generation day at school

Today was one of E's school spirit days - generation day - dress from the 60's, 70's, or 80's.
E went with the 80's preppy look - double polo and spiky hair. He kept saying, "I'm peppy" instead of "I'm a preppy."
You can't imagine how much product is in his stick-straight hair to make it do this.
He met a young 80's Madonna on the way into school.

valentine's happiness

It just seemed like Valentine's was extra special this year - because it fell on a Saturday? because we had heart-shaped pancakes? because we celebrated with dear, dear friends? Must be all of it. The kids had a super great time and Em and Moo looked fabu in their matchy-match dresses. It will be hard to top this one.

getting ready for valentine's day

We are busy getting ready for Valentine's Day at our house. A small factory line for signing class cards, a little bit of personalized cards and lots of anticipation for Nana and Jonesie's Valentine's Day box.
I admired sweet heart crafts on my favorite blogs this year but didn't get very artistic myself. We'll express ourselves with purchased presents, heart-shaped pancakes and lots of wine tomorrow.

chipping away at the scarf

Nothing is moving fast in my creative life but I have been making slow progress on the new granny scarf. My next step is deciding how to link them all together (crochet? sew with yarn? sew on the machine?) and what kind of border to put on the edge.

so unexpected and g.o.o.d

Through Facebook I discovered a boy I went to high school with and lived just blocks from in little old Wisconsin also lives in pdx, just a few miles from me - and has since 96! Very fun. He's a sculpture and gallery owner and I hit an opening at his place, Good, last week. It was good. The whole thing is good. And unexpected. He's the first person from my graduating class that I've really seen as a true adult. I loved that I could see the 17-year-old I knew in his adult face! And what fun to see where he ended up in life.
Here are some shots from the opening. I was a bit of a shy photographer since I had just reintroduced myself to Scott after nearly 2o years. But the sweet teeny space is lovely and the crowd was tres cool.

super sunny day

We soaked in the sun and hit the park with Ev and Em yesterday. Em was feeling very independent and playful which made for a great outing.

She even lost her binky about 15 minutes into the trip - true independence for her.

he got game, sorta

E's in his third week of basketball season. I want to write and explain in great detail how he's doing but I'll let the video below say it all.

sassy pants

Emme continues to grow grow grow. All of a sudden she's lost some of the rolls on her legs and is looking more long and lanky like her big brother rather than rolly polly. She is a great eater - loving edamame, blueberries, raisins, egg whites, tofu, broccoli, all things tomato, cheese, and more. She is nearly an exclusive water drinker so we have to make up the calcium in her food. She only tolerates about 10 minutes in her high chair and then really wants to stand on the bench in the booth with her brother - but then things get a little crazy with food flying around.

my kid is eating that?

I have been a little blind to what E is actually eating at school every day for lunch. We started the year with bringing cold lunch every Tuesday and Thursday but with our insane mornings of getting everyone up and out the door on time before the workday starts, I started slacking.

E had been complaining a bit about being really, really hungry at school so I joined E for lunch at school last week and finally saw in person the reality of school lunch. The sum total I found was carbs and sugar with a little milk (1% not skim which is best for kids). On this particular day, for some reason, the lunchroom told the kids they could take two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. These were pre-made and packaged, on white bread, with 16 grams of fat per sandwich. The school lunch calendar had said they were having mini cheese pizzas ( I haven't asked yet what was up with the packaged pbjs). He added frozen applesauce (not sugar free) and "fruit bits" which really are like gummy candies. ugh. I am surprized he isn't in a carb coma by 2pm.

So this motivated me to get off my ass about making lunch - either in the morning or the night before. E will eat great good when it's in front of hims - on his own . . . well you can see what he picked. Today I sent E off with a thermos of hot organic tomato bisque with orzo pasta, half a turkey and swiss on flatbread, baby carrots, a frozen yogurt and a gluten-free peanut butter granola bar. I also hit Trader Joe's and filled up on easy lunchy items to help mix it up everyday.

I just want to acknowledge and pass on my admiration to my friends and fellow mamas who make their kids' lunch every day - and even did at preschool. I am joining your ranks and have lots to learn.

supposed cocktail of the year

Tall House, Double Cup and our neighbors have been talking about Manhattans for several weeks.

The guys read that someone named them the hot cocktail of 2009, we decided to do a recipe testing. THDC picked out two different approaches - one from our favorite bar, 820, and another he found online.

Both were wickedly alcoholic! I am too used to those girlie Lemon Drops and Cosmos to really appreciate straight liquor. In the end, we all liked the second recipe better. The guys went on for a couple more while the girls switched to lighter fare. We wanted to be awake after 8pm.

sweet bath babies

Is there anything better than your sweet kidlets in the bath? Maybe snuggling with a post-bath sweetie after a lavender oil massage? Or sniffing their sweet necks after they fall asleep? Obviously I am dwelling in kidlet love tonight. Em video below:

get reading

While the terms of being Newbery chair prevent me from getting to blog in any detail about my experience, I can share that our year has started and we met for the first time in Denver. My 14 committee members are from all over the U.S. are public librarians, school librarians and professors. I gave each a little getting started present - a set of Tazo tea - Awake and Calm - we'll need to be both this year.

