This one's for the boys

KT, tell Luuuuuuke; and Amy, tell RC.  Shooooot, Dist - if you're looking at this, tell T. Spence, too.  (I don't think Runyan ever cared, but maybe he did.) 

I trimmed the old pits (with scissors) upon their suggestion, and I must say - I like the new look. 

Think bunny tails vs. Wookie.

Chillin' in the heat

It is downright sweltering in Western WA.  Seriously. 

Haaaaaaaaaaaat.

I don't have much else to say other than that.  We've been spending a lot of time with grandma and grandpa, great-grandma, and the great-aunts.  Think, "Gwamma, will you play Star Wars guys with me?" or, "Gwampaaaaa!" [insert frenzied snuggling here] and, "Gweat-Gwamma, I founds lots 'n lots of moths outside last night!" etc. That, and being serenaded by, "Life is Like a Mountain Railroad" by my grandma.  

[For Ashlik: "woof-woof, boom-boom - merry christmas, happy new year"]

Tru-babes [or "Do", as Diego calls him] has started a few new tricks, like throwing and hitting.  Think lots of, "Maaaamaaaa...Do hit me!"  Oh dear...  It doesn't help that Diego can be heard, on the presumed-sly, saying, "Do!  Hit me!"  Too tantalizing.

We are getting the house ready for my brother's wedding next weekend.  The ceremony and reception is going to be right here, at my parents' place.  It should be lovely.  I am really looking forward to it.  And my new(ish) SIL.  Awwww, shucks.  What a gal.  I'm quite fond.  I just went to her bachelorette party last night and watched her "pin the junk on the hunk"; though she was the last to go, and, instead, pinned her junk on another previously-pinned-junk.  Ha!  It was fun to see her outside of a family event.  I learned quite a bit of interesting tidbits about my brother, too.  (Another HA!)  It was fun.

And now, adieu. 

Glazed

Here I sit, enjoying the silence, with my mom asleep behind me and my boys sawing logs above me, and my lover 1,300 miles away.  And all I can do is stare.  My mind is blank.  

zzzzzzzzzzzz

G'night!

Here we are...

At home, in Western WA

"More later"

Tea party

But how/why/when/where did Darth Vader die? And why couldn't he live with his robot suit? How did he get burnt? Why? What about Obi-wan Kenobi?

This afternoon during lunch, I had an extremely lengthy, extensive conversation about Darth Vader with my four year old. Endless questions, endless answering.

Good thing I know my stuff.

Sad junkfood for the brain

I want to post, but have nothing to say --
I've stayed up waaaay too late,
Looking at this. Ay.

Streaming

• Our garden is beautiful - we are eating very well, with frequent 2-3-4 combinations of vegetables at each meal. Beets top of the charts, nummm. Red Swan beans with butter, salt, and parm cheese come next (but that just started last night).
• Being a mother highlights faults and shortcomings like no other job I've ever had. Being a wife is probably second, but I don't think it even touches motherhood.
• Tea parties are all the rage at our house again these days. Diego set up the little kiddie-table in the kitchen today, right below the low-lying window; the view was delightful and we dined on buttered ginger muffins, chicken bits, walnuts, banana chips, and alfalfa-mint tea.
• Diego's naps are becoming shorter and frequently he does not fall asleep during snuggle time. He recently even started saying, "I don't know how to fall asleep!" It may be just a phase, as he is sleeping in quite late to make up for the lost time. Quiet Time has begun. He settles into an upstairs bedroom with books and his beloved pac(fier) and comes down when 1) the music goes off, or 2) the buzzer beeps.
• I am purposefully gearing my life into a slower pace. This includes staying home a lot and focusing more on the daily routine. I am incorporating regimented tasks into my daily and weekly life, like "After Meal Clean-up", where Diego helps by clearing the table, wiping up, and tucking in the chairs; "Quiet Time"; and routinizing things like sweeping, cleaning the bathroom, and vacuuming. My living space is out of control and I need some assistance (structure) to help me manhandle it into submission. I hope to make it simply "what I do" in time.
• So why is it...whenever I get a chunk of free-time, my motivation and To Do list totally dissolves and all I want to do it lay around and read?
• I've started brushing my teeth with tooth powder (Eco-dent is the brand) vs. paste. I really like it and will never go back. The boys are even starting to take to it...yessss.
• I will be at my parents house in Western WA for several weeks at the end of July/beginning of August. My brother Andrew is getting married and my sister has her senior show for the art school she attends. I can't wait to melt into being a daughter again. That feels so good. Squeeze will be coming for a long weekend as well - I am so glad that he'll be there with us, as he wasn't able to attend my other brother's wedding last summer. He'll miss the senior show, though...bummer.
• Blahblahblahblahblah blahblahblah
• My SIL was told "If I were Bond, you'd be my woman" at the post office the other day.
• I've been dreaming about Nepali/Indian food recently - I want curried potatoes & cauliflower and poori like you couldn't believe. I am also nursing a serious obsession with Brazil nuts.
• Both boys love Brazil nuts too, as does Squeeze. They are going real quick, like lightning, in this house.
• I must read.

Where have I been the last two weeks....?

Visiting and being visited, with a wedding tossed in --

Lots of laughs and good conversation

The guys

Heart to heart with Uncle Ry

Diego passed out in the pew
BLS yukking it up with Luuuuuuuie

Totally. zonked.
between the ceremony and reception
zzzzzzzzz

This man was an angel
He seemed to enjoy the boys (and they loved him)
I think he liked their toys, too

Ta Bunz!
His Little Buns!
and Baby T

RC and his lovely brown eyed lady

Diego and the Ladies

Luuuuuuuuke and KT

Working hard for a gourmet brekkers

Playin' hard with the Billinator's (like pollinator)
C-3PO Collectors' Case

Relaxing in the backyard with Darth Veda
(the dog)

July birthdays

(Truen was looking at baby turtles...)

Fireworks with the Cousins

Can you spot the cousin who was plugging his ears?

The Fearsome Foursome

Diego, Truen, Jackson, and Claire

Oh, baby

What a sight: mid-July garden