The weather here has quite frankly sucked, and I’m sick of it!  We’ve had the occasional day or two of sun, but for the most part it’s been rain rain rain and more rain.  The first weekend of nice weather we had, way back in the middle of April, I started having dreams of a front yard bursting with flowers, herbs, and even some vegetables.  I sketched out a plan and set to work.  In May, I bought plants and summer blooming bulbs, and even planted seeds.  Everything sprouted nicely, and then was promptly gnawed off by slugs.  Now it’s June, and I’m feeling like giving up until we at least get a solid week of sunshine.  My hard work is drowning out there.  I plan on buying the biggest tomato plants I can find… probably in July, when they’re supposed to be forming fruit already.  I don’t know if we’ll even get a chance to start again with the beans.  Ever the optimistic determined gardener I am, I’ll probably try, and then mope in September when my spindly vines give us 5 bean pods.  My three year old red currant bush has a grand total of 2 berries.  2.  Pathetic.

Another thing that feels like Autumn is things coming to an end.  My laptop came to an end last month, and now I have a new one!  Which is cool, but I didn’t really want to have to spend that money right now.  And then my email client got corrupted today, adding my dwindling faith in Linux, something I’ve been happily using for the past 6 years.  And to top it off, my favorite makeup company, Aromaleigh, is steadily discontinuing many of my favorite products.  I’ve been a customer for about 5 years, and I see that ending very soon.  This is a company that I would happily represent, Mary Kay style, if the opportunity were there and I am not a salesperson!  And of course this comes at a time when I can’t afford to stock up on the discontinued products, even at sweet discounted prices.

I feel like I’m back in that stuck place of last fall.  I still can’t drive, I still have children climbing on me, can’t sew, can barely keep up with web work.  I’m a little better at staying on top of dishes and laundry, and you know what they say about that…

Maddy’s birthday was over a month ago, but here’s a little update on it anyway!

We went to Oaks Park and it was windy and threatening to rain through the whole picnic part. I decided to just go for it and do it outside and it was a semi-bust. I had planned on having a craft time and had put a lot of work into the prep for it, only to scrap the idea when we were all shivering and desperately clinging to our paper plates and party bags in all the wind. After the windy cake and present time, we went to see if we wanted to ride the rides or rollerskate, and it was nice enough by then to ride the rides. Maddy and Amelia, as well as the other party guests, had a wonderful time and really enjoyed themselves. I particularly liked taking Eleanor on the tugboat ride with Amelia while Danielle stayed with Charlotte on a nearby bench. It was her first time there and she got a big thrill out of riding! Maddy and Talula spent some time bonding; they were holding hands and turning in circles together, adorable! We finished our day with a train ride during which Amelia amused us with her monster growling noises.

Maddy with Auntie Kendra (from Kendra's facebook page)

Maddy got a lot of cute gifts! Grey brought her a little purse full of hairclips and a headband with a blue flower on it and blue feathers, very flapper-esque. Talula brought a little wooden theater set with a cast of royal characters. Eleanor brought a basket of pretty animal puppets. The big gift of the day was her new pink laptop! She didn’t react very much when she got it, much to Cliff’s disappointment, but I think she was just overwhelmed and taking it all in stride. She was also looking forward to her cake with purple flowers and Tinkerbell on it. I would have gotten more pictures but in the wind and cold, it was all I could do to keep a hold of tired cranky Amelia. Luckily Amelia’s second wind came in time for the rides.

hairclips from Grey, back of Grey's new boyish haircut

the theatre playset from Talula

opening presents from Grandma

the new laptop!

there's the look of excitement! And Tania jonesing in the background. (from Kendra's facebook page)

Amelia was very excited about going on the rides and kept trying to get me to put her down so she could run up to them, but you know, gates, waiting in lines, tickets, danger… all those things 18 month olds don’t understand were standing in her way. We went on a ride that looks like a hot air balloon and gently goes up and down, first. She seemed bored. I thought she might enjoy riding in a car with Maddy, so we tried that. She was thrilled until she had to wait a whole two minutes for it to start going… too long for an 18 month old. By the time it got going, the distressed feeling turned into a scared feeling, but I could tell she also was a little interested in the movement. I felt like a terrible mom with my kid crying in the ride and I couldn’t get her, but Maddy was with her, and she did insist after all. When the ride was over, she happily jumped out, but it wasn’t long before she wanted to ride again. We went on the tugboat ride, one of few rides (the carousel was down for repairs) that adults and small children can go on together comfortably. The fifth time on that one, she was ready to just hold on without my assistance, and that was when we were with Eleanor. Eleanor seemed thrilled to be riding next to Amelia, and they did a lot of smiling and giggling together! Eleanor’s little sister, Charlotte, isn’t quite to the play together age yet.

Lu chauffeurs. (from Candice's facebook page)

Maddy rides the Scrambler with Daddy and Aunty Kendra (from Kendra's facebook page)

Maddy and Lu on the train together! (from Candice's facebook page)

Maddy and Lu dancing (from Candice's facebook page)

Update on fitness: still working out 3 times a week, consistently weighing 119lbs. Through Stage 2 in the book, going on to Stage 3 next week. I can’t wait because I hated Stage 2 and all its knee-injuring lunges! I’m going to do various knee strengthening exercises along with Stage 3 since I obviously need them.

Detox/Diet: I only lasted 1 week… maybe a week and a half. I’ve continued to favor foods on the “good list,” and lost 5 lbs gradually since I began the diet. To strictly do the diet requires a better budget and more frequent shopping trips than I can afford right now, since it’s so heavily based on fresh vegetables. And a lot more patience! I’m sure I’ll come back to it someday.

Since adopting the ideas from the diet, I’ve found myself loving food a little less, and this concerns me. Would I rather eat whatever I want and keep my belly roll? I don’t know. It’s a difficult question to answer right now.

Amelia is bigger, bolder, more dramatic, and more talkative all the time. Maddy is bigger, and transitioning into her more independent self. Sometimes she tells me she wishes she was two again. When I ask her what her favorite part about being two was, she says it was when she ate Easter candy out of the plastic Easter bunny my mom brought her! She is pretty obsessed with candy and I limit candy by letting her get one thing when we visit “the German store,” and when it’s gone it’s gone (we go there every 2 weeks or so). Still she talks about candy daily and it makes me a little insane! I try to talk about other foods she likes, maybe take the focus off of it a little bit, and it works only sometimes. I just don’t want a ton of candy in my house, and I don’t like the way she acts with the candy. She gets so obsessed and unreasonable!

Then we have Amelia’s tooth problems. She has Early Childhood Caries and needs to be limited in her sugar and have her teeth swiped with toothpaste throughout the day and brushed twice a day. If Madeline has candy, she wants candy, which only adds to my worries.

The face of food in our house has been changing a lot. I only buy whole grain pasta now, to increase the amount of protein in our diets, since we are building our muscles. We eat a ton of eggs. I’m trying to use less meat. More vegetables. Less starch. It’s crazy, I was in Trader Joes today and there were so many things I used to buy, like frozen tacquitos, that I just completely passed by today without a thought. Those are just not part of my diet anymore. I like a lot of Asian inspired foods and have been visiting asian markets for soba noodles and seaweed products. Noodle soup is a great light lunch.

In other news, Maddy’s birthday is right around the corner! We are going to Oaks Park to have a picnic and ride the rides. We’re also doing a craft that I’m really looking forward to. I’m going to be prepping all week for it, but I have all the supplies. I’ll be sure to get pictures and maybe even do a little tutorial. I can’t wait to give Maddy her amazing birthday present, too!