where the mountain meets the moon

When I was planning out summer camps last winter, I noticed our favorite theater group was studying Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin - one of the amazing honor books from my Newbery year. Of course, I had to sign E up!
And what a week it was. Each day, the director read a portion of the book and the actors would work out the scenes themselves. They made up the props and costumes and put on a sweet, sweet show on Friday. There were too many scenes to fit in the performance, but E got to be Pa, the assassin (!), and the goldfish seller. One night on the way home from camp, he told me, "I'm really proud of my roles." I am too. I am too.


(video below)

wet, wash, rinse

We are working on a bathtime visual map for Ems - all the steps for bathtime so she can anticipate and hopefully participate without tears in her nighttime routine. She was pretty game for the photo shoot! Appearing below, a couple of the steps including wet, wash, and rinse.

a polar bear and a goldfish meet at the pool

Our resident Polar Bear and Goldfish successfully completed two weeks of swimming every week night. I think it's the first year we made it to all ten lessons - and the first time in seven years one of us didn't need to be in the pool with a kidlet. Viva liberation!

twirly skirt

Yeah! I buckled down, figured out how to properly wind a bobbin on my new sewing machine and whipped out this sweet little twirly skirt for Ms. Em over the weekend. I love how it turned out! Isn't she a doll?

barefeet and footbaths

Summer is a good time for neighborhood craziness and nightly footbaths! My kids and their love of crocs leave their feet a little unsightly that my basic pedicure can't cover.

grace art camp and best friends

E's oldest and dearest friend is still Will. They met when they were 11 months old in the wobbler room at child care. They share a love of legos, imagination games, books, and total silliness.

Now they will on opposite sides of town and go to different schools, but every summer they still get together for camps - and the occasional sleepover!

Here are some shots of the Grace Art Camp finale as well as the boys with their favorite CIT Izzy . . . one of my favorite nights of the summer:

oil and lemonade

Tall House, Double Cup recently put on a garage sale - getting rid of lots of stuff out of the house. Lovely! The more spare our home gets, the more relaxed I seem to be. As part of the sale, E put on his first lemonade stand. This year we started helping me save a portion of his allowance and other earned money for charity. His first donation was to an animal rescue farm in Wisconsin. From the lemonade stand he decided to send his earnings to help the Gulf Oil Spill. In one hot morning he made $14! It's good to be on a bike route!
What a doll. I am so happy he sees himself making a difference in things he cares about.

In this picture he's milking the neighbor preschooler for all she's got!

we gave it a try

Ems can be fearless. She loves it when the airplane takes off, can't go high enough on the tire swing. But she is also incredibly shy - wanting to be physically in touch with us while trying out new situations, like gymnastics, swimming class, and the dentist.
Ev loaned Em his new favorite stuffie for the trip to the dentist. Things were looking good.
A few minutes later, she started sinking in the chair.
And soon, she was gone - absolutely refusing to cooperate.
In the end only Bucky the stuffie had an exam. Emme smiled for the dentist from a distance and got two prizes from the treat basket (hmmmmmm, a reward for what?).

Maybe next time.

outstanding in the field

More back blogging . . . we went to such a special event with the Cedros clan and Auntie B. Check out Outstanding in the Field - we couldn't resist when they came to Oregon. We traipses out to Cameron Winery for an evening of sipping, eating, talking, and illicit use of vineyard rows (the bathroom was really far away!). Menu follows the pictures . . .

fresh goat's milk, cheese, radish, parsley

porchetta di testa, field greens, parmesan

"Unbridled Coizie" cocktails

Ne'ds proscuitto, apricots, saba

2008 Dundee Hills Pinto Noir

Oregon coast cured salmon, fennel, favas & new potatoes, preserved lemon

2007 Reserve Chardonnay

pastured spit-roasted labm, summer squash, cherry tomatoes, herb sauce

2007 Abbey Ridge Pinot Noir

s'mores de Xocolatl de David

salted carmels

blogging catch up

Our dear sweet cousins are headed back to the Philippines after six weeks of rest and recovery (recop? relax?) in the NW. Year-round we love Addie and Bella from afar on their blog. We sing and dance to their favorite songs and follow their mama's fashion trendiness.
Here are a couple pictures from their visit. We'll miss you dearly!

ice cream pals

emme's first love

Emme has her first crush - on Toby Tyler - aka Kevin Corcoran - child actor of the 60's. She discovered him in The Shaggy Dog and carries the DVD cover for the movie Toby Tyler with her obsessively. She alternately calls him "the boy", "Moochie" (his nickname), or "Toby Tyler".

a visit to the farm

We take a trip to my parents' friends' farm each time we visit Wisconsin. This year the temperature was so warm that all the animals were hiding in the barn - and their echoing bleating was loud enough to keep Ems away. And the smell was enough to keep me away! I did get a couple of sweet pictures of them as we bought some fresh eggs.

children of the corn

I spent my junior high summer days detasseling corn - the glamorous process of marching through cornfields, picking off the tassel on each corn plant - sticky, hot, buggy work - and if I remember right, we were paid less than minimum wage because we were so young - yikes!

But this summer, I am struck with how beautiful Wisconsin looks, especially the cornfields! The green is so intense, so consistent, so lush. Even my kidlets couldn't resist the fields.

happy 4th of july!