http://www.blogger.com/html?blogID=1755139666841541603 about a dream: April 2010

Friday, April 30, 2010

i will say this here but not on facebook...

i think i might have the world's only (or else one of the world's very few) not-quite-2-year-olds who hums arias from Carmen as she falls asleep. too cute to be annoying!

how is it friday already?

what a fast week! i've been tired at night, so no blogging. and once i break the every-other-day pattern of posting--wham! a week goes by!

well, maggie's nap is over, that was quick! but while the girls are watching TV i'll give a quick week re-cap:

all i remember about tuesday is that nina had ballet, and we made tacos for dinner. the tacos were a huge hit, and both girls have asked for them every night since. so, we're having tacos again for dinner tonight!

wednesday: tap in the morning, then the botanical gardens in the afternoon. the tulips were in bloom. "look at the beautiful colors," i said to the girls. after that, every time we came upon a patch of tulips, maggie would exclaim "look at the beautiful colors!"

thursday: swimming at the Y in the afternoon. that's all i remember.

today: story hour, playing at bernadette's and next we're going for free mini golf and ice cream, courtesy of dolphin mini golf's first day open!

garden update tonight, stay tuned!

Monday, April 26, 2010




a garden update

the tomato seedlings are looking fantastic, and the pepper seedlings are finally getting their true leaves! oh miracle of miracles! i've been warming them up on top of the coffee maker in the morning and this seems to be helping them grow. because they're still not very big, maybe an inch tall, with seed leaves that are maybe just over an inch each. not very impressive! on the other hand, the orka are growing quickly. i have 3 orka seedlings now, one more unexpectedly sprouted this weekend. thrill of thrills!! they're looking good, just about to get their first true leaves too. also going on the windowsill are 2 hardy looking basil seedlings. that's a terrible germination rate, i think i planted 8 seeds. 2 more sprouted and then withered away. oh well, maybe this week i'll plant a bunch more. can't have too much basil! oh and one of my pumpkin seeds have sprouted, but i planted 7 so hopefully more are coming. the one that's through the soil is the one that was too close to the surface, so hopefully the others are sprouting below the soil and will pop up any minute now. aren't you just on the edge of your seat here?!

in the garden we have potatoes in the soil as i mentioned in the post below, peas of course (no sprouts yet) carrot sprouts (and more seeds sown today) true leaves on the spinach seedlings, and green beans that went into the ground today. it's not much to look at still, but things are a-growin'!

on the docket for later this week: transplanting the strawberries, starting to harden off the tomatoes (this is the process by which the seedlings gradually get used to being outside, so that they don't suffer from "transplant shock,") and sowing some turnips. also thinking of starting the watermelon and cantaloupe indoors this week, because i think they'll take too long to sprout outside. it's warm, but not THAT warm.

it's been a looooong time!

that darn cold lingered all of last week, and i kept going to bed early (except for the one night 30 rock and the office were all new!)

so, we had a very big weekend! our friends from NY arrived for a visit on friday night, and erik, isabelle, chester, craig, and elizabeth arrived after the girls had gone to bed. so much fun!

we tried our best to give the mascia's a taste of maine. first planted potatos in the garden, then we took them to ocean point, to throw rocks into the ocean (a hit with the mascia girls) and play in the little bit of sand they have there. then it was home for a lobster bake (complete with my homemade baked beans! i had made some last year, but i think these were even better than those. i put bacon in these. mmmm!))

saturday was fisherman's festival! we got up early (the kids are getting up at about 6:30 these days) and saw the lobster boat races and crate running, and drew on the street with chalk (that's new from the last time i was at fisherman's festival). then after naps, we all went to the stables on dover rd and fed the horses. that was a hit with all 4 girls! after that, we held some chick's at the moss's house. also a hit! finally, we ended a day with a BBQ and smores on the firepit. what a maine kind of day!!

on sunday, we were all too pooped to get out, so the kids played in and around the house until the mascia's took off at around noon. we did take one walk down to the dock, but that was as adventurous as we got.

