hey

The Morrises were here for a visit; the first time we've seen them in almost a year. We miss them so since they moved up north. Look at how big Stellrae got. She's seven now. Lucia was in absolute heaven being with her honorary big sister. She asks me almost every day if Stellarae can sleep over again.

buzz buzz

Papa and the Bumble Bee Fairy on Halloween.

He was really making her fly. He likes to give mama a heart attack. The fairy loved it.

reign

Congratulations to my friend KC who had a beautiful baby boy last week. She named him Reign. I love that name.

This is the birthing juju that I made for them. (You can't really tell from the scan that the background is shimmery and sparkly.)

The owl is associated with ancient female wisdom, moon energy connections and the unknown. The owl is the bird of magic and darkness, and acts as a guide and link between the dark, unseen, spirit world and the world of light. Owl also teaches us to embrace our personal darkness without fear.

Welcome to the world dear Reign.

hello again

Oh my goodness, it's been a while. Would you believe our cable and internet connection were down for over a week?! Comcast sucks.

Anyway, we've been busy with a little roadtrip to Orr Hotsprings and a fabulous ballet birthday party and I still have halloween pictures to post. I'll be back soon, I hope. How've you been?

and another anouncement

Guess who got some teeth. Alma-Luisa's two bottom teeth finally broke through on Thursday. I got so excited when I discovered them, and then, out of the blue, I started weeping. It completely took me by surprise. My baby baby is getting so big and so grown up.

You know what I realized the other day? She doesn't suck her thumb anymore. I don't know why but it makes me sad. All the new developments are so exciting, new teeth and starting to pull herself up and being a little bit mobile (although not crawling), but it's hard for me not to mourn the babyhood. Oh man, it's so very brief, isn't it? At each stage, I want to freeze the moment and spend the rest of my life savoring it. She is such a delightful little girl.

little fairies everywhere

Pictures from our dress rehearsal the other day. It was kind of a dark afternoon. Alma-Luisa is a Bumble Bee Fairy and Lucia is a Tooth Fairy Mermaid Princess Queen, of course.

Alma-Luisa was so smitten by her reflection. She was giggling at herself and trying to kiss herself in the mirror. I must agree; she is as cute as can bee. Since I call her my Sweetie Bee, and sometimes Sleepy Bee or Fussy Bee, and Lucia insisted that her little sister be a fairy, this is the perfect costume for her. Plus, we now have a tradition of bees for our girls' first halloween costumes. Remember this?

Oh, how I tried to get a cute picture of my two little fairies together. But alas, as you can see, I failed. :)

Happy Halloween everybody! Have fun.

very important announcements

Hello again.

I'm so pleased to announce that my little shop is now open. Head on over to www.luckyjuju.etsy.com for a visit. I hope to fill it up with lots more good stuff, little by little. Thanks to everyone who wrote and commented. I'm so glad you're out there!

p.s. Elyse, if you're reading this and you want to be surprised when you get the juju for Coco, don't go to my shop. :)

Another announcement I am immensely pleased about: As of yesterday, Lucia is fully potty trained. Until now she has been pretending to be potty trained. But the other night she wanted to go to bed with no pull up because she had decided to be potty trained for real. Yahoooo! Now she wants to have the potty party I've been promising her for about a year and she wants EVERYONE to be there. So please make your travel arrangements as necessary. I guess the little candle in her breakfast sweet rice and singing For She's a Jolly Good Fellow yesterday morning is not going to cut it as celebration goes. But, oh yes, it is cause to celebrate. There were many dark moments when I thought this day might never come. So, Hallelujah and congratulations to my jolly good fellow Luci Lu!

play ball

Welcome to our crazy house. Wanna play ball with me and two little screamers? Hint: Turn down the volume before watching.

loving

Taking a moment to appreciate some of the little and big things that are making me happy these days.

