abelskiver off

Marfie and Tall House, Double Cup have been trash talking about their abelskiver making skills. THDC makes them for us every Christmas morning - always sweet, but Marf was experimenting with prosciutto and Gruyere. So who would prevail?

Joined by Auntie B and Erik - four entered the battle and we are happy to report everyone won a prize:

Best Looking Chef: Marfie

Best Looking Abelskivers: Erik

Best Tasting Abelskivers: THDC (nutella rocks!)

Best Freshman Abelskivers: Auntie B

Here are the happy recipients.

knitalong

I got a bit of time to myself this weekend and zipped down to Abundant Yarn in Sellwood for the lovely Larissa's book signing. Knitalong is such a unique, stylish, and utterly Portland kind of knitting book. I was so excited to get my book signed by Larissa and her co-author husband. I don't know which project I'll do first. I was lucky to win a door prize - a huge skein of hand-painted sock wool from Chile - so gorgeous. I also picked up some bright, cheery Cascade Sierra cotton for a Little Red Riding Hood sweater for Little Miss.

hosting a Newbery Award winner

I don't post about work very often - even though it's a huge part of my life and I can't imagine working anywhere other than the library and doing exactly what I do . . . but I wanted to share some pictures from our special event last night - the 11th annual Children's Author Lecture. It began in 1998 and since the first lecture - which Lois Lowry inaugurated, we've hosted Patricia Pollaco, Sharon Creech, Christopher Paul Curtis, Jack Gantos, Richard Peck, Patricia Reilly Giff, Katherine Paterson, Kate DiCamillo, and Avi. This is one of my biggest projects for work each year and I have the lucky job to pick the author, plan the event and work with a really fun committee to pull the event off.
Over 900 kids, parents, teachers and children's lit fans joined us - and I swear nearly all of them came to the book signing as well. We sold SO many books - hardcovers were flying off the booksale table - which thrills me since our program gets a 10% kick-back from the sale towards next year's program.
Lois Lowry is an amazing speaker. She shared photos from her early childhood and showed how she wove in bits of her entire life into her very popular and critically acclaimed books. It really says a lot that on the same night that Steven Sondheim was in town and speaking a block away, we still sold out the house - children's literature is alive in Portland!


And we made Lois's blog. If you double click on the class picture, you'll see me and Marian in the back row - we were desperate to make her blog. Very silly.

batter up

E started t-ball tonight - his first team practice. Tall House, Double Cup and I were both excited and slightly giddy. THDC played serious baseball as a kid and as we sat in the light rain, he couldn't help but remember all of the time he spent playing baseball in the Oregon rain.

Afterward, E said he liked catching the ball the best. He also got to try on the catcher mask which he said was really heavy. He was the last up to bat and got to run in all of the bases. I had to keep stopping myself from cheering too loud - it was only practice and supposed to be mellow.

But it is so delightful to see him jump onto home base. What a slugger!

needing a sigh of relief

I've been too busy at work to make time at night to blog. We were deep in the middle of Every Family Reads and Children's Author Lecture and after getting everyone fed, washed, in jammies, read to and sleepig, I fell into bed each night in utter exhaustion. Tomorrow will be one more incredibly long work day as I host Newbery winner Lois Lowry at the library. A big sigh of relief and a facial to celebrate.

Until I am back in full force blogging mode just a bit of Em cheesecake from her 9 month appointment. She's still off the charts tall and round. My glamazon!

beach weeked

I am still in shock over the j.lo news. But I'll just pretend it never happened and detail our weekend.

We were lucky enough to get some sun at the beach. We stayed in Arch Cape for the first time - it's a quirky little place between Cannon Beach and Manzanita.

We slept, read, watched movies, poked around the beach towns and took the kidlets on a hike in Oswald West State Park to Short Sands Beach - where all the surfers go. I am in awe that they carry in their boards that far - no cars allowed. And the walk was worth it -truly beautiful and remote feeling. We also hit Haystack Rock at low tide and saw starfish, sea anemones, baby crabs, and lots of other moving things we didn't know the names of.

say it ain't so

I've been offline all weekend at the beach and just came home to see the news about J. Lo's new twin's baby names - Max and Emme. EMME. ugh. How could she? She must read my blog.