what a fabulous weekend!!!!!!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

had colds lately

so, early bed for this mommy and no posting. starting to feel better tho i think, hopefully the worst of it has passed. it started w/ maggie, a sore throat and runny nose (which for maggie means a ton of snot-i mean, mucous-draining for hours a day). then it went to me and nina. so far nick has seemed to fight it off successfully.

still, we weren't totally incapacitated. on saturday we went to healthy kids day at the Y where they had bounce houses. fun fun fun! maggie and nina did some non-stop bouncing!

well i've spent all morning trying to write this out, in between wiping snotty noses and trying to figure out what's going on with maggie's frequent crying. maybe we're not as mended as i was hoping. :-(

Friday, April 16, 2010

happy birthday grandpa!


here is the cake the girls and i made for him. it's a banana cake (tastes just like banana bread, even though i followed a recipe titled "banana cake") with cream cheese frosting. it's in the shape of the Earth, which was nina's idea.

i know you've all been waiting to see my seedlings!

so here they are!

here are the strawberries, waiting until after last frost to go into the strawberry patch


a fraction of my tomato seedlings

a beautiful little tomato seedling up close. the long, thin leaves are called "seed leaves," and emerged first. the tomato-plant-shaped leaves are called "true leaves," and sprouted about a week or 2 later

a pepper seedling. no true leaves yet!

all my little pepper seedlings.

i am so proud of nina

today nina's friend nora's mom called, to make some plans to get together and to tell me about something that nora told her. nina and nora have dance class together on tuesdays, and apparently nora had a big fall at class this week. she told her mom that all of the girls laughed at her, except for nina, and nina told the other girls to stop laughing (and they did). this made nora very happy.
what a sweet girl i have! she and nora are such good friends, it makes me so happy. i'm such a lucky mom to have her!

in other news, maggie has a bit of a cold today and was extra cranky and clingy. i'm sure she'll be nursing half the night (unless i can remember to bring the tylenol upstairs before bed and give it to her the first time she wakes up.) i'm pretty sure she has a sore throat (i do), so i'm certain a midnight dose of tylenol will help her get through the second half of the night. i'd have given her some before bed, but she always sleeps so well for the first 4 hours, so i was thinking the tylenol would wear off before she woke up, so it'd kind of be a waste.

tomorrow is healthy kids day at the YMCA, should be some bounce houses there. the girls are so excited!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

maggie was a real trip today!

painting on the windows, knocking stuff over, running off in the opposite direction, throwing herself on the floor in tantrums... i have a feeling the terrible 2s are just beginning.

today, after she threw a box of crayons and markers to the floor, nick told her to pick them up. "no," she responded sweetly and quietly. "i don't want to." nina heard her and laughed, and i heard her, but nick was across the room and didn't hear.

nina on the other hand was a total dear. i mean, she always is, but nina just being her regular self appeared totally angelic today next to maggie. the little margarete was tired though ("I'M TIRED," she wailed at dinner time, upset because nick wanted her to go to the bathroom). she's also FINALLY getting in the last of her teeth. three canines are through and the fourth is just under the gum. still no sign of her right lateral incisor though. like a pepper seedling, i am giving up on it. HA!

speaking of peppers, i have 11 sprouts! can you believe it? i never thought it was going to happen. i'm so happy!

oh, and today, we went by the mosses to see their eggs because they were hatching, and we got there and what was in the incubator but a newly hatched chick! 4 other eggs were in the process of hatching. it was so cool. they're fostering the eggs/chicks, not keeping them. they belong to that family on dover that sells eggs. they lent the eggs to the mosses so the children could witness the miracle of birth. so today i posted one of those cryptic facebook status updates that people do, and wrote something about the miracle of life. no one has asked what i am talking about though, can you believe it?

well i'll let you know if there are any more chicks in the morning. i'm sure there will be!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

wow these kids are exhausting!

