One of the other 365 Days of the Year

I spoke to a friend today who had looked at the pictures on this blog and commented how lovely and wonderful it all seemed. But she's no dummy; she knows most of life isn't really like pretty pictures of garden beds and fluffy chickies. I said, "Did you read about the day where the big homeschooling lesson was 'sitting on the couch until you can get along with your brother'?" "Yes," she said, "but that's just one day -- and all the others look perfect!!"

So... here it is especially for Keiko: what today was really like, but no pictures to prove it. Too bad though, I had a pretty impressive laundry stack.

When did the day really start? At 2:30, when Manu woke me up to tell me that Peter had thrown up and then that had woken up Zarli too and that he himself was not quite feeling well himself? And my first thought, instead of concern for the welfare of my family, was, "Well, why the heck did you wake me up to tell me about it if it's all fine now??" I didn't say that, but instead grumbled something cranky and sarcastic and then tried in vain to go back to sleep. I lay awake for about an hour and a half (this is the season when the increase in daylight really makes sleep an issue). Then just as I was finally dropping off, some baby started crying. Oh yeah, it was my baby Zarli, and -- true confessions -- I think I played possum. Manu got up, but I was now awake again, and when Zarli cried again awhile later I got up. So then when my alarm went off at 6:30 my motivation to get up and exercise was nil. I turned it off and flopped over. When I finally did get up at I don't know when, Manu was finishing up breakfast with the kids and I arrived on the scene cranky and headachey and headed straight for the Allerest and Sudafed and Flonase. I made coffee and thought about what I could eat with my dairy free, gluten free diet, since I was out of granola. I started to cry because I was hungry and it just felt too hard. I ended up eating a gluten free waffle with jam that Manu put in the toaster for me on the way out the door.

The morning was spent combatting one of those ailments particular to households with small children which shall remain unnamed here, but which makes one have a hankering to actually own a steam cleaner to steam the heck out of anything that isn't moving and to go so far as to research them on Costco.com. Visions of lining the children up and steam cleaning all of them at one go waft through one's conciousness. Since one doesn't have a steam cleaner, one at least finds delight in the "sanitize" cycle on the washer even though it's an hour and half long.

When the machines were full and we'd vacuumed through a large portion of the household I told the kids, "I'm going back to bed, keep your brother alive," and I pulled a stripped comforter onto my stripped bed and curled up applying a hot water bottle to my head, cheek and neck in turns. Marina wondered aloud if the flowers brought yesterday by my dear friend might be bothering my allergies. Ah! Yes, banish them outside.

Anyway, it continued like this. The kids got their own lunch-- maybe they had quesedillas? Fed Zarli and put him down for a nap. Etc. Etc.

Now it's nearly 11 and the machines -- my handmaidens -- are still going and I'm going to bed late. There's more laundry and cleaning to do tomorrow and it's supposed to be our last official day of school. We didn't do anything academic today, except for Peter who read aloud to Evangeline, and I think maybe she practised her recital piece. I think it wafted down to me in bed.

Thankfully tomorrow is another day. But I do wish I had taken a picture of my laundry pile to post.

Memorial Day Treehouse

Manu and the children (and me too actually) have been dreaming about a treehouse for what seems like millenia. Each summer some other project has swooped in and taken precedence...basement leak, rotten back fence, etc. But this year, Dear Readers, is the Summer of the Treehouse. It's actually going to be a treehouse/playhouse/Swiss chalet sort of structure. Not too far off the ground, but far enough to thwart attacking pirates. There's been a lot of planning, and plotting and tree limbing and there was a brief delay caused by the garden beds because Manu had to replace another bit of fence so we could repurpose the boards. But finally, last weekend Manu dug the holes for and poured the cement for the post supports, and on Saturday he broke out the saws and got down to business.


Location, location, location.

Peter assisting with the trusses.

Framing structure nearly completed on Saturday afternoon.

Complex underneath structure designed to let the tree continue to grow without breaking the treehouse. Clever!

Week Old Chickies

We are a week and a half into our chickydom, and they have been viewed by many small friends and survived our pattings and lovings. Their wing feathers have grown in and they seem to take delight in stretching their miniature wings and flapping about in the sawdusty world. Now their tail feathers are starting to grow in. The process is fascinating for all of us. Of course, as they grow, so does their size and quantity of poop, but that's good for the garden, right? This week their chickeny instincts of scratching and pecking kicked in, and on Wednesday when I was lying in bed with the flu, the constant sound of their peck, peck, pecking on the bottom of their Sterilite bin was starting to make me a little crazy. I had visions of small chickeny al-quaeda operatives pecking out secret Morse code messages. So I'm working on finishing up their outside home, so as soon as they are feathery enough and the weather cooperates, they can take their pecking outside. But even with the pecking, we still think they are pretty wonderful and love to watch them socializing and taking dominion of their bin.

