maine two

Posted in advantageous adventures, Momma Needs a minute..., Travels by ElaineMarie

and now for the more relaxing portion of our vacay:

this was the part i needed: these morning views, long walks and talks with cousinfriends, explorations in the woods, naps, family meals, cool night breezes, anne morrow lindbergh. we don’t take relaxation vacations enough. our travels always seem to be packed around some central activity, i.e. music festival, and i’ve been reminded that we need to slow it down every once in a while. at least i do. i would love a long weekend in the woods. or a few do-nothing days by the sea. it seemed to be good for darla, too. i forget that she gets shuffled around to lots of daily activities and maybe she just needs some time to be fluid.

thank you for being good to me for so many years, maine. we hope to visit you again in the near future.

treehousez

mike’s parents took us to cheekwood botanical gardens this afternoon to romp around their literary treehouses exhibit.

they were extraordinary and worth braving the 100 degree weather to explore.

tree houses are the coolest! i was always envious of my peers who had treehouses growing up for i was sure there was some kind of enchanted happenings going on to which i wasn’t privy. i wish we could build some kind of magical structure for darla in the backyard. i guess you never know what will happen in the future. for now we’ve gotten our fix at cheekwood.

3Mar2012

why’s it all cold again and stuff?

Posted in kiddie-do, let me let me update ya by ElaineMarie

today we had little pellets of sleet punctuating our car ride conversations. it’s hard to believe that just days ago it was in the 70s. i’m posting some more of our sunny pics to help me remember.

willow the goat

i’m including this pic again because i love it so much

monkey bars. i know it looks like she’s in distress but she was loving it. trust me.

counting pine cones and if this picture had audio you would hear the nature lecture i was receiving about the pine nuts inside that birds, squirrels and humans really enjoy. love her.

who’s ready to skip march and head straight on to april? anyone?

1Mar2012

T week

Posted in it's cool to school by ElaineMarie

we learned about T last week and it was pretty easy. i don’t know if you know this but Ts are everywhere. little miss darla had fun pointing them out …

drawing Ts in sand and on sidewalks

we drew pictures of trees

and got her tricycle out for some trick riding

we communed with the trees on our nature hike

and my favorite of the T week activities – darla “planted” a forest at the creek

we searched for totoros in said trees

we of course took our trip to the tuckers’ and did a drawing of papa tom tucker

she drove her new tractor – my dad’s contribution to T week

and spent lots of time just being with papa tom.

for the record i want a goat in every picture i take now. they make them automatically awesome.

27Feb2012

weekending 4.0

Posted in let me let me update ya, Travels by ElaineMarie

we’re still in indiana and hopefully i’ll have something wonderful and insightful to say about what i wear and how i dance to Tennis tonight – since i never really seem to be able to focus on musical merits – but here are some of our out-of-doors doings from the weekend.

visiting nashville, indiana

a girl’s first chai

grandma love

on our way to the old fashioned nut shop. yummy.

we named him fizzgig.

and i took the girl creeking. it makes me sad sometimes that we live in the city and darla doesn’t get to roam the rural areas i did as a wee one. but, thankfully, we have grandma and grandpa’s. every child needs a creek.

we saw lots of animal tracks, darla found interesting rocks, we looked at trees and plants and all sorts of nature things with the highlight of the visit to the wilderness being that we saw a mink. A MINK, i tell you. it’s the only one i’ve ever seen in non-coat form.

anchor hocking in my creek

she took her socks and shoes off for the full effect. i love her.

and here was the big surprise of the weekend: darla’s very own tractor from grandpa. unfortunately, i think she will have her mother’s driving skills.

lastly, darla’s picture of her Grandpa Tom. do you see the resemblance?

i love our retreats here to indiana. looking forward to our visits again in april when i’ll hopefully be supporting another couple’s birth of an aries bambino. i was joking with Sarah, the mother of my first doula experience, that i will just block my schedule off in april every year and advertise doulaship only for Aries babies. being a ram myself, i’m pretty partial.

