Colourful Creations

Char's painting post with Oliver was perfectly timed with an activity I did with Caleb and Julian. We used food colouring and a bit of milk to mix colours together. The boys had a really good time. We mixed red, blue and yellow milk, and then mixed a little of each of those to make green, purple and orange. Then we mixed all of those together to make brown. Or 'chocolate' as Julian liked to call it. At the end we put cheerios in the orange milk. We made a baking soda volcano too. With the twins I don't think mom's ready to take on Easter eggs or paint, but milk is a little more my speed. The boys had fun with it!

Spring has sprung

These flowers are called snow drops and they are the first to bloom after winter. Since it has felt like a very long winter for me, I almost jumped for joy when I came across them on my walk today.




I love Mary Oliver. She writes these horrid nature poems which I would normally hate except somehow she manoeuvres around clichés like a poetic wizard. (well, I think so anyways.)

Spring

Somewhere
a black bear
has just risen from sleep
and is staring

down the mountain.
All night
in the brisk and shallow restlessness
of early spring

I think of her,
her four black fists
flicking the gravel,
her tongue

like a red fire
touching the grass,
the cold water.
There is only one question:

how to love this world.
I think of her
rising
like a black and leafy ledge

to sharpen her claws against
the silence
of the trees.
Whatever else

my life is
with its poems
and its music
and its cities,

it is also this dazzling darkness
coming
down the mountain,
breathing and tasting;

all day I think of her –
her white teeth,
her wordlessness,
her perfect love.

~ Mary Oliver ~

He's a genius!

Running with the rain

This long weekend, in honor of President's day, Mom and Dad and Rach made the trip from Seattle to join us for some LA fun. We have a few traditions. Breakfast at Juniors is one, and the Rachel Lindsay Run is another. (Meliss was invited but opted out to nurse her littlest ones.) We got to the beach early and it was raining. A rarity in LA. The sand was nice and soft, and it was kind of sweet to have the whole place to ourselves. It was beautiful to look out over the ocean, and I think I got a taste of what one of my favorite canadian heroines may have experienced living on an island on the ocean. We looked off into the water and the horizon was forever away without even a boat or surfer in sight. Although we're on the pacific end, maybe Anne Shirley had a similar sight out East. We ran back and forth along the shore between the beach houses and the water, and enjoyed the lapping water and blustery wind. I think our canadian spirits pushed us through the otherwise undesirable weather. On the way to the beach we had discussed an idea Meliss had read, the '365 project,' where you take one picture a day for a year. Here's ours, we decided we will take the project on until next Feb 16. It is yet to be determined in what mode the pictures will be captured and journaled, but here is the first- Blog style.

Random life events

So here are some totally random photos from our camera. Inspired by Melissa's recent post on the Puente blog I feel motivated to be more....preserving. I don't know if that's the right word but anyways that's Jord and Oliver on Jordan's 30th birthday.
This is the Aberdeen Music Hall where I took Oliver for a children's show. The beginning was so exciting for Oliver and then as the show progressed the floor and chairs infront became more exciting to him. I'm glad we went. The below pic is Oliver seated for the show (it's the only one I have.)

Oliver likes the idea of puzzles. He likes puzzle pieces and he likes putting all of the pieces back into the box. (we have different ones that are age appropriate but this one has cars on it.)
This was our blue Christmas without you. It wasn't really so blue I just wrote that because of an Elvis song that popped into my head probably inspired by the blue hue of this photo.

Gigi and Bopa

Meet the new G&G: gigi and bopa to the great-grands. They stayed at a timeshare in Anaheim and then met us over the weekend to spend some time close by. We sure loved having them with us this past weekend. Their very presence was a beautiful thing. I can't believe how lucky we were to have them here. Thanks for coming guys!! We can't wait to stay with you in July for the family reunion!

Thanks everyone

Thank you all for the birthday wishes.

This year it turned out that I had to go to Birmingham for the week of my birthday! It was kind of weird and unfortunate being with a bunch of people you don't know on your birthday and it ended up being pretty bad timing for a proper birthday celebration. So it was good to come back and see all the birthday wishes on the blog - thanks everyone!