Fall Garden and Bedhead

So, I have to say that gardening is freaking awesome. I'm totally hooked, if you didn't know that already. Tonight I had a vague idea of what to have for dinner -- some fish, some pasta -- and then I just went outside. Here's what I brought in:

One ear corn, one pepper, some tomatoes, couple carrots, couple cucumbers, oregano, basil, parsley, and a couple zucchini. Add that to the beans and onions I'd harvested already, and we had lots of veggies to go with dinner. So cool.

The garden is seeing the last days I think, but it is still hanging on. We got lots still growing, and I'm curious to see how much we'll be able to snatch up before for the weather gets too cold. I did plant some Fall stuff like cabbage, but we'll see if it turns out. It is officially Fall, which I've been reluctant to admit. I wore a bright tank top this weekend and felt completely weird the whole day. So, winter hats and scarves came out today and shorts ran away with any other summer clothes. I still sport my hopeful flip-flops though.

On another totally unrelated note, there is something just incredibly cute about watching Gavin get out of bed from a nap, stumble groggily down the hallway with crazy bedhead, and fling the pantry open for some snack. Adorable. And then a couple toots to boot. Even funnier. And he finally smiles. I'm sure I'll see the same scene until he moves out of the house. May not be as cute when he's a teenager. And then there will be two looking for snacks and farting in my kitchen.

Traveling by Night

We just returned home from a quick weekend trip to Canada for a birthday party and grandparent visits. A bit of a whirlwind, we were sure that both kids would fall asleep in the car. Graeme was out within the first 10 minutes, but Gavin lasted at least an hour before he nodded off. In order to keep himself awake, he was extremely chatty. It started when we were crossing through the border. Here's a snip:

"I am picking my nose. Gavin is picking his nose. We are going into the United States. We are in 'Candada'! We are going to the United States. Dualie! It is a dualie Gavin. Daddy turn the blinker on. We are turning right. This is my right hand. Daddy turn his blinker on. Dualie! It is a dualie! We will drop you off at the hotel. ("What hotel are we going to?" we ask.) The Rick Steves. There's the moon. We are traveling by night!"

Too funny. It certainly kept me awake, and smiling. We wonder where he comes up with some of his phrases, though I guess all kids end up picking their noses at some point.

Snuggles with the Tractor

There was a time when Gavin loved his bed. That time is apparently over. For a while he would snuggle with his blankets and lovies (2 of each), and say, "I'm sleeping." He'd nap or go to bed without a fight. I didn't relish this phase as much as I should have. Maybe he feels as if he's stocked up from all that sleep, so now he doesn't need any at all. He's been "in bed" for almost 40 minutes and still chatting away. Then, come 4am or 5am, we hear, "You woke up this morning. And the sun comes out. And you have lots of energy!" Sometimes we can get him to get back to sleep, other times not. I just checked on him and he's planning on sleeping with the tractor AND the hay baler. I'm ok with that tonight.

Backyard Fun

I have a workout solution for all the moms, or dads, out there (provided your children are under 40lbs.). Put both kids on a towel and then drag them around the backyard for a half hour. They have a great time and you get a great workout. That's what I did today and, believe it or not, Gavin and Graeme were both laughing. Graeme was sitting in Gavin's lap and there was no hitting, poking, or anything! I was amazed. When I finally pooped out and Graeme crawled off the towel, Gavin said, "Wait, I want my Graeme. Come back!" It was really cute. Anyone know how to get heavy grass and dirt stains out of a towel?


Graeme is certainly our mountain climber. He's starting to trek around the backyard with the dump truck as support. He doesn't seem to care for the other "walker" toys too much; it's like they are too "baby" for him. If I leave him for a few seconds, he'll scan the area and head straight for the stairs. Of course, we have baby gates in the house, but we don't have them outside. This is as far as he ever gets -- I just turned around to get the camera I'd set on the patio table.

