Mayan Grace is officially six years old

I feel like since my baby, my first child, has completely shed not only her baby-ness but all signs of toddlerhood somehwere in the last few years, that I should have some epic downpouring of reflection to mark this occasion...but I don't. She just IS. And it happened so gradually, so sweetly and intense, that I barely even recall what it was like to hold her as an infant, or how her face looked if it were not for photographs. When I see her then in a picture I marvel how that face and body could have morphed into the face and body I see before me today. But there she is, and I've always thought the best adjective to describe Mayan IS Mayan--she's become her own adjective. Spunky, bright, curious, sassy all in somewhat of a laid-back manner. I've always questioned how to wrange her potent spirit and guide it best, without having it burn out of control, or just burn out--I've always wondered how best to be her mother, and I've veered in many directions, but have come to terms that no matter how I parent her, SHE will always come though in the end. I need to worry less, and enjoy her more because it's truly fascinating getting to know how she works. Sometime when I see a quality that I envy in her I realize its something she has gotten from me--that helps center me. I am the Mother of Mayan, and I am forever changed for the better.

Whoa, I guess I did have something to say about it....:-)

Here was our day today:

fried chicken tenders are the perfect beach food: fill a ziplock bag with 2 parts rice flour, 1 part tapioca flour and 1/2 part flax meal, plus a few tsp of salt and a few tsp of dry mustard powder. dip some chicken pieces (this time i did tenders but drumsticks are great too) in a shallow pan with rice milk, then place then in the flour-mix bag and shake shake shake to coat. fry them in an inch of high-heat cooking oil (safflower or canola)

a little sisterly sand burying

blake is on dogs-not-on-leash-patrol

my beautiful daughter

my how they grow!!!

surprises awaited us when we returned!

cookie made a jewelry box--and sent other great things like a bike basket and bike horn--watch out knapp street!

what is that flash of white, you ask? its the girls so excited about the dresses that uncle walter and uncle bruce sent that they could not wait to try them on

darling, eh?

the chocolate "butterfly" cake....i wonder what her wish is!


thanks to all her who called and sent gifts. mayan kept declaring all day what a perfect birthday it was. she was full of gratitude by the end of it all. love!

10 pictures of George's first beach trip

last monday we headed west toward the ocean--i've been dying to go to the beach since last fall but in oregon you only get nice beach-weather in the summer. the closest town is Seaside and the closest beach is called Ecola State Park (sounds like E coli but i am sure this beach was named long before the bacteria made headlines)--it took us an hour and a half to get there with minimal kid-flooping (classic parent-kid conversations along the way: how much longer? has it been and hour and a half yet? no, it's been fifteen minutes. oh, can have a snack? sorry, the food is in the trunk; we'll picnic when we get there. oh....will you hand me that book? *sigh*) of course, mr. best-baby-ever didn't make a peep until we pulled into the beach parking lot. it was not to hot day i anticipated, but luckily we all had extra hoodies in the trunk; it ended up pretty cloudy and coolish the whole time but it didn't rain--blake deemed it perfect weather since he dislikes the sun anyway. i love how the beach is a large section of smooth rocks before the sand starts...we pulled up a piece of driftwood for a bench on the egde of the rocks and layed out our stuff on the sand. despite the cool temps, it didn't take long for the girls to strip down to their suits and chase the surf. george-ephraim just meeped and squinted in his stylish american apparel hoodie. after a while, blake had a flashback to when he and his sister explored tide pools so we took a walk toward some giant rocks in the distance, and sure enough we found some starfish and sea anenomes. the three of them were so cute looking for sea creatures! all-in-all, a successful family-of-five day trip to the beach...maybe next time we'll stay overnight in a yurt!

a self-family-portrait success!

it's no wonder his nickname is "baby meat fat"

can't type....

....B is sleeping.

Walter and Bruce's visit plus the girls and I take a spontaneous trip to the beach: