 |
| Winter Buds |
Bloomin’ Babies Library Time
Every Wednesday and Thursday at the Main Boise Library! they have Bloomin’ Babies Story time with Azam, one of the children’s librarians. As far as I’m concerned she has the best job ever. She reads 4-5 books, sings songs, does puppets and rhyming words. Porter and I love the entertainment and I love getting to watch all the moms and dads with their babies.
After story time Porter gets to explore the kids section of the library, plays with the kid puzzles and box ‘o dinos. I’m really looking forward to warmer weather when we can ride our bike to the Library! and then go play at the park across the river. Even better, it’s totally free.
 |
| View from above the Story Time Amphitheatre |
 |
| The Children’s Stacks |
 |
| Makin’ himself quite comfortable. |
 |
| Azam makes the books so very interesting. |
 |
| Porter doing his darnedest to understand the Dewey Decimal System. |
2012 Challenges: March-Photo A Day
February has past and it seemed like the longest month yet. Okay, there have only been 2 so far and there was an extra day, but it still felt long. It’s probably winter setting in and my longing for the central coast of California that made it appear longer.
I made it through the month’s challenge of getting to bed around 11. There was one night that I went to bed past midnight, but it was a Saturday and I felt the need to live on the wild side. It was actually a lot harder to make it to bed at a reasonable time, which I attribute to a slight addiction to all 5 seasons of Friday Night Lights and Downton Abbey. I’m pretty sure I need a no TV challenge in the near future.
At the beginning of the month Porter evidently took up a sleep challenge too and started sleeping through the night. Woohoo!! He did great too, only waking a few times in the middle of the night for teething pains. Now that my body has had a taste of regular undisturbed sleep, it wants more. There will certainly be earlier bedtimes on a regular basis, maybe even 10pm, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
March has arrived in Boise with snow flurries and tulip leaves breaking through the soil. I’m busy planning my Victory Garden for this summer and getting ready for Spring, which starts in just a few weeks. Thank goodness for that! This month’s challenge will require a different kind of discipline than the last two months (Spend Less and Sleep More) and should prove to be enjoyable.
Everyday for the month of March I plan on taking a photo with my nifty new white Lumix camera (it does video too!) and posting it to the blog. The only requirement that I’ve put on this assignment is that it not be a photo solely of my son Porter. Of course I will continue to take pictures of him, but it wouldn’t be much of a challenge if I didn’t try to actually photograph new and exciting people and places.
Day 1
Outside the Boise Library! It was snowing, and I’ve found that snow photos are much more dramatic in black and white.
 |
| Bike Racks |
 |
| This is usually a large copper sculpture with caveman hieroglyphics on one side. Today in the snow, however, it turned into a snow bunny. |
Play Time
Here are a few photos and a video from all the fun times we’ve had this month.
 |
| Grandma Teri came for a visit. |
 |
| And the shenanigans didn’t stop the whole time. |
 |
| We went to Boise Fry Company for Luke’s birthday dinner. Porter consumed a copious amount of fries with a side of yogurt and a burger. |
 |
| I think the blue eyes are gonna stick. |
 |
| Luke and Porter have been practicing their mad tambourine skills. |
 |
| Photo shoot! |
Get This Kid In A Band!
Garden: Education
Last month my sister in law, Anna (or Nanna as Porter calls her), moved back to Boise. We love her so much and she’s already upgraded our lives in the few weeks she’s been back. We’ve been snowshoeing, to the theater, and to AMAZING gardening classes at Edwards Greenhouse. The bonus is they’re free!
The education series has been on Saturday mornings inside the actual greenhouse. It’s warm, bright, moist and always blows my mind. A perfect place to spend cold, and sometimes dreary, weekend mornings. So far we’ve been to a class on Pruning Shrubs and Flower Arranging. I know, Pruning and Arranging is mind blowing? I thought they would be a tad boring too, but the folks teaching the classes are funny, knowledgeable and creative.
