St Paddy's day

Today was fun. I don't have much time to write so this will be point form.
St Patrick's day
*Ami is disappointed that the leprechauns didn't come in the night (I'm not sure what they are supposed to do or how you know they came. . . )
*Ami makes his own version of muffins for breakfast- no formal recipe- they turn out pretty good actually!
*I go to the auction house to put some absentee bids on some items of interest- I'm getting obsessed with auctions.
*Timo starts long sounds- one breath, one long sound
*Timo also has really fine small motor skills- both hands- as he explores his world
*Ami's friend Emily comes over for a playdate
*Ami loses his tooth- he had a total snaggle tooth for 24 hours.
*Ami personally understands the Burns quote "Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!" - nothing terrible but a lesson well learned...
*I organize a parishioner to help with moving an electronic organ from GoodWill to our house for Ami. I bought it last week ($24.99) and have been keeping it a secret until today. I had hoped to keep it a secret until it was installed in our house but that didn't work out. It has lots of buttons- not many seem to affect/change the tone like they say they will but it is fun and he can say that he has an organ now and he can practice on it. I will get a video of it ASAP
*Ami tells me that he wants to be a famous composer when he grows up. Like Bach
He also wants to be a famous musician and artist.
*Mimi has an unimportant day except that she has 2 accidents with her elevated (high) chair.
*We finally put Mimi's tooth under her pillow tonight (it fell out in January) as Ami put his under his pillow too.
*Ami asked if they could have allowance. I said yes and then asked him how much he was thinking of. He suggested 17 cents.
*everyone wore green so that we wouldn't get pinched by leprechauns. :)


as a side note.... Yesterday Martin picked up Mimi from school on the Xtracycle. Apparently it was a big hit and everyone wanted to know about it in the parking lot of SUVs....

more bathing cuteness

This little video is here so you can see how cute my life is and hear how chaotic it is too. Seems Timo has found his feet- about a month after his cousin Miho! Of course in this bathtub how could he miss them!?!?!

skipping school

Mimi is an expert with a skipping rope now. She LOVES it! She can skip forward and backward, two legs jumping, hopping on one foot, alternating feet, kicking off her shoes while skipping and even skipping while on the trampoline. She loves to skip in the kitchen while I am cooking and we get to have a good conversation at the same time. She skips in the hall, dining room, living room, outside, upstairs, basement, church etc etc.
This week she had 2 days off school- one for pro-D day and one for the funeral of a teacher at her school who unexpectedly died last week.
I think a 3 day school week suits her just fine!

Mimi organized all of the shoes in our house yesterday. It made a very interesting installation in our front hall. I hope she is not too crushed when we have to clean it up tomorrow!

Mimi has joined the Girl Scout Troop (Daisy level) that was organized by some mothers of other girls in her class at school. They meet every other Monday or so in her Kindergarten classroom. She is super jazzed about it and we now have her uniform all organised for the acquisition of badges!!! The seed she planted on Monday has already sprouted. Can life get any better than that?


(and yes, I bought her skipping rope at Other Mothers!!)

Good Will Shopping

I've always been keen on buying things. Second hand.
I never articulated why it is that I like things that are antique or have just been owned by someone else. I always thought that it was just because i liked to save money (which i do). However, I am thinking these days that there a few other factors that give me a thrill when I shop like this.
I think I like the thrill of the "hunt". One must hold goals very loosely when shopping like this although having an idea of what I want/need is very helpful. When I find something super awesome I feel so victorious (see past posts on numerous occasions!).
I think my reasons for enjoying second hand shopping are more than the thrill. It is ecologically so sound, you get better products (older stuff is often made better) and you don't have to go to the Mall. Often you are supporting great causes and/or small businesses plus you are actually saving lots of money.

Lately I have been spending a bunch of time searching out things at the Good Will here in Spokane. This is a remarkably awesome store and my average on getting an "Awesome Find" is quite high. I have acquired curtains, furniture (a cool vintage oval card table - perfect for games in the livingroom), kitchen items, toys, shoes, 3 pairs of slippers, 2 pairs of nice dress pants for Martin, and fabric for some sheer curtains among other things. This week my find was a beautiful sewing machine. Now I was really looking for a table to put my already existing sewing machine on but this sewing machine was waiting for me in the furniture section. I bought it thinking it would be perfect for the kids to have to use instead of giving me heart attacks by using mine. Then bought some fabric/pillow cases and the total bill was about $15. The fun and learning is priceless.



PS: There is something else I bought this week  which i feel very excited about but the blog post reveal will have to wait until i get it home from the good will. . .

Mysterious milestones

When we left the room, Timo would be lying on his back. Mysteriously when we returned to the room we would find him on his tummy. Mimi and I spent quite a long time trying to film him doing his new trick. He kept not doing it. Mimi had the idea to leave the room and keep the camera running to see if he would do it when we were in the kitchen. Mimi was sure that he was just shy about doing his trick. 

So here is the footage of our time stirring the spaghetti!

He hasn't figured out the next milestone yet. Reversibility!