finished baby bedding

I decided I would undertake the project of making the babies crib bedding myself since I could not find much for sale that I liked. Not thinking about my minor sewing skills it was a pretty big task, but I finished and Im proud of it and I got some Skype sewing lessons from my mom along the way.  Plus it is super cute and I made it myself which is my lovely gift to the baby. So crib skirt, crib sheet, quilt, and bumper pads are done!

a few holiday picture

the first is from thanksgiving,

the other 2 are christmas

recap 2010

Since last christmas we have

1. worked in a group home
2. came to Ca for vacation got stuck for 3 extra days because of snow and made the decision to move back
3. gave 2 months notice at the group home job
4. got pregnant
5. packed all our stuff and moved it to Ca via Darren and Will and a moving truck towing our truck
6. were apart for a month while Kate stayed in Pa and worked and was house hopping homeless
7. Lived with Martha (Darren's mom) for 3 months with our stuff still in boxes
8. Found the perfect apartment for what we were looking for and moved in
9. Darren has worked in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Camarillo and had 60+ hour weeks for most of it
10. Kate has had 3 jobs, 1 where her boss got arrested, the second job never calls her, #3 is good.
11. Found out the baby is a girl
12. have been harassed by neighbors over our sweet vintage truck, so much that we are moving again.
13. have taken the Jetta through the 210,000 mile mark and its still going.

For all of the outside crazy, it has really been a smooth pregnancy!
We have now rearranged our priorities for the future, and are moving swiftly forward to this Christmas and New Years and Baby's Arrival!!


Thank You, God for being with us through it all. Thank you families for being supportive as we go on this roller coaster of life.

nesting?

So i have a lot of time to hangout and spend alone, since work for me is slow and Darren's is busy. Two weeks ago was baking and cooking week, this has been sewing week, I am making the babies crib bedding. But we also had some wood around so I built a shelf and a night stand the other evening. Not the most quality, but not bad for a pregnant lady with no real carpentry skills and an ikea saw. Yes one leg on the nightstand is crooked, I'm not sure why? but it doesn't tip over.

thunder and lightening

I love a good thunder storm!

Partly because I am not afraid of them and have not been since I was a little kid. My parents used to have us 3 kids get out the fischer price band kit and parade around the house trying to make more noise than the storm. 

I remember in the summers in Altamont it being sooooo hot a humid and the air feeling thick like a cloud. I would just lay in bed and wait for the storm to start. I was really to hot to sleep but it was also very exciting with all the electricity in the air. 

Or I would lay on mom and dads bed and watch the backyard light up with each flash, and the kiddie pool we had played in earlier would be overflowing from the rain, and the swing set seemed so far away.

On the east coast thunder and lightening storms can last over an hour and tonight ours in Ventura was maybe 20 minutes, but it is still is fun.

The power flickers, the roof sounds loud and people get all excited about looking out their windows and watching the magic in the sky. 

I have camped in the rain, and gotten stuck in the rain walking or hiking more than I can remember. It is tough when the whole world is grey for a long time but it is so fresh and renewing!

Thank you God for the rain!!!

Its a Girl!! and a funny morning

So the results of the ultrasound are GIRL!! whoohooo!

So sunday was Darren's last day at Trader Joes on Milpas, he is now an employee of the Ventura Trader Joes, and therefore drove the truck to work last night.
If anyone has met our wonderful old bad ass truck you know it is a little loud and rowdy, so if we come home later in the evening, we have been cutting the engine and rolling in to the carport so as not to rattle the neighbors who are sleeping above it. BUT apparently last night when Darren cut the engine he forgot to put it in park after he stopped. It was a little ghetto rigged so you can start it in any gear, so this morning when I went out to start it and drive to work, I turned it on and it revved and jumped about 3 feet forward before I caught it with the break. All this happened in a split second, and sometimes I don't always start it with my foot on the break because you need to feather the gas some too. But today I was just only pushing the break about half way. I am SOOOOOOOOO glad I caught the break and we didn't run into the wall! I am also glad i had the presence of mind to react fast, since sometimes this prego brain fails me. It could have happened to either of us, but I got a really good chuckle out of it for about an hour this morning.

todays ultrasound day

we have the ultrasound today, i am up at 715 got out of bed just before 8, nervous and excited. Im not sure what I'm nervous about, but I feel ansy, ill probably clean the whole house before we leave, (its that kind of energy) YIKES, but the house needs cleaning so maybe it is not a bad thing.


Really it doesn't matter what were having, it means more exciting planning to do, and I just want a healthy baby. I feel like it is a boy, but I think it is because I wanted a girl and more people lately have guessed boy so I have been getting my mind set and ready for that too. I have no idea though! 

