Goody Gumdrop

One Mutha of a Photo Recap

July 6th?  Already?

June was fun.  Here are the photo highlights.

 

A cloudy, but fun, camping trip at Detroit Lake.  It started off with a drive through a thunderstorm bordering on tornado that I will never forget.  Now I can say I have actually seen a huge tree blow over.

 

Paper plate painting to make:

 

paper plate dinosaurs!!  RAWR

 

Strawberry picking in Hillsboro.

 

I wish I could capture the way Ebin says 'tractor.'

 

Fun and silliness at a Beavers vs. Fresno baseball game.

 

 

Auntie Tamara and her boyfriend came up to visit for a weekend.  We went up to Multnomah Falls and tried the hike to the top.  They have these lovely little signs that say '3 of 11 switchbacks.'  I think the kids made it to the 5th switchback at 3/4 mile up the trail.  Tammy and Brian made it to the top and took pictures so we could see what we were missing.  We hadn't been in about a decade and the trail to the top was washed out back then.

 

Breathtaking as always.

 

The mesmerizing mist.

 

A nice little hidey hole!

 

After dinner downtown we happened upon an urban waterfall.  Also beautiful.

 

On the sunday of Tammy and Brian's trip we had an awesome Father's DAy brunch at the Veritable Quandry and went up to the Rose garden to digest.  11 years in Portland and Doug and I had never seen it!!  Roses as far as the eye could see.

 

 

The fragrance was amazing in spots.

 

I love giant blue rippley hostas too.

 

Oh wait, I think this is my favorite one.

 

After the little hike at Multnomah Falls, I looked for some short easy hikes on Mt. Hood.  This was Lower Zig-Zag falls.  The hike was a little too easy and took all of 10 minutes.  We drove up to Trillium Lake and Frog Lake.  We're planning to camp at Frog Lake later this month.  The reservable sites are all booked up so we'll be taking our chances on the walk-up sites.  Frog Lake has the dry pine scent as opposed to the mossy forest scent.

 

So June.  Lots of fresh air.  Loads of perfect 80 degree days.  Not a lot of time for sewing.  I bought a Stitch magazine and need to procure some linen for a couple of the projects.  I also need to sew a giant bag (and I mean GIANT) for all thesummer supplies I seem to pack up on a daily basis.  Swim trunks, towels, sunblock, water, snacks, diapers, dry clothes, wallet, phone, etc.  I look like a bag lady leaving the house.  I've taken to just carrying swim supplies around (in the car or bike) because most of the Portland parks have fountains or wading pools operating on warm days.  I love summer!!

Roboto

Introducing our first family robot:  EVE.

 

It feels a little bit like we got a new family pet (well, you know...not exactly, but this will have to suffice until I can handle a pup).  It kind of feels like she picked us.  We toddled off to ToysRUs with birthday money in pockets last week.  Ebin was fascinated by this Eve toy (she had a little test button).  I deemed her too expensive and picked a little put-together Wall-E toy for him.  Well, Mr. Wall-E was missing his feet, so back to ToysRUs we went.  Back to the Wall-E section, and Ebin picked up the Eve box and hugged it.  Okay, okay.  How can a mama say no when a big-eyed two year old is hugging a box? 

I didn't even really check her out at the store (Ebin just liked that she talked).  I'm kind of impressed by technology these days!  When the boys shoosh her around sideways she makes flying noises.  When you set her up straight she makes a landing noise. (She comes off the stand easily.) If you talk she turns her head towards you and jabbers.  And if you lift her arm, she shoots.  A girl's gotta take care of herself.  Especially when her owner insists on calling her Wall-E.

Mostly I just think she is one of the more aesthetically pleasing toys we have, and I can't wait for the day when an interactive robot will do some vacuuming or something!

 

In any case, I had fun taking pictures of her in the setting sun, and I think she'll look great next to Andrea's R2-D2 painting.

Two-zer McGoozer

Our baby turned 2 yesterday!

 

I suppose I should realize he is not really a baby anymore.  He's officially a 'terrible two-zer' as Isaac calls him.  Lately this involves refusal to ride in any strollers or carts, and a lot of screeching when things don't go his way.  It also involves a burgeoning vocabulary with new words on a daily basis.  That part is fun.  The independent walking in stores...not as much. But he just wants to be like brother. I was waiting at the deil counter in Fred Meyer and he was inching along, farther and farther away.  I did my cross face and pointed at him and then indicated he needed to get right back next to me.  A deli girl comes over and asks 'did you need something?'  Mortifying.  (She thought I was motioning to her.)

So Happy 2nd Birthday, Ebin!  Two years ago you changed our lives and completed our family.  We love you and your miniature-giant ways so much!!!

Star Wars All the Time

Another idea I wanted to try from Soule Mama's Creative Family book is to embroider your child's drawing to make a pillow (or wall hanging, bag, etc.).

