garden starts

E and I got the first set of peas planted as well as some leek starts.

I've never tried growing leeks before but had the most delicious

braised leeks this winter so now I am a major fan.

san diego

We just returned from a great trip to San Diego for spring break. We hit it all - Legoland, Wild Animal Park, San Diego Zoo, La Jolla, Birch Aquarium and lots of beach time. It was wonderful to spend a week with just the four of us. We had lots of time to hang out, talk, read books, sleep and play. The place we stayed was amazing - Crystal Pier Cottages in Pacific Beach. I loved sleeping over the ocean - the pier would rock every so often and we had a private deck with lots of room for eating our meals outside. We spent lots of time peering down through the floorboards to watch the ocean below us. The weather was a lovely 68-70 every day. sigh. I miss it already.
I did manage to catch strep throat during the trip. I have never had it before and thought it was a bad head cold - but I guess once you experience this, you remember for the next time. I am happily on antibiotics and painkillers today an in recovery.

for the dish lovers out there

I brought out my spring dishes to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I love love love the day three times a year when I rearrange my dishes and other pretties in the living room and dining room. Fall brings out the Peach Luster dishes from the 40's, the holidays and winter feature my green pottery from Portugal and the spring collection features Majolica and Jadeite - all pretty colors of green and blue. Skip these pictures if dish porn isn't your thing.

happy St. Patrick's Day

We celebrated early with a family party on Sunday night. We had our Irish fortunes told by a curling shamrock, old-fashioned boiled dinner, and crazy, sweaty boys playing and screaming on every floor of the house. We all got our Irish on for a night.

first spring afternoon

We have spring fever and lucked out with our first after-school and after-work weeknight with some outside play time. We broke into the playhouse (and found out the underside of the chalkboard didn't appreciate being left in a semi-wet former garden shed and developed some mold). Balls were thrown, golf club hockey was played and crocus were stamped on.

jumping girl

Em is crazy about her jumper. Aunt Peggy requested a video of her in action. This is for you Auntie!

granny square scarf

Here is a closer view of the successful granny square scarf that I just finished for Nana. I am already hot on the next one and am in love with how it turned out. The top picture is the scarf artfully draped around the neck and the bottom picture features it tied. There is definitely a front and back side to the scarf so I prefer it draped.
Enjoy Nana!

week with Nana and Jonesie

Jonesie and Nana headed back home to Wisconsin yesterday. E woke up sad and would have stayed that way all day but a lucky call came from one of his good friends to spend the afternoon at a pizza place - so there was happiness, by distraction. Even Em was out of sorts after walking up from her nap. I'm up early this morning and am missing sharing coffee with my dad. So we are all feeling the funk of a quieter house.

Special guest star

Jonesie was the special guest star in E's class this week. He talked about growing up on a farm and about all of the animals that live out in the country at their place now. The kids were most interested in the owls that they are currently studying and liked the bear stories. E was very proud to get to introduce everyone to his Jonesie but while making the introduction to the class he told them, "This is my Jonesie but you should call him Bob."

beach trip

My camera seems to be permanently ill so I haven't been blogging much this month. I borrowed Jonesie's and took some pictures of our family beach trip.
We rented a house at Cape Kiwanda and had a weekend of relaxing, reading, and sleeping. We had some beach time but the rain kept us on the move - not a lot of sand playtime.

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.