Feels good to be outside w/o a parka or scarf

Look what you can find on a walk if you look for it.

Wired Kids

A couple of weeks ago I attended a session on “Unplugging our Kids and Plugging in the Family” by Gloria Degaetano. Gloria was an engaging speaker with a fascinating background and I left feeling very passionate about something I knew very little about before. She validated concerns I had about exposure to electronics in kids, but more importantly helped me to understand the science behind why these tools can be harmful to kids as they develop. Here is a transcript of my notes from the 90 minute presentation she gave.

Look what we did today!

I got a new scrapbooking tool called a Cricut that cuts any shapes I want. It is very fun and a little addicting....

Hair Clips and Headbands

I cannot get over how expensive the little hair clips are around town. For some reason Sabrina won't keep them in even though her hair is driving her crazy! I'm going to make some, but am surprised there aren't tutorials or ideas out there. Lots of hideous ribbon concoctions...

I stumbled across these ones and think they are great!



So, I think I'll start with these cute clips from the AngryChicken site and some more ideas, and then make some headbands and play around with ribbon on alligator clips. Going to get supplies tomorrow and will let you know how they turn out!

Simple Pleasures

Who knew the doctors office could be so fun? Nevermind the fact that we have trains at home. This was the first time I hoped the doctor was running behind... We spent over an hour setting up and playing with the Brio track, which included a ferry and a cute draw bridge! Very fun. You know that when I find one for him to add to his train set he won't play with it for more than 5 minutes. Such is life.

Beloved Bainbridge

Another article from the NYT, this time about our little island and geared toward the wealthy. I hadn't really thought about Bainbridge as a vacation desination beyond the Puget Sound but I can see how people would fall in love once they visit. Still feel lucky to be here...

What a relief!

As a mom you get so much information in our culture about the next thing you should be doing for your kids to make them happy and healthy. And most of the time you feel like a failure because you didn't think about that or you lose sleep over the vulnerability that you unwittingly exposed them to. I love that someone is telling me that dirt is good. That my messy floors might actually be helping my kids. That using all the anti-bacterial stuff isn't really helping. That it is ok to take a deep breath and for kids to be kids and get messy.

Eating Real Food

I just finished reading Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food" and I highly recommend it. It really changed how I think about what we eat and made me relax a little bit about weight and reconfirmed my commitment to being healthy generally. Like "Fast Food Nation", it describes in some detail how 'food' is processed and manufactured, highlighting how different grocery stores are now then they were when my great-grandmother did her shopping. Little in the store (except the perimeter) is real food. Even stuff you think is made of good stuff (like bread) is often highly engineered. But the most shocking part to me was how much of the nutrition info we are given has very little scientific basis. As a numbers person, I liked reading about the statistics and scientific process that goes into the underlying studies with the latest health claims. I walked away from the book trusting no one (not the FDA, not the American Heart Association, etc.) because endorsements are bought or negotiated. Much of the health claims on food aren't based in science. For example, the mini-wheats i've been feeding my family because they have a lot of fiber claim to increase attentiveness in kids by 20%. But Jason read that is compared with kids who have no breakfast! Eek. Makes me want to crawl in a hole. I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but we are setup to fail in so many (often sublte) ways.

The tenets of how he thinks you should eat are summarized here. They are quick and punchy principles that can't hurt as far as I'm concerned. Common sense but not always easy to do.

Ultimatly, it made me take my role as mom even more seriously. No more processed foods at our house, as much as possible. No cereal, crackers, bars, etc. I'm planning on baking bread, crackers, cookies, etc myself. And we'll eat fruit as opposed to fruit-like stuff for kids. I'd already done some of this, but I'm more committed than ever.

I'm even planning on baking bread and making my own yogurt at this point. Somehow high fructoce corn syrup made its way into our house in these products...eek. Kari recommended a book on breaking artisan bread in 5 minutes a day. Really. It just came from amazon, I'll try it out tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm really excited.

Fun Stuff - Visual Personality

I actually like it!

