peaks from the week

(i'm pretty sure he will never let me take down the 5's from his party.)

measuring and recording the growth of our paper white flowers:

and this makes me smile. a knitted hat for my friend's newborn. so small and cute.

a little celebrating

the other night we had a couple neighborhood families over to celebrate Kai's birthday. He wanted a tie dye and art party, with a fire pit dinner. so that's what we did. since there wasn't a crazy number of kids here, the art in the house went pretty smooth. the weather turned out really great for some outdoor fun too.

we set up our long table for a collage project. each kid received a plain piece of wood and could add whatever they wanted - paint, buttons, fabric, ribbon,cotton, etc.

the kid's art table was set up for painting rocks, and also general art stuff - crayons, markers, scissors, pencils for drawing.

preparing the art tables before the party ....

and, of course a fire pit picture. i love these, even though they're dark and often blurry. (need to bring out the tripod.)

yesterday was his celebration at his school. i really like how the montessori school acknowledges the child's birth day.

and i think now the week long celebrating is over. on to december! christmas .... already!

Five

It was early april, and andy and i were living on the big island. i was enjoying a massage, when the masseuse asked me if i was pregnant. "no." (definitely not) i replied . a few moments later, she continued .... "normally i wouldn't say anything, especially since we only recently met, but i am getting a strong sense that you are pregnant." huh! no, that cannot be. surely, i would know if i was. i always thought i would sense a pregnancy even if i couldn't feel the baby.

so, after this session while andy and i were walking, i shared the silly news. kind of brushing it off. on the drive home andy decided to take a slight detour to the drug store. well, you can guess what was purchased. later that night (yes, i waited until dark) i decided to do the deed. andy went to lock the gate on our property and he came back to face a confused, shocked, grinning girl. and from there our life changed. putting us on a new path. at the time we were confused, yes. but today we are settled. and not confused, only loved. and 5 years later, we have this sweet boy. who is 5!! years old. sounds cliche, but this boy has taught me more than i ever learned in school, from books, from friends & family. it's true these little beings really do help you find your way.

the night before ....

our new 5 year old ....

we're celebrating his birthday with friends on saturday so there will be more birthday pictures.

happy thanksgiving!

rituals

every morning when i drop off Kai at school it's usually at the playground. they play outside in the morning and then again right before i pick him up at noon. this makes it very convenient for our morning ritual: honking. as i drive off, i honk. and this is what makes the transition for separation easy (or easier) for little kai. honking when departing actually is a BIG ritual for our family. now when andy rides off on his bike to school he yells honk-honk down our street (can you picture it?). and this settles the kids, especially kai. maybe a bike horn is in order for andy.

if i, bad mama, forget to honk as i drive away from his school i hear about when i pick him up. boy do i hear about it.

this morning when i dropped him off and i was walking to the car, one of Kai's friends asked him to join him on the monkey bars. kai replied, "i have to watch my mama honk first." and my heart smiled. i was suddenly very thankful for this sometimes annoying ritual. and then i wondered how long will it last? one day i'll be sad when it's gone. will it one day turn into hurry mom leave before my friends see you drop me off.

and how long will all our family rituals last? sure they will change as the kids get older. but how can we keep them interested?

all this stuff is swirling in my head because my kai turns 5! on the 24th. that number seems so big. and when there's a 1 in front of that 5 i'm hoping we have family rituals that settle and comfort us all.

drawing

me: "tell me about your picture."

zaiah: "it's daddy's butt." so seriously too.

november 1 - is a beautiful day

but not beautiful enough to lure the kids away from their halloween candy.

i wish i had better pictures to share from last night, but these are the best of the little bunch. the battery died early in the night. But i was happy to get a group picture of the littles. the night was good and safe. our family dressed as a pirate, two black cats and a baby.

admiring their loot after we returned home. and the sugar high has not stopped.

days like these are good

two posts in one week ..... wahoooo! not many words, just pictures today from this week.

kai's favorite new phrase: awesome dude!

