Deck project!

Two years ago we had my dad put vinyl siding on our house. We decided to tear off our old deck because it was, well, old and poorly built. We wanted the new siding to go all the way down and to take care of any rotting at that time. Well, we are finally getting the deck put on with the amazing and generous help of my dad, who knows more about the right way to build stuff than pretty much anyone else we know. Thanks, Dad!!! The entire project is a two level deck with a pergola over the high deck. So far the high deck and pergola are almost done. We also have one new basement window and a real dryer vent installed in conjunction with this project - instead of the old window with one of the panes removed and the dryer vent wedged in with just some insulation and an old shirt!!! Why a colony of chipmunks hadn't taken up residence, we can't say since nothing was actually stopping them. This was a serious upgrade! Watch for updates!!

More camping highlights!

We had such a great time camping this year! This was our only trip
and in truth I was nervous about it.
We've often camped with our kids very happily - my struggle was more logistical!
We camped two years ago for more than a week in the UP and loaded out van so completely that I just didn't know how we could possibly go now that we have one more child! We settled on a "short trip" plan: to go just a little drive away for three nights and then come back! We went to the Whispering Surf Campground http://www.whisperingsurfcamping.com/ in Pentwater, Michigan. It was quiet and relaxing. They have a nice little playground that the kids could go to *within sight* of our campsite so that was a huge help for us. They also have a great "lodge" kind of rec room that would be great if you happened to camp during a rainy spell. The campground is between Bass Lake and Lake Michigan and there is a sweet spot you can play in the outlet water of Bass Lake that is shallow and warm but on the Lake Michigan Beach. It's fantastic, beautiful and perfect for kids.

Matt really loves to cook while camping. Suits me. It probably has something to do with lighting stuff on fire... but any reason to be cooked for is a good one in my book. He appointed himself to make bacon and eggs for us every morning - but we decided to eat all the bacon the first morning since it was easier to cook it once than to cook a little every day. Yum!

Eli enjoyed his breakfast and enjoyed feeding some to his brother too!!

Camping highlights!

The best line of the whole trip was while we were playing
here, at the Bass Lake inlet to Lake Michigan.
Eli was so thrilled with the water and the sand and he just bubbled out,
"Now THIS is what I call summer fun!!!"

Shiloh thought this was fun for about 3 minutes. Then he seemed very unsure about touching the sand and water and thought we would all be better off if he were carried.

Allegra is sure now that she can "swim" because of this experience.

Cymbre and Eli were really excited to get to roast their own marshmallows.
Allegra was excited primarily about eating them. She is still asking for more marshmallows.

For Olivia

Remember these?

One race, two ball games, and three concerts, OH MY!

August is a great month for fun family activities and we've been soaking it up!
We've been to some of the free concert series at the Frederick Meijer Gardens,
a free concert through our radio station,
two Whitecaps games,
and an auto race.

And what do we have to show for all this all-American fun?

Cymbre and Eli are now fascinated by cotton candy.
I keep hearing them discussing what they think it might be like.
They may have crossed over into *coveting* cotton candy.
I keep telling them it really isn't that good and no, I'm not buying it for them. Ew.
Why couldn't they be interested in Elephant Ears or something at least resembling food???

Eli was especially interested in the baseball and wanted to know the name of every player as he came up to bat.

Cymbre loved the concerts.

Allegra's responses are usually the funniest.
At the baseball game, what she learned was that sometimes hot dogs fall out of the sky!
This is a new pretend obsession for her.
At the race, Allegra was pretty miserable *until* the cars started racing and a few of them would backfire as they were slowing down for the curve... suddenly she went from misery to squealing "pop pop pop!" every time the cars went by, backfiring.
That was a huge improvement in everyone's mood!

Shiloh clapped happily pretty much any time everyone else did.

Shiloh's Birthday!

When Shiloh was born, I intended to have Matt plant his placenta in the yard
the same day - just as we did with Allegra. But since our boy surprised us by arriving
two weeks before we thought he would, I did not have a plant ready...
And because I had some trouble bouncing back after the birth, we went to the hospital
anyway, and took the placenta along in case anyone there would want to examine it.
They didn't care one way or the other about it, so Shannon, my trusty and fearless midwife
brought it home for me and put it in the freezer.
A year later, it still sat there, untouched and mostly forgotten.

And so although Shiloh's birth was a good one,
and although I was thrilled with my cute and clever baby boy,
I struggled with disappointment for a long time.
I was disappointed that my birth wasn't as *amazing* this time as it was last time.
I was disappointed that I lost a lot of blood and had a really tough recovery for many weeks.
I was disappointed that I felt so weak, struggled with fainting and had to go to the hospital after my home birth.

In celebration of Shiloh's first birthday
and
of my recovery from all his birth brought me, emotionally and physically,
I invited my many wonderful friends to help me
plant Shi's placenta.
For closure.
For the support of women who understand the depth of a mother's emotions.
For room in the freezer - because really, at this point, what else are we going to do with it??

Here's Shiloh and I starting to dig the hole!
Eli is tending the bag - faintly labeled "placenta!" (You rock, Shannon!!)
The tall black-eyed susan is the plant that will grow over the placenta, not more than 12 feet
from the spot Shiloh was born.


Many of the kids were really interested in the placenta itself.
This process brought up a lot of "where is my placenta?" thoughts
as well as started some children thinking about what their mamas might do
with placentas for their future siblings.


Here's some more of the group that attended!
We also had snacks and played in the sprinkler - it was a really fun day!
We are truly blessed with many, many wonderful friends
- and not just any friends - the kind of friends
who will really stick by you and turn out at a placenta planting party!!

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The mark of a 3 year old...

