feeder happenings

our bird feeders are an everyday, all day, part of our lives. they hang outside of our living room and we are witness to all of the seasonal happenings. we have lived through the snow birds and the occasional visit from the cardinals and now we are on to my favorite time. the babies.

we have a large number of woodpeckers at our feeders. D loves the woodpeckers and has a few feeders that are special for them. D loves the red bellied woodpeckers the best. in fact, we all call them "daddy's buddy", no matter if they are female or male. we also have downy and hairy woodpeckers. they are nice too but not nearly as great as the big, red-mohawked red bellies.

so now the babies are growing and they are big enough to be learning to feed on the feeders.

the red bellied guys have a cute bald looking head when they're babies. this year we have 2. i haven't been able to get a picture of both on the feeder at once, mostly because they try to scare each other away. i think a big part of their curriculum is learning how to scare other birds off, because that is what their mom teaches them every day on the feeder. soon they are brave enough to try out their skills.
it is so sweet to watch. just as sweet is to watch them grow and try to determine if they are male of female. in a few weeks time we won't be able to tell who the babies are. it is a very brief time, much like our babies.

we also have another new visitor at the feeder. i'm still not sure if i welcome this guy.....

green rice

tonight's dinner was super yummy and maybe even deserving of the title "meal of the week". i was a little stumped today about what to make, until i remembered this green rice recipe (scroll down to the june 25th entry). i had most everything on hand, no jalapenos, but that was just fine with me. i also used vidalia onion instead of yellow onion, i think that was key. that green sauce was so super fantastic, i was eating it with a spoon! i made some grilled tofu, which i am also addicted to, and some beets from the farm. it was awesome. i want to eat it again right now! green sauce, i love you!

it's a celebration!

last night i finished up this wonderful celebration banner. it's going to be a gift for a very special almost one year old in our life. i have another one all cut and ready for the machine, that will be ours.

the idea for it is from this book. in the book she talks about having it be a special part of birthday celebrations in your family. taking it out for each birthday is a special tradition that will be a visual reminder that the celebration is on. i love the idea and hope our kids enjoy it as part of their future celebrations.

of course when i was trying to get a good picture, bee couldn't resist helping. she asked us to "get together" so she could take a few shots of us with the banner. 

here is the best, and silliest one!

weekend cooking round-up & meal of the day

this past weekend my friend traci held a bake sale to benefit barack obama's campaign. when she reached out for help, i was psyched to pitch in. i decided to make my favorite cookies and some sugar cookies. at the last minute i whipped up some lollipops because they are just so fun and so cute! plus the fact that my little partner here is always game. i ended up frosting the sugar cookies with peace signs. i was excited to have an excuse to use my all natural food coloring. what a treat!

i was pretty thrilled to see everything all bagged up. it looked pretty and felt good to be contributing to such a good cause.

as an aside, bee was curious about all this planned baking when i was discussing it. here is the conversation we had:

bee: why are we baking cookies?

me: it's for a bake sale?

bee: why is there a bake sale?

me: it's so we can get a good president.

pause

bee: mommy, do we have a bad president?

me: yes.

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another bit of culinary success over the weekend was spinach popsicles! now i know that this is the type of thing that our kids are going to be laughing about with friends when they are my age, kicking back with a beer and complaining about how crazy their respective parents were. but oh well! at least they'll have something to talk about!

my friend tipped me off to this idea. her son's only reason for living is tractors, specifically john deere's, so this was a hit with him. green! for hers she just blended up fresh spinach, pear juice and applesauce. it was the end of the week here so our selections were slim. we made due with cooking up an apple and a peach and popping them in the blender with pear juice, fresh spinach, yogurt and a bit of maple syrup.

the verdict was a unanimous thumbs up! both kiddies loved them and bee even asked for one first thing this morning. this has my mind racing about when other healthy treats we can "sneak" into a pop. beets? peas? it's a whole popsicle revolution!