I finished a project that I actually like. Yeah! It is made with a lucious wool yarn that is so soft. It is a little big, but it is so warm and I don't want to take it off. I actually finished this in the spring, but finally took a picture this week. Just thought I'd share.

We miss the summer concerts!

Wishing summer wasn't over... We loved the concerts at the park, even when it rained and we had to be inside. A couple of videos for your enjoyment! Don't laugh at my sideways video - I was just getting the hang of this...

Do-wap dancing


Sabrina's the center of attention...at least at first.

You've got mail!

Oh, the excitement of getting mail. Combine that with a birthday and Carter was over the moon! After opening the gift from auntie melissa today, the kids had fun playing in the box. Go figure. You'd think they would grow out of that by 4...




I lost my camcorder. How does that happen? It has to be around here somewhere!!! That's the problem with getting a big house with little storage. It could be anywhere!

Summer Swimming

Carter loves the water and had a great time in swim lessons this summer. Check out some highlights from his last lesson. He's jumping and swimming by himself! His teacher Eric calls him Welcome Back Carter, which Carter doesn't understand at all. Over the 8 sessions they shared all kinds of info - including the color/description of their houses, details of our upcoming camping trip, info on his family, the olympics, etc. Seems Carter was a chatty one in the class. He definitely had fun. Sabrina had a hard time sitting by and watching. I think this is the last time we'll get away with that.

Life Jacket Race



Show off


Jump!


Jump and swim under the rope!


Backfloat


This is our first foray into digital video. I used my camera to capture these videos and they turned out alright and it was easy enough to put them up like this. But I think I need to work on it....any ideas?

The Pony

Sissy in a pony tail! She is such a big girl and she knows it.

Sicko

We are so tired of being sick...going on week 4 of this terrible cold/flu bug and no sign of it letting up. It wouldn't be so bad if EVERYONE wasn't needy at the same time. And if we could go out and do something fun without fear of getting everyone else sick. Between the ear infections, pink eye, and the hacking that is going on around here - we are a sorry bunch.

But I've been very productive knitting - finished making another hunter hat I lost (after wearing it once...) and am getting close to finishing my shrug. Hopefully I can get unstuck on the shrug tonight - I made some modifications that are tricky to fix.

Carter is growing up fast all of a sudden. His vocabulary is growing exponentially again - he uses lots of suddenly, actually, prefer, and makes this weird clicking sound when he starts a new idea - where did he pick that up? He is loving preschool, mostly playing with his friends and the play dough. It seems like other kids are painting and creating lots of artsy things and all carter wants to do is the play dough. So this week I made some at home - Sabrina likes it too, but it only keeps them busy for about 10 minutes. Now, if I could just come up with 10 more of those ideas I might be able to really boost the productivity of this household!

Sabrina is so girly too. She brushes her hair out of her face in a very grown up way. Loves wearing dresses. And likes to pretend with dolls. I broke down and bought her a Barbie the other day - Easter Barbie was at safeway for $7 - how could we pass that up? Being home sick for weeks will make you buy just about anything to keep the kids busy and happy. She's so articulate now - she can communicate what she wants very well. But she is also little miss temper tantrum when she doesn't get her way. Intense, face bright red, arms wailing, scratching, angry temper tantrums. So watch out! Our mantra right now is "don't give in" "don't give in" "don't give in"...

But we have been enjoying the sunshine and dry weather. Today Jason cut down a cedar tree by our house - it was very exciting. And we've started our walks with the double stroller again - the kids like to get out of the stroller now and push it or just dawdle and that really reduces the exercise benefit of the whole walk. But it is good fun, so it balances out. The frogs are coming out and we walk across the street to a huge puddle/small pond where they are really loud. Sabrina loves all the different sounds - frogs, birds, airplanes, etc - she gets really excited when she recognizes them.

Generally loving winter and our house and the island. Life is good.

Finished but not loving it

Anyone who knows about my knitting habit likely knows that most things I end up knitting I'm not crazy about. I'm still learning why that is and as frustrating as it is, knitting is relaxing for me and something I can do while hanging out with the kids so it satisfies my need to 'feel' productive.

