the bus tunnel is ruining christmas

ack!
Seriously, what kind of computer glitches can cause a whole bus tunnel to close?
If you've ever been to Pioneer Square in Seattle, you'd know that it's a decent hike from there to the Market. This walk is no big deal, and even kind of nice in the summer. However, in the winter, it's just wet.
I celebrated and celebrated when the bus tunnel re-opened. Since I work in the Smith Tower, it's super-convenient to hop into the tunnel and one-stop to the ID, two-stops to either the Market or Pacific Place to shop or eat.
It's perfect this time of year because parking anywhere downtown is terrifying and running out at lunch is great.
But now the tunnel is closed.
I really need to get my shopping done.

until next time...
please tunnel - open up soon!!!

grandad, next year we light up the boat

This weekend was a pretty full one. I hosted an semi-impromptu company party at our house (company christmas party discussion coming soon...), had brunch with my family and our friends so all the kiddos could get a look at grandad's Christmas Village (which has like 50 buildings, a hundred trees and totally rocks) had a great date night (that was supposed to be SM's company party, we'll add this to the aforementioned discussion) with friends and saw possibly the best movie of the year, and to top it ALL off, we picked up some Ezell's (yes Oprah's Ezell's) drove around searching out all the Christmas lights on North Capitol Hill, picked up some friends and headed down to the lake to look at and listen to the Christmas Ship parade.
It was pouring rain, of course, but we found a very illegal parking spot (with 5 others) huddled together in the van and opened up the windows and watched. Turns out, and I have NO idea how we've missed this every year until now, that an Argosy ship lights up and packs in some singers, musicians and diners, and heads back and forth around Lake Washington. Along the way, all the folks with lights on their boats (and some without) trail along behind to create the parade. It was fantastic. The kids loved seeing the boats and hearing the music (we even sang along on a couple) and plans were immediately made to figure out the next time we could see the boats. Our favorite - a Chris Craft with icicle lights on all levels (3 I think) a christmas tree on top and santa, sleigh and reindeer along the bow. BEAUTIFUL.
I'm now hatching the plan for next year, Grandad decks the boat out in lights and follow that parade around from the lake!
can't wait
until next time...
LOVIN' the holidays :O)

flood washington with relief!

We had an amazing amount of flooding last week after all the slushy snow was topped with heavy heavy rains.
There's one daring young mamma out there hoping to help those who lost the fight against mother nature.
Please visit her site and help in any way you can...

An excerpt:
"I spent yesterday demolishing a single mother’s home in hopes of saving it. The main floor of her small house was filled with muddy contaminated water during this week’s record-breaking flood in western Washington. Apparently the water rose so fast that she and her 3 children were unable to get home and move their belongings from the main floor to safety...."

until next time...
stay dry

santa and reindeer and lemurs... OH MY!

Yesterday was possibly the most idyllically wonderful chrstmas celebration day. We "braved" the early-morning snowfall and went to the highlands to the Cougar Mountain Zoo for the Reindeer Festival. It was snowing as we walked through the reindeer habitat on our way up to see Santa. Baby Bear decided he wasn't going to offer Santa any hints into what he might want for Christmas since his 5-yr-old friend had decided the same thing moments earlier. He'd already written to Santa, so Santa should already know what's on his list... sly little kiddos! The Diva was not really prepared to get handed off to a bearded guy in a big red suit, so she wasn't exactly smiling, but Baby Bear smiled away, which was nice. So then we went out to see the animals. "again tiger, again tiger" - she loved the baby bengal tigers.
The highlight, however, was not Santa, nor his reindeer, nor the crazy-loud jumping lemurs (those were SM's highlight) - it was being able to hand-feed the alpacas and elk. Too cool.
For a little zoo, it does pretty well with the 1-5yr old crowd, especially when you get there early on a snowy Sunday morning.
until next time....
we heart the Cougar Mountain Zoo!

the decorations are sloooowly going up

We finally got our Christmas Tree this week. We all went out to dinner and then went to City People's to get our tree. After walking around a bit in the forest (which was really starting to creep Milo out by the way... we're raising such city kids!) we found the prettiest tree. It's a Fraser Fir. The tops of the needles are a dark green and the bottoms are silver. It's a beauty! It's also tall and a bit skinny, so it doesn't take up the whole room... which is nice. We got it home on Wednesday, SM was out of town last night but somehow I got the kids to chill out long enough to get all the lights up ("Mommy, when is it gonna be time to put up ornaments?" @ 25 times later) and the first ornaments are ON! All the cars ornaments are up, of course, and a couple others. We've also already had a few fall down already, in the process, but no breakables. he he
I've been a lame blogger lately, but I've finally transitioned back to my "happy place" and should have more time for blogging. At least, after the crazy season is over, right? Besides, I think this is a good time for a "Company Party" discussion. Next entry maybe.

until next time...
happy crazy season!

It's that time of year...

Well it's that time of year again... time for colds, runny noses, dr visits
WAIT
That's NOT WHAT I MEANT TO WRITE ABOUT!
I really meant to write about the HOLIDAYS! Oddly, I got sidetracked with my own issues, but let's not get stuck, shall we?

The Holidays mean Holiday shopping. I'm determined to get through things early this year and this is where I'm going to start:

Cool Mom Picks has an amazing team of Moms who find the greatest "stuff". Most of it is for kids, but they also find some great things for Moms. It's great.
One of the most important parts of their site is that they spend most of their time combing sites for things that other moms make. So not only are you buying one or few of a kind items, but you're supporting other moms (and sons/daughters) in their creative endeavors.
until next time...
happy shopping!

those nasty nightmares

As noted yesterday, baby bear is starting to fall asleep again pretty nicely. We're still in the 9:30pm range for falling asleep, but that's a nice start.
Now we're having some more serious problems.
Yesterday, baby bear came running down the hall to our bedroom because he's had a nightmare. He told us, at dinner, what the nightmare was...
"A man was chasing him, shooting at him... but he missed. Even though I (baby bear) was running slow, he still missed."
then it got sad
"Daddy was there, I wanted him to carry me, but he just ran the other way."
Talk about a heartbreaker. What on earth do you say to that?? Well, we did the standard - "Daddy would never run away if you were in trouble" but still - it's hard to make even an adult feel better when they've been "wronged" somehow in a dream, let alone kiddos.
Last night was another nightmare. In the middle of the night baby bear woke up crying and when SM (it was his night :o) went to check on him, it turned out he'd had a nightmare about a dog with really big sharp teeth chasing him. Baby bear kept calling back for SM to check this door and that door and the other door... making sure everything was closed up.
How do you make nightmares go away?
I still haven't figured it out, so I can't even begin to try to explain them away for a 4-year old.
*sigh*
until next time...
sweet dreams
PLEASE

a little good old-fashined bribery

You may recall my somewhat-stressed post about how the kids just aren't sleeping in a pattern that we can live with...

