Month: March 2011

destructamonkeys!

“destructamonkeys,” that’s mathew’s new nickname for the kittens…

their favorite bag. or what used to be a bag. now it’s two pieces of mangled, well-loved paper. this is after they climbed into the recycling to rescue it.

bella figured out how to climb up onto the fish tank and stick her paw in! ack. we put tape, sticky-side-up on top of the tank to stop her from doing that.

now they can both get up onto the refrigerator…

another one of their bags. this one lives downstairs, and still resembles a bag.

a quiet moment. (left) bella in the cat tree. (right) arwen hugging the heater.

(left) they love playing in the closet. i’ve been avoiding figuring out which garment they’re climbing up (destroying), to sit on the hangers… (right) bella jumped from the closet onto my shoulder. that dark thing in the bottom right is my head.

(left) classic arwen. how did she get her head stuck in the head massager? (right) she soon discovers the fish tank and figures out how to knock the lid off. we’ve since taped the lid down and put tape deterrents around the tank…

bella loves watching oprah with me. arwen couldn’t care less. i find this hilarious.

the girls helping to put away our organic box delivery. what are they looking for? kale stems! broccoli leaves are also fun.

bella having a second go at the space above the closets. the dismount was a little scary.

(left) trying to sleep together in a basket that is too small for both of them together. (right) arwen up above the cabinets in the downstairs kitchen.

arwen playing with another one of her favorite toys, a metal coil. she will run, jump, chase and carry this thing all over the house.

(left) arwen and mathew “going to work.” (right) i framed misha’s lost puppy flyer and put it on mathew’s desk.

mathew decided to help the girls out by adding another shelf. now they both can play “upstairs.”

my parents have been coming “to visit the kittens” quite often. (left) my dad “telling them a story.” (right) my mom hugging arwen.

mathew and bella

bella and mathew.

turtle goes to new york and other adventures…

a couple weeks ago mathew flew to new york to visit his brother misha and to attend a party celebrating misha and aja’s birthdays.

siblings! (left) misha, mathew and leo, visiting from harvard. (right) leo and mathew.

(left) misha and aja. (right) misha and mathew.

(left) pretty snow covered trees. (right) a snowy, mathew-made eight two.

eight two and misha. (misha, you can download the original photos by clicking these photos. xoxo)

(left) someone putting up a lost puppy, eight two, music flyer.

(left) mathew and misha. (right) aja, misha and mathew’s hat.

(left) when mathew returned home late one night, bella was so excited she jumped onto a shelf then up above the closets! but she needed mathew’s help to get down. (right) the girls playing with our organic delivery box. can you see bella peeking out?

(left) bella loves to jump onto us, climb onto our shoulders and try to get onto doors! ack. she’s extremely ambitious. before mathew left for new york he made the mistake (?) of helping bella get on top of a door then letting her explore an overhead bedroom cabinet. ever since then, whenever she has the chance she will jump onto our shoulders, chests and heads in the hope that she will be allowed to explore that cabinet again. unless we’re wearing sweaters, it can be quite painful!

and the work continued that weekend. here we are priming steps that will become our new side entrance stairs. the weekend before going to new york, mathew and my dad cut these together.

the following weekend mathew decided to try out a crazy plan for getting a new rain water collection barrel into the back yard. it’s bigger than our other barrels and didn’t fit through the door leading to the backyard. so the obvious solution? hoist it over the fence! (left) here’s the ladder ready for me. (right) mathew on the other side of the fence with the barrel. fortunately no one was parked in that spot that afternoon.

(left) my view from the ladder. (right) can you see me in the shadows? i’m holding that huge barrel up with rope! of course there are no photos showing how the barrel got into that position… if there were photos, they would show mathew on the ladder pulling the ropes up while i held them tight. after he took this photo he carried the ladder around the block to the other side of the fence where he pushed the barrel up and over the fence while i gently let the barrel down into our yard.

(left) the last bit wasn’t so gentle as it landed with a thud onto some plants… my dad and our neighbor thought we were nuts for attempting this! but it worked! (right) clothes line poles!

we decided to swap out my grandmother’s daybed with this very modern and comfortable convertible sofa bed. we got it at a local furniture store, the box called it “click clack sofa bed.” it clicks up to form a sofa and clicks down to form a bed.

and over the last few weeks mathew has been finishing a box to hold my dad’s tile saw.  the wood box replaces a cardboard one and also supports the tile saw when in use. we’re gotten some good use out of this tool over the years. mathew had me design the top. only after he finished routing and carving it did he tell me that originally he was thinking it would just have some simple letters or words. of course mathew is always up for a challenge! my parents were really pleased with the end result.