the old dining room and kitchen

In case you never got to see the old kitchen and dining room (or have blissfully forgotten what it looked like...) here it is...

dining room (wall behind table is what was opened up for the breakfast bar)


doorway into kitchen from dining room


peninsula area that got removed


previous fridge location, and door to hall on left edge that was closed off to make pantry (also not the ducks on the wallpaper border...)


breakfast area


nice light...

the NEW kitchen!

I know, I know...I've been meaning to post these pictures forever...but here they are! It looks a little more tidy here than it does in everyday life. :) Wahoooooo!


from the bar into the kitchen/breakfast area


another view from the bar


from the breakfast nook into the kitchen


another view


breakfast nook


"floating shelves" and door into pantry

Learning through mistakes

Very cool article here about the science of mistakes (and how people actually learn things)...thanks to my friend Margareta for passing this on!

The girls had a great class at S.C.R.A.P. today (love, love, love that place!) and I found, among other things, a comb binder for $6 (not as fancy as the one pictured...but it works...and did I mention it was only $6!). I've been wanting one for a while...and now it's here! Now if I could only will a die cut machine into our world...I miss working in a library that had all of these things...

This weekend...

Was brought to us by the letter P...

P is for Playfort that was free on Craigslist...and is now re-assembled in our back yard...


P is for Pulley...set up by Sabine and Bret...


and P is for Panniers...sewn by Carolyn for the Yuba Mundo bike (note the black ninja kitty on the bike)...


I found the fabric at SCRAP (I think it was $6 -- and I have some left over -- it is a thick, lined material...formerly curtains), the straps were left over from a sewing project I did for our friend Bud back in Wyoming. I did have to by $6 worth of "D" rings once I finalized my design (I had a bunch, but used them all...). Much less expensive than Yuba's (albeit, nice) ones at $119 each.

At the coast

Went to our favorite spot last Monday -- it's a bit of a hike in -- but great spot with views of surfers, logs to play on, and shallow water for splashing.




Many rocks were collected...


Kites were flown...

Sand castles were built.

Ducky Derby

So the crazy-fun folks at Bret's office have an annual ducky derby. You pay $2 per duck (a two buck duck...) and can race them in either the stock or modified races. Of course, being the mad scientists that we are, we wanted to modify our 5 ducks.


Here's Bret -- assisting Sabine with her bamboo raft creation -- which won FIRST place in the people's choice awards. $25 for Sabine.


Vivan with her ducks...


Sabine working on her other creation - bicycle innertube to duck flotation device.

Fortunately, one of the ducks that Vivian helped create won FIRST PLACE in the modified race, netting her $50! We felt a little guilty about sweeping it like that...but quickly got over it.

Zucchini Lemon Loaf

Just added this recipe, mainly for Kat...whose garden overflow-eth with zucchini grown by Chris! You can also scroll to the bottom of the page and see the recipe (and other favorites)...

Looking forward to cooking in our NEW KITCHEN...granted, it won't be done until (knock on wood) Thanksgiving...demo starts on our 13th wedding anniversary (September 20, in case you're interested...). Many thanks to architect Michael Howells for the design, and Mike at ReCraft for taking on the project! Whaoo!!!

Ice skating, tooth fairy visit

The girls just finished up several weeks of ice skating lessons...Sabine didn't want me to take her picutre on the ice, but here's Vivian:





And another couple of the second child with a special gift from the Tooth Fairy -- Vivian now has 5 teeth missing (and she turns 5 in early October). TF thought that was good reason for a specail gift of an Ugly Doll. Happy girl.

We are cyclist...

Our friends Dave and Karmin just returned from two weeks in Japan. They brought back all sorts of interesting treasures...including the following shirt for Bret:


[In case it's not legible, the tiny words on the bottom say "we can run without gasoline"]

Karmin also got to dress up like a Maiko (an apprentice Geisha) and they brought back darling cotton kimonos, socks and shoes for both girls (Vivian had a melt down and thus is not pictured here...) but I think Sabine looks pretty darn cute!



Karmin said she was told to not show her teeth while posing...



Not the best photo, but sabine's "toe socks" have a picture of a dragon on them, with the word DORAON. Might be a special Japanese lizard???

This is a test...

...to see if my posts are updating to Facebook. This is only a test. If this were an actual blog post you would have seen or read something of interest by this point. We will now return to our regularly scheduled blogging. Thank you.

Great (old) book

This is a book we had growing up (click on image to go to Amazon description):


(Thanks, Granny Jean and Boopy for hauling it all over the world until I wanted it. :) )

Yesterday the girls and I went on a walk (they were in the Burley, with some library books and snacks...so I guess technically I went on a push...but I digress). Sabine was reading A Chocolate Mousse for Dinner -- or it might have been The King who Rained -- to Vivian. (Also favorites from my childhood.) She came across the phrase "a family coat of arms" and asked what that meant. We talked about what they were, and I had a vague recollection of coats of arms being a section in Steven Caney's book.

Sure enough, there were a couple of pages on coats of arms, and ideas for making your family's own. Sabine made ours with a monkey for humor, a lightbulb for ingenuity, and a fox for cleverness. Not bad.

I love Steven Caney's writing style and this book is jam packed with fun things to do/read about -- from making a quill pen to fortune telling to grave stone art to how different kinds of nails are made. You can even buy a used copy on Amazon for $.39 (plus $4 shipping, of course...) but you might see one at a yard or library sale sometime...keep your eye out for one!

More on the GMA piece...

...and thanks, Ronnie, for pulling these all together.

Just in case anyone watched...

...the (IMHO) awful piece Good Morning America did on unschooling, (I'm reluctant to even link to it as the interviewer was so obviously biased against unschooling but hey, maybe she's just going for controversy to get ratings...) here's a great response from the Huffington Post.

Birthday!

I suppose I should say BirthdayS! but it's really not all about me any more, is it? Oh well, we had a fun party for Sabine's 8th...fruit on a stick, pizza, cake, water balloon fights, face painting, and of course, general kinder-mayhem.

(Oh, and we finally found a living room couch -- look how many kids fit on it! and they could have added more!!!)

Easter

Many an egg were dyed and hid...


Happy girls post-hunt...


Vivian hunting...

Steak on a stick

I think that's all we need to say.

Tree swing

Bret used a piece of wood from a shelf we pulled out of a closet, and bought a length of rope from the hardware store to make a front yard swing.

Hours of entertainment!