Saint Nicholas Tag

When Chris was growing up in Germany, they celebrated Saint Nicholas Tag on December 6th--tag in German is "day", and this is the feast day of Saint Nicholas. In Germany, and some other parts of Europe, kids set their shoes out the night before and wake up the morning of the 6th to find them filled with little goodies from Saint Nicholas.

It's hard for me to remember to incorporate new traditions like this, and Chris wasn't much help in remembering this year, and we completely forgot to put the boys shoes out the night before! Luckily, I remembered upon awakening in the morning, and, while the boys were still in bed with us, I woke Chris up and he snuck out and did the dirty work. The boys just think Daddy put their boots out for them, since we forgot before going to bed! Whoops...

Waiting for me to unlock the door...bah to forgetting to turn on the flash and Danny's blurry face!

 

Danny brings his stuff inside...

...while Isaac starts scarfing chocolate, with the door still open! (And it has been COLD!)

Still eating chocolate. And later threw multiple tantrums.

Give Danny a new Hot Wheels, and he's good for a week!

And just because it's cute, I have to put up a picture of Chuck and Zeus. Chuck has decided that Zeus' bed is a good place for him as well, and cuddles with him. You can tell Zeus hates it, but tolerates it :)

Compost!

Last spring, I used a good portion of our tax return to fancy up the garden (well, a little, there's much more I want to do), and part of that included buying compost bins--plural, b/c the first we bought we weren't sure about (a big ball you can roll around to easily facilitate aeration) and then we found a display model at Costco for pretty cheap, so we were then the proud owners of TWO compost bins. And we actually produce enough food waste to fill them both. That's kind of gross.

Anyways...I was rewarded the other day with my first batch of compost!

There's actually still some egg shells in it, and a few leaf chunks left from my last addition about three weeks ago, but bin #2 is full and needed to start actively composting, which means that the ball bin needed to be emptied. And since the ball bin is now empty, I was able to roll it up to rest next to the deck, so I don't have to trek down to the garden in the cold and rain all winter.

I was so excited. I still am. I'm still amazed that our food turned into beautiful soil. It's so nuts. It's so amazing. It's things like this that make me love science and nature.

The compost is still sitting in a small pile in the garden, waiting to be distributed, but I cannot decide which plants to bestow with all of the wonderful nutrients. I probably need to make my mind up though, b/c I think we have some precipitation on the way, and I don't want all those nutrients just leaching into the soil in one spot.

This same day--I think it may have been Sunday--Chris willingly left a warm couch, with food and football, to finally put up the supports for my raspberry bed (which he also built for me, with aforementioned tax return). Isn't he a nice guy?! Then he took the kids back inside, put the leftover lasagna in the oven for lunch, and left me alone, in peace and quiet, in my garden, to play with my raspberries for an hour.

The raspberries look so unimpressive right now, but they actually yielded a fair amount of berries this summer and fall, considering I'd only planted them in early May (which was way late, I procrastinate in everything, gardening included). There are tons of suckers and I'm excited b/c I think they are going to be bee-yoo-ti-ful next summer and fall and I will have my own private organic raspberry supply. :)

Zoo lights

 Isaac doesn't look very comfortable, does he?!

Isaac on the zoo train. Poor little guy was cold, and very whiny, until we boarded the train, but riding the train seemed to cheer him right up!

Danny is "helping" post these pictures, and when he saw this one, he said, "Mama, but why do you have your hair sticking up in your mouth?" !!! I don't know, good question...

 

Danny under the dragon

 

Isaac hugging the tiger. He's still talking about this! Even big brother wouldn't do it, but Isaac didn't even hesitate.

 

Watching the tiger walk away: "BYE! BYE TIGER! BYE!!!!"

 

A sleeping ocelot. Danny and Isaac were really excited about the cute kitty.

 

 

We've been to zoo lights the last three years in a row. It wasn't exactly something I meant to make a tradition, but...looks like it is! I don't think Danny will let a Christmas pass from now on w/o us going at least once. The past two years I've gone solo--which I'm really proud of myself for!--and the boys have been so good, it'd be kind of hard to argue against taking them (though it was easier having a newborn and 1-year-old Isaac in a sling, tucked snugly in my coat, not insisting on seeing every sight and getting down and walking every three minutes! He was a little more fun this year, however!).

