Stay Tuned....

Good news is on the way!!!

Hours of Fun

Mike and I taught Kaia how to play Monopoly today. Mike and Kaia played while I occasionally coached Kaia. We have the .com Special Edition, so instead of streets there are internet businesses like Yahoo! and such. Oh...not all of them are internet based, I guess...the railroads are replaced with Communications...something...Sprint, Nokia, AT&T, and ...one other one...

Anyway. It was a LONG game, but Kaia had fun - and she won! She did have help, but she played well. The hotels - I mean, the offices - you see below are hers, and the one right before Free Parking is the one that helped her win. Mike landed on it and didn't have the $950 to pay her rent, so he went bankrupt (almost all of his properties were already mortgaged).

The Teeth Just Keep Fallin'....

Adventures In Cooking

Kaia and I started a blog together! We'll both be posting in it, and it'll detail our adventures while I'm teaching Kaia how to cook. We are cooking dinners together on Saturday nights, and whenever we get a chance (hard with Ben when Mike's not home!)

The first recipe will be made tomorrow night, when we attempt home made tortillas for our burritos! Posts will include recipes, pictures, and a little bit from each of us about the experience and meal. We're both really excited to both be cooking together, and writing about it together! Stop by and tell us what you think!

www.cookingwithkaia.blogspot.com

How to Be a Perfect Hostess. Or Not.

Kaia and I sit on the floor with her pretend food and play.....


Kaia: I'm calling you on the phone...
Me: Okay. Hello?
Kaia: Hello! Would you like to come over for a visit tomorrow?
Me: Sure! What time?
Kaia: Umm....how about....4 in the morning.
Me: That's a little early for me.
Kaia: Okay, how about 4:30?
Me: I'm still asleep then! How about 9?
Kaia: Come over at 10.
Me: Okay. Can I bring anything?
Kaia: Bring whatever you like!
Me: Okay!
Kaia: I will tell you what I am allergic to.
Me: Oh...okay.
Kaia: Ummm...I am allergic to.....seeds...and nuts.
Me: Okay, I will not bring any seeds or nuts.
Kaia: And I should tell you, I am allergic to sugar carrots too. It says on the package if they are sugar carrots.
Me: Got it. No sugar carrots.
.
.
.
intermission while Kaia gathers up various foods to be cookies and I gather up a few fruits to bring.
.
.
.
Me: Okay, I am coming over!
Kaia: We haven't even gone to bed yet!
Me: I am so tired! I'm going to bed so I can be wide awake to visit Kaia tomorrow!
.
.
Me: Yawn! I slept well! Now I'll get ready to visit Kaia!
Kaia: Ring Ring!
Me: Hello?
Kaia: It'a a party now, not just a visit!
Me: Oh, okay! I'm coming over now!
Kaia: Okay.
.
.
Me: Hello! I am here for the party!
Kaia: Oh! Hello!
Me: I brought a watermelon, a peach, and a banana.
Kaia: What else?
Me: Nothing else...
Kaia: hmmm....(said quite disapprovingly)
Kaia: My son has wrecked the floor. Why don't we clean up before the party?
Me: Oh, okay.
Kaia: Or wait, why don't you leave and come back later. Come back at....umm....2!
Me: Oh, okay....I'll just leave the fruit I brought here then.
Kaia: Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Boy With Drumstick

Rabbit!

There is the cutest little rabbit living right outside our house. He's tiny! He likes my flowers...I'm okay with that as long as he stays away from the berries!

Had too much fun to take many pictures.....

I didn't take very many pictures while Andrea and her kids were here....in fact, I only took pictures while we were at the water spray park. We had a wonderful visit, and I can't wait to be able to head over there for another visit!

Here they all are, hanging out under the tree. It's hard to see Katia, but she's there!

it's comedy at its finest....

OH MY GOD. I was going to put a link, but I couldn't decide which video to link to. So go, go now, go to www.youtube.com and look up the Flight of the Conchords. Listen to "It's Business Time" and "The Humans Are Dead"...and "Albi (The Racist Dragon)" and more....

They are HILARIOUS.

garden update

The picture above was taken a few days ago. The strawberry just beginning to turn red is the one below...I let Kaia pick it today before she left with her grandparents for a 3 night visit. It's our first ripe strawberry of the season! It tasted divine.

My blueberries are still growing...no blue ones yet, but there are several promising bunches...here's the one that has the biggest berries so far....

The Anti-Plan

Wanna know our plans for this weekend? Are we gathering up things to take to a park and gaze upon the beautiful bursts of color tonight? Are we simply purchasing a few sparklers and ground fireworks to watch from our back porch? Are we headed a friend's house, a friend who just might be insane, a friend who wanted to order a kit online which promised the ability to build your own 12 inch mortar? (like we did last year, and the year before)

Nope. Nope. and sadly, Nope.

We aren't doing anything. We are enjoying our family time, gonna hang out together doing nothing, spending no money, taking no trips.

Mike has the day off today, and we have decided to make this weekend a weekend of no plans. No commitments, no hurry-and-get-ready moments.

Yep. We are planning to be supremely lazy. All four of us, all weekend.

I am so looking forward to it!

however, if we ever get a Wii.....

Yesterday at the park it once again came up that we don't have a TV. Kids shows were being talked about and when I looked blank at one character's name, one mother seems surprised I didn't know about him. (the character is Diego's brother. or sister. or someone. I DO know who Diego is.)

I said that we didn't have a TV, so I am not caught up on current kids' shows. There was a minute of silence, then all three women said some variation of "I couldn't do that! I'd go crazy!"

The truth is, I never miss TV. In the beginning, it wasn't our idea not to watch TV. In Pullman, where we used to live, you had to pay for cable to even get basic channels, and we couldn't afford that. So our TV sat in the living room and waited for us to occasionally watch movies on it. I realized that without even the option of vegging on the couch in front of the TV, I didn't miss it. I was pretty busy anyway, with working full time and taking care of my family. If I had had the TV to watch, I would have stayed up way too late anyway, and not for anything worthwhile.

However, Mike and I watched movies and, every once in a while a TV show (Heroes!), online. And after a trip to the school Kaia goes to now, we talked about getting rid of the TV itself. We'd already made the rule of no movies on weekdays, simply because I didn't want to have the homework vs. TV arguments later. After very little discussion, we decided to remove the TV. Kaia could watch her weekend movies on the laptop. The amount of room the TV took up wasn't worth the small amount of use it got.

So out it went. And again, we didn't miss it. We had a lot more room in the living room, and it actually felt much more peaceful without the looming gray screen.

After we moved, we didn't get a TV even though we'd have access to local channels now. We can watch any shows we want to online, though that's rare.

After dinner, we put Ben to bed, then Mike and Kaia spend time together, or we all three do something together. I don't have to listen to my daughter whine about wanting to watch one more show, nor do I have to hear about what new toys she wants, after watching one inane commercial after another. I never think "I wish I could watch TV, I am so bored."

In the spirit of being truthful, if I am at someone's house, and they have the TV on, I am just as likely as the next guy to get lost in it. But I am amazed when commercials come on and I see what advertising people actually expect us to believe. I am shocked at what is considered normal for kids to watch. And when I see Kaia's glazed eyes, and know the same look is in mine when I watch the screen, I thank the stars above we don't have a TV. I'd go crazy!

Rockin'