HUMPHREY FAMILY BAND

summer catch up, or ketchup

2008-06-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

well ketchup really has nothing to do with it... though we do like the french fries around here...

so, i was looking through some pictures from the last month and realized how remiss i have been in my posting. so, here's a quick review of our photoed summer activities thus far:

we spend a lot of time on our front porch and lawn- it's just more accessible than the back yard and the kids love riding their "bikes" back and forth on the sidewalk.

of course, the back yard does look a bit unruly this year... this picture was right before john spent a couple of days mowing it down. it's better now.

when it's sunny... which has been rare, we love to hit the parks and beaches in the area. here's jetty at lake meridian. we're actually headed there again today after jett wakes up from his nap.

and on the other 5 to 6 days of the week, when it's not sunny, we find other ways to entertain ourselves. apryl and ella were here about a month ago and we headed down to point defiance zoo and aquarium for the day. lucy and ella had a great time making faces at the animals and the camera... sorry, apryl, i think lucy may have taught ella the habit...

here's lucy making me lunch. yummy, pickles and watermelon! so, when is it that little girls learn that tilting their heads to the side for photos is cute... is it innate? all of a sudden she's picked it up. i'll take it over the "silly" face she's been using constantly lately.

and, here's a lunch i made for her. i think she might have some high expectations with sandwhich possibilities. lately i have been asking her what kind of sandwich she wants and then it's my challenge to create it... butterflies, robots, and hearts are one thing, but the monkey she asked for the other day was a bit sketchy.

yard sale serenade

2008-06-23T18:07:00.001-07:00

it was a lovely saturday last weekend, so we cleaned out the garage and set up a yard sale in our front lawn. john's parents, who are down sizing, brought bundles... and bundles of garage sale goodness as well. (we politely expressed surprise at finding evidence of past gifts from one another among our piles of discard. heehee.) by the end of the day we were all exhausted, and though somewhat profitable a turn out, i don't think this adventure will be repeated anytime soon...

i will say that the best part of the day was spending time with family; lindsy and kurt helped immensely with set up and playing with the kids as we attempted organization, and larissa and abby showed later in the day to lucy's especial delight. i also scored some great finds from gisela's stash: a bunch of spools of thread, a stack of vintage disney record covers that i'm going to frame for the kid's room, and a hand painted russian wooden figurine with red hair and blue eyes (like lucy goosey) were my favorites.

3 year old bloggers! oh my!

2008-05-30T01:39:00.000-07:00

lucy's been taking a lot of pictures lately, and they're surprisingly interesting. well, i don't know why i'm surprised, a 3 year old's perspective on things should be fascinating. anyway, i decided to give her her own blog as a sort of journal/portfolio/archive of her creative adventures... we'll see where it goes, but for now you can see what she's been up to at:

www.2blueeyes.blogspot.com

abloom with lovelies

2008-05-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

the previous owners of our house, true masterminds, decided that they didn't want to worry about upkeep of landscaping, or perhaps they just got a hold of a chainsaw and could find nothing better to lay waste to.... whatever the reasoning (i'm assuming actually that reasoning had little to do with it), they completely mowed down every growing thing besides grass on the property. (they then decided to park their cars on the front lawn to save them those five extra feet to the street- but that's another story)- the before and after shots of the interior of our house are one thing, but our landscaping has finally matured enough that come spring/summer we're abloom with lovelies. you've missed the daffodils, camellias, bluebells, hyacinth, lilacs, flowering cherry and plum trees, and possibly the peony (they may have come and gone while i was in arkansas.... i'm no gardening expert, i just like looking at and painting flowers)- but right now there are some real beauties...

the clematis over the door smells amazing, and i love the tumble of flowers.
we keep trying to prop it up... right now it looks great, but come fall it's a spider haven- yikes!

the irises have made a good showing this year... i think their tubers really need separating, but i'm scared to do it on my own... anyone want to help?

i'm not really sure what this one is, could be a weed, but it's really pretty.

