A Walk in the Woods

The Garden Project - Part 5 (Winter Crop)

These little babies are going to last us at least six months...we hope. We do love garlic in this family, so we will see! Poor things have been tricked into thinking it's Spring over and over this winter, but hopefully February and March will whip them into shape!

New Year, New Blog

Maybe. We'll start by just trying to post on a regular basis, shall we? To start the year off right, I have to toot my own gift-giving horn.
For the past year, I have been developing a slow obsession with Etsy. Ok, it was a quick obsession, but I slowly fell down the rabbit hole of all the pretty things it contains (though am also very humored by this as an alternative). I decided to self-impose a Christmas gift goal to buy all things Etsy for of my family's presents...call it a Merry Etsy-mas. Or a M-esty Christmas! I almost did it, except for a few gifts...what was most fun was thinking of random things that someone liked, searching by a word or phrase and being amazed with the amount and variety of what came up. My favorite example was my step-dad's gift. Being a retired Air Force kind of guy, he has always been obsessed with C-130s, so I typed that in to see what I would find. There was your usual selection of artwork, photos, airplane models, crochet, and the like, but I was immediately drawn to these adorable ties (look closely!):

I found something for my tennis-playing Aunt:

Something for my singing Aunt:

Something for my Uncle, the gardener (who lives in Southern CA):

Something for my dad, the inspired surfer who would wear a t-shirt 99% of the time if he could:

And for our family...some bike-themed attire (bonus, I got a free t-shirt of a mama bear on a bike!):



Don't you wish you were related to me? And, seriously, if you haven't been sucked into the Etsy-vortex, do your self a favor and hop over there right now!

Kenzie - Month 12 (5:18PM EST)

It's here. The one year old (no, not a future table dancer!)
I don't think it has even registered to me yet that a whole year of her life has gone by and that the lump of wiggly baby we met last December is now a (almost) walking, babbling, climbing, beautiful albeit sneaky little girl. Boy, are we in for trouble.
Our girl is definitely fearless. The other night I was cleaning the kitchen with my back to the windows and Zola started whining and Kenzie was quiet, so I knew something was up. I turned around to find that she had pushed up the step stool to the art table, crawled up on top of it and was standing behind the sink looking at me with a handful of colored pencils in her left hand.
She loves going up and now down stairs. Her new favorite game is also climbing up on top of the little red rocking chair, standing on it and rocking back and forth. While most mothers (and maybe a grandfather or two) might have a conniption over this proclivity towards danger, I merely tuck the back legs under a chair so it doesn't rock all the way back and let her keep on doing it.
Her understanding of words is impressive and she has started clapping her hands...especially every time we say "Yayyyyyyy!!!" She also understands "kiss" and leans in, open-mouthed, to our face. She hasn't really gotten the puckered kiss yet so it is always a little juicy, but we are working on it. She loves making noise and has figured out that the pot lids make wonderful sounds.
Kenzie is finally tall enough and has gotten the knack of the little bicycle and pushes or rides it around the house. I think she realizes how cool walking is going to be. She has even taken a step or two and re-balanced herself. Not quite up to multiple steps yet, but we are encouraging her. Even Mason has helped her along and I sometimes find him walking backwards holding her arms as she tottles along.
It is so incredible to me how much changes in a year - from a completely helpless blob is turning into an adorable little girl....but I'm not the least bit biased.

Sibs Montage V

Kenzie - Month 11

What a little human we have. She is starting to interact with us and really respond to questions, requests, and cause/effect.
She likes to feed us (and herself, finally!) and loves, loves, loves meat. And Q-tips. Occasionally we can ply her with Mum-mums, bananas, and yogurt. At least she has finally figured out how to keep food in her mouth instead of spitting it and smearing it all over herself. She loves her water bottle, too.
Not only has she mastered stair-climbing (still really need to get those baby gates - maybe a Christmas present to myself?) and has now learned how to go down the stairs backwards and feet first. Don't worry - we are diligently watching her, but she is fast!
We are still working on walking and she timidly pushes around a cart and the stool, but still prefers the comfort of a good crawl. Every time we hold our hands out for her to walk and balance, she eagerly cackles as if to say "look at me!" It is the cutest thing.
Her favorite pastimes (other than stair-climbing) are waking up her brother from his nap - especially with her banshee-esque squeals in his ear; removing all cleaning supplies from the kitchen cabinet - specifically the glass cleaner, sponge, and vacuum bags; eat meat; eat meat; eat meat; roll her fingers over her lips to make the ussmbbbb-umbbsss-umbsss sound; put Mason's crocs, the door stopper, night lights, water bottle tops, and the 8 Mile DVD in her mouth; and carry at least two items (socks, toy, dirty clothes) around in her right hand and sometimes a third item in her mouth. She is a regular pack mule!
"Mama" and "dada" are standard words and we think her "babababa" means brother or water...not sure which. We are pushing signs now that we know she can comprehend words and actions and hope she will take to them as well as Mason did. (He, on the other hand, astounds us with his poetry-reciting, troubadour-ing, and cross-dressing (he wears these pink velour pants that are meant for Kenzie eventually and loves my black patent peep-toe heels - ah well!)
Michael and I keep high-fiving ourselves - we did genetics right!

How Crayons Are Made

I was totally obsessed with this video when I was a kid. What a blast from the past.