I'll be able to keep the "what I'm reading" section on my blog but can't comment on any kind of reading list, suggestions, nominations, etc. I am really looking forward to the year and feel the enormity of finding a great book to share with young readers.

Here is a shot of our committee at Denver - we won't look this rested next January in Boston!

valentine's day dresses

Over the weekend I finished matching Valentine's Day dresses for Em and Moo. We are joining the Cedros clan for a Valentine's night party and I thought the girls would look so sweet in matching dresses. This is a basic pillowcase dress with a special neck sash to glam it up. The nice thing about this design is that it transitions easily into a shift or shirt.

I bought the fabric at BOLT - since they so kindly donated to our school auction. What a lovely, lovely shop. Here are the two fabrics up close. Super bright, happy, not overly Valentine-y and utterly Moo and Em.

emme in picture books

I had never heard the name Emmeline - or had it actually sink into my consciousness until Marci suggested it after I shared my agony over choosing between Emma and Madeline for my daughter. Of course, I had a one year-old boy at the time and knew it would be years before we tried again - I like things decided.
But in just the last two years, Emmeline is popping up all over children's books. I've been collecting titles, and even though none of them spell our girl's name like we do, I think she'll still like them . . . .

The Faceless Fiend (Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones) by Howard Whitehouse
Emmaline and the Bunny by Katherine Hannigan (comes out in March - I am reading it in galley).

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
The Mouse of Amherst by Elizabeth Spires (not brand new but I just realized the mouse's name is Emmeline.

If you see anymore children's books with Emmeline as a main character, please let me know!

class quilt

I've been working on E's kindergarten class project for the school auction. It's a quilt called Happiness - with each square drawn by a student in the class showing what makes them happy. It's been so much fun to work on with some of the other class moms.

Bolt - up on Alberta - donated much of the supplies and I am in love with the "happy" colors.

sweethearts

It would be easy to be jealous of the sweet love between these two but they are just the most joyous pair together. Em is so happy with her Dada. Her eyes follow him everywhere in the room and when he steps out just to get rid of the garbage, she is waiting at the door for his return. I love to get photos of them together - I hope they are always like this.

a case of the stripes

Em's got a case of the stripes. I knit this dress for Moo several years ago - Marfie returned it for Em and I paired it with a pair of Moo's hand-me-down tights. I have to admit to loving to dress Little Miss up in her little outfits.

swim swim

We hit the pool again this weekend. E is a fish and we hope Em becomes one too. We didn't plan to take her down the huge twisty water slide but she was totally up fo it. In the video below, you can see as soon as she hits the water with her papa she starts doing the baby sign language sign for "more". She couldn't get enough.

back to school

E went back to school after nearly three weeks of being away. If he didn't already have a reputation as being the tallest kindergartner, now his black eye has really gotten some attention.
The weather did not only a number on our work and holiday life - but also to E's social life. Birthday parties were rescheduled, school holiday celebrations didn't happen . . . so E's lovely, sweet teacher dedicated today to jammies and books. I read bedtime books to the kids (they loved that I wore jammies too!) and got to see all of their sweet pjs and cuddle friends. E was thrilled to bring Scabbers along to school. Hopefully, the kids in aftercare won't give him too hard of a time for wearing his jam jams.

e's shiner

In the middle of a big Wii tennis practice session, E slipped on our basement carpet and landed head first on the edge of a low cabinet - getting an instant black eye and cut. The blood wasn't too bad but both of us were scared. Now he is sporting a big shiner, just in time to go back to school tomorrow. I didn't capure it so well in this photo - it's very vivid in real life. When you ask E about his eye, he replies, "You should see the other guy." Thanks Tall House, Double Cup.

damm, Martha Stewart knows how to pick a dog . . .

well, at least a dog from a breeder - which is kind of creepy in this day and age but still, I can't deny it, when I look at Martha's new pup I get a little squishy and start to want one too. As a lifelong cat owner who thinks dogs are a little much to handle, I still longed for a cinnamon chow. For awhile I fell in love with a super fat, super short miniature Pomeranian in my hood - who lived on ground chicken and was treated like a prince. But still - this chow . . . love. Ideally, a runty, small cinnamon chow. Isn't this mug glorious?

the new granny update

I am deep into working on "the new granny scarf" that I previously posted on. I have to admit, I always thought of crochet as the poor cousin to knitting but I am really getting into these granny squares - or hexagons, as they actually are. I played around a lot with shapes and hook size and searched blogs a lot for method to square off the edges. I think I like what I've come up with.

I am still experimenting with whether to felt the pieces before joining them together. On the left is a felted version. It's not easy to see the difference but the felted does feel denser and tighter.

I broke down the yarn into little bobbins - i was getting a bit crazy to lug 8 skeis around with me. I am still in love with the colors and textures.

I say again - watch out Garnet Hill!