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and finally, meal of the day.........
there's some cooked cole slaw there: napa cabbage, onion, carrots, snap peas and garlic scape with some sesame oil and some leftover tropical teriyaki sauce. i sauteed some shrimp and put them on top with a sprinkle of sunflower seeds. i sliced up a nice local tomato and put a little sea salt on top and gave everyone one corn tortilla to do with what they chose. 

we almost never have shrimp but bee was very convincing at the grocery store. "mommy, i love shrimp. i have to get some. i will eat them tonight." so, here is her plate:

it's about the cutest thing ever. i love those tiny portions of real food. did she eat it? some, but she ate what probably amounted to too many "appetizers" before the food was ready. we saved the rest for lunch. we'll see!

phew.

meal of the day: salsa!!

today was a good eating day. the local farms are booming and we are reaping the benefits. for lunch we had lentil cakes with a peanut sauce and sauteed snap peas. but it was sort of similar to this and therefor not eligible to be the meal of the day. it was great though, very fresh.

by a long shot the meal of the day was dinner....... chips & salsa!! (just chips & salsa... eaten on the couch... after the kids went to bed! naughty us!)

the tomatoes were fresh from our friend's farm and the cilantro was fresh from our farm. to me it doesn't get any better than that. i could happily live all summer on salsa and cucumbers. maybe that should be my new diet!

the salsa is so simple, our traditional recipe. just tomatoes, onion, cilantro, garlic, salt and olive oil. that's the basics. chive, green onion, basil, garlic scape and corn will all make an appearance throughout the summer, but it doesn't matter. we will be scraping the last bites out of the bowl no matter what.

stay tuned for some serious baking action to be posted about tomorrow........

birdies

no meal of the day today. it was an exciting day in the kitchen because we ate the first fresh cucumbers of the year for lunch. cuke slices topped with avocado slices and sea salt. yum. my favorite!  we had seconds. but that was truly the most exciting thing mostly because we had a lovely little impromptu dinner party to attend. oh well, try again tomorrow!

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tonight i whipped out a little project that i saw on here. little birdies. it was super fast and fun. i filled them with rice and old lentils. i think they came out cute and would make a sweet little gift. i'll surprise the kids with them in the morning. i know they will use them in their own unique ways. bee will make it the pet of a princess who lives on our porch and maybe it will be sick or need to eat (real food) or god knows what. henny will chew on it.

meal of the day: wrap 'n' beets

just when i start this stupid idea, the next meal i make is a sandwich. not that exciting, but a damn good sandwich.

it's a tuna wrap (we split it). the tuna is made with seasoned rice vinegar, sea salt and half a small avocado. beside tuna, the wrap is stuffed with diced tomato, vidalia onion and boston lettuce. fresh steamed beets on the side with a drizzle of goddess dressing. this meal was particularly outstanding because so much of it was from the farm (our csa) as has been the case for most of our meals lately. it is so great to be in summer mode, eating what is fresh from down the street!

new feature: meal of the day

about a month ago i implemented a new routine to our day. family dinner. before then D and i had eaten our dinner after the kids were in bed. this was really nice. it was a great time for us to chat and cook up something that we like. the reason for the switch was diet related. i started to feel like i may never get anywhere with losing this baby weight if i continue eating dinner at sometime 8, even (*gasp*) 8:30 at night. 

i knew it would be much more work to try to make a pleasant dinner at 6 and eat all together, but i need to lose this weight! it turns out that after some adjustment, i am enjoying the new dinner. we were never lacking in "family meal" time. we always have breakfast and lunch as a family every day, but it is nice to spend more time together. it feels different at the end of the day.

part of the challenge has been to prepare a meal that is satisfying to all of us, including the adults. this challenge has ended up being very fun for me. on good days i spend from 5:30 to 6 semi-alone in the kitchen doing my best rachel ray, listening to martha stewart radio and usually surprising myself with something nice. on extra good days i have done some cooking ahead and it's easy as pie. but no matter what, most days have found D and i sitting down to a nice meal.