Take the latest:


I'm not sure why I thought a beret would look good on me. All the women in the patterns I looked at are so chic. And I'm chic (right), so then the beret should look great! Not so much. First it is huge. I have a big head but this hat is huge. Second, it makes me look like a blob. Not what I was going for. Jason just cracked up and insisted on taking a picture - so there you go. I'm about to rip it out and just make a ski cap. I really like the color of this yarn, I can't wear much green but I like this one I found in Hawaii while we were there. In case you want to make it, it was in the most recent issue of Knit Simple magazine.

Some finished objects to share:

I finished Teva's capelet and I hate it. The pattern was messed up - the shoulder shaping was confusing because somewhere along the pattern they forgot about 20 stitches, so that was frustrating. I finished it up as best I could but the shoulders looked silly when I put it on and the neck was too wide. It was a bit too short and it made me look like a blob. Not sure why I keep picking blobby patterns to make. So much for using up my stash. Think I'll make a vest with the yarn instead. Right now it is shoved in a bag. It was a good project to learn how to make cables, though, so not all is lost.

Things I'm currently working on:
Cowl neck from Last Minute Knitted Gifts - http://www.purlbee.com/cashmere-cowl/
And I love the Fitted Knits book I just got and cast on for these quick ones first:
Back to School vest - http://yarncrawl.typepad.com/fittedknitsalong/backtoschool_uneck_vest/index.html
Shug - http://yarncrawl.typepad.com/fittedknitsalong/twotone_ribbed_shrug/index.html

like i need another craft...

i took a needle felting class in october and it was so fun! i made a little lamb and a penguin out of raw wool and it actually turned out cute. anyways, my friend marci gave me some alpaca and i am dying to work with it. not sure yet what i'll create with it but i wanted to document the steps before i forget. so here you go.

1. washing alpaca fleece: http://www.owning-alpaca.com/washing-fleece.html
2. cool characters and teachers site: http://www.woolpets.com/

well sabrina woke up - so much for a brain dump. at least i can clean the fleece now!

what's done is done

well, i did it. i wanted something new and i got it. 'nuff said.

fall photos!

i'm uploading and sending out new photos from kodakgallery*. if you didn't get the email link, let me know and i'll send it to you. things we've been up to over the past month are captured there including:

• our recent trip to appleby's (who knew it would be such a great photo op?)
• scrapbook weekend '07 and my favorite pictures from lindsey's wedding
• our impromptu picnic on the beach (shiver - bad idea in november but couldn't resist a sunny day!)
• my bolero sweater i've been knitting for sabrina but ran out of yarn so one sleeve was longer than the other. i've since fixed it but it is a little big for her so maybe it'll work in the spring since it is short sleeved now?
• playing in the leaves. it really feels like fall around here, the crisp air and all the maple leaves on the ground. we get to see even more sunshine now that all the trees are bare!
• and mr b. carter and i made an ugly doll. he wanted one but i couldn't justify it so one day when sabrina was sleeping and carter didn't want to nap we whipped up this tooth shaped doll. he loves it!

* why am i still using kodakgallery, you might ask? for a few reasons, but mostly because it requires people to sign on so i know who is watching my kiddos. plus my family (read grandparents) know how to use it and all of our pictures are stored over the past 5 years. plus uploading is easy and i don't have to pay for space. so i've got a great/free copy of all of my favorite pictures.

what to do with my wednesday

our day started at 6.30am today and we were having a hard day by the time 8.30 rolled around so i knew we needed to do something and get out of the house. so we headed to silverdale to return some things to target (generating cash :) and went out for lunch. i wanted to try the new weight watchers menu at appleby's and i hadn't been there in a while. the salad i had wasn't very good, but they comped me the salad and i just ate a chicken strip from carter's plate. however, we shared a small dessert and the kids had so much fun eating in a new place. sabrina did this funny thing with her spoon - she was so proud that she could hold it in her mouth without using her hands - and we were cracking up. almost rolling on the floor, uncontrollably laughing. everyone said my kids were so cute (duh!) and we had fun tearing up the place. it was definitely kid friendly - and it helped that they put us in a back corner so we could run around a bit. a souvenir for you from our trip...