Well, we tried all sorts of tricks to try to get baby bear to fall asleep before 10:30 and none of them were working.

SM and I were literally losing our minds until he came up with a good idea, that led him to a GREAT idea. BRIBES!

He and baby bear sat down and made another "sticker chart". It's a pyramid type chart that started with only having to put up 1 single little sticker to get his first "prize". That night, he fell asleep by 9:30pm. Not early, by any means, but BOY what a start.

After that, 2 stickers to the next prize. By that 3rd night (en route to prize #2) baby bear was asleep by 8:30pm again. WOOOO HOOOO!!!
Granted, he has also been a little sick, so he's been tired enough to be able to fall asleep earlier, but who cares! We'll take what we can get. We've now had SEVERAL nights in a row with no baby bear contact after 9:30 (and usually earlier) and that feels amazingly good.

I'm not sure how long we'll be able to keep up the bribery. It's not a very good way to function, but at the moment it's the ONLY way to function. We have lots of cars to buy. This weekend we supplemented the prize supply with comic books, so at least we're also supporting his reading habit. Maybe a trip to an actual bookstore is a good idea to...

until next time...
enjoy some evening peace and quiet (or at least something tivo'd)
:o)

We heart our photographer

Through my amazing "Mamma" network I found the most wonderful photographer.
Her name is Barbie Hull and she's super sweet, fun and, most importantly, SUPER TALENTED!
She's done some photographs for the Pilates Studio I go to, and I just loved the shoot she did with the Moms and babies, so back in July (?) we had her come take some family photos with SM's family and mine all together. They were terrific, so we thought she'd be the perfect choice for the Christmas Card this year.
Now, I can't give away the card because THAT would be no fun. In the meantime, Barbie is featuring our family outing to the Pumpkin Patch on her blog.
I don't know how she did it, but boy did she make us look good.

my favs:



until next time...
we heart our photographer, and you can too!

Cool new gift...

A new toy store opened in our neighborhood and we visited last night to buy some prezzies for the birthday parties we have this weekend. While there, we found the neatest toy.
http://www.makemyownmonster.com/
Turns out, you go to fao schwartz and you can pay a ridiculous amount of money for a kit so that your own child can design one of these monsters. Funny enough, I found a blog entry that so far 4 of the 8 available have been designed by one kid. That's alotta money to have your kid design stuffed animals...
Anyway - it's such a cute idea and I didn't find it on cool mom picks, which is where I normally find the coolest gift ideas, so I thought I'd share.
If you were wondering, we got
"Supper Hero"

“Supper Hero is not afraid to try anything new to eat, and always tries 8 bites. He licks his plate clean! His cape is a napkin. Even monsters have manners.”
And considering baby bear's issues falling asleep lately, I think "Claws" is next!
"Claws comes out when I go to bed at night. His long fingers can reach up to turn on the lightswitch and his special eye can see in the dark so I can find the way to Mommy and Daddy’s room."
until next time... (which is hopefully sooner than the last time I posted)
have fun shopping!

They're after us!

The kiddos are after us. Somehow Baby Bear and the Empress have decided to completely refuse to sleep in a way that's human.
About two weeks ago, Baby Bear decided he was going to be afraid of just about everything. He's been staying awake and calling out to one or the other of us until about 10pm.
The Empress, on the other hand, has decided to start waking us up at 5am, 5:30am, 6am etc. until we're just so bleary eyed we might as well be up.
This is a problem.
This means I don't get to chat with SM at all. Ever.
It also means we don't get any "brain-dead" time in the evenings either.
*sigh*
please phase, be over, at least ONE of you
until next time...
sleep tight

The classic debate.. the country or the ocean?

The family went to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend, to beautiful and wonderful Jubilee Farms in Carnation, WA. What a gorgeous day for a trip to the country. All the leaves are changing - for a second I even felt like I was back in the Midwest! - there were tractors, horses, turkeys, piglets and of course, pumpkins and squash as far as the eye could see.

The Little Mans' best part of the day? See the animals and picking out pumpkins. The worst part of his day? When he WASN'T doing those things.
classic...
The Empress was animal crazy. The fake piggie snorts are enough to keep you smiling all day. I didn't think we were going to get her away from the horses, luckily the "Say Bye Bye Horsey" trick still works on a toddler.

I was asking the Little Man, while we were driving home, which he would rather do: live in the country and grow pumpkins? or live by the ocean and surf?
answer: BOTH!
Weird.
Guess that explains why we live in the city. His Mom & Dad can't decide where to live either - so we just live in the middle of all of it and enjoy it as much as we can. The sad reality of that is, we hardly ever make the time to "get away" to the country, or the ocean, or - for that matter - the mountains. We live in an area that is absolutely filled with things to go see, but we always seem to be looking at them from the distance, on our way to whatever event happens to be going on right then. I thought about it again last night while we were watching the (sad sad) Seahawks game on our big ol' HDTV. How Seattle did shine last night! (the city, not the team)...
They had shots sweeping down from the islands, coming in from Bainbridge, flying over the Space Needle, watching the ferries, and of course, the beautiful Football and Baseball Stadiums all lit up in Sodo.
I sure love this town, and lucky for us, we'll always have a great view of what it, and the surrounding areas have to offer.
We'll just have to try to make more time to appreciate it when we can.
until next time...
lovin' it here.... even in the rain

How do they know when they're supposed to behave?