• sunflower seed butter, salty sweet delicious
• hearing my girls laughing together
• it’s pear season
• new vendors at our neighborhood farmer’s market: a Parisian-style bakery and natural meats from Sonoma. Yum.
• watching Community with Pete and laughing out loud
• the waldorf children’s faire the weekend before last: the ground carpeted in oak leaves, how brave Luci was on the “Knight’s quest” where she climbed to the tippy top of the rope
• KC’s birthing juju is completed
• a wonderful visit from Pie Pie
• new jeans!
• roasted beets...I'm roasting everything these days
• being in a sweet spot with Lu (shh, I don’t want to jinx it)
• knowing so many people in the neighborhood and feeling a part of a community
• new papers from Paper Source
• fish from the farmer’s market for Sunday dinner. It’s become a family tradition along with pancakes on Saturday mornings
• running through a rainstorm with the girls
• cute little mini-pumpkins
• finding a parking spot on the street makes me happy!
• wednesday night dinners with my neighbor Melissa and her little boy - We take turns hosting every few weeks.
• Ivan, my every other week housecleaner/lifesaver
• Luci knows my phone number by heart and she learned it all by herself just by overhearing me giving it out. Crazy!
• being in a women’s group again for the first time in years…aaaaaaah
• nursing my baby to sleep, those little sighs of contentment she makes

And last but not least....loving my big sister on her 40th (forty!) birthday. Who would have thought we would end up being best friends? Didn't see that one coming, did we Karks? Makes me happy that Lucia and Alma-Luisa have each other although it may take them a few decades to really truly appreciate it. :) Happy Birthday Karina!!! You make forty (40!) look good.

hello etsy

Hi everyone,

After years of encouragement from friends and family, I'm this close to finally opening my Etsy shop. I am learning how to make banners (fun!) and learning a lot in photoshop. The first two runs of prints are at the printer, ready to be picked up, and the picture below will be my first original to be sold on etsy. I still have so much to learn. It feels a little overwhelming at times, but I'm really excited.

In thinking about marketing for my little shop, I'm curious. Does anyone still read this blog? Anyone who is not related to the girls, that is. :) I know I don't post as often a I used to, or would like to. Do people still read blogs, or is everyone on Facebook these days, or twittering? Or is it tweeting? I would very grateful for your feedback; leave a comment or shoot me an email.

I'll be back soon with news of my grand opening!

xoxo,
Katia

autumn sisters

Pictures from the Marin Waldorf School's Children's Faire. I took the girls on Sunday and we had a lovely time.

auntie pie pie

My dear dear Shira was here and she brought her scissors. She trimmed us all up. Alma-Luisa got her first haircut! She had those random crazy very long hairs here and there so I asked Shira if she would be the one to give her her first haircut. Now, I kind of miss them. I didn't realize how much I played with them when I was nursing. Pie Pie also cut Luci's and Papa's hair and we thought we'd run out of time for me, but she ended up trimming my hair at midnight after a few glasses of wine and a game of scrabble. It looks good, believe it or not! :) We all look very spiffy. Thanks Pie! Also, this weekend we got to spend some time with her beau, Trent and he is funny and sweet, and that makes me happy. We all had fun, the girls both love them and I only wish they lived here or we lived there, or something. We're thinking of moving into their pig barn. :)

slide ranch

Luci went on a field trip to Slide Ranch this week with her school. She got to milk Klezmer the goat again.

busy girls

Beer Baby is making dinner and Lucia is checking her email.

What's for dinner Beer Baby? I'm hungry.

oh geez

Not what you wanna read at 1:03AM:

"What would you do if you knew that every good thing in your life depended on your getting enough rest? Because it does."

- Martha Beck, *Steering by Starlight*

Received via Rob Brezny's Astrology Newsletter.

Okay okay. I'm going to bed. :)

heart's desire

Heart's Desire is the beach on Tomales Bay where the family gathered on Saturday to celebrate Cat and Ross' birthdays. These first pictures are from a short hike Pete, Britt and I took. That is where we came upon the fishermen who had caught the shark from the last post. It was all quite legal with permits or a fishing license or whatever it is you need, by the way, and they took the shark home to eat it. They caught it with a rod from the beach. Yikes. This beach was touted as a child-friendly beach, too. Anyway, we had a great time, although we didn't go into the water, not for fear of sharks, but because it was a bit too chilly for getting wet.

Lovely spot, wonderful family, cute cousins, great food and cake! Hooray. Happy Birthday to Cat and Ross.

da-dum...da-dum...da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum

My boy, the shark hunter.

(Not really, but let's pretend for a while. :) (But the shark is real!)

golden day

These birds are my version of a mobile. I'm sure I had grander plans for it at one time, but this is as far as I got with it. The morning light is making such lovely shadows.

I love the light this time of year. So beautiful and precious.

Today Alma-Luisa is eight months old. I'll be back with a full update on all the new developments very soon. I promise.