Flower Girl

E was asked to be the flower girl, and her buddy Asher the ring barer for the wedding of some close family friends. She loved getting all gussied up; wearing a twirly dress and sparkly shoes. She took the job very seriously and scowled at Asher as he plunged his little hand into her flower basket trying to help scatter the petals, and was viciously signing and mouthing the word 'no' to him during the ceremony whenever he got understandably a little wiggly.

Cheese Lovers Only

When I saw the Beechers Flagship at Costco this week I knew it must be close...Seattle Cheese Festival coming May 16 & 17! Beechers has won a very warm spot in my heart. The local owner Kurt Dammeier is the father of one of my past students, and I just love that this family is doing so well, and I was thrilled to see him featured on Martha Stewart last year with his impecable product.

October 16th

Where the Wild Things Are movie (currently unrated) will be coming out this October...watch the trailer here.

(thanks Anna)

Keeping Track

Mobile phones and video conferencing has really changed the face of touring for families, but still, telling E her daddy will be gone for 6+ weeks is a little nebulous so we've been finding ways to keep track of where D is, and how much longer until we see him in person again...a little math and geography in our day.

(mapping it out)

(a link for each day left...30)

Girl Talk

So, this morning I got my 30 week update from babycenter.com, they send a weekly e-mail with information on how the baby is developing, and other pregnancy related issues. I read bits of it to E occasionally, and she really enjoys seeing the sketch of the developing baby. This morning I enlarged the sketch and was pointing out a few points of interest: "Here's my uterus, it keeps our 'Buddy' safe (still haven't come up with a name), here's the placenta it helps make 'food' for him, here's the umbilical cord and that's how he gets his food," etc. Then I quickly summarized how he'll travel when he's ready to come out. The end. I really want to be careful about how much information she really needs, and don't want to make anything scary for her.


Well, nearly 12 hours later as she's sitting on the potty for the last time before going to bed she yells to me in the other room; "Mom?! Do I have a uterus?"

Deep breath.

"Yes," I answered as she rounded the corner. "But it's not ready to be a house for a baby yet." "Yeah," she replied, "Mines just medium sized." She then proceeded to think of many of the girls she knows and confidently listed them off as owners of a uterus; "Mabel has one, Hazel has one, even Inger (her 5-week-old cousin) has one." Then I patted my big belly and reminded her that when we visit our midwife the part she get's to help with is measuring my uterus.

These types of conversations come up without warning sometimes, and I didn't think we were ready to delve into them so soon, but I guess with a baby brother coming it makes sense and I'm happy to provide her with the appropriate words.

Animal Addict

If you ask E what she wants to be when she grows up, she'll answer with resounding certainty, "A zoologist," and it's really staggering the information that little noggin retains. Each visit to the zoo or aquarium she stores up some little animal fact and recalls it when we revisit...and often feels compelled to share it with the innocent and unsuspecting bystander. She's got piles and piles of National Geographic books she flips through and repeatedly asks to have read to her, and she's always been a 'stuffed animal kid,' versus a 'baby doll kid.' Her favorite game of late is 'I'm thinking of an animal,' (basically 20 questions animal style) and she's learned how to correctly classify just about any creature (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species), and we're on our second round of watching her all time favorite series: Planet Earth.

Weekend of Sweet Treats

So not everything sweet consists of sugar, right?

(E: 4 1/2, L: 8 mos.)

We had a lovely end to our week with family and friends, and some sugar thrown in for good measure. Auntie Karlee and Laila spent most of Thursday with us cheering E on in her final gymnastics class of the session, which was rewarded with a trip to Trophy Cupcakes!

(ta-da)

(vanilla vanilla w/a blue parasol)

We're also trying to break up the monotony at home with D gone (it's my experience that the busier I stay, the quicker time passes) and were invited to spend Friday night over at the Many's. Jen and I got in a real girl's night out, while the kids played and watched a movie with a sitter. Later in the day on Saturday E and I met up with all of them for pizza and a trip to Molly Moon's for ice cream. The line snaked all around the store and out the door (on a chilly March evening no less), but our patience was rewarded with sinfully delicious scoops of salted carmel, coconut chunk, and blood orange sorbet.

(outside looking in)

The Incredible (In)edible Egg

I don't know how many of you enjoy a hard cooked egg, and furthermore how many of you have tried to hard cook an egg as of late, but it seems impossible! The shell seems glued to the innards, leaving you with a mangled mess. With the market flooded with organic, omega3 and cage free versions I wonder if maybe somewhere along the production line of the old 'standard' white eggs they were adding something to make shelling easier?
Well, anyhow I actually looked up the recipe for hard boiling eggs in several cookbooks, tried them all and settled somewhere in the middle. So, if you're cooking up real eggs for this Easter's hunt, or just looking forward to sitting down to a high protein lunch or breakfast; here's my tried (over and over) and true method for cooking those suckers up.

• Place eggs in pan, cover with cool water, place on heating element and bring to a rolling boil
• Once it reaches a boil add 1/4 tsp - 1/2 tsp of salt
• Simmer for 12 minutes
• Turn off heat and let stand for 1 minute 30 seconds
  
• Remove eggs and place in an ice water bath to completely cool
• Eat or Refrigerate
  

Cute Cousins

As our regular time with Mabel during the week is drawing to a close (can't believe we only have a few more days). I thought I'd take advantage of their smiling faces and the matching outfits Grandma and Grandpa sent a while back (they finally fit).

Happy St. Patty's Day

A warm batch of cranberry scones with bright green vanilla icing surprised E this morning.

Hallway Handiwork

(before)

(E get's her chance to paint on the walls)

(midway)

(makeshift scaffolding for our 3-story entryway)

(yours truly; Tweedle Dee)

I really can't believe it took us this long to finally make our hallway look nice. When we moved into our 1960's home nearly 4 years ago it was bathed in this horrific peach paint...everywhere. They clearly stopped at the 50% off paint table at Home Depot before they put it up on the market. When we got into the house we did a lot of work, but ran out of gas before we hit the entry/hallway, and they've been standing that way ever since.

So with a little fire lit under us (baby coming) we tackled the nursery and the afore mentioned hall and entry. I framed up some photo's, D threw up a new lighting fixture and mirror and it feels so much better. We still have a few more prints to hang and we'll eventually pull up the carpet, refinish the hardwoods, scrape the popcorn ceilings, and replace the doors but I am totally happy right now to leave it as is for a while. I'm gonna have to do a "to be continued" on the nursery as it's still a disaster and not even close to being finished, but we've got time.


p.s. please don't worry when you see me holding that paintbrush, we bought the crazy expensive Zero VOC no odor paint...

Snowy Mornings

I know there have been quite a few posts about the snow this last winter, but truthfully I can't remember a winter with so many sporadic downpours. Our home is located to the north of the city so it's a bit colder this direction, and let's just be honest; if it's gonna be cold enough to snow, it might just as well let go and do it, huh? It doesn't last long, and will likely turn to a slushy-rain mix and melt away by tomorrow. So we take advantage of the show, fling back the curtains and add the spectacle to our living room landscape.

E usually scarfs down her breakfast, asks me to get her snowsuit and boots down (which have been washed and packed away since the last flurry; I always think "This is the last one...") and scurries outside to build snow lions and snow elephants (apparently the old standard snow man has lost it's luster). She'll emerge at our backdoor about an hour later wet and chilly and then we'll spend the rest of the day in p.j.'s, build a fire, and likely bake up some yummy treat, and today a batch of wassail.