green, simple and more living

when the kids were all finally in their beds (although I think all three were making various kinds of noises) and graham and i were downstairs cleaning up the kitchen, he said well let's discuss something "grown-up" tonight. what do you want to talk about? i thought a second or two and said to what extent do we as a family live "green"?

this subject among many has been bouncing around in my brain after reading some new blogs. like the soule mama blog and the organically inclined blog, and after seeing an interesting news story a few weeks ago about a family who lived for a whole year with the least amount of impact on the environment. i have been thinking about csa's or community supported agriculture, reducing, reusing and recycling (thank you to jack johnson), and of all things - changing out my light bulbs. so we started talking about what this all means for our family, in the real world of "living". i don't think i am done thinking about all of this, infact i think that its just the tip of the iceburg.

after cleaning the kitchen up and making some yummy coffee from kenya (that g's mama and sister brought back) we went downstairs to tackle the beast - our basement. its been over six months since we moved but the basement is still crazy!! we get a little bit more done each time we go down there and tonight i felt like we made much progress. so i found a book that my mama gave to me when we got married called living more with less by a mennonite christian woman. i am going to read it b/c i feel that part of my role as wife and mother is to cook healthily and to use our resources wisely - which also means being a good steward of the food that the Lord has given to us. (i need to blog about the new diet i am on b/c this subject of food and recipes etc will make more sense to you all plus ransom is allergic to milk and peanut butter - hello can we say new lifestyle in eating for the plaster kids?!!!) i digress...so speaking of basement junk - one of my goals is to again purge and sell so that we can have a little extra mullah for the important things like haircuts and various baby accessories for the double stroller:) well thank you for reading this rambling blog entry. it feels so good to just type my thoughts and not care if it makes sense - sort of james joycesque.

good night. aloha friends.

ps we went peach picking at sweet berry farms today with the kids. it was so fun. enjoy the pics.

weather

it is a beautiful day in newport today. no its not sunny or clear skies. but it is blowy and billowing out there. its been off and on raining and misty. its been humid and damp but it is gorgeous and i love it.

last night we took our evening walk to battery park and got to go down to the little rocky beach next to the park. the kids looked at small star fish and hermit crabs in the shallow water and the tide pools - a new "haunt" for them to explore. what fun. thank you Lord for your incredible creation - little miracles underneath the surface of dark water and seaweed.

birthday party

So today was Kyrie's birthday party!! We had a great time out back - most of the kids were around 3 years old so they were happy splashing in the kiddie pool and playing on the play/swing set. (our friends the Wises' were sick so they were unable to come down - we missed them!) We had invited the play group kids but we ended up having a smaller group - which actually wasn't that small. It was a perfect amount. We had Jess and Todd and their four kids and Natalie and her two boys and our three. I had a bit of a freak out session (but not a total melt down!) before the party - trying to remind myself that things don't need to be perfect - b/c it is my friends who are coming over with their kids -- I don't need to impress them. Maybe next year I can remain stress free before the party. But I have my dear husband who helped with everything, did yard work and transformed our back yard into a lovely playland. Jess and Natalie put food out and stuffed the candy bags for the kids. Kyrie loved her cake - in fact didn't want to leave it in the house. She would have been happy just staring at it and putting a finger in occasionally to taste it. Instead of Olivia the Pig she wanted a chocolate horse. So that is what it was. I got some good video of her party. It was hot and humid but the day started out nice and breezy. Everyone went home happy and candied-up! We are going on the Thompson's boat this afternoon, after naptime! Its a full day here in Newport.

