The Backyard

In the winter, we had our backyard levelled.

This is what our backyard looks like right now (one tree).

Rome’s sister was trained as an architect and put together this plan for us.  We like it so we’re going for it.

Looking at the plan, I figured we were on a 3-5 year plan for filling this in.  We were going to start the grass with seed, but we’re running into summer so we’ll probably lay sod.

The veggies went in last weekend.  And on Sunday, we bought this. ( I figured this was one of the year 3 items.  I was wrong.)  Both of us are a little leary of formed ponds, because so often the final product looks bad, but we figure knowing that at least gives us an advantage in figuring how deep to put it and how to fill it in with rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s Rome digging the hole for it.  He’s one HARD worker!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll take more pictures as we move forward.

Nursing and My Polka Dotted Son

Kate is nursing Daisy Duck.  Oh Sweet Cheeks, you do your mama proud.

 

 

Oliver gets one to three bites a day right now.  I’m going to back off of the bananas for a bit and see if I can sneak garlic into his food.  The poor guy is almost polka dotted.

My Little Tomato

Is this tomato staking?  Kate thought it was totally cool that Armstrong had pink tomato cages and promptly tried them on.  If only she knew!

  

It’s a Good Day

 

My husband is reading Winnie-the-Pooh to Kate in russian while she takes her bath.

It’s a good day.

The Following Post is Not About What You Think

It used to be “p0rn” and  “hot p0rn”.  

We would drive by Target where Kate clearly remembers getting the slushy-popcorn special and she would yell out, “Buy p0rn!”;  She’ll never know how she made us laugh.

Yesterday it became “pap0rn”.

Today it is “papap0rn”.  And I know that soon she’ll get it right and say, “popcorn”. 

While sometimes we figure out the first time our children do things (stand up, roll over, say ‘mama’) , we never know when the last time is that  they’re going to do some particular cute thing or say that one silly phrase that makes you smile.  And then it’s gone, never to be done spontaneously again.

Kate’s two-year-old sweetness slipped away quietly.  And while it’s been replaced by three year old sweetness, I could just kick myself for not savoring every single lovely moment that is now gone.

Interviewing the American Worker- part 1

 

 

On Tuesday, Rome interviewed five people for warehouse jobs.  If hired, these folks would be doing order fulfillment and packaging of orders for shipping.  His boss gave him three math questions to ask each interviewee.

1. How many inches are there in a foot?
2. How many square inches are there in a square foot?
3. What is a square?

The purpose of the second question is not to hear “144″, but to see if the person can get there.  An acceptable answer would be “Whatever 12 times 12 is.”

For the third question, there were several answers that would have done just fine… i.e.,  something about four sides and all angles being the same.  They got extra credit if they used the phrase “90-degrees”.

Four out of five interviewed were HS graduates.  Two out of five could correctly answer the first question.  No body was able to answer the second question. And none could answer the third question.  One guy offered that there were three lines or three points in a square.

I’m not saying that this is the best our school system is putting out.  That is clearly not true and would be a mis-representation of this small data set.

What I am thinking is that there are clear implications for our welfare system, our unemployment office, and our society in general.

Gems from the Seminar II

 

The Papa book (or Daddy book) 

Basically, this is the book that is read by the parent who isn’t home all day long.  If there’s a stay-at-home dad and the wife works outside the home, then this would be the Mommy book.   The idea works like this.  Who-ever spends the least amount of time at home–their time with the kids is often considered golden.   For ease-sake, I’m going to call this the annointed book or the Papa book, because that’s my situation. 

Reading with Papa is lifted up as a reward.  Kate would be reminded to behave well, or she might lose story time with Papa in the evening. 

And whatever book Papa is reading at that time (assuming that when the kids are older, we start moving to longer and longer books) — is to be read by no one else.  Mama won’t read that book to the kids if Papa is out of town.  And when you go on vacation, this is the first thing put in the suitcase.  Part of the idea here is to create bonding around books and between fathers and children and books.  Boys will see that reading is masculine.   Also, it sets aside special structured time in the evenings with Papa.

Ginger talks about this well at her post .

The Gems from the Seminar I

I’d also like to talk about the gems that I took away with me from the Carole Joy Seid Seminar on a Literature Based Education.

Reading to children doesn’t stop when the kids can read for themselves.  

I think as busy people, this is a mistake we make.  We read to the kids until they can read for themselves and then stop.  After all, we’ve done our job. 

Family story time can continue on and on and this way there are books that unite a family together  and around which a family has shared history.  I remember first reading about families that did this in the 1990’s.  I thought it was so cool.  A family was reading through one of Charles Dickens books together in the evenings.  It seems a bit like having your own multi-age reading group.  I remember thinking that if I could “read ” through the classics while snuggling on a couch with family, that would be much more fun [than trying to cram it in for some high school requirement].

And what great memories!  I suppose a family could do it with audiobooks, but somehow the memory of hearing your dad or your mom read to you from the greats just seems like a warm-blanket memory.  When I was a junior in college, my mom and I  joined her cousin (A.C.) and A.C’s sister (B) in Pagosa Springs, Colorado just after Christmas.  One night, in front of the fireplace,  A.C. read us her favorite poems from Sharon Olds’ The Gold Cell .  I was enthralled.  After I graduated and had a regular paycheck, I went to Vroman’s Bookstore and purchased the same volume.  It is still on my bookshelf, in the poetry section.  And I still remember which was her most favorite poem from the book.  I wonder if I would have a poetry section if it wasn’t for that snowy vacation and reading books aloud in front of the fireplace.

Travel Town

On Memorial Day, we headed out to Travel Town in Griffith Park.  I don’t think I’d been there since grade school.  Travel Town, as I remembered it, was  a place with old train cars fully furnished in their glory.  I remember climbing into cars as a kid that had velvet upholstery and polished wood walls, like the train cars that you see in old westerns, and imagining myself in long skirts and a bustle.  It turns out that almost all of the cars are closed and locked now except on the second Saturday of the month, when they open them up for tours.  I guess there’s been too much vandalism.  What a shame.

This is Kate’s favorite book right now, hence the field trip.  Kate and I read this three to four times per day and we practice our “Chuff, Chuff, Chufferty Chuffs” and “Woo Woooooooooo’s” –much to Papa’s delight. (He can hear us in the other room).

What took Rome and I by surprise was how terrified she was of being up in the engine room of the trains (several of these were open — no upholstery to slash, Iguess).  All the engine cars we climbed into  were HUGE black engines and something about it scared her to death…even with all-powerful Papa by her side.  I wonder if that’s why so many engines in children’s fiction are blue and red.   This was the only picture I got where she even remotely smiled.

Thankfully, there were still other fun past-times for a three year old at a railway museum.

Rustic Tuscan Seasoning

OK, for those of you who have HUGE tomato patches (no, I’m not envious; not at all), I’m passing along this plug.  And no, I don’t have stock in Costco, so there!

Costco / Kirkland sells Rustic Tuscan Seasoning and I gotta say that it makes sliced tomatoes — which you have to admit are already REALLY good — WICKED good;  carafe-of-Italian-red-wine-on-a-hillside-while-watching-a-sunset good.   Sprinkle it on, wait five to ten minutes and yummo.