the first peek inside

the house is slowly coming together on the inside so here is the first glimpse and currently my favorite spot as it is always full of activity. I have to go finish sewing fifteen napkins for Emmit's classroom for tomorrow!!!!

Dennis's Montage

Check out Dennis's blog for more on his montaging! A great way to represent a morning at the beach which is by the way 3/10 of a mile from our house. Oh and that is beautiful Mt. Baker in the distance.

Little House On The Island

this photo is dedicated to our fellow Little House friends and they know who they are. Dennis took this in Wall, South Dakota during a little ice cold water break. We discovered the Little House books on CD at the library in Buffalo and Emmit fell deeply in love with the story and characters although I can tell he struggles a bit in trying to figure out which character he should pretend to be. Almonzo doesn't really become a central character until later and those books are a bit old for him still. It brings back so many memories of playing Little House with my sisters and we had the complete authentic costumes that my mom made each of us.

this afternoon

not only do I love these photos but the soundtrack was "Happy Birthday dear Mama" and I was presented with such lovely cakes and muffins. I love how Emmit lined all the jewels and rocks up and then he told me the flavors of each, "this one is marshmallow and this one is chocolate and this one is desserty"

I love the boot and nothing else style that Asher is sporting. They are in heaven out in the yard and it is so easy to parent when you have this kind of space and freedom. I am saving them future embarassement by not documenting their love of peeing on every bush and blade of grass side by side and in unison.
come visit, our life is quite tough these days.

the two of them created this together and played with it so beautifully and I was the one most sad when everything got dumped off so that they could use the container for a boat or a pool or something filled with water.
since Emmit was born, we have always ended the kids day with a bath and now it is really needed to soak all the dirt, slug slime, pitch, and worms from their bodies. Emmit is all of a sudden so fearless about getting his face completely underwater and was being awfully cute with the bubbles tonight. As the camera started snapping, Asher pounded his chest and demanded that we not forget to focus the lens on him too. We are waiting for curtains hence the sheets covering the windows which stare straight into the houses of the sheriff and a firefighters homes.

Asher takes you on a tour around our "house"

once we have things spruced up and more unpacked we will give you a peek inside too. I have never lived in a "manufactured home" or as I like to call it "a plastic house". I would never buy one nor would I choose to live in one if there were other options and maybe come fall there will be other options. On the inside it looks much nicer and has vaulted ceilings, lots of windows and looks quite new and house like except when door knobs fall off and the counter top slices your hand because it isn't attached properly. I feel like I have to offer all these explanations because looking at the outside makes me cringe at its boring and asthetically devoid character. The yard though makes up for it and we haven't even spent anytime in the backyard where we plan on putting in our garden or at least a salad garden as it is getting late in the season and the house is on the market so we don't want to put too much into it at this point. It is 4 bedrooms and almost 2000 sq. feet. We can't hear each other from one end to the other and often lose each other. There is an enormous tub in the master bathroom too. There are so many nooks of child delight in the front yard and the kids are only just beginning to discover them. Everywhere they find jewels and polished rocks so it is a truly magical yard to them and to us watching them so lost in their play.

two days alone with Asher

it is amazing how quiet life becomes with one child....

breathing so easily

The house is slowly coming together and we are unpacking things that have been unseen for three years so it is both exciting and also cleansing as we realize yet again that we have moved a great deal that we are now getting rid of. We are all truly in heaven here and finding our niches. It was just a week ago tonight that Asher and I arrived on an 8:45pm ferry, walked through the dark to my Mom's yurt at 10pm, and spent our first night since Jan. here on Orcas. Dennis and Emmit arrived the next day on a morning ferry and then it has been unpacking and organizing ever since. I did my first big bulk order (huge savings when you by things by the 5-25lbs) and our second batch of bread is in progress right now. I need to try the 5 minutes a day recipe but am currently still using the no knead recipe. I was invited to a women's tea on Thurs. and it seems it will be the first of potentially a weekly or every other week gathering. This is an island of community builders so I am arriving and enjoying what others create instead of arriving and creating. We had two days alone with Asher while Emmit spent time on the mountain with my Mom and App. We picked him up this morning with lots of pine needles in his hair, dirt under his toenails and fingernails and a look of tired contentment on his face. Saturday is farmers market day so we went and the crowds were huge due to the holiday traffic. Once I find the cord for the camera I will put up some pictures that many of you are hounding for. I don't know whether we will be here for a year or ten or forever but for now we are so happy that we made this amazing choice for our family. I love that the kids can play outside unsupervised (not counting the glances out the windows) and that everywhere we look is so beautiful. We don't miss our TV at all although we do watch a few things online once the networks have posted them. We hardly spend anytime in front of the computer at all because so much else is calling to us and that is just what we had hoped for. Tonight we are having carmelized local prawns from the Breakaway Chef cookbook (or some title like that) and cooking amazing locally harvested/grown meals is a big priority for us. Asher is trying out sleeping in the toddler bed and made our day by waiting until 5:30am to poop this morning! Tonight we are going to start work on our garden with Emmit who gets to stay up a little later since he is taking a nap. I am excited to grow a bean teepee/for for the kids and various other creative gardening with kids projects. It looks like it will be a wonderful summer of visitors and we can't wait. Work and school begins next week and I am thrilled that Salmonberry is totally going forward with transitioning the early childhood program to a Waldorf inspired one. My beloved mentor Janet Jewell will be coming for five weeks this summer to teach and work with the school. There is so much more to say but the sun is shining and there isn't much of nap time left so I am off to enjoy it! Jesica