mexican orange, can't remember it's official name, we planted this one.
the whole yard is a mix of things we've planted and the random branches and clumps that survived the hacking. probably actually did some of them good.

the snowball tree! my favorite- i especially love flowers that manifest themselves in giant balls for some reason... and this one goes from a fantastic lime green to these beautiful stark white masses.

rhodies are incredible out here. there's a rhododendron garden in federal way which i visit a couple times a year (at weyerhauser for the locals) which is truly beautiful. we have three thriving rhodies in our yard, i love the color of this one.

i'm pretty sure this one is a weed... but again lovely.
at least there are some flowers around that are ok for lucy to pick!

part of the reason we painted our house gray was because i love the contrast of green plants to this shade. these red barked flowering dogwood look particularly nice against it i think.

i'm sure eddie agrees. meow!

and last, and probably least, we have dandelions in full force. i actually still think they're amazing looking, the whole flower ball thing.
lucy can pick these to her hearts content... and she does.

228 pictures

2008-05-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

fphew! 228 pictures! i got back from visiting my parents in arkansas a week and a half ago, and that's how many pictures i keep staring at trying to figure out how to make a post out of them.

we had a great time. arkansas in april/may is really beautiful. the green-ness is lush. i love the trees. they are huge and heavy with massive tumbles of bright green leaves, which are balanced out by the thickness and brightness of grass and other growth on the ground. i'm not trying to be poetic, i just can't think of how to describe the color of it. i love it. i remember when i first visited seattle, and subsequently decided to stay, seeing that same encompassing, embracing green-ness and having that comforting, being home feeling.

needless to say, i didn't visit arkansas for the trees... ,or to visit the "famous" toad suck daze, or for the half price cherry lime-aids at sonic between 2 and 4 every day. though i enjoyed all of these things, the best part of the trip was spending time with my family. i love laying on the sofa with my head in my mother's lap talking until 3 am while she picks through my hair. and i love sharing my children with the places and people i love, and sharing these places and people with them.
lucy and jett have no idea, however, that this trip wasn't just for them. they ran around all over the yard, played at parks, went to the zoo, and were cuddled and coddled by everyone within reach. (well... besides the time at the zoo, when jett was being hailed as an "abandoned child" by a worried teenager who found him unattended in his stroller in front of an exhibit... she may have overreacted a bit, we were only feet away)-

speaking of the zoo, it was in memphis, where we drove for a quick trip to see my brother craig and his family. cheri, his wife, is having their fourth kidlet in 2 days! go cheri! they are such an awesome family, and the little time i get to spend with them here and there is always so much fun. lucy and jett were thrilled to be able to play with their older cousins bryce and jared. then there's alana, she and lucy ran around like two peas in a pod... lucy can get up to some pretty good mischief and alana was only too willing to go along.

and, back to the zoo...

the memphis zoo has a wonderful carousel, all the animals are different endangered species- and they are beautifully carved and colored. jared showed off with some great trick riding! grandmother's sweet ride was an equal hit though.

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john joined us about halfway through our trip- it was great to have him there. lucy especially had missed her daddy, and i know john was glad to have a little vacation, even if arkansas has a bit too much humidity and a few too many bugs for his taste. we celebrated john's 34th birthday and jetty's 1st that week! i so much love both my boys. and, just slightly less, i love the all-american chocolate cake from costco. yummmm.

sandy and family also joined us from texas. lucy was so excited about them coming. all week before they got there she'd ask, "can we go to texas now to play with ava and penelope?". actually she's still saying that. i only wish we could. i love my sister and i don't get to see her nearly often enough. we always watch closely to see if lucy and ava will have an innate bond because of the closeness that sandy and i share... we'll see.., but they do have a great time together.

(so much for a picture of the four of us!)

jetty and penelope had fun too... they bonded over their interests of watching their older sisters, eating, and chewing on various things.

