I've heard that second babies often talk later than their older siblings due to the older one stepping in to speak on their behalf. While Leah does her share of putting words (and other things for that matter) in her sister's mouth, Natalie's holding her own fairly well.
Her vocabulary is expanding each week and includes basic necessities: up, down, off, on, and "Bop," her word for book, read to me, and other actions to be carried out by us. Before she's completely fluent, I thought I'd share this video of her "talking."
I adore her little mouth and the way she forms these complicated and unintelligible phrases. At the end, you'll see Leah in her Halloween puppy costume relishing the chance to role play and look the part.
Somewhere there is a country or region that can understand what she just said.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Having a Tiny Bit of Fun
After seeing this stop-motion animation, I am fascinated by "Tilt-Shift" photography. To do it genuinely requires some sneaky lens work, but to fake it requires only a decent photo, some graphic manipulation software, and a little time.
In the wee hours of the night, I found a neat-o tutorial for GIMP and worked out a few shots that I think are worthy of sharing.
The first is a shot taken off the side of a bridge in Panama:
Here's our cruise ship in "miniature":
A view of the escarpment of the beautiful Georgian Bay of Ontario:
A Twins game at the dome:
And, finally, "toy" boats in the bay at Tobermory, Ontario:
When viewing the last one, I tend to hear the snappy tune from Mister Roger's neighborhood in my head. These also remind me of visiting a number of cities in miniature, years ago, in England. Quite a few cities, it seemed, had a Lilliputian version of themselves, and no detail was omitted - there was even a miniature version of the miniature city!
I have always loved tiny things: doll house food, train sets, and Micro Machines (I used to have the MM of this beauty). This photo manipulation technique lets me explore my perspective on life without meditation or a helicopter ride. What fun!
In the wee hours of the night, I found a neat-o tutorial for GIMP and worked out a few shots that I think are worthy of sharing.
The first is a shot taken off the side of a bridge in Panama:
Here's our cruise ship in "miniature":
A view of the escarpment of the beautiful Georgian Bay of Ontario:
A Twins game at the dome:
And, finally, "toy" boats in the bay at Tobermory, Ontario:
When viewing the last one, I tend to hear the snappy tune from Mister Roger's neighborhood in my head. These also remind me of visiting a number of cities in miniature, years ago, in England. Quite a few cities, it seemed, had a Lilliputian version of themselves, and no detail was omitted - there was even a miniature version of the miniature city!
I have always loved tiny things: doll house food, train sets, and Micro Machines (I used to have the MM of this beauty). This photo manipulation technique lets me explore my perspective on life without meditation or a helicopter ride. What fun!
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
It must have been the cookies...
We are a happy happy household tonight. Most of our good cheer is due to the events of tonight that be printed boldface in history textbooks henceforth. Some of it is because we're all on a sugar high.
Leah and I made "Obama Cookies" this afternoon in hope that they would become victory victuals after the polls closed and the results were submitted. The recipe is a basic butter cookie set from Martha's Everyday Cooking. We rolled out the dough, cut big circles with a drinking glass, and cut small circles from the larger ones using the removable center part of the blender lid.
The recipe made two tall stacks of "O"s plus a couple of flag experiments.
I ran out of powdered sugar so I couldn't make a royal icing, but I did have some leftover cake frosting and it worked, more or less, in a pinch.
They're tasty with or without frosting, look pretty cute, and totally did the trick. Yeee-haw!
January 20th can't come fast enough. We are so proud of you, Barack!
Leah and I made "Obama Cookies" this afternoon in hope that they would become victory victuals after the polls closed and the results were submitted. The recipe is a basic butter cookie set from Martha's Everyday Cooking. We rolled out the dough, cut big circles with a drinking glass, and cut small circles from the larger ones using the removable center part of the blender lid.
The recipe made two tall stacks of "O"s plus a couple of flag experiments.
I ran out of powdered sugar so I couldn't make a royal icing, but I did have some leftover cake frosting and it worked, more or less, in a pinch.
They're tasty with or without frosting, look pretty cute, and totally did the trick. Yeee-haw!
January 20th can't come fast enough. We are so proud of you, Barack!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Ongoing Goings On
(Say the title a few times and you'll sound like a bunny.)
Welcome back to another exciting edition of:
WHAT THE SAM HILL HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?!
Today's featured family is the Karger Tifts from marvelous Minnesota. They've settled into their new home nicely and seem to be doing well despite spending nearly all day every day under the same roof. Let's check in and see exactly... WHAT THE SAM HILL HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO!
