giving thanks

this holiday season is not quite going the way i had envisioned.  our house is still not done and won't be done until january.  all of our decorations are deep in storage, which means that many of the traditions we continue each year will have to be put on hold this year.

i had a good cry about it and now, well, now i am coming to accept it and try to mindfully be here, now.  enjoy this moment for what it is, instead of for what i hoped it would be.  

we have a beautiful tree, completely decorated with homemade ornaments (mostly made from stuff we had around the house or yard).  we are fully enjoying our advent activities.  the kids don't seem to notice the homemade advent calendar i made last year is not here with us, when they find the little slip of paper in a special jar each morning.

i am trying not to let the lack of decorations that i look forward seeing to each year stop me from getting into the holiday spirit.  i have christmas music on and christmas cards displayed, and that will have to do this year. 

i have two singing, dancing healthy children (and one on the way!) who remind me everyday what is most important.  it is not a house, or decorations, or traditions.  it is us. together. enjoying each day as it is... and maybe just a little bit of dreaming of next year.

snow and baking and halloween

it snowed here the saturday before halloween.  which was kind of unexpected, although my phone said it would snow, i didn't believe it since it has done me wrong before and it just seemed way too early to snow.  we just returned from southern california and 70-80 degree weather the day before, so it just didn't seem like it would really snow.  but snow it did, as you can see.  we went on a little winter... uh... autumn walk on sunday morning.

snow means winter and baking, right?  so i just had to use the last of our garden zucchini for zucchini bread using my friend mary's recipe (which is my all time favorite!).  i added some frozen  blueberries and it was delicious!  we may have been listening to christmas music while we made them...

we went to a halloween art class and made haunted castles.  the castle is make from a tissue box, toilet paper and paper towel roll and shaved ice cone all painted gray.  both kids loved decorating their castles and they looked super cute as halloween decorations at  home.

this year we were princess leia and yoda.  this was the first year i did not make their costumes, which was sad and a relief.  with the multiple funerals all across the country it just wasn't in the cards this year, but next year we will hopefully go back to homemade.  but it may depend on what they want to be...

happy autumn!

late harvest

we just harvested a lot more from our garden!  do you see all those habanero peppers?!?  they are super spicy!  sam is going to make some hot sauce with them for a 'spice' party he is having with some other guys where they all bring something insanely hot to try.  not for me.

sorry i have been absent for awhile, my grandma passed away and it sort of threw us (me) for a loop.  we went out to arizona for her beautiful funeral mass that my aunts worked hard to plan, in the middle of their mourning.  they did an amazing job!  it was perfectly my grandma and i am so glad i got to go with my kids to take comfort in family, reminisce about her amazing life and take time to say goodbye.

eggplants and tomatoes

made this recipe a few times this season with the eggplants and tomatoes from our garden.  the sauce freezes well and because it is a puree i throw in anything else that is also ripe (bell peppers, zucchini).  it uses a whole lot of tomatoes so it is perfect when a ton of tomatoes are ripe all at the same time.  we still have a few eggplants and tomatoes to be picked, so i'm sure this will be on the menu again.  maybe i'll try canning the sauce.  hmmmm... eggplant and tomatoes in winter could be soooo welcome.

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

powerless

when hurricane irene left us powerless (and home-bound due to downed trees) we had lots of fun with flashlights. a fort was made and all the flashlights were squirreled away in there. the kids were really excited to 'read' books by flashlight. it was very cute but as you might be able to see at the tippy top of the picture, it was still light outside so no flashlight was really necessary, but to them the flashlights were essential for proper reading.

we also held a few shadow plays. very impromptu and they all somehow involved a hurricane, but (as a teacher and parent) i was especially excited to hear calvin's internal sense of story as he unfolded the dialogue of the play. he understood there had to be a problem and somehow that problem had to be solved. there were good guys and bad guys and everyone had a family that loved them.

as it got darker and darker we discovered that the shutter closed slower and slower. so when we clicked the picture button we had a few seconds to move the flashlight all around before the shutter closed. we experimented with this a lot. we tried to spell small words or our names but couldn't quite make it look right. the squiggles turned out the best.

we were lucky and got our power back later that night.  but we have played 'power's out' more than a few times since the day irene hit.  i need to keep this game in my back pocket for those cold winter home-bound days that seem to drag on and on and on.

i don't mind the power being out for a day. maybe even two.  it can be fun and we can play these fun flashlight games, but more than two days is rough.  i few people i work with still do not have power!  it's been over a week.  seriously.  it's time to take the power back.

