sunday

it's another july type september day. muggy and hot - here we go again; this has been our week lately, and i was informed this morning, that it's also our week to come. yick.

our day started by owen waking far too early for it to be okay for anyone's energy levels. But thankfully he settled down and went back to bed for a couple of hours. We had our usually Sunday breakfast: pancakes. we switch between thin swedish pancakes and regular fluffy wheat pancakes. this morning we hungrily and happily ate swedish pancakes. yum.

church: owen, for the past year, has happily gone into nursery after 'children's time' at the front of the church, with all the congregation's children. Last week and this week, he has strongly resisted going into nursery. Last week I stayed with him, hoping that he would settle in and remember how fun it is to play with all the toys that he only sees once a week. Last week he was very aware of my presence and made sure that i did everything with him and that i did not leave his side. This week, I handed him, very upset, to Megan the nursery coordinator and she took over for me and tried to calm him down. After about 10 minutes of me being in church, someone came to get us - he was still inconsolable in nursery. So Ry got him out, and he sat quietly with us in the sanctuary for the remainder of the service. poor guy - he was so worked up and sad.

This week was the started of adult and children education. Our church service runs till 10:45 then education hour starts at 11 and goes till noon. Owen will start a 'preschool' class; it begins with singing, then there's a fun class with 2 to 4 year olds. Owen has never been in a class setting before where one sits on a rug, listens to the teacher and follows instruction. I stayed with him the whole time (given his previous nursery experience) and he did wonderfully! he was very attentive to the teacher, he was not latchy to me, he did all the song actions, he held hands with the kids next to him, and he sat longer than most kids to complete his craft. It was fun to watch him engage and enjoy!

After church, to kick off the start of education week, there was a potluck. Owen did well, and he 'bonded' with a boy, Iver, who is 3 months older than he is. They played very together for at least an hour. They played tag, hide-and-seek (of sorts), they played the piano - it was great to see him make some major breakthroughs after having such a hard time in nursery earlier. I hope that he will remember his fun time with Iver, and that he liked his preschool class and perhaps he'll be excited about being at church next week.

big big day!

Ry had his first day of teaching today! He teaches 3 classes today, one in the morning, two in the afternoon. He has a break for lunch and he came home to report how things went and to eat and spend time with us. I love that we can see him at lunch!

Owen had a fun day playing with his toys. And I had a relaxing day at home. I was able to finish my book (Run, by Anne Patchett) and take my time cooking a yummy supper (tomato goat cheese pie and corn on the cob). Good good day!

summer fun

awesome visit with the firths. the kids seemed born to play together and we parents seemed born to share time and life together.






home on the farm.
















believe it or not, but this is our garden. oops. this is a month and a half of complete untending. there are loads of tomatoes and squash growing in there . . . somewhere. the trick is finding them then picking them.


Owen and i visited a farm this past Sunday. He loved the tree house.

oh procrastination

i've almost sat down a couple times to write a new post but the fact that so much time has past since my last update, the next post should be a doozy! This has caused me to not update and thus only further fester the current problem.

with that acknowledged, the point of this post will be to quick give an idea of what our 'now' looks like. when i'm on our home computer, and i have all the pictures at hand, i'll do a post of pics and let the pictures do most of the talking.

owen and i drove way out into the country on sunday and visited a friend's small family homestead. There was lots of space to run, beautiful flowers and vegetables to observe and envy, we took a hayride around the fields of tall grasses, wildflowers and corn, we climbed up to the tree house, we were amused by and imitated the chickens and roosters, and we pet and fed the horses. It was a good escape for both heart and mind. We arrived back home refreshed and happy, and owen carried along his 3rd tick of the season. Goodness, that poor child is apparently very delicious to those damn deer/wood ticks. Luckily his skin is so freckle- and mole-free that those ticks are easily discovered.

Ry has been working like crazy to wrap up his M.A. degree. He's nearly there! He has to do the oral component to his comprehensive exams (waiting for the profs to set that up), and he takes his German exam this Friday. His advisors have gone through his thesis so he just needs to get that finalized and bound (i think?). AND he starts teaching, he'll be an adjunct professor, next week. He will be teaching three classes, and they're all the same course. He is excited to be doing what he's been working so hard to do. He'll be a great professor. This does mean, though, that he won't get a break between his M.A. being finished and his work starting as an adjunct professor. Whew!