Our last visit into the Karger Tift residence left us on pins and needles, wondering if those dear, eyeball-shedding caterpillars would make it through to the next metamorphic milestone.
Well, faithful readers, not only have Joe Mauer and Monarch Boy successfully undergone significant insectile changes, but they've emerged from their gilded chrysalises to reveal their true identities as Josephine Mauer and Monarch Girl! Unfortunately, it is probably too late in the year for the butterflies to make an attempt to migrate, so they will most likely winter over (read: croak) in the care of Leah and her mommy. It's been a wild ride, Monarchs!
The family's youngest member, Natalie, has traded in her patella-free knees for a pair of tasty little feet. She's a walkin' talkin' goofball and is in almost constant motion. Every day she gets a little sturdier and a little faster and her doting parents couldn't be prouder. (Video note: Relax, the strange gurgling sound you may hear at Natalie's approach comes from her throat, and not from... well, you know. This video was also abruptly ended when Natalie's curious little sausage fingers managed to nab the camera from her mommy's hands. Thankfully no one was harmed.)
Our featured family hasn't spent all it's time behind closed doors. So let's take a look at the Karger Tifts during some of their recent outdoor activities.
Darling Leah and her mother joined Grandma Jan's 3rd and 4th grade cherubs on a field trip to a local garden where on one visit, they planted cloves of garlic. Mmmmm... garlic. Jan's class adored Leah and boys and girls alike took turns carrying her as if she was aged a mere quarter of her years. The kids were great. The instructors at the garden were great. The day was great.
The family of four also trekked back to their previous residence in Wisconsin to raise many glasses of good brew with friends, ring in the big 3-0 for Marnie's not-so-younger-anymore brother, and to see what if anything had changed in the fair MadTown since they had left two months before. Once again, Marnie failed to take as many photos as she should have, but she did manage to click one at the zoo here,
and one of a beautiful, old truck parked by Matthew's work building.
They just don't make 'em like they used to, right folks?
And with the return of fall, that strange period when Demeter begins her annual mourning over the loss of her foolish daughter, comes the requisite family tradition of visiting an apple orchard/pumpkin farm. Yes, the place that totes camera-eyed city slickers around on straw bale seated flat beds pulled by ancient Farmalls, the place where for a moment you get swept up in the colors and smells of harvesting and you toy with the idea of dropping everything to be an apple breeder, the place where grandparents shell out more money than you should ever pay for a single pumpkin only because it's the one that their doe-eyed granddaughter picked out, and the place where eating a carmelled apple feels like the healthiest, most god-given act a person can do on a Saturday afternoon. Incidentally, it's also the place where you can let your kids play in a giant corn silo. Leah, ever able to transform into some variety of wildcat, used the opportunity to play the role of a poor, captured cheetah, separated from her family and turning wilder by the second.
Back at home, our charming featured family, stuck to more domestic activities. Leah enjoyed working on a little Halloween craft project sent to her from her very bestest buddy, Nate, back in Madison (Thanks Nathan!),
Matthew attacked the deck with a power washer and a scrub brush-- the prep work necessary to ready the deck for resealing,
and they all enjoyed tearing into a Jack-o-Lantern pizza for din-dins.
With the falling leaves (and acorns, branches, and myriad other tree debris), there is real, genuine, unfiltered sunlight slanting through the windows into the Karger Tift house for the first time in their possession. During the season when the daylight hours lessen, the rooms are brighter and more cheerful than ever. The irony is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Exclamations and exaltations are spoken frequently as members of the house sight bright boxes of light on the carpets, or as they find they can prepare meals in the kitchen without additional light sources. Perhaps they won't become blind cave rats afterall.
Jack, the family dog who thinks he's a cat, finds these new sun patches exceptionally wonderful.
Ahhhhhhh.
Well, that's it for our show today folks. Please join us again some time for another exciting and informative edition of WHAT THE SAM HILL HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?!
[cue music]
[fade lights]
Welcome back to another exciting edition of:
WHAT THE SAM HILL HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?!
Today's featured family is the Karger Tifts from marvelous Minnesota. They've settled into their new home nicely and seem to be doing well despite spending nearly all day every day under the same roof. Let's check in and see exactly... WHAT THE SAM HILL HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO!
Our last visit into the Karger Tift residence left us on pins and needles, wondering if those dear, eyeball-shedding caterpillars would make it through to the next metamorphic milestone.
