Happy Birthday, Jesse!

Jesse Blackthorn Alexander Krentz is THREE-YEARS-OLD.
Loves: climbing anything and everything; sweet things-- especially chocolate; beans (green black, pinto, etc.); Chuck E Cheese; implements of destruction; being loud; bad guys
Likes: super heros, meat, string cheese, motorcycles, trains, monster trucks, balls, ladybugs, things that light up and make noise
Hates: water in face, scraped knees, no dessert, going to bed

Sister and brother

Mimi comes to visit

Last week, Jyl came to visit us all the way from Florida. We took her on a ferry ride to the Olympic Peninsula to go clam digging. Unfortunately, we got there when the tide was high and all the clams were snug in the mud, far from prying hands. The kids "swam" in the bay, and the rest of us enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery.
 
I think that Elena really looks like her Mimi! What a little beauty she is becoming.

We are so grateful that Jyl is willing to take the time and expense to come hang with us for a few days, despite our crazy schedules, loud and demanding children, and lousy weather. She even put up with staying in our new "guest suite"... aka, in the basement, down the treacherously steep stairs. Thanks for coming, Jyl, we love you!

Wonder Kids

Last week, a catalog of Halloween Costumes graced our mailbox. The kids were immediately intrigued and after looking through all the costumes-- everything from werewolves to fairies to Darth Vader-- Elena decided that she wanted to be Wonder Woman and Jesse chose Green Lantern. Neither kids have actually seen either character in book or film, but I guess they are officially in the Super Hero phase of life. I am just thrilled that Elena is out of the pinky-pink ballerina princess phase of life and has adopted a stronger role model. Ballerina princesses are awfully pretty, but Wonder Woman is fierce and powerful and smart and good! And she kicks some serious butt and flies an invisible jet (which I never really understood, since you can actually see her flying through the air in a seated position.) So to nurture my emerging feminist, we watched a bunch of Wonder Woman clips on YouTube, including the fascinating "Origins of Wonder Woman, the Amazon Princess."
Elena made a sign announcing her new passion. It reads, "Woo-hoo (Whoo)! It's Wonder Woman! Wonder Woman (Wudrwmin)!"
Then she practiced the Wonder Woman symbol. A lot. Then we watched more YouTube clips to see her "moves." I steered her away from Lynda Carter dancing around in lingerie and more towards the old-style animated stuff.
Then I went to the fabric store and found some American Flag fabric on the sale table (can you cut American Flag cloth? I assume it is okay since it was marketed as fabric and not... a flag.) We also dug through the hand-me-down box and found a blue skirt and a red shirt that could be easily altered and painted on. Not shown are the boots made from the red and white stripes, awesome protective bracelets made by Kevin from cardboard and tin foil, and Diana's royal crown. Ellie was so thrilled by the outfit that she wore it to school the next day, wondering many times out loud whether her teachers and friends would recognize her at all, or simply think that Wonder Woman was coming to visit Chelsea House Montessori!
Not to be outdone, Jesse got a costume, too. I found two green shirts (one made into a leotard) and the green pajama bottoms from the consignment shop down street. Then I made the iconic lantern symbol on the front. We are still working on the mask, ring, and the lantern. Honestly, I haven't actually figured out who Green Lantern is... I had never heard of him before, and I think Kevin might have told them a few Green Lantern bedtime stories, which he later admitted to making up completely. Oh well, I am sure there will be many YouTube clips in our future. In any case, both kids are in high heaven, running around saving things and being powerful. They have pretty much kept their outfits on night and day for the last few days. What a totally fun and rewarding end of summer project to do with the kids.

Welcome to our death trap

Are you worried sometimes that you worry too much? Feel like you are hovering over your kids just waiting for an accident to happen? Well, take a page from our book, and learn how to grab on to those needless, silly fears and shake them till they go away. First, fill a baby pool up with a few inches of water-- go ahead-- make it nice and deep-- then leave your kids there to play for a good hour while you fool around on house projects. If you are really feeling brave, put the pool in the sun, and don't put sun screen on those tender bodies. Make sure it is good and hot, and the middle of the day. Trust me, you will thank me for this.

