Happy Halloween!

Wishing all of you a very Happy Halloween today!

Love from,
The Wizard, and those he transformed: Milking Mama and Baby Calf

The Mommy Workout

I had a busy "Mommy Workout" sort of day yesterday, and slept well last night cause of it,
so I thought I'd share:
Step 1: Walked 1.5 miles to Little PEPpers playgroup pushing stroller + carrying Hazel

(some of our buddies at our Little PEPpers playgroup, who actually posed for this pic!)

Step 2: Keep up after Q at playgroup
Step 3: Walk home 1.5 miles from playgroup
Step 4: Rest during nap time/feed Hazel to encourage sleeping which
= lots of calories burned for Mama
Step 5: Rake leaves, dump into wheelbarrow - yikes, there's a boy in there! cover boy with leaves and race him frantically around the yard chasing crazed dog, stop add more leaves, remove boy,
and dump leaves into compost bin.
Step 6: Repeat step 5 over and over, til exhaustion, crazed dog barking, and boy laughing his face off wear you all out.
Step 7: Eat ginormous dinner to make up for lost calories from "Mommy Workout".
Step 8: Eat multiple brownies after boy goes to bed to also make up for lost calories from "Mommy Workout". ;)

A Rainbow for Dinner

We had a tasty dinner on Monday:
I used some of the remaining cherry tomatoes, green onions and chard from the garden, along with some garlic, red onion, peppers, olive oil, salt and pepper all over tilapia (little white fish). I baked it up and served it over whole wheat pasta. I love it when a little invented dinner like this works out. Well it may have been better with some fresh lemon uice or a cream sauce, but we enjoyed it that's for sure.
Anyway, I was just writing my weekly meal plan finally (Q is actually napping and so is Hazel!) and I thought I'd post this and BEG for any more great simple, healthy dinner ideas from you all. What have you cooked up lately?

Now you see it, now you don't

Now you see it:
Now you don't:
(Quin is sporting his new haircut here too!)
Phew! Papa Todd shaved off his funny mustache last night after a few weeks of growing it as a bet with his coworkers. He was very relieved (he won by the way), and so were Quin and I, now we can give and get kisses without all that scratchy hair in the way!

On The Move!

Hazel is rolling! I guess she decided it's in her best interest to get a move on cause she's gotta escape from this crazy brother of hers and FAST! She is rolling from her tummy to her back. I thought this was a fluke happening until she did it three times in a row on Sunday. She is very proud of herself when she does it, though I'm still not sure she's really aware of what she's doing. Here she is in action:

From Rolling Hazel

Happy Birthoween!

We had a fun Birthoween party on Sunday to celebrate the season and Todd's 33rd birthday. We had it over at Gigi's house (Todd's Mom's) in Edmonds. She wasn't there, but we certainly enjoyed using her large space for the party, and generally having lots of leaf raking and jumping, pinata hitting, cupcake eating, present opening, wearing costumes, and crazy kid fun! Everyone just wondered when we were going to be moving in?;)
I'm not sure if Todd ever wants to have another "Birthoween" party again, seeing as it's not exactly the most relaxing way to spend a birthday, but if so, it's likely to be even more rip roaring fun! ;)

Knee Socks

Ok, girly clothes are my fav. We got these trumpette knee socks from a friend which are perfect for the fall and Hazel has been showing them off:
Ooo, showing some skin...
What a happy girl!

Happy 3 Month Birthday Hazel!

Today Hazel is 3 months old! She is now out of the "4th trimester" and has really woken up to the world! She is giggling more these days, like the other day at the park when I was pushing Ameli and Quin at the same time. She is also:
~ rolling!
(aka getting ready to escape her brother for good reason)
~ still loving her mobile
~ still HATING her car seat
~ still sporting a whole head of that dark brown hair
~ using her hands to grab toys, push over her mirror etc.
~ giving the biggest gummy grins
~ checking out the wide world with her wide eyed looks
What a doll baby she is!

Happy Birthday Papa Todd

We love you Papa! You do an amazing job of parenting

1 wild toddler,
1 adorable baby,
and 1 high energy dog.
You are also the best handyman around
and the sweetest hubby a gal could ever want!
We LOVE and appreciate you!

Hands

Hazel has found her hands! She is very into them too, using them to grab her mirror, her toys, etc. She is also slobbering all over them, sucking on them, and generally in love with her sweet little digits.

Brotherly Love, The Dog Variety

Theo was a real sweetie with Hazel today, cozing up to her, licking her hand and face gently (don't worry I bathed her after), and posing for the camera right by her side. This is probably why he was obnoxiously defensive to another dog at the park later right? He just has so much dog brotherly love...

