Thursday, July 30, 2009

Today

I borrowed this great little meme post from Benita over at Chez Larsson

Today...

Outside my window... scorching heat at 97 degrees, but believe it or not, this is relief from the past few days of triple-digit weather.

I am thinking... about all the birthdays I get to celebrate at this time of year.

I am thankful for... children who nap at the same time.

From the kitchen... cookies and cream ice cream.... mmm my favorite, though not helping with my efforts to lose the post-partum belly.

I am wearing... a brown gaucho skirt from Target, and vintage-style brown tee.

I am creating... nothing right at the moment, but I have a few ideas up my sleeve if I can ever find the time.

I am going... to take a nap... if I ever get off the computer!

I'm reading... lots of blogs, Parents magazine, and Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama

I am hoping... our offer is accepted on the house we want!

I am hearing... the whirrrrrr of the a/c and the silence of a house with sleeping children.

Around the house... my cats are sprawled out, stretching as much as possible, trying to stay cool

One of my favorite things... knowing my maternity leave isn't quite half over.

A few plans for the rest of the week... heading to my dad's house for a weekend barbecue to celebrate the his 60th birthday, and my sister's boyfriend's 29th!

A picture to share...

color

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!

time

It's hard to believe you're 60, dad. After all, you can still do back flips, haul river rock around your yard for a solid afternoon, sleep directly on the ground in nothing but a sleeping bag, and wail on the trumpet like nobody's business!

I love you!

trip to Anthropologie

I've been trying hard to beat the heat here in Portland, as we are experiencing multiple days in 100+ degree weather. The house is pretty miserable, and we've been living in the basement all together at night. During the day, Drew and I head out anywhere where we can stay entertained and cool. In some ways, its kind of nice because it has given me an excuse to do some of the window shopping I love, but am usually to busy to get to.

Yesterday, we took a little trip to Anthropologie, which is a fun place to take pictures. I didn't even look at the clothes. Why torture myself when I am still trying to get my waist back? But that's ok, there was plenty to look at over in the housewares.



I would love to have a kitchen comprised of dishes purchased here. I mean, aren't these just the most gorgeous drinking glasses you've ever seen?



Sadly, I cannot afford the steep price of $12 apiece.



botanicals

Most of all, I've been wanting one of these botanical coffee table books for a long time. I keep scanning thrift stores in the hopes tht someday I'd get lucky and find one used, but I think that might just be too much to ask of the thrifting gods...
Maybe for Christmas this year? (ahem....hint, hint to my family readers!)

Monday, July 27, 2009

Summer garden into Sunday dinner

I'm trying to keep up with this blog, I really am.

The weekend was a good lesson in how wonderful and difficult it can be juggling two children. Saturday was a total mess of a day, filled with toddler tantrums, baby crying followed by ungodly amounts of spit-up (how is it possible that ALL THAT came out of her?!?), and parental meltdowns. It was not pretty.

Sunday fully redeemed itself with long naps, quality time with each of my little munchkins, alone time, and a fantastic dinner straight from our garden in its' prime.

walla walla sweet onion
sungold tomatoes
sungold tomatoes
lemon cucumber

First I chopped all of these delicious items (walla walla sweet onion, sungold cherry tomatoes, and lemon cucumber) and tossed them in a bowl with feta. This has quickly turned into my favorite summer salad.

sunday dinner

Next, I browned sweet Italian sausage from Trader Joe's, added more walla wallas, yellow pattypan squash,
summer squash
red bell peppers (not from our garden) and fresh basil and simmered it all and served it on top of some cute stripey bowtie pasta my mother-in-law brought us from her trip to Italy.
sunday dinner

Sprinkled some freshly grated parmesan on top and it was divine!

I could eat like this every day. I love meals with lots and lots of fresh vegetables, and a little protein on top of some type of pasta, grain or bread. A bottle of Viognier made the perfect finish, and this mama was feeling happy and satisfied!

Sweet children make life nice too....
he loves her
sibling loves
sibling loves

Friday, July 17, 2009

a bit of this and that

Drew

You might have guessed by by absence that she is no longer sleeping all day long... though I'm not sure how so many days went by without me posting or even reading other blogs!

But, we've certainly been keeping busy. Not just with night wakings and diapers and chasing a toddler around, but with outdoor summer concerts in the park,

concert at Fernhill Park

teaching Addison to bowl,

first time bowling

visiting with family and friends of all ages (that's my grandma. Isn't she beautiful? She'll be 84 in a couple of weeks. I hope I inherited her beauty genes!),

generations

Sophie and Addison

and enjoying family time together, both semi-structured

mornings together

and somewhat chaotic.

lazy Sunday

I'm hoping tp be back more regularly soon!

Monday, July 6, 2009

...because she sleeps. all. day.

little duo

We picked cherries this weekend in the orchards surrounding my dad's house in Hood River. When cherries are free, and you can pick them by the handful, its easy to come home with 10, 20, 30 pounds of cherries.

bing and sour cherries

So, I did the smart thing and bought a cherry pitter (same one the chicken's got. You can see her cute girls using it on a video here.) and have spent the better part of the last 24 hours pitting and freezing cherries and making a cobbler.

how I spent my day

cherry cobbler

After all, what else is a mother to do when the baby sleeps all day?

snoozy

Thursday, July 2, 2009

4th of July - Here we come!

With 2 days to go before Drew's real due date - the 4th - I couldn't be happier that she came to us early. For one, she is a joy and I can't imagine my life for the past 9 days any differently than with her in it.

But I'm also quite excited, because her earlier arrival means we'll get to go to my all-time favorite place in the world to spend the 4th of July - my hometown, Hood River. I feel like my 4th of July experiences growing up were sort of iconic and about as all-American as you can get...in a really great sort of way.

Orchard

My memories of the day include waking up and heading to an early breakfast put on by the Mormon church I grew up in. We would all gather in the parking lot and sing patriotic hymns like God Bless America and America the Beautiful while the Cub Scouts raised the flag and a trumpeter (often my dad or my brother) played Taps. Then we'd all head inside for a buffet of eggs, pancakes, fruit, etc with all the people in our church community.

Next, we'd head to one of the main streets in Hood River and find a good spot to watch one of the best small town parades I've ever seen. People cheer for all the runners on the last stretch of their 5K (a number of whom you inevitably know personally), and children flood the streets to pick up Brach's candy and bubblegum while fire engines, local 4-H groups, and spruced up old-timey cars roll by.

The parade ends at Jackson Park, where for several years my dad played trumpet in one of the bands performing. People barbecued and picnicked, and kids threw water balloons and ate shaved ice to keep cool in the scorching heat.

By this time, we'd head back to my mom's house to regroup and have some down time, while the sounds of the little league playoffs were audible from the field across the street. "Next up to bat: Timmy. On Deck: Jeremy!" Please return all foul balls to the concession stand for a free snow cone!"

For dinner, we'd barbecue at home or at our family friend's house, then head to the Marina looking over the Columbia River for a spectacular fireworks show launched from the Washington State river bank, where all the big ones are legal.

Sigh-------

There are some things that shift and change so much from childhood to adulthood that they become unrecognizable. Like my childhood home that was bulldozed a few years ago--where an empty lot now sits waiting for something new.

But the 4th of July in Hood River remains mostly unchanged. The small town parade, the barbecue at a family friend's place, and the fireworks show... the sights and sounds and smells are all still accessible to me, and it gives me a sense of comfort and stability in my life that I think is rare in a time when our culture and surroundings change rapidly.

4th of July, here I come-- this time with my own children's memories in the making.