These little creatures who live with me, who were made from bits and pieces of me, amaze me every day. Especially since we have two now, it's like a socioloty experiment every day. Luckily the Little Man takes good care of his little Empress, as long as she's not trying to take one of his comic books that is.
What interests me most, at the moment, is how they act when we're down to one parent. Both SM and I have been traveling a bit lately. He's the one out of town at the moment, and the kids have been phenomenal.
It's like they have some sort of radar that says: OK - one of the parent's is gone, if we drive this one mad there's no one to turn to. Better not push it.
They're eating dinner properly - it's a rare occurrence. One time SM was gone, I took the kids out to dinner. By myself. They didn't do one bad thing. The Empress watched the other kids, who were running around like their hair was on fire, and the Little Man just sat down at the table in the play area and read a book. I almost had a heart attack (ok, I just cried a little cuz they were so great, but still...)!
They took baths and got ready for bed without a fight. The Little Man even negotiated his bath for tomorrow without too much hassle and then just hung out in the bathroom with us while the Empress bathed. They got their pjs on together and then we hung out and watched a little Curious George. (sidenote: SM has the Empress doing a monkey imitation that is HI-larious! so we got a little of that before bed too) :O)
The morning was a weird one, we were running late. The Little Man had a trip to the symphony today and was on the verge of panic when he saw the "nice" clothes I got out for him, but we talked it through. He wore jeans today for the first time since he was like 3 mos. old (stunning fear of all buttons, snaps and zippers) and a lovely Gram-given sweater. THEN there was near-crisis surrounding not having time to eat breakfast. After I talked with him about it though, he was perfectly fine, put on his shoes (on the right feet) and even helped the Empress with her cereal bar wrapper.
/end ramble
It's strange... but I really think they have some sort of sixth-sense that tells them when the environment is not "normal" it results in "abnormal" (good) behavior.
I wonder if it's the opposite for single parents. Do the kid(s) understand that when there are more parents/caretakers/family members present they switch to "abnormal" behavior? Or are they totally aware of the fact that they're "down one" to start with and end up with pretty good behavior normally. Or am I just a well-off white mom whose situation is so far from a single-mom's situation that there's no connection whatsoever?
I suppose it's a little bit of everything, as usual.

until next time...
how's your sociology experiment going?

The drama surrounding the end of Farmer's Market Season

Last Friday, as we were driving home from school (Me driving Roxie and Milo) we took our normal wee-waddy-way home to avoid the backups, and drove by the parking lot where our local Farmer's Market was happily situated every Friday afternoon throughout the spring and summer.
I love the Farmer's Market.
I long to be just like Jennifer Garner holding my little bundle(s) of joie while I pick and choose my fruits and vegetables (that my chef will cook with) and armloads of beautiful flowers to (have my maid) decorate my beach-side abode. /dream
Every week I'd exclaim tidings of happiness at seeing the mayhem surrounding the Farmer's Market. Not only was it a magical ideal of things I wish I'd someday do, but it also signified the beloved "FRIDAY" - favorite day of the week in our house.
We stopped a few times.
We even walked down once or twice.
And then it was gone.......
Milo could hear and sense my sadness.
me: Milo, the Farmer's Market is gone!
Milo: But Mommy, where did the Farmer's Market go? When will it come back?
me: *sigh* Oh Milo, it won't be back again for a very long time. Not until next year. Oh well, we'll go again in the Spring.
Moments later..
Milo: *sniff *sniff *whimper
me: Milo! Are you crying?!?! What are you doing?!? Are you crying?!?!?
Milo: *sniff *whimper *whimper
me: OH NO! Milo, it's OK! Why are you crying?? Is it the Farmer's Market?
Milo: [full out sobbing]I WANNA GO TO THE FARMER'S MARKET!!!!!!!!!!!
By now we're home and I'm parking the car. I see one of Milo's old daycare friends, who is going to school across the street from our house, getting into his car with his Mom.
me: Milo, look it's your friend! Let's get out and say hi.
Milo: [still full out sobbing] NOOOOO I DON'T WANT TO, I just want to go straight inside..........
yikes
Luckily the other Mom reminded me that there are 2 other Farmer's Markets still functioning, one of which functions year-round.
After trying to explain that ours might be gone, but there are others that we can visit (TODAY?!?!?, no, not today) on a different day of the week, the crisis was finally under control and he was able to "face" hangin' out with his friend for a few minutes before he went home and we went inside.
sheesh
I figure I have 3 more days to come up with a plan.
Otherwise... Armageddon! (yes, ben affleck movie pun intended)

until next time...
send our love to the farmers
:o)

The last-minute babysit - why is it so strange?

This weekend we had nothing planned. Of course, that didn't fly.
We ended up having friends over Saturday and I cooked a big (for me) meal and I haven't done that in a really long time. We even babysat for a friend/neighbor while she went to a nearby appointment while her Hubby was out of town.
I know babysitting for friends is totally normal for just about everyone else in the world, but we hardly ever do any emergency (or non-emergency for that matter) babysitting for friends/neighbors. Nor do we request it. I wonder why that is.
Is it because when you live in the city you're not really supposed to get to know your neighbors? Is it because we, as parents, are all so afraid of the dangers "hovering" over our children that we don't think we can trust anyone, not even our friends? Is it because we (as upper middle class folk) are just too worried about imposing on our friends/neighbors that we can't imagine being so bold as to ask the favor of quick child care while we do something basic but important that doesn't allow children?
I thought we all knew that it literally "Takes a Village" to raise our children. We're moving into these communities where we can walk to dinner/playground/coffee etc. and hopefully get to know our neighbors on the way, except we're not really getting to know them. We're still just as disconnected as before, it just doesn't seem that way on the surface.
How do we change this? Do we just barrel ahead on our own and start the trend?
We kinda did this weekend. We had friends over, babysat, hosted dinner for folks at no notice.
love it
until next time....
babysit for your friends/neighbors, it might be fun!

Pilates Plug, and a quick update

I started doing Pilates a few months ago. In the grand and hopefully not futile attempt to get my body back and maybe improve my abs along the way, I started with 1day/week and then moved to 2days/week. I found a place I really like: Conscious Body Pilates.
My body is already starting to change. Granted - a little aerobic exercise added into the mix would help ALOT, but setting aside 2 hours a week is near impossible as it is. Luckily I'm seeing changes, enjoying the classes, and have SM's FULL support.
That's a start.

The update: yesterday when I picked up Roxie from school (instead of crying and running at me like she normally does) she looked at me, smiled, and kept playing with her toy! I've never been so thrilled to be ignored. I know, I'll regret that soon enough and will be crying (to you) about how my baby doesn't need me anymore blah blah blah.... But for now, it's wonderful. We took our time leaving. She didn't whine (except when she wanted her take-home snack). We kept our routine intact even though we had guests for dinner. And this morning, she didn't wake up 'til 6:45am. WOOOOOT!
until next time...
sleep well

Ooops, the change didn't take...