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and then there was toad suck daze.

i'm not even going to try to explain, but if you're curious, go here. the weather was warm, the people fascinating, and the food wonderfully fried and delicious. john believes in making the most of fair food, so we like to try a little of as much as we can stomach. we had fried cheesecake, a corn dog, fried chicken on a stick, fried pickles (my favorite, and worth a trip to arkansas on their own), a fried twinkie (surprisingly tasty), and a rootbeer float. we passed up on quite a few other delectable fares and for a full run down of the fried goodness check out sandy's blog.

lucy and john even tried their hand at toad racing- their toad may not have been the champ they hoped, because certainly their skill couldn't have been lacking.

waiting for the race to start. "three! two! one! TOAD!"

i love this picture of john diving after "two-pac", the name lucy chose, he had his own agenda.
(john would have to repeat this move after the race when two-pac dives for cover under the toad master's golf cart- heehee!)

back on the track, the race is over...
only 2 feet from the starting line, two-pac is now refusing to move...

well, it was good times anyway!

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of course, eventually we had to come home. so we packed up our sunburns and the fancy new sandles my mom bought me (thanks again mom!) and headed to the airport. it's always hard for me to say good bye to my parents. seattle is just too far away, and as my family gets bigger it's getting harder to travel to see them. thank goodness for free in-network calls on our cell phones. seriously, i often include gratitude for this in my prayers.

lucy decked out in her travel outfit, she insisted on the hat.

weekend review

2008-04-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

last saturday was amazing- in kent the temperature got to 76! awwwwww- hopefully it was enough to hold me over until the next sunny day. we had a great day. we started out at the pacific science center. they had free pony rides, and we couldn't resist. on the way there lucy told us she wanted to ride on the purple unicorn one... when we got there, fortunatly, she was just as pleased with the gray and white one. jett watched with awe from the sidelines.

we also got to see a butterfly release in the butterfly house- cousin abby and lucy were both enraptured. i've never seen so many butterfly's there before.

lucy discovered her inner photographer and took some great pictures. i had to watch out though because she liked to get a little too close to the butterfly's. some of the science center workers where watching her a bit nervously...

papa posing for lucy.

there was also a kinkajou to amaze at, a baby alligator blinking its double eyelid, hairy armadillos to laugh at, goats to feed, llamas to hug, and alpacas to pet (they are amazingly soft!). we loved it all.

we then strolled around the seattle center- the girls took a run through the fountain... luckily i had packed a spare set of clothes for little lucy jane. she fearlessly would stand right in a shower of water.

not ready to end our day just yet, we then let the kids take a nap in the car while john and i ate dick's hamburgers and did some more people watching. dick's was hopping and always brings out an interesting crowd. when the kids woke we drove over to gasworks park and tried some kite flying... the wind wasn't out though, but the crowds sure were.

famous at last!

2008-04-10T23:19:00.001-07:00

our local newspaper, the kent reporter, recently featured a picture of some very lovely people. a reporter approached us in the library last week, flattered me greatly with complements on the cuteness of my kids, and then asked if she could take a picture of us for the newspaper. how could i refuse? i just wish she had mentioned how messy my hair was before snapping the pics.

(wednesday, april 9th edition, pg. 19- for the locals)

secret notes and "sope-sirs"

2008-04-09T12:46:00.001-07:00

last night lucy brought this artwork to john and said it was a "sope-sir". i said "soap" something? she said no, and that's about as close as we could get to figuring out what she was saying. this morning it dawned on me: sculpture! when she woke i asked her if it was a sculpture and she very excitedly confirmed my guess. i am very proud of her for her abstract artwork. she was getting frustrated with me trying to guess "what" her artwork was, it's just artwork. i should have known. i'm choosing to take the credit for her artistic endeavors. though i have a sneaky suspicion that even though we've talked about sculptures a bit, it may have been a focus on sesame street yesterday...

the secret letters she's been "writing" to us are definatly cartoon spawn however. 'super why' is one of her favorite pbs cartoons; where the superheros have amazing abilities such as spelling power, rhyming power, and the power to read. a couple weeks ago on the show there was a kid writing secret notes, and lucy jumped on this idea with all her 3 year old gusto. she now is constantly hiding secret notes for us all over the house. she then hides and waits for us to find them and her. (i hate to say that sometimes i draw out this "finding" period to get a couple of things done... and since her hiding places are getting more and more tricky, she expects it). we write notes to her too. here's a sample of one of the many notes she has created.