we went to ocean point today and stayed for close to 2 hours, digging in the little sand that is left after all those storms, throwing stones into the ocean, collecting shells, and climbing on the rocks. then a quick trip to shop n' save (i mean, hannaford!) and some more playing outside before dinner. the girls were up early again (maggie 6:30 or maybe earlier, i don't really look at the clock when it's early... just close my eyes and try to trick her into going back to sleep. never works), and nina up before 7. so, you'd think they'd be tired by 7:30, but noooooooo. it was almost 9 by the time both girls were out. what's up with that? if they're going to wake up before 7, they should go to bed early! and it's not like they weren't tired... maggie was a maniac in the bath, climbing in and out, screaming and splashing. she wouldn't even let me dry her off when she got out, just screamed and ran off dripping wet. 10 minutes later she was still running around, heading who knows where, slipped, hit her head on the toilet, started crying (totally naked still by the way), and THEN started peeing on me! insanity. i think they're getting thrown off by the early sunrise/late sunset.

good thing they're so cute!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

4 pepper sprouts

and i re-potted my tomato seedlings too. i have... mmm... i think it's about 31 tomato seedlings. i don't feel like getting up to count, but it's something like that. so i made a guest list for maggie's party, and there are 14 kids we're inviting, so that'll take care of half the seedlings. i was planning on planting maybe 6 tomato plants and giving about 6 to mom, so that pretty much takes care of all of them. not as overwhelming as it seems, i just have to tend to the lot of them until maggie's party.

i think the spinach is sprouting too. quite a few little green things are sprouting, but at this point i have no idea what a weed looks like and what spinach looks like, so i'm trying to take care of all of it until i figure out the difference.

what else... today we took the girls to fort edgecomb, and it was nice, but SO windy! there had to be 40 mph winds coming off the ocean. nina could barely walk! it was impossible to stay, so we went to shaws. then we played outside. not really that big a day, but for some reason it was totally exhausting! maybe because maggie was up before 6 this morning.

Friday, April 9, 2010

the peppers are sprouting! the peppers are sprouting!

wow, i am so happy! so is nick, who's been sick of me agonizing over my little babies. just 2 so far, but i'm hopeful more will come up over the next few days. but even if they don't, that's ok! 2 pepper plants are better than none! woo hoo!!!

in other news, we had a movie night tonight at grandma and grandpa's and watch wall E. it was so cute! or, as maggie put it, "it was a great movie!" i love that she loves movies. nina had been looking forward to this all week. the parents' setup is perfect for movies, and they always have popcorn. who needs the theater! the girls wanted to be in their PJs for the movie too, so we brought them over so they could change after dinner. mom even found a pair of my old PJs at the house. comfy and fun!

now for a cute anecdote: nina's been talking a lot about her birthday lately. so we were doing some party planning in the car (current idea is a pool party at grandma and grandpa's), and she said "and we'll get a present for maggie too, so she has something to open." what a sweet and considerate little girl! she even said maggie could help her blow out her candles, which you know is HUGE for nina. she is obsessed with blowing out candles and has never, ever, ever wanted anyone to help her. she doesn't like that other people get to blow out their own candles! she's such a wonderful big sister.

and a maggie one: we were swimming at the Y yesterday, playing with a noodle (long, thin, spaghetti-like floaty that is hollow in the middle). the kids like to blow the water out of the tubes, it makes kind of like a water gun. or fountain. well anyway, maggie was playing with it while we were in the pool, standing next to the wall, but i wasn't really paying attention to what she was doing. so after a few minutes i look down and i see her trying to put one end of the noodle up against the pool's jets. she was trying to hold the other end of the noodle with her other hand. i watched her for a few seconds and realized that she was trying to hold the noodle against the jet to get the water to come out the other end of the noodle! brilliant! i held it up against the jet for her (she wasn't strong enough to do it, i had to hold it pretty firmly), and let her hold the other end with the water spraying out. she's so analytical!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

another crazy beautiful day!

low 70s, slight breeze, sunny... perfect! we were outside most of the day and the girls were passed out by 8 pm.

yesterday we were out on the swingset after dinner because it was so mild, and i was pushing maggie on her little swing. she pointed up to the sky and said "there's outer space." nina had been saying that earlier, but still. she really gets it. she's really into space, planets, and astronauts. what kind of 1 year old is into anything but elmo? maggie, that's who! her other big fixation is animals, especially horses and dogs.