*ps. thank you for your kind comments and emails about my father-in-law and my dad.  i am so happy and relieved to let you know that my dad's cancer was caught super early and the doctors are confident they can get all of the tumor out with surgery.  yay!  

rustic tomato tart

we grew more tomatoes than we know what to do with around here so i have been searching pinterest for tomato recipes that not only look good, but will be apetizing to everyone.  i stumbled upon this tomato tart.

it was super simple.  a great recipe to make with kids (as you can see i had an extra pair of little hands helping me).  all i had was whole wheat flour for the dough, and it was delicious!  i wasn't sure about adding the mustard, because i usually don't like whole grain mustard but it gave it a complicated flavor without tasting mustard-y at all.

maeve ate seconds and calvin had thirds!  i will definitely be making this again. luckily our garden fared very well during irene so we will have lots more tomatoes to come!

goodnight irene

a few nights before hurricane irene hit we went to my husband's company picnic. they set up a mini-carnival just for employees. lots of rides and no lines. my kids ran around barefoot and went on as many rides as they could manage, stopping only to eat a quick bite of hotdog. it was a memorable summer night.

24 hours later irene hit us. we were well prepared (food and water for days, tub filled with water, a stack of library books, a sheet fort and flashlights). we did get an evacuation notice, but decided to 'weather the storm'. for us it was not as bad as the news was making it out to be. we had a few large limbs down but they did not fall on anyone or anything. no flooding. we did loose power, but only for about 24 hours. about half the poeple i work with still have no power (3 days later!).

i feel very lucky that we escaped practically unharmed. it has been a rough week for us with a very unexpected loss of my father-in-law and a cancer diagnosis for my dad, so i think hurricane damage would have put me over the edge. we are getting through it day by day. hugging each other a little more. staying calm and carrying on...

last days of summer vacation

we have been making the most of the last week of summer vacation by tackling all of the unchecked items on our summer to-do list.  trips to all our favorite parks, the aquarium to see the dinosaur exhibit, the natural history museum (again to see the dinosaurs, and the whale), playschool, the beach, my husband's company picnic (see pic above), and now we are hunkering down for our first real hurricane.  

we were directed by the town to evacuate but i think evacuation is not necessary.  our apartment is on the second floor, it has new windows (none of which are large), we have plenty of water and food, and our landlord (who grew up in our apartment) seems to think it will be fine.  we did park one car at a nearby middle school that is up a hill, just in case we are super flooded and something happens to our car.  this morning we went to the library and got tons of books and even a movie.  i have lots of games to play, forts to make, and legos to build with to keep us occupied for the next 24+ hours.

as a last resort if it gets super scary, i got sparking apple cider so that we can have a storm party to ease some fears and we'll sing favorite things. :)

wish us luck!

afternoon snack

i made these lemon bars. i used to make them in college all the time and then recently we had some lemons that needed to be used and the recipe just popped back into my conscience brain from wherever it was hiding. such a delicious summertime treat. and it is a cooking light recipe so how bad of an indulgence can they be? :)

by the way, as i was linking to the recipe i noticed that mine look like they have a lot more powered sugar than the recipe shows.  hmmm...

wedding weekend

last weekend i flew to california for the wedding of a very special friend. trisha was my college roomate. we were neighbors in the dorm, freshman year and met though an electical outlet. really. the wedding was in mammoth, which i complained about being hard to get to, but it was so worth it once i was there. i had not been there since i was 13 or so and i had forgotten just how magical a place it is. the wedding was super rustic (we sat on log benches, see photo above). the theme according to trish was "crazy, mismatched, cool" or something like that. which is so perfectly her.

they did a fingerprint guestbook, which i had never seen before, but i thought it was so sweet and something to they can frame and hang up to see everyday as a reminder of thier wedding day and of all the people that touched their lives, shaping them into the people that they are today, perfectly matched for each other. (kristin (another college roommate) painted the tree!)

this was the view as we walked to the wedding site.  can you see the waterfall?  the snow on the mountains?  amazing.

here are some handmade gifts i brought with me for some of the babies that now outnumber us college roommates (13 babies and counting!).  two quilts, three bibs, one pinafore, and two krink-ly taggie toys we call baby paper (babies LOVE it!).

it felt so so good to be among good friends who really know me (better then i know myself sometimes).  it is hard sometimes living across the country, away from lifelong friends.  i am lucky to have made some wonderful sure-to-be lifelong 'east coast' friends too.  but there is something so comforting about being with an 'old' friend.

when i asked trisha how the ceremony went and what she was thinking, she said "it felt like a big hug, like everyone there was giving me a huge hug, so i felt totally relaxed".  this is exactly what this weekend was for me too.  a huge thee-day long hug.   

