In February we have:

• Been blessed with our growing giggling girl
• and our jumping spirited toddler!
• A scary emergency surgery for my mother-in-law (who is recovering well!)
• My father-in-law’s birthday.
• Saw the specialist for Ivy’s hemangioma, next appointment is today.
• Phone calls to Mom full of questions about chocolate mousse, toddler power struggles and life.
• Warm days, Saturday was 60F! In February! Can you believe it?
• Receiving our tax return, paying of most of our debt (hello medical bills…)
• Visits from friends, we are so blessed!
• Garden planning, seed starting, growing peas.
• And Canada winning Olympic gold in Hockey (that was for you Becka!)

I’ve been thinking about Haiti a lot lately. The outpouring on love far overwhelms those who would send judgment and cruel words towards the victims. Enough to say I pity those whose words carry such negativity and I send them love. I hope one day they too can open their hearts enough to allow compassion to reign. I am an optimist, I know that one day their eyes will open.

It warms my heart to see the explosion of generosity from people who already consider themselves to be on hard times. Tragedies like this tend to put so many aspects of our lives into perspective. Today I am beyond grateful to have ample food, clothes, shelter and more for my family.

Tonight I light a candle and send love to all who suffer. I hope that it’s light might join with the light of all prayers and bring comfort to those in pain. Peace on Earth.

As someone who once had a relatively empty fridge door, it has gotten pretty cluttered up since Damian was born. Damian’s latest art, our daily schedule, a developmental milestone chart, a nutrition chart and a tantrum coping checklist. Lists helps me tremendously, the tantrum one is new today because I know that I need to start being more consistent with the power struggle which has arisen recently between toddler and mom.

I’m the first to admit that, even though I love him to pieces, I am sometimes left wondering, Who are you and what have you done with my fun-loving little boy?! Then I breath deeply and repeat what must be a universal parental mantra “it is only a phase…” Though sometimes it is more of a question then mantra.

Damian loves wearing the bathrobe I made him for Yule in the morning. It has a yellow star embroidered on the front that he enjoys tracing with his finger. I am really proud of it despite the little flaws, Damian doesn’t seem to notice them anyways!

(Michelle and Mikcos gave me a beautiful yellow miniature rose for my birthday.)

I had a really lovely birthday on Saturday, that is, except for the 4 minutes Ivy’s emergency room visit ran into it. She is doing well by the way, she will be seeing a specialist on February 1st.

After sleeping in until 8:00 (which is a long time when you have young children) I was up. As I am a creature of habit, birthday or not, the morning was business as usual. Breakfast, general tidying and playing with children. In the afternoon my friends came over and we had a little birthday party. Andrea made her wonderful fruit dip and a big bowl of my favorite fruits for dipping (better than cake! I am a fruit bat.) It was a simple afternoon full of great conversation, and honestly after the ER night, relaxing with friends was just what I needed.

My mom called in the evening (she has impeccable timing, the phone rang about 5 minutes after everyone had left.) She sent me a little power sander for my birthday, which goes perfectly with the jigsaw she sent me for Christmas. Though we talk about once a week, there is something really lovely about hearing from family on your birthday.

Anyhow, I can hear Ivy and Damian stirring in the other room. Time for the morning routine. Have a lovely day!

Nothing is cuter then…

…baby feet. Except maybe…

Booties. And not just any booties but the booties my grandma knitted for me as a baby.

Ducks and hoodies add to the natural cuteness of things too.

As do toddlers, it doesn’t really matter what they are doing.

And yes, this post’s only purpose is to bombarding you with photos of my children and I don’t mind one little bit! One of these will be my photo of the day for my 365 photo project, I haven’t settled on one though. Which would you pick?

Manito Park, Spokane, WA

This is my second day in my challenge to take a photo everyday of 2010 (only 363 more to go!) I do not intend on posting them all here, but they are in a set on flickr.

Yesterday I saw my first rainbow of the year though by the time I grabbed my camera, it was already fading. Either way it seemed to carry a unique kind of blessing with it; I cannot think of a more beautiful herald for the new year then a rainbow.

As I said the other day, I don’t do resolutions but rather like the idea I have seen floating around the blogosphere of picking a word to be my inspiration or mantra for the year (or until I feel I have developed some mastery of its concepts.) 2010 will be my year to simplify my life. A home with young children can be chaotic and I need to find ways to find the eye of the storm. To live simply and in the moment.