Well, faithful readers, not only have Joe Mauer and Monarch Boy successfully undergone significant insectile changes, but they've emerged from their gilded chrysalises to reveal their true identities as Josephine Mauer and Monarch Girl! Unfortunately, it is probably too late in the year for the butterflies to make an attempt to migrate, so they will most likely winter over (read: croak) in the care of Leah and her mommy. It's been a wild ride, Monarchs!
The family's youngest member, Natalie, has traded in her patella-free knees for a pair of tasty little feet. She's a walkin' talkin' goofball and is in almost constant motion. Every day she gets a little sturdier and a little faster and her doting parents couldn't be prouder. (Video note: Relax, the strange gurgling sound you may hear at Natalie's approach comes from her throat, and not from... well, you know. This video was also abruptly ended when Natalie's curious little sausage fingers managed to nab the camera from her mommy's hands. Thankfully no one was harmed.)
Our featured family hasn't spent all it's time behind closed doors. So let's take a look at the Karger Tifts during some of their recent outdoor activities.
Darling Leah and her mother joined Grandma Jan's 3rd and 4th grade cherubs on a field trip to a local garden where on one visit, they planted cloves of garlic. Mmmmm... garlic. Jan's class adored Leah and boys and girls alike took turns carrying her as if she was aged a mere quarter of her years. The kids were great. The instructors at the garden were great. The day was great.
The family of four also trekked back to their previous residence in Wisconsin to raise many glasses of good brew with friends, ring in the big 3-0 for Marnie's not-so-younger-anymore brother, and to see what if anything had changed in the fair MadTown since they had left two months before. Once again, Marnie failed to take as many photos as she should have, but she did manage to click one at the zoo here,
and one of a beautiful, old truck parked by Matthew's work building.
They just don't make 'em like they used to, right folks?
And with the return of fall, that strange period when Demeter begins her annual mourning over the loss of her foolish daughter, comes the requisite family tradition of visiting an apple orchard/pumpkin farm. Yes, the place that totes camera-eyed city slickers around on straw bale seated flat beds pulled by ancient Farmalls, the place where for a moment you get swept up in the colors and smells of harvesting and you toy with the idea of dropping everything to be an apple breeder, the place where grandparents shell out more money than you should ever pay for a single pumpkin only because it's the one that their doe-eyed granddaughter picked out, and the place where eating a carmelled apple feels like the healthiest, most god-given act a person can do on a Saturday afternoon. Incidentally, it's also the place where you can let your kids play in a giant corn silo. Leah, ever able to transform into some variety of wildcat, used the opportunity to play the role of a poor, captured cheetah, separated from her family and turning wilder by the second.
Back at home, our charming featured family, stuck to more domestic activities. Leah enjoyed working on a little Halloween craft project sent to her from her very bestest buddy, Nate, back in Madison (Thanks Nathan!),
Matthew attacked the deck with a power washer and a scrub brush-- the prep work necessary to ready the deck for resealing,
and they all enjoyed tearing into a Jack-o-Lantern pizza for din-dins.
With the falling leaves (and acorns, branches, and myriad other tree debris), there is real, genuine, unfiltered sunlight slanting through the windows into the Karger Tift house for the first time in their possession. During the season when the daylight hours lessen, the rooms are brighter and more cheerful than ever. The irony is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Exclamations and exaltations are spoken frequently as members of the house sight bright boxes of light on the carpets, or as they find they can prepare meals in the kitchen without additional light sources. Perhaps they won't become blind cave rats afterall.
Jack, the family dog who thinks he's a cat, finds these new sun patches exceptionally wonderful.
Ahhhhhhh.
Well, that's it for our show today folks. Please join us again some time for another exciting and informative edition of WHAT THE SAM HILL HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?!
[cue music]
[fade lights]
Monday, September 15, 2008
New Babies & Old Babies
After I had completely neglected the beautiful hibiscus that Jan gave to us as a housewarming gift (sorry again, Jan), I felt a pang of pre-emptive sympathy when she returned a few weeks later with a plastic box holding a tiny monarch caterpillar.
"Sorry lil' guy," I thought. "You probably won't last long here."
But not only have I been wrong about the longevity of this striped larvae, but I was wrong about the quantity as well. Leah and I are the current custodians for not one, not two, and not even three young monarchs, but FOUR! Jan accidentally gave us the "surplus" box of babies rather than the box with a solitary crawler in it, much to our delight. Perhaps it's telling of my dim-witted-ity that we discovered one additional caterpillar over the course of three days rather than at once.
There's no miscounting these days, and now that two of the four are over an inch long, they are much more obvious in their enclosure. (If you can zoom in, you might be able to count all four of them in this shot.)