FallBall. fun fun fun. Ry's playing softball on Monday nights. Fun team, fun fans, fun to watch. Owen and I love going to the games to hang out with friends and to run around. Owen is a great cheerer, too. He loves shouting, "Nice job, dad!" He'll hear what we, the fans in the stands yell and then he'll shout it out, too. Pretty cute.

I am currently at work, writing here and there throughout my work day. I have been putting in three 8.5 hr days a week, but that's now going to drop to two 8.5 hr days a week. I'm changing my work days according to Ry's teaching schedule, so I'll be working Monday and Friday now. I'm really excited about this change. It will be good to be at home more! I can keep on top of house things with better ease, and I can get through my prep-for-baby list. And I just would rather be at home with Owen than in an office.

Granny is moving today. She is going to leave the house that she's lived in for 50+ years and move into a nice small place in Cannon Falls (where Ry's parents live). It will be a good transition for the family, and Granny seems to be doing well with the change. Ry is going to help out with that tonight. Me, in my prego state and with my almost 3 yr old boy, will be staying home so I will not be in the way.

So that's us right now. Busy and in transition. Enjoying the cool weather. Nesting into our home. Cooking fresh food from our garden or from the market across the street. Content and healthy.

kitchen

here are photographs of our kitchen! i have yet to make red balances for the door window and for above the sink (i like creating the illusion of a window there). I searched for some fabric today but did not have any luck yet. I think I have something too specific in mind.

Here are a couple before photographs:




And here are some 'after' -current- pictures!

produce .. productivity

these days have been days of productivity. our three july weddings have come and gone. we've hosted wonderful guests from afar in our home and visited and played together, and ate good food.

i've been dreaming up - and slowing acting out - how to make our apartment more like our home and how to organize things better. our disgusting kitchen, which was stained and greasy and just plain yucky, has now been given a makeover. It is not finished yet and so I will hold off on posting photos until I have a couple more key things done. But WOW! does it ever look amazing! There were gaping dusting holes along the top of the trim, the radiator had a lot of food stains running down it's front, all the trim was seriously chipped to reveal the dark green paint underneath the creamy topcoat. The walls were a yellowish cream colour that just looked dingy and dirty (because it was). Anyway, now the walls are coated with a fresh 'coventry garden' colour, and the trim is bright white. This is offset by the nice oak cupboards and white tile backsplash (two good traits that were previously in the kitchen). It truly is amazing what paint can do! Oh, and I have filed in the gaping holes all along the trim and that really cleans the place up. The radiator is also bright white now, and completely clean!

When we initially moved into our apartment we didn't do a good job of storing items that we didn't need to unpack. However, since we just stuffed everything into a storage closet, accessing any of it was not possible unless you emptied the entire closet. That is not ever fun. So, I finally gave that closet a redo. I added some shelving and now everything is accessible and stored properly. I also went through a couple boxes and purged some things (always a good feeling).

I am beginning to form plans for Owen's bedroom. His closet is very 'thin' - there isn't space for a rod to go lengthwise across, so there are two mini bars that go from the back wall to the front, on either sides of the closet door. Well, there isn't a door, it aught to be opening. I'm going to build a little thin shelving unit to put in there for his clothes. His dresser functioned as a changing table for owen, and it will be revived as such for this next little one. This means Owen needs a place for his things and the room isn't big enough for another dresser so I will utilize the closet space.

I could go on, but I think that is all that any of you care to know. In addition to these details (that are exciting to me), we've been getting in a lot of park time, and time outside. We recently had a stretch of cool weather. This was very welcome as neither Ry or I are people who tolerate heat very well. But it makes being outside not just easy but very enjoyable.

We have a Farmers Market across the road from our house, which is amazing! We just go for a wee walk every Friday and then we come back to our house with arms full of fresh produce. I even bought a lovely bouquet of fresh flowers last week. It is wonderful to have close and easy access to fresh produce.

some videos and pictures

owen's baby. given to him to represent the baby growing in mama's belly (i'm now 20 weeks!). he likes to take care of her and carry her around.


our garden at granny's house! it's a good time to get dirty and hot.