Prego pants

I bought my first pair of maternity jeans today, my only pair that fit comfortably from non-pregnant life are in the laundry, and it is tough only having one pair of jeans, so I got the ok from Darren.
BUT I have been wearing them for about 2 hours and I am not excited, they keep sliding down and falling off and then i get that saggy butt look. I had the belly cover part folded down, but now it is up over my belly and still the same problem.
Do any of you experienced moms have tips? do they fit better as I get bigger? do they need to be washed and shrunk? am I doomed to sag for the next 4 months or more?
there are no belt loops so i cant help it that way.
hmmm,  this is a whole funny and strange adventure!!!!!

Creative cooking August30th

I was in the mood to cook tonight, and here is the results.

Sausage and pepper pasta-
             the recipe is simple you cook the sausage, then take them out to cool on a cutting board. cook the peppers and garlic in the sausage juices with a little more oil added. Then after I cut the sausage in to bites I put it back in the pan to warm and brown for a few minutes. Stir with pasta of choice, and enjoy. I used trader joe's chicken and spinach, fontina, garlic sausage and the spinach chive pasta. YUMMY!

Ratatouille- i had found the authentic recipe from the movie on this website, but when it seemed involved I looked for another from this easy blog.
-----I had forgotten to buy eggplant so I skipped that, but layered it and put in red and yellow peppers on the bottom underneath the zucchini, squash, and tomato, since they would not have fit as well size wise.

*** my new kitchen tool is the mandolin slicer, it was awesome, so fast and easy and neat!!! and it does juliene cuts and grates, it feels very fancy for $10 and being plastic, can't wait to use it again!

Morning Muffins 9/6/2010

So at 5:20 this morning after laying in bed for half an hour and not being able to go back to sleep, I decided to get up and bake some muffins. I have been enjoying our new kitchen lately and my kitchen tools that have been in a box for a year. Today I made lemon-blueberry muffins, I hope Darren enjoys them! He has been working long hours with not much break. I thought it would be a nice smell to wake up to. Here is a picture of them finished!

20 Week Belly

This is my belly, the baby is around 10inches long and weighs almost a pound, according to the stats. I took this picture later in the evening and the belly is usually bigger at the end of the day, but not much.

The story of stuff

Darren had me watch this after his boys watched it earlier at camp. Pretty interesting to think about all the steps of the process. It is worth thinking about.
www.thestoryofstuff.com

The baby counter

this week

In the midst of recovering from the last few weeks of extreme stress and trying to get through the tired getting sick week this week here are some events that are memorable.
These flowers are at a house on my drive to bring Brody to school and they are so pretty and part of why I like the east coast and will miss this wonderful part of spring.

On monday morning right in the middle of my drive to work my car hit the 190,000 miles mark. Happy Mile Birthday little Jetta!!! good job my nice red car. How can you not love a VW when they take you so far?  7 years and moving across the country and back again, 122,000 miles this car and I have been together. I hope we have a many thousand more to go.

wondering what it would take?

We recently gave notice to leave the house parent job. Currently our last day is May 23rd, but our supervisor asked what it would take for us to stay until June 15th. We could see some kids graduate and it would give some closure to the end of the school year, also they would have a chance to move the kids that don't leave to other houses. It helps then because the enrollment is lower in the summer and they could close our house down until more parents could be found. The benefits for us could be to get to move together instead of in phases, and we could spend more time together.

On the flip side there is the huge relief of being done and right now our brains are focused on the end of May, and being able to have free time to spend with the people who live here that we will miss. Darren will be in california looking for a job and hopefully making more money than if we stay, and we can have time to workout and take care of our bodies and do the things we are currently longing to do.

So what would it take? If it is money, then how much? and if time off, how much? what is the limit or the quantity of our time? How much is our time worth?

Yesterday

Darren and I were sitting on the porch yesterday in the sun
K: "What are you looking at?'
D: "My arms and legs, it is amazing how white I am, there are no tan lines at all! I didn't even know I could get this white."
K: " I know it used to happen to me when I lived here regularly, but there were even some winters that was able to maintain tan lines all winter.
D: "Yeah, this mole is usually the lightest thing on my arm"
K: "I usually gauge it by having bathing suit lines, but the other day I noticed there are none. I am as white as my bum, ass white, maybe even as white as when we were born."
D: "I came out blue, so I was not white."
K: "oh, ha ha"

Working on life

We are trying to find jobs, and a place to live in California! It is leading to a ton of searching and wondering what we are meant to do and the plans God has for us! If anyone knows of jobs you think we would be good at please let us know.
Also in that today as I drove the hour to work I was thinking about how I never felt I would be good in an office, the monotony would just kill me. My revelation was that we are in a holding pattern and that is a big part of our unhappiness in the job.
I get up
drive 1 hour to work
take care of kids
get maybe 1.5 hours of down time
take care of kids
drive home
take care of kids
go to sleep
 . . . .  and repeat it all over again!