SM and I got creative over the weekend and decided to muck around with Roxie's life a little bit.
After me being out of town, having a babysitter, an overnight stay with GMa and GDad and "Parent's Night Out" at daycare, we rolled Roxie's crib into Milo's room so they could sleep in the same room together. Milo loved the idea. He loves having her in there with her and not being all alone (he's afraid of the dark - I gotta buy this stuff: "Boo - Be - Gone!" - thanks to cool mom picks... again!). sorry... sidetracked
So it was a brilliant idea that backfired completely.
The first night she woke up at 5:30am, the second she woke up at 5am. We admitted defeat, put her back in her own room, and that's when she drew blood.
She woke up and screamed from 11:30pm - til - 1am. Literally. Screaming, crying, ripping out hair and not taking any names. Well... she screamed "MAMA" alot, but you know what I mean. Then, she woke up again a 5am screaming (yes, 4 hours later) and never went back to sleep.
*sigh*
SM and I were asleep so early last night we missed "Heroes".
Roxie had her normal routine last night. She slept 'til 6am. For now, that's all we can hope for. That and 15 more minutes a day.
please oh please
until next time...
thanks again TiVo - I can watch Heroes tonight!
;o)

10 years...

Today is my 10th Wedding Anniversary.
SM and I have been kind of thinking back this week.. "10 years ago today we were:"
Why does that seem so long ago?
I think becoming a parent ages you in ways you don't expect. I don't feel "old", but seeing my babies grow up SO quickly has a strange affect on the way I see things. Certain situations have alot more meaning than they used to. Flying alone, for example, all I can do is think about how said it would be not to be able to watch my children continue to grow. Good grief, 10 years ago I was just excited to get where I was going.
I'm leaving early today, gonna go on a mini-getaway to celebrate, but I'll leave you with this statement that a co-worker left me with the other day that made me PAINFULLY aware of my age.
The freshmen entering college this year were born in 1989.
!@$!#$@$!%
until next time....
happy anniversary babe

Fall is here... and with it comes the fall TV LINEUP!

I was just reading a post on Seattle Mom Blogs and it inspired me.
SM and I spent the last two nights trying to work out all the shows we need to TiVo/DVR this season. We always start with a pretty wide net, and the first few weeks of Sept/Oct are spent auditing all the new shows. Considering our available TV watching time, shows get cut back pretty quickly.
So far so good, we've only watched a couple though. Which brings up the question - WHY aren't there any decent shows on TUESDAYS???!!! What's up with that? We were so excited to watch some new fall tv last night and ended up watching Dancing With the Stars. I mean, it's ok every once in a while, but sheesh!
Tonight - Bionic Woman! Can't wait. This summer was spent catching up on 3 seasons' worth of Battlestar Gallactica and it'll be cool to see Starbuck in a new role. Man I hope this show is good - we need another good strong female-led show now that Alias is off the air.
I'm also going to turn this post into a total RANT about the new Comcast DVR setup. It's possibly the absolute WORST UI that has ever gotten through to the public. Choosing shows to start recording is nearly impossible. After SM said "did they even test this with a HUMAN BEING before they released it?!?" for the 3rd time, I took over. With no luck. We both work in the technology industry. He works with Mobile Devices at The Evil Empire and I'm a Web Developer for The Mouse. We've done this before. We've had a TiVo for 5 years.
I don't hate much in this life - I have a pretty easy, sheltered, happy life.
I hate Comcast and their DVR UI.
We might just have to shell out for the new HD TiVo just to preserve our sanity.


OK, deep cleansing breath...
Let's hope for some good shows this season!!
and since the Mariners have just been mathematically eliminated from post-season play... GO SEAHAWKS!

until next time...

I heart TiVo!!!!

Biz Travel: The Great Escape? or Horror Flick?

This is going to probably be a short post, but I feel like it's one I'm going to come back to often.
I just got back from a business trip to NY (as you might notice from my lack of posts over the last week). I might be a little jaded writing this, so here's your fair warning. This particular trip was wall-to-wall work. I spent so much time in conference rooms and steakhouses that I really don't see why we couldn't have just gone to middle-of-nowhere USA. OK - I guess George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer only make appearances for the NY crowd, but other than that.... well, you know what I mean.
Usually when I have a trip to a large city, I'm able to squeak in a little "tourist" time to enjoy where I am and do a little shopping and hopefully visit with friends. Somehow I have friends in quite a few major cities, so that usually works out great since I don't travel much for fun right now. This time - it was all work, all the time. The only bright side was the 10-minute powershop in H&M at 9pm on my way from a work dinner to a post-work dinner gathering.
Every night I called home.
I called home in time to have my daughter repeat "Mamma... Mamma... Mamma" over and over into the phone (with a button pushed for good measure) and to have my son say his "Good Nights" mostly in tears because he missed his Mom.
Traveling for work is officially over for me.
It used to be the coolest thing since sliced bread.
Since a Mouse paid for my $300+/night hotel in the middle of Manhattan while I got to eat at the coolest little spots in the city - found by the friend I was able to meet up with during my extra night stay.
For my SMate, it seems to be pure punishment. Lots of coordination and the stress level so high that it's hard to enjoy the fact that he gets all that time with the kiddos to himself.
Funny how you change, and how your perspective changes.
Now I just want him to go out of town so I get the kiddos all to MYself.
Now that's just plain weird.
or is it?
until next time.....
biz travel stinks

MotherTalk Blog Tour: BOB Books

A day late, not a good start to my second Review for MotherTalk, but luckily for kids and moms everywhere, it's not because of the books. I'm the late one, so let's just get to reviewing!

The BOB Books are amazing. I have a 4+ yr-old son and he's just starting to get good with his letters. The first set of books are so simple that he was actually starting to pick out the words on his own (when he was patient enough) by the end of the first one. These books provided me my first opportunity to see my son read successfully, on his own, and watch his excitement build as he realized, by the third word, that he was, in fact, reading.

