Chicken Love

This article reminded me to give thanks to Granny and my backyard flock . . . and a big 'toot toot' for all us vegetarians out there, for not eating meat. According to Yahoo News, all those recalled eggs will make their way to American bellies after all. Pardon me whilst I throw up in my mouth.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100825/ap_on_re_us/us_tainted_eggs;_ylt=Ai74pGnIUcrPbAUXp9YQaYas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFoZjJnOW9qBHBvcwMyNwRzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNlZ2dzZnJvbWlvd2E-

The Lavender Cowboy

We had our first 'school' day at our friend's gorgeous Cherry and Lavender farm on EOM. More pics are on FB. This is the most beautiful place and the girls always have so much fun when we visit. They have tons of space to run and explore. They had a tea party in the shade, beneath the cherry trees where we (tried) to talk about making tea from flowers whilst the lavender oil distillation process was going on in the background (as a means to try and explain it.) Then Anna gave them all a 'tour' of the place, which consisted of walking with Japanese parasols through the orchard to the lavender garden. You can just barely see the lavender peeking through in the distance.

When Francesca said, "We didn't really do school stuff!" (she had been really looking forward to it,) I just told her, "But we just started! We'll get better at it." She did go to Granny's directly afterwards where Francesca 'wrote' (dictated) a book about what we did, to be 'published' with pictures. We've been doing this for awhile now and we have a nice collection of books my favorite being, "Saturdays are Happiness." Speaking of happiness, when I look at this picture, it brings to mind just how honored I am to be this parent, in this life, with these friends and family. How can this picture not make you smile? Oh, the gratitude. What fortunate little children we have. And how fortunate that Erin was snapping pictures. Can she follow me around and snap pictures like this all the time? That's the only way I'm going to get pics on my blog (lame-o!)

Good Nights

At some point over the evolution of our bedtime routine, we've gotten it down to one book each (their choice, but it has to be on the short side) and then lights out and Daddy tells a story and sometimes sings a lullaby. Bedtime used to be a mommy gig, but due to Daddy being the favorite parent (because he's the one that they're not sick of) the girls want Daddy to put them to bed. (H*ll yes!) So lucky Daddy is now stuck in the interesting position of telling a story, on the fly, every night.

To my chagrin, Andrew rose to the occasion. Somewhere along the line, we started to try and remember the Tiptoes tales and retell them. You may have heard of the fairy Tiptoes Lightly (http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Tiptoes-Lightly-Pumpkin-Half-Egg/dp/1412042119/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281498660&sr=8-1.) There are a series of books about this fairy and we read them about two years ago, borrowed and checked out from the library. Now, every night, Andrew tells the girls a Tiptoes tale. He thinks of the story during his work day, and plans it out. On most nights, I can hear the girls' happy giggles while he tells their bedtime story. On nights when he tells a really great story, like last night when Tiptoes made Jeremy a surprise birthday cake, they will stumble out of the bedroom, half drunk in their giddy glee, to give me one last hug and tell me how great the Tiptoes story was that night. I'm so glad that we're finally not struggling in our bedtime ritual and everyone is going to bed in a happy, blissful state. Finally!

The thing about the "attachment parenting" style is that they tell you how you should co-sleep with your babies, but they never say how to get yourself out of that pickle. Not that I'm changing anything with Julian . . . he sleeps with us and the co-sleeper is being used as a giant laundry basket. You'd think we'd learn . . . but oh, the time it does go fast. Julian is already 9 months old. Francesca has her first loose tooth and Cecilia is well, she's just the sweetest, most tender thing I can imagine. The girls are the best of friends and play, play, play "imagination" all day long. Speaking of which, our clan has grown again. Francesca had an imaginary friend named Acrobat that is her brother and well, he's back. And he's brought Cecilia's brother, Sacrobat and now Cecilia has a special friend named Jammy, too. LOVE IT.

We're getting ready to head into our 'home school' year and I'm excited and nervous and everything else that every parent and child feel about school. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy the happy household and remember how honored we are to be parents of such sweet, smart, gentle little people. Thanks to Andrew for being a great dad and worker bee so that the queen bee and babies can have such fun every day. We're spoiled up in here.