Something unexpected we've noticed has been that as soon as our children hit 3, they have started singing epic ballads about their life situations. Allegra was right on time and started singing her ballads just two weeks before her birthday back in June. The songs are generally free-form, non-sequitur, and endearing. Most frequently these ballads take place while traveling in the car.

Sunday after church, Allegra was in full song and these were some of her lyrics:

I love mommy and daddy
We love Jesus
We go to church for Jesus
Jesus had a cross

I love my mommy
I am in her heart
She loves me
I am in her heart

Shiloh wishes he had hair
He has no hair
He has no hair
But he wishes he had hair
He wishes he were a grown up
LIKE MEEEEE!

Standing corrected again

Okay, so this morning his name is EEeesh. Again. I guess this is why we don't let 3 year olds name real children. =)

A lotus bag for Nancy!!

My friend Nancy is considering having a lotus birth - which is a newer practice in the gentle birth movement in which parents choose not to cut the cord, rather to keep the placenta attached to the baby until the cord falls off. You can read more about lotus birth here at the Labor of Love site. So I spent a little time this morning making this placenta bag for her to use if she decides to do the lotus birth! The bag is a very soft merino wool that a dear friend gave me in the form of a sweater she had shrunk. It was rather small for me to make a diaper cover from but perfect for this project! The bag has an oval bottom and slightly angled sides to make it easy to get the placenta in and out when needed. Then I sewed a bias binding around the top which was leftover from a project I made in college and threaded burgundy ribbon through it for a drawstring.

I stand corrected

It seems this is happening more and more as time marches on... yesterday I wrote about Allegra's baby Eesh. Well, today the baby's name is Ish with a short I rather than a prolonged long E. Just so you know when you see him.

In other news, I am trying a cheese spread recipe made with kefir. I'll let you know if it is fabulous.

Smoothie Revisions!

I've made some updates to our smoothie regimen! In my quest for healthy stuff to feed my kids, I've stumbled upon Kefir, an ancient cultured milk beverage, similar to yogurt but with additional benefits AND easier to make, plus it's much, much cheaper than buying yogurt!!! A great blog on making kefir can be found here along with recipes and other fun stuff. My new smoothie contains all the ingredients in the above picture: A quart of kefir, two banans, a cup of orange juice, about 1/4 cup of raw honey, two heaping tablespoons of Green Magma powder, a handful of strawberries, and 6 or so ice cubes.

Here's the smoothie just before mixing - I guess you'd call it chunky at this point, not smoothie. It blends up to a nice even green and is a thinner consistency than my previous, yogurt-based recipe.

The taste testers agree: smoothies rock!

Fun with the SNAP PRESS!

Okay, so I got this cool snap press to make some diapers for Shiloh. I still have to make the diapers... got to get on that... but in the meantime, look at the cool stuff I can make for the kids! Allegra was playing with this Cabbage Patch doll today that was mine when I was little. The doll only has a couple of outfits and they are all pink. Allegra wanted the doll to be her baby boy, whose name is Eesh. (Yes, that's right, we say it, "EEEEEsh.") Anyway, in a matter of 20 minutes, I made Eesh two blue polar fleece diapers with purple snaps - two, of course, so she can change him and wash the other one up because he is a frequent pooper - and then I whipped up a little matching shirt. Then I made a diaper for Cymbre's very special monkey, Henry. Cymbre chose green snaps which also look nice on the blue fleece. This diaper is complete with tail vent. Then Eli wanted something for Pingu but a diaper just didn't seem like the thing for a penguin. So I made him a little vest to keep him warm.

Shiloh is 11 months!

Here's my sweet guy. 11 MONTHS! Now that's he's eating some table food every day, he's back in the habit of having a nice poo each morning. He loves to sit on his little toilet and play with a toy or look at a book. It's a nice time for us to be together before the other kids get up.

Shiloh has been such a wonderful little baby companion that I find I am dreading toddlerhood more than ever before. Perhaps it's just that I don't know if there will be more babies in my future. Perhaps it's the fact that toddlerhood is never my forte' as a mom. Or perhaps it's just that the fourth time around I really can see the bittersweet juxtoposition of baby morphing into big kid. The excitement of seeing him grow and develop is, as always, dizzying, but the plain and simple truth that this time will never come again brings me to tears.

Our dear friends from afar!!

We had a wonderful visit from some of our very dearest friends last week all the way from Wisconsin! Beth, Lily and Grayson stopped by for two fun-filled days and even attended our Grand Rapids Natural Parenting group with us. We haven't seen these guys much because they moved away and we just don't tracel much anymore! Shiloh and Grayson are just about 6 weeks apart and just seemed like two peas in a pod! Lily made herself right at home with our three big kids! We miss you guys already!!!

Allegra is 3!

For Allegra's birthday, she wanted to go to the Frederick Meijer Gardens.
It was a perfect day for it so off we went to play with everyone's favorite: the boats!

Here's Cymbre literally dripping wet and beaming with the joy of it! Our beautiful birthday girl truly had a blast as well!

Fun at the ZOO!

We spent a few hours at the zoo today. This has been a frequent destination for our family this spring and summer. Our favorite animals this year are the wallabies, the great northern pelicans, and the lions. I'm trying to give the kids the names of the animals in German and Spanish when I can, which adds a little dimension to our visits. We were also fascinated over the last two months by the dozen baby ducks growing up in the moat area around the spider monkey mountain, but I don't believe they are official zoo ducks.


Here you see Cymbre, Eli and Shiloh looking at the waterfowl with Daddy. Allegra was in the stroller but later we tied her on Daddy's back, where she fell blissfully asleep. Cute too, don't you think??


For the first time ever, we took the ubiquitous picture with Mr. John Ball that *everyone* takes when they first get to the John Ball Zoo. Now we have one too.

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