that gwill

i was experimenting with her meaty forehead on the ride home from mccall.  sperm whale indeed.

and here she is tackling tyrannosaurus rex.  “oh, you think you want a piece of me?  well take that.”

girl is 8 months, no teeth, and ravenously interested in anything she could choke on.  both my boys liked to be spoon fed until there were like three.  but if anything gets within arm’s length of girl it get’s inhaled.  it’s like chucking something in a tank of piranhas.

i’m just hoping she will poop soon because i don’t know where it’s all going.

red barn farms

i’m finally getting some pictures shipped over from my mom’s computer.  my husband says it wouldn’t have been such a nuisance if i hadn’t taken five hundred.  but it couldn’t be helped.  this is in colton at red barn farm’s fall festival.  marc was able to meet up with his “brother from another mother” (they were born on the same day).  and our girls are all of two weeks apart.  someday they will grow up to be good friends too.

while wandering around i did come upon a solution to something that has been ailing me for some time.  i don’t like weddings.  they all have this artificial, by rote, feel to them.  but scooting along the amphitheater here, i thought it would be a lovely thing to have in one’s yard.  you could plant trees around it, host events in it, your children could grow up playing in it and then you could marry them off in the back yard.  it seems like it would tie things down to earth a little.  center things on family and history instead of consumerism.  plus, i think it would be fun raising my girls to know that someday they would get married *here*.  (think of all the mother/daughter landscape projects.)  and yes, i am going to have a big yard.

and a lot of kids, now that you mention it.  how could you resist?

when they turn out so dang cute.

another thing i bumped into was some sweet jewelry by dahlia.  someday i will fork up the $10 for that octopus.  i think we could become good friends.

and here i am with my little sis.  she claims she misses me already.  but as i recall she was tired of me stealing all her clothes.

you wouldn’t believe how many compliments i get on that ugly, yellow sweater.  i can’t afford to give it back.

we’re back

well, the camera cord is.  i’m not sure about me.  i’m about ready to go insane.  and eat you.  every one.

i need to spend some serious time with my white board is all.  hubby is exceedingly jealous of the white board.   his favorite is writing his name under the “do” list and erasing things off the home improvement section.  and not because he got them done.  that and erasing things of the “to buy” list or just erasing the “to buy” list entirely.  but yes, my brain’s going to fall out any second.

song of songs

i haven’t been blogging.  sad to say, i left my camera cord at my mum’s.  but it should be coming in the mail shortly.  i thought i would share this instead.  it’s a series on the song of solomon by that crazy man, mark driscoll.  (a little seems to go a long ways if you ask me.)

but watch one and you won’t know what hit you.  or at least watch the animation at the beginning, with the sweet, rockin’, pink bambi.

my sister’s a looker

but she makes up for it by being crazy.  ask anyone.

here she is with the young lestat and one in the oven to boot.  a girl!  we just found out today.  if she turns out any better looking than her brother or half as dangerous as her mother, folks won’t know what hit them.

shekinah raquel, vashti marlena, rhyme ophelia, juniper pietra, any votes?  (i’ve tried to reason with her but it’s no use.)  take what you can get.

tuberculosis

as she’s otherwise known. (natalie bea, tweety bea, tb, it’s just the natural progression.) for her birthday i made her a shutterfly book chronicling the 12th year of her life. sayonara scrapbooking. this was so much easier. i didn’t have to develop anything or get sticky stuff on me even.

(cop out.) although i think i still have to do the baby books the old fashioned way. easier or not.

and here natalie is, as of this morning. she let me dress her and do her hair. i went for the “nazi nanny” look. when i had her over for two weeks during the summer i couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. so i made her take a personality test. turns out she is the “upholder of tradition” and her specialty is laying down the law.

the other day some of natalie’s friends were eating dinner on mum’s couch when she walked in. “what are you doing eating on the couch? you are in violation of the law!” the four of them go, “oh comeon natalie, there’s no where else to sit.” “well i am going to eat outside.” and she huffs off so as to not be numbered among the wicked and evildoers.

then she discovered that the boys had ate her food while she left it unattended. she glared at the two of them and said very calmly, “you will die, and i will feed your flesh to the birds.” nope, you don’t want to mess with tuberculosis.

my young sons

“someone, please save me from my sister.”

if anyone wondered why i wasn’t blogging, it’s because i’m holed up in deary, idaho. my husband is climbing trees with my dad and all there is for me to do is mind other people’s business (my specialty). last week i shook out all the contents of my sister’s bedroom and put it back together in a civilized fashion. (no offense) but she had the furniture pushed into the corner, clothes in her closet from when she was four, and stuff stashed like she was a squirrel heading for hibernation.

i wish i had some before shots. i was so surprised i ended up with the above. apparently my mom had been collecting the components for some time but they had got shoved in drawers or forgotten about or overwhelmed by other elements. when i was done, she had a completely matchy room and i didn’t even see it coming.

natalie, on the other hand, was a little suspicious. she would march by the door every so often, give me dirty looks and dig things out of the yard sale pile. or tell me things like, “miranda, you can’t throw away my books because the cover isn’t attractive enough for the book shelf. give it back, i haven’t read that one yet.” but i think she has adapted nicely.

then, over the weekend, i buzzed down to walla walla and revamped my brothers boarding room/den of iniquity. three adolescents in a basement with surround sound, video games, projection hdtv, frozen foods, a pool and not nearly enough homework or conscripted labor. i could tell that i was needed.

this was a startling before an after project too. also with no before pictures. but if you just put “teenage boy minus parents plus dark hole” together in your mind, you should come up with something similar. not to be too hard on him. he’s not messy or lazy. he’s just a boy and when things work the way they are, why fix them? but he let me do whatever i wanted and usually responded to all inquiries with “i don’t care.” the proper male response, it would bother me if he did have a definite opinion about the color of his bedspread.

so i changed the hardware on his dresser, sanded/painted his bed, got matching hangers, a new futon cover, washed all of his bedding, re-washed all his clothes, organized his drawers, entreated him to fold his underwear in the future, vacuumed, windexed, changed all the light bulbs to match (very important), put up a closet rod for his shirts, hung a picture i ordered for him on the dignity of manners, and took him running in the morning to see if he would keep up the habit. if you click on the top right thumbnail you can see the the dirty look he is giving me while not so secretly wishing for me to go away.

all in all i am still very impressed with my siblings. while rooting through both their rooms i didn’t find any high school musical memorabilia, video games, seventeen magazines, skateboarding posters or a single t-shirt promoting shameless logo obeisance. instead, my brother seems to hoard knives, compasses, batteries, electrical tape and vintage ties. my sister likes books, stationary, antique dresses, and hats. apparently advertising hasn’t had much effect on either of them. both are hard to impress and hard to influence. which is strange considering that the common ailment among young people is susceptibility. you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. they poke holes in themselves, yap to much, are overly opinionated with only enough education to make themselves obnoxious, they have communal bad taste, are often spotted with white strings hanging out of their ears and don’t pull up their pants. young people, they give me the heebie jeebies. the real misfortune is that they are always last in line to die.

i think i missed them

but they didn’t miss me. the nerve. it was almost two weeks before they even remembered they had a mommy. “by the way, do we have a mom? i don’t think i’ve seen her around lately. can i have a cookie?”

they didn’t even know who i was. they called me grandma for two days straight and then upgraded me to “gran-mommy.” see if they visit again.