New Blog Established

We are trying out a new family blog, where I will be posting from now on. You can read about all my family's lives or you can sort for just my posts (Category/Label = Chelsea).

Boy Discovers pockets

Yesterday Layden discovered pockets. You can put stuff in them. Did you know? He was quite excited and at one point resembled a dog chasing his tail, turning around and around trying to put something in one. Today my mom arrived and we worked in the backyard on the flower bed, digging out all of the weeds. There was a lot of weeds, a lot. Layden kept picking leaves and putting them in his ear. Look mom, I can hear the forest.
Yesterday we got all but one row of the floor down. Decided that the existing padding we had decided to keep was too squishy and pulled it right back up. It was really for the best though. With the floor down we decided the walls really needed new paint. They used to be pale blue and pale blue wallpaper with clouds and birds. So today I got a couple of coats of primer on and tomorrow I will start painting the walls beige, hopefully a nice neutral beige.
Right now we have Lynda's dogs again. She had to fly down to Utah for her new job suddenly and so this evening she dropped the dogs off. Anyone want a lab mix or fat chihuahua?

Merger Proposed

So when I was trying to sleep a couple nights ago I had an idea. I am not sure if it is a good idea or not but I thought I would run it by you. My thought was that it could be nice for Mom, Katie, Brita, Becky, and I to all post to the same blog. The advantages would be that we would only have to check one webpage (especially when away from our own computers) and it would be easier to keep up with comments made on each others posts. This is of course assuming that you are all posting for the same reason I am, to avoid sending out a multitude of emails to family every day. We could each label our posts with our name then other people could read the posts from just one person if they wanted to. Of course we would have to give up having our own color scemes but we could always rope Jakob into designing something good. So anyway that was my idea, let me know what you think.

News Flash: Baby Helps!

As I type Layden is taking each piece of carpet tack strip that Oli pries up and is putting it in the trash bag.

Bedroom basement gets facelift

Today we got the downstairs bedroom cleaned out so that we can rip up the carpet and put down laminate. We have the laminate that used to be in my parents' living room before they got the new hardwood floor. Hopefully it will be enough. While we moving stuff around and I got to thinking that a good use for the space at the base of the stairs would be a bedroom. It is really awkward for any other use. We would have to build one wall and rip out the panelling and replace it with drywall. If we did that and replaced the other basement bedroom's window we will have increased the number of bedrooms from 2 to 4. Maybe we will do that. Then we could use the upstairs bedroom which is a bit small as an office/sewing room/whatever. That is all a couple years off probably. Too bad I am bad at waiting.

Baby sets pace for hike

Today we took a hike up Kamiak Butte. Oli carried Layden up the steepest part, the first 1/2 mile or so. Then we stopped and had lunch while enjoying the view of the Palouse. Though it was a bit overcast and hazy. Then Layden walked the majority of the last 3 miles on his own. The pace wasn't fast but we had fun. Layden thought it was great. He was so proud of himself when he would climb a particularly big rock and would turn to make sure that we had seen. He stopped every so often to just touch something on the side of the trail. Lightly touch a fallen branch or leaf. Sometimes he ripped off a leaf but that wasn't too often. Amazingly he did a pretty good job of staying on the trail he only wandered off a couple of times. He seems to really like birds and makes hand motions like he is trying to call them over. Needless to say, they don't come. One of Oli's coworkers has a fairly friendly cockatoo so maybe sometime he will get to meet it. He really liked the downhill bits. He could get going so fast. Unfortunately he would get going fast enough that he was very good about walking a straight path. So for some bits we had to carry him to keeping from falling down a rather steep slope. He nose dived a few times but just picked himself up and got going down hill again, giggling madly. By the end of the day he was quite tired and he passed out in the car seat on the way home from the international food store in Pullman.

Boy falls in box

Well yesterday went even better than the first day with Christy. She seems to be done teething. Layden even brought her toys rather than merely allowing her to play with some. Lisa came over and we had chili and watched "Failure to Launch". It was my first time trying to make something in the crock pot and it turned out pretty good. Last night Layden was entertaining himself pushing his stroller around when he apparently backed in to the box, tripped and landed in it. He was fairly upset and first but got over it pretty quick.
Today I finally got around to grocery shopping so I don't have to put up with whatever I manage to scrape up. I also bought tableclothes to turn into curtains and sheets to turn into a duvet cover. Some might wonder "Why not just buy curtains and a duvet cover?", the answer is I am too cheap. I also couldn't even find a duvet cover I liked. Today Layden discovered that it is very very fun to ride his little rocket on the sidewalk down the hill. You can get going so fast, so much fun. I didn't think that was such a good idea so I let him go down once, stopping him every few feet, then I had to carry the rocket back up. I think it will have to stay an inside toy or someday I will hear him giggling gleefully and turn to see him shooting down the hill.