the bonus has been all that extra time after the kids go to bed. having dinner done, we are free to do projects, mow the lawn, read or just hang out together. i know it is probably what everyone else does, but we like to learn things the hard way.

on to the new feature... with all these fun meals i've been cooking up, i've decided to keep a record here of the "meal of the day". i have been known to provide a mid-day culinary delight, so it may be lunch or dinner. whatever i deem the best, and have the foresight to take a picture of. and maybe some days it will be all sandwiches and leftovers, so we will just forget about it on those days. we'll see how this goes!

yesterday's meal of the day:

for dinner we had grilled tofu (drained, squeezed and marinated in tropical teriyaki sauce), grilled portobella mushrooms, spinach cooked in a pouch on the grill, on a bed of boston lettuce and topped with green onions, a sprinkle of gorgonzola cheese and a sweet little nasturtium from our garden. it was delicious and no dishes!!

(i know that i need to get better at photographing food... i'll work on that!)

buffet-like post

i have been neglecting this space. i keep thinking of tiny things to say here, but haven't been finding the time. so here goes.

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big news for me is that i finally joined the local y. i have been dreaming about it since before henny was born. i never felt that we could afford it financially or afford the pain it would cause by leaving a tiny baby. but hen is bigger and we have this long, unscheduled summer to contend with. so now i have the option of leaving the kids off in a fun place, "full of plastic toys", so that i can exercise for a few minutes. heaven. (once hen will really let me leave!)

something that struck me as funny was on the application for enrollment at the y. they ask all sorts of expected questions, the usual. i got stuck when i got to the question that asked, "what do you hope to get out of your experience at the y?" hmmmm..... now, i couldn't possibly write the truth: "i hope to get a break from my kids for 45 minutes at a time. possibly coordinate this break with the airing of the view." i had to think for a minute, long enough to make up a little white lie.

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in child development news, henny has been going through a lot of changes. he has 7 teeth now, is LOVING strawberries and has found that he has a mind of his own, and a voice to go with it. at dinner he just yells. yells and yells until the next bite is presented to him, or sprinkled on his tray. he has also started to pull up on EVERYTHING. and if he gets something that he can't have and you take it away, watch out! he will let you know what he thinks.

it's cute to see him exploring his world and to see things that he really enjoys. he loves golf balls and the play kitchen. he also loves the bathroom, a lot. but on the other hand, it is in sharp contrast to the baby of a few months ago. let's just say that i have some adjusting to do.

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this past sunday was father's day. we had a very full day with lots of fishing and good eating.
we started off the morning with a 5am wake up and some very early fishing. it was nice to be out so early and fun for bee and D. bee likes fishing for about 5 minutes, and then she goes into her pretend world, catching fish her own way and making up her stories. it's all good. 

the fish weren't biting, but we still had fun. looking back, this was probably the nicest part of the day. after we left the lake there were more tantrums than you would like on father's day. it's funny though because if i sat down to write this on sunday, the whole post would have been about the "not listening" and "sassy" behavior. but now that some time has passed, all i can remember are the good moments. i guess that's how this parenting thing works.

it's hot

it's VERY hot here, and that's about all there is to say.

we have been keeping cool by staying close to home and the fans. we have the kiddie pool out but honestly, it's just too hot to even be out in the yard. we visited the sprinkler park, that was a relief. mostly though, i am at a loss.

today we ended the day with an "ice bath". that's a fancy name for dumping all the ice trays out into the tub. 

the kids loved it, of course. and the day ended on a good note with cool bodies and happy spirits all around. the heat wave is supposed to break tonight, i'm hoping for a big thunder storm to see it out. that would be a relief!

photo booth fun

going along with her current love for photography, bee has found that she can spend endless time playing with photo booth on the laptop. she calls it the "scary faces on the 'puter". she tries all different effects and makes the craziest faces. i set the mouse up so that she can just click on the button to take a picture. often i will just go about my business because she is just so involved, she doesn't even notice me. when i check back on her, after my few minutes of peace, there are countless pictures. it's like watching a movie scene by scene, she moves mere centimeters between frames. 