Here's to many more great zoo lights, and thanks to Great-Grandma for the fun zoo membership!!

I am so proud of my husband

Because today I took the computer from him and found these tabs open: Chemicals in our food, and bodies; Concern over canned food; and BPA raised workers' risk of sexual dysfunction, study says.

He must have read something about BPA...

My email inbox has been flooded in the past week, from the Washington Toxics Coalition and Environmental Working Group, asking me to petition my state legislators about removal of BPA from products intended for small children, which of course I did.

But, uh, didn't I do this last year?

Yes. I thought this was all totally old news, but I guess not. Here was the email reply I received from my state senator:

Dear Michelle,
 
Thank you for your email in reference to HB1108 and

SB5282.  Last year there were two pieces of  

legislation introduced and neither of them got  

through the legislative process.  The House version  

passed with a 76-21 vote.  

Neither bills made it to the Senate floor for a vote.   

Last year Senator did not have an opinion on the issue.
 
The bills will need to be reintroduced to be  

considered again this session. The legislature  

reconvenes on January 11, 2010.  We will keep an eye  

on this during the upcoming session.
 
 
Tina Bodine, Legislative Assistant to
Senator Joseph Zarelli
18th Legislative District
360.786.7634      Fax 360.786.7524 
Senator Zarelli's Web Site http://www.leg.wa.gov/senate/zarelli
Bill Information http://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature 

Hmmm....I know a certain senator who will most definitely NOT be getting a vote from me come his next re-election. No offense intended, Mom and Randall :)

Seriously though--I expected better from Washington State. We're usually one of the states that stay ahead of the curve in issues like this (yet another reason I will probably never leave the West Coast...unless I'm bound for Europe, that is). Maybe this year...

But, I am proud of my husband! He's often times a little skeptical of my stance on the whole natural/organic living stuff (though he didn't balk at my spending the money on Klean Kanteens, and did finally purchase a stainless steel Camelbak for himself). And when HE gets convinced, he's a talker, so other people end up hearing about it, and hopefully start to get a little interested and look into these things for themselves. (Chris, if you try to refute this point, I want you to remember last New Year's Eve, at Dr. What's-her-face's party, when you started going off about home birth, and all of a sudden, here I am the crazy hippie at the party full of your co-workers...embarrassing, yet see what I mean?!).

And to conclude, here's a link to the Washington Toxics Coalition page on BPA, so everyone else can email their state legislator (although, this is specific to Washington State, I believe): Tell legislators it's time to eliminate BPA!

When the kids get cranky...

...I throw them outside.

Luckily today I decided to go out, too, because it was absolutely beautiful (but cold). And I got out there, and saw what a mess the yard was, and decided I should probably do something about it. Mother Nature starts cutting me some slack this time of year: my first chore, anytime I do yardwork, is poop duty (why didn't anyone tell me what I was getting into in regards to poop, with having two kids, a 75-lb dog in suburbia, and two cats? Why couldn't I figure it out myself?!), and cleaning up frozen dog poop is much better than...you can imagine. The rest of you curse frost, I love it. It also means that there are almost no fruit flies attacking me when I open the compost bin.

I'm glad to see winter coming!

Then the kids needed to swing. I don't think I liked swinging nearly as much as my kids do. They will swing any chance they get. They beg for it. They fight over swings when the number of kids outnumber the swings. They will do it all day long, if I let them. They squeal and scream and smile--so I try to indulge them regularly.

Raking was up next. A nice big pile, so that the kids could jump in it. They waited very patiently, smashing up the ice that had formed on their sandbox-turned-pond-because-nobody-covered-it-up-when-rain-started. I was hoping we'd find some frog eggs in it, but nothing so far.

I wish you could better see the look of anticipation on Danny's face! Just waiting for me to give him the go ahead (I made them wait while I got the camera).

Zeus is constantly bringing his tennis balls to the leaf piles, so that the kids will bury them. He loves it as much as they do, I think.

 

 

 

Danny burying Isaac

Run, Isaac, run!

 

 

And then, a miracle happened...

 

  

 

Isaac helped Danny up, with no prompting from me, and then Danny hugged Isaac, with no prompting from me! I think they may actually love each other!