morning walk with Asher at 5 a.m.

you have to love a morning pooper at 4:30!!!! We took a nice walk down the same walking path but this time to the beach and along the way we met some snails and slugs and smell some flowers. I promise some photos of the house and Emmit soon and more details on our new life. All I can say is we are so happy and in love with being here that are so busy doing with little time to write about it.

waiting for Papa to arrive on the ferry

Dennis had to return the moving truck today which was an all day ordeal requiring driving the moving truck onto the ferry, taking a taxi back to the ferry terminal, another ferry then a car ride home. The kids loved watching for it to arrive though.

we have arrived

Farewell to Friends

Goodbye Science Spot

Going to the Science Spot, a little spot of heaven for the curious youngster run by our now quite dear friend Jaimee, has been part of our weekly Sat. morning routine for a long time now. There are always the regular die harders there each week, the sharing of snacks, feeding the fish, squealing at the salamanders and frogs and an ever changing assortment of scientific hands on activities. Niels, our favorite volunteer was there too and it was one of those mornings that could have lasted much longer if the aggravated call for lunch and nap hadn't put a damper on the adult chatter. There was even a little excitement as one of the salamanders went missing, but later was found safe and sound. All the dishes and pots and pans are now packed to eating is getting rather quick and easy. Tomorrow it is our goodbye time at St. James and then Monday will be load it in and head on down the road. Emmit is saying goodbye to the toy store right now with Papa. I realized today that I haven't used wipes in forever since Asher is pot training like crazy and waking up each morning to the sweet sounds "Mama potty, Mama poop". I am just keeping the diapers on until we get to Orcas to make the drive a bit more dry and possible.

Goodbye Grandmama Shui's Seahorse

A little something we left behind in her honor. We spent most of our day today at St. James Playground with friends.

the emotional part of moving

I have moved a lot both before meeting Dennis and then another 7 houses and 5 states since meeting him. A couple years ago I tried to count how many houses I had lived in and I think at that point it was around 25. I can't remember if I counted dorm rooms from college and boarding school into that either. So the fact that we have lived in this 650 square foot apartment and had the same address for just shy of three years is a personal record. I haven't had the same address since I lived with my Mom at age 14 or 15. It is Thurs. evening and we load up the moving truck on Monday morning and start driving West. We all feel like we are going home and are of course so excited but we are also feeling sadness as we say goodbye to friends. Today we said goodbye to some really close friends at our weekly Waldorf Parent/Tot (see photos from earlier today) and Emmit's friend Clare took it hard and her emotions really reminded me of what we are leaving. Despite the snow, Dennis's job from hell (I think I can safely write that here now since he has officially resigned and finished the year. Oh and the job from hell has nothing to do with his students who he really enjoyed), being so far from family..... our friends here both native Buffalonians and transplants have been amazing. I know that some we will lose touch with naturally but there are quite a few that I know are our friends for life. These friends have quite literally become our family here and I have watched their children go from babies to kids. Tomorrow is our last Friday morning of handwork, Sat. is our last morning at the Science Spot with Jaimee and then Sunday morning we will play one last time at our beloved St. James Playground and say our last last last goodbye to most of our friends. So even though dear friends, I seem beside myself with happiness at leaving and you always knew we would be leaving, I am so sad to be leaving all of you. On a brighter note, we were finally able to reach an agreement with our rental house last minute nightmare so we once again have a place to live!

May Day Celebration and last day for us at Waldorf Parent/Tot in Buffalo

Josie and Dallan's hummingbird's

Josie has been updating me on the hummingbird and her nest outside their window and now there are little tiny babies!!!!! I remember watching a hummingbird and her nest outside a window at Fairhaven College. Five days until departure, housing on Orcas still up in the air and stressful, wonderful goodbye dinner with girlfriends last night, and we are all just ready to be there and be done with living amidst towers of boxes.

quoting Emmit

"Mama, I have a really bad pain in my side just like you did. It really really hurts"
(me responding with serious concern since I just had a weird mysterious swelling of lymph nodes that caused tremendous pain in my joints and leg that never resulted in any diagnosis and seems to be resolving itself slowly and for a moment thinking he might have developed it too)
"Mama, you don't have to look at it. There is a painful bump just like you had but it only hurts when I don't eat ice cream. If I eat ice cream then it disappears and doesn't hurt at all but if I don't eat ice cream then it really hurts"

not our typical day....

