Weekend trip or Are you really my daughter?

Well we are off to the Benbow Arts and Crafts festival. We are going to camp with a group of wonderful friends. So today, one of our homeschooling projects was to create a list and then pack. Little Blue Eyes wrote her list out, crossed everything off as she packed it and has been ready for 4 days now, her pink leapard print wheelie bag sits on our porch ready to be loaded into the truck. 

I, on the other hand, have yet to find our tent.

Translating Toddler Talk

Sometimes its hard to decipher what our little man is saying. Sometimes Blue Eyes tells us she understands. Sometimes she does, and sometimes it's just her version of what she'd like her younger sibling to be saying. 

So the other night at dinner we are talking about the rain forest, and the animals that live there. Especially the monkeys, their behaviors and if they'd make good pets. Probably not, we inform them. But Little Man says something which took forever to figure out...something along the lines of  "No, me know someone who has monkey  pet!" He was animate about his friend who owned some monkey.

 Finally we figured out he was referring to the man in the yellow hat - who has a monkey, Curious George!

Its a bird its a ..............

Yesterday on our way to town Blue Eyes shouted "look mama  it's a Mohawk!"..It was indeed a hawk, we are so blessed to often see on our way to town. 

Full circle

Like a lot of us, when I was growing up I heard stories about my parents. They all lived on 'the block' in the Bronx. I picture it as a very close knit family, with my Great-grandma and her  2 sisters sitting in their rockers on the front porch, all together.  All singing to themselves - all different tunes, I was told. We were in the suburbs - which was so far away. 

Now we all live so far away it's nearly impossible to get us all together. Plane tickets for 3-5 kids is almost inconceivable unless it is truly important. But what is truly important? A new baby? A funeral? I wish I could spend weeks in the summer back on the east coast. Late nights, fireflies, horseshoe crabs.  So I am thankful for the Internet and its ability to keep me close to everyone. 

We're on the road to nowhere.........

 I really mean it when I say no one lives anywhere near us. For any of you non-believers this is rush hour on the way home from town. Only 58 minuets till we get there! So why is it that I never feel like I get any time to myself?  

Just the Bear Necessities

We have not outgrown our house, we just have too much stuff. I say it all the time. I am continuously doing sweeps of our house, removing things that are just collecting dust. My problem is that I enjoy going to the stores as a fun activity. It's not so much fun to go shopping with 3 kids. Not that it was with 2 or even 1. Plus we don't NEED anything. We live in the WOODS! Been here how many years now, yet I still refuse to throw out my heels. Maybe someday I might go out in public and want to wear something other then the same boots I wear into the ponies stalls?? 

And what do I wear while mucking stalls? My Uggs! Eck..ruined those. When will I learn?

Enjoying our unseasonal weather!

It is too ridiculously hot to be knitting wool, so I put it down and drove 2 hours to our good friends house for the day. We had the best time. As you can see they have a beautiful flower garden, because they don't have peacocks!! We got home at 11 pm! Late night for us! Remember the days  when we'd just be leaving the house at 11 pm? 

Well, it was well into the 90's for way too long and I look forward to life returning to a normal cool 60 for at least a few more weeks. 

Sleepy

Oh ...Papa is still gone and it has been over a week.  I was up late last night downloading knitting patterns off Ravelry links. Like this one here!! The Finley. My newest project before school next fall.

Well, I am not counting days anymore. It is too depressing. 

Oh everyone is up! Bye

My thoughts on Motherhood

Happy Mothers Day!! 

Here's my quote of the day:

When you have a child you are inducted into a club you never knew existed. 

The dues are VERY high, and there is no way out.

Ever. 

You can't explain how cool it is to people who aren't members 

- they won't get it. 

Even on the worst days you don't really wish you could leave. 

It opens your eyes to experiences you had forgotten, and

 shows you ones you would never have otherwise seen.

Day 2??? Day 5

Oh well, my count down idea won't work because my husband is having car issues and won't be back Monday.  So we will return to counting the days he is gone. Day 5. Horseback riding lessons. Nearly gave my mom a heart attack as we watched my daughter jump. She is getting so confident on our pony. 

Now day 3....counting down!

First of all to my dear friend OliveMe ..who, btw, has the best recipes,  .... I wish I could...no no I WILL be posting a pic of my creative work space when my man returns with my camera.  It's worse.. I promise. Mine consists of the top shelf of my once lovely kindergarten space, a shelf in my downstairs bathroom closet, and a corner of my kitchen. 

Today we took Grandma to the beach. It wasn't too windy and everyone seemed to have a good time. Personally unless the weather is hot but not scorching I really don't like to be at the beach at all. It involves to much mess, no potty ever close enough, and sunburns no matter how hard I try. The river I love, the beach, not so much.

