DO THE REGGAE

OK we have been so busy - packing for the festival. We even did a little pre-event camp-out! But today my stressed out overworked and under nurished man moved on site to make sure that the festival will run smooth. Hopefully he will eat more and better while he is there - I heard his favorite taco truck will be feeding the masses there, so he should be happy. We will go down in a few days. I am having the hardest time packing, and now that I have left it to the last minute I will have to do it alone. Hmmm...note to self, stop procrastinating!! 

uh-oh he's mobile

Oh uh he's mobile!

You hear it all the time, but it really is amazing how different each kid is, and how their personalities seem to start very early....

Today my youngest climbed not up one stair or two, but all the way up to the top floor on his first try! I had no clue he was ready for the stairs. He just kept going up - never looking back. Hmmm I wonder if that's a clue to his personality? 

Of course we searched all over for any working baby gates but they seem to have disappeared into the black hole in the barn.

My other two spent the day outside playing in the dirt .

 I may have purposely skipped the 4th of July this year, but there's no escaping all the presidential chatter even in our lives. Yes even here in the back country we here the news. The other day we watched a truck (I think it might of been a U-haul) roll past with a picture of Mount Rushmore on it. She shouts "Look Mama - those are important people carved into the rock!"

I wonder how she could tell.  And that led us into a home school project all about the presidents. She is really annoyed that Hillary Clinton won't be our next President. She wanted the woman to win. 

Well, I am certainly glad that she is an intelligent home schooled child. I don't know if I could really defend myself against all those people who don't think homeschooling is a good idea if she wasn't so bright and articulate. What do they think I should do? Send her to some public school who's only concerned with passing tests?  Our local high school doesn't have the funding necessary to put HOT water in the locker rooms. What else do you think they might be skimping on?

Actually we have found the perfect little school for us, and we will start in the fall. We are so very lucky. 

To the river

So we go to cool down at the river but this little cub won't go in. The hat he's wearing is the one we made together. We went to the fabric store and he choose the fabric...they are snakes. He helped me cut and sew too.

Feels like we're living in L.A.

Just the two of us...

Momma and Papa actually ate dinner without the little cubs, sort of. The other day we were at a friend's and someone took our two bigger ones for a short walk. So we ate yummy fish tacos while the baby slept. It reminded us of simpler times. We could actually carry out a conversation from beginning to end! Not that I am complaining at all about my life. I was just, hmmm....surprised that things seemed so different while we ate that night. 

I guess it just means we should hire a baby-sitter and go out more often.

If only it didn't take over an hour to get to..well, anywhere.

So weird..

Someone asked me recently "When was the last time you sat down for the entire length of the meal?" Now I have an answer.  

Peacock helper

Here my son helps dig a hole for the peas....
See he's got his safety goggles on? He's so darn cute - No pants,
socks or undies..but he insisted on the safety goggles.

Still too hot

Today I caught different peas all doing the same thing, nesting in the sweet cold dirt. 

Or as I call it, tearing up my yard.

Our newest addition

We are always suckers for animals who need homes..This is Lucky, our new duck. She is the sole survivor of something that goes bump in the night.
Out here on the land you either make it through the first night or you don't. 

Lucky made it - so that's a good sign.

The smoke today. Almost 700,000 acres burning in California

107 Degrees F

Today was ridiculous. We closed up all the windows at 3 a.m. and tried to keep the house cool as we watched the temperature rise to 107 degrees!! The kids and I picked black raspberries and made a cobbler for dessert. Our neighbor even picked us up some vanilla ice cream on his way home from town.
So the kids and I said a big thank you to Mother Earth for giving us all these berries. We had planned on canning berry jam all day. But when we awoke at 6:15 (thank you horrible rooster) it was already 80 - not 52 like it was the previous morn.

 So the canning idea got dumped, as did most other plans. 

And we had a great berry cobbler!

The Black Raspberry Cobbler!!

Getting red-I for Reggae

Here we are getting ready for Reggae Rising!!

Today my little fairy picked berries in her new purple fairy
costume...my kids are getting all their festival garb together!

Hotter

now it is 104 degrees!!!!!!!!!!

Way too hot!

This is how I keep the baby occupied so that I can do things in the
kitchen!! The others are in the pool - the temperature went from 95
to 101 degrees from 11:45 to 12:15! I am lying on the linoleum right
now. Ughhh!

Summer

It was hot out yesterday, and the kids played outside for most of it.
Here's my daughter wearing her sea anemone costume from her spring
ballet performance, eating a peach.

Met her on Mommy's space!

My daughter -like others I am sure, likes to repeat the stories that she hears the grownups saying to each other. My husband recently became reconnected with his oldest daughter , and my little girl was telling someone "And Papa met her on," and then her eyes got huge, and she twirled around shouting "Mommy's Space!" She meant MySpace.....

Every moment of the day makes her smile, I hope that never stops happening.

My new kitchen!!

Weather in Northern Cali

The fog seems to be keeping the smoke out of our valley the past few days. Today rainclouds even moved in! We will see what it's like in the morning. 

We are packing up for some camping fun this summer. The kids are all excited. There's something so special about summertime, and spending this summer watching these kids race around brings me right back to my childhood. 

I remember eating popsicles at dusk at the top of our tree house. With the misquitos. And catching fire flies once it was dark. Huge parades and a place called Playland in Rye N.Y.

These kids will have their own memories, they won't be in 110 + humidity ones, that's for sure! Yes, folks that's a thick wool sweater he has on.

 

Ok, only of interest to mom's....

Ok, even better then the needle-felt pressure foot I found last month is this link to new exciting quick easy meals for the kids!

 I can't believe I never thought to check out what the websites bellonging to my favorite magazines? Mothering's pretty great, next I'll check out Hip Mama! Here I come Ariel...