Just falling from my head...

I'm grateful for:
✿ Wearing jammies all day - It makes it just that much easier to go to bed at night.
✿ Take out - on days like today I cherish the discovery of Chinese take out we all like.
✿ Amazon food subscriptions -my case of wheat/dairy/soy free Pamela's cookies came today! The price is half off buying them at Safeway.
✿ Not following in my mothers foot steps. - My sister is going through a tough time because she makes the same mistake our mom did, loving liars. It's an unconscious choice my sister makes, she's attracted to jerks but at least she has the sense to leave when she finds out they have been cheating. I'm grateful I didn't choose that path. It looks sad and lonely.
✿ I found today's newspaper useful - it has become more and more rare that the local paper has been useful for much more than lining the bird cage. Today however I while skimming the paper, and I always do on Thursdays for the hike of the week there was actually things worth reading. Don't ask me what, I'm too tired to remember now but I remember being interested.


For the second day in a row Dallas woke us up crying and wouldn't go back to sleep. The day involved a lot of blowing up at each other followed by apologizing. Nap time was a battle of wills. It at 2 PM but sleep didn't happen until 5:45 and we slept until 7:45. They didn't fall asleep in their own beds but only on top of me after I had given up and said we could get up and go down stairs. Doug got home nearly an hour later around 8:45. A gas main had been broken in Seattle and he was stuck at a stop on the train waiting for the tracks to clear for the longest time. Tomorrow will be a day of catch up before the weekend starts. Friday is movie night and Robin has already requested Fiddler on the Roof so I will get almost 4 hrs to work. I'm looking forward to Saturday and the Mardi Gras celebration!

I'm grateful for:
✿ Having my own forest to explore - Robin, Dallas and I went out to pick up sticks to make a fire pit for Saturday evening. We are going to try and clear the floor of the woods and grow some grown cover for the goats to munch since they have taken out the blackberries in that area
✿ Casey sitting on my feet - He's 6 yrs old 100 lbs and still thinks he's a puppy. He will sit and stay pretty well. He does however feel like he needs to site between me and the kids while I'm still holding the kids hands! He kept running off to check on the goats and I can't really fault that since he is the livestock guardian.
✿ Dallas' compassion - He will kiss anything he thinks might be a hurt. He is so concerned with how everyone else is doing. Robin fell down outside and got a sticker stuck in his hand and Dallas was very worried about him. If he tosses a toy and it lands near you he will come and kiss you to make sure your ok. When Warren cries he comes up and tells him "is k, is k." while patting him and kissing him.
✿ Doug cleaning up the little toys - he moved some furniture and put away every toy he found. I know this takes a lot of time to do, I'm the one who usually does it and I am grateful that he did it for me.
✿ Getting to over hear my kids bath tub conversations They have rubber duckies, frogs and dolphins and they were having talking with each other. The big ones were the mom and dad (Robin) and they were telling the little ones were the kids(Dallas) about bath safety and rules such as: take care of each other and don't let the little brothers fall under the water, keep the water in the tub, look up when mama washes your hair and Dallas played the part of the kids just saying "no! no! and splash! while laughing at the mama frog and papa dolphin" Too cute.

I'm grateful for:
✿ Getting the laundry put away - there were nine loads of laundry to put away. I'm getting caught up slowly but surely.
✿ Watching the kids imaginations run wild - I love how they play together. Play cooking is awfully fun to watch. Dallas feeds me imaginary food all the time. Robin likes to make me imaginary tea.
✿ Letting someone else make dinner - Doug made pizza
✿ Gift cards in the mail - Doug's aunt sent a gift card for Warren so now we can buy more cloth diapers. Maybe I can start washing every other day instead of everyday. I really fear what might happen if I forget to dry them in the morning
✿ The music of Fiddler on the Roof - Robin sings every song with me. Dallas is learning them too. They love to dance to them too.

Today was the last day of a three day weekend for Doug. Warren is just over three weeks now and we finally heard from Doug's parents. They live in Bothell, just over an hour away. They didn't want to make plans to see him but talked to Doug about Linux. I am at peace with it. My kids can learn how grandparents are usually more interested by hanging out with friends who have involved grandparents. They got to see a fine example of what a grandma is like on Friday when we met Victoria and her mother-in-law Irene for a trip to the Seattle Childrens Museum.

