Balloons

We finally made it down to Indianola last night to watch the hot air balloon races. It was hot, so we sat back pretty far on the field so we could stay in the shade. It was the first year we actually went out to the take off field, which means you pay to get in and be closer. Unfortunately the wind was in the direction *away* from the seating, so once they went up, they went away. Not a great view. But still fun for the 15 min. it took for most to get off the ground. We'll have to go next year toward the beginning of the week, as someone just told me more balloons go up at that time (around 100). We took some photos, ate some carnival food, and Jack played in some inflatables. All in all a good evening.





The Purple People Eater blowing up

Full sized PPE

Some of the other shaped balloons: an enchanted tree (the penguin balloon is hiding behind it), and a space shuttle)


Jack had a good time in the inflatables. He ran through an inflated train obstacle course:



Benj had fun sitting with daddy

Jack REALLY loves lemons, and sucked on this all night (and all the way home)

torture

95 degrees, hot and humid, and a torturous view of a neighbor's backyard:


a closer look at how unfair life is sometimes

(notice that even the sunflower peers longingly over the fence toward the pool...)

random photos and etc. etc. etc....

the day started out well with a delivery from UPS of my favorite coffee:

i *thought* i had blogged about grounds for change before, but i can't find it in my backlistings. i know i sent out an email to friends about this place, though, so i'll keep it short: fabulous coffee, amazing eco-and-social-friendly company, packaged in all recycled papers, 1% back to the community, carbon-free emissions... coffee lovers, Check It Out.

anyway, i was organizing our digital photos and saw a few that i thought would be fun to post. no rhyme or reason, and maybe uninteresting in total. but fun for a few of you.
tummy time

the only thing this pack'n'play gets used for these days: a hide-out for the cats from jack

benj's first time holding a toy for himself

the boys cuddling

jack's inner battle on whether to grow up or stay little

jack loves the mulberry tree in our backyard. i happen to think mulberries are tasteless enough that they don't merit being picked for eating or baking. but they fall all over the rocks and playset and top of the sandbox top, and jack loves to crawl around and eat them. so do the birds. he has stained many a pair of shorts this way.


he always finds a way to clean off after a mulberry hunt, though


i tried to upload a fun little video, but for the upteenth time, i failed. i guess my blog isn't meant to have videos.

good times

i really love weekends. especially in the summer. there are what seem like endless fun things to do, plans to make, and relaxation to enjoy. this weekend was another great one, even though not all of the plans came to pass. on saturday morning some highschool friends and i hosted a small bridal shower for alicia (the bride-to-be in last weekend's posting). i am still in touch with about 10ish people from my highschool days, 6 of us who are still in regular contact and 4 of us that get together once a month for girl time. we are spread across the country but have stayed close. somehow in h.s. we came to call ourselves the "rebels." we were all pretty goody 2 shoes, but i believe the roots of this name lay somewhere in an explanation of us being rebellious in our own unique ways... anyway, the name stuck and we still refer to our times spent together as "rebels" gatherings. hence the shirts you see us wearing in the following photos. it was lots of fun. the wedding is in 2 weeks and i'm looking forward to the trip!

i'm not sure how i managed to not capture our beautiful brunch spread on camera, but i did. there were mimosas and carmel soy lattes and gluten-free muffins and a delicious omelet/hashbrown casserole. good food. oh yes, and my hand-picked bouquet of wild flowers (my idea of "decorating").


benjamin and shelby represented for the next generation of "little rebels."

interestingly, benjamin and shelby are 2 weeks apart. shelby is swimming in her onesie, which is 3-6 month size. ben's is nearly busting at the seams, which is 6-9 months size.

poor mike did not have a tee shirt


today we got the clothesline up in the backyard and tried it out for the first time--success!

my husband says to me, "now, have you ever hung clothes on a line before? do you know how?" i thought that was nasty sarcasm. turns out there are a few tricks to the trade which he kindly demonstrated (which he learned from years of doing it on the farm.) who knew?

