of liking school.

so he's taking his time adjusting to this new thing we call school. so are me and zaiah. the mornings are still lonely, but i'm sure that will get easier. and my little boy will continue to battle with the joy of school vs. leaving home.

first day

today was kai's first day of pre-school. so after an easy drop off (yay), i had plans for me and zaiah to run errands. errands with only one kid: heaven. i imagined the windows down, hair blowing in the 70 degree weather, my favorite cd cranked up, child in the back practicing her new sounds, and the graham cracker keeping her blissfully happy (and quiet). oh, didn't i say it was a dream.

the first errand to the bank turned into a screaming fit the entire drive there. i looked back to try to sooth zaiah, giving her anything i could and singing. i thought, as i looked at the empty car seat next to her: maybe this is a difficult transition for her too. or, it could be the beginning of the i-hate-my-carseat-and-will-make-everyone-miserable phase (if so, hopefully short). i tried bribery to make her happy: nursing in the car 2X. still imagining the jerry maguire free falling car scene. but, not happening.

so finally i let go of my wishful plans, and listened to my little girl. we drove home to play outside. quietly. that is what it sounds like without a 3 yr old around in the morning. quiet. zaiah picked beans from our bean tree and would take them and sit in the bumble bee car, stand up and wave bye. maybe she was taking some to kai, going grocery shopping, gathering for a feast?? who knows. it was sweet.

i missed him and we'll try errands again tomorrow. but who knows what we will do while he's at school for 3 hours. i'll wait for my little girls mood.

quiet

the blog has been quiet the past couple weeks, i know. but it hasn't been quiet around here. this will be a rambling post. not much to report or share. mostly playing outside, playing with friends and doing a lot of different art projects. i did capture this very cute photo of the 2 boys napping last weekend. they were sleeping exactly the same, up until i took the shot when andy moved one arm down(andy won't be happy about this post):

we made playdough the other day, that turned into playdough heads and snakes:



we had some neighborhood friends over this morning for spin art! this was the hit of the week. i got the idea from a craft blog a while back. take a cheap salad spinner, cut out paper circles to fit in the bottom of the basket, let the kids drip paint all over the paper, and spin! we decided to make it a garland. very pretty i think. if it were up to kai, our entire house would be covered in these circles.



we're enjoying the cooler weather this week. happy weekend to you!