He's also climbed up on Gavin's bed, onto the kid chairs we have outside, and pretty much anything. Whenever he's standing, he's always got a leg up like, "Hey, can I climb this?" He's also started to point to things, like the sunflowers in our yard or inside when I cut some. It's like he's getting ready to start communicating. Though I'm sure, with the amount that he babbles, that he thinks he's already fluent in English, but he needs a little work.

Graeme: "Hey, what are you sayin' about me??"

Weekend at Our Place

We've developed this habit of going out to breakfast on Sundays, going for a walk, and then I'll go to yoga. (Ok, we've done it two Sundays, but that's habit enough for me.) The problem with this is that since we get up so early with the boys, but the time I get to yoga I am extremely caffeinated. If you practice yoga, you know that they often direct you to tune into your thoughts, see where they are going, what you're thinking about, etc. Today all my brain could think was: "I've had too much coffee! Too much, too much! Coffee, coffee, coffee... yikes, yikes, yikes. Love coffee!" Hardly the serene, centering thoughts you'd like to have, but at least it made me laugh.

We've had a pretty uneventful weekend thus far. Friday there was a little excitement as I almost got a ticket -- which is to say I got pulled over, but the guy gave me a warning. Nice police officer. I apparently ran a red light. It seemed yellow when I went through it, but if the truth be told, I was probably busy pointing out diggers and cranes to Gavin as we drove through the intersection. I didn't explain this to the police officer. This is in downtown Kirkland, where there are TONS of pedestrians, so no the best awareness on my part, but understandable because they are doing a big construction project. The funny thing is that we'd just received updated insurance cards for our cars the other day, and Friday was the day we needed to switch them out. I remember looking at it as I left thinking, "I should really put that in the car today, but oh well, I won't need it." Luckily, the card in the car was good through Friday, so I was covered. And I did put the new card in when I got home. Everyone repeat after me: "Trust your instincts. Trust your instincts."

Also Friday, I saw the most massive spider ever. I have to share a picture, even though he'll (or she'll) be much less impressive than what I saw. I was picking beans and corn, but decided I was done when I got to close to this guy.


Ok, so he still looks enormous. My chivalrous husband volunteered to "take care of" him for me and, of course, the attempts were only successful in creating one angry, gigantic spider whereabouts unknown.

On the bright side, I did get some corn picked before I met my little spider friend. We have one sort of normal size corn, and then smaller ones that are a perfect size for the boys to eat. It's actually pretty cute to see Graeme eat corn on the cob. He's pretty thorough considering he only has four teeth.


Gavin has always loved corn, of course, but these days he's in love with TowMater. Craig found some Tow Mater's Tall Tales on YouTube, which were pretty cute, then we bought a book of Mater's Tall Tales. Now that's all that Gavin quotes. He can pretty much recite the book verbatim, but he loves reenactment as well. His favorite is Mater as a daredevil. In this picture, he's playing at home, and Craig just posted a video to YouTube of our walk to the grocery store. (Link below the picture.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alxkXQCJEO4

That's it with the Maclean's today. I'm off to do some yard work and maybe spray our neighbor's cat with the hose, if he's in our yard, of course.

Freezing Tomatoes

While the boys were sleeping today, and before I noticed the horrible rash on Graeme, I froze some of my tomatoes. We have a lot and I don't actually like the taste of Roma tomatoes in salads in comparison to the others we have, so I froze them to use in soups or whatever later. They are apparently good for freezing and I got equivalent to a can, I think. This picture is before I squashed them all to get the seeds and juice out. That picture would'nt have been so neat and tidy.

Preschool and Hives

Big day today! First day of preschool. I think Gavin had fun - he says so - but he did have a "Hey, Mummy's not here!" freak out moment. Or at least one. I was assuming that part would be a little hard since it is the first time he's been taken somewhere and left with people he doesn't know. Our only babysitters answer to the name "Grandma", so it's understandable to be a little distressed. But they do fun things and there's only 5-6 other kids, so he should warm up to it after a couple times. Here's a picture:

I asked him what he did at preschool and he said very matter of factly, "I didn't push any of the kids. Mummy would be mad, mad, mad." And then later when we asked again he said, "And I pushed all the kids." I'm not really sure which to believe. I did warn the teachers that he was in a pushing stage though...