we had plans to go down to indianola to see the warren county fair and the hot air balloons. benjamin was all dressed up and ready for his first fair:

but mother nature had other plans. we had the car packed up with picnic food and had plans to meet friends there, where we would grill and watch the balloons pass over. instead, it rained. and flooded our backyard, as usual:


the above photo shows the sad story of our dwarf lilac bushes. we planted 8 of them earlier this summer along the fence line. the 5 on the left are doing well, growing and thriving. the 3 on the right are continually flooded out when it rains. 2 are barely hanging in there, and one is nearly dead. not sure what we'll do with that.

so we stayed IN for dinner. but the carlson family still came over, as did our old friend from drake, abby. we are so happy that abby has recently moved back to the des moines area with her 2-yr-old son, jackson (he shares a birthday with benjmain!) so that we can begin seeing her more often. jack and caleb had fun playing together (and fighting over toys), and the adults enjoyed catching up. i'm still holding out hopes to get to the balloon festival this week sometime before it ends. if so, i'll be sure to take some photos. those who have never been to one may be surprised at the sheer mass of balloons, color, and beauty!

How can you tell when you aren't ready to potty train?

When you wear your potty as a hat


When you use your potty as a stool


When you forget to put the bowl in the potty


When you carry your potty into the kitchen


When you are more interested in the box your potty came in.

Oh, wait, maybe there's hope. Someday.

the many uses of hp

on my (gradual) quest to live a more chemical-free lifestyle, i went googling hydrogen peroxide today in an effort to find out if it needs to be diluted or used straight as a common household disinfectant. i'm constantly cleaning off jack's table in the playroom since he leaves cheerio and cracker crumbs all over it, then colors on it, crawls on it, sneezes on it...you get the picture. i don't like the idea of using chemical disinfectants since he eats off it. i bought a spray bottle at lowe's to keep hydrogen peroxide in for these little tasks. i discovered a site that gives tons of uses for hp which i hadn't considered. i like random bits of knowledge, so thought i'd share: snopes.com uses for hydrogen peroxide. i specifically like suggestions #1, #2, and #8.

to be or wish to be: that is the difference

I took Hawkeye on a walk this morning after Jack went off to daycare, since I figured it would be too hot to do so later in the day. I realize that his time spent at daycare should be time spent writing a dissertation, and yet, here I am. Back from the walk, still not writing a dissertation, but writing a blog posting. Thanks, Steph, for watching Jack so my thoughts and legs can meander a bit sans toddler. Heh.

On my walk, I found myself pondering many of the things about my life that I wish were true, followed by the realities of my life that are. I consider myself a very happy and thankful person. I'm happy with everything I have and am and love. I'm thankful for the privileges I possess, from having the choice to stay home with my children and watch them grow while they are young, to having enough $$ to buy a latte when the urge strikes, as well as an able mind and healthy body to do most things I strive to do. There are few things I would change about my life if given the chance. And I always try to remind myself of that, if not daily, then every so often. I think it's easy to get caught up in the "if only"s and the "once __ happens, everything will be good"s. Many of the challenges I face on a daily basis are so trivial that it's easier for me to keep things in perspective; there will always be more dishes to wash, more laundry to fold, another tantrum to quell, another feeding (diaper, spit up, mess...) to tackle.

With that said, I still ruminate on those things I'd like to change about myself or my life. They are minor in the grand scheme of things, but things to strive for nonetheless. I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions, though I appreciate the opportunity they provide for setting a start date for big changes in one's life. For me, changes have always come slowly and gradually, as I am the kind of personality that needs time to adjust and come into things rather than spontaneously go for it. So I'm using this little personal entry here to get my thoughts out onto...cyberspace, in order to have a list I can SEE. Which, I hope, will help me to come to some conclusions as to what I can change. Or at least what I am interested in working toward. Thinking out loud, I guess. With other people's eyes overseeing.