I'm grateful for:
✿ Having reptiles, life wouldn't be complete without them
✿ Car carts at grocery stores - how lucky are kids these days
✿ Skagit Valley Food Co-op's cloth diaper section. If I still lived in Lynnwood I wouldn't know where to go but Bellevue to buy a Snappie when I misplaced the only one I hard or buy a daiper cover when it turns out all the smalls I had are missing
✿ Costco having a growing selection of gluten/dairy/soy free snacks. Today there was a bag of jalapeño chips for Doug and a bag of Veggie Crisps for the kids and I
✿ Freddy Land - The playland at Fred Meyer. Robin has such a good time playing there and the attendant always puts on Mary Poppins per his request. When we got there today A Bugs Life was playing. He said to me "Mama, this is a bad movie and it's scary so she will turn on Mary Poppins for me and I will be happy." I don't remember A Bugs Life being scary but I have not watched it since having kids to try and see it from their perspective. He was right though, as soon as he was in, she changed the movie for him.

I'm grateful for:
✿ Wikipedia - without it how could I know what coconut gel really is? It has to be the best tasting stuff on earth. It almost tasted like bubble gum, but almost like juicy fruit gum. It's chewy and fruity and so yummy, after you have tried it you will think of it all the time. It's a product fo the Philippines and it's made from fermented coconut water.
✿ Sunny days - Doug got to take Robin and Dallas out to play today. They love going out and helping Papa in the yard
✿ Three day weekends
✿ Memories of Monday playgroups - yep good times.
✿ Trying new things - like coconut gel! I have a bunch of new bean thread noodles to try and a couple from other things like sweet potato too.

I'm grateful for:
✿ Purple mylar balloons
✿ How my dad always calls on valentines day
✿ The sweet card from Doug
✿ Five minutes to cuddle before a child needed attention again
✿ A lucky guess on the code my three year old set locking me out of playing any DVD rated over G

As if it were possible I got even less sleep last night. I got to bed around 4ish and got up when Doug said it was time to go at 6:45. All things considered, the day went really well. Doug drove is all to his work and I slept for the last 30 minutes of the trip. Robin was awake the whole time and still awake when Doug parked the car and went into the office. I asked Robin if we could sleep in the car for a while and he said sure but 10 minutes later I awoke feeling guilty to make him sit there and wait so I got up and drove to the Pacific Science Center.

It took just over a half hour to get all the kids set and the stroller packed for a day out. Two of three needed diapers changed, one needed clothes changed, a bag with just enough diapers’ needed packing and snack cups needed refilling.

We couldn’t stay long before going to meet friends for lunch but they had a good time and barely wanted to leave.

They liked the lunch I packed! I always worry about that.

They had a great time at the Seattle Children’s Museum. It’s strange how the second we set foot in that place the kids loose the ability to hear me. It’s all children’s museums, not just one.

The kids fell asleep ok the way to the parking garage and Warren was the only one awake when we got to the car. He has to be put in first and didn’t like that. The older two slept through the crying though. Putting two heavy sleeping children into car seats in the back of the van was not easy but somehow I made it happen. After changing and nursing Warren we picked up Doug and went to Uwajimaya. That’s a fun store. Robin woke at the end in time to see a couple things we don’t see everyday. He wanted to try chicken feet but I talked him into crab instead. I told him we could try them another day. I wasn't prepared to figure out what to do with chicken feet. We drove home, I napped another 30 minutes. When we got home I sat to read stories and nurse the baby while Doug cooked crab and clams. We had Mochi for desert which Robin liked but oddly Dallas did not. Friday is movie night but I went up to bed while they watched something. It was a good day, a really good day.

I'm grateful for:
✿ Perfect parking spaces
✿ Packed lunches that the kids want to eat
✿ Friends to go places with
✿ Impromptu trips to Uwajimaya
✿ Coconut lychee jellies Yum!