Set 1 of the Books are truly for beginning readers. The way each set is organized is specific, and really interesting. Being MUCH older than four, I tend to forget how much benefit little ones receive through repetition. It might drive me absolutely bananas to read the fact that Mat and Sam sat 10 different ways, but as soon as Milo looked at the words and actually read "Mat sat. Sam sat." it was like a light bulb went off in BOTH our heads. I'm pretty sure we both saw them switch on as well.

Each book in the set gets progressively more difficult. They're color-coded so parents can see that as each book of the same color is a baby step further, each color is a larger step further. The set comes with a parent-card to assist us in our efforts. Plus, it all comes in a handy-dandy little box.

The tough part for me now, as a parent watching my son attempting to read, is learning patience, both for me - when he says he doesn't know a letter that he just identified the page before - and for him - when he just says what he sees in the pictures rather than taking the time to attempt to read the words.
Patience is the key, with all facets of parenting, really. But realizing first-hand how proud he was when he read on his own, and also how frustrated he got when suddenly those same words weren't recognizable, is proving that the tools you use are nearly as important as that patience.

I worried about the simplicity of the books. My son is absolutely obsessed with comic books, most I think because he can "read" the pictures without having to be able to read the words. But they're so complicated, so many story lines and characters to follow. I thought for sure he'd look at Mat and Dot and instantly toss them aside with boredom. Luckily, the fact that he wasn't overwhelmed with words and letters gave him the inspiration and excitement to keep reading about the rag and the dog and the hat and the cat.

Quite frankly, it inspired and excited me as well.
Can't ask for much more than that.

until next time....
teach your kids to read... with BOB

We heart the Puyallup

Yesterday marked our 3rd year in a row "Doing the Puyallup" with the kid(s). Last year Roxie would have only been 5 months old, so she stayed with Grandma & Grandad. This year, however, we all went together. It was fantastic.










and the best part....



They were totally knocked out on the way home.
We played all the games, like we usually do, but this time we didn't come home with nearly as much stuff.
Milo won himself this crazy blue Nemo squeaky hammer thing and then convinced Rich to buy him a giant blow-up unicorn on a stick. He also went fishing and won himself a little blue doggie and then won Roxie a little red one.
Even better, SM knocked all the cans off the table to win Roxie a big(ish) black & brown doggie.
Even Mamma got into the act and won the ski-ball triple crown horse racing game and got Milo & Roxie a lion and a tiger which both went to school with them today to have for naptime.
Too much fun.
And next year, when I tell SM that the first thing we need to do is get our pics taken in the photo booth, he'd better listen!
until next time...
there's still time for you to do the puyallup!

Love this blog

I met this woman through a long-time friend of mine that I used to work with. She's obviously a very good writer, and is also "a writer". I read her blog pretty often, it's called "Happily Even After" and I LOVE the name.
She just posted this and I'm amazed. "Partners Play on the Same Team".
These particular words from her "Mr. R" were significant.
Mr. R: Well, maybe. But I'm not really the type to complain. Still I had issues that were building up, so, yeah, part of it was that I had to spill my complaints every now and then, too. But more than that, I think I realized that your wanting to talk through our issues all the time wasn't a bad thing. I mean, you weren't complaining just to hurt or annoy me. I realized we were actually supposed to get somewhere in those conversations.
Mr. R: Like on each other's side. I think that was the big breakthrough. When I realized I had to be on your side. And you had to be on mine. That by talking about our issues, we could actually be on one side--OUR side.
I think I need that tattooed somewhere, or on a T-Shirt. And no, it's not just because the "man" in the relationship said it - I'm not pulling one of those "Finally, a man who understands something all women already to" or some crap like that. I really mean that sounds like something everyone in a marriage should remember.
We play on the same team.
We ought to act like it - and truly want the other person in the relationship to win as much as we want ourselves to win.
Why is that so hard to remember??
*sigh*
until next time....

ByeBye Binkie!

WE DID IT!
So long, farewell, adios, see ya, buhbye BINKIE!

Yesterday was Roxie's first day in the Toddler Room. She had a rough first start. From SM: "Ugghh…drop off was a wreck. No one was in the toddler room, Milo wanted a toy (Roxie had her puppy), and Roxie lost her tuna salad when we dropped her off in the infant room. I could hear her crying when I was driving away."
Not exactly ideal.
When I got there to pick her up though, her sheet noted that she was "happy today". It also turns out that they didn't have a binkie for her so they just went about the day without it. She napped fine. Woke up fine. Didn't ask for it once.
So you know what we did? We made it disappear. It no longer exists... never did. And she's fine.
My hero? Supernanny. Her and Roxie's new Toddler Teacher Olga.
Bye Bye Binkies... forever.
*sigh*
my my how time flies.

until next time....

SMate, the kids, and the zoo

I had to work all day Sunday, so my fabulous SM took the kiddos to the zoo. It was a gorgeous day in Seattle, sunny - 60's/70's and they got there before the zoo opened. He said they were terrific together, all riding around in a wagon with their drinks and their snacks. They'd stop at an exhibit, hop out of the wagon, wave at the animals and then hop back in. They got there when all the animals were getting breakfast, so they all snacked together.
Milo was SO excited to tell me about the hedgehog he got to see. He's obsessed with them since he love the Sonic the Hedgehog comics so much. He decided he wanted one as a pet even though they're not very good pets. They also got stopped on one of their routes by a line of giraffes. They scared Roxie a bit, but as Milo told the story "they were on their way to their play area". Love the world through the eyes of a 4yr old.
They also got to see an area where they had owls sitting on logs all in a line. Roxie is totally loving owls right now so SM said she went wild for it. Even came home with her own little stuffed owl.
The heartbreaker to all of this is SM said that on the way into the zoo from the parking lot, he held Milo's hand and Milo held Roxie's hand and they all walked in together... holding hands.
And I missed it.
until next time....
the times they are a changin

the end of summer is near...

