Another Busy Saturday

The University District Farmers Market

We are back home now after spending part of the summer away, and though most of our house still looks like this:

A Sea of Boxes

we are trying to get back into a normal routine. We enjoyed one of the last warm, sunny days of the summer last week and went for a hike in the mountains with a friend. Although we brought swim suits, a chilly breeze kept them in the pack. It was fun to explore a new lake, though, and the kids are eager to get out on the trail again.

Twin Lake

Gabriel crawling on a log at Twin Lake

Hubby's new work schedule has him working from home on Saturdays now, and to keep the kids out of his hair, I have been trying to get them out of the house for most of the day. Today we went to the Farmer's market in the U-District. I can't believe I have never been to this one before! It was so wonderful! Fruit and vegetables all around, gorgeous flowers, meats and cheeses, and all kinds of people to watch. We got some juicy, sweet peaches, some amazing ripe and flavorful tomatoes, and some other veggies. There were even some strawberries there, totally ripe and delicious. I kind of missed the strawberry season this year, so I had to have a carton of red, shiny berries today.

Peaches!!

Wonderful variety of tomatoes

Annika wore her unicorn costume (Grandma made it!) to the market, and got many compliments and smiles. The attention makes her shy, but she was able to answer peoples' questions.

The Unicorn

The costume came off for the second stop of the day, an outdoor event sponsored by The Mountaineers. We enjoyed the kid activities there, including face painting and flower pot painting. The three of us were pretty tired at the end of the day, but couldn't resist eating some of our loot from the market for dinner.

Painting Pots

Gabriel asked for a peacock

Annika got a unicorn. No surprise there!

You can't keep this kid out of water...

I was doing some work in the yard this morning, and trying to water the beds. My dear daughter cannot keep out of the water. I finally gave up and told her to get out of her soaking wet clothes and get her swimsuit on, and she was so happy to play in the sprinkler I had set out in the front. Before long she had gotten some plastic containers and was contentedly making "dirt soup," as she called it. I think the plants still got watered, but so did my little angel.

Three

Happy Third Birthday, Annika!  We went for "a bird watch" today, enjoying the sunshine.  Then we went to a really cool playground.  She helped me make her cake, and enjoyed two pieces of it after dinner.

 She seems so tall to me.  Every day I notice her changing, bit by bit, understanding the world a little more, making connections, building vocabulary and skills.  Yet she is still cuddly and affectionate, partial to Mommy and fearful of many things in the world.  She walks back and forth between growing up and clinging tight. 

 

I love you, Baby. 

Tidbits

I've posted a more complete story of our hike to Lime Kiln Trail Friday on nwhikers.net.  Click on the link if you want to read more.

We got snow again today.  It melted by mid-afternoon, but it sure accented how much strange weather we've been having this winter.  I can't remember having this many snow events.  We had some giant flakes falling for awhile.  I kept catching myself gazing out the window, watching flakes fall, wind blow, light change and such.  

Annika's coloring has changed lately.  She has begun being more deliberate in her markings, and is starting to tell stories about the pictures.  This one has whales ad fish on it.  The whales are really happy.  The fish are, too.

I hope your weekend was refreshing and that your week goes well!  Thanks for stopping by.

How Many More Weeks of Winter?

I guess the groundhog was correct when he said we'd have six more weeks of winter.  The past few days have brought snow showers punctuated by the driving forwardness of spring.  I stepped out the back door this morning to photograph the powdery snow that had dusted the yard, when I found a surprise - several violets hunkering down under the miniature drifts.  These violets came from my neighbor across the street when she was cleaning out one of her beds and these had taken over.  They've hung on through two or three years of neglect.  I didn't remember them blooming so early.

We had such interesting snow today.  We had powder, pellets, floating down like dust motes in a sunny window.  We had large conglomerations of flakes falling heavily to earth.  We had sun that melted the snow as fast as it was accumulating.  We had blustery wind that made me think we lived up north somewhere, as it blew the snow sideways.  

Annika and I opted to walk to the library for storytime today, getting all cold and snowy but enjoying the fresh air and brief path through the forested greenbelt.  Annika mentioned how quiet and peaceful it is in the forest with the snow coming down.  I thought it was interesting she would notice such a thing.

We came back home to find a surprise on the doorstep - some Amy Butler notecards I won in a giveaway on CraftStylish a while back.

 I felt special to have something so fancy delivered to me. They are another reminder of spring on its way, no matter what color the ground is today.

Carkeek Park

I took Annika with me today to check out the Environmental Learning Center at Carkeek Park.  It has been several years since I have been there, and we had a bluebird day to enjoy with no appointments till the evening.

 

We stopped at the learning center and chatted with a former colleague of mine, Brian.  

 
The little one and I checked out the taxidermy (Annika liked petting the mountain beaver, squirrel and crow) and then took a walk around the backyard habitat demonstration garden.  It seems that spring is farther along there, since the red-flowering currant is already leafing out, but mine aren't.

 

Then, since it was lunch time, we drove down the hill to the playground for lunch and some play time before heading back home for a nap.  I had wanted to spend some time walking the trails there, but Annika wasn't really in the mood, so we'll have to come back another time.  It was so nice to be outside for a bit, soaking up the sunshine.

Two

There are some days as a mom when I wish I had a Paying Job to go to, where I could leave whining and tantrums and messes and poop and futility behind for a few hours (at least, that's the fantasy). We all know why the Terrible Twos are called that, and that Three is worse than Two in some respects. I will also admit that my daughter is easier than my son was at this age, but sometimes I wish we could skip right to Six.