Gavin right now is in his bedroom, not sleeping even though it is almost 9pm, saying, "Mummy, please get me out of here. Mummy, I put these in the bathroom. Mummy, I open the door for you..." He's learning all the techniques. Of course, I'm writing here rather than going to help him.

Hopefully he won't wake up Graeme, who is asleep right next door and has been for almost two hours. He needs his sleep as he's just recovered from an ear infection, and today, is covered with blotchy hives. It's actually quite funny because the rash doesn't bother him, and he's just as smiley and happy as ever. Only he looks like a baby leper. Turns out, he's allergic to penecillin like I am. At least his ear infection cleared up before we had to stop the meds. I didn't take a picture of the rash, but here's a recent one of him. (11mo.)


When we walked into the doctor's this afternoon, we passed a red Audi and Gavin goes (without prior prompting from me), "That is an Audi!" This weekend Grandma Karen gave him a car that's an Audi and he recognized the emblem. Crazy. Then when we left he said, "That is a pretty sweet Audi." I had to agree.

Football, Yoga, and the Boys

Ok, just to start, the Raiders can't win in the last couple minutes of the game. That's a total bummer. I'm writing a little and then watching the game, because Craig is watching it. Or, at least I thought he was watching it. He's snoring now. This may be the first and only time I'm more interested in sports! Yeah! Touchdown. Ok, things are as they should be in football land.

On another note, I took a great yoga class today from one of the teachers that does the teacher training (at Yoga Tree in Fremont, if anyone's interested). So, I've decided to sign up! Yeah! I'm excited to do something different that will help my brain out of the Mummy Madness and also help me improve my health and fitness... and presumably that of others once I start teaching.

One thing I noticed in class though - and this will seem a bit "Captian Obvious" - was how the core really effects the alignment of the rest of your body, and possibly how you feel overall on any given day. If you engage your core, your posture automatically corrects itself. More incentive for me to focus on core exercises since that's my weakest link! My little "Ah Ha!" moment for the day.

Quick update on the boys: Gavin starts his preschool tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. He seems excited (it's only 9-11:30, so not all day), and keeps telling me that they have a firetruck, and a tow truck, and Thomas, and the crane (Frankie, for those interested). I'm interested to see how he does with everything. I'll write more tomorrow. Graeme is our little mountain climber. He heads straight for the stairs wherever he is - up, up, up. Every once in a while, he'll sense me behind him and turn around like, "Hey, what are you doing back there?" Still working on walking, and getting braver everyday.

My Little Monkey (#1)

I finally was able to make pickles and pickled beans today! Yeah! Thankfully, Craig's mum was here. She helped with the whole process, and played with the kids to keep them out of the kitchen. We got four jars of beans and four jars of pickles (though I did buy some pickles). We'll see how they turn out, and how they compare to the others I did in August.

While we were working away in the kitchen, we let Gavin play downstairs by himself for a while... which I do sometimes, because he's pretty good. Today, however, I went down to check on him and he wasn't playing cars like he normally is... he wasn't in the laundry room... not in the bathroom... so, I looked in the guestroom (which is currently inhabited by Craig mum and Michael), and there is Gavin. With a cute little smile he says, "He's up on the china shelf!" (From another Richard Scarry book.) He had climbed onto the bed, over the headboard, and onto the window sill - and it's a smaller window, so he had to crouch too! Little monkey! I coaxed him down with snacks.

(And for the worry warts, the window is only about 2 feet off the ground. So, had he fallen out, he would've just said, "Hey, I'm outside!" and then run to play.)

Sexy Coffee Anyone?

OK, so, something else is on my mind and, since I have no other forum really, here's what is bugging me today. Why is it that that all the little drive-thru coffee huts around here have started advertising baristas in bikinis and sexy outfits, or show those flashy little stripper/mudflap signs in their window? My heart sinks into my stomach when I see that. Really? That's necessary?

