More blog traffic!

Richard says I will get more people to view my blog if I

a) host a prize give-away
b) post scrapbook pages
c) sew a dress from an old set of curtains
d) build a dollhouse out of spagetti and post a tutorial
e) pose a question at the end of my post and ask for feedback

So here I go:

****The great prize giveaway****

The first 8 people to comment on the blog and answer the question at the end of the post get to have dinner with Richard and I-- but you have to come up to Seattle to get it!

****The Scrapbook page****

****The do it yourself craft****

This is a lasagne lean-to. If you need any help constructing one of your own, just call me.

****The end of post question*****

If you were on a desert island, and you happened to have a dvd player that ran on solar power, and you could only watch three movies for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Happy Birthday Anna B!

Dear Anna,
Happy 1st birthday today.
Do you remember a year ago when we met each other for the first time? I think we were both a little wary of each other-- after all, we were going to be spending a lot of time together in the future, and we both weren't quite sure how it was going to turn out. I had never been very good at keeping either plants or pets alive, and yet you were willing to place your small hand in mine and trust me to take care of you. My sister Carly once said that if your baby was alive at the end of each day, that you had succeeded as a mother. So every night I would sneak into your room while you were sleeping, and I would listen to your breathing and reassure myself you were still here with me. I still love to listen to you breathe.

You put up with so much this past year. The guess and check method works adequately in math, but I had no rough draft to practice on before you, and you felt the full brunt of my learning curve. You complained very little when I would waffle between one parenting style and another-- letting you cry yourself to sleep one night, and then cradling you the next when I couldn't take it anymore. Thank you for being so forgiving. I think maybe you took pity on me-- perhaps because you could see (I prayed so often that you would see) how much I loved you, adored you, lived for you, and tried my hardest to be the best mother I could be.

And now when I look at you, I see the most beautiful girl in the world, and I have to remind myself that you belong to me. I don't know how I got so lucky-- especially when you hug me and laugh and I feel that mom pride that says, "I made this!" And despite all the mistakes I have made this past year, you seem to be happy and thriving. And miraculously, you seem to love me back. I know my time with you is borrowed, that someday you will be a teenager who spends far more time away from your home than in it, so I will try to cherish these days of playgrounds and naps and story time and afternoon walks and breakfast in our pajamas.

Happy birthday my little love-- it has been the best year of my life!

The Official Oregon Coast Vacation blog post

What better way to start the official vacation blog post than to show a picture of its Hottest moment! What are you looking at? None other than Salvador Mali's famous "Great Balls of Fire"-- a foodie challenge consisting of eating 5 habanero poppers in pureed habanero sauce. If you finish you get your face on the wall of fame!
Here is Richard just prior to the challenge. He was really nervous. We had heard some horrendous things about these poppers. Real men had cried at the burning (i.e. my uncle and brother). So Richard was a excited but trepidatious when he ordered his own. We made a video, but it was so boring (Richard looked like he was just eating donuts) that I don't even think it worth posting. He finished it in 5 minutes without even breaking a sweat. Looks like I married the real man!
We got to stay with my cousin Matt and his family on their farm in Oregon. He lives on a real farm. Not just an "I have a vegetable garden" farm, a pig raising, chicken clucking, egg gathering, goat milking, orchard growing kind of farm. Gwendolyn was one of our oh-so-knowledgable farm guides.
My favorite chicken was a hen called "Follow"...apparently she follows a lot.
This is how Anna felt about all those animals...
my favorite were the pigs (Kendra...I hope you appreciate the many pig pictures I include just for you!)Should a large meteor hit Seattle, or should a large lizard invade New York, or should aliens try to make a deal with the president...we are going to move in with my cousin on his farm. Here is how Anna felt about living on a farm.

...but on second thought...she reconsidered because Matt does not grow bananas.
This picture is of a very hungry Anna. Anna hadn't eaten very much that day and I forgot to pack some food with us when we out and about. This is the poorest I have ever seen her. She was like a faded flower. Richard and I searched out and found a wonderful bakery and as a family shared some muffins and donuts. Anna revived in about 3 bites of muffin and was her usually happy self.
And this is of course, Anna at her best-- playing, having fun, laughing and loving!
We stayed at Pacific City, Oregon at a place called Cape Kiwanda, graced by none other than Haystack rock. Can't remember why they named it that....

Our favorite thing was playing with Anna in the sand.

While we were there, we decided to find a horde of rabbits (what exactly is a group of rabbits called?) who had made an R.V. park their permanent residence.
I tried SO hard to feed them a dandelion. I thought I remembered Thumper eating something like this in Bambi. But the rabbit did not give me so much as a sniff.
One of the best things about our trip was the chance to connect with family. I loved that Anna got to play with so many of her cousins. This is my favorite picture of cousin-ness.
And that was our vacation! Oh, and one last word of advice--
(spooning leads to forking...use condiments)

Family craziness

The inspiration for our recent trip to the Oregon coast was the opportunity to meet up with two of my siblings, one of my cousins, and one father. Along with spouses, and children, there were 16 of us (imagine how many there would be with my other 4 siblings!). Amazingly enough, we did not get a single family photo, but we did get one super professional family portrait drawn by Huong while we were eating pizza one night. Richard is the super tall one in the middle with the long black legs and yellow shirt.
Anna and girl cousin 1: the Z-meister Zoe
Girl cousin #2: Sock it to me Sophia
(one more picture because I liked the green and the pink)
girl cousin #3: Natalicious Natasha riding the back of her uncle-- Nate the great
Girl cousin #4: Naomi the viking
Anna, Naomi, and Natasha talking smack!

Girl cousin #5: Little (but mighty) Lila

(and a picture of my totally beautiful sister in law Courtney-- what a hottie!)

not pictured: girl cousin #6-- Georgous Gwendolyn!

