Father's Day!!!

Last month, I said how much I love that there is a "Mother's Day." Well, I've decided that Father's Day rocks my socks off too.
I had an excuse to buy the frozen apple croissant form The Milk Pail: They were delicious!
Also this week, for a preschool activity I made a Bow-tie for Jonathan to decorate for Jacob. I was worried Jacob wouldn't want to wear it, but he not only wore it with pride, but rocked the bow-tie look. (I think 'rock' is my favorite  expression right now so sorry if I use it a lot in this post, but that expression rocks!)
Anyways, here's a picture of the rockin' Bow-tie. Jonathan was going to put a big pink button on it, but then decided he wanted to put the button daddy would want the best :-)

 

We also got Nerf guns, because they sometimes have nerf wars at Jacob's office . Since that present was opened, Jonathan has been obsessed with the toy and Claire has been chewing on the darts, but all-in-all it has been really fun. Jonathan almost stood with the primary to sing  at church, but then got scared and just hugged his dad, which I think shows how much he loves his dad.
For dinner we had roasted chicken and popovers.  the chicken ... wait for it... Rocked! the rest was okay.

And to end our day, the Kite Park. We meet this wonderful Indian family who had a little girl close to Jonathan's age. So it was fun, even  though the wind was spotty.
Mainly, I've been amazed at how wonderful a dad Jacob is. He can get Claire to sleep when I can't, he makes things fun and just knows how to play with kids, and he really loves our children and focuses on making them (and me happy) there are a lot more things,  but in short, I am so blessed and happy that he is by my side. Jacob Rocks at being a dad.

Coming back

A while back for memorial day weekend our family visited Arizona. We went as a surprise for our nephew who graduated from high school. It was such a wonderful weekend and I am so happy we went. Jonathan loves his cousins and we almost don't even get to see him when there are cousins around. I was curious how Claire would react to her closest aged cousin, and it was competition at first sight. I am hoping they will be friends when they get older. Sadly, I am lacking in pictures.
Anyways, apparently there is a curse on us, that whenever we visit our families we come back sick. This time was no exception, although only Jonathan got  miserably sick.

 I am happy we are all better.
Being slightly sick and watching lots of movies has it reward in that I was able to finish Claire's rag quilt!

It actually turned out better then I thought (I wasn't 'in love' with the fabric originally)
Also, this month, I came up with a realization that has really up lifted and change my opinion on life. While on a walk with Jacob we realized that whenever I was asked "what do you do?" the response "I'm a stay at home mom." usually leads to "do you do something else/what did you used to do/what will you do as a job in the future?" which I guess is all fine and great for relating to working women/mom's but it really wares on stay at home mothers of really  young kids who really can't do much else right now in that it starts seeming like the question is "when are you going to get back to having 'a life' and achieving your goals or something note worthy?"
So my revelation was this: STOP! Stop always focusing on what I was/ what I might do when the kids are in school and start putting social and lifetime value in now. Instead of answering the question "what do you do?" with "I'm a stay at home mom." take it as an opportunity to help shift the social emphasis on  success in work place to the handwork and lifetime achievement in raising toddlers, by answering with "Our (or my) main goal in life is to raise intelligent, creative, and well-balanced and loved children, that is what I am doing." or "I am focusing on raising the best children I can right now it is the most extensive (creative/interesting/consuming) thing I've ever done." that shifts questions away from what you'll do someday or what your not doing and has helped me realized what an important and interesting job I am doing right now. At least, I need to be reminded that staying at home with your little kids is a great work and noteworthy every chance I can get and this helps me not be caught in the getting down on myself for not being a award winning/ fast promoted whatever.
Also a big impact in my life is finding out my sister had a new tumor and had to go into surgery again and this just a week after I left AZ. It is hard, not only because I am worried for her, but because once again I don't get to help her. It is hard to have someone who has given you almost as much as a mother, in a position that they need help and you are too far away to do anything.

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.