yeah sure- i was at the eye doctor

2008-04-04T18:06:00.001-07:00

yikes! i guess this is freaky/gross pictures of our family week- i went to the eye doctor yesterday and the nurse kind of messed up administering dilation drops... at least i could drive home by closing one eye- check out john's happenin' shades!

sad state of affairs at the humphrey house

2008-04-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

perhaps the late winter weather bombarding us lately, literally, can account for the colds that have taken over our family.

hail! seriously!?!

but though i can excuse the mess of a house i have, neither the colds or the weather can excuse me for turning around this morning and finding my adorable son looking like this! i had to take a picture because i don't think i've ever seen this much snot running from a nose.

happy 100 grandmother!

2008-04-01T10:47:00.001-07:00

my grandmother, katherine taylor lewis, turned 100 on march 19th- i couldn't be there to help celebrate, but sandy, my sister, was and i stole this picture from her blog. i second everything that sandy says about my wonderful grandmother, even down to the particular flavor of those delicious scrambled eggs. i have a file of letters that my grandmother has written to me through the years. these letters are filled with love, encouragement, approval, all the things that helped me, and still help me to be a better person. here is a quote from a letter she sent me in college. (i share this not to show what a great person i am, but to share how much her love and support have meant to me):

"...you are a remarkable granddaughter- i know wonderful, happy things are going to happen to you. college years are wonderful and also difficult. you want to do so much and yet are limited in time and energy. hope you have exciting, happy moments along with all the hours of study. if you have any doubts- try to think of what your mom would do and you will have it made. i know she admires you as much as i admire her... love you- grandmother"

she really thought highly of me to assume that i had trouble finding time to have fun because of my dedication to study. i miss the person she was already, but still look forward to the time i get to spend with her when i visit my parents. if i am in any way remarkable it is because of the example, support, and love that i have gotten from her, my mother, and my father.

easter parade

2008-04-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

this is supposed to be a short post to make up for the last few really long ones, but i couldn't decide on just one or two pictures to show...

easter morning lucy woke up to a surprise from the easter bunny consisting of a few pieces of candy, a little princess doll, some lip gloss, and a sheep shaped pez dispenser. it was all very exciting for her, and then we rushed off to church. only when we opened the door there was a surprise for all of us! the easter bunny had left eggs filled with candy all over our front yard. we quickly gathered them in the sprinkling rain, threw a few pieces in our diaper bag, and rushed off to church.

(lucy picked out her shoes herself- not that i'm complaining...)

the easter bunny truly spoiled us, because after church when we got to grandmother and papa's he had left eggs for us to find there too! lucy and cousin abby were very pleased to find some of the eggs here filled with nickels and dimes for their piggy banks. mom was pleased that the chocolate was dark, jett was pleased with himself for taking steps on his own, and daddy johnny just wanted good food and a nap.

john has since finished off most of the candy. lucy is only allowed one or two pieces a day- she gets a little nuts on sugar. except yesterday when i was too sick to get off of the sofa, i let her eat whatever she wanted as long as she let me lay there and rest. she polished off a bag of whopper eggs, a pack of pez candy, at least two otterpops... no wonder she didn't go to sleep until almost ten!

muncha bruncha

2008-03-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

on our way to grandma's house!

every year on the saturday before easter my mother-in-law prepares a fabulous easter brunch. included this year was egg strata, various german meats and cheeses, this really great german ham salad which i'm not even going to try to spell, nice crusty bread, coffee cake, various pastries, easter eggs, juice, and hot drinks. as always, it was wonderfully delicious. yummm... thinking about it now is making my mouth water.

after brunch we had half our saturday left, and a beautiful sunny day. so, we did what every sane person in our area does when the sun is out, took off to a park.