What I found myself thinking this morning: I wish I were the kind of person who woke up at 6:00AM every morning, feeling refreshed, no matter what time I went to bed. I wish I then took the opportunity to go for a jog while the others in the house slept, taking the dog with me to get him some exercise and one-on-one time. Upon returning from the jog, I wish I would take a shower and get dressed for the day, then make a pot of coffee and have a healthy homemade smoothie for breakfast. I wish that then I actually sat down with the newspaper (or at least the morning television news) and educated myself on current events. Then, and only then, would I feel 100% ready for the children (and husband) to get up and start their day. In reality, I doubt I could accomplish all this in the alloted 45 minutes from waking at 6 and everyone else's waking time of 6:45. But I *wish* it were that way. I've always wanted to be one of those morning people who jumps out of bed and takes advantage of the sunrise to get all sorts of things done, and enjoy some personal downtime. Goddess knows I need down time.

Continuing on with my wishlist, I wish I could truly commit myself to working REALLY HARD for the full 4 hours at daycare (pending Benjamin's cooperation). I wish I would feel a sense of accomplishment after every work day, knowning I have the ability (not just the potential) to really finish this thing. Hey, while we're wishing, I wish the dissertation was already finished and PhD in hand, so I could focus on other wishes. But that's just wishing away. Teehee. I wish I was committed to dissertation work as I am to blog postings.

I wish that instead of considering myself "on the verge" of making a healthy lifestyle change (in terms of exercise and diet), I would just do it. I wish I would make time to exercise every single day, no matter what. I wish I would push myself to make healthier choices with snacks, no matter what. I have the ability, I just don't have the motivation. I wish I would do this so I could finally lose the extra 25 lbs of baby weight (from *both* pregnancies) and snuggle into a comfortable and healthy BMI again, along with a stronger sense of self-esteem (okay, okay, and pants that actually fit).

I wish I would take more time in the evenings away from the television, and outside with a book, instead. I wish I took more time to read for fun, period. Not just parenting magazines, but fiction and non-fiction and newspapers and even books on Puerto Rico.

I wish to cultivate a hobby. I have no hobbies. I'm serious. I don't know how to knit (and attempts at crocheting went horribly wrong), like many friends. I don't have a particular sport I choose to take part in. I don't do art (though I'd love to have the talent to do so). I have a black thumb, so gardening is out. I enjoy cooking, and I do my fair share, but it's usually in the form of "go, go, go!" to get as much done as possible and move onto other things. I love to travel, but, well, you know the answer to that right now. And can travel really be a hobby? Reading could be a hobby. But we've already covered that.

I wish I still volunteered at local animal shelters. I miss that. It was terribly rewarding. Of course, I spent so much time at the IC shelter in the cat room, that I spent a lot less time on my comps. But I digress from wishing.

I'm at the point now where I'm wishing I spent less time wishing and more time doing. So what can I do.... looking at this list, I think it's safe to say that all my wishes are doable given the motivation and commitment needed to accomplish them, but given my current circumstances (two kids under two and a dissertation to finish), they are not doable all at once.

The reality of my mornings is that I wake up when Mike and Jack wake me up at 6:45. I may get a shower in if I'm quick. Otherwise, I only have enough time to get dressed and try to juggle Jack's breakfast, Ben's morning feeding, and packing Jack's bag for daycare. Once he and Mike walk out the door, I try to wash up the breakfast dishes, eat my own breakfast, get Benj snuggled into the wrap, and exercise Hawkeye in whatever form. At this point, it's usually 8:30am. I pick Jack up from daycare at 11:45am (ish). This can be used as good work time, but inevitably some of this time gets spent catching up on email, finishing odd jobs around the house I started the evening before, and putting out small fires created by Benj and Hawkeye. When I finally sit down to work in earnest, it takes awhile to get into the groove. Then I finally do, and get on a definite streak of productivity, and realize that it's 11:30 and I need to get Benj out of the wrap, changed and fed before having to pick Jack up. So I'm usually running late to daycare. Good thing it's only a 5 minute walk. Then it's lunch time, get Jack down for nap time, and usually I try to get back to whatever I'm working on with the diss. Sometimes that works, sometimes not. Jack naps for 2 hours while I try to get diapers washed, an afternoon snack prepared before he gets up hungry, dishes again, prep for dinner done, and Hawkeye exercised (yes, again.) Of course, this entire day is puctuated with countless diaper changes of two children and feedings for Benj. Once Jack gets up, I have an hour to entertain him in the backyard or otherwise until Mike comes home. When Mike gets home at 4:15ish, he takes the boys and I finish getting dinner ready. We eat at 5:15ish, then have a bit of playtime left until Jack starts his bath/bedtime routine at 7pm. I usually start feeding Benj while Mike puts Jack to bed, since at 7pm he starts his "I need to sleep and thus need to nurse constantly" routine. Mike comes downstairs, we watch a Netflix or whatever taped on the DVR that evening, and go to bed. Done. That's my life, pretty much every day. It's happy and fine, but I do love the weekends and Mike's other days off when I can mix it up a bit by actually LEAVING the house to, gasp, go to Target or grocery shopping or whatever else.