Leah named them all, in order of our discovering them. The first, and currently largest, is Joe Mauer, named after her new hero on the Twins team - she wears his shirt every day. Next is Stripey Guy, then Monarch Boy, and finally Joe Nathan, another Twins superstar. She wanted the name the fourth one Joe Mauer as well and have two Joe Mauers since they look the same. I persuaded her otherwise for the sake of identification, and she was o.k. using the pitcher's namesake since it was also "Joe."
So here is Joe Mauer on about day 6 of hatching. He's (or she's - is there a way to know yet?) got a bit of a wonky antenna that helps us point him out. He's exploring a fresh leaf of milkweed, looking for a good munching spot. Leah calls it "numshing" which I have to say, I like better than "munching" after all, when we eat something delicious, we often make noises along the lines of "numsh - numsh." :)
And here is little Joe Nathan fresh from molting his old skin AND EYEBALL THINGIE! I suppose everything's gotta go when you're a molting caterpillar... still... it's kinda creepy. The pile of grey-black stuff on the right (off of the tail end if you will), is the old skin, and the round object on the left is the old head/eyeball thingie - there's probably a very nice scientific name for that part. Creepy, but neat.
One thing I don't think I ever knew about monarch larvae, or really any bug for that matter, is that these guys poop a lot! It's called frass and it looks like little tubular pellets. Sure it makes sense that if they eat pretty much all day, they're bound to have to excrete a portion of it, but whoo-mama! That's a lotta frass.
When we're not staring into the clear box of frass-shooters, we're watching and encouraging the "old baby" in the house perform her latest trick: walking! Natalie's up and ambulatory! She's very tippy and overexcited about it, so she's falling more often than standing, but she can definitely take a dozen steps toward something if she wants and she has even stood without assistance as well. As if this wasn't enough, she's adding words to her repertoire every day. I think Matthew and I realize that she is hardly a baby anymore and that these changes, as we've seen them occur in her older sister, will come even faster and more abundant in the weeks to come. We'll try to get a little video of her performing one of these days.
Yep, the only babies in the house now have sixteen legs and shed their eyeballs. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. :)
"Sorry lil' guy," I thought. "You probably won't last long here."
But not only have I been wrong about the longevity of this striped larvae, but I was wrong about the quantity as well. Leah and I are the current custodians for not one, not two, and not even three young monarchs, but FOUR! Jan accidentally gave us the "surplus" box of babies rather than the box with a solitary crawler in it, much to our delight. Perhaps it's telling of my dim-witted-ity that we discovered one additional caterpillar over the course of three days rather than at once.
There's no miscounting these days, and now that two of the four are over an inch long, they are much more obvious in their enclosure. (If you can zoom in, you might be able to count all four of them in this shot.)
Leah named them all, in order of our discovering them. The first, and currently largest, is Joe Mauer, named after her new hero on the Twins team - she wears his shirt every day. Next is Stripey Guy, then Monarch Boy, and finally Joe Nathan, another Twins superstar. She wanted the name the fourth one Joe Mauer as well and have two Joe Mauers since they look the same. I persuaded her otherwise for the sake of identification, and she was o.k. using the pitcher's namesake since it was also "Joe."
So here is Joe Mauer on about day 6 of hatching. He's (or she's - is there a way to know yet?) got a bit of a wonky antenna that helps us point him out. He's exploring a fresh leaf of milkweed, looking for a good munching spot. Leah calls it "numshing" which I have to say, I like better than "munching" after all, when we eat something delicious, we often make noises along the lines of "numsh - numsh." :)
And here is little Joe Nathan fresh from molting his old skin AND EYEBALL THINGIE! I suppose everything's gotta go when you're a molting caterpillar... still... it's kinda creepy. The pile of grey-black stuff on the right (off of the tail end if you will), is the old skin, and the round object on the left is the old head/eyeball thingie - there's probably a very nice scientific name for that part. Creepy, but neat.
One thing I don't think I ever knew about monarch larvae, or really any bug for that matter, is that these guys poop a lot! It's called frass and it looks like little tubular pellets. Sure it makes sense that if they eat pretty much all day, they're bound to have to excrete a portion of it, but whoo-mama! That's a lotta frass.
When we're not staring into the clear box of frass-shooters, we're watching and encouraging the "old baby" in the house perform her latest trick: walking! Natalie's up and ambulatory! She's very tippy and overexcited about it, so she's falling more often than standing, but she can definitely take a dozen steps toward something if she wants and she has even stood without assistance as well. As if this wasn't enough, she's adding words to her repertoire every day. I think Matthew and I realize that she is hardly a baby anymore and that these changes, as we've seen them occur in her older sister, will come even faster and more abundant in the weeks to come. We'll try to get a little video of her performing one of these days.