Farm Time

A few weeks ago we went to the South 47 Farm for the Farm tots program with our Little PEPpers group. The kids had a great time picking flowers, romping among the pumpkins, racing through the bean maze, going for a hay ride, and visiting the farm animals. This all reminded me of a very similar visit we had last year at the farm. We went with Lucas, the then 4 year old I used to watch. So here is Quin last year:

Busy eating a beanPhoto taken by Lucas

And this year:

Busy eating again, but I wasn't quick enough to catch the boy actually looking at me:

And little Hazel's first trip to South 47, squinting in the sun:And of course if I'm going to post about farm time, I ought to show off a few more photos from our weekend time on the Vashon "farm":

From farm time

10 Reasons Why I Love Living in a Tiny House

I thought I'd pay tribute to the little cozy spot we call home
on the 4th anniversary of living here!1. You can hear the baby/toddler crying without a monitor.

2. You can fill the dishwasher while watching the toddler in the bathtub.
3. We are encouraged to spend more time outdoors in our big backyard.
4. Every little improvement and expansion of space is a huge thrill!
(Thank the lord I married such a handy guy!)
5. Lower heating costs.
Ahh...our new heating panels give us such lovely sun-like heat:
6. Less closet space = less space to put clothes = *in theory* less laundry, ha
7. I can vacuum the entire house (with the minor exception of the basement) without removing the cord from the one outlet it starts in.
8. Sadly one cannot do much cleaning while the kids are sleeping cause the bedrooms are so close to everything else, might wake them you know, and so I am forced to read blogs, my favorite magazine, prep dinner, tidy just a bit, and take pictures of my sweet sleepers...;)
9. Staying in hotel rooms seem huge and luxurious, as they should.
10. Having a teeeney tiny home brings us close together.
Ah, home sweet home.

Arrgghhh

I'm sorry about the look of this blog lately, I can't seem to figure out how or why my sidebar has turned into a footer. Anyway, I keep messing with things to get it right, but can't seem to. Anyone with some computer expertise? I'd really appreciate your help...

Becoming a "Real Mom"...

Some might gasp or groan at my decision this last week to buy this:
My New* Honda Odyssey
*(ok it's a 2000, but still the newest car I've ever had;))
But, considering taking the 3 kiddos out in my nothing automatic at all Subaru was getting to be a painful task, I am breathing quite a sigh of relief these days. I LOVE my new "Mom" vehicle. Plus it has the bonus of being a "truck" of sorts for Todd who has already made multiple trips with it to and from Home Depot and the door store for his mom, so it's a "Papa" vehicle too. He's also happy to be a "Honda Family".
Now I just need to sign Quin up for soccer...

Gparents: All Smiles

Hazel was doing some big time smiling with her Grandparents this weekend:

I certainly don't blame her one bit, spending more time with Nami and Danpa AND having Gigi in town this week is making Mama all smiley too!

Apple Day

Back in the olden days when I used to be an elmentary school teacher we used to have "Apple Day" and sing apple songs, read about Johnny Appleseed, recite apple poems, graph different colored apples, make apple butter, and generally be quite appley.

This year we had a different sort of apple day, but perhaps I should teach Q some apple songs just for kicks this week. On Saturday, we headed to Vashon to yet again let Papa Todd get some work done around the house (gee he's SO productive when we are not home, shocking eh?). First, we went to a friend of Mom's neighbors to gather apples:
Q trying to lug our bucket full his "ownself":
Then we headed over to a fried of Dad's from Sustainable Vashon and helped make apple cider.
Hazel took it easy:
But first Q had to visit the chickens, goats, horses and such.
Then he had to help cut and sample the apples. In the end we took home a big jug of our product to keep in the freezer. I will certainly look forward to sharing with some friends or family on a chilly winter's eve.

September Fun with the Kiddos

Now that we are a week into October I feel the need to gather all the sweet September moments together and share them. Here are my favorite pictures of Hazel from September:

And here are my favs of Quin:

The Onesie Project

Once a month on or around her monthly birthdays I have vowed to take pictures of Hazel in a 12 month onesie. I got the idea from Anna Sander who saw it online somewhere. Anyway, I thought it would be a fun way to tack Hazel's growth. And I am not likely to get monthly professional photos of the little gal since the first time I tried with Q in tow, it was a lost cause. I'll try for every 3 months and call it good. Good grief, I'm sure I have hundreds of pictures of the little Miss already though. I will work on displaying more of them in the next few days.
For now, here is the introduction of "The Onesie Project" with pictures from August and September:

**Note: I had to throw in the pictures from the "Tutu Project" as well. This was a gift from our friends Megan and Gracie Bianchi in Arizona.

Superhero Defined

"Superhero" (in my world anyway):

A Mom who can get 1) a 2.5 year old, 2) a 2 year old, and 3) a 2 month old to nap
ALL AT THE SAME TIME!
Not to say this has happened everyday I've had my new little charge, but it has the past two times I've had her, and I have to say, "Mama Mia am I proud of myself!
That deserves a piece of chocolate!"