well, pretty much i'm the most luckiest person in the whole world.

my little guy is officially in first grade.  it was an interesting year, with some challenges, but in the end he kicked kindergarten's butt and is such a smart, sensitive, and inquisitive boy.

gray is officially in fourth grade (!?!?!?!).  she ended the year with straight A's (again) and just made the tournament team for softball for our town.  not that i'm bragging.  ok, i'm bragging.  (the bragging balances out the bitching i do during all the late night/very very buggy practices i have to sit through many, many nights of the week, and keep lulu up 2 hours past her bedtime for)

summer vacation is in full effect.  (and by full effect i mean today was day 2).  it's different, and harder, being with all three all day long.  i am so blessed to be able to do it, so i won't complain.  but if i were to complain, i would say GIVE ME SOME FREAKIN' WINE BECAUSE TODAY WAS THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR AND I'M READY FOR BED AND IT'S ONLY 7:31pm.  for reals, people, i'm going to bed.  right.now.

i'm headed off on a road trip to maryland in a day....10 hours in the car with one of my bests, just listening to neil young, and eating copious amounts of snacks that i packed for us.  life is good.  and the best part...i get to snuggle on a newborn babe when i get there.  aaaaah.

xx

find me here

i'm off enjoying the weekend...but in the meantime, find me blogging here at the quiet life of violet about some of the things that i'm thankful for! 

five little tidbits

a highlight from mother's day-----hanging around a firepit with some of my favorite people.  watching children fling burnt marshmallows off their sticks, almost catching dogs and flammable princess costumes on fire is a real hoot. 

**  just found an awesome blog that hasn't showed up on my radar until now::  ben and birdy.  i've been thinking of doing some recipes here on my blog and reading her words just put the extra bee in my bonnet.  plus i want her kids to hang out with my kids so they can do weird shit together in the basement while we drink upstairs!

**  lauren luquin has a new ecourse coming up...i watched the video and loved putting a voice to her face! 

**  i would like to make these cinnamon raisin quickies by the ever-inspiring natalia kw

**  reading the book bringing up bebe by pamela druckerman.  which is making me realize that for the most part i raise my kids like "the french" raise their kids (hi, generalizations).  which basically means i let them pretty much do what they want while simultaneously running a pretty tight ship when it comes to things like sleep.  that, the fact that i don't read any parenting books and parent on intuition (with a lot of wine thrown in there for good measure).   which means i'm probably doing it all wrong but i don't really give a sequin-filled poo about it.

**  waiting for this dvd to arrive.  which will hopefully help with the little situation i have with people asking me when #4 is due (#4 doesn't exist)

nyaj

:::  johnny took me out for an early mother's day lunch today, and when he was looking at the check he said "wow, the waitress's name is nyaj.  i've never heard that before"  and it took him a couple of minutes but finally he realized that we were at not your average joe's (NYAJ). 

her name was danielle.  ;)

tidbits

when john was in the army and we lived in watertown, NY for a couple of years, we used to go to this bagel shop and get our favorite bagel sandwiches.  and every time we would go there we'd pick up this free little newspapery thing near the door that was called "tidbits".  all i remember is that there was a commercial for this newpaper on the local TV channel and the commercial consisted of someone saying the word "TIDBITS" over and over.  so eventually it became a thing and our friends all starting saying it. 

and because this post is so random i'm officially dubbing it TIDBITS!


 **  is it me or is the pollen count like out of control this year?  i literally have the worst headache.  i'm considering taking a flask to softball to just survive.

** lately i've been considering getting a flask.  for real.  motherhood pretty much demands one.

**  yesterday i was in the car alone with the three kids for over four hours.  and then i sat through a full mass and then a baptism.  the good thing about being in the car was that we listened to all our beastie boys cd the whole time.  the bad thing about being in the car for four hours is just that.

**  today while i was driving around doing my usual banging in the car, someone rode up alongside me on the highway and started banging with me.  and smiling.  like this guy was SO HAPPY to be dancing.  most people either call the police on me when they see me banging or harass me for miles, ridiculing me, so it really makes my day when someone can just be normal and be happy for me.

**  softball games from 6-8p most days of the week are pretty much torturous.  lulu has to be forced to stay up way past her bedtime.  i have to keep them all busy and try to keep lulu from breaking more of her bones (there have been a couple of close calls).  so yeah.  flask.  necessary.

** today when i was listening to the beastie boys my very well-loved cd kept skipping.  and it was only skipping through mca's parts.  and it was freaking me out very, very much.

**  lulu kept declaring today "i love kombucha!".  it was pretty cute.  which is good because everything else she did today was less than cute.

