backyard churrasco and stuff

Its been a while. So I'll start a few weeks ago when Jacob went to a Brazilian market and bought a churrasco skewer and  was anxious to try it and the BBQ out. It was SOOOO good! And for dessert: smores and grilled pineapple.  I also received my dream out-fit from my mother-in-law! Needless to say that it was an awesome day.

Even better is the next day we met some fun friends who shared a lot of our geeky likes! and we had even more smores!

I am worried I am starting to see the grill as a smore maker instead of a BBQ
(^,^)/

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day! I've decided that this day is awesome, because mothers and women everywhere who act as mothers to those around them are really amazing. I also just felt inspired by all the great talks and lessons about becoming and honoring mothers who try.
As for my Mothers day, I awoke to find the perfect breakfast and a great book on essential oils.

This was followed by chocolate at church and also Claire jamming her finger up my nose during one of the meetings and giving me a bloody nose. Luckily, It stopped fast and no one but Jacob noticed.

Then I got to talk with my own wonderful mother who wrote me a really kind email just as I called. Lets just say, I feel so  lucky to be her daughter. (note: She is also the one who introduced me to essential oils)

This afternoon was peaceful and included naps and Jacob's wonderful singing (here's a video - until Jacob asks me to take it off;-)

Oh and yesterday we got our Garden planted! here's some pictures

Lavender,  tomato, mint and basil

Demon tubers that broke our pipes, can grow through concrete and were everywhere

Jonathan's flowers and my strawberries

writing thursdays

Three things have happened to me today. The first is I think I am cured of my Craigslist love affair (meaning my insistently wanting to find things on Craigslist instead of buying them new). This came about because I had to deal with what to do about my likely bedbug infested purchase I made last week. I've decided that despite the internet telling me that washing them two times and drying them on high heat will kill even bedbug eggs, the horror stories of never being able to get rid of them are too scary for me not to throw them away. Craigslist lady who lied to my face shame on you!
Second is the kids have starting actually being able to play together a bit so I can get more done

Third, it Jacob and I have set-up 'Meredith writing time' for two  hours on Thursday so I can start getting back into the habit of writing. Today was the first day and you know what? Writing lengthier fiction is hard! I almost gave up, but I got about a paragraph written (yes, 1hr 40mins -> one paragraph) that I feel good about. Hopefully next week it won't feel torturous while I'm writing.

Back into work and back into running a home

So this past weekend grandma Carol came to visit. It was a fun filled weekend filled with $18 Red banana republic pants, eating at a really great restaurant in Chinatown- San Fransisco (and of course Jonathan seeing the sea lions), the shoreline kite park, lots of great cheese and foods, and mother nature reminding me that I just not meant to garden; lets just say there were large tuber roots that had bent the very old sprinkler system pipe, water leaking with no shut-off valve, and high emotions.
Anyways, Jonathan's grandmother is an instructional designer and also amazing at engaging Jonathan and Claire's  learning capacity. Which reminded me of how bad I have been about giving Jonathan that one on one learning time he craves during Claire's nap, so today I decided to get back into the habit of doing regular preschool.
I am pleased to announce today was a great success on that front (and I have the uncleaned house to prove it).
We learned about birds and wore make-shift beaks and tails, put feather in our pockets, and 'flew' around the room making different bird sounds. We sorted some plastic eggs by color. Then we watch some segments about birds building nests on YouTube followed by us making a nest, filling it with the eggs and siting on them to keep them warm. We ended by making paper collage birds. Jonathan was so happy and I am too.
Now if I can just fiqure out how to also have a clean house I'll be super mom.

I'll listen to you...next time for sure!

So this week has been good and it has gone really fast. Big things of the week are I was reminded by Jonathan, again, that I am not giving him acquitted preschool time. We did learn about octopuses and squid, but I really haven't done great at preschool activities. It's just hard when I don't feel obligated to plan  preschool out once a week :-/ Claire has learned to climb down from the bottom bunk bed, which is great because last week she would just climb up and then cry when she wanted back down. I hope this means she is learning that when she climbs up something or is up high that she can fall down. Also, I've learned that she love our morning smoothies so much that not only will she down a whole cup of it, but she also will hold the cup and not dump it out on the floor or play with it. That is a real sign that your baby loves a food.On Thursday, I went to a park day at this really awesome park that had a splash-pad and this cool tunnel thing. It was so much fun, but sadly I didn't bring a camera. It also ended in Jonathan throwing a tantrum.

On that note, quick rant. Hormones are hard in toddlers! Jonathan has been extremely emotional and temperamental this week. We are just waiting for this stage to be over. The funny thing is we decided we wanted to be better at speaking kindly to our children even when they need to be corrected right when our toddler decided that anything that is not perfectly how he wants it is the most tragic thing ever and should be wailed over.
Now for the explanation of the title of the blog. For those of you who don't know I am very impatient to have our home fully furnished and beautiful. Jacob and I are also very laid-back about most things but extremely stubborn and tunnel-visioned on certain things; and the things we choose to be stubborn on tend to be different from each other. okay so now time for the cautionary tale of "The Sheets"

 DUn... dun..dun... now here is a very badly dun  comic explaining the story.

Yeah, so anyways. This happened on Thursday and I felt awful for just doing what I felt like doing and not listening to my husband. (and also that he was right and I was wrong). I felt so bad in fact that I made a pledge that day that I would listen to Jacob and stop just thinking I know better then  him. I am pleased to announce that lasted until this afternoon when Jacob asked me to do something his way and I thought it was stupid and did it my way. :-) but honestly, I married a smart man who luckily loves me completely and I really love him which makes our mistakes work out in the end.