5Feb2012

spring tradition

Posted in Shopping by ElaineMarie

so here’s the thing about me: i like fantastical creatures. Faeries, mermaids, dragons, imps, gnomes, hobbits, especially hobbits. you get the drift? when a friend tipped me off to the story behind our little Root Children print i decided to start a new spring time tradition with darla. and i think it might become more fun for me than for her because it means i get to drag her further into my world of make believe – i really do believe mermaids are out there. somewhere. waiting for me.

on March 20 darla is going to get a visit from the root children. i’m looking forward to putting together little surprises for her to find on the first day of spring left behind by these bug-sized heralds of the vernal equinox. she enjoyed the st. nicholas’ day surprises so much so i’m sure this addition to our holiday calendars will be a hit, too.

the first step to this plan required the purchase of the Story of the Root Children by Sibylle Von Olfers on amazon. i am so excited to read this book to darla the week leading up to spring. actually it will probably be read to her before then but my plan is to read it every night the week leading up to march 20.

we all know that amazon then refers us to other books we may like once we put something in our basket, and that’s when i fell down the rabbit hole. i ended up purchasing quite a few books written by both Sibylle Von Olfers and Elsa Beskow. why did i purchase so many? because they are beautifully illustrated stories of elves, gnomes, fairies, and i think maybe even a magical fox. A MAGICAL FOX! how could I not purchase them.

because that’s all i really require to get me spending the money. just included some mythical creature and i’m on it.

15Nov2011

it’s a family affair

Posted in kiddie-do, love and happiness by ElaineMarie

our first day back together. i gotta say it felt pretty damn good. i cried. a lot…only in the morning, though.

first, lunching at the big happy greek

then onto visiting our creature friends at the ohio wildlife center open house

one is fantastic and one is my spirit animal. can you guess which is which?

guess what? i get to be in pictures again. yippee!!!! i’m happy that these photos highlight my highlights. i got my hair did hours before mike returned. thanks again to jenna and cole for making this magical hair day a possibility. oh yeah back to my family…

the wildlife center was a pretty rad place. now i’m happy that the middle aged volunteer we ran into at mozart’s bakery talked our ear off about the place a few months back. my personal favorite was meeting wendell, the narcoleptic woodchuck. oh and seeing darla and mike together in the woods. that made me feel shades of laura ingalls wilder. we’ll be returning again in futures near and distant.

9Nov2011

B day celebration

Posted in it's cool to school, kiddie-do, parenting apparently? by ElaineMarie

no annual milestone over here, just our letter of the day. and what a B-eautiful day it was, too.

we started of course with breakfast of bread and butter and berry yogurt

it was at this point in the meal that my daughter jumped up and ran out of the room yelling “oh i forgot something.” she returned 20 seconds later wearing her ruby slippers. only her ruby slippers. she stripped out of her sleeper and put on a pair of buckle shoes in a speed that is going to make me very frustrated then next time it takes me 18 minutes to get her in or out of an outfit.

i think she took B day literally and so wearing her birthday suit was entirely appropriate.

after getting dressed with a lot of attention paid to the letter B – braid with a blue hairband, boots and a birdie shirt we hopped on cordelia and biked to the audubon center for bird learnin’. hence the appropriateness of the bird shirt.

i know i post about the audubon park a lot but it’s by our house and is really a beautiful, magical place. this town does a great job with it’s parks. here’s our little bird watcher.

using the binoculars (the wrong way) to spot what she says is a “jerry bird.” huh?

and there he is. just imagine my sugar sweetness congratulating her for being able to spot an 8 FT PAPER MACHE GULL. ohhh, i laugh at life.

in the center we: read books about birds, bats, bugs, butterflies blah blah blah. visited the salvaged art butterflies which are still holding up with original coolness factor and did some of the center activities testing different bird beak designs.

we discovered a new room with lots of grand activities including bird and butterfly costumes seen here as well as a simulated climbing tree biosphere complete with root system too.

but the greatest resource discovered at the audubon park today….