Boy Jumps in Puddle

Well the first day with Christy went well. She was teething a bit so a little grumpy but no more than Layden ever was. A couple of times she started crying and Layden didn't like that too much. He got a really sad look on his face and kept putting his head on my shoulder and trying to crowd onto my lap, which made Christy cry more. I was so torn, there was my baby looking so sad and wanting his mommy to hold him and there was another baby needing me too.Luckily she hushed up pretty quick and Laydend recovered too. He shared all his toys pretty well, a little bit selfish but not bad. He did steal the toy she had brought and hid it in the bathroom. Last night we had thunderstorms and this morning we had a good bit rain. Layden insisted on playing outside no matter the weather. Before his nap he went outside, stomped in a nice deep puddle, then we went for a walk around a couple of blocks. He got his shoes good and soaked. After his nap he played outside again. Again he stomped in the puddle and soaked a different pair of shoes. But he sure was having a lot of fun. Then we came in and he had fun pushing chuckanucka around in the stroller though he would become very frustrated when the stroller got caught.
For all you doubters: on two more occasions Layden has returned cellphones to where he found them. He also returned a piece of chalk to the same spot in the grass he found it. Wierd.

Child's actions bring mother to near tears

Help Wanted: As you all can see I have redesigned my blog in a fit of boredom. There is still one problem. I don't like the title much so if anyone has some better suggestions that would be great. In other news: It got up to about 94 today. That is just too hot. Luckily it is supposed to get down to the 50's

tonight so the house should cool off. Layden just figured out that he can get at stuff on top off the TV by standing on the sub woofer. However, he just did something more amazing. He got my cell phone from on the TV where it was sitting on top of my wallet. He went and played with it by the chair. When he was done he put it back on the TV, on top of my wallet. I nearly cried it was so beautiful.

Water Toys

Yesterday Tristan and Evan had their birthday party. It was just Sarah and Joe's families and then Layden and I. They got all sorts of equipment for having fun outside and tried most of it out yesterday. Good timing since it got up to 90 yesterday and is supposed to again today. Tuesday through Friday it is supposed to get back down into the 60's with a thunderstorm on Tuesday. Sounds nice to me. Evan got an electric drum toy which he really like and Layden thought it was pretty cool too.
Today I baked some coconut macaroons and banana bread. I should have waited til the weather cooled a bit but the bananas seemed too ripe to wait. So I turned the AC on for a bit to counteract the oven.

Family

We had a nice visit with Oli's family this past weekend. We drove over on Saturday. First we stopped in Kennewick to see Dieter's new place and new truck and had lunch at the mall and bought ourselves a new comforter. Dieter's apartment is pretty nice, a couple of the half walls lean but his cabinets are much nicer than ours. His truck (Tundra) is pretty fancy but sadly will not fit in his nice, extra-long-but-insufficiently-wide garage, both side view mirrors hurt. He also lives in an apartment complex styled after a labyrinth.
Next we stopped at Maryhill museum. There were peacocks, lots of peacocks. Sassy, noisy birds. Oli had to get out of the car to chase one out of the way. Lady thought the peacocks were pretty cool but became wary when one pecked (the air, not him) a warning when he got too close.
Then we stopped at our friends parent's house in White Salmon. When we told them we were visiting family that weekend Erick and Shanell decided to visit too. We had a nice little visit and Layden had fun charming them. He enjoyed playing with the transmitter for a wireless headphone set, he kept plugging them into the carpet.Finally we made it to Oli's parents' house. The next day we all went over to Hood River for a birthday lunch at the inn. Oli, Joy, Judy, Jerry, Jane, and Bob all have May birthdays. Lunch was quite tasty and we enjoyed chatting with all his family. Judy and Jerry drove over in their Mini Cooper (1 year old) which is pretty cool, Jerry even let me sit in the driver's seat. It looks like a lot of fun to drive but no fun for anything more than 2 adults.
Then Monday Oli's two sisters came over along with his niece Mindy who is currently living in Indiana and his nephew Will. We all went up to Panakanic and roasted hot dogs over a fire. Joy brought up one of her drums and the one she just made for Layden and she and Bonnie had a jam session.

left to right: Oli, Joy, Me, Layden, Frank, Mindy, Will, Bonnie, Fred

We headed back on Tuesday and the drive went pretty well until the end. Then Layden was playing with his drum stick sticking it inside a water bottle. Whenever he would drop one of them he would say uh-oh over and over and over like a cuckoo clock until it was picked up. Pretty soon I was asking "are we there yet?"
It was opressively hot today but it is finally starting to cool off. Layden is entertaining himself watering the yard with the nozzle set to mist. For a boy who hates to have his hair washed he sure loves water in all other forms. Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 90 and we will be going to Tristan and Evan's birthday party, they both have late May/early June birthdays. So Layden and I went and picked them up presents this evening then had dinner with Oli.
Yesterday Cody and her 9 month old daughter Christy came over. I will be taking care of Christy for a couple of hours in the evenings during the week. The visit went well, Christy is a lot like Layden was. She isn't crawling yet but she gets around by every other method. Layden never plays with his stuffed animals but when I gave her a few he kept taking them away, along with one of her toys and hugging them to his body. After about 10 minutes he got over it and didn't care if she played with them. So I think he will do ok. The first few times I hold her will probably be rough for him but he should get over it and it will be good practice for when he gets a brother or sister.