Then, cut a huge hole in your floor. Leave it there, with little more than a few random dining room chairs scattered around it, for about a week. Make sure you entice your children about what lies beneath by telling them all about the fabulous play room you are creating for them. Leave out your tools-- sure, even the electrical ones-- while you work. The sharper and more deadly the tools, the better. Once you get the stairs installed, you can actually start taking away the kids' toys and throwing them down the stairwell. Make sure the stairs are so incredibly steep that they are actually illegal to have in your house.

If you and your children are still alive at the end of the week, you have survived your first immersion session in becoming less of a worry-wart! Congratulations! Now go clean out that koi pond and 12-foot waterfall before I beat you to it.

Hydrangeas

This summer has been a great one for our hydrangeas. We have two huge bushes in the front with the most gorgeous blooms you have ever seen. Luscious clusters of blue, gray, and green. I have filled the house with vases of them and just can't get enough. The best part is that they are MINE. How did I get so lucky that I get to walk out into my garden and fill my arms with these amazing flowers? Beauty!

Labor Day

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Kevin has been working very hard on the stairs! Today, he finished the railing around the top, and I moved all the kids' toys into the downstairs play room. We still need a handrail on the steps, and some major painting, light fixtures, etc. downstairs, the major renovations are done. You can see from the photo of the whole living/dining room that the stairs really don't take up very much space at all. The hole in the floor is about 4.5 x 3.5 feet, and the access to the basement gains us two rooms-- one about 9 x 10 feet, and one 14 x 14 feet, not to mention all of our storage space. Nice!!

And then there were two

I love having chickens, I really do. But honestly, they can really be a pain. The fresh eggs are great, they are fun to watch, and extremely low maintenance, but they poop everywhere and ruin my garden. This is not a problem when they are literally cooped up, but the poor dears (especially the younger ones) manage to escape the coop one way or another a couple times a week. Then the eggs... so many eggs! I was giving them to strangers on the street and my kids were so sick of them they started feeding their portions to the dog when I wasn't looking. Phoebe already was getting a fresh raw egg every day-- she would wait patiently by the coop till I retrieved one for her, then gently carry it around till it cracked, then lap it up. Then the winter: keeping chickens in the winter is miserable. It rains so much here that the coop turns into a bog of grossness and then the chickens all stop laying because it's so dark, and I am faced with the inevitable: I am paying money to drag myself through the rain, dark, mud and poop, to feed a bunch of ungrateful little creatures who give nothing in return... hmmm.... So, I decided we needed to reduce our flock and last week, I sold three of the ungrateful gals to some deeply appreciative (and rather naive) Seattle folks off of Craigslist. Nobody wanted our oldest gals, so we said goodbye to Fern, Good Friday, and Miss Scarlett. When we gave away Good Friday, the hen we hatched in our kitchen, Elena burst into tears and then made some very therapeutic drawings of the lost hens. Betsy and Maybelle remain-- two beautiful, reliable hens, who will provide us with good eggs on most days, not get too cheeky and escape, and are already the best of friends.

Wolf tone eliminator

Kevin has invented a modular magnetic wolf tone eliminator for the cello. It is easily attached to the cello where the wolf is produced and deadens the vibrations. I am not entirely sure how the typical mass-produced wolf-tone eliminator works, but apparently, Kevin's invention is much better and he has had enough cellist friends requesting one that now he put together a bunch of kits, and... if you call now, you can get not one but TWO wolf-tone eliminators for the low, low price of $24.99. That's right folks-- a lifetime guarantee to cure all of your pesky wolf problems. Sleek, simple, and amazingly effective, you will not want to leave the house without it. You never know when you might run into a wolf!

Dear Eliza,

There is a hole in my floor. Kevin decided that the time had come to put in our spiral staircase in the dining/living room so that we can access the basement. Because of the rental apartment, we cannot get to one back bedroom and our basement storage area without walking through Carolee's space. With the smallest, steepest, most deadly stairs in place, we will gain one guest room/play room-- both badly needed. Kevin and his contractor friend, Tom, cut the hole a couple weeks ago, and last weekend, Kevin (with a little bit of help from me), put in the stairs. Stay tuned for "after" photos of the new wing of our house! Kevin continues to amaze me with his ingenuity and work ethic-- what a great husband!