What I took away from the classes so far has been very insightful and I used what I learned pruning my front yard this week. I think what I gained philosophically is even better though. When pruning shrubs I learned that you don’t have to prune them, but if you do, they should be graceful. Which automatically made me think of a shrub ballet. Incidentally, I have a visual reference from a Momix dance performance that Anna and I went to recently, which also blew my mind. It looks like this:
From the flower arranging class I learned about building arrangements. More importantly, I came away with the idea that flowers should be kept looking like natural flowers. This is an aesthetic that I can get behind. Since I’m pruning this month, I can use what I’m cutting from my trees and shrubs and use them as structural pieces in arrangements, and how to use bulb flowers in bouquets.
Matt Johnson, the florist teaching, spoke of flowers and arranging them in the most lovely way, with the best and most appropriate adjectives ever. We also had some good giggles, because when Matt added just the right flower to an arrangement the entire class would gasp in unison. Watching already beautiful flowers turn into grand arrangements was a little like watching how a magic trick is performed. It’s been a truly enlightening experience and I look forward to next weeks class on raised beds. Oh man, I love to garden.
 |
| The roses are being held in place by the branches, which are tethered together and to the pussy willow. |
 |
| Floating flowers. |
 |
| Using bulb flowers. |
 |
| After going to the class I went downtown to pick up lunch and happened upon this lovely topiary outside of Tully’s. I saw it and immediately thought that it so closely mirrored what I had just learned. Low and behold, it was from Edwards Greenhouse. |
 |
| Some random cute pictures from one of our walks this week. Since it’s winter and all the shrubs and trees have no leaves we’ve been observing how they were pruned. I now have a greater appreciation for what graceful pruning looks like, and vow to never mindlessly hack away at a tree or shrub again. Visually, a poorly pruned tree/shrub makes me a little sad. Porter is also learning to appreciate the beauty in nature from a perspective closer to the ground. |
 |
| Soon enough I’ll have his cart filled with gardening supplies and putting this boy to work in the yard. |
It’s A Love Thing
Happy Valentine’s Day
As a teacher I wasn’t into Valentine’s Day. So many cheap Valentine’s that didn’t really mean anything, handed out between little kids. Eh, whatever. This year, though, is different. There is so much love in my heart that I’m actually glad there’s a day to relish in it.
For the last couple months I’ve felt so happy and loved and content with life that I’m bursting at the seams with gooey love mush. I’m always on the verge of crying over the most tender moments, which of course my days are now filled with. Shoot, I’m even gushy towards the new post man who is so much nicer than the last one.
Last week I had an off day, and even that wasn’t so bad. That’s right, cleaning baby poop (which was more like a man poop) off the floor wasn’t exactly magical, but my head was in the right place to at least find it comical. I’ve also started writing down a tender moment from each day before I go to bed and I think that helps keep everything in perspective as well. It doesn’t hurt that Luke surprised us today by coming home for lunch with flowers and sushi in hand. He’s a good one! I know that there are cynics who hate this day, and I totally understand. I’ve got enough love for everyone these days and I’m happy to share. All my love to you readers on this glorious day!
I’ve been experimenting with my new camera, which has a pin hole setting. I went a little crazy on our walk the other day, but I was trying to capture the dramatic essence of the day. Needless to say, I was in love that day too.
 |
| My two valentines. |
First Zoo Day
Thanks to friends and family, for Porter’s birthday we were able to gather enough funds to get an annual family membership to Zoo Boise. Today we finally got the passes and took a tour of the zoo. It was a sunny day and since it’s mid-winter there were only a few other families there. We had a good time and are excited to go back again and again.
 |
| Looking at the giraffes. |
 |
| So this is what real giraffe animal print looks like. |
 |
| Big one and little one. |
 |
| This was his face when he first saw the lions. |
 |
| Lioness. Just a big kitty, right? |
 |
| Penguin Flyby |
 |
| The saddest animals at the zoo, according to Luke. |
 |
| He liked it! |
We’ve also been going for daily bike rides with the iBert bike seat. Porter loves it and loves getting to sit up front where all the action is and I find there’s plenty of space to ride comfortably. It’s also great having him on the front because it keeps the bike more steady than if he were on the back. He’s also able to turn around and give me kisses, which is tender too. We are having so much fun these days. I love that he’s getting older and we’re able to be more active. Love my life!