it's always good to find a park with jetty safe toys to play on- we love this one in bellevue.

lucy told me recently that she doesn't like the sun, but likes the moon. and on a bright sunny day, in a very whiny kind of way said, "mom it's too sunny! my eyes hurt! i need my sunglasses". another time when she couldn't find her sunglasses, she opted for a stocking cap pulled all the way over her face. my poor raised in pacific northwest kids! despite all this, she is very excited to get at any park, and will spend the first little while literally just running in circles.

also at the park was a great looking walking trail. we decided to go and explore where this lead off to. we found our way to kelsey creek farm and park. not only do they have beautiful grounds with a great winding creek that john grew up sailing little homemade boats down, but they have a livestock area where you can get up close and personal with various farm animals.

technically it was already closed... but we were able to see a few animals. the kids were thrilled anyway. quack quack! oink! oink! squawk! we'll have to go back when the rest of the animals are out

as an added benefit- the kids were exhausted! they both passed out in the car. so, john and i sat in a taco bell parking lot, eating burritos, and watching a bunch of crazy, in a good way, people walking down the street dressed up for some sort of gaming/comic/sci-fi convention. we couldn't figure out exactly what the convention could have been for since we saw pirates, magicians (the prestige style), a french maid, and a whole assortment of cape wearing goth inspired what not. we should have gotten some pictures there!

hey! wait a minute, that's not one of ours!

it's all about me!

2008-03-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

so, i've been 'tagged' by a couple friends to share a bit about myself. i've been thinking about what to write, but every time i've sat down recently my mind goes mushy. probably has something to do with lack of sleep (starting two weeks ago everyone in the family has been sick at least once; john and i twice!) and the lingering stomach yuckiness, before mentioned.
well, here goes.

10 years ago i was:
today, 10 years ago, i was flying back to provo from the washington d.c. area where i had been visiting a friend. we decided once again that our relationship would never work, and i was feeling pretty miserable. my sister got engaged the same weekend, i really was thrilled for her, but it took a bit of an effort to be positive for a little while. (i still had some dating pitfalls to go through, but i'd meet john in roughly 1 year, 5 months, and 2 days, and we'd start dating a week later- ahhh romance). i was finishing up details on my final show for my b.f.a. in ceramic sculpture and preparing to start teaching sculpture at pleasant grove high school in the fall. i had a heck of a good time in provo with awesome friends whom i still cherish very much.

5 things on my to do list today:
- this post
- wash all the wet towels piled in the bathtub from the toilet overflowing last night- lucy was experimenting with toilet paper use...
-get the last christmas box to the garage.
-aerobics- hey i already did that! yipee!
-take a decent picture of our family for my mom for my grandmother- i meant to do it yesterday while we were in our church clothes... but i forgot to tell john and he was in his "soft" pants after church quicker than i could get the key out of the door. here is a sample of why we need a new one... these are the best we have of the four of us from the last six months.

(this one is actually 2 photos photoshopped together)

5 things i would do if i were a billionaire:
-be debt free!!! (really that would be enough to make me happy)
-buy a very expensive designer purse. maybe this one by dolce & gabbana:

- build our dream home, which i have already designed. though if i was a billionaire we might add a little square footage... it would be quite modern and include a rooftop art studio for me, a play room with a built in two level playhouse which could also be used as tiered seating for watching movies, a detached rod shop for john to work on his cars, a giant 2nd level open living space with a beautiful kitchen (maybe lime green) and a library, and a big central staircase with a huge hanging art piece in the middle. like this one by noah li-leger:

-go on an extended art history tour of europe.
-invest, save, and do all the other practical stuff.

