I made cheese last night

With my wonderful bookclub, not by myself. It was mozzarella cheese. It was also (due to what we decided must be a typo in the instructions) too salty to be consumed on its own.

The process was actually not hard. It only took 6 of us. Just kidding! One of us (not me) decided to clean the hostess' kitchen. The rest of us rotated between reading the directions, washing dishes, talking, taking pictures, and making the cheese. The pictures are not on my camera but maybe I can share them at some point in the future.

The inspiration came from reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Next project we might attempt? Canning!

Is it summer in Seattle yet?

Let's see:
-berries and flowers are blooming
-farmers markets are open
-kids are out of school
-the zoo, parks and all kids activities are crowded & busy
-an extremely limited amount of wading pools are scheduled to be open (weather dependent)
-our weekends are filling up fast with yard work and outdoor fun
-our social calendar is looking busy
-Greenwood car show just happened, SeaFair activities are on the horizon
-a study shows that the stream at Golden Gardens is contaminated with poop and should not be played in
-the temperature gets above 70 and everyone wears tanktops, sandals, sunblock, sunhats, etc
-the temperature is above 75 so after 20 minutes at the park you can hear me tell Addie that I need to move to the shade

Yup, it is summer in Seattle. Enjoy it while it lasts. It will be 60 and raining soon (this week probably)!

Addie is 2 1/2

When Addie was born on Christmas day, Matt and I quickly decided that celebrating half-birthdays would be a good idea. This is the first year that she truly gets the birthday concept. She loves birthdays! This spring between Etta's half birthday, her cousin Asa's first birthday, her cousin Ellie's half birthday and her friend Evy's second birthday, Addie has gotten the hang of this birthday thing. She can sing the song a little bit. She loves to eat cake and ice cream (that's my girl all right!). And she loves to help wrap and unwrap presents. The past few days she has been celebrating my birthday. She does some creative wrapping of presents and "bakes" cupcakes for me. When I asked she told me that I was turning 3. Times that by ten and you have the actual age I will be turning this summer.

(Rosy cheeks and snotty nose are thanks to her cold;

expressions on her face are thanks to her being in the middle of singing the birthday song I think.)

Addie requested chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting for her half birthday this year. I considered for a second just pulling out my red food dye and using a few tiny drops to create pink frosting. But then a much better idea came to mind: raspberries! I have big bags of frozen raspberries that were picked from my mom's yard last summer. I defrosted a bag of them and added about 1 cup of the berries to the chocolate cupcake batter. Then I used a spoon to get juice from the bag of defrosted fruit and added it to the homemade cream cheese frosting. Three or so tablespoons later the frosting was a lovely shade of pink. Not to mention that it was SUPER tasty/sweet/good! (I had to taste-test a cupcake too, of course. What kind of mom would I be if I fed my daughter treats that I had not tested myself first?!)

Addie was generously lavished with toys and gifts for her birthday and Christmas this year, and we decided to set some of them aside for 6 months. So she got those  "new" toys to play with for her half birthday. We also wrapped and gave her 2 things: a hooded frog towel and a purple kid-size sleeping bag. Matt plans on hiking with her this summer so she needed a sleeping bag for that adventure. She already had a froggy towel but is outgrowing all her baby sized towels. This way she can wear the toddler size one, Etta can wear the baby one and we can have two froggies hopping around. Now I will be the first to admit that a towel and sleeping bag do not seem like super exciting presents to grown-ups, but things are simpler at the age of 2 and a sleeping bag can create hours of imagination play.

(As you can see, Lion approves of the sleeping bag.

Addie calls it her sleep-sack since that is what Etta wears at night to stay warm & they bare some similarities)

I also will readily admit that our method of holding toys aside will not work as well as she gets older. I can't imagine us saying to a teenage Addie "honey, we will just set that (insert name of high-priced & much loved technology such as Wii or iphone here) aside for 6 months. You will probably forget you even got it, and then it will be so wonderful & surprising to see it on your half birthday!"