nina's still more into anatomy than space, but she likes space too. a few weeks ago she was looking through her anatomy book with nick and pointed out a picture of MRSA. nick told me about it afterwards. how the heck does she know about MRSA? i guess i read to her about, i just don't remember. she's reading, but not well enough to have read that book herself--it's written at a high school level.

of course, most of the time they're not doing these brilliant little things; they're either singing at the top of their lungs, screeching in octaves that i didn't know existed, or making one huge mess after another. or all three at once! oh plus jumping off the furniture and running around in circles like little maniacs. ah children!

Monday, April 5, 2010

and a garden update


how the tomato seeds got their start


and how the pepper seeds started. and remained.


the tomato seedlings are doing wonderfully. i have too many, so i gave a bunch to yvonne and renee. hopefully they'll get some tomatoes, i'll be following the situation in NY closely of course.

at home i have 35 little tomato seedlings. hm... more successful than i was expecting! i'll pass a bunch along to mom and dad, and anyone else who will take them. everyone loves tomato plants, right? maybe i'll give them out as party favors at maggie's birthday party. hmm, that's a good idea! i can do a farm-themed party, and give out tomato plants as favors! she LOVES LOVES LOVES farms and animals, so that'll be perfect. problem solved then!

still no word from the pepper seeds. i'm trying not to lose hope, but i am. when did i add the second pepper seeds? was it just a week ago? i guess that's not enough time to be losing hope. still, i'm not getting a good feeling.

on thursday, we started nastruim seeds indoors (those are edible flowers), and spinach seeds directly into the garden. i think i have one spinach seedling up already! gives me a good feeling about the spinach. i sowed a bunch too, so with any luck we'll have a whole bunch of spinach to eat soon!

then today, i got 10 strawberry plants form the greenhouse. they're just little bunches of roots with almost no stem (strawberry plants reproduce more by sprouting offshoots than by seeds, so you just buy these offshoots. they're called runners. i'm learnign so much). we put them in pots with soil and water, and they'll be big enough to transport into the berry patch in mid may probably. hopefully we'll get lots of strawberries!!

carrots are going into the garden tomorrow. i think the girls are having almost as much fun with this as i am. they're especially into the digging into the dirt and the watering part. pictures as soon as i get up the energy!

what a fun weekend!!

i didn't have time to post over the weekend, so i'll fill you all in now, starting with friday.

we packed up friday morning and were ready to hit the road for boston by 9. ok maybe 9:30, memory fails me already. i think we left at about 10. :-) it was smooth sailing to kennebunk. the girls kept each other in stitches; screeching loudly and pretending to poop and pee in their seats were their favorites. they were hysterical.
we stopped for lunch in kennebunkport and who arrived as we were finishing but grandma and grandpa! how exciting! we got some ice cream for the road and were on our way.
maggie didn't take a nap (what's new), and got testy by the time we were in MA. we had to stop so i could nurse her because she got pretty upset there for a while. but after a nice relaxing nurse and pee in a shady parking lot, we were back on our way (we brought the little potty with us and had maggie in a diaper just in case, but she didn't need it).

then we got to boston! the girls were thrilled to see chester and uncle erik (isabelle wasn't home from work yet when we got there). grandma and grandpa had beat us there by about 10 minutes. nick and i took the opportunity to dash off to costco to pick up a few things, and the girls barely noticed we were gone.

while we were out, henry and marilyn arrived with the girls!! such fun! the kids had a great time playing together, and the adults had fun catching up. craig and elizabeth even came by. finally, everyone was in bed late. such a fun start to our weekend.

saturday:

in spite of a late bedtime, we were up at our usual 7 (we being maggie, i could have slept until noon!). more fun in the morning, mostly running around inside and out and playing with chester). also a surprise visit from cousin jessica! she was in boston visiting her old friend maria, and stopped by to say hello.
after lunch, we took a hike up to the top of blue hill to this observatory.

