a day at the beach

aidan's first "real" surfing experience. scott paddled out with him and caught a couple white-water waves, then aidan got unbearably cold. winter is tough here, i tell you.

ivy was sleeping in the backpack most of the time, so no pictures of her. but later, she found a cozy spot in the closet:

a new post!

finally. apparently i'm not good at keeping this blog updated. so here are some pictures from a month ago-- christmas on big island.

christmas morning. this cute little kitchen was from grandma and poppi. it had to be completely assembled (by scott) late on christmas eve, then disassembled and packed back in the box so we could bring it home. it stays in the box until we move into our new house-- next weekend! yay!

some chop-able food to go with it

ivy mostly liked the wrapping paper

moving on from christmas morning, aidan loved this silly swim ring thing i found lying around. he felt so liberated, swimming "all by himself."

naked babies in a hammock.

a little beach time

a little reading time (notice the book is upside down)

this is how you charm the ladies.

people should cook like this more often. sorry about all the nakedness, but i love their little bums.

gabe, studying his petroglyphs.

aidan and ivy had a blast in this galvanized tub. it was rainy and "chilly" (for hawaii) but aidan must have been in there for at least an hour.


not a bad way to end the day-- asleep in a pretty girl's lap.
now i will go to sleep. or some form of psuedo-sleep with ivy waking me up or crowding me off the bed all night. i have to keep telling myself that some day--SOME DAY!!--both my kids will sleep through the night. but tomorrow is ivy's first birthday and so far that full night of sleep i used to know and love is nowhere in sight. sigh... it's a good thing she's so darn sweet.

mostly halloween

wow, i've been really terrible about updating the blog. must be because i spend all my computer time looking for a bigger place to live that doesn't cost so much we'd have to sell off our children to afford the rent. but then we wouldn't need a bigger place and also there would be no reason for this blog. anyhoo, i thought i'd post a few pictures from halloween.
first we had to go to the pumpkin patch:

it was hot. also, they hadn't opened up the "good" patches yet, so it was slim, often rotten pickins. feeling a little gypped, my friend and i managed to justify to ourselves a mad dash into a "good" patch on our way out of the farm. in a rush of adrenaline, we ripped off a pair of nice, big, fat healthy pumpkins, dove back into the car and sped away, feeling delightfully naughty.

ivy was way into the pumpkin carving.


bwaaahahaaahaaa!

aidan was fascinated and a little spooked by the pumpkins in the dark.

i think maybe there is nothing more wonderful than jack o' lanterns.


this was the pirate and the pumpkin right before we went trick-or-treating


what in god's name are these things on our heads?

this is how ivy looked most of the night. we had lots of fun because we actually found a neighborhood that "does" halloween. most kids go to the mall and stand in a long, snaking line to obtain a piece of candy from each store. woo hoo. we saw scary decorations, haunted houses, fun costumes and most importantly tons of kids all juiced up on sugar.

this was grandma's last visit. she was just here again for a few days, and had to leave today. boohoo. i'm pretty sure she was totally burned out on baby watching and repeatedly cleaning my kitchen. thanks, mom.

here is aidan in puppy heaven at grandpa's (scott sr's) house. i watched him frolic in there (it's like a big puppy mansion that gramma arlene built) with a wooden smile, trying not to think of all the poop and pee residue he was rolling in. actually i think he peed in the puppy house too.

okay, that's all for now folks.

hello again

so it's been a gazillion years since my last post, so i'll just put up a bunch of pictures rather than feel overwhelmed about having to write a long update about our family and this is already taking forever because aidan keeps trying to bite me and thinks it's a really fun game. now he's hungry. now he's trying to climb on me. sigh. now he's placing his fingers over the keyboard threateningly. so anyway, we went on a trip to california, got married, came home, kids got sick a couple of times, both cars broke down at the same time (scott fixed both of them-- it's nice to have such a handy guy around), and the kids and i were stranded at home for a week or so. it wasn't bad though-- ivy was sick with roseola most of the time anyway. so here are some pictures from the last couple of months:

scott and a friend paddling out.

aidan going surfing

ivy, about to indulge in a sand snack

ivy, indulging

fun with paint

the artiste

summer splashing fun with a friend, colin

a bonnet i made for ivy during our home quarantine

the bonnet again-- i'm kind of obsessed with bonnets at the moment, probably due to angry chicken's really cute one. this is my own pattern though and i guess i'm pretty happy with it. i've already made a second one with the brim more rounded at the bottoms and i like that one even more.

and a silly little flowerpot pincushion i made while stuck at home. i guess i've been feeling crafty. i also made a GINORMOUS bag to put all my crap in when i go on outings with both the kids. i love how it came out but it's a little overkill-- i could probably fit both the kids in it. hmm...

that's a doll i recently made, sans her dress. i love stumbling upon sights like this

and this

this was a glorious santa cruz evening on west cliff, where our "honeymoon" b&b was. that's all for now folks.

i made bread. and a doll.

have you heard of the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day? apparently it's all the rage in baking circles. i've never made bread before because of all the kneading, rising for hours on end, do i add flour? do i add water? etc. but NOW-- it really is the easiest thing ever. you mix the yeast, salt, flour and water in very large container, let it rise for a couple hours or so, stick in it the fridge with an airtight lid and chill for at least three hours. then cut of a piece, shape into a loaf, let it sit for 40 minutes, stick in in the oven and bake. voila. looks like bread, tastes like bread, NO KNEADING. you can get the master recipe here, and the book has all sorts of variations on that recipe.

mmm, fresh from the oven.

and here's raggedy medusa:

she's a birthday present for one of aidan's playmates.
i know she's all wonky and her arms are too long, but i think she turned out okay.
she was somewhat inspired by this doll. at least the hair.
she was fun to make and a bit more difficult than i thought she'd be...

here's her back

and here's another little doll

and aidan the conquerer

shortly before she peed on the blanket

let me just see that camera for a minute...