Fiona has been taking her swimming lessons again this month, here is fiona playing after class with her small class in a kayak.

I think summer is upon us,
Yay.

Withered Old Fairy

Here are the words in case you want to sing along:

Snakes and Hammers

Fiona working on the deck in her PJs (and yes there are a lot of bad parenting signs here).

Hi All, Sorry for the long delay between posts. We have been busy with life again, swimming, school , work, housework, playing, building, taking apart, and enjoying a strange wet and windy spring.

We were lucky enough to go snake hunting with our old friend Jeff up in Pescadero. The last time was in 2007. Here are some pics of that, and the long awaited deck between our two back doors, Luna would have loved it. As you can see its a family project.

Love
Louise

Mudpies!

Louise and Fiona and a harmless ringneck snake.

Answering fiona's question...is is a boy or a girl?

Checking a trap together

Our own piece of paradise

May Flowers

Daisy chains in the front yard, and then tic-tac-toe on the driveway. Fiona is rather obsessed with tic-tac-toe and is working on strategy, and on being a good winner, and a good loser. We're still getting used to missing Luna, but we're keeping busy as you can see.
Love
Louise

Saying Goodbye

I was definitely operating outside the rulebook today. I spent the day with Fiona on my lap while I tended to luna in her final hours. I had to answer all those questions like, is it OK to let your child see death, is it ok to let your child see you cry, and I think that after that and more in the way of heavy lessons it was ok.
Louise

Living the Dream

After many months of Fiona living as a dog, she has spent the last few as a horse instead. Here she is working on her wagon skills. Also, In case you were not aware, there is more than one version of Black Beauty and what would be classified as "G" in 1971 would not be so in 2010.
Neigh!
Louise

Chickens Little

The sky is falling today. We woke up to those April showers that are supposed to help us out with May flowers...anyhow, I let the chickens out to pick about the yard. It looks like they wonder how the other half live.

You are my sunshine...by fairy.

Fiona calls out to inform the fairy that her mum sang this one as a lullaby for her.

So This Fairy Showed Up...

Beautiful Fairy

Her arrival

The Scene

Cupcakes

Teaching kids how to hold their fingers to catch bubbles.

...And then practicing those skills.

Enthralled us all.

We had fiona's party with friends today in our garden. The mysterious guest arrived as anticipated and was well recieved. She was such a lovely fairy. All the kids were enthralled with her as well as the parents. It made it quite easy to have a dozen littlies here. No tantrums anywhere! Cupcakes were a hit as always, and now we are looking forward to a week of perhaps fewer festivities, but no less magic. Thank you all for your birthday wishes for Fiona.
Love
Louise

The Cake

I got some cake decorating bits recently, this is the practice run for the cupcakes on Sunday. Super Fun!

Fairly Four

Fiona woke up today to a lovely spring morning. It's hard to believe it's been four years, but time does march on. Blueberries for breakfast, presents from friends and family opened, Fiona has retired to her new house in the garden which is almost finished....what house ever is? We still need to mount a few cabinets and hang the drapes...but its ready for playing for sure. Indeed, Devon and I are pretty sure we won't see much of our girl this summer given her new abode.

In keeping with Fiona's Birthday being so close to Earth Day the playhouse we endeavoured to build it only with things that we already had laying about and things that were recycled and reclaimed. It looks a little rustic, but its lovely and cheerful. A few old bits and pieces from the kitchen and goodwill make for a nicely laid table... and we finally have a place for all those plastic knives and forks.

Thank you for watching our little girl grow up these past years and for cheering us along the way.
More birthday extravaganza weekend updates to come...
Love
Louise

A few pics below, captions by Fiona:

Making mufins

Having a glass of wine, just pretend it's really water.

Fiona inside and FOUR!

Salad for Dinner

Fiona 4!

Snow Day

Snow means hard (but fun) work for mums.

We had our long awaited snow day in the Sierras this weekend. It was wonderful in all ways. Our good friend Eric set up a super cabin for us called Loon Lake Chalet and we had another family join us: Sue Jon and Fiona's friend Zoey.

Fiona had initially said that she wouldn't throw a snowball at her mummy because she wanted to keep me clean but that was soon abandoned. She loved the snow, never once asked to be carried, only helped up occasionally, threw herself into it happily, never complained of the cold.

