"while you were out"

When the cat's away, the mouse will play! T took the kiddos on a weekend getaway to a friends, so that meant that i had to surprise her with some home improvement.



behold the new garage door!

and the new shutters (not to be used to shut anything...for decorative use only!)



iT might be hard to tell from the pictures. but they along with the door are a kind of dark cranberry/purple color

here are some before and afters





so instead of our garage door looking like a milk chocolate hersheys bar, it now looks like a dark chocolate hersheys bar.

you will notice our yard is full of tiny rocks. yes, we are far from finished but at least its no longer just weed blanket. im sure the neighbors were like, "finally!"

My one raised bed is now complete, i will be making two more for the front. next month.

its starting to come along! you can see in the one picture where we are going to outline a half moon section with rock and plant some flowering plants and shrubs and put down some mulch. I did have it as a contained circle but now im taking it all the way to the curb. we will put a bird bath in the center of that too.






our little rosemary xmas tree is starting to bloom

RIP BOB 1/07-03/10

I came home today to the sad news, our beta fish named Bob had died. T told me the news and then asked me how we should tell AK. I thought for a minute. This was one of those make or break parenting moments. we would have to consult the google before moving forward on this one for sure. I glanced at the tank for a bit and saw bob's body hidden behind some greenery in the tank. It was so sad. I said, "well lets get rid of the body and then tell him about it."

T refuted that It was important for AK to see the body as well as be part of the process of saying goodbye. Of course, that made sense. So I put it on the backburner of my mind and made dinner. Bob had not been looking good for about a month. i thought he was dead before....he had been swimming sideways lately, near the surface and he hardly moved. I knew that the time was coming.

After dinner i had forgotten about Bob and walked over to feed him. Ak came over to help and thats when i remembered and thought, "oh....oh well....here we go, google or no google"

I talked with ak and told him what had happened. he seemed to take it so lightly. even though he knew bob was gone. we went to go flush him down the toilet and thats where T said, "lets say a prayer". as AK looked into the plastic cup we scooped him out of the tank in...T said a few words of thanks for the joy that Bob brought into our lives. AK was silent. I then asked AK if he had any prayers and he replied with , "amen". i said, "i would like a moment of silence to think in my head about bob." Ak agreed. As ak looked at bob in the cup he proclaimed, "i dont like bob! he swims too slow i want to go back to the pet store and get a snake!" T couldnt contain herself and began to laugh, but she covered it up by pretending to sneeze. I didnt say anything. At that moment i put him into the toilet and flushed it. As he twirled around i said, "say good bye to bob" and as bob was flushed away i realized that i had made a mistake. AK began to cry. i comforted him for a while and then mama took a turn. I thought back...i should have told Ak what was about to happen. that i was going to put him in the toilet, and that i was going to flush it, and that we would be saying goodbye, never to see him again. But i totally skipped that part. Things were ok after a good long cry and he was playing paddle ball with mama after a bit.



Later, AK changed his mind on the snake and came to me saying, "next time lets get a bigger fish and a bigger tank and lets buy a fish that won't die!"

In other family news....ak and mak are into music as much as ever. we try to frequent musical activities. here are some pics of us watching the djembabes at central market.
















Mak pulled herself up for the first time today. she has been saying mama lately as well.






she is quite the giggler and she loves to hang out and have a good time. i love coming home to her smiles and giggles and cant help but scoop her up and kiss her all over!