5 jobs i've had:
first of all, i was working a regular paying job from the time i was 13 1/2, folding newspapers for my brother's paper route, all through high school and college, until i went on maternity leave when i was pregnant with lucy. now i get to do the best job i've ever had, taking care of my kids. i love being a mom.

here are a few of the more random jobs i have had and what i learned:
-lifeguard at a water park; after 3 months in the sun i can get a slight tan line.
-1 hour photo developer; yes, they do look.
-mail sorter for bulk mail leaving byu; in my prime i could shoot a rubber band over 12 feet and make it hook onto a thumbtack on the wall, and there's nothing like country music when doing manual labor.
-d.i. evening assistant supervisor; never kiss a co-worker.
-carving a 40ft styrofoam mountain at thanksgiving point; you can get a job doing anything.

3 bad habits:
-addiction to spider solitaire
-finishing off my kids unfinished meals, eating too much.
-not sending out thank you cards in a timely fashion.
(whew! good thing i only had to list 3!)

5 things most people don't know about me:
-as a kid i didn't like chocolate cake, and up until a few years ago i would only eat it if i had to . i fully love and appreciate it now, especially costco's all-amercian chocolate cake. delicious.
-i have to bribe myself to get my house clean. and when that doesn't work i purposely invite people over to force myself to clean.
-i read over my past posts, too frequently, and cringe at my grammatical errors.
-recently i rented across the universe and watched it 5 times in 6 days.
-even though my house is small and crowded, i really like my stuff. in fact i really love stuff in general. i think it's partly why i enjoy shopping so much. even if i don't buy anything, it's like going to museums of stuff. i love chairs (john has made me promise to not bring anymore home);

(this is an old rocking chair that i recovered)

pretty books, check out this website, www.book-by-its-cover.com, the library has been a lifesaver for me;
fabric, yikes- just ask bethany;

(my friend onica gave me this awesome print, i can't decide what to do with it)

cool funky toys, i recently found this great wood puzzle at a thrift store for a buck, i love a good deal;
purses, i don't even know how many i own, and right now i really want an andy warhol printed tote bag i saw at marshalls;

and, i could go on and on.

well, there, that's a lot about me. i should have john do a post about him.. he doesn't like to talk about himself as much as i like to talk about myself though. cheri and kalie are the only ones i know who haven't been tagged... so, go at it girls, if you're up to it!

rockin' video #2: lucy rocks her abc's

2008-02-26T09:52:00.000-08:00

lucy loves to sing. her repertoire isn't great, and her pitch is more than a little off, but she needs little encouragement to break into twinkle twinkle or another of her favorites. after we tuck her in at night we will often hear her little voice singing tunes to herself in bed. john and i make up songs for her a lot, so my favorites are when she sings about one of her stuffed animals, or being a princess, or things she happens to be looking at that moment. for christmas she got a pink guitar, which she loves, from her aunt lisa, and will often use it to accompany her. she really does know how to hold it correctly, but for some reason in this video she insists on strumming it with two fingers. she also doesn't really sing here as much as recite to her playing...

pacific science center bugs

2008-02-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

john's dad got a fabulous pass to the pacific science center for the year and we've been able to enjoy many happy times there. lucy, jett, and i went this week with a group of friends and had, yet again, a great adventure. lucy loved it all. she's such a ball of energy that if she can go, she does. she especially seemed to be enamored by the insect/bug exhibit.

lucy has her shy moments, but her fascination with this hissing madagascar cockroach sent them all by the wayside. of the group of kids we were with, a majority being slightly older boys, lucy was the first to march up to pet this "sweet" creature.

one of my favorite things at the museum is the butterfly room; there is a glass case of cocoons which i especially love. i should have gotten a picture, but the cocoons are so amazingly crusty decayish looking and yet the shapes and colors of them are as unique and beautiful as the butterflies they are en-crusting. one looked as if it had been gold leafed and burnished. amazing.
in this picture i think lucy is trying to convince the butterfly to perch on her fingers.

and my favorite butterfly!

jett had a great time too. he crawls around everywhere and looks cute. he really really really (as lucy would say) liked the water play area. unfortunately, the protective smocks were longer than he is. luckily he couldn't reach high enough to splash himself too much.

ohhh! bright colored buttons that make noises!

here are some great shots from past science center adventures too-

lucy and isadora looking awfully cute in their matching leggings
(unplanned- believe it or not).