And what could be a more simple joy then watching Damian play with one of my best friends on New Years day?

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” – - George Eliot

Some of the plumcots (or pluot) butter that I canned today. It is amazing that 18lbs of plumcots turn into only 3 pints of fruit butter. Of all my preserves, this is my favorite, not only because of it’s tangy sweet flavor and gorgeous color, but also because of it’s simplicity; it only has two ingredients, plumcots and sugar.

I spotted this pretty little web blowing gentle in the morning breeze under our picnic table while we were camping this weekend. Andrea snapped the photo as I was making breakfast. I think she got a fantastic shot!

Some puns are just too hard to resist.

I keep seeing these around but I am not sure what they are. The bees seem to love them.

“Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it”
- – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“That we find a crystal or a poppy beautiful means that we are less alone, that we are more deeply inserted into existence than the course of a single life would lead us to believe.”
- John Berger

Can you tell I have a favorite flower?

“Bring me then the plant that points to those
bright Lucidities swirling up from the earth,
and life itself exhaling that central breath!
Bring me the sunflower
crazed with the love of light!”
- – Eugenio Montale

I have no clue what-so-ever what this pretty yellow flower is. It is growing in the alley behind our house and along a fence. It receives only rain water and is in full sun, and is probably some horribly invasive weed, because lately all the flowers I love seem to fall into that category! (Spotted Knapweed for example.)

It’s official, as of today I like Frank Sinatra even more then before.

“Orange is the happiest color.”
– - Frank Sinatra

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.”
- – Denis Waitley

A beautiful softneck artichoke garlic with a wonderful medium hot flavor. I read that it is an heirloom variety found on the Colville Reservation here in Washington. I bought this bulb at the Millwood Farmer’s Market from New Wave Gardens. I am hoping to buy some for planting this Autumn.

Ideas are like seeds, apparently insignificant when first held in the hand. Once firmly planted, they can grow and flower into almost anything at all, a cornstalk, or a giant redwood, or a flight across the ocean. Whatever a man imagines, he can achieve.
- – Charles Lindbergh

Spotted knapweed is the most recognized noxious weed in this area, so much so that it is actually illegal for you to have an outbreak of it on your property. Knapweed seeds remains viable in the soil for at least five years and with each plant producing over 1000 of them infestations are a rapidly expanding problem. Not only that but the plant releases a toxin into the soil that reduces the growth of native forage species. Ick, yuck, poo.

If you live in Spokane, you can report clusters of it to the city so that they can come deal with it. I only know this because we filed a report last night. The foreclosed home next door is positively infested with the stuff and the gardener in me dies a little each time I think about it infesting my beds.

I must admit though, that as abhorrent as I find the plant, that I do find the flowers rather beautiful. They also attract a huge amount of bumblebees, one of my very favorite insects. So while I most certainly want the city to eradicate this outbreak, I am appreciating the surge in my fuzzy favorite pollinators for the time being.

(Speaking of which, I received my new camera today so that photo is my own! I’ll blog about the camera more later though. For now it will have to be sufficient to say, it is awesome.)

“How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young?”
- – Paul Sweeney

“Who loves a garden still his Eden keeps,
Perennial pleasures plants, and wholesome harvest reaps.”
- – Amos Bronson Alcott

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: he believed in me.” – - Jim Valvano

When bees hum in the linden tree
and roses bloom in cottage plots.
Along the brookside banks we see
the blue wild forget-me-nots.
– Patience Strong

I spotted this lovely little thing was growing in the sandy gravel at the edge of Priest Lake. I am not sure what it is, but I think it is Forget-Me-Nots are just beautiful.

What is a weed but a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

“And we who listen to the stars, or walk the dusty grade
Or break the very atoms down to see how they are made,
Or study cells, or living things, seek truth with open hand.
The profoundest act of worship is to try to understand.”

– “The Word of God” by Catherine Faber

“To mature is in part to realize that while complete intimacy and omniscience and power cannot be had, self-transcendence, growth, and closeness to others are nevertheless within one’s reach.”
- – Sissela Bok

One of the exceedingly abundant black and white cats in our neighborhood.

Little Fly,
Thy summer’s play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink, and sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength and breath
And the want
Of thought is death;

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.

- by William Blake