Today was a happy/sad day.

We went to Rattlesnake Lake and the kids really enjoyed themselves. There were lots of rocks, and plenty of lake to throw them into. That's all they require for a good time :)

It was a heckuva lot of a driving to and fro though. Yikes. It may be possible that we spent more time driving back and forth than we spent at the lake! Its even more likely that Ethan talked more on this drive than he has total in the past month. That kid can talk up a storm, and most of it is Bob the Builder related. Didn't help that we were passing construction sites non-stop on our route.

Oh, and thanks to Ethan, Gwen now knows how to say "No" and she uses it frequently, mostly when she is mocking us while we try to correct her behavior. That girl, I tell ya, is gonna be trouble :)

I heard some frustrating news about a lady that I hold dear to my heart and its just not fair or right that this is happening to her again. I wish I could stop it for her.

Sometimes it seems that I'm just not cut out for this motherhood thing. There is very little joy in it for me and I just do what I'm expected to do, what I have to do, and what I should do. It seems as though very little is done because I desire to do it. Its not like I expect butterflies and roses and rainbows every day or something, but I find so little enjoyment in being a stay at home Mom.

Sigh. Maybe I'm just over-tired right now. Its been a long and exhausting birthday.

Busy busy.

Tomorrow is my birthday :) We are leaving early to go to Rattlesnake Lake up by North Bend for a hike. Rather, we'll hang out at the lake while the others (mainly from Mom's church) do the bike ride. Should be fun for the kids.

Jason told me what he's doing for me on Friday for my birthday. We're going to Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle. I've wanted to go there for like, forever, so I'm thrilled that he's taking us there. Think of Cirque Du Soleil with dinner :)

Haven't blogged because we have been very very busy.

Les & Karen and Nicole came by on Saturday for a visit. Was very good to see them... haven't met up with them since the kid's birthday party. Les is being deployed next month so he wanted to see everyone before he goes. The kids had a great time playing with them. Nicole left later in the evening (she lives in Seattle, yet we never see her!) and Les and Karen spent the night, which was fun. We really enjoyed them being here.

Sunday, after they left, we took the kids to Catherine Creek Park in Lake Stevens. It was scaldingly hot and because this was an older style, all-wood playground with metal slides, well, the kids weren't too set on doing too much. They did manage to wear themselves out though and we got some cute pics which I'll try to put up later.

I've also been... occupied... with this game we downloaded on the XBox. Texas Hold 'em. Oh, its so addictive. What's worse is that I couldn't stand to watch Jason play online with his account and not be able to myself, so I signed up for an online account as well. Therefore, if anyone wants to add me to their XBox friends list and play some online games, my tag is "Au Lait" (no quotes). Not that I need to have something to distract me during the day, but it would be very fun to have a friend to game with :)

Err... this Thursday is someone's birthday. Do you know who? Guesses?

Well its me! And I will accept any token that you, my humble readers, may want to bestow upon me :)

I made this for dinner tonight, last minute. It was fairly quick and surprisingly tasty. I quadrupled the recipe for leftovers and if anything, I would have made a bit more sauce then it called for (maybe just a couple more sloshes of cream). I also used a can (probably could have used 2 cans) of peeled and diced tomatoes, drained instead of the cherry tomatoes. Oh, and instead of fresh basil, I used some dried Herbs de Provence

CHICKEN PASTA SALAD IN CREAMY CURRY DRESSING

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

1/4 pound rotelle or other spiral-shaped pasta
1 whole skinless boneless chicken breast (about 3/4 pound), poached and cut into bite-size pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)
5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 scallions, sliced thin
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil leaves

For the dressing
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh gingerroot
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon curry powder
dried hot red pepper flakes to taste
1 tablespoon finely chopped drained bottled mango chutney, or to taste

In a large kettle of boiling salted water cook the pasta for 10 minutes, or until it is tender, refresh it in a colander under cold water, and drain it well. In a large bowl combine the pasta, the chicken, the tomatoes, the scallions, and the basil.

Make the dressing:
In a skillet cook the garlic and the gingerroot in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until the garlic is softened, add the cream, and cook the mixture, whisking, until it is thickened slightly. Whisk in the vinegar, the curry powder, the red pepper flakes, and the chutney.

Add the dressing to the pasta mixture, tossing the salad to combine it well, and season the salad with salt and pepper.

Serves 2.

