Ode to the Dad

2007

When Stephen walks in the door at 6pm he immediately becomes super dad. He jumps right into playing with the girls, usually still sweaty and in his biking gear. He plays soccer or tag with them if they're outside or becomes whatever villian or prince they demand of him when playing inside. Yesterday alone he was Dr. Calico, Balto, Phoebus, Hercules, and Prince Phillip- all within about 15 minutes. That's exhausting! Then he helps them set the table for dinner.

2010

He's always willing to play games with them and do things to help them learn things like reading. He has a new plan to leave Odessa a sentence every day with a secret message about something she gets to do that day. It's working pretty well, she enjoys sounding out the letters.

Stephen's also in charge of bedtime routine which we established so he would get some quiet time reading with the girls every day. He is so great at helping them pick up their room before bed. He never lets them go to bed in a messy room. It used to be a game of seeing who could get to a toy first to pick it up. Now they are all helping robots. If you have seen the Sesame Street episode where Telly and Elmo and one other (?) monster become the Alphabeta-bots, you will know what bed time is like at my house. It's hilarious to hear all 3 of them talking in "robotese". Odessa is Bot 1 and Ada is Bot 2. Sometimes the girls need "reprogramming" by tickling when they don't follow orders quite right.

Having Stephen take over for me in the evening is such a huge relief. I can do a night on my own ok if I have some notice ahead of time, but when a meeting or home teaching kind of springs up, I wonder how I can ever do it without him!

I have been trying to save money and not make many trips to the store lately, so Stephen got to pick from the things I had on hand for his Father's Day pie yesterday. Mixed berry from the freezer, sweet potato pie (I have never tried it!) or chocolate cream. He wisely chose mixed berry and it turned out I had blackberries, raspberries and blueberries- all picked last year locally and frozen. I have to tell you, this is the FIRST time I have made pie that it tasted as good as my moms!! The filling set up just right, not too runny or stiff. The crust was done, but not burnt and so flaky. I was SO HAPPY that our night could end with the perfect ode to the

When your kids threaten to not be your children anymore

Conversation in the car earlier today.

Ada: Mom, I want some gum
Mom: No
Ada: Please I want some gum?
Mom: No Ada, you already had a piece today.
Ada: Well . . . . I really want something to chew.
Silence
Ada: Well, if you aren't going to give me a piece of gum, I am not going to be your daughter anymore. I'll just walk away from you . . . . . . and my bike . . . . . and walk on the sidewalk . . . . and cross the street by MYSELF . . . . . . then I will go to the other sidewalk.

Odessa: Ada, I will miss you.
Ada: Yah.
Odessa: A car will hit you!
Ada: Well, I am very brave. If a car hits my elbow, I will be very brave.
Odessa: You might get flat.
Ada: I think I will be on top of the car.
Odessa: No, under the car.

This went on and on about the logistics of "the hit". I was just busting up in front. Finally, it was decided.

Ada: Ok, I will stay.
Odessa: Good.

Whew, that was close.

Yard work- ughh

Our computer has had a complete over haul. Better last another 6 years . . .

Things are warming up in Seattle, it's wonderful. Some of the plants in our garden are popping up. The girls are taking swim lessons in Magnolia and doing really well. Odessa is in the 4 yr old class, and Ada follows in the 3 yr old class and they both have the only male teacher- Owen. Ada tells her dad over and over about what she did at swim lessons and that "you know what dad? He's a BOY TEACHER!" She loves Owen. I was thrilled to find that 4 of my friends from my old ward have their 3 yr olds in the same class as Ada. Good times chatting by the pool.