Yep, the only babies in the house now have sixteen legs and shed their eyeballs. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. :)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
You're Blushing!
My face always flushes with blood: when I laugh, cry, become embarrassed or in any way the center of attention, and when I exert energy at any level beyond sleeping. And there's almost always some smart-alec right there to point it out to me. Thank you very much.That's sarcasm, but in all sincerity, I wish to send big thank yous to the following fine folks who have recently featured my work on their blogs and consequently made me blush, bow my head, twist my toe in the ground, and utter an "aww... shucks."
THANK YOU, Emily at The Scoop for her beautifully photographed "un-boxing" of the Bubble Box you purchased from my shop.
Along with the extra publicity, it is truly nice to know that the little touches I include with my sold items are appreciated. As an Etsy buyer, I know I like those little surprises. Speaking of buying, please pop in to Emily's shop here or her gorgeous Web site here and browse her lovely, lovely works. I'm partial to her pieces with this quote as it was in my Dad's arsenal of utterances when my brothers and I were exceptionally whiny brats.
THANK YOU, Jon and Rachel at paper & planes for the feature and description of my handcut cards. I love that you title these sorts of posts, "Crafty People." Contraversial arguments and t.v. drama aside, I really wanted to be a guest on Rosie O'Donnel's show when it was running, just so she could yell in my face, "You're so CRAFTY!" Coming from such a crafty team, you guys have fulfilled my wish with your post and you saved me a plane ticket to L.A. :) Here is one of Rachel's signature works available in her Etsy shop.
THANK YOU (belatedly), Jason at The Best Part for featuring my topo cards on your slick design blog. Again, big time blushing for being included in such talented company.
THANK YOU (again, way late), Jessica at {Black. White. Yellow.} for highlighting my topo cards. She's got a clean blog, a creative mind, and a bright, refreshing Etsy shop where she sells fun things like these:
THANK YOU (beyond late), Ez at Creature Comforts for liking and mentioning my aqua topo cards. Seeing them with the other lovely blue selections makes my cheeks turn pink. She too has an Etsy shop with charming items like this one:
THANK YOU, Dunie Jam at Djanuartha for featuring a whole bunch of my topo cards. It's so cool how people make different connections to these pieces, from maps and architecture, to lakes, cells, and other biomorphic shapes. Abstract art calls for abstract reactions. :)
THANK YOU, Monica at of paper and things for getting your "daily paper fix" (I love that) from my topo cards. O.K. I'm not alone in the world with being a bit obsessive about paper. I love the smell of new books (some old ones too depending on where they've been), the feel of a solid ream of printer paper, the slice of a clean cut of cardstock... it's crazy, but that's a little bit of heaven for me. I think I could live in a paper store, except that I would never sleep. Perhaps Monica would come visit me there. :)
THANK YOU, Jennifer at Badassical (how fun is that name?) for including my bubble cards in her collection of cellular favorites. Again, I'm impressed and inspired by the abstract takes on my oddly shaped cut-outs. Jennifer pulls out some other fun and funky cell-related pieces too - this was one of those blog posts that lead me on a chain of Web sites that kept me up way past my bedtime.
Whew! I think that's all for now. Now do you see why I'm blushing so much? It's a good problem and nothing a little hard work at my craft table won't cure.
I apologize to all the folks who read this blog hoping for updated photos of the girls. You're just going to have to come visit us to see 'em! :) We're headed to the state fair this afternoon and if I remember to bring the camera, I hope to have some photos to share with you soon.
Golly, it's been almost a year since we did this. Wheeeeeee!
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Whassup? A quick and dirty pictorial review
*gasp!*
We're still breathing! We're still kickin'! We're moved in! Here's a shabby excuse for a decent blog post, told with amateur photos and cheesy captions, in an attempt to retell the events of the last month. Bless your hearts for sticking with this blog-a-ram-a.
Here's what our dining room looked like the day before Matthew backed the enormous U-haul in the driveway:
Here's the area formally known as the "living room":
Jan had the distinct honor/pleasure/chore of placing the first of a bazillion boxes into "Mom's attic" in the back of the truck:
And here it is - our house. in a truck.:
While on this subject, let me post for future home movers to read and take into thought. We rented a U-Haul that was listed as big enough to hold everything from a 4 bedroom house. We had a 2 bedroom house. We packed nearly every cubic inch of this puppy. Every truck-size estimate we had read recommended half the truck we ended up renting. Thank goodness for gut instincts. And thank goodness for the brilliance and calm demeanor of our amazing helpers (Jim, Scott, Jen, big shout out to you three!) who found ways of filling this truck tighter than Schwarzenegger in a SmartCar.