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

sweet sewing

i made this little criss-cross pinifore for maeve the other night.  i made the pattern myself, based on a shirt that maeve already had.

it cuts out in just two pieces, the outside and the inside, which made it super easy...

and reversible!

she wore it a couple of times, but i decided it was a little bit small.  i have a slightly larger one cut out and will hopefully sew it tonight.  i gave the one pictured to a sweet little friend (her mom was my college roommate).

tic tac toe!

on a rainy summer day recently, calvin and i were playing tic tac toe.  he loves to play and it is a game we can play anywhere, like at a restaurant while waiting for our food.  as we were playing on this rainy day, we got an idea to make a whole book of tic tac toe boards.  calvin wanted to keep track of when he won and how he won (where he put his 'o's).

i quickly made up a template on the computer, we printed it on 7 sheets of paper, front and back.  he chose a cover and i sewed the spine.  in all of about 15 minutes we had our tic tac toe book.

we played many games that day and since.  after studying past games, calvin now has a 'calvin strategy' that he uses to win and according to him it works most of the time.  my nephew already asked for one of his own.  

i am thinking that maybe a hangman book might be fun once calvin can read more words.  maybe for christmas?  i also saw this on pinterest and i am adding it to my christmas gift list for both kiddos.  

and yes i did just say (type) christmas.  i am determined not to be frantic the week of christmas this year.  i am starting now.  there are only 140 more making days before the big day after all :)

{this moment}

inspired by soulemama.

salads!

we have been eating salad every day and night around here. it is simply too hot to eat anything else. we mostly eat green salads but to mix it up a bit i have found a few great different salads that we are now making weekly around here.

the above photo is a raw asparagus salad. i found it via angrychicken.  i used  a whole onion but i pre-soaked it for about 15 minutes so the flavor wasn't too strong.  i also halved the amount of olive oil and vinegar after i made it the first time because it was super liquidy.  the kids love this one.  i am not a strong flavored cheese person, so i was hesitant to use pecorino but it was amazing!

we have also made this pasta salad (we have tons of cucumbers from the garden at the moment and i ran across this recipe that includes cucumber.  super refreshing!),  and the raw broccoli salad from wellgroundedlife's membership site.

*note all of these salads taste better when eaten outside, preferably at the shore :)

swiss chard

proof that if we grow it, they will eat it. today i had to say, "stop eating the swiss chard". for reals.

where's the veggies?

our garden is ripe with dark leafy greens and i am always looking for more ways to serve them.  my kids will eat leafy greens raw (which is so nice), but we produce more then they care to eat plain.  we make green smoothies every morning, an idea i got from my college roommate lisa.  ours consist of a handful of berries, half a banana, two tablespoons of plain greek yogurt, ~2 cups of greens (spinach, swiss chard, kale, whatever you have.  my kids like to mix greens), enough almond milk so that it is the right consistency, and a splash of orange juice.   

delicious!

i love raw greens, but i am not a fan of cooked greens.  i am not sure if i don't like them or if i just don't know how to cook them so that they taste good.  i am trying to work on this so when i was making tacos the other night, i decided to chop up some greens fairly small and add it to the ground turkey just after i browned it.  

ground turkey meat after i added the seasoning and cooked down the greens.

voila!  no one (especially not me) knew we were eating cooked greens.  win win!  in fact i actually think the meat tasted better.  yay for greens!

mud kitchen

i have been seeing so many inspirational mud kitchens over at let the children play, that i have been longing for one.  but since we are not living at home right now, i haven't been able to find a way to make one work for us.  then we went over to my friend roxanne's house and she created an amazing mud kitchen!  maeve loved it!  roxanne used freecycle to collect all of the necessary part and pieces.  her yard had lots of spare pine cones, rocks and sticks, perfect ingredients for a mud kitchen.

she also made a rock roll which maeve was not super interested in but i know calvin would love it.  i can't wait to make one at our house (someday)!  thanks for the inspiration roxanne!

vacation!

we just got back from a little vacation to the pacific northwest. it was beautiful and filled with family and relaxation. we rented a beautiful house right on devil's lake in oregon. it had its own dock, which was perfect for fishing.