duo obsession

Another hat and legwarmer set for Little Miss. I can't stop making these. This set done in Socks That Rock yarn - I'm not sure the name of the colorway as it was a gift from Larissa when Em was born. She knit the sweetest bonnet and gave me the rest of the yarn for another project. As a knitter, I have to say, it was my favorite baby gift. Thanks Larissa!
We are off to the beach for the weekend - all of us are craving the ocean. The forecast looks like rain but we don't care. The raincoats, wine and diapers are packed.

garnet hill sweater done

I finished Em's garnet hill sweater - it's pink and soft and wooly in a good way. And I made it big so it should my glamazon girl next winter.

bustin out

Little Miss is an amazon. She's huge - off the charts tall and a total chunk - especially in her legs. I've been holding on to way too many 6-12 month clothes - sentimentality and the fact that she's worn only about half of them. I couldn't resist a photo shoot with this sweet little t-shirt our friends gave her before I have to put it away. I am saving up her most treasured outfits to make her a quilt and this little bird will definitely make the fabric cut. This week Em's really into chatting with her "ah ah ah" sound and pulling herself up to standing position. She likes to pull E's hair and is in training for a diaper crawl derby. Her sweet sleeping stance has been out of wack since she got her teeth - she's up at least twice a night so Tall House, Double Cup and I are trading night duty. It's not pretty. But she sure is.

why no posts?

I've been going through some sort of blogging cycle where I never seem to have the camera close, when we are just doing our little daily routine and when I don't get around to blogging. But I did record a little of our weekend including . . . .

E's teeny tiny theater performance. This was Owl Babies and E was the oldest sister Sarah Owl. He was insanely hyper and we couldn't understand word he said. I love this picture of his teacher with her hands firmly planted on his shoulders (yes, he was "that" kid this time).

On Saturday all four of us went swimming for hours in the afternoon. E can totally swim on his own now - even on the lazy river and down the huge slide - though I have to admit I was secretly scared to death the whole time. Little Miss is water baby and kicked her legs the entire time. Afterwards E had his first taste of Dairy Queen. The boy's had gelato all over pdx but never an old fashioned soft serve. He couldn't pick just one so we let him indulge in both a dipped cone and grape slushy.

Finally, yesterday was all about the Oscars. The Cedros clan came over and we sipped champagne and watched the red carpet arrivals on three channels while the kidlets played. Marfie and I talked about live blogging our reactions to dresses but it was enough to drink, verbally critique and occasionally peek over to make sure no child was choking. Little Miss was all about running (or crawling) with the big kids and has confirmed that Sam is the best kisser.

I know how much Jonesie loves watching the video of Emme laughing so here is one more for him. . .

i'll eat you up I love you so

My favorite line from Where The Wild Things Are is when Max tells his mama, "I'll eat you up, I love you so." If I could get a good shot of Em's thighs you'd feel the same way. Every time I attempt a picture, she doesn't stop kicking - so I have lots of blurry shots of skin in motion. Now that she's crawling everywhere and pulling herself up to stand, I was worried the chub was going to disappear but luckily, at the same time she's figured out how to eat finger food and is getting plenty of sustenance. Tofu, lentils, and corn puffs are her favorite. We'd had to start stripping her down at mealtimes because there is nothing dainty about her eating. She continues to wow us every day.

sunny day

We got exactly what we needed yesterday - a family day full of sun and outside activities. It wasn't actually warm but if you stood in just the right spot, you could feel the rays penetrating your skin.
We took the kidlets to E's favorite park for a picnic and lots of playtime and then went on a hike from the park on the kid friendly MAC trail to the Rose Garden - nothing was blooming of course, but it is still such a pretty place.
Em loved the backpack. She kept a tight grip on Papa's hair on the hike.
Em also tried out the swing for the first time and loved it. I love seeing E push her in the video - he hasn't quite mastered the skill of staying in one place while pushing but he loves playing with his baby sis.
It was a great day,

may the force be with you

E's been into Star Wars for over a year - all based on books and playing pretend since he hadn't seen the movie. We finally sat down together and watched it - with lightsaber in hand. He loved it and only got a little scared from the eerie music now and then. Don't be alarmed - Little Miss didn't watch the movie. She was asleep in minutes.