We said goodbye to our little home on Wednesday morning (the 30th), flew through the closing without a hitch, were homeless for just over 24 hours, closed on the new house on the 31st and had every single stinkin' box out of the truck and into the new place in under three hours. Once again, tireless help saved our hides, our backs, and our sanity.
A "teaser" photo of the empty, broken boxes heaped in the corner of our new garage. (I promise a little tour later - promise.):
The weekend after our move, we took a little break to attend the annual lake community picnic near the cabin. Leah and Matthew's cousin Holly tried their hands at the water balloon toss and I felt horribly inadequate at having not sufficiently trained Leah in the fine art of water balloon tossing and catching. Catching was a hurdle in itself, but Leah's overhand fastpitch didn't serve up a delicate catch for her partner. Still, she was cute in her little tutu swimsuit and string bean leggies:
Speaking of L.B., she rang in her fourth revolution around the sun this week. Here she is demonstrating her skill at speaking and showing the number, "four":
And here she is looking incredibly old. How can this be my baby girl? When did this little person take over my toddler's body?
With the start of the summer olympics again (did you SEE the opening ceremony?), Matthew and I recall sweet moments of watching the events four years ago with a tiny baby on our laps. Those first few days at home were surreal and blurry, but precious and ingrained in our brains. We are amazed and awestruck that the little floppy fuzzhead of four years ago has grown into this verbose, quick-brained, cheetah-lovin' monkey sleeping in her bed in her own room upstairs. Everyone always says it, "they grow up so fast." Four years has never passed more quickly or more happily.
Love you l.b.
We're still breathing! We're still kickin'! We're moved in! Here's a shabby excuse for a decent blog post, told with amateur photos and cheesy captions, in an attempt to retell the events of the last month. Bless your hearts for sticking with this blog-a-ram-a.
Here's what our dining room looked like the day before Matthew backed the enormous U-haul in the driveway:
Here's the area formally known as the "living room":
Jan had the distinct honor/pleasure/chore of placing the first of a bazillion boxes into "Mom's attic" in the back of the truck:
And here it is - our house. in a truck.:
While on this subject, let me post for future home movers to read and take into thought. We rented a U-Haul that was listed as big enough to hold everything from a 4 bedroom house. We had a 2 bedroom house. We packed nearly every cubic inch of this puppy. Every truck-size estimate we had read recommended half the truck we ended up renting. Thank goodness for gut instincts. And thank goodness for the brilliance and calm demeanor of our amazing helpers (Jim, Scott, Jen, big shout out to you three!) who found ways of filling this truck tighter than Schwarzenegger in a SmartCar.
We said goodbye to our little home on Wednesday morning (the 30th), flew through the closing without a hitch, were homeless for just over 24 hours, closed on the new house on the 31st and had every single stinkin' box out of the truck and into the new place in under three hours. Once again, tireless help saved our hides, our backs, and our sanity.
A "teaser" photo of the empty, broken boxes heaped in the corner of our new garage. (I promise a little tour later - promise.):
The weekend after our move, we took a little break to attend the annual lake community picnic near the cabin. Leah and Matthew's cousin Holly tried their hands at the water balloon toss and I felt horribly inadequate at having not sufficiently trained Leah in the fine art of water balloon tossing and catching. Catching was a hurdle in itself, but Leah's overhand fastpitch didn't serve up a delicate catch for her partner. Still, she was cute in her little tutu swimsuit and string bean leggies:
Speaking of L.B., she rang in her fourth revolution around the sun this week. Here she is demonstrating her skill at speaking and showing the number, "four":
And here she is looking incredibly old. How can this be my baby girl? When did this little person take over my toddler's body?
With the start of the summer olympics again (did you SEE the opening ceremony?), Matthew and I recall sweet moments of watching the events four years ago with a tiny baby on our laps. Those first few days at home were surreal and blurry, but precious and ingrained in our brains. We are amazed and awestruck that the little floppy fuzzhead of four years ago has grown into this verbose, quick-brained, cheetah-lovin' monkey sleeping in her bed in her own room upstairs. Everyone always says it, "they grow up so fast." Four years has never passed more quickly or more happily.
Love you l.b.
Friday, July 11, 2008
...and Here it is!