I'm assuming that they wear the cosutmes, though I never would go to a place with such advertising, and I get why they do it. Of course it gets attention. It is just extremely sad to see. Take an already low paid job (presumably) where you have to sit in a box all day and add having to sell yourself too. Why not just make good coffee and be a little more creative to get the word out?

Not much else to say about that, I suppose. Is it similar in other areas? Have you all noticed it too? Maybe not such a big deal, but it bugs me nonetheless.

Loot and Spiders

We did get more rain this weekend than we have in a long time. Tomatoes did pretty well. They still fell over, but not as bad as they probably would have. Today, though, I figured it was time to cinch my hoodie tight and crawl into my bean mess to pick some beans. There were tons! I got a whole basket full, even skipping some in order to avoid a very large spider waiting hopefully in the center of his web. (I was hoping that he was the only such spider.) Anyway, here's a picture of my loot today. The beans fill up the basket, then everything else went crazy too. Amazing how water helps the whole process. I even have enough to share with my neighbor Deb, who usually brings over all sorts of goodies to us - from cookies to crab!


I cut some flowers too, which I'm sure are allowing an army of tiny spiders to infiltrate my house, meet friends, and make babies while I'm down here writing. Let's hope they're nice. (Can you tell I love spiders?)

Anyway, it looks like I'll be trying to pickle beans and cukes again. I tried this once with a "hot" method where you boil the finished jars and now I'll try a "cold" method where you don't. We can compare and see how different they are (if they turn out, that is). Gardening certainly is fun, and I have to say I'll be sad when the season is over. Although, I realized that the way to usher in Fall without too much grumbling is to go shopping and check out all the new sweaters and coats! That is totally shallow, I realize, but hey, it made me feel better.

Time for Rain?

We've had the best summer up here since I moved to Seattle. It's been great and totally fun with the boys! Of course, as I write that, I realize that it's also the first summer where I have neither work nor school to spoil the sunshine. That could definitely cloud my perspective. And for those of you who may see that last bit as gloating, remember that my eternal companions are a toddler who often thinks he's a puppy dog and a baby/toddler who must orally sample every substance known to man. Today the best sample was some very old styrofoam found in the sand at Alki Beach.

In any case, it is supposed to rain this weekend. Since it hasn't rained in a while, I actually looked at our little garden and thought ahead to tie things up so they don't break with the weight of the rain. The tomatoes are most at risk, so I now have an intricate labyrinth of ties from one tomato stake to another, then to the posts on the deck. Pretty safe, I think, aside from the slight hazard of mild decapitation.

It seems I'm so pleased with that last phrase that I can't think of what else to write. Might be time for bed.

Learning from Richard Scarry

One of the fun parts of growing vegetables, for me, is learning how the plants actually grow. Vine, bush, or whatever. We planted some corn, which is now growing quite well (although somewhat strangled by beans). The other day Craig asked me if the corn was going to have more than one ear per stalk. My response was, "I don't know. I assume three ears, since that's what corn looks like in Gavin's Richard Scarry books." It's always good to get your cultural knowledge from children's books. [And, just FYI, learning experience for growing beans: don't do it in an enclosed bed where you will then need to 1) crawl inside the bush mass to pick beans, and 2) dress in long pants and sleeves so you don't get a rash from the leaves. ]


Gavin loves the Richard Scarry books (thank you, Carol). His favorite story these days is about Pierre the Paris Policeman who captures a robber. Now when he's taking something from the kitchen (a bag of pretzels or the salt shaker, for example), he runs around the kitchen yelling, "Stop that robber! Stop that robber!" He's also started quoting Officer Monty of Monaco who says to "always walk on the sidewalk". I keep reminding Gavin that he also says, "Never push or hit. No one likes a bully." But so far, Gavin's not really taken that advice to heart.

As a result, Graeme is getting quite good balance. He mostly gets a kick out of Gavin's attention, and I'm sure he's just giggling because he knows he'll be fairly equal in size pretty soon.