Ice Cream Social

Last night was the annual Armour Hills Ice Cream Social - a big party at our local park . . . hot dogs, bouncy castles, ice cream, a visit from a fire truck . . . lots of fun and a great testament to what a wonderful neighborhood we have here!

School Girl

Lucy started her last year at Ward Parkway Preschool this week . . . she's now in Pre-Kindergarten! My big, big girl! I can hardly believe that teeny tiny pink bundle is now a great big almost-five-year-old! It's going to be a great year - we're very excited about the teachers and curriculum and the great group of kids!

The (first) BIG project

Like many families we have an ever-evolving, rarely-completed list of projects we want to do around the house. With a big party in the works for later this Autumn we feel a new urgency to actually check off some of the items on our list, and one of the "big" ones was figuring out what to do with the front walkway. It was an eyesore, but we honestly couldn't come up with any ideas we liked.

Finally, brilliantly, David came up with a lovely plan that was (reasonably) affordable and was something we could manage on our own. So after some exciting concrete demolition, and a few very expensive trips to the home improvement center and two garden centers, we tackled our project yesterday, and I think it came out very nicely.

After tearing out the old concrete "curbs" (ugh, that was hard), we dug up (and transplanted to a bare spot in yard) a patch of grass on each side of the front walk, and put in flower beds, after first building a little decorative retaining wall. It has totally transformed the space, and we feel almost a little foolish that we didn't do something like this a year ago. Oh well. It is very pretty now. I almost hate to park in front of it!

The abundance of friends

On a trip to the zoo with a good friend and her son this past Friday, our conversation turned, inevitably for me, to gardening. She told me all about her wonderful tomato crop, and I had to admit to her that our tomatoes have been a disaster. Between the squirrels and a horrible infestation of spider mites we have harvested exactly two grape tomatoes. Yes. Two. Grape. Tomatoes. Very sad.

Saturday afternoon, as I lay on the sofa with Lucy, recovering from our tree pruning fun earlier in the day (see below), someone knocked on our door. Standing there was the husband of my good friend and their daughter, with an enormous box of luscious, red, ripe tomatoes from their garden.

After admiring the tomatoes for a day, we cut a bunch of them up to make into a lovely tomato-basil-balsamic salad which we enjoyed as part of our Sunday supper. I think I will use the rest tonight in another salad - maybe something with tuna and capers? Thank you friends!

Be your own arborist

David & I figured out that if we took out a couple of tree limbs we might be able to get enough sunshine on our south-facing slope that we could grow grass. Of course, as with any project, this turned out to be a lot more work that we would have liked, but the children "helped" a lot, and the trees along the street look better. Now we can try one more time to get some grass to grow!

Green Beans

I know this all usually pictures of my adorable children, but for something a little different, here are some green beans. Not just any green beans, but green beans freshly picked from my garden. They were so good. They were crisp, they were sweet, they were flavorful. They took my taste buds on a nostalgic trip to my childhood of eating fresh green beans right off the bush in my parent's garden. But mostly these beans made me sad and angry that 99% of the green beans I eat these days taste like, well, nothing like a fresh green bean. I guess they have a green bean flavor, and they have green bean consistency, but really, they do not taste like a REAL green bean, and that's sad. I've become so accustomed to eating vegetables because I should, because they are nutritious, because they are low calorie and full of fiber. I can't even remember the last time I ate a green bean like these from my garden. They were so real and so delicious - they were a revelation, and not in a good way. Maybe next year is the year we dig up the front lawn and go crazy with our vegetable garden . . . for now, back to my little tiny veggie patch, with it's handful of green beans, some amazing cucumbers, and the promise a good pumpkin crop later this year.

My beautiful babies

When we were up in Wisconsin for Erin and Chris's wedding at the end of June, one of their friends, Bill Anthony, a professional photographer with William Anthony Photography , took some amazing photos of L & J - I haven't seen them all yet, but he sent me a little preview today with this photo of my babies.

Blueberry Fields

We took advantage of some nice weather last week and went to a local blueberry farm (The Berry Patch) and picked over four pounds of delicious blueberries. Lucy was very enthusiastic about the whole experience, and picked almost two pounds all by herself. James wasn't quite as happy about the outing as Lucy was, but he certainly enjoyed the fruits of his labor. Pun intended.

poppy, cracker crumbs, ibis

My papaver "Manhattan" bloomed (finally!) today, and I am so happy. It is so pretty. Memorial Day trip to the zoo this morning with D and the children. James ate cheddar bunnies with gusto, as you can see, and Lucy and David enjoyed the birds in the aviary.

tractors and guns, oh my

We spent most of the day Sunday at D's sister's house in Lane, KS, about an hour south-west of here. J spent most of his afternoon parked behind the steering wheel of a vintage, non-operational John Deere tractor. He was in heaven. The grown-ups and older kids spent an hour or two shooting clay pigeons with shotguns. I have VERY mixed feelings about guns, children with guns, and the idea of shooting things. But it was fun to watch, and D, his brother and brother-in-law were incredibly careful and cautious when the kids were shooting, and they even managed to convince me to give it a try! Aghhh, I know, I can hardly believe it myself. But it was actually fun, and empowering. Might even try it again sometime (but no, I would NEVER want to go hunting, no way, no how)

fairy gardens, happy children

A few weeks ago we moved our enormous swing-set from the side of our house to the backyard, right outside the kitchen window. Since the move the children have been playing outside a LOT more than they were before, because it easier for me to watch them AND cook dinner/fold laundry/etc./etc. All this outdoor time has inspired all sorts of new creative play, including the "fairy house" Lucy and I made (out of an old plastic pot, twigs, moss, and a lot of hot glue from the hot glue gun!) and the "fairy garden" we've been constructing all around the fairy house. We think the fairies approve of their little refuge, and have been visiting often.

