Drunken Toddler

Kendra and I were walking up the stairs earlier today, and she insists we hold her hands to walk up the stairs. She is perfectly capable of doing this on her own, but whatever.

As we walk up the stairs, she starts counting them.

"one, two, free" hiccup.
"one, two" hiccup
"one, two, free, five, six" hiccup

She sounded just like the town drunk as she hiccuped and would start her counting over. It was hysterical!

So Close...

Today was not quite as nice outside, but we still managed to go "play in dirt," as Kendra would say.

We are so close to being done! These pics are from this morning, before we got started. By the time we finished for today it was too dark to take new ones. (I hate it getting dark so early!!)

As of quitting time today, all the wooden sections were done, and about half the wire mesh sections were done. The gate on the far left was built and installed, and Dan started the gate on the right side.

The top picture shows how we've been working. A long extension cord and power strip hooks up the chop saw and table saw. There's a portable air compressor that runs the air nailer and staple gun. Kendra keeps busy by collecting rocks and acorns in her yellow bucket, and has created some lovely chalk artwork on the steps next to the pile of wood. (We also have quite a pile of scrap wood at the moment. S'mores anyone?)

This is the other end of the fence - where we ran out of old wood. I actually like the way the old wood looks. It has character. :)

Progress

We have made quite a bit of progress on our fence. Dan took off work yesterday, and the weather cooperated nicely. It was gorgeous - sunny and warm.

With Kendra in preschool for 3 hours, then a nice 2 hour nap, we were able to get a lot of toddler free work time in. We have all the support structure built, with the exception of where the gates will go (one at either end). We also started cutting the slats to fit. Good little environmentalists that we are (ok, fine - we're cheap!) we are reusing the boards from our old fence. I was looking at each board and cutting off the bad sections and Dan would tack it into place. It's a lot of time consuming work, although fairly low effort at this point. Each 8' section needs approximately 16 slats. After they are done, we'll have to cut and staple the mesh into the 4' section. Last will be tacking the mesh to the top of the wooden sections.

We have no idea how to build the gates. One problem at a time I guess!

Hopefully tomorrow will be just as nice, and with some hard work and a bit of luck, we'll finish it!

Weekend Warriors Are At It Again

We have been working on leveling our yard for three years now, and we are FINALLY close to being done!

This weekend we tore down the last remnants of our old fence and started building a new one that will encompass our entire yard - not just half of it like the old one. We rented a two person auger and started to dig the first of 21 holes for fence posts. While it was much easier than using a post hole digger, it was no picnic.

By Saturday we put out a call for help, and our fabulous friends came to the rescue. Several guys helped Dan finish the holes, mixed concrete and began setting the support posts. I BBQ'd some ribs and burgers and we made s'mores for dessert. All in all it was great time.

Our plan is to have 8' sections of wood interspersed with 4' sections of chicken wire. On the wire we are going to plant kiwi's and grapes and whatever else sounds interesting. The only downside is the dogs don't have a yard right now. Dan is taking the day off tomorrow, so hopefully we'll make some serious progress on it.

First Day of School

In what will be the first of many school days, Kendra began her scholastic career at King Street Cooperative Preschool. She will be going two days a week, for three hours at a time.

In case you aren't familiar with co-ops (I wasn't) it is staffed by two paid teachers, and every other worker is a parent volunteer. There are 4 parents who work each classroom shift, plus the teachers, for roughly 15 kids. There is one in the "home center" - a pretend house that is fully stocked with child sized stuff; one in the gym area; one in the art room - which is a beautiful glass enclosed atrium with lots of plants; and one in charge of snack.

The parents are also responsible for running the school - registration, collecting tuition, maintenance of the facility - everyone has a job. My job is historian. I'm in charge of collecting and scanning in the kids artwork for the yearbook, decorating the two classroom bulletin boards and ultimately creating the yearbook. I'm really excited about it. Here are my first bulletin boards. The board on the left is the art board for the kids. It will feature a rotating display of the various types of artwork the kids create. This week features the artwork created at the kids play date before school officially started. The other board is for the parents - information, discussions, etc.

Here's to the start of a fun year!

Cousin Comes to Visit

My cousin (or some relation or another :) has come to visit! We have had a great time so far. She arrived Friday afternoon and we gave her the grand tour of Seattle. It started with the locks, a nice walk through Ballard to a great Puerto Rican restaurant, and ended with driving around the city showing her the area.

Saturday we enjoyed some tasty cinnamon rolls Dan made, then went down to the Market. We wandered all over, ending at a great little dress shop. She found the most adorable dress and matching shoes. What a great souvenir! She'll think of us every time she wears the outfit! (And she looks AMAZING in it.)

Sunday was a very, very early day. We were all up by 5:30am and out the door to catch the 9am ferry out of Anacortes. It's roughly a two hour drive there, and then an hour long ferry ride to the San Juan Islands. We were hoping to see some whales, since that is what they are known for, but we were not that lucky. We did see some beautiful scenery, learn more about the history of this area, and have a nice time. We caught the 7pm ferry back, and made it home by 10:30pm, absolutely exhausted.

Tonight is dinner (without Kendra) at Marrakesh...

One, Two, Five, Six

Kendra is starting to understand the concept of numbers and counting. As evidenced by the title though, she hasn't totally gotten it yet. :) She seems to understand what "one" is, and sometimes can count to two. Anything above two becomes "one, two, five, six." It's really cute, but also pretty cool that she is starting to understand the one to one correlation of numbers and objects. It is so fascinating to actually watch her learning.

Monday Dan actually had an entire conversation with her. She told him all about her swimming lessons. She used pretty clear words, and he had no problem understanding that she "blew bubbles," "floated on my back," and "dived." It was pretty cool that she could tell him about something that happened in her day.

As for me, unemployment is agreeing with me. I've dropped five pounds so far. I have gotten more exercise in the past week than I have in a long time. It's pretty amazing - I never realized how sedentary I was. Kendra, Turtle and I have been walking to the park, the store, the library - wherever we can. I've even taken my bike out once, which I haven't done in about a year.

I don't have any job leads, but I'm contemplating starting a drop in babysitting service. I could earn some money, and fill a need a lot of moms have. Even something simple - like trying to get a haircut - can become a major ordeal if you don't have someone to watch you kids for a bit. I need to do some more research, but perhaps...