As she gets older we will have to decide whether her birthday is a family day and she gets a friends party for her half birthday or if her friends party is just a couple weeks before Christmas. We also need to decide how all this affects Etta. She does not have a major holiday coinciding with her birthday (although Halloween is close to it) but we will need to celebrate her half-birthday too in the interest of being fare. I can handle making cupcakes 4 times a year for the girls. And it seems that there is always something a parent wants to give a child and it could be wrapped and given as a gift. For example: new shoes are a practical gift, and depending on the style and brand could be a "splurge" as well.

Happy Fathers Day!

Matt took Friday off work and was able to enjoy the 3 day weekend with his girls.

They got some park time in on Friday afternoon while I was at the farmers market. That night we went out to pizza and both girls liked watching the hordes of kids at the pizza place as well as the large tv (golf was on - not very exciting to me but new to them).

Saturday Matt & Addie took a bus trip to Golden Gardens so Addie could play in the sand. After naps we went to a local park to meet up with Uncle Myron, Aunt Lori, their dog Maya, Aunt May, Papa Loren, Grandma Karen & GG. Myron was playing baseball so we watched a little of the game, Addie played in the play equipment, and Matt got some tennis in. Then we huddled in our jackets and ate a picnic at the park. It was not raining, but it sure was not warm and sunny.

On Sunday it was Matt & I's turn to be in Addie's Sunday School room, so it was neat to see her in her element with the other kids. That afternoon Matt & Addie went to Krispy Kreme & then Lowes.

It was a fun weekend with yummy food. The girls sure do love their daddy!!!

Real Food. Real Farmers.

I visited my local Farmers Market today and purchased apriums, bok choy, broccoli, red onions, white onions, purple potatoes (don't worry the inside is still white), braising greens, butter leaf lettuce, carrots, & cherries.

I love hearing "those were just picked this morning". How many mornings ago was the produce from your local Safeway picked? And did any local farms help supply it? How many hands touched it? How many chemicals?

On that topic, I have been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for book club. I read it last summer on my own but thought it was worth re-reading. Probably I should buy it and books like it (Omnivores Dilemna, etc) and read them once a year to remind myself of some important things. Such as: how truly dreadful the short existence was for the chicken I am eating. How hard small local organic farmers work and how it is worth spending a little extra to support them and keep some nasty chemicals out of my body. And how many fossil fuels are used to ship bananas hundreds of miles so that I can enjoy them year-round.

Also purchased today: some very comfy & cute red sandals from the U Village sidewalk sale. I am not quite ready to feel guilty for the fossil fuels that went into making them and the pitiful wages the people who made them probably get paid. But this brand is more environmentally conscious than some...Anyways, I know I am going to wear them a bunch this summer, not just once for a wedding or something.

Busy Little Legs - Updated

Nope, the new pajamas did not do the trick. Twice now when we have gone in in the morning she had kicked the pants off entirely. I know all babies like to be nude, but mine seems to be more actively pursuing it!

In unrelated news, my phone was on the fritz so I got a new one. An iphone you ask? Nope! But listen to this folks, it has a QWERTY keyboard. Hold your applause for later. I no longer have to labor over pushing a button 3 times to get the letter I want. Novel concept. There is a lot to learn with a new phone, though, even if it is not some fancy-pants touch-screen phone that will save the world.

Quack quack!