we were close to the beach also. it was rather windy and cold at the beach though, so we were happy to just visit and head back to our house on the slightly warmer, a lot less windy lake.

then we drove up to seattle to see more family. it was beautiful there too, with just one day of typical seattle rainy gray-ness.  we made s'mores, had amazing sausage and delicious frozen yogurt.  the kids fell in love with their dog roxy.  she is a boston terrier and super cute!  (i have a feeling a boston is in our (distant) future...)

this trip was a wonderful way to start the summer!

solstice

it has become a tradition in our family that handmade gifts are exchanged on the solstices.  i love tradition and i love handmade so i could not be happier that this little ritual has become part of the fabric of our family.  this year calvin is super into batman so i made him a 'batman' bat appliqued shirt.  it was just batman enough and not so commercial.  he loved it!

for little miss maeve i made a pinafore, using the same pattern as last year but up-sized it a little (which i have no idea how to do, but i went for it anyway).  it fit perfectly!  she loved it too!  (sorry for the dark picture.. it was late)

i am desperately looking forward to a time of relaxing beach days and no schoolwork!  welcome summer! 

goodbye spring

we discussed the summer solstice as I made dinner.

Calvin got out markers and drew this picture.

i was welcoming summer but he was saying goodbye to spring.

a nice reminder to be in the moment instead of thinking about the next.

dinner was spend reflecting on our busy spring. it was quite a spring for us this year... filled with life and death, endings and beginnings, and lots of everyday happy, giggly, together time too.

goodbye spring, hello summer!

today

life has been a bit crazy lately and i have been a bit absent from this little blog.  i have a few things on my mind today so i thought i would post some links:

:: love love love pinterest!  i am addicted.  so is sam.  

:: @erikpatterson recommended this dearphotograph and i think that i have to participate...

:: dreaming of this artichoke comforter

::  anxiously awaiting the end of the school year and summer vacation to begin!

:: kind of wanting to get a faux tan but not sure if i really care, feeling like i should care

we are very into playing knights and princesses over here.  sometimes it is knights and pirates.  tonight calvin was protecting princess maeve from the evil knight (me) but princess maeve refused to move or be moved when i tried to capture her (she plays a very good princess...).  turns out screaming is a very good defense against evil knights.  i think our game needs a dragon.

...time...

changes

this has been a busy and emotional few weeks for us. hence the lack of blog postings. we moved into a little apartment for 6 months while we renovate our house. the renovation and dreaming about what our house will be like in half a year has been a oh so much fun. the apartment is okay, it is small but not too small. it has terrific morning light (as you can see in the photo above). the kids had a bit of a rough adjustment though, but it seems that in two weeks time we are settling into new spaces and new routines.

then my step-father passed away unexpectedly and it has thrown us for a loop. still feeling a mix of shock and denial and sadness. he was a amazing soul that put a smile on everyone's face that knew him. he always called me 'pumpkin baby' and occasionally 'curtain climber' and used his made up word 'bacocina' in place of tons of other nouns, just for fun.  he made amazing hamburgers and tacos.  he loved to go 'runnin'.  he will be missed by the many people that he knew and most of all his family.

happy mother's day

I found this picture today. it was tucked away in an old box and I happen to open that old dusty box today and find it.

i don't remember this day but I remember a poloroid taken just before or after this one that has hung on a small bulletin board in my mom's room for as long as I can remember. It was taken closer up, of just our faces mainly. but just like in this picture, we look really happy. warm sun and flowers surround us. maybe it was mother's day.

today is the same sort of day. sunny, flowery, beautiful and happy.

i am a very blessed mama.

easter baskets

the easter bunny had fun putting the kids easter baskets together this year.  calvin's had a super hero theme due to the fact that he is obsessed with super heroes.

his basket included a couple of batman books, batman toothbrush, spiderman pencils, some mama made pants, a pack of lizards, a little wooden pirate ship to color, a chocolate bunny and these little superhero guys.

maeve's basket was filled with things i thought she would like, no theme for her.  two books (marshmallow and the country bunny and little gold shoes), a rainbow play silk, piggy paint nailpolish and remover, a wooded horse to paint, a set of little clippies for her hair, princess pencils and mama made pants.

everything was put into the baskets from last year.  i love the thick felt and fringed grass of the baskets.  overall it was a successful easter filled with family, good food and chocolate!