happy valentine's day

For some crazy reason I thought I could easily get our v-day picture this morning before we all headed out the door. Silly Mama. I did get some good outakes though. I'm going to hope Em doesn't get any food or spitup on her cute shirt and that E stays away from the glitter glue at school so we can try again tonight.
We are celebrating with champagne, a special dinner, cupcakes from St. Cupcake and presents for everyone.
I asked E early this morning if he'd be my Valentine and he sleepily said, "I'll think about it."

kindergarten roundup

Tall House, Double Cup and I went to E's kindergarten roundup. I was excited and nervous and totally wired. Kindergarten seems like such a big step - even though he's been in preschool for years and is as tall as a second grader. I was actually worried about what to wear and how to get to know the other parents. sheesh.
It turned out to be fantastic! I knew our local school was a great elementary school - it's one of the main reasons we bought our house. But we were relying on stats and graphs to tell us this. At the roundup we got to see it in person. Organized administrators who willingly say "Call or email me anytime." Sweet, creative, eager kindergarten teachers who light up when they learn I am a children's librarian. And a school library so lovely it would make you weep. I am feeling very positive about next year. I am relieved and thankful I don't have to enter the lottery process that lots of our friends do to be satisfied with our school. It feels like joining a club or something. I can't wait to share all of the pictures I took with E. Yeah for kindergarten!

go baby go!

Em is on the move. Over the past week she's gone crazy for crawling - all of a sudden she can get across the room in seconds. She's most interested in the kitty's water glass and food! She also excels at a downward dog yoga move. It's amazing but I feel a little wistful for my teeny baby. All of a sudden she has three chompers, is chewing food and can't be left on the bed. This morning she was hanging out in the bathrom with me and crawled right into the shower while I was rinsing the shampoo out of my hair. She can't be stopped!

nana's here

We'vealready had our nails done, went to IKEA and the movies! You know Nana's in town when all the fun happens. E is looking forward to a day home alone with Nana - "you mean, no babies?" They are getting a day together while Emme goes to school and the next day, Emme gets Nana all to herself. Lucky Nana!

neck warmer project

My lovely co-worker Dulsanna supplied me with bulk wheat to make a new microwavable neck wrap. I'd been using the same one for years and finally the buckwheat had been overheated too many times and I started smelling like burnt oatmeal cookies everytime I used it.
Enter Dulsanna and her very cool home storage of wheat. I added some of my own lavender (picked from my yard and at the beach in Manzanita) and whipped up a new one - using very soft leftover fabric from my bedroom curtains. Next up - little lavender wheat inserts for our slippers.

illness still present

We can't seem to get our kids well. One gets sent home from school one day and the next it's the other. On the day they stay home, they don't seem really sick so there is lots of boredom and lots of me and Tall House, Double Cup juggling our schedules so one of us can stay home.
I haven't gotten a lot of knitting done but the more I blog about it, the more I'll be inspired to make time. This is a very simple sweater for Little Miss - for the first time I am embroidering and adding some knit flowers which is coming out quite lovely.
I love to knit but sewing up projects is my least favorite part. I know there are services at yarn stores to do this part, but that kind of seems like cheating. So I'll just have to buckle down, dope everyone up with tylenol, and get to work.

quit smoking

The best thing about quitting Diet Coke (5 weeks - holla!) is that it inspired my dad to quit smoking. I can't think of anything better for our family than Jonesie quitting smoking. He is E's best friend and we need him healthy and smelling nice into his golden years.
For the past year, E's been very concerned about his Jonesie smoking. He wanted to follow him outside when he would go out to smoke and he occassionally would pretend to sell cigarettes at his "store." So the news about Jonesie quitting was SO good. E now thinks everyone should quit and has started making "quit smoking" signs. "Let's go to places that sell cigarettes and write on the signs, 'Oppsie, we were wrong. Smoking is bad,' and then leave our sign there."
We haven't started targeting gas stations yet but this sign is hanging in our kitchen. And he announced Jonesie's quitting to his class at school. You can do it Jonesie!

super bowl

E and I made our first stadium cake using the mold from Willams-Sonoma. The shape came out really strong with lots of definition - you really could tell it's a football stadium. E taste tested all of the candies we decorated with and the kids at the party all clamoured to dig in. Next time we might try green-tinted coconut for the field.

this little face says it all

It's been a rough week of coughing, sneezing, dripping and teething. Em's face says it all. We just have to get better eventually, right? Luckly, E has the strongest immune system ever and he just plugs along with a cough - but the rest of us would all like our own personal nurse. Nana - help!