Well - the end of summer is getting closer and closer.
Luckily, in the NorthWest, we generally get to enjoy a nice Indian Summer in September, and that's certainly been the case this weekend. We went out on Bella Pesche (my parents' boat) yesterday and it was pretty crowded on the lake. There was a little sailboat race going on, there were lots of boats out for the UW game, and there were TONS of waves. We shut down the motors to lunch off the beach at Magnuson and traveled quite a ways back south while we were there. It was nice though, Roxie actually laid down and took a nap and it was a nice farewell to the boat for the year, although I still hold out hope for one more ride.
I have to work today, Sunday, which is a total bummer, but necessary evil. SMate took the kids to the zoo by himself. Now THAT will be something to blog about.
until next time...
enjoy those last rays and bask in them
the rain is on its way

My "Team Captain"

I had a true "proud mamma" moment last night.
We had a T-Ball Banquet last night - kind of an "end of the season bash". Our Coach brought food, drinks and even a T-Ball cake - it was great. She also blew up a bunch of balloons and the kids ran around for pretty much the full hour throwing the balloons into the air and into the fan to watch them blow all around the room.
That's not the "proud" part, however.
At the end of the banquet she passed out awards. Yes, one month of T-Ball at the Community Center with the most patient, nice coach, and she ALSO gave a different award to each kid that played. She got up front and told a story of why she chose each award for each particular child. There were a few that didn't make it to the banquet, so just before she gave out the last award (and no, Milo hadn't gotten his yet) she went through and announced the awards for those who weren't there. Milo was getting nervous - "why I don't get an award? why am I last?" etc.
I'm tearing up already... he got the "Team Captain" award!
Paraphrasing because I was so excited for him that I forgot to really listen - "He was always ready to go and was ready to play any position I gave him and..." well, I have a terrible memory. But he was so excited, he RAN up to the front, got his award and then RAN right back to the table shouting "thank you!" over his shoulder because I reminded him to.
Well, no more T-Ball 'til next year, and the classes during the week were a little tough, so we're going to sign up for swim lessons (or try to) for next session. But, soccer starts early next year, so we just might have to give that a shot.
:o)
'til next time
- Team Captain's Mom

Last night of T-Ball

Tonight is the last night of T-Ball for the 3-5yr olds. It has made our lives SUPER busy this month, but it has been a TON of fun.

We've also learned that we need to start teaching some baseball fundamentals instead of just hit the ball and catch the ball.
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.

mmmm.... hush puppies.....

One random event leads to another in life, right? Well Milo got sick and I got to have my first hush puppy in @ 20 years.
Sunday evening Milo got sick, literally, a few times in the night. That meant no school for him on Monday and lots of laundry for Mom.
Well, we also agreed to take one of Milo's school friends to T-Ball Monday night so we picked up Roxie and his friend and all went to T-Ball together. Milo was laying down on the gym floor by the end of it all so we decided we should get a quick/easy dinner on the way home.
We've lived in the CD/Madison Valley area for a few years now and I've always had Catfish Corner on my list of places to try, especially after a co-worker told me about their Hush Puppies! Well - we finally tried it.
A pound of catfish, hush puppies, fried okra, collard greens and yams that have been sitting in a brown sugar & cinnamon syrup for 4 months later... we're fat, happy, and officially have a new place to grab takeout. Even found some ladies lovely enough to offer Milo & Roxie a catfish to play with while we waited for our food.
Who knew upchuck could lead to hush puppies.
:o)
until next time...

Where did summer go?

Well August is just about over and I'm really wondering where on earth our summer went. It's been blistering hot in most of the country all summer, and then it started flooding in the midwest. We have had an incredibly cool and mild summer, which I really haven't minded so much since I haven't had a chance to get out and enjoy it very much. The wonder of living in Seattle.
The funny thing is, we've had 2 weddings this summer. That may not sound that strange, but considering the last wedding I went to was probably 5 years ago, 2 in one summer was actually pretty extreme for us. We went to our last wedding last weekend and it was SO beautiful. It was a "destination wedding" out on the Washington Coast so we turned it into our mini-summer family vacation. Mom, Dad, Great Lil, and the four of us all spent 4 days in 2 cabins at Kalaloch Lodge.
Absolutely beautiful. We were totally off the grid all four days - we had no tv, cell, or computer service and it was perfect that way. All we had to worry about was running out of clothes because they were all wet/full of sand.
It was about as close to camping as we get as a family and it was great. They had a little Mercantile to buy the essentials for us, and a gift shop to buy the "essentials" for the kids.
It once again renewed our wish to live on the coast, but also reminded us that we were city kids and may not take to living out there full time too well. We'll have to see how that goes.
We also got some exciting news last week. Milo ended up being accepted into the private school we had applied to at the beginning of the year. There weren't any new spots opening up until just a few days ago in Pre-K - it's amazing it didn't happen until now. The crushing part, however, is that we realized we couldn't afford it after all. That's an appropriate word to describe how I felt about that - CRUSHED. To be working full-time and still not be able to send him to the school we absolutely fell in love with really hits a sore spot for me. SMate has talked me off the ledge, though, reminding me that there are, indeed, good schools that he might be able to get into and we'll just have to start working on more family "experiences" instead of things - and maybe we'll get another shot at the school later.
I'll likely do a seperate post tomorrow about schools. I'm actually really not a fan of private schools at all. I'm a huge proponent of public school and actually seen the diversity of the world around us BEFORE you enter college (or in some cases - get a job after college). We just have some particularly difficult issues where we live and this particular private school has a motto that speaks right to my heart, my gut, and more importantly, my mind... "Giddens School provides an academically excellent curriculum enriched with a commitment to critical thinking and social responsibility. Staff and families create a community that nourishes diversity, sense of self, and love of learning."
We need to win the lottery....
:o)

Happy Monday - enjoy summer while you still can....

T-Ball 2: The Missing Mitt

I messed up. Yesterday was officially a Monday. I dropped off the kids and realized that I'd forgotten the Baseball Mitts (one for Milo and the other for his friend, who is borrowing). I drove back home to search the house up and down (all three floors!) to find them and only came out of the house with 1 of 2. I had Milo's but was missing the one for his buddy.
I got totally caught up with work by the time I got there, but I finally called SM to see if he knew where the other glove was. He did - it was in his car - on the "East Side" and he has a meeting 'til 5pm. (If you've ever been to Seattle and tried to drive to or from the East Side of Lake Washington during rush hour, you'd understand that he might as well have been in Alaska.) So I remind SM that he was supposed to get home early for me so I could attend a work dinner and we're at a stale mate.
He works out his schedule so he can pick up the kids (woo hoo!) but then I still have Milo's glove in my car (boo!) so I have to leave early anyway.
Then I get stuck at work and end up being a half-hour late for T-Ball and as I finally fly into the gym I see Milo standing against the blue mat crying because he doesn't want to go into the outfield without his mitt.
That STINKS!
Being a working Mom is tough. Constantly being pulled in opposite directions is generally bad for morale and psyche. You know how you can sit down and make those "Pro vs Con" lists for something you're having questions about? They're useless when it comes to this, it feels like the choice is money vs child(ren). Obviously it gets much deeper than that, but when you walk in late for a T-Ball game to find your son crying because he needed his Mom to bring his glove and his Mom was too busy trying to fix a slideshow...
It just doesn't add up.
period

My first review for MotherTalk

This is my first Book Review for MotherTalk and I'm so happy to do it. I had no idea James Patterson was writing for young adults, but now I know, and now I'm hooked and I bet there are many more young readers out there that are too.