Stephen's parents, Nancy and Steve were here last week/weekend. They helped us haul all the brushes and trees Stephen has cut down since moving here. There were 3 truck loads to the dump! Then there were 3 truck loads to the dump of fencing materials. Stephen is now pulling out the ivy between our backyard and the neighbors and that will go to the dump too . . . the square footage of this yard relative to the amount of plants that need to be constantly removed from it seems impossible.
Stephen, Steve and Brian (neighbor) built the side fence. We still have to finish the back although the posts are in, so technically the hard work is done. I can't believe all the yard work that was done last week! I had no idea . . . . even the old fence had to be cut into pieces to be hauled away . . . . so much work. Thank goodness Steve and Nancy were here. They helped so much. The girls are pretty independent and so they will work and play by themselves, so I don't have much excuse not to join the fray outside. I thought I would love yard work once I had my own place. I think it is a learned love.
While my computer was down, I read some books. I recommend the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Hunger Games. I re-read Sense and Sensibility for various reasons.
I got called (or asked) to be the chorister in my ward (congregation). This is how the conversation went:
Bishop: We'd like to extend the call to you to be ward chorister of the West Seattle Ward.
Me: You're joking, right?
Bishop: No
Me: This is a joke, right?
Bishop: "laughing" No
Me: You realize I have no musical training whatsoever, right?
Bishop: It doesn't matter, I feel very impressed that this is the calling you should have.
Me: Well, ok then. . . .
Turns out I am ok at this calling and even though my knees actually, physically, knocked together during my first time conducting (another "literary" moment), I think I will enjoy it. The organist I work with is the coolest, I couldn't ask for a better partner. She made "bok-bokking" noises at me Wednesday night when we practiced "The Day Dawn is Breaking" and I decided against it for this Sunday. Too chicken. I think it's hilarious that she is already teasing me. I would not even flinch being up in front of my friends in my old ward, I know they would love me no matter how much I messed up. But I hardly know anyone yet in this ward, and that makes it more nerve wracking. Oh well. I am always practicing at odd moments throughout the week, so you might catch a glimpse of me conducting to my dashboard at a stop light or while I am doing the dishes with one hand at the kitchen sink. If my neighbors didn't think I was crazy before, they do now.
Forgive the following LONG series of pictures and captions- I am making blurb books out of my blog, and so it's become more important to me document things I really want to remember.

The grassy patch where we put our garden- after Stephen cleared a ton of holly, a bush and some other tree. The girls were most likely digging for worms- see below. She LOVES worms. Gross.



The grassy patch after digging up all the sod. Now it's a garden and little things are popping up.

Side fence that needed replacing, the huge pile of stuff Stephen dug out of the yard, the back fence with debris also in front. All the debris and old fence is gone now, it's amazing the difference.


The house with the rhododendrons finally in bloom, and azaleas in the back yard, bushes on the side- whoops, double photo. Oh well, I am not doing the collages again.

Afterward: Bushes are gone, side fence is done!

Sidewalk chalk is the new favorite thing. Odessa has got her first and last name, working on her middle name. lol

They are both really into dancing, see Odie's pouty face? She was mad Ada has a tutu


Grandpa dancing with the girls, they love having a prince to dance with!

Computer down!

I have a lot of things to blog about and pictures to up load, but this wheezing dinosaur needs to go in for another check up. It keeps crashing on me. Hopefully I will be back up soon. Ciao!

Bada is 3

Ada Jeanne = Ada Bean = Bada. Such is the progression of Ada's nick name. She turned 3 on Saturday. We had an invitation to a pool party for another friend's birthday and so we thoroughly enjoyed swimming together as a family even if it wasn't technically to celebrate her birthday. lol
She has been dressing herself for some time, and some days she looks really cute! She picked out this outfit and looked so much like she was ready for tennis, I had to take a picture (above).


Early in the morning of her birthday she got a helmet and officially got Odessa's bike. Odessa got a freebie used bike from our friends. Stephen is the diligent one- he worked with Ada for an hour until she could pedal the bike easily. I can't imagine how long it will take for them to graduate from training wheels!
Later in the evening, we had Ava and Ellie (sisters) over for a Princess party and dinner. For the party, we read Princess and the Pea and played a game where they sat on 3 pillows, trying to guess where the pea (ball) was.

After hunting in sand for gems to decorate their crowns with, the girls had a photo shoot. My girls have been wanting fans for a long time, they were a huge hit.

