rite of spring

We joined the Cedros clan for our annual rite of spring -a trip to the tulip festival in Woodburn. Little Miss cooperatively rode in the backpack - maybe next year she'll get in the group photo.

The rain held off so we could run around the fields, do the pony rides and tractor rides and eat the yummy donuts Marfie brought along - what a great bribery tool those were!

Not all the tulips are open yet but there was a great swath of red and yellow perfect for photos.

I think I like the outtakes from trying to get that one great photo of my kidlets:

opening day

Today was opening day for E's t- ball league. It was such a blast. The kids got their team shirts and hats - E kept his on ALL day - over his jacket - ALL day. He got lucky #13 - just one numbers off from the one his dad wore in little league back in the day. There are over 300 kids in his league - the whole event was huge and just so exciting. I am all over this baseball stuff. I am already imaging the hours I can spend outside, watching Mr. Big and knitting him sweaters with lightning bolts down the arm.

E has a really nice coach and Tall House, Double Cup is the assistant coach which I know E loves. The best part of the day was when each team got to run past the others for high fives. The big kids were yelling and cheering super loud for the t-ballers which made E and his teammates feel really good. You can see raindrops on my camera in this video because it wouldn't be opening day without rain in Oregon.

happy birthday Nana!

Today is Nana's birthday - no joke! We had an early morning birthday call but I can't resist shouting out happy birthday one more time on the blog. We love you so very much Nana and miss you when you stay away from Portland for too long. There is no one I'd rather get pedicures with and no one E would rather tell him stories. You have a singular style to your life that no one could replicate. Love from pdx!

wedding updates and our own spring flower

Wedding update - the wedding happened yesterday! Tall House, Double Cup picked up the kids at preschool and heard that the wedding ceremony happened at morning playtime. E's friend Bryce (acting as ceremonial official), jumped on a plate that was full of hay and sealed the deal. THDC said that after E yelled, "Goodbye everyone," he walked over to his new bride, Lena, patted her on the arm and said very softly, "Goodbye." double oh my. Last night I asked him if he felt different now that he was married, and he said, "I feel very loving." It's all very sweet and tender and slightly weird. E brought in the book on tape "Horrible Harry and the Kickball Wedding" by Suzy Kline for his class to listen to today. I hope that explains it to his teachers.

In the meantime, we've had sun, rain, sleet, and even snow in the last 24 hours in Portland. Out of that grew our own spring flower - Little Miss:

wedding day jitters

The rings have been forged (paper and glitter glue), the invitations handcrafted (E worked very hard on these), the nervous groom awaits, but where is the bride?
E came home last night and announced he had proposed to his friend Lena and that they were getting married the next day at school. He insisted we make rings and invitations and started scheming about how to buy the house next door with his piggy bank money (the house next door is going for $739K - it's going to be a big loan). He is so excited and super intent on this wedding happening! He even picked out a "fancy holiday outfit" to wear to school day. He was a little disappointed to find out Lena doesn't come to school on Weds. but he's ready to try for the wedding tomorrow . . . "only if I can wear this shirt again."
oh my.

bikini baby

Em loves the water. She's a total bikini baby - but she's grown so much we had to bring her bikini top up over her bum to get it on. Her favorite thing is to get pulled through the water like a motorboat.
Where was E during all of this? Underwater more than above! But you can catch a glimpse of him in the background of this picture.

Easter dinner

We continued our Easter partying at Auntie's house. Em kept her hat on for about 20 minutes and spent the rest of the party going from person to person and examining any jewelry they were wearing. She looked SO sweet in the little dress and hat I knit her - long before she was born. I was saving it until Easter so now she can wear it with reckless abandon.

She got lots of loving attention from grandparents, cousins and Peyton the dog.
E was a blurr of wrestling, yelling, laughing and crazy playing with his look alike cousin T. He ate his weight in deviled eggs and fell asleep on the car ride home.

easter morning

Easter morning - 11am update - no injuries to report! So this Easter already kicks last Easter's ass! Ha! We are all still in jammies and happily playing with our Easter toys.
E got a big boy backpack that lights up and his own real toolbox with tools inside - he's already "fixed" the sink and the toilet.
Little Miss got a pair of homemade leg warmers, a homemade felt flower, a little stuffed bulldog, and a chocolate bunny (that Tall House, Double Cup will eat on her behalf this year).
Our egg hunt was quintessential Oregon - in the rain. E found one egg floating in a bowl under the rain chain. The candy inside was still good!
We are off to Auntie's house this afternoon for another egg hunt with cousins and a family dinner. Such a nice Easter so far.

We spent Saturday getting ready for Easter. Since I burnt my hand so badly last year making the infamous banana puffed pancake, we planned for NO baking of any kind for this year's Easter breakfast. We are going with fruit, coffee, challah toast and yum-yums from Helen Bernhard's Bakery. We made some art, dyed eggs, went swimming, took a bike ride and did a bit of shopping. It was bright and sunny out - a perfect get-ready-for-Easter day.

# 4 #4 #4! go badgers!

Oh yeah! I am tied for fourth place in the WatMoe Minnesota basketball pool! Go Badgers! I need to win because I have become taken with the idea of purchasing an "investment bag" - a real beauty to love for years and years - which takes a lot of moola. So go get it Bucky!
E informed me he wants to be a Portland Trailblazer when he grows up. This is nicer news this year than it would have been three years ago when half the team had been arrested for weed or abusing the nanny. He wants to know when the Badgers will play the Blazers. Hard to explain.

sweet pumpkin

E's taken to calling Em "my little pumpkin." None of us can get enough of her - she is changing so fast. And lucky for us, going back to her solid sleep patterns. One of us has to pop the binky back in once or twice a night, but I'll take that over up for an hour at 3am any day. She is experimenting with sounds a lot - especially in the morning. Just like E did, she likes to review every sound she knows how to make. It's the sweetest thing to listen to. She also learned how to clap and nod her head yes this week and loves to show it off to anyone who will watch.

kissy kissy baby

I love seeing E and Em together - I never knew going into the parenting of two how very sweet I would find these moments. Kissy kissy baby video:

yes!

The Easter package from Nana and Jonesie arrived last night - full of chocolate, toys, and E's own business cards (definitely the highlight of the package). You can see from E's expression the fun we had opening it up! Thanks Nana and Jonesie!

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.