baby brother

Enjoying so many things these days.

*sigh* chubby baby hands

In profile, he looks a lot like big brother at this age.

But he's very much his own little self.

Growing up

I told Bronwen today that we should just skip over her birthday this year (which is in two weeks) because I'm not ready for her to be five. She said, "Mama, I'll always be your daughter and you'll always be my mama even when I'm grown up. I promise that it'll take me a long time to grow up. But trust me though, when I turn five, I'll be a little bigger . . . but not much."

Oh my sweet girl, if only it were as sure as simply making a promise to take a long time to grow up.

presents for Annabelle

After her morning breakfast of pancakes with ice cream, Annabelle prepared to open her gifts.

"What in the world?"
"Oh! It's a bow!"

Still on the petite side of the scale, Annabelle is barely bigger than the gift bag!

Badly needed hair accessories. When I try to sweep her hair back with my hand, she'll put her head forward, allowing the hair to fall back and say, "Mom, I like my hair that way."

A pretty dress from Daddy

Now, what do we have here?
These instructions are a bit difficult to understand.

Oh well, I'll just smile and hold it like this.

(Actually she was quite excited to have this little house.)

Close your eyes Annabelle!

You have to keep them closed . . .
No peaking!
Tah-dah!

Every bit Annabelle

These are some of the things I hear from my little Belle:

Me: You didn't take a very long nap.

A: Yes I did! It was 3 snaps long.

Some days she lets her yiddish slip:

"Mama, your baby is schlucking his schlumb!"

One morning both girls were supposed to breakfast on their unfinished meal from the night before:

Me: girls, you don't have to finish your supper for breakfast. . . I'm going to give you grace this morning

A: okay! I'll have mine right here (pointing to the tray on her high chair).

Other times you can hear her say, "Can I enjoy you?" Which means she wants to join you in what you're doing or where you're sitting.

Recently she told me she's going over two to three.

Well little one, today is your birthday . . . you went over to three!

I don't know how it happened. It seems like you were just a little baby in my arms yesterday.

But you've made our lives so much richer and filled our home with much more laughter.

I love you!

Exploring 101

* make use of one giant pink pony for comfie support

* keep one toy in hand while rummaging through toy filled basket with the other

* kick off slippers for extra traction

Semi Annual Event

The switching of the wardrobe. Dreadful chore. Can I get a witness?

The girls went straight for the swimwear. . . even though its only 50 some degrees outside.

Noah wistfully day dreams of the warm days to come. Is he in shorts already too?

It's funny, we get out the warm-weather clothes as soon as possible and put them away as late as possible.

Ahhh Spring!

A special party

Like most children, Annabelle loves books. Her favorite book right now is Olivia and the Missing Toy. I must read it a dozen times a day to her. She has it memorized and can often be found "reading" it to her babies.

She doesn't have too many of her own books though. So we decided to have a book themed party for her this year. Specifically, but not limited to Olivia.

I made these invitations based on the art work from this, her favorite book:

Her cake is three stacked books, in her favorite colors of pink and purple.

Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla, the layers.

In case it's difficult to read from the picture, her full name is written on the spine of each book: Annabelle Ceridwyn Martin

Special gifts included a book bag and a doll house-shaped book shelf and many wonderful books that she will enjoy for a very long time.

At the end of the day, Annabelle was one happy little girl. In three days, my baby will be three!

Spring is here

It is the first day of spring and I have been:

enjoying this gentle breeze all day

readying up the house for company tomorrow to celebrate a special little girl's 3rd birthday

thinking of Granma who went to be with Jesus 19 years ago today

(can it really be 19 years ago?)

loving the simple sweetness of life

Shorn

Top 10 reasons every woman should take it all off and start again:

10. it takes so little shampoo and really no conditioner when it's only half an inch long. It also makes for very short showers!

9. hair dries in about 30 seconds with the hair dryer so you're ready in a flash

8. you can't mess it up

7. you'll love how it feels when you run your hand through it - so soft

6. your kids or your honey will love how soft it is too

5. it helps you realize who you are and how much you hide behind your hair

4. it's a great thing to do for the health of your hair

3. you'll have fun coming up with silly comments when asked "why did you do that?!"

