A date with his mama

Elijah's turn for an 'outing' with me finally came. He had his mind set on going to the Temple Square for weeks and he got his wish. First we stopped at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Going all the way up to the 10th floor gave us a fantastic overlook of the Temple Square, not to mention a nice ride in the elevator, which is surprisingly important when you try to impress your almost-5-year-old date.

Then we headed back downstairs, checking out the lobby and stopping for a snack.

I'm sure he didn't realize it, but I didn't just sit across the table watching him munch on potato chips. I was soaking in those perfect moments of being one-on-one with my son.

Eating our snacks and talking to each other was so much fun, that we didn't have much time to to spend at the Visitors' centers. Still, a few things stood out to Elijah - being able to take a peek at what the inside of the Temple looks like, and going up and down the ramp to see the 11-foot tall Christus statue.

And this was it. Our perfect date went by fast, leaving us with many wonderful memories and a stronger connection to each other. I may not see this side of Elijah every day, but seeing him in this light just once in a while is so refreshing and in some ways even healing.

To sum it up...

September has been good to us so far. Perfect weather, blissful and peaceful atmosphere at home, kids who help and listen, heartwarming meals every day... Well, scratch the last 3, but the weather is sure nice.

This past month and a half have been much harder than the first 2 months after Ivy was born, mostly because Anya stopped napping and the whole afternoon routine was shattered into pieces. To sum it up, now there's no 'quiet' or nap time. But there's plenty of loud, make-as-much-noise-as-possible-while-Ivy-is-sleeping time. Which translates into: me, frantically making lunch while Ivy is napping and the other kids throwing their requests at me (I think I grow 3 invisible arms during lunch time, just to keep up with the madness), then me trying to send kids downstairs to play so I can clean up after them and have a bite to eat (read: BREAKFAST), and ultimately, failing at the last task, because Ivy wakes up from all the noise in the kitchen. Afternoons are a blur after that...

Despite all the chaos, those 3 imps manage to melt my heart every day in one way or the other. And then they make me pay for it with another blur of a day...

So speaking of September...

What a perfect month for getting back into the bread baking groove. Kalach never tasted better (maybe because I never accidentally overdosed on butter until this last time)

Elijah got his first black (or green and yellow?) eye from close encounter of the third kind with a very aggressive door knob. Bad door knob, bad.

...and then he got his second ever haircut by grandpa. Both times without parent's (mine) consent. At least this time I can still recognize my son :)

Speaking of hair, Anya let me make her first pony tail ever. It was sloppy and all, and my hands were shaking from disbelief, but I did it, that's what matters (and I left it in for 2 days, not knowing if she'd ever let me put her hair into a pony tail again)

and here's her signature hair:

Ivy's been growing like a weed. Rolling over from time to time for the past 3 weeks, laughing and giggling for just as long (and Maya is a pro at making her laugh), sucking on her fists like it's the best tasting food in the world and just plain growing way faster than I can admit to myself. I think she'll get her driver's license sooner than I will.

(this one would look cute as a driver's license photo)

And Maya... This girls amazes me with her creativity and curiosity as much as she amazes me with her talent to test my patience to the limit. She's a true gem - Maya with a Y. And here's the peaceful side of her, reading Charlotte's Web from start to finish in just a couple of hours (priceless, peaceful hours).

As for me, I'm trying to keep my sanity by consuming insane amounts of chocolate (hey, if I'm gaining weight while nursing anyway, I might as well make it fun, right?) and producing impressive amounts of knitwear. Can my life get any better?

August days are for...

:: playing in the backyard dirt (digging tunnels never gets old) ::

:: getting cleaned up afterwards ::

:: play dough making ::

:: finishing projects ::

:: celebrating Annie's Birthday ::

We're loving August here!

Family Vacation :: part two ::

This was day 3 of our vacation (first two days were spent on the road), which consisted of a trip to the Farmer's Market (previous post) and taking the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry back across Puget Sound, after which we stopped to spend some time at the beach.

Elijah, being his usual self, was having the ride of his life on the ferry, after which he declared that when he grows up he wants to be a ferry driver and transport Grandma's car on it. Ironically, I didn't get any photos of Elijah having the ride of his life and dreaming about being a ferry driver because Lisa took him on the upper deck while I stayed with Mark and the girls. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to do it again some day...

:: and then we all enjoyed cool breezy beach ::

:: and even managed to get a semi-decent family photo at the end, the only one of all 5 of us ::

We had a long full day, and unfortunately for us, Elijah decided to take a nap on the way back which translated into him not wanting to go to bed at the normal hour. He stayed up with grown ups in the living room for a bit, trying to find a comfortable spot and at some point he finally got quiet. We peeked out of the kitchen and saw this:

doesn't he look cozy sleeping on top of the power strip, covered with yoga mat? :)

Summer Solstice Festival

Yesterday we got to attend out first ever Summer Solstice Festival. It was an interesting and unique (for us) experience, and it felt great to be surrounded by people and many many children (not an every day occurrence for me, not counting Mark and kids here). I truly enjoyed feeling such positive atmosphere and only wished Maya and Elijah had a bit more fun. They are really not used to such events, especially when there's nobody familiar to them. As a result, Elijah felt more comfortable watching the events from distance and Maya... well, no surprises there. She fell apart sometime between the moment when I didn't let her have someone else's birthday cake for dinner (she thought it was mine, because she knows my birthday will be in a few days)and the time when Mark gently reminded her, while she was playing with hula-hoops, that her untouched dinner was sitting on the plate. Everything after that was a blur. Mark took screaming Maya away from the crowd and spend a good 20-minutes trying to get her to calm down, while I was packing our stuff with Anya on my back, watching Elijah with one eye to make sure he didn't burn anyone with the stick he kept putting in the fire.

(the rest of the photos here)

All in all, the amount of stress was within normal limits (by our standards) and as Mark and I concluded later, there were lessons we both learned and things we both enjoyed. Still, hoping to do better next time...

***********
and before I forget, a recipe for my summer 'must-have' salad (the yellow and orange one)

carrots (about 4)
beets (2 medium sized)
walnuts (about 1 cup)
salt
pepper
agave nectar (or honey)
apple cider vinegar
extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Peel and grade carrots and beets. I used yellow beets this time which I never tried before. I think I prefer stronger flavor of red beets. Crumble walnuts into the salad and add the rest of the ingredients to taste. Simple, eh?

(no recipe for quinoa salad this time, I just frantically mixed it together as Mark was putting kids into the car. I may try to recreate it soon :)