Working. Adjusting.Pacing myself.

Back in the blogging business soon, my friends.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Terribly off topic of the day, but here are some pics at our fav coffee place, the Bipartisan Cafe.

Moon with an allergy approved peanut butter brownie. I don't think she actually eats this, as much as picks out the chunks to eat. I have no idea where she gets that ;-)

Some of the babies playing, along with Korin, under the supervision of our Main Man.

A final sweet pick of the gorgeous Kai-Mana.

Unfortunately, after the great iPhoto incident, things haven't been working very well in the photo upload department. I need an expert! Taking recommendations/advice...

More Stuff

Gluing shapes and stickers from Grandma Lynn

Cute Suit

Moon created this little "piano"

Birdwatching. So far we have seen Crows, Seagulls and Swallows.

What's Been Going on Lately

Well, thanks to my New Camera (thank-you again Auntie Ann), I have been doing lots of hassling my little world to cooperate for pictures or running and grabbing the camera to get those cute moments before they pass. I have also just been taking pictures because it's fun to look at the world in a different light. To feel thankful for the small things.

Here I am attempting fancy pictures of cooking, since my "time away from the kids" is often "time in the kitchen" or "time in Freddie's", but that's not remotely inspiring.
This is a spinach, beet, and mint on chevre dish.

Is it too obvious how many cups of tea I had that afternoon?

Cooking a lentil dish. I looked down and thought it was funny that I had tea and an iPod right next to my station at the stove. It is a peaceful way to spend time.

Here is a typical scene around the house. I never catch these because I am (obviously) busy, but I really wanted to see if the new camera could do a reasonable job fitting Moon in. I think so!
2 nursing mama's. Moon is nursing her "baby monkey". I am nursing my baby monkey as well.

Here is a nice series titled : How the Lanny EATS.
One sweet potato

Another sweet potato

And egg yolk. and pear too, I think.
Growling at Moon. He was so irritated that there wasn't anymore breakfast for him.
Finally, here is a crappy picture of Moon doing art. Somehow this is the most reasonable of all the ones I took of her. Moving target.

That's it! Only 1000 more to download and sort through ;-)

Beach Trip

Thanks to Mama A for being an excellent beach hook-up. That morning the kids came over to play with dreamy Nanny Kathryn while the mama's packed up. You can see we got some new cars at Red White and Blue; $5 each.

You might also notice Moon has a stow-away in her trunk.

At the beach, after a pretty mellow trip out.

Two tired kids, back at the hotel. Those phones are a huge hit. As maybe that gleaming television in the room was as well.

Here's Lan having a snack in his extreme bib

An early morning shot from the kitchen area. I love this reality scene.

Such a special trip that we got to have. The kids were wild, moody animals but we are trying to make memories here, folks. So we play along and try to enjoy ourselves. At least the air was amazing, friends are wonderful, and the hotel beds were comfy.

Moon's Ballet Class
She isn't really a big fan of ballet, but this was one of the sweetest things we could have watched. There was an open class day where parents and other special people come watch the kids do their thing. My camera battery died midway through class, but I got a few videos and pictures.

The Manly Boy Crawls. Finally.

And he is so very cute about it.

Oh it's rough.

iphoto ate my library. We will return with the picture posts soon, I hope.

As If I Couldn't Love the Obama's Anymore...


Grandma's moving in

Halloween 2008

A very fun time was had by all, trick or treating for the big kids, napping in the carrier for Lanny.
Some pre-trick or treating photos

A butterfly princess, a scary dinosaur and a baby cow.

The big kids loved the baby cow

But he escaped

And the dinosaur chased the princess.
Happiness is the chasing game in full wardrobe.

The Things We Do

I have been concerned with what I fear will be our reality in the coming years regarding school options. I think most likely, for the best "education" venue, we will be choosing home. Also fearful of my ability to gauge how much "learning" is taking place, I decided to try to capture some of the moments when I thought something bigger than usual Moon spaciness was happening. I missed so many, but looking through these pictures I can see that we will be just fine.
*note, most of these activities were initiated by Moon, not Mama constructed "lessons". I think that the leaf lesson was the only one I brought up.

Straw sorting. I like to try to take note of more than the obvious things being done here. For example, she was not only practicing sorting by color, but was also learning about space in a slightly more abstract way and shapes and capacity. Maybe over reaching, but I want to know more about how Moon learns, so here I am.

We took a field trip and learned a few things about trains. And about how to relax watching a video ;-)

And keep a baby occupied and smiling

Acorns! We discovered this big pile under leaves we were raking. Moon noticed that they weren't the same size as our wooden acorns inside.

About the season of autumn and changing leaves

Dress up with friends

Making train tracks

Helping mama make stew. Moon was in charge of "putting things in".

Doing puzzles with mama and making paper airplanes.

I caught this one left on her floor after bedtime.

I thought that she may enjoy Lincoln Logs after seeing that. She did. This is the Papa Mike house we built according to the box directions.

Making carrot cupcakes. I forgot to take pictures of the stirring etc, but I bet you can imagine them well enough.
Imaginary play.
This was such a magical moment that I happened to sneak up on. Moon was setting up a beauty shop like on Max and Ruby and was deep in her world, talking to Max because she, of course, is Ruby. The lunchbox is her "delux beauty kit" with all of her accessories needed for playing beauty shop in. She also brought her tea in with her for added sweetness.

Later that day, Owen came over and Moon convinced him to participate in the beauty shop. Lucky guy ;-)
A close up of the beauty kit.

Lanny doing all of his cute things on one video

Thankful

So thankful tonight, with my two tired kids and wiped out husband. I am thankful for a small chance at a big change. I am filled with gratitude that so many Americans looked at reality, looked at the lives of those much less fortunate than themselves, denounced greed and personal gain, denounced violence in the name of peacekeeping and destruction of our planet for dubious causes, looked at all of this and decided that forward progress must include the health and safety of every human being.
I am not a socialist.
I am, however, a mother. I am a deeply appreciative participant in my life here on earth. I am someone who will pick apart an inch of every cause to find what is FAIR. And I feel that more Americans than ever are finding themselves concerned with what is fair. So I am thankful.
I am thankful that my children will hear from me that while I knew things were on a fast downward spiral, we were able to jump in and make a small change that hopefully will impact them in an amazing way. A change that does not support greed or harm or sadness. At the very least, we have a system that will start to model what we want to model in our family.
So thank-you, everyone who supports that dream. I am eternally grateful.

Hermann Gmeiner: "On the day when we treat all the children of the world as our own, peace shall descend on the Earth."

Election Day

Oh, my anxiety is thick my friends. The last two elections are still vibrating inside of me. We have to turn things around this time. Please make time to vote today.

Also, you can go to Starbucks and tell them that you voted and get a free cup of joe. Small bonus for the corporate coffee addicts. Like me ;-)