Maximum Ride is just as the title promises... an absolute Maximum Ride. Of course, Patterson had lots of reasons for using those words in the title. It's the 3rd in a series of the same name, so that was an easy one. Maximum is also the name of the lead character, Max for short. And the Ride - oh the Ride Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel take us on. This book moves as fast as these bird-kids can fly. It was nearly impossible to put down, but necessary if only to be able to take a moment to catch my breath. This group of strong, vulnerable, smart, and always brave feathered fighters truly take the readers along for the ride of (and for) their lives - not to mention saving the world in the process.

This series should easily fall in line with young readers who have been inspired to read by the amazing imagination of J.K. Rowling. Personally I think this might be even better for those readers because the books are more accessible (read: not over 700 pages) and a bit more "realistic". Patterson even has Max mention Harry Potter in the book - which at once tells the reader this is happening in real time, to real kids, in the world we live in. Fang's blog is the best touch of all. In the time of bloggers (of which I am still new) it was fantastic to be able to read along with his blog and know that so many other kids are doing the same. It's a brilliant touch and another way to keep fans interested, in-touch and reading.

My favorite theme of the book is having a strong female lead in Maximum. She's the reason I'm a big fan of this book - and now the series. Max is confident, strong, hates being beaten by a boy, but like any other teenage girl, has a soft spot for her boy - Fang. She demonstrates perfectly the push/pull involved when you're a girl on a mission to save the world, but just got your heart broken by your best friend.

This is targetted perfectly at young adults and it really speaks to that audience. It's all about teen angst, but for a great and noble cause. Patterson does quite a bit of grownup bashing to accomplish his teen focus, but he does a decent job of balancing that with displaying the kids' need and desire to find parents who love them AND are good people. This reminds me a bit of the Lemony Snickett series where the grownups are generally inept or evil, but when the three siblings work together, they're able to get through anything. In the Maximum series, the adults are generally evil or un-trustworthy, but when the kids stick together, they're able to overcome all odds. They might even be able to save the world together. They've certainly made a believer out of me.

T-Ball Begins!

What a treat. Yesterday was Milo's first T-Ball practice, and what a hoot!
Garfield Community Center has what they call "Busy Bee T-Ball" this month (August) two days a week. It happens to be the same nights as Pilates, so Mondays and Wednesdays will be awfully busy but it's going to be SO worth it. They play in the Gym at the Community Center and it is just great. The coach is so patient with all the kids, she's amazing. They practiced running the bases, "catching" grounders - yelling "I GOT IT!" whenever they managed to stop the ball, and then took turns hitting inside-the-park home runs off the Tee. Most of the time they were running around throwing their mits in the air and then following the coach out for water breaks. Roxie wanted in on the action, of course, so I can't wait to sign her up.
Watching 3-5 year-olds play T-Ball might possibly be the best way to allow the stress of the day completely melt away.
"GO TEAM!"

What to do about family...

My in-laws came to stay with us for a couple of days, along with my sister-in-law and nephew who is a few months older than my son. While they were here, an idea came up that has come up before and now we're really starting to consider it.
Do you send your child to the opposite side of the country to stay with family - even if you hardly know them?
Obviously, since it is SM's family, his first reaction is "sure!". I know all of his family, of course, but we've lived on the West Coast/West of the Mississippi for almost 15 years and they all live on the East Coast, which means there's a chance I could count on two hands the number of times I've seen them in my life.
We live differently, we believe in different things, we parent (very) differently, we care about different things. Isn't there a saying - "You can pick your friends but you can't pick your family"?
We moved across the country from both our families (mine followed us later) and have created this bubble of friends who basically all have the same ideals and beliefs as we do. We all became parents together and have been developing our parenting styles together. So considering all these things, I feel like I'd be much more comfortable with Milo spending a week with friends rather than family.
That, of course, sounds terrible.
SM immediately stuck up for his family, as he absolutely should, and said "I totally trust them! I trust my Mom!". There's no question of that. I completely trust them, they're family, I trust them 100%. I certainly trust them with my child and making sure he (or she) is safe and well cared for and loved unequivocally and unconditionally.
But that's not my point.
Moms? Dads? Is this a generational thing? Is this a class thing? Is this a West Coast vs East Coast thing? Is it just that we're so caught up reading "How to Raise an Emotionally Intelligent Child" and "Positive Discipline" and eating organic foods and living in our little "perfect" bubble that we can't just let our kids hang out with family and friends that are outside that bubble?
I just don't know.

Quick Kiddo Plug

You know - I'm probably not supposed to do this. Since I'm now writing a public blog, I'm probably not supposed to plastic pics of the kiddos all over the place. But I just can't help it. They're an AWFUL lot of fun and killing me with cuteness. Plus, this is the place I'll be talking about them the most, and eventually sharing the birth stories, since they are both so different and worth writing about, in my opinion, of course.
The in-laws arrive tomorrow and SeaFair weekend is about to begin. For those who don't know about SeaFair, it's a summer-long celebration that culminates in a weekend of Blue Angels and Hydro Races. We'll be on Grandma & Grandads boat with the whole family tomorrow. It should be a fantastic day all around and I'll be sure to write about it for you.
In the meantime... enjoy!

Weekends Rule!