captain cousins in the cock pit.

the effect of the over-sized chair and table looses its effect on jetty.
everything is huge compared to him!

lucy loves her papa, and we love having him along to chase after her.
and for his fabulous company of course.

and the whole family in the crazy mirrors.
the one that makes me look super tall and thin was disturbingly pleasing.

jett: the family dog

2008-02-20T10:35:00.001-08:00

lucy was never one to put things in her mouth. we never had to worry about small things around the house with her because she just did not explore her world through taste. jett is a different matter. we call him the family dog because:

1) he chews on anything and everything. he was crawling around in sunday school a couple of weeks ago, and as he meandered past the rolling chalkboard he looked over and saw something of interest. it was the head of a screw attaching a caster to the chalkboard. so, like every sane toddler should do, he just opens his mouth, sucks on it for a second, and then keeps crawling on.

2) he carries things around in his mouth. and by things, i mean anything he can fit:

wood utensils

stuffed animals

various bottles
(though he looks like he might not be enjoying this one as much)

anything from lucy's kitchen
(this is a piece of wood bread)

3) he begs for food. it doesn't matter what we are eating he wants it. we don't even give him most of what we eat, but he still tries. john gave me a box of see's chocolates for valentine's day (i love that guy!) and if i even go near the box jett starts crawling over, climbs up my leg, and starts begging, yelling, and when that doesn't work screaming.

first he tries the looking pathetically hungry technique

then he moves on to the i'm never going to be happy again
until you let me try whatever it is you're eating stance

we do love the kid, and in the end he is just a joy. though while i was typing this i turned around to find that he has discovered the toilet paper in the bathroom. the whole roll was on the floor, and yes, part of it was in his mouth.

rockin' video #1

2008-02-19T00:42:00.000-08:00

here is our princess. a bit rough and tumble, a bit pirate loving, but never-the-less our rainbow, pony, flower obsessed, dress wearing, purse carrying, girly-girl. for instance, she has a drawer full of pajamas that she now refuses to wear. last week i coerced her into wearing a matching pair that i had gotten for her and jett. (something involving bribes and white lies...i'm not really proud). we woke up to her screaming in the middle of the night. sitting by her bed i gently asked her what was wrong, ready to soothe her back to sleep. she sobs, "mommy", sniff sniff sniff, "i want to be a princess", sniff sniff sniff, "i want my nightgown!"... the princess wins. to our pleasure, however, she still has her days when she wants to wear all black like daddy. to her pleasure, this means a stinkin' cute black knit dress with black leggings and shiny black "princess" shoes.

we make banana muffins

2008-02-18T23:50:00.000-08:00

so, i figure this is as good of a place to start as any. lucy, jett, and i made banana chocolate chip muffins. lately i feel as though we've had one of those life spurts; all of a sudden lucy is a little girl telling me about how much she likes flowers, and rainbows, and puppies, and ponies. and jett is saying "mama mama mama" following me around the house. all this growing up goes on and on whether i do anything about it or not. i say this because i noticed, as we were deep in muffin making, that lucy was actually helping, instead of just "helping".

the only reason i buy the large bunches of costco bananas... so that half of them can go bad and i can make goodies! lucy peeled these herself and attempted the mashing.

lucy's favorite part of kitchen help. she is really very excited about the chocolate. in later years when she discovers she can pair it with a pepsi she'll have true bliss. (blame my mom)

the finished product! lucy is pointing at the one she wants; the muffin with the most visible chocolate. that's my girl!

ahhh! "delicious"!

whoops... looks like someone else is enjoying the chocolaty goodness. a stray chip found it's way into jett's mouth... doesn't look so guilty to me.

i hate to say it but john was pleasantly pleased to find fresh baked goodies when he came home from work that day... probably says something about my domestic-less-than-perfectedness. so here is my domestic goal: if i can't have part of the house in reasonable order, at least have something delicious in the kitchen. this week i made oatmeal cookies and vacuumed out the seat cushions of the sofa. we're doing good!