We built a snow cave and spent most of our time exploring the immediate area and perfect sledding hill right out the cabin door.

Lots of sledding, fresh powder, lots of eating snow, lots of snowballs thrown, lovely friends, few tantrums, good sleep, yummy food, cold beer, superfantastic to say the least.

Devon and Fiona in a real snow cave

Fiona with the morning's fresh snow

A real icicle.

Louise going downhill without her snowboard!
Fiona and Zoey
Driving with Eric through the snow.
Nighttime snowball fight/walk

Construction

Our playhouse is under construction, as is our real house's front porch at the moment. Fiona and I are honing our skills with the tools on this job. Sometimes a chick has to take things into her own hands to get the real work done.

The Bunny Cometh

Fiona Dictated this one:

On a second night we made Easter eggs.
We waited for a different day and it was not easter yet.
And then we had another sleep and it was EASTER!
There were a lot of chocolate easter eggs in plants inside and outside.
The easter bunny came and hid them.
There was a giant bunny in my playhouse. The bunny is made of chocolate. I will not eat it.

Too Quiet

So it turns out that too quiet isn't always bad. Fiona had been having quiet time in her room after a busy morning and afternoon visiting with the neighbours, making paper egg decorations for the bunny, reading, singing, being willful etc. It had been a bit quiet for about 30 minutes, so I dared to look at what was happening in the back of the house...Fiona has put herself to bed and is snoring currently. If I could find the camera I would document it to look back on with joy some other day but for now she is covered with her soft blue blanket snoring away, blinds open, bright light int he room, sweet as can be.

on another note: The latest parenting tack we are taking is in pointing out when she is being a "bossyboots." She denies ever being such a thing...hopefully a little disdain for bossing will help with our home life.
Love Louise

What We've Been Up To...

Spring has taken over our hearts and minds here...no time for computers and inside stuff. We got to go for a sail last Friday, Just Devon and I, which was relaxing. We are also building a cubby house for Fiona in the back yard as a birthday present. Our rule is that we can't buy any new materials, It's made on pallets and I bought some shelves and things from the thrift store for a few dollars. Hardware samvaged from the tool bench int he garage, means that the hinges won't match but its all good. Its fun to be creative and work on design and building together. My hammering skills leave a lot to be desired, but I muddle through and my thumb will feel better soon I'm sure. Here are some pics:
Love
Louise

Sailing day

Cubbyhouse under the cherry plum tree
Devon installing the front wall

Fiona working on framing the door. (Note the outfit)

Daylight Savings

I have spent way too much time this week convincing Fiona that it doesn't need to be dark for bedtime to happen...about 7-7:30. We've been having a lot of what we call "call backs" lately anyway: Need a rub, massage, drink of water, to pee, to poo, door not closed right, the dog is in or might come in, sweaty, hungry, have a sore throat, booger, gravel in the bed, the list goes on.

Here's hoping you sink in for a sleep tonight without a call back.
Love
Louise

The Hill We Died On

I found my thrill
do do do do do do do do...
On Blueberry Hill
do do do do do do do do...
And we both got killed
do do do do do do do do...
On Blueberry Hill.

We, actually, we made it back alive, but we have to report that train ride back was not nearly as trouble free as the ride up. I think 6 days of new excitement and play had taken its toll on Fiona, and maybe the rest of us too, making us all a bit punchy and overtired. But whatever the cause, after getting settled into her top bunk, and after climbing up and down several times to do another pee, poo, and because she was thirsty, she decided that she was hungry. And not just any hungry, but hungry only for the delicious home grown blueberries that Liv had packed for her. And while they are scrumptious, Devon decided that they were not an appropriate snack for 9 at night, and that if she was truly hungry she would accept an alternative snack. And thus the battle lines were drawn.

To make a long bloody story short, Devon ended up spending a significant portion of the night on the top bunk, while Louise consoled Fiona on the bottom. For her part, Fiona eventually accepted a few bits of apple before passing out, and around 3am Devon snuck down and put her back into the top bunk, where she snored while the parents huddled, shell shocked, below.

But now we are back in Sunny Santa Cruz (forecast this week: Sunny 70/50 everyday), and while residual tiredness continues (Fiona napped on the shuttle bus, in the car, and in her bed at home a total of over 3 hours yesterday!), I'm sure we will all be settled back in shortly with only good memories of our Oregon travels.

D