Field Trip!!

**New blog will not upload any pictures, so I'm posting here for now instead**

First of all, I dedicate this post to Judith, my loyal reader (family doesn't count!). ;)

This morning I was transported back to my days as a homeschooler, oh-so-long-ago. My friend Alisha (check out her homeschool blog here) arranged for a group of us to go to the Shoreline Fire Safety Center. It is REALLY COOL! And right by my house! It's in an old fire station, designed for preschool aged kids who aren't quite ready for the whole fire station tour thing. They have a playroom with a bunch of fire fighter themed toys (seriously, I had no idea there could be so many!), a fire pole to slide down, and of course, a fire engine to climb on! The kids got to play a while, then they did a little presentation on fire safety. It was actually really helpful, I haven't talked to the girls much on the subject and this gave me something to build on.

There were a couple of things I found interesting, and I want to share them with you. Because I'm helpful like that.

The first thing came out of a question asked by my lovely friend Amanda (mama to our beloved Baby Sam). The lady giving the presentation said she does NOT recommend smoke detectors in the kitchen. They can go off if you burn something while you're cooking (not that *I* have any experience with that....ahem), and you just turn it off, or fan it, which teaches your kids that it doesn't really mean anything. Smoke alarms are for when you are sleeping, so they should be inside bedrooms and right outside them, not in the kitchen where they are simply a nuisance.

The other thing that struck me is that you are supposed to go directly outside as soon as the smoke alarm goes off to your "safe meeting place". I realized we need to set a safe meeting place for our family.

So there you go, a little bit of fire safety for you all. ;) And now, the cute pictures of my children dressed up as fire fighters!!

New Blog...

Yes, I know, I'm still not the greatest about posting on here, and I'm starting a new blog? What?!

I've had this in the works for a while. I've been waiting to post about it here, because I want to get it all nice and pretty and perfect, but then I thought, why not just dive in or I may never do it!

For now I've imported a number of posts from this blog over there, and it may look very much like this blog, or it may turn into something completely different. The new blog may turn into a bit more anonymous blog, I kind of just want to "see where the spirit leads". :)

So, check me out at http://soggymommy.com (and try not to notice how dull it is over there at the moment!) ;)

Backyard Ballet

**Editor's note**
I would just like to point out that it was not even 70 degrees when these pictures were taken. They begged to play in the water. Brrrrrr.

Caterpillars and Sunshine

Pictures by Stella. :)

Caterpillar!

June in Seattle

I like to read blogs. I don't always have a lot of time to surf the web (what with being too busy watching my soap operas and eating bon bons and all), but when I do get some down time I love to cruise the blog world. The Mommy Blog World, that is. Sometimes I like to check out Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family (best blog name EVER), for some fun and (hopefully) useful tips on anything from organizational tips to kitchen shortcuts to wrapping your celery in foil to keep it fresh longer (it really works! try it!). Sometimes it's {this moment} at SouleMama, for a little pictorial inspiration and a glimpse into the lives of people around the world. Lately it seems that, across the mommy blogs, everyone is talking about summer. People are pulling out the pools and sprinklers and ice cream cones left and right!! What's a poor Seattle girl to do?! I learned the hard way a couple of years ago that summer doesn't actually begin until July. So don't bother getting the flip flops out, or your hopes up.

Case in point: Yesterday we walked to the park (picked one that was a good half-hour walk away). It started raining when we were not yet a block away from our house. It stopped for a bit while we played at the park, then started up again in earnest. So we packed up and headed home, walking the whole way in the rain. Not ten minutes after we got inside the house, the clouds parted and the sun came out in all its glory. It stayed out for hours. I can't tell you how many times pretty much this exact scenario has happened to us. I've sort of gotten used to it, but I still can't help feeling like the weather does it to me on purpose.