My daughter kept asking me today if I was mad.  Well, yes, there were several times I was mad today.  For instance, when I got out of the shower to find that, while taking care of her own breakfast, Annika decided that she didn't want any more yogurt to go with her agave nectar, she would just have the agave nectar plain.  She ate half the bottle.  At least she used a bowl and spoon.

Then she would not choose any pants or shirt to wear.  She wanted to go naked.  She didn't want to wear underwear or a diaper.  I managed to compromise with her and let her go around in a diaper until it was time to take Gabriel to school.  A bit later she decided she wanted to go outside to see the airplane flying over.  Temps were in the 30's .  I told her she wasn't dressed and she couldn't go outside.  Her response:  I'll get my blankie to keep me warm!  And rubber boots!  Well, that didn't last long.

Lunch is always interesting, because she only wants PB&J, and she wants to make it herself.  I opened a brand new jar of peanut butter, and as I was messily stirring the oil into it, she stuck her whole hand in the jar and grabbed a handful.  Oil was dripping off her fingers all over.  I hastily reached for a wash cloth, but I wasn't quick enough.  She wiped it off on her clothes.  Nice.  That's going to leave a stain.

She wouldn't take a nap.  She fought with her brother.  She pooped in the tub during her bath.  She pooped at the Dr's office, immediately after she denied needing to go poop.  She dumped all the crayons out of the box and colored in one of Gabriel's books.  She doesn't want to wear a diaper but won't go potty in the toilet so she can wear underwear.  She wants to wear her backpack to take Gabriel to school, but then hands it to me to carry after only a minute or so.  She won't wear her hat on a cold morning, but heaven forbid I should try to leave it at home - I'll hear about it then! 

It can be so lonely and demoralizing being a mom.  Some days feel like I'm in a battle zone, in the trenches, trying madly to keep my sanity.  Or that I'm walking on eggshells, hoping beyond hope to avoid a confrontation because I just don't have the energy to fight her.  Not all days are like this, of course, and I am trying to learn to not take things so personally.  I think I've relaxed a bit since I went through this stage with Gabriel, and I notice more little moments to enjoy along the way.  I've learned a thing or two in the past few years, like validating emotions, letting her have appropriate choices and deal with the consequences, and even how to take care of myself.  But I still hope tomorrow will be better.

Annika's First Bus Ride

On Wednesday my Mom was in town for a conference, so I took Annika down to meet her for lunch.  This was Annika's first bus ride, and she was excited to go, but a bit nervous the whole time.  She had just gotten a plush pigeon to go with the book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and she thought it was pretty funny that she was bringing the pigeon along for the ride. 

 
We had a nice time with Mom - too short, as always, but Mom had to get home before the floodwaters forced the freeways to close.  She made it through the vulnerable area just in time.  Annika wanted to go again on the bus, so I guess we'll be planning some more trips in the future.

A Walk at the Arboretum

I took Annika for a walk to the Arboretum last Friday.  I used to get outside so much more when I just had one child at home, but Annika has missed out on some of the activities that Gabriel enjoyed.  So, off we went for an outing that I could do with my still-healing ankle.

We watched the ducks, watched the airplanes fly over, enjoyed the fresh air, and even got to observe a bald eagle perched in a tree.  It was so nice to be out again and clear the cobwebs. If you want to read the whole report and see all the photos, go here.  

Catching Up

I haven't felt much like writing here lately.  I've been writing in my journal, writing about my morning devotionals, writing about my therapy sessions, and writing to try to get a freelancing career going.  It seems I don't have much left for writing here.  Now I'm feeling kind of guilty. I haven't kept up on my 30 days of Thanksgiving at all.  It is going to be the actual holiday soon!  

Here are some photos from the past few weeks:

We went to the aquarium one day. Annika's favorite part was the octopus.
Here she is climbing on the beautiful sea otter carving:

I've done some baking.  Annika loves to help.  She gets up to her elbows in flour.

We tried a new recipe for us out of Bette Hagman's Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread book.  It uses sorghum flour as the base.  It turned out pretty good:

I taught Gabriel how to use the index in his new Usborne children's atlas, and he loves to look up places now: countries, continents, states or cities.
 I couldn't figure out how to explain looking up names in alphabetical order, but he has a lot of persistence and can usually find what he wants.

Gabriel also has been imitating experiments he has been doing in school. You can't see very well, but he is wearing his white science coat from his dress-up box. He did some sink-float experiments in various iterations. He tried toys, craft items, and spices from the cupboard.
He even cleaned up (most) of his mess without me asking him. He took a bunch of photos, and stuck with it for quite awhile. So cool!

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving - Day Twenty

I love the smell of bread baking in the oven.  We tried out a new recipe yesterday using the large squash we baked the other day.  The kids and I are intolerant of wheat, so we are trying to find alternatives to the sprouted breads we normally use.  Annika has shown an interest in "helping" me in the kitchen recently.  I remember this stage with Gabriel; trying to teach her how to measure, stir, pour, and keep from eating the flour and spreading the dough all over the counter.  I took many deep breaths to calm myself, and we got through this baking adventure fairly well.  The bread is a yeast bread from Betty Hagman's Gluten Free baking book.  I usually have to tweak the recipe in some way, and try them a few times to get them right for my oven and ingredients.  The bread smelled wonderful until it smelled like burning...I had forgotten to put tin foil on top to keep it from browning too much.  Woops!  It turned out OK, we just had to cut the crust off to eat the soft and sweet interior.  We ate almost the whole loaf that afternoon, and I made another one today.  It turned out better than the first, and we ate all but two pieces.  Gabriel even boasted that it is the only bread crust he likes.  Annika begged me to let her help bake today, but alas, it had to be done during her nap.  Oh well, I still have more squash; maybe we'll make some more bread tomorrow.