A few lessons learned:
1. don't pick the theme until last minute. (b/c your child will change her mind - and remember that you should not get upset b/c its her birthday!)
2. what is the simplest way to do something - ie. don't think you are going to be doing a craft with the kids or for the kids b/c when one has three little ones under 4 years - this will NEVER happen! and the kids are happy just playing anyway.
3. relax and enjoy. no one likes to be around an uptight mom/hostess.
4. pray pray pray. and then again pray.
5. look for candy that is on sale rather then buying the bulk stuff. i will be taking some candy back to BJ's b/c i found really cheap candy at the grocery store for as little as .62 cents!
6. give others grace, it will be given out to you! the ballooon lady didn't have my order at all when i showed up to pick up the balloons but i was cool and she gave me a free "expensive" balloon. nice. thank you Jesus.
7. no one, i repeat, no one has it ALL together and if they act like they do or say they do - they are LYING!!

i am too hot to sleep

its so steamy in our house right now i am finding it hard to get into bed. its nice and cool outside but you know how the heat of the day gets trapped in the house. poor ransom has a cough and cold and woke up hot and bothered. so i spent over an hour trying everything to get him comfortable and back in bed. i even dipped his curious fingers in my ice water and dribbled the cold water on his head, arms and legs to cool him off. i remember doing that has a kid in pasadena. or sometimes mama would get me a cold cloth and i would put that on my face.

ok now i feel sick from the heat. tomorrow i will drink more water.

night night.

laid back

this weekend we were in boston to visit the boston cambridge vineyard (for the second week in a row!) we stayed at the constitution inn (a navy lodge) and then spent sat and sunday with our dear friends the wises. they live in this wonderful corner of cambridge with a trader joes and a whole foods literally down the block from them!! can this be!!:) we enjoyed watching our kids playing, running around, pretending, laughing and generally keeping eachother busy while we drank two buck chuck and ate yummy caprese salad and trader's pizzas. i was telling graham that i love being around them b/c they are so laid back. its good to let the kids run around and not feel like you have to follow them with a dust pan and broom all day. so this morning (although i did the minimal pick up ie. like cleaning the counter off before the honeyed rice krispies solidify for all time!) i am letting things go (as much as i can stand it) and pursuing gardening and art projects with them. this is a bit hard for me to as i am rather ocd about the house being in a somewhat state of order. (its all in my head though b/c my house really isn't that clean!!!)

and as my friend amy reminded me this morning "cleaning up after preschoolers during the day is like shoveling snow while it is still snowing". clearly i need to keep this in mind.

note to self: start day off with jesus first and above quote secondly!! oh and have coffee too.

preschool

i am going to be homeschooling kyrie this year and i just found a really neat curriculum through a friend. its called sonlight curriculum. its got structure but flexibility and i think that its really doable for me. kyrie is going to have such a terrific year. we are going to make school really special and exciting for her. there are also so many wonderful activities to incorporate into school. like going to the zoo, petting farms, gardening, the beach, walking, etc. we'll definately have to make sure that she and rhys get to have play dates with friends. i want to put them in swimming lessons and kyrie in soccer this fall as well. we'll see if all of this gets accomplished. its a good challenge for me as i begin to mother my three little ones. i am going to do a little more research among my friends who are homeschooling veterans but this program looks so great!!! and it comes with high regards from my mothers' helpers!!

back online, kyrie's 4th birthday

So I am back online finally. We have a new computer. I will not allow myself to cry over all the pictures (I am not even going to think about it!) that were lost from our computer meltdown. I have most of them on snapfish.com and that is all there is to be said.

today is kyrie's 4th birthday!! she got a new dress from the magees and a set of dishes and utensils with the disney princesses. very exciting. we have art supplies for her and a preschool book. i want to try and find a little mermaid doll for her too but of course my trip to BJ's did not proove fruitful (should have bought it last week!) the dean boys from around the corner came over with a ballerina barbie and an outfit for her. you should have seen kyrie's face. darling. truly she is a girl of girls. i loved barbie when i was little too and i can't

the Magee girls (Anna and Rachel), who have been my mother's helpers for 2 weeks, and I took all three kids to the carousel at first beach! we were a bit spoiled b/c at jack's birthday we were given unlimited rides for 2 hours, so i was under the impression that for 50 cents we could do the same. surprise - its now $1/ride!:) so we rode twice and then were able to get the girls off and into the car with relatively little protest. well actually i told them that we could go to newport creamery for aweful, awefuls.

i havn't mentioned the new behavior that 4 year old girls exhibit so i will do that in later posts. let's just say we are challenged. dear lord grant me grace and patience...more later:)