**  3rd grade homework equals homework for mom

** kindergarten projects equals homework for mom

**  TIDBITS!



tell me some of your tidbits, please.  xx

  

order and chaos

hanging out at the library on school vacation seeing the extreme zoo animals...you know, just biting our nails and picking our noses.

as much as i love to be spontaneous and go with the flow, i'm slowly realizing that i thrive on order and routine.  that's how i roll with my kids---and sometimes i get laughed at because i put the kids to bed so early or whatever else i do that's weird (like feed them dinner at 3:45p when they get off the bus).  well, these past couple of weeks have been complete and utter chaos in the gilbert household!  we did some projects outside in the yard---and then we hired a contractor to come in and knock down a big supporting wall in our house.  we wanted to open everything up (kind of like our old house) so the energy could flow through that side of the house. 

in retrospect the whole process was actually pretty snag-free and quick (not cheap or dust-free, however!).  on the two biggest days of demo (which occurred during the kids' school vacation), we packed up the car and took the kids on a little overnight road-trip to portsmouth, NH. we figured they could swim in the pool and we could go out to eat at our favorite spots and just relax and meet up with some friends.  we have an awesome time...not quite sure if it was relaxing (johnny and i were wishing we'd packed a flask and it was only 10am on the first day...)

so in between demolition, painting, school vacation, and just general schedule-upheaval...there's been lots of other stuff going on.  friends will ask "what's new?" or "what have you guys been up to?" and it never fails that i always say "nothing much".  it's not until i look back through our pictures that i realize there's been a lot of fun (and a lot of tears and lots of glasses of wine, too).  order and chaos, balanced out in the end.

here are some of the funner moments...

being brave as a team at the park

lots of piggy-back rides for the little one who refuses to walk anywhere anymore because her "tummy hurts so bad"

lots of yummy food----like scrambled eggs, avocado with sea kelp, and habenaro (that is totally spelled wrong but autocorrect isn't helping me out on this one) lime salsa

mother/daughter book club meetings with cucumber sandwiches and passionfruit iced tea

couscous, red onions, tomatoes, asparagus, scallops, baby spinach

getting outside and gardening! 

doing yard work and being dorks

throwing my tutu up in the air and taking more pictures on a beautiful day

running my first road race solo and wearing a really ill-fitting tshirt because i was parked about two miles from my car and didn't have time to walk back to leave it there. 

making some art with some people that we love

playing some softball

road tripping

so bad but so so so good

beautiful day in portsmouth!  and nobody's crying

we took the kids to a science center on the coast.  gray snapped this picture of johnny and i while we were getting attacked by a trillion like flies.  it was very romantic.

that's it folks!  as of last night we actually have furniture to sit on, freshly painted walls, and the TV plugged back in.  deep breaths this morning.....aaaaaaaaaaah.  xx

what we don't have and what we have

we don't wear
coordinated outfits
on the holidays
and we usually have
dried boogers on our faces
and maybe a little dirt under our fingernails
and sometimes we say inappropriate things
and sometimes we get mad and yell
and we live life simply and don't go overboard
and we don't get involved in lots of activities
because we don't like to rush around
and have lots of stuff on our schedules
we don't care too much about that
we tend to stick out
because of some of these things
but we don't mind too much


because what we do have
is love
and in this house
we believe that
that is enough.


xx

composting 101 with really techinical terms

the gilberts are trying their hand at composting! we bought this rolling composter on a stand and we're attempting to make our first batch of compost. we produce so many vegetable scraps every day now that we're juicing that it felt like such a waste to throw them all away. and even though we decided not to do raised beds this year (due to the expense and the fact that we are doing other house projects), how can you say no to beautiful compost waiting for you when you need it?

here's a little rundown of how we did it::

first we filled the bottom of the composter (about seven inches high) with shredded leaves. then we wet that layer until it was the consistency of a wrung-out sponge (or just dump a whole bunch of water on it and say to each other "how the hell are you supposed to know how much water to add to this??????")

then we added a couple of weeks worth of veggie/fruit/egg scraps. since it was sitting around for a couple of weeks in the heat it was totally gag-worthy and filled with bugs. it was really, really not a pleasant thing to do. luckily it was cold the day we did this so it made it a bit more manageable. but seriously. yeah.
for the final layer, we added a bunch (see how i'm so technical with my terminology!) of old grass clippings. we have a big pile in the back of our yard (which is also going to be our more 'natural' compost pile #2 while this first batch is cooking). we added a thick later and then closed the top. you're supposed to let it sit like this for about 7-10 days before you turn the composter (which is super heavy, btw!).
every once in a while we'll give our composter a turn and peek inside. not much going on, but it's been pretty cold and i think heat will speed up the process. the kids love seeing our food waste being turned into something else! it's like mama earth magic.


do you compost? how do you do it, and what do you use it for?

so utterly grateful i can't even tell you

for these (any many, many other) things...

:: finding love, everywhere...

:: movement!...

:: sisterly love caught on camera....

:: beautiful, bountiful salads...

:: lunch dates in vintage diner cars...

:: plentiful vegetables...

:: creating beautiful food with my family...

:: simple breakfasts...

:: the bustle and beauty of the farmer's market...

:: the gifts from the earth that sustain me every day. xx


love to each one of you. tell me please, what are you grateful for today?

red love

"I love red so much that I almost want to paint everything red."--Alexander Calder

spring fever!

"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!" ~Mark Twain

my goal today is to spend as much time as possible outside! i ran with the birds chirping early this morning....it sounded so good that i had to take my headphones out and just enjoy. headed to the trails now for a little family hike, and then maybe a picnic lunch outside on the back patio. what springy things are you up to?

feeling quiet

no words today. just some pictures of the beautiful quiet all around me.






shhhhhhh...

xx.