We are busy doing things for the very last time and today we decided to have a day of firsts. We went and did things in Buffalo we had never done before like for instance wander through PetSmart and oogle and the caged animals and pet parephanalia. We thought it would be fun to let Emmit plan our day which meant that we would be having ice cream and not getting in the car at all. Those were his primary demands. We intended to walk to the zoo and run a few errands along the walk but the weather was miserably cold (by my standards) and when we passed a movie theater with Horton Hears a Who, Dennis and I looked at each other and did the unexpected. Emmit laughed hilariously throughout the movie and Asher squirmed and nursed like a newborn since I was willing to do anything to keep him still and quiet. The only real regret was all the horribly violent cartoon previews that they showed first. Lesson to self, if I ever take my kids to see a movie again, we will arrive just as the movie is starting. Oh and we also wandered through two hardware stores and one car part store. The kids were in 7th heaven seeing all the tools and stuff. And after a healthy and hearty dinner there was some ice cream and now that they are tucked into bed there is a berry/rhubarb pie baking in the oven for a late night treat for us and breakfast for the morning. Tomorrow marks the "one week until we move" mark.

Buffalo Rising and Princesses

This morning Emmit was laying in our bed and began whining about not having enough room in the bed to spread out. At one point, I jokingly said "Emmit, you are sure a princess," at which point Emmit looked at me straight faced and said "I am not a princess papa, I am a Queen!"

Emmit and Asher in an article about the Waldorf program developing in Buffalo.

The constant monologue I live with

It has been awhile since I sat and wrote word for word glimpses of Emmit and his on going monologue. I absolutely love listening to him and it is often hard not to laugh out loud. Sometimes he talks in different voices which I try to insinuate by the quotations. Even as I write now he is going on and on without pause. Enjoy!



"we don't need a dolly but my students said we need a dolly because we are moving"
When you are in the water you have to fold the tables down and we have a special bag where we keep our special supplies. We have the same thing you do. What did you get from the garage sale? Me and my students have it but it is really big. It is really big. I could get it inside. Why can't I get this inside. My students are like, "what?". Me and my students can get our boat down to the beach and we can swim. Me and my students might bring our boat down and we are going to sail our boat down to the other dock. Me and my students are going to take our boat down and take you swimming and if you go to the other side and there is a campsite. There is a campsite. A huge campsite and that is where Ben and Nate live. You will see a huge fire tower. A fire tower, an airplane that works, an airplane that works on the other side. On the other side the airplane works. It works. It works. There is all this equipment for airplanes and stuff. Isn't that amazing? It still works and you can touch it. They have everything set up because it is for fun to play with. It is fun to play with. The airplane still works and I can fly it. I see something flying around. An ant? A fly? Probably some dirt....So we still have a huge boat. How big is it? It is bigger then this house. Can you imagine how big that would be? We have a bag on our boat for all our nature stuff. It is a really special bag full of pine cones, acorns, little tiny bird nests. A lot of birds visit our nature table and I say, "oh that is fun"......When the tide comes in we can bring the boat in and that boat we can sail in. "Mama, there is a little porch, a little doggy bed for Asher. We don't have a dog but it is a doggy bed that Asher can't get out of. A little doggy crib". It is like a little fun bed that I could fit in. I would be comfortable in. I could sleep in it to. We could have it like a bunk bed. A bunk bed, that would be cool. You could switch it up to its legs and it could be a bridge and that would be amazing and it could turn into a ladder and then you turn it into a really long bridge and then at night you can turn it into a bed. That would be amazing. During the day it is a bridge and you can walk on it all the way to the kitchen. You can do dancing. I don't know about that. "Students, what are you talking about, what are we doing, I was climbing over the bridge into the kitchen, I didn't know what I was going to do. I went to bed without telling my students" What are we going to do tonight, clean up the whole boat? So me and my students took a long nap and cleaned up the boat all night and we vaccumed the boat and wiped down the walls and the windows and it is all shiny. We cleaned the toilet, the bedrooms and we vaccumed. It was so messy. You take your shoes off. You take your shoes off on the boat. Is that fun? Hundreds of papers that you could probably.....

OK it truly never ends and he goes from one topic to another and intermixes things around him in his story, interactive conversation, pieces of conversations he has heard and completely his own little world of imaginary world with his students.

Happy May Day

Every once in awhile, no matter how hard I try to be gender neutral in my thinking, I become strongly aware that I am the only female in my home (see spoon photo). There are even more boxes packed now and I think we are at 11 more days until departure. It has gotten cold again so luckily for Emmit, he can wear the new hat I just knit.