Darren
gets up
takes care of kids
answers phone calls and makes some
watches tv
takes care of kids
goes to sleep

and while somedays it is mixed up and exciting, it mostly is draining and we count the hours until bed, or quite time. We are ready to have quite when we want it, to be able to decorate how we want, to be able to find things, and have a beer with dinner if desired. To come and go as we please, and see people with out having to juggle attitudes and time off and freedom. We know we are doing good things, and trying to keep a positive mind about it! God has a plan and it will all work out!

healthy food

"In the end, as always, it’s about knowing what you’re buying and who you’re buying from, and eating in moderation."


As spring starts to appear I have been thinking about cleaning up my diet, and helping promote a healthier diet to those around me. The boys have been served the same food for years (any fast food) so they are accustomed to it and like it. I just don't get how Taco Bell is "soooooo good" and then 20 minutes after eating it they all are complaining of stomach aches. Darren and I watched a documentary a couple of weeks ago called Food Inc. It was about the food industry and how everything is a factory set up to produce more and more. They are creating a monopoly and making it impossible for the independant farmer to sell any thing or stay in business. Cows are being genetically modified to be meatier. Chickens are growing breasts 4 times the natural size in half the time, so that their legs cant keep up and they collapse after one step. Those are the dark parts of the movie, the message at the end was know what your buying and try to support organic growers. If the majority of people shopping at a grocery store are buying the earth friendly products and organic things the store will get the message and start bringing in more options of what the shopper is interested in.


In light of the recent commercials saying that corn syrup is just corn, and the ever increasing numbers of diet pills and new spins put on fast food as healthy. I am ready to boycott it all and start a farm of my own. Veggies, eggs, milk and meat all raised under the pure idea of growing them how God would have. Darren and I have been struggling with diet options for months now feeling fat but not having enough energy to fight it a buy better food. It is a huge factor to have to fight the boys on their complaints about what they like or don't, but what are we teaching them then? 


So I am going to try it this week for the good of myself and my husbands bodies, and the possibility of teaching the boys something they might not have had before. I will plan and buy meals that are better for us, and still creative. 

getting things done

It seems the last few days we are getting out of the winter rut,  even if it is slowly, spring is being hinted in the air. we are getting motivated to do more lately so far on the list:
-the desk is clean
-the truck is getting fixed (should be good tomorrow)
-we signed up for an amex card to earn lots of free stuff
-we are are making steps to better life, and take care of ourselves

There is more in the plans. The last few days have been an improvement.

Dear Philly,

My answer of the day to the Philadelphia tourism campaign (http://press.visitphilly.com/media/show/id/2594/indice/1)

Dear Philadelphia,

I know you have much going on and many people are in love with you, however I am sad that my husband and I are stuck in a job way out in the suburbs that does not allow us to explore all of you. I am also wondering if you could do something about the weather and make it sunny, or snowy, or warmer? Anything other than cold and gray and brown would be wonderful!

PLEASE HELP,

thanks

xx oo

Kate

heavy things

I have heard of a lot of deaths lately and I know of at least 6 women that are pregnant. It seems the cycle of life is closer and more apparent that ever. I have been thinking about writing this for a few days and in that time the sister of one of my massage clients has died of lung cancer. My uncle is also having surgery for cancer on january 21st. It all makes me very thankful that i have Darren and we are both alive and healthy. I just want to say a prayer for the families and lives that are hurting and a blessing for the new lives that are coming in to this world. Thank you God for you great presence in this world!!! amen

love poems

At our wedding in NY we had love poems printed on little cards to be put on the tables but they were never passed out. I found the files from when I had typed them up on the computer and thought it would be fun to post some.

Sensual pleasure passes and vanishes in the twinkling of an eye, but the friendship between us, the mutual confidence, the delights of the heart, the enchantment of the soul, these things do not perish and can never be destroyed. I shall love you until I die. ~

Voltaire

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other.

Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth for the other.

Now there is no more loneliness, for each of you will be companion for the other.

Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you.

Go now to your dwelling place to begin the days of your life together.

May your days together be good and long upon the earth.

Apache Blessing

I love you,

Not only for what you are,

But for what I am

When I am with you.

I love you,

Not only for what

You have made of yourself,

But for what

You are making of me.

I love you

For the part of me

That you bring out.

Roy Croft

Love

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.

Mother Teresa

Some Holiday Pictures

My first thanksgiving turkey.
Our festive lights in Pa.
The bedroom tree, with our personal ornaments.
The crew in Queensbury for the Holiday

Darrens many Christmas Plaids