it's hilarious to watch, especially when she uses the crazy effects. i guess it's the modern day version of a fun house mirror. she moves slowly to watch her face stretch, spin, shrink or split in two. the best part is when she touches her face, just to make sure it's still normal.

here are some of the shots from today. they are good, although she has done way better in the past. but, you get the idea.

tiny dancer

bee has been taking ballet class for several months now. this came in response to her begging for lessons and trying to convince us that she was already a real ballerina. i found a wonderful, small ballet school close by and we got her enrolled.

when we signed up we were told about an end of the year performance but i paid it little mind. but as time marched on and there was more and more talk of the recital, i became more nervous.

i thought there was no way bee would go on stage and dance. maybe i was projecting my own fears on her, but mostly i think i was accepting her personality, which is sometimes shy. i figured she would enjoy the experience, talking about it and practicing, but would opt out in the end. and that would have been fine. in fact, i already had my speech prepared in advance.

boy was i wrong! our little girl got on that stage and did every move. i would have been thrilled enough with the way that she bravely got on stage at the dress rehearsal, but then she did the real thing in front of a (semi) packed crowd. she kick-walked, galloped, bowed and pranced! i don't think i took a single breath. and all throughout i wanted to go up to every person in that audience and tell them that my baby was on that stage. my baby!

and if the show wasn't enough, you should have seen her face when i found her after her number. she was even prouder than when she took her first steps. i felt like the words i saidto her couldn't even express my pride enough.

who knows if dance will be something that she sticks with. frankly, i don't care a bit. maybe she will move on to karate, or baseball or furious reading. whatever her passion is, i will be proud, but this first feat of bravery and independence will stand out to me for years. maybe even a lifetime.

joann's fabric and their enormous carbon footprint

this past week i placed an order with joann's fabrics online. i ordered two little rolls of thread that i couldn't find locally. i hated to do this mostly because the shipping cost 3 times what the thread cost. but i thought, what the hell, and placed the order.

little did i know that the most regretful part of the whole transaction would be joann's amazing lack of environmental conscience with regard to their packaging.

this is how i received my thread:

dear joann's,

get with the times. 

signed, 

planet earth

wrist twirlers

my sewing machine was returned to me yesterday from it's first tune up. this is a big deal because the machine may be as old as me. it was long overdue. 

i tried it out last night on this quick little project. and boy was it smooth and tight! loving it! i made these little wrist twirlers for bee. they're basically scrunchies with ribbons and a flower sewn on them. they are pretty cute and satisfying for a instant-gratification lover like me.

and of course bee loves them. she calls them "wrist tutus".

random happenings

no big news here... just some quick notes....

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at last count henny now has 6 teeth. 4 on the bottom and 2 nice big ones on top. and he will bite you. watch out!

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bee almost put me over the edge today when she knocked a glass on the floor and it smashed. ok, i know that maybe she is too young for a glass, and that it happens to everyone sometimes, even me. but her response as i was cleaning up a cup's worth of water and shards of broken glass was just astonishing.

the first thing she said was, "can i have some more water?" i mean really, how self centered! (*sarcastic*)

that was followed by a string of versions of, "can i get up?" (i made her stay in her chair so she wouldn't be cut. how mean of me!)

and finally the loud sigh and moan of, "mom, i'm so bored!"

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henny learned how to climb stairs yesterday. it was truly the cutest thing to watch his brain and body work together to make it happen. he just kept lifting is little knees up until he made it up all 5 deck stairs to the top. and boy did he look proud! and boy are we screwed!

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i went to the movies alone on the weekend. this was kind of a big deal for me but was actually really fun. i recommend it.

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finally, the long, unscheduled summer has begun. i know it should be fun, but i really need to figure out a way to make it more fun for me. i know bee would just love to "hang around the house" all day, making mess after mess and watching me clean it up while simultaneously asking, "can you play with me?" but i think i need a little more. 

goal for the rest of the week..... work on that.