Author Archives: Chrissie

Routine Needed

I am still struggling with our new morning routine.  I am so not a morning person.  I like to start slow and gradually build speed.  Over the summer, we’d get out of the house around 10am.  Now, we have to be moving by 7:30.  Talk about a shock to the system.  Luckily, Leina is a total early bird so she pops out of bed at 6am and hits the ground running.  Most mornings, Kevin and I are the ones dragging and it’s Leina urging us to get going.  What a reversal of  roles!

Aside from the early start, the girls both adore school.  Good teachers, good friends and lots of recess time.  I thought I would have more free time on my hands but apparently, this is not to be.  Instead, our calendar is suddenly packed with school activities and finding a quiet moment is harder than ever.  I guess I’m in the big leagues now.

Kat and I have begun our annual Christmas Craft season and it feels so good to get my hands busy again.  I have several different project scattered throughout the house.  I love picking something up and working on it for a few minutes or so.  It feel like such a luxury to curl up on the sofa and stitch for a few minutes.  Just heavenly.  However, as these are mostly Christmas presents, I will be unable to post pictures for a while.  I suppose I will just have to amuse you with my witty banter instead.  So sorry.  Please bare with me!

Whipped Butter

While Kevin was off in Montana being Best Man and his brother’s wedding last weekend, I decided to break out the paint brushes and finish painting the downstairs.  The yellow I painted in the kitchen months ago petered out around the sliding glass door and the rest of the downstairs was the color of putty.  It was awful.  Picture a grey and rainy day.  Now paint that all over your walls.  Talk about depressing.  I’ve wanted to change the paint since the day we moved in five years ago but never had the motivation to do it.  Well, last weekend I got motivated.

Liza, bless her big heart, volunteered to come over and help me get started.  She brought some much needed class to the operation.  She was appalled at my lack of painter’s tape and drop clothes.  She also shamed me into removing all the face plates around the sockets and switches.  I was all about the doing, she was all about doing it right.  (It’s very good to have friends like these.)  We slaved all day Friday in wicked high heat and and managed to get the first coat on all the rooms.  She then went above and beyond and had us over for an impromptu sleep over as my house reeked of paint fumes.  Awesome.

Saturday and Sunday I painted, and painted, and painted.  Kevin was totally surprised when he arrived home Sunday night to find the entire downstairs transformed from putty puke grey to whipped butter yellow.  Awesome.  So here are a few pictures of the new wall color.  The girls, for whatever reason, wanted in the shots too.  When I want to take their pictures, they hide from me.  When I don’t, I can’t get rid of them.  Fickle pickles.

Hello! Welcome to the New Front Room!

Kulia and the New Paint

Kulia and the New Paint

Leina Loving the Yellow

Leina Loving the Yellow

It was a labor of love but so very worth it.  Next up is some nice simple crown molding to top it all off.  Then maybe some new carpet.  Oh, and window casing.  And, of course, new tile for the fireplace…..  Just a few last minute touch ups really.  Poor Kevin.  He may want to head back to Montana if he knew what’s coming!

Day One

After six years of waiting, it’s finally here.  Leina’s first day of Kindergarten!   We are extra lucky because a new school just opened up this year right down from our house so Leina gets a brand new school to start her student career in and it is gorgeous.  New floors, new bathrooms, that special “new” smell throughout.  Ahhhhh.  It was a bit crazy at drop of with swarms of families and cameras everywhere but Leina took it all in stride.  Maybe it’s because she’s already six but she wasn’t fazed in the least.  No tears, no fears, no first day worries.   Just her usual quick kiss and then “shoo-shoo mom”.   I’m so glad we decided to hold her back and make her the oldest instead of the youngest.  I have no doubt she will breeze through this year with flying colors.   She is more than ready to tackle everything Kindergarten has to offer.

Bring It On!

Bring It On!

Due North

My kids are officially oriented. Both children have learned where to put their backpacks, how to find the girls’ room, and the quickest way to the playground. Up next, their first official day alone in class. If orientation is any indication, they will both breeze into their new role as Student without a backward glance. I find myself not crying over lost babies but trying to figure out how much “me” time I can squeeze into a measly 6 hours a week. If only Oregon did full day kindergarten. Sigh.

For now, I’m just trying to remember to take a picture of each kid before they head out the door for their first day of school. Ah, the burden of being a mom!

The Tea Ritual

The tea ritual:
such a precise repetition of the same gestures
and the same tastes;

accesion to simple,
authentic
and refined sensations,

a license given to all,
at little cost,
to become aristocrats of taste,

because tea is the beverage of the wealthy
and of the poor;

the tea ritual, therefore, has the extraordinary virtue of introducing
into the absurdity of our lives
an aperture of serene harmony.

Yes, the world may aspire to vacuousness,
lost souls mourn beauty,
insignificance surrounds us.

Then let us drink a cup of tea.

Silence descends,
one hears the wind outside,
autumn leaves rustle and take flight,
the cat sleeps in a warm pool of light.

And,

with each swallow,

time is sublimed.

–The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Already Six

I have no memory of my 6th birthday.  It probably involved cake, ice cream and presents.  I don’t know if Leina will remember her 6th birthday today but I know I sure will.  How many little girls get to celebrate 6 by eating mochi ice cream, spending the day snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, and blowing out candles on a Ted’s chocolate haupia pie?  Not too many I’m thinking.  Add to that a pile of craft supplies, games, Plumeria Princess goodies and Hello Kitty supplies and you have one very happy 6 year old on your hands.  Us adults are exhausted but Leina is all smiles and energy.  Perhaps it was that last chocolate mochi ice cream that pushed her over the edge but that’s ok.  She was a real trooper today hiking down to the bay and swimming way far out to squeal over all the huge fish swimming through the  coral.  I hope she remembers some of this special day.

Happy Birthday Leina!  I can’t wait to see what 6 has in store for us….