Phew! Just cleared off the cyber cobwebs from this here bloggerino, lubed up the thinkin' gears, worked a passel o' photos into the bucket, and we're ready to roll. So sit back, relax, have a cold one handy, and set yer mouse to auto-scroll, 'cause we've got some catchin' up to do.
What the heck have we been up to for over a month? Some of you already know, but here's the detailed and pictorial explanation.
Most importantly, we rang in a full, first year of breathing, crying, laughing, drooling, kicking, crawling, babbling, pooping, burping, squealing, wonderful life for Miss Nat-o. Like everyone said she would be, she is very different from how Leah was as an infant, yet she brings us a very similar sense of amazement, joy, and that other, deeper, parent feeling we can never express without getting choked up. "Every day's a new day. Every time, I love ya!"
Speaking of "spiral staircase," we also had a chance to spend the fourth of July at the cabin in MN. It was a beautiful weekend and I think we all got a chance to take a break from everything else. We found a little edge of curb in Annandale to watch the parade, and stayed until Leah got to see a horse (alright, it was a pony - part of a local "pioneer" back-in-time tourist attraction - and the poor thing was being dragged along by an equally suffering Laura Ingalls-esque woman who tried in vain to calm the lil' fella every time Buffalo Bill shot blanks out of his hip pistol). The best part, pictured below, was the electric bass duo in one of the marching bands. Bet they didn't have these in the civil war (although the bass line for Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" might be cheeky).
While we were in Minner-snow-ta, the two NCTs (Natalie and her uncle Nathan) compared foot sizes,
Leah spent most of every day in the water,
Natalie wore her swimsuit for the first time (she never wore it on cruise!),
and we were frequented by this great blue heron a few times a day.
What were we doing across the border, you ask? Well, we were looking at houses, of course! (Insert sound of news breaking) Yep, we are selling our lovely little house in MadTown and moving to what we hope to be "the" house in beautiful Shorewood. Both deals go down at the end of the month and there still seems to be a bazillion little steps between then and now.
I know I will miss this house, this neighborhood, this city, and being so close to our friends. But the new house, along with having enough room for us to get lost and have to yell to each other, will cut our drive time to see Matthew's folks down from 5 hours to 15 minutes, and the drive to see my folks from 9 hours to just under 4. And that will be sweeeeeeeeeet!
Jack ponders life in the new house - he's going to love the carpeted stairs!
You know what else is sweet? (Are you gagging on the segues yet?) A scone from Lazy Jane's on Willy Street. I have never liked scones before having one of these babies.
If you live nearby and have not had one, move your behind there and order two or three right now. If you have tried one, go back and get some more! O.k., while Lazy Jane scones are some of Madison's most awesome treats, my ulterior motive for urging you in its direction is to check out the cards next to the bakery case. Look familiar? They're mine! The lovely and talented Cari (mudandmint on Etsy) offered to buy a small wholesale set to sell at the cafe. She plans to offer stamps as well so that patrons can buy a card and a stamp, sit down with their scone and latte, write a little somethin' somethin' to someone, and send it out - how sweet is that? I was so excited to deliver them, I was shaking.
In addition to selling my cards internationally for the first time, I have also been filling more custom orders. One dear person requested modified versions of my popular "topo" cards. The first set has all white layers cut to look like violins.
The other set has graduated shades of blue layers cut to look like cellos. This was a new challenge and I enjoyed making them.
Another crafty soul (scrappygrasshopper on Etsy) had the genius suggestion of turning the cards into larger wall art pieces. So, I created three 5 x 7 topo-style pieces in shades of coffee brown for her.
I'd love to be able to make really big ones like this (say the size of a whole Strathmore sheet), but I haven't found paper with such subtle color changes in that size, and I have no idea how I'd ship them without charging arms, legs, and first borns. Any ideas? I think the closest I can get right now would be something like multiples or a triptych of 12 x 12 pieces. They would be cool, but wouldn't necessarily have that "OMG!" factor.
Well, pard'ner, you've come a long way since you first opened this post. Thank you, kindly. To show my sincere appreciation for your in'ner'est and time, please enjoy this photo of a sweet per-tay-ter vine blossom. Idinit purdy?
(I have no idea why I felt the need to throw some southern dialect in here. Perhaps I wanted the softness of a well worn saddle to help ease you back into the blog...) Happy Trails.
What the heck have we been up to for over a month? Some of you already know, but here's the detailed and pictorial explanation.