And then another miracle lay awaiting us in the garden:

tons of broccoli still in the garden (not the phenomenon), which Danny and Isaac stood and ate for a good five minutes (there it is!). They have not been willing broccoli eaters all summer, but today, Danny proclaimed, "Mama, today is a day that Isaac and I could stay outside all day and eat broccoli and play." Alright, you do that! The broccoli had actually gotten much sweeter and more mild, I'm guessing due to the cold? It was a nice snack though, we cleaned off that plant that they're standing by. As a bonus, the cold has killed off the aphids and cabbage worms that were haunting our cruciform veggies.

After Danny's little nap today, while Isaac was still asleep, Danny helped me make our December calendar (even though we won't host preschool this month, Danny has been learning his numbers very rapidly, and loves posting the date each day), and then drew me a picture of Rudolph:

That Rudolph was even written by him (dictated by me, of course). I was so proud. He wouldn't let me hang it up without a lot of cajoling, because he wanted to surprise Daddy. After I took the picture, he went back and added a blue sky, a rainbow, and green grass "to feed Rudolph when he gets hungry." Ah, my smart, wonderful little preschooler, how quickly you learn and amaze me!

Let the holidays begin!

We are on the ball this year! Last night (the 1st of December!) we got our Christmas tree and got it all decorated.

I guess we'd really be on the ball if it wouldn't have been almost 7 pm before we got home, with dinner still needing to be cooked; an almost 8' tree to contend with; ornaments and decorations to be found...but that's just how Chris and I roll, and you probably know this.

While I fixed dinner, Chris got the tree in, located the tree stand, sliced off the bottom of the tree and drilled a hole in it--I have no clue why he drilled the hole, I thought it better not to ask. I think he just wanted to play with some of the tools he rarely gets to use!

After dinner, we decorated! Well, just the tree, the rest of the house is still waiting its turn.

 

 

 Danny actually helped this year! As you can see, we ended up with a lot of ornaments at the 2 1/2' level, around the entire circumference of the tree!

This Kermit the frog ornament was bought by my parents when I was small, because I loved Kermit so much! Apparently some things never lose their appeal, as there was a small fight over this ornament (how Isaac won I'm still puzzling over!).

 

 

Too bad Isaac didn't have pants on...I'm not really sure what happened to them.

Post-decorating. I love when the house looks like this at 9:30 pm, with both kids still awake. And notice who's relaxing on the couch...

I suppose it was equally tiring to watch...

Thanksgiving, round two

Well, kind of...
Mom and Randall had done Thanksgiving with friends, and Brenda, Tom and Bean had gone up to see Tom's family; Mom, Brenda and I couldn't let a holiday go by without getting together to pig out and see each other, so we arranged to do a dinner on Saturday.

Mom got here nice and early (the boys were still in pj's!), so she could cook and we could visit. It was so nice, to have Mom here all day and not be in a hurry. The boys were of course very, very, VERY excited to have Nana here, not to mention ALL day! We watched some Food Network (just like old times!), discussed the merits of several recipes in my new cookbook (we didn't know what we were cooking--but we'd planned on winging it the day of, and seeing what sounded good), played with kids/dog/cats, drank lattes, and finally, did cook. Well, Mom did most of the cooking, I was more sous chef and just plain getting in the way! We had decided on Puebla chicken and potato stew, from the new cookbook (Gourmet Today); it had chorizo and chipotle peppers in adobo, and was served with queso fresco, avocado, sour cream and baked corn tortillas...it was delicious. Mom is such a good cook--she's the one who taught me everything I know! I can't think how many times I've called her to ask for culinary help. Then we'd made a chocolate cake for dessert; we did the cake and frosting with coconut oil (in place of butter, of course) and it was SO good. I just finished my extra piece :) Mom was evil and left her and Randall's extra pieces here!

Brenda, Tom and Bean came over a little before dinner; Brenda hadn't been feeling good, so she missed out on cooking with us. That was a bummer, we always like cooking together. Except poor Brenda can't drink with us while we cook now...;)

And now, some pictures:

Guess who got to lick the chocolate frosting beaters?

 

The sit and spin was the popular item to fight over this night :) Danny and Bean did a very good job with the sharing once we set a timer though.

Brenda and her new best friend, Oscar. I'm trying to convince her to adopt him! The offer still stands...

Danny and "Ribbity"

 Danny's--and the rest of the family's--opinion on the outcome of the '09 Apple Cup. We still love you Cougs, even if you couldn't score a single point.

And now...on to Christmas.