We fed all the animals in a rush and managed to leave before 10 AM .. Which brings us into town by 11, ran a few errands, ate, then it was 1:45!! With 3 kids under 5 EVERYTHING takes forever. Even when it doesn't someone pees or poops somewhere they shouldn't. Between the animals and the kids my life seems consumed by poop. 

On the farm: Our baby chicks are outgrowing our brooder, but the hen house is not ready for them. And surprise surprise...the PEACOCKS are laying eggs already. And I can't find the incubator. I remember putting it somewhere safe. 

yeah.

Quick note:

We take the eggs from the peahens. They nest on the ground, which makes them easy prey. Usually they fly up into our fir trees at night, which is what keeps them alive out here. Perhaps when you think of Northern California you aren't imagining my neck of the woods. We have bears, mountain lions, and everything else too. Peahens on nests on the ground have bad odds at survival. 

Day 4 The no stress express

I think now that Grandma is here I will start counting the days till my love returns, instead of how long he has been gone. I miss his laughter and sense of humor. When things get stressful he always is positive and knows how to turn it around..He sings "I'm taking the no stress express"

That should be every mommy's mantra. Say to to yourself. Again. Feeling better yet??

GRANDMA IS THE BEST..DAY 3

TOMORROW Grandma arrives. Just in time to give me back my sanity. This morning I awoke to 2 little boys who pooped in their pants and (of course) got the sheets dirty too. Into the bath they went. I am trying to clean the house so Grandma doesn't think we are pigs. As she already thinks it is dirty solely based on the fact that we live in the woods. So by 8 am I had all kids washed dressed fed and packed into the car. Perhaps many of you do this every day, but to me it was quite a feat! 

We ran a few errands, bought some GREAT mothers day gifts..hee.hee . The kids were great so we went to the ZOO!! We have the BEST small town zoo I have ever been to. Check it out here.

Of course my toddler fell asleep on our way home, so I should be asleep too, as he will be waking up VERY early tomorrow. But I am winding down from finishing all my tasks this eve. I think all animals have been fed..if not oh well, can't change it now. ....hmm...I think they are all fed. Peacocks, chickens, dog, birds, fish....pony...Laundry is all folded. Not quite put away. Kitchen is decent. Rugs vacuumed, floors swept. Toilet paper in bathrooms. Oh well. It's not going to get any better so it'll just have to be good enough.

And this picture above? Just a small sampling of the beautiful pottery that is all over my house. From Grandma my amazing once Wall street now slowing down potter......

Newest creations

Something I finished well before I was left on the farm....alone....today is day 2, I am doing well. We were in town all day. Ballet class, chores, preparing for Grandma who is arriving not soon enough. It was so great to see everyone at ballet. The girls have a performance in just a few weeks. All are fed. All are asleep. off to bed I go. My sweet little girl - whom I made this dress for...is in my bed, for as soon as she discovered papa was leaving shouted"Hooray that means that I get to sleep in bed with MOMMY"  

I wasn't aware that was the way it works..

Day 1 of papa's vacation

Today my wonderful husband left for a  whole week!! So the kids and I have to fend for ourselves on the farm. So far so good, as the baby chickens and peacocks have been fed and have fresh water. The pony has been let out. Now I will take on feeding the parrots, which normally is as routine as feeding parrots gets, but this week quite a few of them are sitting on eggs. Very exciting! 

But it also makes them more aggressive, and ohhhh if one or more hatch this week, well I don't even want to worry about it unless it happens. 

Oh and the kids? They too have been fed and are outside playing with........well, boxes.

Other fun things to hide under

Do you see those little guys hiding in there? They had so much fun at lunch!

Save your money.

Dear friends and family, 

As you already know, we try very hard to raise our kids with only the best most expensive German made Waldorf inspired and natural toys. We ask that if you won't get them non-plastic toys please don't get them anything. We will just take it to Salvation Army. SAVE YOUR MONEY. 

As a matter of fact...we are getting rid of all our toys.  Selling them on Ebay for the collage funds..

You see....these 3 boxes we brought home our Costco groceries in.....they were the kids favorite toys ever!! They provided weeks of entertainment. The kids traveled the world from our living room, and went into outerspace too! They were train cars, ponies (One being led by the other), rocketships, canoes..The boxes also served as templates for numerous art projects..

So in the future..just send them the box! 

Costco boxes are the best!!

Ri says "Me box-head!!" Box head is now one of our favorite games! The other day we were over at a friends house. I peeked into the playroom and discovered 3 little box heads! Mine was delighted...the other two, who were less familiar with the game, looked a little unsure. 

and more....

More boxes thank you Amazon!!