Our Newest Book

To my dearest Madeline:

The cats nestle close to their kittens,

The lambs have laid down with the sheep.

You're cozy and warm in your bed, my dear.

Please go the fuck to sleep.

The windows are dark in the town, child.

The whales huddle down in the deep.

I'll read you one very last book if you swear

You'll go the fuck to sleep.

The eagles who soar through the sky are at rest.

And the creatures who crawl, run, and creep.

I know you're not thirsty. That's bullshit. Stop lying.

Lie the fuck down, my darling, and sleep.

The wind whispers soft through the grass, hon.

The field mice, they make not a peep.

It's been thirty-eight minutes already.

Jesus Christ, what the fuck? Go to sleep.

All the kids from day care are in dreamland.

The froggie has made his last leap.

Hell no, you can't go the the bathroom.

You know where you can go?

The fuck to sleep.

The owls fly forth from the treetops.

Through the air, they soar and they sweep.

A hot crimson rage fills my heart, love.

For real, shut the fuck up and sleep.

The cubs and the lions are snoring,

Wrapped in a big snuggly heap.

How come you can do all this other great shit

But you can't lie the fuck down and sleep?

The seeds slumber beneath the earth now

And the crops that the farmers will reap.

No more questions. This interview's over.

I've got two words for you kid: fucking sleep.

The tiger reclines in the simmering jungle.

The sparrow has silenced her cheep.

Fuck your stuffed bear, I'm not getting you shit.

Close your eyes. Cut the crap. Sleep.

The flowers doze low in the meadows

And high on the mountains so steep.

My life is a failure, I'm a shitty-ass parent.

Stop fucking with me, please, and sleep.

The giant pangolins of Madagascar are snoozing

As I lie here and openly weep.

Sure, fine, whatever, I'll bring you some milk.

Who the fuck cares? You're not gonna sleep.

This room is all I can remember,

The furniture crappy and cheap

You win. You escape. You run down the hall.

As I nod the fuck off, and sleep.

Bleary and dazed I awaken.

To find your eyes shut, so I keep

My Fingers crossed tight as I tiptoe away

And Pray that you're fucking asleep.

We're finally watching our movie.

Popcorn's in the microwave.  Beep.

Oh shit. Goddamn it. You've gotta be kidding.

Come on, go the fuck back to sleep.

The end

Pallets

After and Before:

Underneath our deck is U-G-L-Y.  I've been trying to figure out what to do to hide it.  I saw an online tutorial on instructables.com on how to create a hanging herb garden from a door shoe rack organizer.  it seemed like a great idea...but I worried that I'd be spending $30 on something that was going to rot by the end of the summer.  Cue the craigslist free section..pallets!  Off to Lowes to buy a staple gun, some landscape fabric to line the back of the pallets with and a bag of dirt.  The left pallet is all veggies and herbs, the right one is annuals and a few perennials.  Cross your fingers this little experiment works!

Hablas Espanol?

 Maddie can speak more Spanish that both Kip and I.  One year of, one day per week preschool has done wonders for this girl.  Maddie loves to tell me how to say things in Spanish, counts everything she can in Spanish and has made a ton of friends.  We're sad to be leaving Prescolar Alice Francis but can't wait to see what next year will bring as a FULL TIME (9-3, M-F) student.

Happy "graduation" Ma-day-leen

Lincoln Park

I guess you could say this little outing has been in the works since April 21st...the day that Maddie got a kite from Pofo.  With our abysmal weather it has remained in it's box (I know, she did not take scissors to the box!) and we've been waiting for a decent day to go and use it. 

After reading in the paper that the tides were going to be really low this weekend and seeing that the forecast had a picture of a sun (and rain...but there was a sun) I thought it would be a perfect time to do a father's day picnic. 


My dad flew down from Whidbey and we all caravaned over to West Seattle. 

They had beach naturalists on-hand to answer any inter-tidal animal questions

Maddie of course touched everything

Allie of course did not. 

Uncle Sam, a future teacher, was quite helpful...to the poor sea creatures that Maddie poked a little too hard.

And then we brought out the kite.  Actually, I lied.  Kip had the kite out almost the whole time.  New, title:  And then we sat down to watch Kip fly the kite.

Awesome dad and husband.  I lucked out.

So did she

Happy Father's Day!

Goodnight!

Much of my day is spent refereeing these two.  It gets old.  Reeeeaaaaaall fast.  But somehow I manage to forget it all (the ear-piercing screeches that Allie's gotten good at too) when they love on each other. 

excuse the grainy cell phone pics.

Behold, some sister lovin'

The Evolution

I honestly can't tell you how long we've lived in this house but I can tell you we will be here awhile.  We love it.  Ever since Kip and I moved in together we knew we wanted to live on the north slope of Lakeridge.  We definitely bought a fixer-upper and while I think I'd be fine never remodeling again in my life, the benefits have been pretty great. 
We started here:

And then in September of 2008 (I think!) we began the second floor addition.

Spring/Summer of 2010 we tore out the crumbling driveway and walkway and replaced it with pavers

(They're not slanted...just a bad picture)

And then I tried to grow a hedge.  It failed miserably.

I was told to leave my hedge alone.  I didn't.  I couldn't.  I tore it out and bought espalier pear trees.

They were an improvement.  But not by much.

So for my birthday, Bob and B-Z got me a "garden design." 

And design we did. 

We have a terraced wall behind the tress now so our grass is level, the trees have since been trained onto the wires on the fence posts and we are happy as clams.

One day left

Only one more school day left...
Then she's off to pre-k, which, for the record, I am totally freaking out about.  I'm not sure I'm ready for it.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

What a difference a little vitamin D makes. Everyone was so HAPPY that the sun was out.  We managed to pack a lot into our weekend.


We played in our tent (we also convinced mama that a nap would happen in the tent...silly mama):

Allie discovered her "dile" shoes.  She is a woman obsessed.

Maddie rides her bike every second she gets.  We have yet to raise the seat for her.

Allie desperately wants to ride just like her big sister.  (I wish she would desperately want to wear (or not wear) undies like her big sister)

Only so many "Maddie, Smile!" pics one can put up with.

Baby sister found the abandoned bike helmet. Fortunately for her big sister did not see this.

Saturday we skipped our naps (not the best plan) and went down to the lake.

Aunt Jamie was there.  She even went out on the boat to check out the new ride.

Maddie could not have been anymore stoked about the boat.

Allie and Jamie?
Well, I'm not sure.

I couldn't decide which one of these pictures was more hilarious.

One of my more favorite pictures of her

Sunday we spent in the yard.  Zaide came over and helped us totally redo the front yard.  Fortunately she has a lot of patience, even though I know she wanted to shoot me a few times.  I learned quite a few things from our master gardener.  Who knew you can't just rip the tops off of weeds if you want them to go away?

Eventually the bushes behind the tree will grow tall enough to hide Maddie's peaches from the street.

I'll post more before and after shots of our big project later. For now I need to go and put some more aloe on my crispy neck.