July

I just joined the Eastside hill Less Grass group. I put a few pictures of our gardens online.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lessgrass/
Everything is growing now that I've put some time into getting the weeds out and the rabbits must have found something else to eat.
I'm done with Mulberries. And after 1 failed attempt at fruit leather and 1 saved job, I am on round 4 of attempts and only 6 more to go before I give up. I think, like the jam, I will have it figured out by then.

May and June

The months of May and June were extremely busy. My cousin Bobbi got married and so my sisters were home to visit. (see photos http://picasaweb.google.com/levifelling/June2008

Alizah has learned to roll over both ways, although now that she has the back to belly roll over mastered, she forgets to roll to her back when she is tired. She also really gets her heels into the floor and scoots around. I love her laugh! She's a really easy going baby most of the time. I have been practicing Chinese Pediatric Massage on her for her colic and excess drool- it is helping a lot! I am really excited about what I've been learning and so have practiced on a couple other babies (1 with vomiting and 1 with constipation) with a lot of success. So, I bought another book about it to continue learning.


These are a few photos of the girls around home between our busy schedule.

Father's Day Adventure

This year Sarah took me on an adventure for Father's Day. Actually, it wasn't on Father's Day but it was to get my surprise Father's Day present. This is quite funny in it's own because for forever I've teased Sarah that she cannot not keep a secret. So her putting this together and keeping it from me was a pretty big deal.

So the morning of our adventure we packed a picnic, got the kids together, and set off for adventure. We had a beautiful hour and a half drive through northwestern Wisconsin. As we drove my mind wandered over the possibilities, several times wondering out loud as to our destination, but Sarah was not going to give this one away. She merely laughed and shrugged off my suggestions: hot air balloon ride, wood fired pizza, garden sculpture, new drums, a goat, motorcycle.

Finally, we had arrived. Sarah pulled out her directions and verified the fire number by the mailbox of a rural driveway. We pulled up to a typical country home: well kept gardens, many flowers, birds, a big friendly dog, and I was introduced to Nels Linde. Still no clue what we are doing, Nels lead us to his showroom. It was only then that I saw the room full of drums and percussion instruments that I realized that Nels was the owner of HawkDancing Studios. Nels is renown in the industry for providing top quality, professionally instruments, made in Africa by master drum builders.

I guess now I need to give you the back story. It's probably not new to you that I'm into drums, I have been for a long time. I bought my first drum when I was about 10 yrs old at Global Village in St. Paul, it was a African hand-drum commonly called a talking drum. I had just finished reading Drumming at the Edge of Magic, a wonderful book that explores the rituals, spiritual, emotional, and healing aspects of the drum in different cultures throughout history. I was hooked and had an incessant need to learn more and experience more. I soon bought a drum set, started playing in a 8 piece blues/show band, had several grungy garage bands, sold a drum set, bought a better drum set, met and opened for Asleep at the Wheel, Forrester Sister's, Buddy Guy, Luther Alison, toured Europe, bought a couple more drum sets, released a CD, released another cd, started a band, and another band, and on and on.

Towards the end of high-school, I got word that the local university was going to be putting on a production that was set in Africa, and involved much drumming and dancing. Furthermore, they had a budget and would be bringing in a professional drummer who would be in residence for several months to instruct the musicians in West African music. I jumped on the opportunity, and as a high-school student enrolled in the theater class so that I could play drums in the play. This is where I really learned about West-African drums, and the Djembe - the lead drum in a West-African drum ensemble.

Skip ahead a few years to when Sarah and I got married. When we where planning our ceremony we knew we wanted enough pomp and circumstance to make the event significant, but we didn't have any desire for a traditional wedding. So drawing from our individual experiences and backgrounds we designed a ceremony that honored each other, the earth, our elders, our guests. The music for our ceremony would be provided by four djembe drummers playing traditional West-African rhythms.

Sarah tells me that I've been teaching our girls drums, and that this gift is for me to further share my experience and joy for this music with them. She's right, I sing rhythms to them, give them phrases to repeat, allow them to explore the instruments, and encourage them to express themselves. I never dreamed how much fun this would be, and now to have Sarah sharing this experience with me is wonderful. Thank you Sarah!

April 28th, Big Snow

On April 28th we woke to about 1 inch of snow on the trees. Levi said, "Rayna, look out the window and tell me what you see." Her reply "oh, big snow!"

I wanted to share this photo. We are hoping the snow is done now until Nov/Dec.

Are city rabbits afraid of owls?

Alizah is 2months now- smiling and laughing now, coughing and squealing sentences to us. She is delightful, must be why her name is Joy Joy.

Rayna loves when her sister is awake. She says "he got eyes wide open! He awake!" or if she is sleeping "Hi Alizah! Wake up!" Rayna has started reading Alizah her favorite books- mother goose (she remembers almost all the rhymes and which rhyme goes with each page).

We have been doing more gardening. We risked putting in a few annuals and so far they have not been frost bit (even though there was a heavy frost in most of the area last night). I started my brussel spouts and the rabbits have nipped a couple. For Mother's Day, Rayna and Levi gave me a scare owl. I asked "do city rabbits even know what owls are?" I don't think they do because another brussel sprout was gone this morning.

Rayna has her own little garden bed. So far she planted 1 grape tomato plant, peas, radish and spinach. It is framed with a headboard and footboard I scavenged on Throw Anything Trash Day. I also found a slide for her that we set up to our picnic table.

Just so you can see the similarities and differences- Alizah and Rayna at 1 month. (Rayna is in green). I think they have the same nose. Alizah has Levi's hair color right now.

Alizah just started smiling in a big wide open laugh about 2 weeks ago. Last Wednesday the Public Health Nurse visited and she was 21.5" and 10 lbs and 4.5 oz- she's holding her head well. A very strong baby! And very easy going. She only wakes every 3-5 hours to nurse at night. (I am getting a lot of good sleep!!!! Which is so important for Mamas.)

Rayna loves Alizah, and this week, as promised, she has begun snuggling her! This week we began practicing more on the potty again. She is very interested and is really getting the hang of it. (it will be really nice to only have newborn diapers!)

"Oh, These are sparkly shoes. Oh, beautiful shoes. They were in the closet. These are for you to try on." -Rayna