colorfest

for the four autumns that we've been here i have always wanted to go to the Bernheim Forrest Colorfest, just 30 minutes from us. but either we've been away, or i've heard about it a day too late. this year, our friend called us sunday morning and invited us to go with them. again almost missing it, not knowing about it in time. almost. contemplating in my head during our conversation: continuing our day with reorganizing the house (switching the guest room, and creating a study room for andy) or, letting go of that and going to colorfest. i couldn't possibly let another one go by, so we went. and now like other rituals, the colorfest will be one of ours. it could have been the perfect day: blue, clear skies, sunny, just a little cool, and the leaves turning at their peak. but, it was the fun we had too. and the peacefulness. even amongst all the other people that drove there.

more camping pictures

zaiah's first pony ride.

table cloth artwork.

the big kids going out for a ride.

fall & camping

the weather is cool and crisp here.... my favorite time of the year. we celebrated camping with our friends. i have bragged before that we live in the best neighborhood, right? well, not only do we benefit daily with play dates, bike rides, cook outs, venting, need a last-minute babysitter help, we also camp together. we and three other families went this weekend for 3 days. we ventured about 1.5 hrs away to brown county park. a place known for its bike trails. and it's confirmed, we have a die-hard mountain biker. hint: he's not a daddy. some pictures to share from our weekend. sanz one from the many mountain biking trips. i stayed back with the littles, meaning so did the camera.

interview by kai

this morning in the car:

kai: "when you're in jail can you leave after 2 days if you don't like the beds?"

me: "no. they try to make the beds uncomfortable so you won't like them."

kai: "have you ever been to jail?"

me: "no."

kai: "has daddy?"

me: "no."

silence for a few minutes

kai: "have you ever been pulled over by a police car?"

me: "yes."

kai: "why?"

me: "for driving too fast."

kai: "daddy has, with grandma for going too fast."

kai: "i wouldn't mind getting pulled over by a police car."

me: "why do you think a police man would pull you over?"

kai: "i don't know."

silence for a few minutes

kai: "when will we vote again?"

me: "in 3 years."

kai: "when do we vote for the president?"

me: "in 3 years. we may vote for someone before that, like a mayor for our city."

kai: "how old will i be when we vote?

me: "8"

kai: "how old will zaiah be?"

me: "5" (now that i'm doing the math in my head i don't think this is right.)

kai: "how old is the president?"

me: "almost 50."

kai: "is he older than grandpa jewell?"

me: "no, he's younger."

kai: "will i be a grandpa next time we vote?"

me: "no, you'll only be 8."

rat a tat cat

you'll notice a cat theme in this post.

last week the kids and i went yard sale-ing. we scored with a card game for a $1: rat a tat cat. i had no idea if it was going to be even played. how i was wrong. this is a huge hit. we play and we play and we play, some more. it's one of the first things kai asks to do when awakes.

he wants to be a black cat for halloween. here he is practicing his face painting on a very willing student.

it's funny looking at our main living space in this photo just taken last week. there's already more chairs at the table, a rug in the living room, a comfy chair for the kiddos (and the cats). we are very much enjoying our new space. as you might see there's little finishing work to be done (isn't there always!), like baseboards and trim work. such boring details, right.

this week

camping at our friend's family farm: good weather, rain at night, kid's fishing, gutting & roasting little river fish, tractor rides (many!), campfires, s'mores, late-night talks, no naps, little sleep, good times ....






hanging around the house while daddy's at school studying ( alot!) ....


and eating pancakes at our new table. more glimpses of our main floor remodel later ....

it's been good times with these little ones.

now we can wash our clothes

funny how it's okay to post your child going to the potty, but we would never post us going, right?!

about 2 weeks ago zaiah started to refuse to wear diapers. wahooo. well, after 1 week of cleaning up every single pee and poop accident i was ready to give up. luckily, she didn't. she is now fully potty trained, even through the night. and as the post says, now we can wash our clothes. how many times have andy or i gone downstairs to throw a load in, only to find out the diapers needed another cycle ? many i tell you. now i can't blame the diapers for the build up laundry.