three milestones

E had three milestones this weekend:

He frosted and decorated his first cake all by himself - one for THDC for Father's Day at local bakery.

He signed himself up for Summer Reading at the Library (I was so proud!).

And he started his first Harry Potter book ever! We are going to read one together every summer so he'll be 11 when he finishes the series - perfect! And then he can start over again. I took this picture right before we started the book - I'll take a picture every year when we start the next book.

finished object

I finally finished one of my crafty projects - I've had several in progress knitting and sewing piles going this spring. This is a sweet combination of knitting and sewing and the result is a very sweet sundress for Little Miss. You can get the pattern from KarthrynIvy.






As soon as I finished it, I started another one. It's so satisfying.

happy father's day

We had a lovely Father's Day - celebrating Tall House, Double Cup in all his glory. We went out to breakfast at Zell's, the boys took the submarine tour at OMSI, and we went to dinner at our friends' house and ended the night with E playing on Wi for the first time (he talked of nothing else the whole way home). It was a good day to celebrate our best Papa. Love you so! Picture outtakes below.

summer fun 2008

Last summer was truly the best of my life - the first summer I wasn't working since I was 15 - home with my sweet new baby - and no huge agenda of what I needed to do. Each day came and went in the loveliest rhythm. I've been thinking about last summer a lot as we start this summer - how can it compare? I am starting a new job July 1 as the School Age Services Manager at our library and getting ready to chair the Newbery Award next year - which is totally exciting - but now more than ever, I need to keep a clear delineation between home and work so I don't lose this very precious time with E and Em. Sometimes I look at my kids and think, "this is it . . . they adore us and want to spend time with us. It will end eventually." So I want to make the most of it and really focus my energy on the moment that I am in. BE with my family when we are together - no computer, no email, no cell phone. And then BE at work when I am there - really focusing on the exciting projects and people I get to work with.

This is a long way of saying that I've decided to make summer 2008 an intentionally SUPER fun summer - packed with all of the awesome things Portland offers. I've got our calendars packed with things we want to do. Calling all pdx friends - if you see anything on the list below you want to try, call us - we'll make a date. And with intention, we'll make this a super fun summer!

Summer Fun list:

Movies in the Park - E will see E.T. for the first time outside in a beautiful Portland park
Concerts in the Park
Oregon Symphony in the Park
Itty Bitty Beach Party
Farmer's markets
Neighborhood block party
Eastmoreland 4th of July parade
Preschool morning at Oaks Park
Drive-in movie
Kruger's Farm concerts
Convert our garden shed into a playhouse
Go berry picking
Stay at Timberline Lodge
See Captain Bogg and Salty
Swim lessons
Central Library Summer Reading Block Party
Dive-in movies at the pool
Washington Park plays and dance exhibitions
Beavers baseball games

What are you doing this summer? Any can't-miss things I've left off the list?

duo at the doctor

E and Em were at the doctor's yesterday. E to get an x-ray of his foot (nothing broken -just a sprain - though now he wants to be a radiologist!) and Em for her one year check-up. Here are our glamazon's stats:

Weight: 27 lbs 3 oz (105 percentile)

Height: 31 inches (95 percentile)

Holy bouncy baby!

she looks harmless but . . .

she spent the Sunday and Monday night screaming every ten minutes in her sleep from a combination of teething and head cold. I can only laugh about it now that Tall Double, Double Cup is back in town. Whenever he travels for work it seems like we go through something like this. I did whip up a bindery/ibuprofen cocktail that helped us all sleep until 4 :30am this morning. THDC is back in town and ready to take her on tonight. I've already had a hot bath and huge glass of wine - ready for wicked sleep.

peony envy

One of my lilacs overgrew my tree peony, causing just one lovely bloom to make it this year. Instead of reveling in my pretty peonies, I have to make due with Martha Stewart's peony album. She has something like over 700 peony plants at her NY home. No lilacs to get in the way .

closing day ceremonies

Saturday was E's final t-ball game and closing ceremonies. I got some good action shots of E and you can see him beaming over his medal - he didn't take it off for 36 hours. Tall House, Double Cup was the assistant coach for the team and I know it really meant a lot for E to share that with him. THDC is going to be the head coach next year and is already recruiting for them team. I am advocating for E to get more playing time on his favorite positions but THDC says that really goes against coaching ethics. hmmm. I'm willing to bend those.

p is for party

We had blast with Em's first birthday. She owned the day with smiles and utter awe at the big kids celebrating with her.
Carrot cake doesn't make for the dramatic smash-in-face picture but is was pretty.
Here she is with some of her loot - a perfect baby doll, pink bouncy ball and jump rope.
I am still saying over and over to myself, "she's a year old - a year old!"

happy birthday to little miss

Happy Birthday Little Miss!

