tall house, double cup is home

Jeff had a great trip to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Helsinki. He was on the run the whole time, visiting with my aunt and uncle (who were SO kind and arranged for many, many meals, tours, train trips, etc) as well as our friend Mina who lives with her husband and children in Finland. Here are a couple of highlight pictures . . .

name that tune

Nana was here for about 15 minutes before I heard her explaining the Black Death to E. E and Nana are quite a pair. They spent today practicing their whistling repertoire. They invite you to guess that tune . . .

and try this one . . .

emme's new love

Em loves dogs - from afar. She'll follow them anywhere and can spot them from 50 yards. BUT, as soon as they turn around to face her within 5 feets and there are tears and running in the opposite direction.

Until Stella. She has fallen in love with Stella - our friends' ginger golden doodle. The sweetest, mellowest puppy you'll ever meet. I think I have a crush too.

bathing beauties

Emme had a playdate with her sweet cousin Addie a couple of weeks ago and I never shared the pictures of the two bathing beauties. Emme talks about Addie all the time and if we ever say her name, her little sister Bella's name comes right after. I know they are ready to get back to their life in Manila, but it's been So So So nice having them in the States.

are you ready for the summer party

The Are You Ready for the Summer party was a hit. Over 80 people came - E's kindergarten class, neighbors and friends. We successfully kept it outside and on the first floor of the house with the exception of one four-year-old who kept sneaking up into E's room to play Legos.


We had a keg of Widmer Brothers Broken Halo IPA, tons of juice boxes and bottled water - but look at the spread of yum-yums people brought to share. Note to self - the first thing to be eaten all up was the bucket of KFC! Never a bad party food!






Emme was in heaven with the cupcake ice cream cones and spent most of the party attached to her dad and taking in all the big kids.













The hammock survived but some of my plants did not. It was well worth it!

leftover dishes

Hey kindergarten family friends - any of these dishes look familiar? They are washed and ready to be picked up from our back deck.

end of t-ball

We had E's last t-ball game, awards ceremony and pizza party. I was sad to see the season end - it was so ideal, so cinematic - Tall House, Double Cup coaching his son's team, a really great group of boys, a cadre of little sisters on the sidelines, and mamas I really connected with. Here are some highlights. Don't miss the video at the end - it's like a preview of a future fraternity.

Emme helped hand out medals.

I loved this moment between E and his dad. They are just made for each other,

A big hug from E's grandma.

2008 and 2009 - I love to see how he's changed.

happy birthday Emme!

Sweet Emme turns 2 today! What a funny, headstrong, happy girl we have. She is our sweet baby doll and we can barely remember life before her. Here are some shots from her big day . . .

it was a lovely birthday

I had a lovely birthday - it started with this beautiful cake - made by Martha -delivered to my door right before breakfast. It quickly became breakfast (and lunch and dinner).

Here is the side slice. Isn't it delish? Martha is the best.

I had over an hour of reading time in the hammock and then took E and Moo to the Jr. Rose Festival Parade. We lasted through two hours of heat and then ran to the basement for some cool playing time.

The day ended at Ken's Artisan Pizza with arugula topped pizza, Lambrusco and homemade ice-cream. I fell asleep with a good book and dreamt of it being my birthday all year long.

Thanks for all of the lovely presents, emails, flowers, cards and phone calls. It really felt like my special day.

sewing binge

I've been sewing like crazy this week - heading into my laundry/sewing/wine storage/knitting room to cut, pin, iron and sew every night after the kids go to sleep. The top dress is more of a smock from Amy Karol's book Bend the Rules. It was my first attempt a binding and it worked out great! It's definitely loose and has room to grow with her. The second dress is Em's 4th of July outfit - I can't get enough of the bandanna print. I underestimated how tall my toddler is so worn as a dress, this one is a little scandalous so it's more of a trapeze top :) It's a variation on the simple pillowcase dress. Everything was made with cotton purchased during my mandatory foot elevation/online shopping binge . . . I cranked out another flowery pillowcase dress but didn't manage a snapshot before Em wore it to school. Once it's out of the wash I'll add it to the blog. I have at least five or six more piles of fabric waiting to be manipulated into summer fashions. I better get back to my personal sweatshop.

kindergarten finale

E had his end of year kindergarten performance last night. The whole grade put on a choir concert and then toured parents through all of their big art projects. E's teacher had a slide show of the entire year going on the smartboard and all of the mamas were oohhhing and aahhhing over the past year of memories - they all looked so young and round at the start of the year. They've really thinned out and now look like about-to-be first graders.










Em loved the concert and picked out E in the crowd right away. He's dead center in the back row.

Video below. It was hot, hot, hot last night and you can see E looking a little sweaty in the back row - orange polo:

camping weekend

Our family hit the beach for a camping weekend over Memorial Day. We stayed at a yurt at Nehalem State Park and had three days of lovely sun, campfires and beach time. I think it was Em's first camping trip - she did great. She liked seeing all of the over kids at the campground and put in lots of time at the playground in the park. She did a little sand digging but stuck close to Papa.
E and I got a lot more digging in and even made him a beach chair with drink holder.



We came home smelling like campfire and a little sticky but it was a special weekend.

Friday night playdate

We are lucky to have next door neighbors with a new play structure that is the hit of the hood. After dinner, we head over for some playtime. Em is forging a friendship with the little girl across the street. They circle each other, sometimes there is a touch on the arm, and if we are lucky, Ring Around the Rosie gets played.




E has a bit of a stormy relationship with the brother - sometimes playing lovely and sometimes disolving into tears over . . . . well, whatever a five and six-year-old argue about.

Last night there were no arguments - just play time. After the kids went to bed we got some card time in - spades are the rage on our street this spring.

big girl

Em looks so big to me in this picture. I don't know if it's because she's not in a baby swing or that she's actually growing before our eyes, but just this weekend she seemed to take a significant jump in the world. my sweet girl.

water weekend

We've been having a blast all weekend with this ginormous waterslide set-up in the backyard. Lots of friends stopped by to check it out - it's crazy huge and a great way to celebrate the first hot weekend of summer.

Em just watched from a safe distance and ate her weight in watermelon.

I shared cocktails with neighborhood mamas and got a little reading done. At some point today we're going to have to dry it out and roll it up . . sniff, sniff. I love summer.