I heart Shawn, Ivy and Target

My sweet, sweet girlfriend Shawn and her handsome husband just adpoted their sweet Ivy from South Korea. I am crazy emotional about the whole thing and feel incredibly invested in Shawn and Kevin's marriage as I was sitting next to Shawn on the second day of grad school when she leaned over to me and said, "Don't you think that Kevin guy is cute?" Destiny was born that day - 15 year ago!
Ivy's been a dream baby so far and I am just dying to get my hands on her. I was so proud to see on Shawn's blog that she took Ivy for her first Target outing. Welcome to America Ivy! Aren't they meant for each other! I love you guys!

annual Martha Stewart Christmas preview

Tall House, Double Cup and I make a yearly pilgrimage while we are in Wisconsin to Kmart. We studiously avoid places like this all year but each Thanksgiving week, we have to stop by to see the new Martha Stewart Christmas decorations and some random Badger gear.








This year there is a new Martha line that's mostly pink and brown. I love some p&b combos but not on my Christmas tree. I am contemplating buying it for birthday party gifts.

The ribbon was very pretty - but nothing tempted me to buy it yet.

Another year, yet another crazy desire for this fake fruit garland. Real gumdrops would be too tempting for E & Em at our house.

Next step - review Martha's Macy's holiday collection.

rainy lights

We hit the Portland International Raceway for the one night they let people walk around the track (rather than drive) to see the big holiday light displays. We had plans to go last year but were deterred by the rain. This year we bravely faced the drizzle (does it always rain the first Monday in December?) and hooked up with the Cedros clan to march the track.

The kids ran like crazy with lots of happy screaming and silliness.

I had my own scream of delight when just steps into the walk, Auntie Brooke broke out the holiday cocktails. I think she called these Chocolate Nutties. The recipe was a blur of desirable liquor - topped off with a maraschino cherry.

The combination of crazy weather, strong drinks and holiday happiness made for a very fun night.

imports from Wisconsin

I think maybe I should go into the import business - importing the best of Wisconsin to Oregon. This year our haul included Leinenkugels beer and assorted frozen meat from this amazing butcher - Sailer's in teeny tiny Elmwood. Everything made it safely home and Tall House, Double Cup already broke out the brauts.

ice fishing

E tried out ice fishing for the first time with Jonesie this year. It's been especially cold this year so there was three inches of ice on the pond.




There was success - not in fish but with a prehistoric ice bug! The adventure ended with E forgetting there was a hole in the shack and stepping into the water up to his thigh. Warm clothes and cuddling was applied and all was well.

christmas card outtakes

I always feel a little pressure to get the perfect picture of our kidlets for the holiday card on Thanksgiving. This year I snapped 50 plus pictures in about 6 minutes - Tall House, Double Cup was pretending to inflict a self-wedgie right behind me in order to get both of them laughing at the same time. I haven't decided what to go with yet but here are some outtakes.

happy thanksgiving

There was cooking, chopping, stirring, baking (fueled by coffee) and then eating, sipping champagne and wine, cards, an awards ceremony (I won the coveted Most Successful) and of course, a big fireworks show on the frozen pond. I am thankful for many things - but today I am extra thankful that my kids get to grow up having this lovely tradition.

my country kids

Both of my kids easily slip into country life in Wisconsin. E has hardly gotten off the four-wheeler while Em is content to wobble around the yard.
I am deep into a knitting project, great book and a bottle of wine. Tall House, Double Cup is just handing out. Vacation is lovely.

starbucks sucker

I am a Starbucks sucker. I am definitely the demographic they market to and they do it really, really well. I consider myself knowledgeable about marketing and consumer influence and try to teach my kids not to want things simply because a commercial makes them look good, but then I walk into my Starbucks and thought goes out the window. It's not a crisis situation - I live within my means, but I totally fall for the holiday blends.
When I saw the new Thanksgiving blend was created in partnership with Tom Douglas, my favorite restaurateur and radio cooking show host, it was a done deal. A big bag is going to Wisconsin with us. So please help me feel better - what are you a sucker for?

book fair

E jumped out of bed this morning when he heard the magic phrase, "It's book fair day." He got to pick out whatever book he wanted with no comment by me on quality or subject (a hard task for a librarian). He settled on an Indiana Jones early reader and practically danced to his classroom.

