Thanks to some late night Pinterest ideas, I wanted to make a flower crown for Esperanza. The next day, with little to zero help or interest from the kids, I made a beautiful dandelion and bluebell crown. I picked flowers from our yard and spent a long time putting it all together. I got Esperanza to wear it for a brief moment, but then she didn't want it anymore. I tried putting it on Ezra and he just wanted to tear it apart. It was too small for my head. Fortunately there are lots of little neighborhood girls with moms not even half as cool as I am that thought the crown was the neatest thing. So, I gave it away to little girls who loved and appreciated it's beauty.
We went down to the water front in Portland to partake in the Cinco de Mayo festivities this past weekend. I don't particularly enjoy it (hot sun, dry dust, creepy carnies, pushy crowds, loud music you can't even understand, fried foods, parking hassles, etc). But, my husband and daughter are really love that kind of stuff so every few years, I go. Armando and Esperanza had a blast...Ezra and I managed.
Last week Esperanza's school had a field trip to the new Portland Aquarium. I was super stoked to go! When daylight approached though, Ezra's tummy got upset. He woke up earlier than usual and crawled under the bed. He was really quiet so I assumed he fell asleep under the bed. Just as I was dozing back to sleep, I heard him start vomiting. Under the bed. He would throw up, then because he was so tired and sick, he would lay his head down...in the vomit! Over and over again. Finally, I managed to drag him out from under the bed and then he went out to the living room, threw up some more then fell asleep on the floor. Needless to say, I missed the field trip and sent Armando with Esperanza instead. After Ezra woke up, he seemed just fine. No fever or anything. Though he did do the same thing the next morning too. Not sure what kind of bug it was, but he's all better now. Armando and Esperanza had fun at the Aquarium and I have no pictures of their adventure.
Just hours after throwing up, he was outside on his bike (it was a chilly morning)
On her way out the door
My friend gave me a ton of raw wool and alpaca fleece...as in straight off the animal! We sometimes attend mutual friends sheep shearing parties in the Spring time and people buy the fleece from our friends who own the sheep and alpaca. It's been a few years since I've gone, and I've only bought one or two fleeces. Like so many of us do, my friend had started a project that didn't see it's end. A few years into it she decided to wash her hands clean of it and pass the fleece along, and I was the lucky one to inherit it. Like she once was, I am full of inspiration and excitement with this new material. I do hope I follow all the way through with it. It is a very looooong process of picking vegetable matter (poop and straw) from the fleece, washing it very carefully several times to get all the dirt, poo and grime off of it, air drying it, carding it, possibly dying it then spinning it into yarn. Each step will likely take several weeks for each fleece, especially since I will need to borrow some tools to do the carding and spinning....when I get to that part. Jonna has a beautiful old fashioned spinning wheel she offered to loan me! In the mean time, the alpaca sits on my front porch where I spend my spare time picking through it and where my children have decided it is super cozy to lay on, and my neighbors have all asked if we've been hunting bear.
My garden is perking up a bit. In addition to all the vegetables I have growing, I decided to plant a few packets of organic flowers. I don't have much luck growing flowers. Even bulbs I plant never come up. Last year, I planted 5 packets of marigold seeds in and around my strawberry patch and not a single marigold seed germinated! This year, I put one packet of marigolds near the strawberries, several sunflower seeds in a few spots and planted nasturtium seeds in a few pots and next to some other veggies. Maybe, if I grow them with the idea that they are food and not flowers, I can keep them alive. I have cosmos too. though I don't think they are edible. The kids love helping he in the garden, and with this beautiful weather, they are playing outside all day every day.
My mom and Chance
Sweet cousin love
The life I once had of running errands 'real quick' has been gone for years. I don't realistically expect it to return anytime soon either. Going to the library to return books/pick up books on hold and get mail from the P.O. box at the post office would take a childless person only a few minutes. For Ezra and I, it takes a couple of hours.
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