26 July 2011

The Most Un-Helpful Berry Picker: The Sequel

Let me tell you a little something.

When you're in a raspberry patch that's been pretty cleaned out, you have do a lot of digging and hunting to get your berries. It's a bit of work. So when you look down at your container to check your progress and find a little girl sitting there with a berry stained face and your container is completely empty...it can be discouraging.

Berry picking in the negative. Never good.

















I think if we go blueberry picking one more time and maybe do one more raspberry trip we'll be set for the year. We still have tons of jam and jelly leftover from last year, so this year I am drying fruit, making fruit leather and just freezing the berries in bags.











Last year I canned and froze so much that we hardly bought any fruit over the course of the winter. I'm hoping for that again this year, but we have a big event coming right in the middle of canning season that makes me a little nervous about my productivity level this coming fall.

But as I like to say, if the pioneer women did it, so can I.

And I can do it while watching Netflix via the laptop.

24 July 2011

Working Off the List. Sort of.

At the beginning of the summer David and I made a list of all the fun activities we wanted to do with Daphne before the baby is born. We've done several of the things already, plus several more that weren't on the list (but should have been) that we did, then I wrote them on the list so I could cross them off.

Do you ever do that? Write something you already did on a 'to do' list just so you can have the pleasure of crossing it off? It's reaaallly fun.

There's a cute area down on the waterfront where you can walk down to the docks and see some boats. Daphne loves boats and water and I think downtown is fun so we have that activity on our list. We needed a hot day since it's always chiller down by the water and FINALLY yesterday we had one.

The sad thing is, we made it downtown and then totally got distracted by other fun activities. For one, the other day my back stopped working for some reason and I've had to hobble around hunched over like I'm 105, leaving my ability to walk many blocks downtown severely limited. (No fair that Daph gets to use the stroller.) For two, we got lunch because food is good. For three, Daph got super excited about the Salmon Street Springs and played there until she was soaked and exhausted. We never made it down to the docks.

So my question is...do I cross downtown off my list or do I add 'Lunch and Salmon Street Springs' to my list and cross that off instead and still try to do the original listed activity?

You can see why my life is so difficult with all these hard decisions to make.

Plus, getting David downtown can be hard work sometimes. He doesn't really like lots of people, or we'll be driving along and I'll see a cute restaurant and say, "Hey, that place looks cute, we should go there sometime!" and he says, "You don't want to go there, the kitchen is dirty and they sell drugs." Or we'll see some nice folks sitting on a street corner and he'll say "Look at those guys doing a drug deal right now." It really ruins the downtown experience. And I should really consider writing a tourism brochure for our fair city, obviously.

The other sad thing is, here we were on a beautiful sunny day, doing a listed activity, and my camera battery died. I never let that happen! Horrible to miss out on Daphne having the best time ever in the springs, although I managed to get 1 or 2 cute photos.

Daph really loves water. It was especially exciting to her when a boat drove by and the riders waved to her. She wanted to go swimming in there, but eww. She would probably contract some horrible, life threatening illness.


















But then she saw the springs, where she was a little unsure at first. It didn't take too long for her to be completely soaked and having the time of her life. My camera died before she became brave.




































We have many, many more things that we need to get done on our list, because is there really much worse than having a list with un-crossed off items on it? Surely not.

22 July 2011

Last Year's Fear, This Year's Fun

Since David and I both enjoy going for bike rides, last summer we bought Daphne a bike seat so that we could do some fun, family rides. Bonding, yes?

Our plan did not work for two reasons:

1) Daphne went through a faze where she hated wearing hats, bike helmets included, and

2) When you sat her on the bike seat she screamed in terror.

We tried maybe twice and then gave up because we really didn't want her to develop a life-long fear of bikes.

Last week we got the bike out to try again, hoping that this time it would be met with a more positive response.












Well, friends, I am pleased to say that this year Daphne loves the bike. It has to be a Daddy/Daughter venture for now because I am really not in the mood to go bike riding right now, but David says she sits peacefully in her seat and sings while he pedals for the two of them. And apparently it's hard work biking for two because he always comes home sweaty and stinky.

















Bike riding with Daddy is one of her current favorite activities and is something I think they will keep up for as long as the weather stays nice into the fall.


















It helps that she is ridiculously cute in her helmet.

20 July 2011

Babies and Gardens

In case you were wondering, this baby of ours is due in about 6 weeks. So much to do, so little time.

At our last appointment (32 weeks) I was measuring 6 weeks behind, plus my blood test showed I am severely anemic. Laurel, our midwife, wanted us to get an ultrasound to check baby's growth just to make sure everything is OK. Today we got to see that the baby is actually measuring a week ahead and possibly already weighing almost 6lbs. What if we have a 10lb baby? I'm kind of nervous.

It is one of Daph's favorite activities to 'go to the doctor and hear the baby' as she puts it. She LOVES it. Talks about it all the time. She's pretty good at mimicking the swooshing heart beat sound when you ask her what the baby says. Isn't she going to be surprised when the baby comes home and sounds less like a quiet thumping and more like a screeching hyena? I'm afraid she'll be shocked.

