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.