sweet baby james

I really am going to have to stop calling James my baby sometime soon - he is a "big boy" now! But oh, he is still my little sweetheart baby boy sometimes, like this morning. We had half an hour to kill before Costco opened at 10:00, so we stopped at the Kauffman Garden for a little mommy-son romp among the flowers, and James was so sweet, so cute, so funny! (This is rare these days as he is definitely putting the "terrible" in "terrible twos" . . . hopefully he'll get through this stage quickly!) He had so much fun sniffing flowers, running down the paths, balancing on the curbs . . . it was a joy and delight just to see him so happy!

artichokes

I adore artichokes. I can eat them all ways, at all times. Lucy does not (yet!) love them, which breaks my heart. But tonight I introduced James to his first-ever steamed artichoke. I showed him how to peel off the leaves one at a time, dip the leaf in the dipping sauce, and scrape the yummy artichoke flesh off of the leaf with your teeth, and toss the spent leaf into the "trash" bowl in the middle of the table. The first two leaves he needed a bit of help with, but after that he took to it like a duck to water. He'd take each leaf off, eat the good part off, then throw the leaf into the bowl and scream "I did it" - then repeat. It was noisy, but very, very, very cute!

prairie children

We had a little ramble at the "Lakeside Nature Center" the other morning. It's one of our favorite places to visit, despite (me) or because of (J & L) the enormous rattlesnakes they have on display. I favor the owls. The kiddos like the giant alligator snapping turtle. We took photos out in front of the center with some native grasses and wildflowers.

Happy Mother's Day

My darling children, David and myself celebrated Mother's Day with an outing to the Zoo this morning. Like all of our outings to the zoo, this one began with a ride on the carousel.

In addition to the trip to the zoo, I was presented with a lovely breakfast (but not in bed!), we had a fun lunch out at our local "mexican" restaurant, and David and the children are making a supper of a green salad topped with grilled chicken, grilled zucchini (Lucy's favorite!), grilled peppers, and grilled ciabatta - yum!

15? Really?

This cannot be real, but the calendar just doesn't lie. Andrew turned 15 on Saturday. He is now old enough to drive (!!!) to and from school and work without an adult accompanying him. Crazy. Celebrated his b-day with a great big 3-layer mocha cake and a heart beef-centric dinner.

A visit to the Kauffman Garden

On Friday, James, Lucy and I took my two girlfriends Erin White and Kerrey Roberto to the Kauffman Garden to enjoy the spring flowers. Then we went home a drank a lot of white wine while watching wedding-related T.V. shows. A perfect day.

Happy Birthday Emily

We celebrated my birthday Saturday night. The weather was a little stormy, but we were able to eat al fresco, which was lovely. The menu was grilled shrimp, a mushroom, cheese & vegetable strudel, and a lovely little salad with beets, oranges and baby greens. My sister Vanessa made a fantastic lemon cake for dessert, but we had to eat that on the screen porch as things had grown too stormy outside. In addition to Vanessa and her boyfriend Bo we also had my two best friends from college staying with us for a wine-soaked weekend of birthday fun.

happy weekend

We had such a nice weekend . . . the weather was unseasonably warm, so we were outdoors a lot, including a trip to the zoo on Friday with friends from Lucy's preschool, and a lovely Saturday afternoon at Brookside Park, followed by grilling some incredibly yummy lamb-burgers made from Wempe lamb - so delicious! Sunday it turned a bit chilly so we spent out morning at the "Metropolitan Lawn and Garden Show" at the American Royal. The kiddos had a lot of fun, and I got lots of garden inspiration! I can't wait for spring!

David's Birthday

Although his birthday is today, we had our family birthday party for David yesterday. We celebrated with homemade tamales (David's request) - which came out incredibly well. I don't even care for tamales all that much, but these were great. My sister Vanessa and her boyfriend Bo helped us make them, and they brought margarita fixings too, which was lots of fun. We also had a chocolate cake with fleur de sel caramel filling, but it wasn't that amazing - weird recipe, caused me much grief. Normally baking is my strong point, but this cake wasn't that great. The kids still loved it though, so I think everyone was happy. In these photos you can see how badly J. needs his hair trimmed. I am almost ready to take him for a haircut, I swear! Poor J. I love his fuzzy little head

snowy fun

The bitter, bitter cold ended in the night, and it warmed up very nicely today, so we spent some time outside playing in the snow this morning. It was kind of a thin little snow, but the kiddos had lots and lots of fun nonetheless.

H. Stern Nude Models

Yep. This is what I saw when I turned on the T.V. tonight. James had been playing with the remote control, and when I turned the T.V. on to watch a bit of he news what I saw was a pay-per-view channel screen asking me if I wanted to pay $9.95 for "H. Stern's Nude Models" - David said "that's my boy" . . . hmmm.

well, let's just skip Christmas

So I sort of missed Christmas. Not literally, just here in the wonderful world of blogs. So, here we are, a nice New Year's Day photo, or at least, a photo or two of what we ate. Mario Batali's recipe for a Mythic Pasta Dome (Timpano di Maccheroni) - the crazy centerpiece dish in the movie The Big Night. It was truly awesome, delicious, lovely texture, not overwhelmingly rich . . . actually quite simple to make, just lots and lots of steps involved in the process. We celebrated New Year's Day with my sister and her boyfriend, David's big kids and our two little ones. Lots of fun was had by all, and we are all just so darn glad that 2008 is over and done with . . . hopefully 2009 has happier healthier days in store for all of us!