The Milk Man

We've been inspired! Inspired by Kristine at LimaBeanHome after she made this post on her blog. Hamish and I are always looking for ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle (we just feel better about not creating a ton of waste). We also love supporting local farmers (if I lived in Idaho, I would sooooo go to the Haunted World - which is owned and operated by my fun (slightly demented) farming uncles Scott and Steve!) - so Hamish made a quick call to Meadow Brooke Dairy Farm and guess who was at our door this morning? The milk man! He'll come on Tuesday mornings and pick up two empty glass jars in exchange for two bottles full of deliciously fresh MILK! And no plastic jugs or paper cartons to recycle! Hooray! Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Rowan's New Skills

Rowan's been doing a lot more these days. It really seems like he finally has the world figured out after staring at it for 9 months. He is becoming really good at pulling himself up on furniture and cruising around the room. He can go from the couch to the coffee table and back, even letting go for a few moments and standing on his own. Ellen and I both think that he is a very advanced little child, but what do we know. The only thing we know for sure is that at 9 months he has already grown out of most of his 1 year clothes. He's a monster.

He's quite a bit more interactive recently as well. He laughs at noises and smiles when you call his name. He can now motion with his hand for you to "come here," as that's what we do with him when we want to pick him up. We've been trying to teach him a few other signs to communicate, but so far they haven't stuck.

Right now he's sticking a block in his mouth, probably to make his gums feel better. His sixth tooth is just poking out and he is finally figuring out that he can rub things against his gums to make them feel better. He used to just wait until we did it for him. Is he lazy? I don't really think so. I think that he was waiting until he had things figured out before he would try it. He likes to think about things first before trying them. We'll see how that turns out.

Washington D.C. Trip

Hamish, Rowan, and I made a quick trip to Washington D.C. this past week. We had the best hosts known to man (other family members can attest to this) because we stayed with Bill and Linda. We had such a great time with them!!! They took us out for a night tour of all the monuments in the city, fed us the best food (Linda makes the most amazing omelette's!), gave us the best local advice, and we slept in the most comfortable bed every night. THANK YOU BILL AND LINDA! We look forward to more visits! :)

The trip started off a bit (actually very) rainy but that was no problem because we ducked in and out of museums. Plus, there were a few hours of rambunctiousness in Tom & Asa's hotel room - Asa couldn't sit still for one second (as evident by the blurry photos). Rowan had great fun watching his father and cousin wrestle - and watching a rubber baseball (and cousin) ricochet off the walls. The weather finally shaped up and we really enjoyed the warm and beautiful offerings of spring. It felt as though summer was just around the corner. Now that we're back home in Albany, where daffodils are just poking up and showing off their faces, we've gone backwards.

All the Greenaway men were able to hang out - in fact this trip was really meant to be what Tom called a "man-cation"....they were so kind to let me crash their party. They did go to a few baseball games without any silly girls to interrupt the fun, so that made me feel better. I was able to sneak a few pictures of them all together.

One quick blurb about Rowan. While on this trip he really got serious about pulling himself up and standing. He's taken standing to a whole new level by letting go and balancing himself completely solo...is the world ready for this? Perhaps, but his parents are not!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy 56th Birthday! I searched through our photo library and decided on this picture for a few reasons. One, this FARMALL tractor is one of your most prized possessions. I also like this shot of you, Dad, because the sun is so bright it almost looks like you are smiling in it (a rare shot indeed!). And the third reason I picked it, is because you are holding one of my most prized possessions in your arms......couldn't help it! :)

Happy Birthday Pops! Lots of love!

XOXOXO, Ellen

Happy Birthday Mom

Today, many of us went to Dairy Queen and ate Peanut Buster Parfaits in honor of mom's 52nd birthday. She loved to treat herself to these ice-cream, peanuty cups of chocolaty goodness. And we loved surprising her with them too! It felt good for us to take time out of our day and acknowledge her birthday, and remember some of our funnest moments with her...

The Dragon Breathes Again!

For those of you who did not know, we spent the last two weeks of March (spring break) in Oregon visiting family and friends. We had such a great time staying at mom and dad's and spending time with Dad, Holly, Pamela, and the girls. Not only did we have a fun time together, we really got a lot done! Dad, Pam, Hamish, and I made a goal last fall, to keep Pollywog Pottery alive as much as possible. Mom worked so hard for her studio and kilns and taught each of us so much. Learning to fire mom's gas kilns was a the top of our list of things to do, but something we'd never done solo before. When we'd help mom with a firing, she would give us instructions based on which cone was down - or - which cone was not going down fast enough. Everything depends on gas, air flow, and flame interaction and each influences the entire atmosphere of the kiln. It took all of us banding together to approach such a daunting task. We spent a good part of a week preparing to fire mom's gas kiln and test her glazes.


We were very careful to load the kiln up with pieces that were not necessarily important - 99% of it being things we made. Mom was able to sculpt a few birds, totem beads, even a dragon last spring along with some dinnerware pieces for Lane and Holly. That is a load that will wait until we feel more confident about firing such treasured items!

I know it's a bit confusing - I'm still learning so much about the firing process - but check this out: we got that baby all the way to a smokin' hot 2,300 degrees (cone 10)! Not only did we do that, we reached temperature in about the same amount of time mom did. Which was important because this particular kiln uses propane gas, which is not exactly cheap these days! This would not have been possible without the help of mom's (and our family's) dear friend Heidi. Thank you Heidi for coming all the way from Glacier, Montana - We Love You! And we had SO MUCH FUN too!

Rowan Hits Puberty at 8 Months!

This picture is for all of you out there who think Rowan looks like his Grandpa Theron. There are some striking similarities, right? I mean, look at those eyes! nose! hairline! Rowan just loves his "Grandpa-T", and everytime Grandpa entered the room, Rowan was all smiles! He also loved manhandling those handlebars so conveniently located on Grandpa's face.

A Couplet of Cousins

Here they are. Two little cousins just 9 days apart. They both share a love for blocks, rolling over, and blowing raspberries. They also approach life with the same chill, happy, easygoing manner. Seriously, both of these little rugrats are just such content little creatures!

There is one major difference, however. And I'm not talking about gender...

Hello! Tea Party!

All the ladies in the house wanted to have a tea party.......so the girlies got busy making cucumber sandwiches and special "chocolate-raspberry-blueberry-m&m-cream cheese filling" cakes. Each little baker made their own version.
The party was a hit! And the girls were quite proud of themselves. Notice the daffodils on the table. Elizabeth and Sophia halted the proceedings exclaiming, "We have to have flowers! Flowers! Let's get some flowers!" The crazy thing about this tea-party was that there really wasn't a bit of tea involved. The girls opted to serve hot chocolate instead!