2. you get to see what shape your head is (hmm, I guess a tight bun would take care of this one.)

and the number one reason:

1. it will help you understand your hair pattern, your hair's pros, cons and how it grows

I never knew that my hair grows forward toward the middle. Each of my kids had this pattern as they grew from their newborn baby down hair to their more mature locks, and I kept wondering where they got it? Must be from Josh's side. And I would examine his head when I cut his hair. They also have double cowlicks in the back of their heads. Every one of them. Where in the world did they get those?! Or the nasty one up in front where the girls could have had bangs but for that half swirl. Yep. From me. Never knew that until recently.

It goes very easily into the new hot faux -hawk style!

And now the real reason for my shearing.

Nope.

I think I'll keep you guessing.

It's only hair. It'll grow back!

Ode to A Mexican Potato

A friend introduced me to this delicious

delectable

delightful

vegetable. a crunchy juicy tuber.

think water chestnut, raw potato or asian pear. it has a crisp sweet taste.

I'm in love.

Best of all, I am not allergic to it.

Jicama, where have you been all of my life?

To prepare: Peel and cut into sticks and serve with dips or add to salads.

To store: keep in a cool, dry place. Refrigerate after peeling but not before. They don't like the cold.

photo courtesy of What I'm Eating Now

do's and don'ts:

do go get you one.

don't pronounce it wrong. Hi-ka-ma.

do only eat the root.

don't eat the rest of the plant - it's poisonous.

I apologize to all of you savvy vegetable growers/buyers/eaters, for going on and on about a plant you already know all about. You're saying, "isn't she cute, she just found out about Jicama." Thank you for your patience as I prattle on and on.

Hopefully there is someone out there I can share my enthusiasm with. I love finding new favorite foods.

Thank you Elizabeth!

Frozen fog

there was a heavy blanket of fog covering everything this morning. it was frozen on the branches and made everything look a little magical.

With the promise of spring

Campanula, dressed in my favorite hue, brightens my kitchen table.

A little gray

Even though it's a clear, sunshiny, glorious winter day, it feels a little gray because Jayme is heading back to Boston today. But oh! what a wonderful extended time we enjoyed with her.

I'm sure her sweet husband has missed her terribly. That's how it is when you're not with her. Thank you so much Scott for sharing her with us.

Playing small

Something inside a girl attracts her to the tiniest things. As I am still a girl, I understand this and can get completely swept away when playing with my girls.

How to make green eggs and ham sandwiches

Oh look! a double yoke . . . how lucky.

I used about five eggs for each batch. whisk together in a bowl.

Add a smidgen of blue food coloring and cream and whisk again.
Yellow and blue make green.

Don't use too much coloring or you'll end up with a bluish egg instead of green. You can correct this by adding more eggs - if you need that much mixture. It's better to be really careful with the blue.

lightly grease the skillet to prevent the egg from sticking. pour the liquid egg mixture into the hot skillet and cook for a couple of minutes lifting the edges to allow some of the more liquid egg to get under and cook. When there's just a little wetness on top, gently and carefully flip the egg pancake over to finish cooking.

Ease cooked, green egg pancake onto a plate.

Cut into circles (or really any shape) with a cookie cutter.

Lightly spread bread with mayonnaise. Layer shaved ham and egg circles and top with another slice of yummy bread. I didn't salt the egg, since the ham tends to be salty, but you could add salt if you wanted.

Use this same method of coloring the eggs to make scrambled eggs, but instead of letting a huge pancake cook in the pan, use a spatula to scramble the egg as it cooks. I also add a dollop of sour cream to the eggs for a richer taste when I'm scrambling them. You could use cream cheese too. Just make sure to melt it a little so it mixes more easily.

A backward sort of day, in which I am finally caught up, by the way

The sunshine was so beautiful this morning as we broke our fast with dinner! There's silliness afoot as we celebrate Dr. Seuss' 106th birthday, so we are doing things backwards.

Mmmmmm! Grilled cheese sandwiches and steamy tomato soup.

After morning lessons we had a couple of friends over for lunch: green eggs and ham sandwiches and popcorn.

Read lots of silly rhyming books written by, who else? Dr. Seuss!

We wore our clothes backward. Even Oliver wore his overalls the wrong way around.

Made and borrowed silly hats. Just for fun.

Gave backward hugs. times five.

And just had loads of fun.

After our friends went home, little ones went down for naps, big ones finished afternoon lessons and Aunt Jayme made the dessert - monkey bread!

By the time he got home from work, Josh had missed all of the fun. So we finished the day with breakfast. And of course, it was green eggs and ham.

Whew! what a day. I'm slightly exhausted.