Sat night Matt and I were just starting to watch a movie when we heard a really odd noise. I had Matt pause the movie so we could listen more. Was it a puppy dog yelping? Was it baby birds chirping? Matt looked out the window and did not see anything, but then he noticed a man looking into our yard. The man walked around the corner and continued to look into our yard. I was in pajamas so did the typical wife request "go check it out. Make sure the weird man is not scoping out our house for evil purposes." So Matt went outside. And stayed outside. I started to wonder. Did he strike up a conversation with this stranger? Did he get abducted? Did he decide to do some weeding while out there? So I started peeking through windows to see if I could locate him. I did not see him but I saw 4 or 5 strangers in our side yard with a garbage can. It looked like they were trying to trap something under the garbage can lid and then a lady wearing gloves was transferring the trapped item into the garbage can. Meanwhile another two people were poking around in our bushes. Escaped pets? Baby birds too young to fly & survive on their own? Ducklings! Matt told me when he eventually returned. There is a pond 5 blocks or so from our place that always has ducks. I guess there were 10 ducklings who decided to go off on an adventure. So these people were walking the neighborhood collecting them to bring them back to the pond. The last 2 were in our yard and it is a good thing they did not get any farther because we live off a fairly busy street.

It must be the time of year for this. When I was at my parents a few weeks ago I was reading in their paper about traffic being stopped so a mama duck and her babies could cross. Then on our way back up to Seattle I had to slow down and swerve slightly when a mama duck and her 3 ducklings were crossing a lane that was merging into Aurora. Watch out ducks!

Etta's first tooth

Etta's first tooth has arrived. Not much fanfare or fuss leading up to it. I could see that her two bottom teeth were working there way up but she did not seem to have a big burst of teething. Today I was just curious because I thought something felt slightly different during nursing, and sure enough there was a little toothy above the surface. No pictures of it yet. She likes to explore it with her tongue and seems curious as to this new development!

Busy Little Legs

Miss Etta Rose has some very active legs. Her whole body likes to be active & animated, but it is her legs that I notice the most.

She is an active nurser. Her upper leg & foot always explore the territory around them - which is mostly my shirt, bra & body.

Putting pants on her takes numerous attempts: once we successfully get one leg in, as we move on to the second she gets the first out.

Those things seem fairly normal though. What really got our attention was her Houdini like ability to work her legs out of her pants & pajamas. This first happened when she was wearing footed PJ's that had snaps instead of a zipper. We came in to find that she had kicked her legs out through a gap between the snaps. So her snap-up pajamas got retired quickly. Then she manipulated her legs out of the leg-holes of a zip-up pair or two. In the mornings (or wee hours) we found her with her knees bent & up at her stomach, legs out of leg-holes, feet criss-crossed into the  opposite leg of the pj's (not sure if you can get the mental picture based on that description). So then we made sure that we did not put her into pj's that she was still growing into. We were putting her in her most snug 2 pairs - so snug that they fit her when she is wearing a disposable diaper but not when she is wearing a cloth. No luck! Little busy legs still gets her knees up to her chest. Now I would not have a problem with this except for the fact that she is not a happy camper when she wakes partially at night and finds that her legs are stuck criss-crossed.

So last week I walked with the girls to Fred Meyer to buy new pj's for her. I could find no girl-colored two-piece pj's in less than 18 month size. There were some 12month boy 2-piece pj's on the clearance rack though, so that is what she got. She does not care what they look like. Addie likes that they have cars or alligators on them. Matt & I like that, so far, they have stayed on her body. She does look cute in them. Then again I think all babies (& toddlers) look cute in their pj's!

I am curious as to whether sleep issues in infancy are precursors of what is to come... because Etta also screams in her sleep. I am not sure what sleep-stage she is in at the time, but almost every night & almost exactly one hour after falling asleep at night, she will scream. No scream is pleasant but this is a pretty high-pitched and intense scream. Thankfully it does not last long & she requires no intervention from us. Sometimes it is just this one time, other nights it happens again an hour or two later. We are used to it, but it was quite unsettling at first. 

