Thursday was a day to go down in the books. Quite possibly my worst day ever as mother. I know I'll have more and I'm lucky to not have many but man, when they come, they come hard. Yeva had a low grade fever for a few days and I guess I wasn't getting as much sleep as usual because I was feeling it on Thursday. I was just in a bad mood with no patience and everything that could have gone wrong did. I typically have quite a bit of self control and I am not one to cuss--at least seriously, I think it's trashy. At one point in the day I sent my good friend an email telling her how terrible my day was and that if Ale had picked up a cuss word it was totally going to be my fault from the day. Rach wrote me back to say that she too had had the day from hell and the Miles said Dammit for the first time. Ahhh, misery loves company and at least Miles beat Ale to his first cuss word. At 5pm my nerves were shot so I threw the kids in the stroller,grabbed a cheap bottle of wine from the fridge and headed to Kelly's house. I was warmly received, booze in hand, friend to listen, and children momentarily occupied. As I was putting Ale to bed that night and was praying I thanked God very earnestly that all days --the good and the bad---come to an end and we can wake up to a new start in the morning. On days like Thursday all I can do is kiss the little ones goodnight, love them to death, and hope they don't hold the bad days against me.

I am so grateful that I have the friends I do. The ones I can be myself with, the ones who know me on my very bad days, the ones who will challenge me and call me out, the ones who will commiserate when needed. Yes, I am very blessed with the women I do life with.

The evil eye of the chicken. They have a coop to live in but prefer the window sill as of last night. All three of them huddled clumsily on the side. Kind of creepy to look out the window and see this looking boring right into you.

Our egg count since friday: 13

Yeva is sick today for the first time since she was born. Not a bad track record. Sick as in whiny with a low grade fever and just unhappy. She's sleeping more today so Ale and I got to some things I've been wanting to do for a while.

He's a boy. Loves anything having to do with tools, especially real tools. I got a piece of scrap wood and we nailed some nails in party way. Then I attached some string to a few of the nails. I wish I'd had brighter colors but this is all I had on hand. We had fun making designs this morning.

I love homemade toys that inspire creativity. We've had some duds but this one is a keeper. Paper making is on the agenda soon....when I get the supplies I need.

During another Yeva nap we made chocolate cookies today. When Ale was half way done with his cookie he asked if his lions could have one. (His lions are two little paper cut outs we did earlier in the day). Of course I said yes. Sometimes its nice to play the part of the indulgent mother.

Ghetto mother moment: Yes, I let my daughter sit on my dirty kitchen floor, play in the recycling and eat pieces of cereal I've thrown down there all to keep her momentarily occupied so I can make dinner. What's next? Mountain Dew in a bottle?

This picture was taken with a telephoto lens because I dropped the camera on the way to taking this. I did this a couple years ago. Looks like I'll be plastering myself against walls for a while to use the huge lens until we can get the other one I broke fixed or replaced. I'm a winner.

When I think of what my grandma has hanging on her walls I think Silhouettes. She had them done of my mom and her 5 siblings when they were young as well as my grandpa and her. So very classic and simple. It didn't occur to me that I could try and do one of Ale myself. This is the result only after a few minutes. very rough and i suck at photo shop but it's a start. will show the final product if i get around to it this year sometime!

It has been nearly two years since I've picked up a paintbrush and much longer since I have done so willingly and passtionately. Something broke this weekend and I've suddenly picked up the habit and been so excited about the possibilities. I cranked out the above two paintings in the last few days. I've got another two in the works....

The day came last week. Finally. Months of waiting. Nutruturing. Anticipating. Seems we have one layer so far. Every 2-3 days we get an egg midafternoon. They are tiny but we are told they will grow as the chicken grows.

These are all Ale's little homies from church. So many boys, so close in age, so much fun.

"mom, the bathroom smells."

really ale, like what?

"like you."

what do I smell like?

"vitamins."

Quotable Ale:

Ale, Please don't pick your nose.

"But Mom, I have to pick my nose in my room. It's fun."

Yes, I suppose it is Ale.

From Fresno we headed out to Antioch for the rest of the weekend. The Aguilar girls were getting ready for their trip to El Salvador and we were there for what was supposed to be low key. I woke up Saturday morning to David telling me not to bother making breakfast because the "Norwalk Family" arrived at 5 am. When everyone was all together at one time I think there were 30+ of us all in the house. Brenda, my cousin in law of sorts, says to me at one point--there are a lot of people here aren't there Katie? White people don't do this." No Brenda, they don't.

Video game coma kids.
Some of the fun, 1/4 the people.

We headed out Thursday afternoon for the holiday weekend. Yeva took a snooze in the recently hung hammock before leaving.
Our very good friends finally got some sense and moved back to the west coast, albeit Fresno and not up the road. We stopped for the night and spent the night with the Wallings in their new house. The kids loved the pool and burned necessary energy.

Here is Ke'ano going off the diving board. It should be mentioned that he went off the board for the first time earlier in the day at h is swimming lesson. It is always rewarding to see a kid overcome their fear.
Hanging by the pool early Friday morning.
FinAle together again.
Good friends.