Really, now?
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Really, now?
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Here's Harley testing for her red belt tonight. I only got to see part of her test since I had to control and feed other kids. But what I saw looked pretty darn good. It's been forever since she tested. She should be getting her black belt sometime in the next decade if she works at at, lol.
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Harley's Birthday Socks are finally done. They were done toe up in a a garter rib pattern (1 rnd K2P2, 2 rnds K) with 2x2 ribbed cuffs and shart row garter stitch heels and toes. I just love the fact that some patterns are so ingrained that to me, they consist of one sentence and not pages of text or charts.
Here's a close up:
For Harley's 14th birthday, she chose one of the family favorite restaurants, Shanghai Garden. We always order Hand Shaved Noodles with chicken, Strawberry Beef (kid's favorite) and Pepper Salted Squid (my favorite).
Afterward, we crossed the street to spend some time at Kinokuniya Bookstore in Uwajimaya Village. I love that bookstore. Since Uwajimaya is celebrating their anniversary, they are having a 10% off sale. So I had to get a book. HAD TO. This book refused to let me go. I suppose to describe it, you would say it is Barbara G. Walker meets Cookie A. I can't wait to start playing with some stitch patterns.
So from us, Harley got a cute top that she wanted, a pair of socks, and a concert ticket to see Chiodos at the Showbox this weekend with a friend. I can't believe I am now the mother of a 14 year old. It scares me. I am getting old. I don't feel too much more than 14 myself.
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She's so sweet when she is sleeping.
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Pretty sunset this evening, wasn't it? I snapped this photo just in time. In the time it took me to change lenses to the telephoto, ithe pink in the clouds was gone.
Oh, and earlier today, Harley and I went to the grocery store. When we returned home, we found Kassie and Lexa in the yard picking dandelions. Kassie was wearing her pink princess bathing suit. Darling Lexa was wearing nothing but a Costco-sized Tostitos corn chip bag. I asked her if Daddy knew she was wearing an empty chip bag. She told me he did. I told her to get in the house and put her clothes back on.
Mommy: Are you aware that your youngest daughter is in the front yard wearing nothing but a Tostitos bag?
Daddy: Yeah.
Mommy: And you didn't see anything wrong with that?
Daddy: No, she's dressed.
Mommy: In a TOSTITOS BAG.
Daddy: She came in and said her bathing suit was wet and she had to take it off, but she wasn't allowed to be outside naked. So she grabbed the bag and put it on. Then she ran outside.
I so wish I had been able to get a picture of her wearing the bag.
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The girls enjoying Ranier cherries from the Renton Farmers Market.
Harley's new haircut.
Chace being a goof with his new haircut.
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Lexa's birthday was on the 19th. (Same day as Cousin Christopher.) Of course, we had to go to Build-a-Bear Workshop. Meet Princess Cupcake.
And here we have the cake and candles bit.
Unfortunately, these are not the best photos I have taken. I have been pretty sick for quite a while, and I am totally off these days. If you all were wondering, Lexa and Kassie had a little too much fun with the scissors one night after everyone else had fallen asleep. That is why she now sports that pixie haircut. I have photos of her mullet that she and Kassie had styled at first - I will have to post those later.
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So here is my cluttered desktop. Or rather, just a portion of it. I am cluttered person. I always have been. There was a day when I was okay with clutter. Nathan used to marvel at the fact that I knew where every single thing was in my piles of stuff. He never understood the fact that I would clean the dirt around my piles of stuff. Clutter was okay, but dirt wasn't.
These days, things are cluttered and dirty. People judge. They look down their noses at me for the lack of order and Suzy Homemaker goodness. But then they aren't the primary cleaning service for a family of 6. I plead and yell and scream and assign chores, but nobody listens. I just take it as a sign that I have inconsiderate family members. There are a few chores that I can manage to make people do consistently, but adding to this list has been difficult. I can only assume that they prefer living in chaos over lifting a hand to help out and pull their own weight.
So I try to look for beauty in even small things. Even little snapshots of chaos and disorder can show small glimmers of something nice. If I can't manage to find small bits of good here and there, then I would be left with a very unhappy existence.
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This is my not-so-girly-girl. She isn't as pink and frilly as Kassie. Lexa's favorite color is blue. But the child has a thing for art, scissors, style and shoes. Well, she has a thing for boots, actually. She is locally known as "the little girl with the boots". Her latest acquisition is a pair of hot pink cowboy boots.
Here she is modeling the boots at Aunt Anne's on Christmas Eve - the outfit is complete with chocolate smudge on face, Blue Bear, broom horse, cowboy hat and yellow hapi coat from Japan.
She promised me many times she wouldn't ever ever cut her hair again. Ever. At least this time she seems to have done a decent job of it.
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