week 32 in pictures

very layla-heavy this week. camera magnet.

sunday: do not believe that crap about boys and girls being no different. I used to believe it. I did everything I could to provide gender neutral toys and experiences. and then I experienced reality. shane and micah play with cars in this way: they line then up. they race them. they crash them. they make outrageous wrecking noises and ‘vroom vroom’ noises. they build stuff like car washes and repair shops and off-road vehicle parks out of blocks for the cars to use… layla plays with cars in this way. (and may I add that this is all after the cars have had baby cars and taken their naps under the blanket…

monday: layla is super happy to have mastered the hula hoop!

tuesday: this magic little piece of plastic was in layla’s stocking last christmas. it’s a card holder and is SO awesome for little kids who want to play card games, but can’t manage a whole handful of cards.

wednesday: this picture cracks me up. micah built this complicated whatever out of blocks and layla was SO impressed with it, she ran off, made a sign for him to hold, and took his picture. so typical! (in case you’re not fluent in kindergartenese, it says, “I made it all by myself. signed, micah”)

thursday: this is a little nasty, but shane has been losing teeth like crazy. he yanked out 3 big, fat molars in the course of 1 week. I think he may actually be OUT of teeth to lose now.

friday: layla and my mom, playing pick up sticks.

saturday: while doing some sorting at my mom’s, we ran across a random package of clay. my kids have lots of play dough, but not clay, so I brought it home for them and they love it. micah sat here for over an hour, just squishing and cutting.

and the extras. not too many this week.

Comments

dear to do list,

i hate you. actually, i loathe your existence to my very soul. and i refuse to have anything further to do with you. you can consider our relationship OVER. please do not try to contact me, as i will be unavailable. do not stalk me. do not try to make me feel guilty for abandoning you. YOU SUCK! sincerely, rachel

christmas day at barb & paul’s

(otherwise known as “ana and elsa’s” to my kids.) after breakfast, quick showers, packing up clothes, jammies, and gifts, we loaded up in the car and drove south to my cousin, barb’s house. we got there around 3. my parents and aunt marilynne were already there, as well as my other cousins, lynne & jim. there was chatting, and munching, and drinking of spiked cider going on. soon, mike and marie showed up with baby liam, and everyone applauded! LOL. gotta love having a baby around! after that, caitlyn and her fiancé, danny arrived and that was everyone. we had traditional hedvall family (my mom’s mom’s family) swedish christmas dinner of halibut and sausages, along with other yummy fixings. then we sang carols (which was both beautiful AND hilarious), paul lit the candles on the tree, and finally opened presents. we got gift cards and the game, qwirkle (which I’ve wanted for the last 2 years!), layla and micah got some toys and accessories for their rooms, shane got an awesome r...

STP!

this past weekend, dave and his friend, cole, participated in the STP bike ride. that’s seattle-to-portland. they rode their BICYCLES from seattle , all the way to portland – roughly 200 miles over 2 days. WOW!!! this is them on sunday afternoon, just after finishing. dave, crossing the finish line (blue helmet). shane was standing right in front of me and was, appropriately, cheering as I snapped the picture. that’s his hat and arm in the shot. cole crossed just in front of dave. dave’s parents were in town for the lion’s club convention so they joined us for the drive down (basically to meet them at the end). we spent the night in rochester (centralia area, which is the half-way point) on saturday, and then drove to portland the next day. I was VERY happy that we got there at just about the right time so we could see them finish. it was very exciting! about 10,000 riders participated. and I had to include this one (sorry, dave): this is how we found him when we arrived in roche...

the zoo

yesterday, the last day of spring break (well, weekday, at least) and shane had had enough of not doing anything expensive interesting. so we packed a lunch and went to the zoo. it was a little cold and rainy when we left, but by the time we got there, the rain had stopped and it turned out to be relatively warmish. layla was determined to see some fish. i guess we should have gone to the aquarium, but we did manage to find her a few fish. i think her favorite was the super huge reticulated python that actually moved while we were watching. well, the top 3 feet or so of it moved. the remaining 5 or 6 feet of it stayed coiled up where it was. we probably spent the bulk of our time in the “zoomazium” which is a fabulous indoor playground type area. there’s a huge tree that layla and shane spent time doing laps through. you climb up the inside (think mcdonalds playland climbing structure) and then slide down a big twisty slide. there wa...

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

this recipe comes from the weber’s REAL GRILLING cookbook and is my family’s recent favorite way to have pork chops. shane thinks these are the best food he’s ever eaten, and will generally eat 2! i think layla asked for seconds as well, and micah pretended they weren’t on his plate… which is typical. we’ve made them on the grill, or broiling in the oven, and both are equally good. 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh thyme (I have used dried as well, and it works fine) 1 tbsp minced garlic (think I used a clove, maybe two) 2 tsp kosher salt (this was a little much. I think the second time I made them I reduced it to 1.5 tsp.) 1 tsp freshly ground pepper pork chops (4 or 5) whisk ingredients together in a bowl. place pork chops in a large ziplock and pour in marinade. seal and turn several times. refrigerate for 2 hours, turning once or twice. allow chops to stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before gril...

rachel's continued ramblings

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