I realize none of you care to read the narcissistic details of my daily life. As I said, this entry is more for me than anything else. But writing it out helps me to see where I have room for change and where I need to just accept things as they are.

What probably won't change any time soon:
--I think it's safe to say that volunteering is out for awhile, as it takes a good stretch of time to leave the house and do it. Once Benj is no longer nursing so often, maybe I can fit it in.
--reading the newspaper in the mornings
--learning a new hobby
--becoming a morning person....I could *try* to get up at 6am, and maybe I'd eventually get used to it, but it's darn hard to do so. I can admit that.

What could definitely change:
--I can certainly make better efforts to use all daycare time on diss. work
--I can obviously commit to healthier eating, and maybe even a jog once a day after Mike gets home from work
--I could attempt to read a book in the evenings and take a pass on t.v. (this means about 0% time spent with Mike on weekdays, but I guess we don't talk much during a movie anyway...)

Okay, this is good. For me. To know what I want to do and what I, in reality, will take the time and effort to do. I think this list will be good for me to look back on. Thanks, folks, for allowing me the indulgence of pondering aloud.

Weekend check-in

Just checking in for the weekend. It's once again a nice, relaxing one. Friday we got to see some friends from Rochester, MN who were in town for a family gathering. The Davis family stopped by with their two kids, who played with Jack awhile. They are expecting their 3rd and we (well, at least I) will be eagerly watching to see how it goes with 3 children ;)



That evening we went to Court Avenue Brewing Co. downtown, one of our favorite restaurants to go for a nice, casual meal, and had some good beer and food. Now that all IA restaurants/bars are smoke-free as of July 1, it brings brand new horizons to our dining pleasure. It was nice to be able to walk through the bar to get to the restroom and not have to pass through a giant cloud of smoke.

Saturday I did some major Target shopping to get the final gifts I needed for a bridal shower, bachlorette party, and wedding of my close friend from highschool, Alicia. Saturday evening Mike and Jack went to BBQ at the Carlson house, while I took Benj with me to Alicia's combination 30th birthday party/bridal shower/ bachlorette party/ honeymoon preparation party. It was great fun with a tropical theme, and 6 fabulous women to share good drinks and laughs with. Here are a few photos (they even look tropical, as my camera was set to "cloudy" so it cast a warm hue onto every photo I took):






Today my brother and his new girlfriend, Beth, stopped into town and we had lunch at a new sushi spot by the mall. I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo of the maki rolls we ordered--this place is by the far the best with maki presentation of any place I've ever been. Beautiful, colorful, HUGE pottery platters are used for displaying the rolls, and they have so much decor about them you hardly want to eat them. Our favorite is the Amazing Roll, which has mango and avocado and eel and all sorts of other treasures in there. So, so good. My camera was again pretty grainy today (I need to put it back into auto focus, I think), but here are a couple shots of Adam and Jack and his new dearie with the kids:



Benj was very tired out from this weekend of visits and visitors:

Trade offs

Some of you know we are in the process of getting rid of our battery-run lawnmower, the Neuton 4.1. This was our first purchase after we chose our house. We were still in NYC, but had already signed the papers on our house here and had 2 months till moving time. We knew we needed a lawnmower, and we knew that lawnmowers are not regulated like vehicles, and thus spew out a lot of emissions and use a lot of gasoline. So we found the Neuton mower, which got great reviews. We bought it, we loved it. Quiet (we can have conversations while mowing), so lightweight, and easy to use. I was the main mower for the first couple years. But the downside is that it's tiny--only a 14' wide blade, and is recommended just for yards no larger than a 1/4 acre. Ours is bigger since it's a corner lot, and one battery couldn't make it through the mowing session. So we bought a 2nd. Even so, the number of passes you have to make to cover the lawn with such a small mower takes long enough to nearly force you into heat exhaustion on 95 degree Iowa summer days. So Mike got annoyed one day and went to Lowe's for a gas mower. Well, actually there was a transition-- a neighbor purchased one of those push-mowers and gave us her old gas mower, which was on the fritz. That got us through about a month of mowing, until it died. (It went quickly on Freecycle, though, so someone out there must think they will be handy enough to fix it.) Neuton has a larger mower now available, but the cost of that plus 2 new batteries would have put us at nearly $600, and we weren't willing to go there just yet. Anyway, Mike bought a gas guzzler.

I feel guilty about this little step backwards in our quest to live more eco-friendly lives. I'm not sure that using the biodegradable trash liners actually is an equal trade-off for pushing around a gas mower every 4-5 days for 6ish months of the year. So in an effort to be more eco-friendly in other areas, we ordered a compost tumbler, and I'm looking for a clothes line to start hanging up diapers and other clothes to dry. I've been wanting to try the clothesline thing for awhile, but it often slips my mind. Thanks to our next door neighbor, who just bought one, I'm motivated to find my own. So that's on the list. I hear that sunlight naturally..sanitizes (is that the word??) diapers and takes the stains out, so hopefully we'll be pleasantly surprised. I'll have to stay on it, though, since we go through diapers like wildfire, and they'll need to dry quick in order to keep Benj's bottom covered. Mike tells me we simply cannot put jeans or jean products on a line as he hates the feel for it, but all else is fair game (even undies? hmmm, that could be interesting).

On the composting front, we already have a homemade bin that we made a couple years ago and set up in the garden. We got a few wooden pallets from Lowe's that they were going to trash and made a 3/4 box shape to put around the pile. Unfortunately, though, we are really bad about going out and turning the pile. We also lack the necessary brown material (carbon sources) like dry leaves and straw, etc., to keep it going well enough. All we add is kitchen scraps, which is too much green (nitrogen) material and larger items like banana peels take too long to compost down. So we are going to have to make some strides to do better, but the tumbler is our first step. No more pitchfork turning, just a few turns of the barrel each day and it does its thing. Hopefully this will eventually enrich our horrible garden soil, which is dry and rocky and far from fertile. Our tomato plants are about a foot high; that's how bad it is. Compounded by my generally black thumb, little grows here at our house. But I'd like to get some gardening stuff in next year for Benjamin's baby food, at least, so the compost will hopefully help with that if I can make it work!! We went with the Organic Compost Tumbler, btw.

Trade offs for Mother Earth. Hmm. Hopefully in the future, when the gas mower dies, we'll be ready to plunge back into battery-mowing. And hopefully by then they'll have a larger more useful model for larger yards. Until then, if anyone is interested in our Neuton 4.1, let me know. It's listed on Craigs list, and I had one interested gal, but so far no definite takers.

Daycare blog

Steph put up a blog for the purpose of informing parents of the kids she watches at her new daycare about what their kids are up to during the day. I think it's a great idea. She only has Jack and Lily so far (in addition to her son, Jaxson, of course) so it's a nice little group. The blog is cute, check it out: Little Hawks Daycare.
The greatest thing for me is that it doesn't feel like daycare. It's more like a regular playgroup for Jack (which I pay a small fee to not attend) :) He couldn't love it more. We mention "get your shoes so we can go to Jaxson's house" and all I hear is "Bye mama!" and he's out the door. Sometimes I have to tear him away just to take him home for lunch and naptime. I'm trying to get as much done as I can now while Benj is still small enough to sleep while Jack's away. I imagine that once he's crawling, I'll have a real dilemma. I could consider sending him with Jack to the Little Hawks, but the timing will likely be bad... Steph will have a lot of youngins coming in at the end of the year/beginning of 2009, right around the time I suspect Benjamin will become a handful. Guess we'll take it as it comes! For now, just thought I'd share the cute blog.