Isaac has only recently started drawing recognizable things, and his favorite subject is his current lasting obsession with all things Star Wars.  He did this drawing one day while hanging out with our nanny.  He said the torn out part had been R2D2.  (The post-it was stuck on the inside of my printer from office "art" projects.)

 

I improvised the color scheme.

 

 

Darth and C3PO.

 

A tie fighter blasting an X-wing fighter, blasting the death star, blowing up a ship.

I thought the pillow really needed some Star Wars fabric to surround the embroidered panel.  I wasn't very keen on the new fabrics (although I did buy party favor bags made with those fabrics and they were adorable).  I saw a small, overpriced piece of the pottery barn star wars fabric on ebay and contemplated that.  I didn't need much fabric to make a pillow.  In the end I ebayed a vintage sheet.  Once it arrived I realized I could probably manage to make a duvet cover and pillow case for a complete ensemble.  Two sheets from Fred Meyer later....and cha-ching!

 

 

The duvet cover has a navy sheet for the back and the sheet panel is framed by turquoise.

One twin fitted sheet from Ebay:  $12

One full turquoise sheet: $8

One queen navy sheet: $27.

Grand total:  $47.  Comparison shopping with the (very cute) pottery barn duvet cover:  $99.

I had covertly embroidered the picture at night after bedtime.  And then did 2 banzai sewing days while Isaac was at school/daycare.  The second (pillow-sewing) day was his actual birthday and I was sweating it down to the wire.  Doug picked him up at 3:45 and I was just finishing it up.  "Stop at Fred Meyer and stall!!"  I still had to wrap his other present.

I wasn't sure what the reaction would be (these not being TOYS), but he told me that night "I so much love you, Mom!"  I so much love him.

 

 

five twenty six

Five years ago at this time I was in labor for the first time.  I had recently arrived at the hospital and there was talk of sending me home because I got the last room.  I really was in labor though, and we kept it.  I was in a world of hurt, but it was tempered by the excitement of finally meeting our wee baby for the first time.  (It was further reduced around 3pm by the epidural when my fear of needles was outweighed by the fear of dealing with hours and hours more of that kind of pain).  It wasn't until 9 something p.m. that Isaac made his appearance, forever changing our lives.  We were parents.  We are parents!  Sometimes it is still hard to believe.

I was telling Isaac this morning that he wouldn't "officially" be 5 until tonight and telling him how I labored all day.  He said "yes, but you didn't cry."  I told him I did cry a little, and Doug told him that HE had cried at his birth.  And that Grandma Nunu had too.  He just looked at him.  Not sure what to make out of those tidbits of information. 

So five years later, and we have two boys and two birthdays with five days between.  And we are ready!  I made a pair of birthday crowns from Soule Mama's Creative Family book.  The first will be broken in this evening!

 

 

And now I need to get the little mister down for a nap, so I can finish Isaac's embroidered Star Wars pillow (another Soule Mama/Creative Family project idea).  I hope he likes it, but it may get the 'but this isn't from the toy store!!!' reaction.  Isaac went happily off to his pre-K class with cupcakes in hand, which saved me from some late-night sewing.  We're doing presents this afternoon when he gets home!

Capes!!

Two of Isaac's little buddies at his daycare/preschool are twins. They are only a couple of weeks older than him and they have all been in the same class for 5 years now.  The twins turned 5 last Monday (adding to the preponderance of people I know who were born on May 11th), and they had a birthday party yesterday.  (The conversations about 'real' birthdays versus party days have been intense and confusing lately, believe me.  You really want to figure this out because you really don't want to miss anything important on a day that you don't have school!) 

I asked the kids about a week ago what they were into and they both emphatically said KNIGHTS!!!!  And well, since I have now known them for almost 5 years and still can't tell them apart most of the time, I thought they could use some knight capes with a little monogram assistance for those of us who are lame.  (They are some of the most identical twins I have ever seen.)

 

I think you could be a knight or a wizard.  Depending how you were feeling that day.

 

The front tab closes with velcro.

 

One had gold trim and the other silver.  Not quite identical.

 

The monograms were made of felt with a little stitched-and-glued braid.

 

Super-great for spinning!

The boys weren't overly excited, but the moms all ooh-ed and ahh-ed.  I hope the boys will enjoy them.  Isaac asked for one for himself.  I have another birthday present in mind for him, but I am down to 2 school days when he won't be home for me to work on it.  Realistically...that is not going to happen.  Hmmm.  Conundrum.

My Homemade Undergarmets Kick

I've been tossing this idea around in my mind about trying to sew some undergarments.  It was completely inspired by Angry Chicken.  Amy Karol has been posting all kinds of cool homemade undergarments.  It is such a genius idea!  That stuff costs an arm and a leg for, what, 7 square inches of fabric? I've eyeballed the stretch lace selections at the last couple of fabric stores I've been in, and I finally took the plunge.