Mom and Jenni came over today and we all worked our tooshies off in preparation for Les and Karen coming to visit this weekend. Our house was so messy! But my Mom, as always, got us back to the happy place of a mostly clean home and just a few more things need to be done tomorrow to have everything in good shape. Not perfect, but good :)

I'm worn out though and so shall end this blog right here.

Wanna see something really cute?

Today when I was putting away the kids laundry, Gwen went into the playroom/spare bedroom and came back with a doll. Now, up to this point, neither child has been that interested in dolls, playing house, etc.

But it looks like they are interested now, especially Ethan! He carried that baby around and diapered it and wiped it and even nursed it. SO cute. When we came downstairs, he showed baby all the pictures of family I just put up and even carried her outside. Gwen helped too.

What is really funny about this picture is that its exactly how Gwennie is nursing much of the time... I guess he really notices these things :)




Proud Daddy!


Coloring baby with sidewalk chalk


Gwen telling him of the dangers of drawing on babies. She proceeded to wipe it off.

If you could say a little prayer for me and my headaches. They continue on, almost non-stop, for nearly two weeks now. Most of the time I can manage, other times I struggle. Ugh.

Here are some pics we've taken with the new camera. Note the vast majority are of Gwen, because she loves the camera :)







What started as a fun game (i.e. pull Gwennie off the chair)...


ended with this...

Just another quick note to brag about our new toy. J won a gift certificate at LinuxWorld and we put that towards upgrading to a better digital camera. After 4 years, numerous bumps and falls and a whole heck of a lotta pictures, the old dear just wasn't doing her best anymore.

So, we got a super awesome Canon Rebel. The best feature, IMO, is the super fast picture taking. On our old one you had to wait 3-4 seconds for the picture to snap... usually losing whatever cute expression you wanted to capture. This one, its instant. I'm sure there are other nice features, but this one to me, is the coolest :)

The kids have worn us ragged. They are just little adorable monsters as of late. We are hitting the pillow and zonking out dead tired every night. We were just discussing tonight how its so much harder right now than when they were little babies. And people said it would get easier. Ha!

Hey there.

I'm still around, but have been at my Mom's all week. Just came back on Friday and that was a crazy day and then we were gone all today visiting at Mom's church camp. Wow, are we sooooo tired and worn out. Have had a persistent headache all week that was briefly resolved last night with migraine meds. Will probably have to dose again tonight though. Ouch.

Blog more later.

We have some squirrels living in our tree in the backyard. There is, what we thought, was a birdfeeder, but now seems to be a squirrel feeder :) I had put some birdseed in there and it was gone within 2 hours, so I moved on to larger things like peanuts and dried maize. So far, its really attracted quite a show. This morning the kids and I ate lunch while watching 2 squirrels and a cat fight it out. Then, a bluejay showed up later and followed the squirrel around while it buried its food and pecked it back up. Another cat came later for another show, then of all things, a RAT! Yes, it was definitely a rat. Long skinny tail and grey body... up there stealing peanuts. The kids go bonkers and Tilli gets all uptight. Fun stuff.

Today we took Ethan to get his hair cut and he did SO good. It wasn't even a kiddie place. So proud.

I ended up making meatloaf and mashed taters for dinner and it was delish. Probably my best meatloaf ever. Ethan ate an absurd 3 helpings.

Jason leaves Sunday to go to San Fran for a big internet convention or something. I'll be here till Monday (my Mom will have a full house over the weekend with cousins and aunts and such), then we'll probably stay there through Thursday or so. Wednesday, Becki is going to meet us at the Woodland Park Zoo for a few hours. Should be fun! Thursday I'm thinking of taking the kids in, finally, for their 1 and 2 year portraits. Its always such an ordeal, but it MUST be done. I'm hoping to rope my Mom and Jenni into going with me for support.

Last couple days have been just very emotional for me for no real reason. I find it hard to watch a sappy commercial or hear a sad song without tearing up. And no, its not THAT time of the month or anything :) I think it must be part of this depression I'm struggling with. All my emotions feel very raw.

Um, that's all for now. Off to bury my nose in a book.

I forgot to mention yesterday...

Tilli is now up on the Weimaraner Rescue Page. You can click here to see her listing: http://westwaweimclub.org/RescueTilli.html

Well I do have something to blog about today.

Shelly (bless her) came over on her way back from Mom's and babysat so I could get out of the house.