I have been thinking a lot about family size lately. I have 6 brothers and sisters, 9 stepbrothers and sisters, a couple of dads, a mom, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Do I love my family? Yes, absolutely! Was it hard? More than I like to remember. Do I want the same for my own little family? Probably not. I have heard a lot recently about the benefits of only child families. With no division of time, resources, attention, and love-- an only child has greater academic and professional success and higher self esteem. And I admit, as the 5th child, there were many times I wished I had more access to my parents than I did (pretty much all the time).
However, my daughter gets to have cousins, cousins, cousins, and more cousins to play with because of my parent's propensity toward reproduction, and I get all these wonderful people to share my life with and look up to. And let me tell you, my siblings are just COOL!

So how many siblings will Anna have? At least one, probably two, but no more than I can give them all the love and attention that they need to be their best!

Poo Poo point (no, that's not a statement, its a hike)

On Saturday we had the good fortune to hike poo poo point in Issaquah. I think I was more out of breath on this hike than I was running the half marathon. See that valley down there at the bottom-- yeah, that's where we started. See that runway on the left side-- that's where para-sailors run off the mountain.
And this is Anna eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the top! (I know I just scoffed at the phrase "lol" in a previous post, but I literally laugh out loud every time I see this picture. I even come close to "PMP" (peeing my pants)-- an acronym that I know will be catching on very soon)

the baby of a million faces.

always up for an adventure, and always happy...
and competing with the sun for the thing that most brightens my day and makes me feel warm inside.

We went with my friend Monica and her family. Couple dating (defined as married couples going out with other married couples) has successfully found Richard and I another great pair of people to do stuff with. We may even allow their son to court Anna until Boston, Lincoln, or Owen come of age and collectively vie for her hand in a great duel to the altar (if there are three people, does it become a truel?)

The cookie monster

We went to a barbeque last weekend, and of course, the last thing I had to do was snag a couple more chocolate chip cookies for the road before we left. All I did was look away for a second and Anna had grabbed one of the cookies and was already halfway to town on it

She has a distinguishing palette, that one. We tried to give her part of a McDonalds hamburger today, and she spit it back out (her "crap-o-meter" must have been beeping like crazy). For the most part she eats vegetarian all the time-- lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, plain yogurt and the occasional graham cracker or pbj. Her current love affair is with blueberries, which makes for some interesting and very vibrantly hued diapers.
Here is a video of her inhaling about a pound of blueberries.

Random musings: lol

lol
"I do not think it means what you think it means..." (name that movie quote)

the first time I ever saw the acronym "lol" was while I was texting a frienda few years ago. I thought it meant "lots of love." I was astounded when my friend told me it meant "laugh out loud"

the question crossed my mind "did my friend really laugh out loud?" "was I really that funny?"

And while I consider myself a very humorous person, the answer to that question, most of the time, is no.

For example-- a relative texted me, asking if I had remembereed to mail something to her that she had requested. I told her that I had forgotten and that I would do it the following day. She said "thanks Rachael lol."

For hours I kept trying to figure out what had been so funny about forgetting to mail a package that it had caused a perfectly normal person to laugh out loud...

my conclusion is that there is an oversaturation of "lol" ing in the world. If people were really laughing out loud as much as they seem to indicate in their texts, wouldn't I hear it outside my door....as I buy groceries...in church even (cause I know there is texting going on there).

also, I have never once seen a person "ROFL"

why Anna loves her daddy

One of my favorite things to do is watch Anna with her daddy. Most of the time, Anna is a mama's girl-- she clings to my leg like I was her lifeline in a flooded river. Richard sometimes gets jealous that even when he picks her up, she holds her hands out to me. I told him that is what he gets for choosing not to breastfeed.
I may be the source of food, but Richard knows how to make Anna laugh. They are best buddies (as long as Anna is not tired or hungry).

But every once in awhile, Anna has to show Richard who the REAL boss is. So while we were playing by the Oregon coast, she whipped him into shape by making him run laps in the sand.

There is nothing Anna likes more than being taller than her daddy. Lets hope it is not a foreshadowing of things to come. Being 6 foot 7 would make it awfully hard for her to find a date someday.
"Faster, faster.......and I want to see those knees up!"
"thats right....Ramming speed!"
My goal for Anna is that she will compare every other man in her life to her daddy, and every other guy will come up short....well, except for one (but hopefully, that day is about 24 years away).

For Richard, Happiness is a laughing baby, a little sunshine, and a good pair of sunglasses.
For Anna, Happiness is being 6 feet above the ground, a full stomach, and a daddy who loves her.
note to self: do not apply sunscreen stick right before playing in the sand. I might as well have just smeared a glue stick across her face.

Anna for President!

The Lion King

A lot of stuff has happened in the last week, so I thought I would update the blog a little bit at a time, with both thoughts on our last vacation as well as general thoughts I have had lately.

Richard, Anna, and I went to Oregon for the week, but our vacation was truly kicked off when Richard and I saw the Lion King on our first night. Not only was it a night without the kid (we love you Anna), but it was a spectacular play. We spent the first half in the third to last row, and the second half in the third row-- essentially going from seeing the big picture to seeing the characters spit as they were singing.

For Richard, the Lion King has always been very personal. In fact, I think he has always thought of himself as "simba." He too lost his father when he was very young, and he too adopted the philosophy of "Hakuna Matata" to help him get through some hard times. And his kingdom also covers everything the light touches....

Sometimes I think about things too much, like the fact that the lions rule over the animals that they eat. So in the first scene, every animal comes to praise and adore and bow down to their new heir, who essentially can eat them at any time and justify it by saying that its just the circle of life.

Rule of life #1: Never be in subjection to someone that can eat you. It only works out for one of you.