How is it that weekends can be so short, so much fun and so healing?
This was a great weekend. I finished Harry Potter on Friday (2 days before Smate was able to finish, which was AGONIZING!). We had swim lessons on Saturday followed by brunch at one of Milo's schoolmates' house who is in the same class, which ended in her trying to hide Milo under her bed so that he wouldn't have to go home. Then family naptime (woo hoo!) and a lovely dinner with our neighbors, an amazing cook! Then Sunday was family day. Group Grocery shopping, more family naptime, bike ride/walk and swimming in the kiddie pool/hot tub that ended up being too cold!
What a great time though - we were able to have some individual time, adult-only time and tons of family time all in a span of 2 days.
I feel like there must be a way to do that more than to days a week.
Hence the wandering....
hello monday

Today - one more thing I can't live without

Darn those Pottery Barn folks! They really do have some of the cutest things for kids, it's just impossible to afford it all. This time, however, I find myself coming up with a thousand excuses as to why I need, not just one, but 2 of these fantabulous sleeping bags!
Granted, the reason I need 2 is not just because 1 just isn't enough, but because I have 2 kiddos, and if one gets it, shouldn't the other?

And it to the list of amazing things showing up on the internet these days. Just spend 2 minutes on Cool Mom Picks and you'll know what I mean. The best part of most of this stuff (aside from PBK) is that there are MOMS MAKING IT!

It's all absoutely inspiring me. I have been knitting booties for friends' babies and even did a skirt for Roxie that's killing me it's so fun. Stay tuned.... Maybe this will turn into "Knitting Mamma".
:o)

Little Bio

I realized this morning that I have been wandering along with this blog (as well as other things) and you don't know much about me - or why I'm wandering/wondering about.
It's not a new story really. I have a feeling most working mothers out there search for that balance between work, kiddos, friends, partners and themselves. So I have a mind that wanders around, trying to figure out how to do it all. Another un-original theme.
A friend of mine writes a blog called "Happily Even After" where she refers to her husband as "Mr. R" for Mister Right. I love it. I have thus far referred to my husband and partner as "hubby" but somehow that seems degrading, probably for both of us.
WAY back in 1993 (yes, that's '93, not '03) when we met, we fell in love in the bar we both worked at during a conversation about Soul Mates. We'd basically both had decent breakups but had gotten to the "optimistic" phase, declaring that even while we are able to Love more than one person in our lifetime - but we all have one true Soul Mate. I do believe I'm lucky enough to have married my Soul Mate. So from now on, I'll be referring to my husband as SM in this blog - or SMate, occasionally, cuz that sounds like smeat and we're suckers for WaterWorld. hee
After college SM and I moved from Indiana to Montana. Suffice it to say that it was there, in the BEAUTIFUL land that is Montana, we realized we were city folk and within a year were living in Seattle - the nearest city. We've never left, in fact, we've convinced my parents to move out here, which led my Grandmother to leave here as well - with them. This means my 2 kiddos get to spend loads of time with their "Grandma, Grandad and Great Lil" and this has been absolutely priceless.
I think that's going to have to be all for now. I hope this is a good read, for some to make you feel better about your own situation, and for some to give you something to look forward to.
good luck moms (and dads and well - everyone these days)
I'll leave you with a quote I saw in someone's email signature earlier today
"Be kind, everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle".
hear hear

A case of the mondays.....

Holy cow did I have a case of the mondays this week! First, started off leaving my machine at home and didn't realize the mistake until physically openning the door to the office. Brilliant.
Turned around and went home - just worked from there.
Then - I download some sort of virus which rendered my machine totally useless for a couple of hours. This was not the intended plan of the day.
Then we went to pick up the kids. The Little Man was very excited, he had his face painted to look like a blue hedgehog - Sonic of course. The Empress was so happy to see me she jumped up and "ran" to the door as soon as I walked in. It doesn't necessarily make the work day worth it, but at least it makes getting to the end of a work day that much more pleasureable.

Here's to being one day closer to Friday!
*sigh*

hi hubby, how are you? and who are you again?

The hubby and I used to work together, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, of course. Way way back before kids. We used to look forward to the day when we didn't work together anymore so at night we'd have something to talk about. Well, be careful what you wish for...
These days, life is only slightly different. These days, when we actually have the 2.5 seconds to have an all-adult conversation - it feels alot like we're speaking to each other in togues. We both work in the tech industry - this is Seattle after all - and we're both pretty geeky when it comes to gadgets and things, but we're literally speaking greek to each other these days. And now is when it really counts. Each seemingly stolen moment we have for each other is more and more precious and most of the time I don't want to "waste" it by talking about work. Not to mention the fact that right now I'm pretty sure we're getting more than enough of work AT work.
That means all of our conversations turn to the kids, and isn't that what we're trying NOT to talk about for 2 minutes. *sigh* So then there's tv, of course, so we geek out together watching BattleStar Galactica (how we weren't watching this from the beginning we'll never know). It's kinda sad we need tv to reconnect, but it brings us together in the way we used to oh so many years ago.
We also got a Wii. What a WONDER that is. It's so much fun it's impossible to put into words. But to give you an idea - it's a way to get sweaty playing tennis with your S.O. and still have the monitor on and be able to hear the kids when they wake up.
But every once in a while, if we try really hard, we can sit down and talk, really talk.
Lovely reminders that we actually like each other, enjoy each other's company, and might never be tired of talking to each other - even if it is about the Mariners or the original Apollo having a cameo appearance on BSG.

Blogging official

I do believe it's time... I've been writing in my head ever since my son (my first child) was born in '03 so let's get it out of my head in into the air.

Life with two children has been incredible, in every sense of the word. Incredibly hard, incredibly rewarding, incredibly tiring, incredibly inspiring.

The other day, a male friend of mine was joking about the fact that, even though happily married and having a wonderful 2-yr old baby girl, he still finds himself keeping tabs on all the pretty young girls in the celebrity world, and is pretty sure he always will. My response was... instead of looking at hot guys these days, I spend my time looking at all the celebrity babies. What are they wearing, how cute are they, how happy they look with their famous mommas and poppas. Strange the things motherhood do to a gal.

I'm also trying to get back in touch with my creative side. I'm loving all the sites now that are either written by Moms or show things made by Moms. I'm linking to my favorites - it's totally distracting me but I just can't help it. I'd love to have one of those sites myself - just gotta find the time...

So much to do... So little time...

I feel like that statement, although true for all parents, is particularly true for Mothers. How on earth is there enough time to be with your child(ren), have quality time with your partner, run a household, try to get your body back (and MAINTAIN it), read, watch tv/movies, cook (and not just mac-n-cheese), work, AND find time to work on your creative side? Impossible... perhaps