BIG KIDS

i have previously noticed the magnetic pull that exists between pre-teen/teenage girls and toddler girls – probably toddler boys too but i don’t have as much experience with that. darla first adopted this group of homeschool kids and they were impressed that she knew words such as “audubon,” and “insect.” i think they were most impressed by her cowgirl boots, though. they then adopted her and entertained her for 15 whole minutes. i ate and entire apple in peace! all three were jumping, hand in hand, from atop this fire pit thingy, pretending to be birds and chanting “we fly so high in the skyyyyy!” it was very cute and gave me hope that one day darla, too, will grow into a lovely pre-teen and give a weary mother a break by bossing her toddler around for her. thanks again, universe.

7Nov2011

dear salty sailor,

Posted in kiddie-do, parenting apparently? by ElaineMarie

ohhh man we did some STUFF this week. check it.

we zoo-ed it.

she likes to wear you clothes just as much as i do.

new artings at the library. she said she was inspired to draw so she did.

discovered some gnarly, antique doors in our hood. i told her they were secret doors.

she noticed this root system at the schiller park playground grown in a circle. decided this is where gnomes and faeries have dinner together.

in which she discovers a spider’s web, touches it then freaks out b/c it’s on her hand

nom nom at the north market + our treats for being good. she had the little girl and i had the dog dressed as a pig. japan, you so crazy!

you just go ahead and run it out, you crazy lunatic

these last two are at highbanks metropark in the natural play area. this is the best sycamore tree i’ve ever seen, said sycamore featured on the right. i asked darla to pose in front of it and she laid down on the ground and rolled around like a dog. she’s special.

a word on highbanks metropark: they have these little shelter houses that have fireplaces in them. i don’t care how cold it gets, when you get home you will take me there and darla too. you will build me a fire in one and you will like it. you will woo me with your manly survival skills and we will sit in front of that fire whilst darla goes buck wild at the nearby playground. i will probably have some yarn and a darning needle in my hand but i won’t be using them. they are just props b/c that is what a lady is supposed to hold in front of a fire.

that is all.

i can’t even keep track of all the funny stuff she says anymore and i’m getting lazy b/c you’re almost here so i don’t wanna. i feel that way about chores around the house. it’s like i think you’re already here so i don’t want to do it on my own but ‘taint the case.

i do remember that she has figured out how to be three people at one time instead of just two: toddler approaches. tugs on my shirt to signal that my attention is needed. says “mom, i’m mai pretending to be gumby” and then bounds off. i am very frightened for the future at this point.

you missed a pretty magical first for darla’s life – her first viewing of the wizard of oz. i would give anything to have captured the look on her face when dorothy opened the front door to reveal oz and all its vivid splendor. darla’s eyes grew saucerlike and she gasped. she then sat enraptured. if i had known it was going to be that spectacular i would have waited for you to be home before we watched it. also, I FREAKING LOVE JUDY GARLAND.

well i better sign off so i can write you a honey-do email so you know what you’re going to do when you get home.

i love you more than cheese.

wife former fwife

6Nov2011

sunday funday

Posted in kiddie-do, love and happiness by ElaineMarie

i meant to post this picture update earlier in the day but we were busy with adventures. the motto for this s’ennight could have been attention to detail. we made lots of new discoveries- secret old doors in the neighborhood, odd trees, new parks and playgrounds. learning is getting more comprehensive. such as when i show her the veins running through the leaves and then compare them to the veins in our wrists. she understands they serve the same purpose in both beings – the transfer of oxygen and nutrients. at least she understood for 2 minutes. it has probably floated away, out of her brain by now but FOUNDATIONS ARE BEING LAID! i am an educating force to be reckoned with. cackle cackle cackle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway here are some of my favorite pictures from our outings.

OhYeahandI’mHereToo