I went to Lowes and got a bunch of stuff, including some lava paver things for a path to my hose, a coat rack with shelf for my entry, a pull out shelf for my pots and pans (won't fit, so will have to go back) and some critter corn to feed to the squirrels that have been raiding our bird feeder. Then I went to the grocery store and picked up some odds and ends.

Really, I could spend all day in the car alone. I find driving so relaxing. Probably wouldn't find it that way if I was commuting every day!

After getting home I got the kids off to bed and laid the pathway. It looks really good. I also installed the shelf and made a small repair on one of the porch chairs we bought. All this, added to the work I did before Shel arrived to make the house presentable made for a very active day.

Hence, we had some ham and brussel sprouts for dinner :) It was the best I could eke out of my tired bones.

I suppose I should say something of interest before everyone stops reading my blog.

Um.

Hmmm.

I often find frogs on the side of our house and hiding behind things in the yard.

Ethan can't stop singing and Gwen can't stop dancing.

Sorry to say that's it. Nothing of any interest whatsoever has been going on lately. Just same old, same old.

I have accumulated a massive number of books from the library. On such varied topics as making knitted or rag rugs, nursing toddlers, a historical fiction series set in a Middle Eastern desert, the life of Alfred Kinsey (very fascinating), a number of books by Tom Wolfe (currently on Bonfire of the Vanities) and an accidental repeat of a book I read awhile ago, but may re-read since its here.

To save Jason's sanity, I've divided the books into upstairs and downstairs books. I tend to start many books and read them all at once. Usually I leave them spread all over the house, turned over, or with scraps of paper sticking out. Drives Jason bonkers. So I'm trying the upstairs/downstairs system. All my upstairs books are on a dresser, all the downstairs ones on the piano. Seems to be working fairly well, and I'm going through them at a fast clip.

Whew.

We are exhausted.

The kids have reached a point where, I just have to believe, they are at their critical mass as far as energy and mischievousness goes. It is literally non-stop around here, and for the last two days they've not napped at all which has also added to the fun. They want everything, and mostly have the skills to get whatever they want. The kids are really starting to interact physically now, which means lots more spills and accidents and owies and crying. Crazy.

Yesterday we met Grammy and Poppa at a cool park by their house and let the kids play. It was quite nice in the shade, quite scorching in direct sunlight. The kids had fun.

Today I did massive amounts of yardwork, pulling up the overgrown and weeded beds on the side of the house. Some sort of plant with a bulb and weird rooty things took quite a bit of effort to hoist up. I planted some hen and chick plants (sorry, don't know their real name) to do just basic groundcover. I think once I get all the overgrowth pulled up, we'll have room for a small storage shed back there by the gate, which would be really nice. I did hack away at my hydrangea plant and finally cleared a path to the hose outlet there. The former owners were living in a jungle!

After Jason got home I ran out to the grocery store, then made beef stroganoff for dinner.

Tomorrow we're dropping Tilli and the kids at my Mom's and driving out to Oak Harbor to pick up two really cool patio chairs I got off Craigslist. Originally we were going to take the kids and make a day trip of it, but right now, neither of us feel like entertaining the kids for that long of a trip. So, we're going to take a quiet, restful, long drive all by ourselves and enjoy it! We used to take random road trips all the time when we were without children. Most often to the coast, but sometimes just following the freeway to wherever we felt led.

Mentally, I'm getting by. I'm not in a good or healthy place right now. I feel very weak in spirit and emotion.

I'm am very down.

Very very down. Words could not express how depressed in spirit I'm feeling at this time.

I heard from the rescue folks last night that they have a possible home for Tilli with a family in Kirkland. They'd like to have her for a weekend to see if she is a good fit. I'm going to try and run out this week to get her up to date on shots, nails clipped, and all her medical records.

Today we took Gwen to her doctors appointment. Amazingly, our little peanut has not yet broken the 20lb mark.

She weighs:

18lbs, 12oz (5%)

and her length is:

30 3/4 inches (75%)

She's doing great. She got her MMR shot and so far there has been no reaction. I hate that shot.

We had my favorite salmon dish for dinner.

We spent the weekend at my Mom's while J was in Spokane. Mom and Dad got a new dog... He was one of my Aunt's puppies that she sold 5 years ago and due to a change in situation, the folks couldn't keep him anymore. His name is Joey and he's very mellow and very well trained. He's huge too, just like Gabe. So far he seems to be fitting in really well. Next time I'm over there I'll snap some pics.