And when Sherrie was doing the 3D ultrasound today, Daphne saw the screen and was convinced the baby is an elephant.

Regardless of weight (although I am hoping for no elephant baby) I gotta say, this baby better come out awfully lovable, because right now relations between s/he and I are a bit strained. Daphne is finally sleeping a little bit better, but my little womb resident still likes to keep me up sick at night. Poor David has found some random items in the fridge lately, and I wish I could blame Daphne except that I know she can't open the fridge door. Oh pregnancy; so beautiful. So mind-altering.

In other news, Daphne is loving picking and eating all the treats from our garden. It's so hard to have to say "that's enough broccoli for today, kid," but remember that broccoli is very fibrous and Daphne doesn't really care about using the toilet. Combine that with blueberries and peas...yes, it's nice.












Broccolis make great pom poms for a garden girl.

18 July 2011

The Most Un-Helpful Berry Picker

Today we went blueberry picking and Daphne was overwhelmed with joy when she saw that all those bushes were full of her favorite food.

You'll notice a theme in these photos of Daphne with a hand in her mouth or a hand (or two) in a bucket. I would put berries in my bucket and she would say 'thank you' like it was so nice of me to pick those berries especially for her.

















You may as well go for two buckets at once.














Sneaking berries behind the bush.


















So nice of her to hold a bucket while eating.



















Eye on the prize.


Her #2 accidents (because really, toilets are so over-rated) are going to be so delightful tomorrow.

16 July 2011

What I Wish

I was reading about Vitamin D being fat soluble, meaning you can store it up in your body during sunshine season and then it slowly gets used over the course of the year when it's not so sunny.

It seems like it would be nice if we could do the same thing with vegetables...hang out by the garden all summer eating its yummy bounty, and then spend the winter with just Pumpkin Spice lattes and warm cookies.

That would be nice.

13 July 2011

Hear the Music

(We're pretty sure Daphne marches around to her own little theme songs.)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T...


















Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)
A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)












I got to have (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)



















(See?)


12 July 2011

Pictures

We took our official family photos today.






















David and I took some like this several years ago and decided to take some at each stage of our family's life. We had to hurry quick to get some as a family of 3.

I think this means we can only have as many children as will comfortably fit in a mall photo booth.

10 July 2011

Beach

We went to the beach. It was sunny and warm!






















Daphne got to dig in the 'dirt' (as she calls it).












And wear a bucket on her head.












And finally was brave enough to play in the water.


















(Some days it would be so nice if she could go barefoot like the other kids.)












The beach is one of Daphne's new favorite places; she was so sad to leave.


















Also, she's real good at driving a bus.

06 July 2011

10 Things

How to Have a Great Summer Day

by: Daphne



1) Have a beautiful summer day with clear blue skies and temperatures in the 80s.

2) Go to the park and run around a whole bunch and ride on a bouncing dolphin.












3) Eat an entire pint of fresh raspberries on the back patio. Do not share with your mom and dad.












4) Wash off the raspberries with a dip in the pool. Don't forget to relax a little.












5) Eat an entire ice cream cone that has home made ice cream in it.












6) Wash off the ice cream with a dip in the pool.

7) Mow the lawn (clothing optional).












8) Freak out about a bug.












9) Play with a stick and pretend it's a rocket ship.













10) Play horseshoes (clothing optional).


















The End.

05 July 2011

We Had a Party and It Was Fun

David almost always has to work on the 4th of July but we were happy that he had this year off. It's nice to have someone around to help deal with our dog, Brynner, who has the worst fear of fireworks (and any other loud noise, like the music from the ice cream man) of any dog I know. I don't know if I really like Brynner. It's hard to like a 60lb dog who climbs on your head when you're trying to sleep, all because he hears a noise. Today David had to fix the garage door that Brynner pulled off the hinges in his attempts to escape. Yes, we medicate him, and no, it's doesn't seem to work at all.

Anyways, David finally had the 4th off so we had 3 families from our home group over for a little party. Daph was a terrible grouch all day while I was trying to cook so to distract her I finally told her that we were having friends over later. That calmed her down, but of course she was asking "when are friends coming?" for hours. There's a reason I usually never tell her things in advance.

Daphne had many 4th of July outfits this year because I always shop after the holiday the year before to find super cheap things, and apparently last year I went a little crazy. It was totally cool that she accidentally fell in the pool mid-evening because that meant she got to wear two of her outfits to the party.


















We ate yummy food, did a lot of sitting around chatting, the men played horseshoes, we ate more yummy food and ended with some fireworks. Daphne loved the fireworks until one of those spin-around-while-loudly-whistling ones flew at the children and she got a little trampled in the chaos. Nothing dangerous, since "flew at her" means it came within like 15 feet and "got a little trampled" means there were children running all around and she fell down. After that she liked the quiet, stationary fireworks the best.








































































If David stays on this same shift he'll have next 4th of July off too. Tomorrow I'm starting my shopping for Daphne's outfits.


















04 July 2011

4th of July

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.

-Erma Bombeck














I'm busy skewering chicken, prepping home made ice cream and slicing strawberries, just getting prepared to be very patriotic today.

Happy 4th to you and yours!