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!