But in good sleep news, she is sleeping through the night!!! Before our Vancouver/Boise vacation we had tried to switch her from 2 to 1 nursings a night. This did not go well at all. There were a lot of rough nights. Probably we did a few things wrong, most importantly that we were not consistent. Some mornings she would wake at 5am and I would nurse her & put her back down just so I could attempt a little more sleep. Some nights we tried skipping the first (10pm) nursing, then when that did not go well a few nights in a row we switched to skipping the 2nd (2am or so) nursing. Being inconsistent probably confused her - she can not tell time on a clock & probably was angry that sometimes she woke & got milk but other times she does not. But switching from 2 to 1 worked for Addie as far as I can remember. So that made Matt & I wonder if she was just really strong-willed & stubborn because she knew eventually we would get exhausted & I would nurse her. So we gave up on this after a few miserable weeks. We decided vacation was not the ideal time to have her screaming for hours at night. When we returned from vacation, I was really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. Instead I slept downstairs in the office/guest bedroom with earplugs in so that I did not hear her at night. (I still heard her, it was just much less intense) After a few nights of no night nursing she caught on quick and is now doing great (minus the pj/leg issue) at sleeping through the night. She wakes earlier now, which is annoying because I really liked the steady wake/nap schedule she was on, but as long as it is after 6am it can be morning. 

So there you have it: Miss Etta Rose is my smiley, happy, sleeping-through-the-night sweety with active little legs!

Oatmeal Pot Pie

Not really a recipe I cooked, but one Addie created. I had some almond butter I wanted to use up so decided to make peanut butter cookies with a combo of almond and peanut butter. Oats sounded good in them so I did a quick search, found a recipe and got started. Oops! I should have paid more attention before I started my measuring and mixing: it called for an entire jar of peanut butter and 6 cups of oatmeal! I used up all my almond and peanut butter and realized that since I did not have a new peanut butter I would have to modify things slightly. When I got to the whopping 6 cups of oatmeal I realized I was about 2 cups short as well. I searched in the cupboard and found an open box of Irish oats. Since I had no memory as to when I last used them & they did not smell fresh I decided it was best not to use them. Addie, however, put them to good use. She had a lot of fun mixing oatmeal and water to make "oatmeal pot pie". Every minute or two I would here her say "just a little bit more water". In the end her creation had a little bit too much water and got a bit messy and dripped down the counter (no surprise there!). My creation, although not as peanut-buttery as I had originally hoped for, turned out good with the addition of some chopped cashews (did not have peanuts), a bit of flour, and some chocolate chips (they make everything taste better)!

Movie Star & Messy Eater

Addie got her glam on when going to the public pool to swim with Matt the other day. Notice the picture-perfect  stars in the reflection of her sunglasses!

Oh, those paparazzi just won't leave me alone. Sigh.

In other news: Etta is a messy eater. 

No, I mean a really messy eater. 

But when it comes down to it I don't really care. She would rather do it herself, so why not just shove something squishy in her little feeder and let her go at? She gets a bath almost every night these days but she loves the water and it helps stretch her out until bedtime so it is fine with me.

Her favorite store-bought food currently is a prune-oatmeal combo. Favorite home food is avocado that she feeds herself.

And her hair keeps getting lighter. It has movie-star highlights to it & gets a lot of comments. I should post some pictures soon showing her hair progression. Or on second thought I should wait 6 more months so we have a better feel for how it will end up...

Daylight Basement for Rent

Our renters have given notice so I am now officially putting feelers out to see if any of my readers might know of someone who would be a good match for our basement rental unit.

Here are some details:
-daylight basement
-1 bath, 1 bedroom, plus "den"
-new flooring put in during summer of 2009
-full kitchen (but no dishwasher)
-shared laundry
-close to bus lines
-separate entrance
-easy street parking

from kitchen looking toward den, with bathroom on the right

den (great for a home office/computer room)

shared laundry room (not shown is a deep freezer that we will share)

Fine print: 
We live upstairs so we need a renter/s who will fit with our family! This means:
-have to like kids!
-no dogs, no cats
-no smoking
-We have two little early-birds. Our renters don't have to be morning people, but if they are noisy night-owls it will not be a god fit.
-We are currently charging $825/month plus an additional $25/person/month for utilities. This may change some, but not drastically.
-We would be open to a rent reduction in exchange for services (yard work, housecleaning and/or babysitting) depending on skills & experience.