Most importantly, we rang in a full, first year of breathing, crying, laughing, drooling, kicking, crawling, babbling, pooping, burping, squealing, wonderful life for Miss Nat-o. Like everyone said she would be, she is very different from how Leah was as an infant, yet she brings us a very similar sense of amazement, joy, and that other, deeper, parent feeling we can never express without getting choked up. "Every day's a new day. Every time, I love ya!"
Speaking of "spiral staircase," we also had a chance to spend the fourth of July at the cabin in MN. It was a beautiful weekend and I think we all got a chance to take a break from everything else. We found a little edge of curb in Annandale to watch the parade, and stayed until Leah got to see a horse (alright, it was a pony - part of a local "pioneer" back-in-time tourist attraction - and the poor thing was being dragged along by an equally suffering Laura Ingalls-esque woman who tried in vain to calm the lil' fella every time Buffalo Bill shot blanks out of his hip pistol). The best part, pictured below, was the electric bass duo in one of the marching bands. Bet they didn't have these in the civil war (although the bass line for Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" might be cheeky).
While we were in Minner-snow-ta, the two NCTs (Natalie and her uncle Nathan) compared foot sizes,
Leah spent most of every day in the water,
Natalie wore her swimsuit for the first time (she never wore it on cruise!),
and we were frequented by this great blue heron a few times a day.
What were we doing across the border, you ask? Well, we were looking at houses, of course! (Insert sound of news breaking) Yep, we are selling our lovely little house in MadTown and moving to what we hope to be "the" house in beautiful Shorewood. Both deals go down at the end of the month and there still seems to be a bazillion little steps between then and now.
I know I will miss this house, this neighborhood, this city, and being so close to our friends. But the new house, along with having enough room for us to get lost and have to yell to each other, will cut our drive time to see Matthew's folks down from 5 hours to 15 minutes, and the drive to see my folks from 9 hours to just under 4. And that will be sweeeeeeeeeet!
Jack ponders life in the new house - he's going to love the carpeted stairs!
You know what else is sweet? (Are you gagging on the segues yet?) A scone from Lazy Jane's on Willy Street. I have never liked scones before having one of these babies.
If you live nearby and have not had one, move your behind there and order two or three right now. If you have tried one, go back and get some more! O.k., while Lazy Jane scones are some of Madison's most awesome treats, my ulterior motive for urging you in its direction is to check out the cards next to the bakery case. Look familiar? They're mine! The lovely and talented Cari (mudandmint on Etsy) offered to buy a small wholesale set to sell at the cafe. She plans to offer stamps as well so that patrons can buy a card and a stamp, sit down with their scone and latte, write a little somethin' somethin' to someone, and send it out - how sweet is that? I was so excited to deliver them, I was shaking.
In addition to selling my cards internationally for the first time, I have also been filling more custom orders. One dear person requested modified versions of my popular "topo" cards. The first set has all white layers cut to look like violins.
The other set has graduated shades of blue layers cut to look like cellos. This was a new challenge and I enjoyed making them.
Another crafty soul (scrappygrasshopper on Etsy) had the genius suggestion of turning the cards into larger wall art pieces. So, I created three 5 x 7 topo-style pieces in shades of coffee brown for her.
I'd love to be able to make really big ones like this (say the size of a whole Strathmore sheet), but I haven't found paper with such subtle color changes in that size, and I have no idea how I'd ship them without charging arms, legs, and first borns. Any ideas? I think the closest I can get right now would be something like multiples or a triptych of 12 x 12 pieces. They would be cool, but wouldn't necessarily have that "OMG!" factor.
Well, pard'ner, you've come a long way since you first opened this post. Thank you, kindly. To show my sincere appreciation for your in'ner'est and time, please enjoy this photo of a sweet per-tay-ter vine blossom. Idinit purdy?
(I have no idea why I felt the need to throw some southern dialect in here. Perhaps I wanted the softness of a well worn saddle to help ease you back into the blog...) Happy Trails.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Y'all Ready Fo' Dis?
And by "Dis" I mean, are you ready to start saying that Natalie is year old yet? Me neither. Good thing we have another month before we have to!
Today is Natalie's 11-month birthday, and while I didn't (yet) take her portrait on ye olde purple recliner, I did get one of her being her typical "lil' stinker, cutie pie, magoo" self in the high chair after lunch.
Photos are great, but we get such a better idea of what she's really like with a little video. So here it is. I briefly interviewed Miss Nat-O about her thoughts as she reflects on the last 11 months. She responds, but I think instead of answering my question, she is relating to me the trouble she's been having with today's bm. See for yourself and imagine her telling you about her recent intestinal woes.
Not to worry, everything moved swiftly about an hour after I filmed this.
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