We served them Ada's favorite foods and used fancy plastic goblets. No one spilled! Ellie is only 2, and she immediately held her goblet up and as if to say "I can't drink from this, get me a cup" So funny.
Ada's big present was some other dress up clothes (she wears the Cinderella dress daily!)

She wanted a pink kitty cake

This is Stephen and I's favorite thing about Ada- her moon shaped smiley eyes. She's always turning the charm on, a real princess I guess! We can't imagine life without her.

Vermin and good eats (unrelated)

One night when my parents were here, I was sitting in the living room, looked up and caught sight of a raccoon standing on 2 legs with his paws against the sliding glass doors, looking intently at me as if to say "where is my dinner and why don't you let me in?". I had a totally literary reaction- I wrung my hands and my mouth flapped open over and over- I was speechless. I rarely have those kind of moments they describe in books, but this was one. His masked face in the dark was SO STARTLING, I could not speak. When we all went up to the glass, he did not budge which freaked me out even more. This is NOT a picture of him, I got this off the web- same with the opossum. After the raccoon visit, I had nightmares for the next 3 nights that robbers or vagrants broke into our house.

Then yesterday we caught sight (again) of a opossum. But this time she was carrying babies on her back and she disappeared under our deck. Awesome. Now we have more than one vermin problem. We really want to plant a garden and fruit trees, so I think these animals will have to be dealt with. It's a weird feeling of being invaded, I guess one of the many new feelings I have as a new homeowner.

Last night for Cinco de Mayo I made homemade tamales and some enchiladas verde that were different from any we had tried before. I also topped off the evening with homemade churros. I have linked all the recipes with their online sites, they were all good (well, I would like to tinker with the churros, but who really needs to keep trying fried foods? No me). I do like having some international grocery stores close by, we had Tamarind Jarritos with dinner too . . .
We love international holidays like Chinese New Year and Cinco de Mayo so we have an excuse to eat yummy food! lol

Disaster . . . . averted

Last week was my birthday week! Stephen did a good job of trying to plan a few things for me in the midst of me planning my own birthday. There were just a couple of things that had to be done by myself this year, namely deciding a shopping trip to an annual sale coming up would "the present".

I also decided that I wanted to go on a double date for my birthday. So when my friend and I got to talking about options, she and I planned the evening ourselves. Is this wrong? I think not. Anyway, I digress.Stephen surprised me at home with a cake and card after dinner and then we all got ready to go- the girls were going to a friend's house. I left the keys on the hook for Stephen, he came out the door and locked the doorknob, pulling the door shut with the keys still inside. Ay-yay-yay! He quickly ran around the house, trying windows and doors. Fortunately and unfortunately our house is pretty secure! Finally he found a narrow window in the laundry room where the window was not locked and he slid inside off the top of the ladder. Sheesh. So my birthday date that could have turned into a date with the locksmith was a half hour late, but at least disaster was averted. Whew.
That date was so fun!! First my girlfriend surprised me with 2 items from Trader Joes I have been dying to try (one chocolate item, one salt scrub)! How did she know? She didn't. Totally crazy. Then we went to Chocolopolis in Queen Anne and had some seriously awesome sipping chocolate. I had the Spicy Dark, Stephen had something from Columbia. . . they were so rich, so dark and SOOOOO gooooood. Then we went to Blue Highway Games and played board games! They have like 8-10 tables in the back of the store just for people to play their games- they have shelves and shelves of them that are open. Our friends take their kids regularly for some quality family time. We got to learn Ticket to Ride together and had a blast. Perfect evening. . . . sigh.
Other highlights of "birthday week":
Stephen fixed up my bike so I can take a ride.
He surprised me Wednesday night by saying we would go to this burger place we have been wanting to try near our house, then he invited our friends- double fun! The burgers are very good (they grind their own chuck each morning and have 20 kinds of old fashioned sodas!)

I took the girls to the zoo on my birthday- if I don't get the day off, we should at least have a lot of fun! We met a friend there.

There's cute, and then there's Meer-kute. Ha ha

Yay for birthdays (and on to the shopping trip!) I feel a lot more 30 than I did last year : )