I have a little brown camisole which I wear just about every day in the winter.  My sister gave it to me when she worked at a little boutique, and I love it.  It is made of that super thin knit, but sadly it has a few holes now.  I've also got an old stretched out and paint-stained cotton bra from Urban Outfitters.  Why do I even still own it??  The elastic is shot!

So I present, the before:

 

And the after:

 

The bralette has a double layer of fabric for the front (an improvement over the UO one), and a purpley stretch lace for the straps.  The camisole has hot pink shiny folded over elastic (FOE) for the straps.  I don't have a serger, so the FOE is awesome for finishing the raw edges.  I left the bottom of the tank raw to roll like the original brown one.

 

Someday I will quit posting horrible-quality dark photos in my blog.  But it won't be today.

Amazingly, these both fit!  My neighbor did comment on the 'uniboob' factor, but I think really he was just proud of himself for knowing the term.  Super comfy.

Next up, a thicker green knit and some other cool trims.  I think I need to buy more FOE though.  That is the way to go.

 

I also need to sew up a few pairs of elastic-waist big diaper-butt pants and shorts.  I'm back on the economy plan of cloth diapers, but Ebin has a real lack of clothes that actually fit over them, while still allowing him to bend over.  He's huge and 3T pants are made for skinny kids wearing tiny underwear or thin sposies.  Attempt numero uno:

 

Sock monkeys on pogo sticks.  I didn't grab the camera in time to get a picture of him wrappng the last piece of fabric around his torso and yelling SHIRT! SHIRT!  They're very jammie-esque, but I suppose that's okay when you are a month away from turning two.

PS.  After uploading pictures off the camera I always find pictures taken by both boys these days.  Ebin's are not much of a treat.  These are my favorites in this batch by Isaac:

 

 

Recipes for All

Unfortunately my scanning time ran out before I got the herbed shrimp one scanned.  But here is the stuffed artichoke recipe:

 

I found that hitting the artichoke on the counter to open it up did nothing.  And I had to use tongs to grab the center leaves and pull them out.  Those puppies were spikey!!  I also crumbled my bacon after cooking it, and removed almost all of the bacon fat from the pan before frying the onions.  Hmm..I also sort of quadrupled the recipe because it was for only one artichoke and I made 4.  YUM

I also want to try this one:

 

If you can't read these and want me to email them, leave a comment.  I'm not sure how big they'll be.

And remember that cute baby pram?  I found Ebin sitting IN it and peeking around the hood.  ARGH.  Two year olds, I tell ya!

Feeding Frenzy

I've been on a culinary roll this week.  (I prefer to pronounce it kul-inary, but can't help thinking que-linary after watching so many episodes of Andrew Zimmern.)

If you're in the Portland area you should run to Zupan's and grab a copy of their free magazine Indulge.  It's a spring-food issue and there are a number of recipes I want to try.  I tried two this week.  The first was a stuffed artichoke recipe.  Doug and I both agreed they were the BEST artichokes we haveever eaten.  The prep was a little spiky.  You have to pull the small center leaves out and scrape the fuzz to make a cavity.  The stuffing was crumbled bacon, sauteed onions and garlic with anchovy paste, grated parmesan (I had romano), and breadcrumbs.  The cavity is filled with the breadcrumb mixture and the artichokes are placed in a steamer basket with water half-way up the side of the artichokes for an hour.  I had my doubts about that....soggy steamy breadcrumbs?  But WOW!  The artichokes were flavorful and tender and the stuffing was light and fluffy yet cohesive.  Totally fabulous.  I also peeled the stems, steamed those for the last 10 minutes, and cut them into coins for the kids.  Isaac ate the coins and a bunch of the leaves.  Usually the kid runs from vegetables.

There are about 4 other artichoke recipes, and I want to try all but maybe one of them.

Next up was an herbed shrimp with mango salsa.  Yum.  The night before the artichokes I made a roasted red pepper, feta, white bean, garlic, and cayenne dip.  It was actually thick like a spread so we spread it on tortillas and heated them on our pizza stone.  Then we added spinach leaves and avocado to make quesadillas with a healthy twist.

Today I tried the coconut blueberry muffin recipe off the back of the Bob's Red Mill flaked coconut bag.  I used some blueberries I threw into the freezer at the end of last summer.

Tonight....meatloaf made with Lawry's mix.  We don't want to get too out of control.

(If anyone is dying to try the stuffed artichokes, I could scan and post.)

Peepoop!

We're really looking forward to one thing around here.

 

See that basket of diapers?  Yes, we are tired of those.  Very tired.  Time to bring Paul the pottying doll out of the basement for some inspiration.  

 

Ebin has the potty-theory down pat, but has yet to PEEPOOP! or POTTY! POTTY! himself yet.  Well, except for one fluke pee incident. 

I haven't shown him how Paul can drink his bottle and *really* make pee.  We might have to try that out tomorrow.  The kids have been fighting over him like crazy, so that should be a big fun watery messy time.  It might be just the ticket though!

The best thing about Paul?  He's vanilla scented.