You are 1 today! We can't believe you have already been in our life for a year. You make everyday a great joy and are loved with every ounce of our being. You are my sweet nini nani noonoo.

birthday peonies

God, I love peonies. They really are the best ever flower and the fact that they show up at the market right around my birthday makes me even happier. I've written before about my affinity for lilacs since they always bloomed in Wisconsin around my birthday. Now peonies can be Em's flower - always at her birthday. sigh. sniff.

junior rose festival parade

Every year the library enters a Summer Reading float in the Jr. Rose Festival Parade - the nation's largest kids parade. Each year I sort of dread it but then when we actually march, it's great.

This was the first year that E marched with us and he loved it. He waved to the crowd almost the whole route and took it very seriously. He saw three t-ball teammates and felt very cool to be in the parade.

Here's a video of E in the parade:

a lovely birthday

I had a lovely, lovely birthday with a new guitar from Tall House, Double Cup (look out Oh Susannah), another year of Martha Stewart Living from my in-laws, moolah for some new frocks fom my parents and a lovely dinner out with Marfie, Auntie B and the kidlets. Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate the start of my 37th year!

Here are some pictures from dinner. The boys and girls have matchy-matchy outfits but I was off bit on my picture game so you have to squint to tell.

sweet bath baby

We are counting down the days until Em turns 1. We are lucky that she loves the bath so she takes one almost every day - our little water baby.
Video below:

gardening assistant

So I just blogged about my "finished" gardening - and a new development is on the scene - the appearance of my gardening assistant - Em.
She starts off eyeing the plants from a distance.
Inspects the watering can.
And tries to prune the newly planted flowers. Yikes! Hopefully the garden can tolerate Em's green thumb.

garden progress

All of my plants are in for the summer. The hosta swath that we planted last year is looking very good. I went with lots of red plants for my planters - I found a bunch of different red coleus that are gorgeous - high hopes for those. And I bought my hanging planters - full of red and purplely/blue. I am feeding everything once a week in May and then sending them off on their own for the rest of the summer. A working mama only has so much to give to the yard.

lego club

E really wants to get his picture and lego creations into the Lego Club magazine. He gets the magazine each month and reads it obsessively.
We've started documenting his pieces - looking for just the right one. Here are our first two pieces - a power boat and a beach scene.

two pink beauties

In the past my favorite pink beauty was the lipstick pink peony - it couldn't be beat, but now my favorite is definitely Em. It's her perfect color. She is SO close to walking.

market happiness

Peonies and strawberries - the Portland Farmer's Market is in full swing - evidenced by a crowd at 9am - people, please sleep in and let us feel like early birds at 9am.

It was a gorgeous morning of hanging out with friends, eating yum-yums and trying to get a picture of all four monkeys together.

happy birthday Marfie

Happy Birthday Marfie!
We celebrated Marfie's significant birthday with a surprise party on Saturday night filled with family and friends and wine and champagne and cake and cookies. The party was inspired by all things Marfie - so of course, it was fabulous. Auntie B made this amazing photo collage and I think the picture in the middle of Marf holding the kransakake waitress style is the picture that sums up Marf most for me - it is just so HER.
E - who loves her very much - read a poem for her (borrowed from one Jonesie wrote him):

Dear Martha,
Roses are red
Violets are purple
You are so sweet
And so is maple syruple

Love, E.


Marfie -you really are the best. So much fun to be around, such a loyal and true friend, and a very loving mama. Happy birthday!

can't get away from this story

I have to admit, every time I see a news story online, on tv or in the paper about the earthquake in China, I've been turning my eyes. My heart is breaking over and over for the parents of all of the children who died while in childcare or at school. The NYTimes this morning had a cover picture so tender, so painful that I was in tears while waiting for my coffee. Every time I think of Em and her gorgeous chubby thighs and instant smile when she sees us, I feel that stab of parental love that is beautiful and yet achy all at once. My friend Marian told me once that the art of parenting is the art of letting go. I find that to be very true and I hate it - all the more so because anything as wonderful as the love you have with your children is the thing you want to hold SO tightly to - but raising whole, self-sufficient, happy children requires you to not hold tight.
I've been repeating an Eckhart Tolle mantra from his book The Power of Now to help keep me in the moment of feeling that consuming love for my children, rather than imagining the pain of losing them - you don't have yesterday, you don't have tomorrow, you only have this moment.

I have to say it a lot to not think about the parents in China.

Ev's photos

Mother's Day was perfectly perfect - out to breakfast at Broder, walking around the zoo, I read my book while Emme napped and finally, a bike ride with Ev. Tall House, Double Cup orchestrated a truly lovely day. Thank you!

I am MOST excited about my new bike - and the new trailer bike we got for Ev. We are still putting the final touches on connecting the two - but let me give you this exciting preview - two Martha Stewart colors, a coordinating helmet and bell, fenders (!) and a basket on order. Oh happy day! on to the real topic of this post . . .

Ev is really into taking photos. He is dying for his own digital camera - little does he know, Tall House, Double Cup just got him one - we are just waiting for a milestone or great behavior moment to gift it to him. He took these pictures one afternoon - I love seeing what he sees through the camera.