view from the top

it was so cool! it was quite the walk, too. hm, i'm going to guess that it was something like 1.5 miles, and maybe a 500 foot elevation? maggie walked most of herself (and only let us carry her when we insisted, because she was kind of slow going on the rocky parts).


maggie walking

nina did all of it herself, mostly running back and forth! the kid has an unlimited amount of energy. it's unbelievable.


some of the group

maggie and i didn't make it to the top though. we were about 10 minutes from it, but maggie just decided that she wanted to go down, and we were realizing that if she and i didn't get a head start, it might take us quite a while to get back down, because the trail was really rough and rocky. and it did, until we intersected the paved street. maggie started running down that and i decided to go with it and hope the way back to the parking lot was clearly marked. it wasn't, but i waited at the fork for a few minutes until people came along so i could ask.
there were also animals at this place. there was a deer, a pen of otters, an owl, and some ducks and geese. the girls could have stayed for hours more but the grown ups were EXHAUSTED! so home we went.
home for grandpa's birthday party! there was BBQ, pie, presents, and more merriment. my old friend from college tom sullivan even came by! it was so fun to catch up with him. when it got dark, we lit a small campfire (renee had been obsessed with making a fire, so we had to!). the girls toasted marshmellows and again went to bed way past their usual bedtime. mommy passed out soon afterwards!

sunday:
can you believe there's more? really, it was a super fun weekend, but crazy tiring. i'm tired just typing it all out!!
well, sunday started with breakfast and an easter egg hunt. uncle erik hid eggs and the girls raced to find them, then gorged themselves on easter candy.

maggie finding an egg



nina's turn!

next was a trip to the playground in sharon, and then a fantastic easter lunch at the homestead.
our crew hit the road at 4. maggie hadn't napped yet, so we were figuring she'd pass right out in the car. she didn't fall asleep immediately, but both girls fell asleep after about 45 minutes and then slept for 2 hours. they had a lot of sleep to catch up on! we stopped in brunswick right when they woke up, got some food to eat in the car, and were home just before 8. after a nice long bath, the girls were finally asleep by 10. and up at 7:30 this morning, of course!

such a fun weekend!!!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

they are sending a camera crew to come film us!!

the woman who did the phone interview with us thought we were fun and funny and would be great for the show! so they will send a camera crew to come film us!! she is going to call when they get their schedule straightened out, i think end of next week at the latest. and she said they will probably want to come out the week after that. so, soon!

this still doesn't mean we're going to be on the show though. she said seinfeld will decide that after he sees the edited tape, but she said we'd get a phone call if we're going to be on the show. she said it'd be about two weeks from the filming that they'd decide. so i guess we'll know for sure within a month!

she did say that the couples who get on the show are the ones who can bicker without laughing. so i'll have to get genuinely annoyed with nick first... maybe i'll have him make me breakfast that morning. haha!

i swear this is not an april fool's joke

i didn't mention this on the blog, but after watching last week's 'the marriage ref' (oma, it's a new show here where jerry seinfeld and 2 celebrity guests hear out a couple's ongoing argument and decide who's right. it's really funny), nick and i decided to try to get on. they gave away vacations to the couples who were on the show, that was our big inspiration. so, i emailed and told them about how we have this ongoing quabble about whether the girls and i can wear my homemade clothes outside of the house, and how nick doesn't like them because i make them out of old things from around the house, like his old t-shirts and old sheets.

well, we got a call last night from someone from the show! we're not definitely going to be on, but they want to talk to us more. so the next step is that nick and i are going to talk on the phone tonight at 6 with the woman from the show, and she wants to hear our argument. i figure i'll have to make nick wait for his dinner, because if he's hungry he'll be in a better frame of mind to bicker.

then, if we pass that round, the camera crews will come to our house and film us! but that still doesn't mean we'd be on the show--jerry seinfeld picks from the filmed people who's going to be on the show.

so, we'll see. it's a little silly, but we'd do it. it'd be fun! and besides for the vacation (second honeymoon the woman called it) there's a $1,500 stipend for being on the show. so it's kind of all for nothing if we aren't on the show, but worth it if we do. i'll keep you posted!