This morning all was doom and gloom. The weather forecast said rain. I woke up with a sore throat, runny nose and a headache (boo). So I thought we'd be lazy and declared Pajama Day. I was half-heartedly cleaning up the mess from breakfast (half-heartedly because the kitchen was already such a mess that it really didn't make much difference!) when I realized the sun was out. And not just out in a "sun break" as they call it here, but out in a lovely-sunny-day sort of way. In fact, it was even kind of warmish outside! Miracle of miracles! I asked the girls if they wanted to play outside and they said yes!! (Can you tell from all of these exclamation points how exciting it is?!!) ;)

Now, I am a defeated perfectionist. I tend to tell myself that because I don't have these exact art supplies my kids can't do art, or because I don't have those certain outdoor toys or a proper garden or a fun sprinkler my kids can't enjoy the backyard. (And yes, I know it's ridiculous, but what can I say.) But today, for some reason, I was inspired to assemble our motley collection of outdoor toys/activities (of which the shining star is the slide from grandpa and grandma!) and make it really fun. And you know what?! It was!

And while my children were so happily occupied, did I take advantage of the opportunity to take care of this enormous pile of laundry waiting to be folded and put away?

Or maybe I decided to tackle this disaster area I like to call my kitchen, in which there was hardly a clean dish or utensil to be found.



AHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! Now that was funny.





I suppose it was only a matter of time...

(Okay, you can't see it but there is a stream of water squirting out from the hose that Stella is trying to get Mags to run through!)

Definitely soaking wet by this time.






I may or may not have let them play outside completely naked for another half an hour....

Dress Rehearsal

A little taste of what is to come...
(Stella is fourth from the left.)

Little Ballerina

Crafting

Stella has been talking for a while about making a mobile for Maggie. I have no idea where she got this idea, Maggie never had a mobile over her crib, but Stella has mentioned it to me numerous times. So we finally got out the art box. (The art box is completely pathetic. Longtime readers of the blog may remember that we are not exactly fully stocked when it comes to art supplies.)

Stella informed me that she needed paper, scissors, markers and a glue stick. (Yes! We have glue sticks now!) I gave her the supplies and let her go at it. She created this entirely on her own. I cut out the people and the sun, she did all of the other cutting, arranging and gluing without any help. I just love what she came up with. (Does it sound like I'm bragging? That's because I am. We're talking about artistic genius here.)

Masterful gluing.

Move to a new location for reasons unknown to the uninitiated.

Our family. Can you spot Maggie? :)

Masterpiece. (Hanging in a place of honor above Maggie's bed.)

Stella isn't the only one who has been crafty around here. After weeks without inspiration, Mama finally picked up her knitting needles again and made a red sun hat for Maggie. I had in mind two little summer dresses of hers that have red in them. I got this yarn last year in a bag full of random yarn for 25¢ at a garage sale. The hat is a little too big (why do I always make hats too tall?!), but still pretty adorable. And the hat really is red, the pictures just have terrible lighting/horrible flash. Sorry about that.

Beach Vacation!

Last weekend (our "weekend" runs from Sun-Mon) we took a somewhat last-minute mini vacation. Because Jonathan has been working so many extra hours (including picking up extra shifts to cover for people who reeeeally needed some time off), his boss told him to take Tuesday off too! So we hopped in the car and headed for the beach! We stayed at a place called Seabrook, where we rented a small 2-bedroom cottage that was just wonderful. We relaxed, watched movies (they had a boxed set of Audrey Hepburn movies - woohoo!), read books, drank lots of wine, played at the park, and hiked through the rain forest. It was only 3 days, but it was pretty much perfection.

The first trip down to the beach was....interesting. This California girl had packed her flip flops, and the girls' sandals for the beach. The Washingtonian husband chuckled when he saw them. We spent a short amount of time bundled up on the beach, where we nearly froze. It was really really really windy, Maggie wanted to get down and walk and when we set her down she was literally blown over by the wind! Brrrrrrr. Our second beach experience was much better, the weather was spectacular and we went to a magical place called Ruby Beach. We each got to do things we love: Daddy walked waaaaay down the beach and explored, Mommy leaned up against a log and soaked in the sun and listened to the waves, Maggie sat on the ground and played with rocks/pointed at birds, and Stella built a sandcastle then climbed around on driftwood pretending she was a mermaid. :)

We all decided we MUST come back. Soon.

On the way down to the beach (the cold windy day)

Writing her name in the sand

Small brag: I made all 4 of our hats. :)

By the playground at Seabrook

Maggieness

On the Quinault Loop Trail

Ruby Beach

The perfect end to the day