Maizie Jane got her snow wish!

We received some crazy snow/ice/freezing rain/slush this past week in Western Washington. It was especially exciting to receive 10-12 inches on the coast. MJ was excited to watch the snow falling over the town and to go sledding.

Today, it is nearly gone. Still, MJ has been wearing her helmet and pretending to sled inside with her toys.

Yours 'til the kitchen sinks,
Darci

Merry Third Day of Christmas

You better not pout...

May your days be merry and bright!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Yours 'til the kitchen sinks, 

Darci and Maizie Jane

Hello! I just wanted to share the following link with you:
http://www.danoah.com/2011/11/im-christian-unless-youre-gay.html
It's was written by Dan of SDL(Single Dad Laughing) and it is an amazing post. Please take some time to visit his blog and read this wonderful piece.

Until the Kitchen Sinks,
Darci and MJ

I fall for Autumn

MJ is convinced that it will snow if she wears her snowsuit.

Wow, our summer certainly went by quickly. Here in the Pacific Northwest we had a cool and damp summer. Only a few days of true summer. As of July, Seattle had a combined total of 83 minutes of summer weather. Now it is Autumn and a truly lovely one here in the coast. MJ and I had so much fun this summer and early fall. Rather than try to write about everything we did, I decided to jump in where we are now and then fill in the rest of the summer little by little.

Preschool Portrait
(sorry for the poor quality-this is a mobile phone pic of the original)

In September, Moosie Joon started toddler(and parent preschool) one day a week. It is a welcome two hours every Thursday. The preschool occupies the same space where my preschool did back in the day and it is the same school my sister, Auntie SeSe, attended. Our preschool job is "pet coordinator." Which is a fancy way of saying we are in charge of cleaning the goldfish tank.

MJ was all set to be Boo from Monsters Inc. in the monster costume. My mom and I spent the last few months designing the costume and the month before Halloween sewing the costume. The night before her preschool costume party, she announced, "Snow White Halloween!" Translation: I want to be Snow White for Halloween. As luck would have it, she already owned a Snow White costume c/o Nana and PopPop. It was an easy switch-a-roo and the Boo costume can be worn next year.

In my dream parent fantasy, Halloween is all about costumes, decorations, and traditions. By which I mean, Halloween is not all about candy! But, that was in my dream fantasy. MJ must have learned Halloween=Candy by osmosis. Because I did not mention candy one time and she figured it out. She ran around the weekend before and on Halloween screaming, "Snow White Halloween CANDY! Scary Ghost. CANDY!" She went trick or treating twice - at a shopping center on Saturday and around the neighborhood on Halloween. And got a lot of candy. So I did what every parent with good intentions would do. I let her choose a few treats and then swapped out the rest of candy for slightly better sweets. Reese's Peanut Butter cups, snickers, blow pops, tootsie pops, and smarties replaced with organic raisins, Annie's bunny fruit snacks, and all natural organic fruit juice flavored lollipops.

Maizie Jane was pretty happy to find the new treats when she woke up.

Yours til the kitchen sinks,

Darci

Hazy, not so lazy summer days with Amazing Maizie Jane

This is my first summer off of school and/or working since I was twelve. 

The title of this post sums it all up. All summer long will be fraught with mindful activities with my dear daughter, Maizie Jane. Her nickname is MJ and she is the love of my life. We will be running our first 5K on Monday-the Yankee Doodle Dash! Well, I will be running and she will be pushed in a stroller. This is our first adventure goal of the summer. It has been very cold this spring and summer in the Northwest and good weather is expected this weekend through the fourth.

Below are photos of our trip to Friends' Landing on Tuesday. Experiencing and exploring our county-great way to take mini vacations on a budget. We traveled around the lake trail twice-once each direction just for fun. We learned about local flora and fauna. MJ learned to say "nurse log" and could not stop showing me all of the trees. Then we explored at all three of the play areas. It was a mild and windy day and it was perfect! 

            

                             

A grand time was had by all! We can't wait for the rain to let up so that we can do it again. The sunshine is on its way.

Yours til the kitchen sinks, 

Darci

Please note: this is my first time writing a blog. I am nowhere near a great writer or photographer-challenging myself. 

I finally made a blog.

That is all.