Our chickeny life in a bin.

Zarli also loves the chickies!

Pansy in the Chicky Cam.

Summer Impressions

It's about 80 degrees in our backyard at 7:30 p.m. The Irish Rovers playing in the CD player here on the deck. Four children playing in the backyard, three playing soccer, one swinging on his tummy and hopping in his orange car for a quick spin around the patio. Warm air with a slight breeze that seems more like August than May. Water gurgling in the fountain, dinner inside me that we ate out here in the fresh air, my favorite way to eat. Peter and Zarli running around with their bare chests, like little men. Everyone in barefeet. A hot day filled mostly with a yard sale at our house, where we didn't make a ton of money, but for the kids, certainly more money than they usually make in a day. We also took the chickies out to see the grass for the first time. They liked it. The day was hot and tiring but worth it even just for the nice evenign feeling I have now. Now they are playing statues and Zarli is investigating the hose and then running across the yard shouting giberish. I think, I really think, that they are having a happy childhood, and it occurs to me that I am a blessed, fortunate girl whose dreams are coming true. It's not a perfect childhood, after all, they have me for a mother. But I think God has blessed them with pretty much everything they really need, and a lot of things they want as well. That makes me happy. Everything is so green now and is filled with the promise of summer and homegrown veggies and berries.

Chickens At Last

Three baby chicks, two days old. Hard to believe that they were each in an egg two days earlier. We are happy.
Taking the fresh air.

Chicky cam.

Yesterday at long last we got 3 little chickies. 2 Araucanas and 1 Rhode Island Red. They are very cute and small and soft and chickeny. Their peeping is very small and cheerful. I feel brave. Bella is slightly insecure and when we go down to visit them by the washer and dryer, she hangs around nearby and licks her chops. I think if we can just keep them safe and out of the way until they are big enough to give her a good peck on the nose, they'll be alright. The 3 big kids each got to name one: Peter chose Red Rose for the Rhode Island Red, and he has said it's okay if I call her Rosie, Marina chose Pansy and Evangeline chose Felicity. Zarli chose their middle names, after friends of his: Hannah, Ada and Emily. Right now they are living in pine shavings in a Sterilite tub under a nice warm red light. With their pooping though, it won't be "Sterilite" much longer. But for now it is cute tiny chick poop which isn't too scary yet. Peter keeps disappearing and I find him down there, just watching them run around, and then he tells me their escapades. It's rather wonderful.

Soccerized Schmitts

This spring we got into soccer in a big way -- three teams, three practices, three game days. Crazy...but we've been making it work, and the kids love it. They need the physical exercise and fresh air, so we've been making the schedules work.

Marina with the ball. Her team is called Mercury.

Peter dribbling for the Great Danes. (with a coat on).

Coach Gordon has a word for the Purple Panthers.

Evangeline playing goalie.

Invitational Classic - con'd

Canoes departing for return journey.

Stage 2 -- Eating and Drinking back at our house.

Manu wished for a "guys dinner", with good friends and good food.

Manu Schmitt Invitational Classic - Part 1

Cyclists for the Manu Schmitt Invitational Classic --Stage 1

40 Year Old Birthday Boy.

Canoeing on second leg of Stage 1

"Swiss Picnic" at Luther Burbank Park.

Parsnip Run Amok!

What do you do when you have just one too many overgrown parsnips?

You add pretzels and capers to create a scary parsnip critter to terrorize passersby, of course!

Garden Beds

Last week the children planted their garden beds. For a bit they'd been asking where they could have their gardents this year. The spot they had last year got infested with deadly nightshade and anyway, it's my prime hot tomato growing spot. So we had to come up with another location. After getting them interested in planting and growing their own veggies, I couldn't really blame them for wanting to continue their interest. We priced already made beds online and then decided to construct our own with carpentry consultation from Papa. We made them out of repurposed fence boards, which meant of course, that Manu had to fix that part of the fence first, further delaying the start of the long awaited tree house project. But it was planting time... And before you plant, you have to have something to plant in. We hammered them together, hauled topsoil, figured out their placement in the sunny end of the front yard, and then went to Flower World to get starts and seeds. As of this posting, Evangeline's radish seeds have already sprouted! Very encouraging. The weather is supposed to hit 80 later this week, so I expect to see lots of things popping up before long. Zarli was napping when we planted these, and so as yet, hasn't really figured out that his own is missing. If I can get Manu to repair a few more feet of fence, maybe he can have one too.

Peter learns to mow the lawn

Cutting grass by hand, just like his Swiss forefathers.