He quickly convened a boy conference to examine the pictures.
Besides book fair day, it's twin day, field trip day to see a play performance and the last day of school before break. Good luck to the teachers!

clutter hotspot, second attack

As part of my effort to organize my clutter hot spots around the house, here is my second attack - the junk drawer. It might seemed ridiculous to organize a junk drawer - isn't it supposed to be junky? But this level of mess was causing me to lose track of school papers and to do lists. In just the handful of spots Ive attacked, I am already noticing a calmer feeling for me around the house. I don't know if I'll get to another hot spot before our Thanksgiving vacation - maybe unpacking will be project enough.

chilly park trips

It's started to get a little cold in pdx - cold is relative to our West Coast home but we started pulling on wool hats and legwarmers. Em doesn't care for hats so I replace it on her head about 50 times a day but she doesn't mind the legwarmers. We've been heading to the school park near our house to burn some energy before bed.

Em has a love/fear relationship with dogs. She truly notices each dog and loves loves loves each of them . . . as long as they are running away from her. As soon as they turn around, it's another story. We did meet a runty Corgi that we all fell in love with. I'm a fan of the runt of the litter - aren't they always the most interesting?

Martha Stewart Living - December, 2008

The new Martha Stewart Living is GORGEOUS! If only my Christmas dinner cookie platter could look as good as this. I've been chatting with my cookie exchange peeps and after seeing this issue, I now realize they are going to need to step up their baking to help me reach this nirvana. There is no way I can get it done myself.
Go Martha!

knit one, save one - ready to go

I quickly finished two hats for Knit One, Save One - a campaign to save millions of babies. My last steps are to attach a note on each hat to the mother and child who will receive the hat. When I heard about this campaign, I was immediately struck by what I often feel when I snuggle with my own kidlets, "I wish every child in the world could be loved just as much as my children are." That might sound sappy but it's an overwhelming feeling I never could have predicted until I had E and Em.
I really hope these hats do find their own onto a newborn head and that child will feel a little bit of the love I meditated on as I was knitting.

clutter hot spot inspiration

In honor of Oprah's Clean Up Your Messy Home project, I am devoting a small chunk of time each day for seven days to see what I can accomplish around my house. I don't have a messy house; in fact I have a very clean house (I take no credit other than signing the check every week on that one) but I do like organizing and love the peaceful feeling I get when everything is in it's place. I have a few clutter hot spots in my house where crap accumulates at a fast rate. So I am tackling one or more hot spots a day and reporting my progress.

bad blogger

I've officially become a slack blogger these past weeks. I blame it mostly on Facebook - it's too much fun. And I haven't been snapping pictures quite as frequently - but today we have excellent news to report - Miss Em made it the whole night in her crib. This has maybe happened once or twice before. We hope to keep it going for a nice long run because it means we sleep through the whole night too.

go wisconsin

We are already in count down mode for our Wisconsin vacation. The kids are decked out in their Badger gear and I've started my book and movie pile. Next up, filling the travel wine box!

nature girl

Em's in love with going for walks. She grabs her own jacket or shoes and grunts at the front door. We typically walk up the street to our next door neighbors, who she adores. Em climbs up their driveway, saying, "hi, hi, hi" the whole way. Sometimes it's an appropriate time to day to actually knock on the door and say Hi and other times we have to just pretend.

Her other pastime is neighborhood watch officer - monitoring from the porch or living room window what's happening in the hood. Typically, it's nothing, but that doesn't deter our girl. She's found a new perch to keep watch from.

it's going to be a great day, right:?

Even the dead have been unearthed to vote for Obama in Portland. Way to go canvassers!
While still, yes STILL, smarting from Hilary's defeat, I am excited for a change in leadership in the country (and my state!). Like everyone else, we'll be watching the polls tonight - hopefully with a nice celebratory pinot noir!

yes, yoda is crying

Em HATED putting on her Yoda costume for Halloween. All of our getting ready to trick or treat pictures featured Yoda screaming. We found solace in hearing from our neighbor that their one-year-old also screamed putting on her costume. E embraced the young Anakin Skywalker fully - he had been in costume since after lunch with the whole afternoon at school devoted to partying.

Things got better for Yoda once Papa - aka Princess Leia - held her. Nana brought out the authentic cinnamon buns from a bakery in Wisconsin and they'd been drying out all week. I hot glue gunned them to a homemade headband which stayed on all night. The same cannot be said for the tinfoil belt.

Everyone was happy after some treating up and down the street. Luckily, Em hasn't figured out what candy is yet so she just took pieces out of one pumpkin and put them in another, clapping for herself each time. We all survived and happily fell into November with a long night of sleep.