Vacation Countdown

Soon, very soon...

We were listening to Disney music in the car the other day and I turned around to see Rush dancing, arms and legs waving, to It's a Small World. He's ready for vacation. He did ride Space Mountain in utero, so I think he might be saving his first steps for the Magic Kingdom.

Best. Weekend. Ever.

It's the weekend I look forward to all year - the book sale! Kellaura, Amber, and I made our 4th annual visit to the Friends of the Houston Public Library Book Sale and with over 80,000 books it was again everything we've dreamed about all year long. I'm not sure how to stress how exciting the weekend is for us, involving careful planning to make sure we're wearing shoes comfortable enough to walk around in all day, bringing a bag to carry our books while we look, ariving at the convention center early on Sunday to wait for the doors to open, and talking about the sale all year long. Of course, the biggest event is BAG DAY on Sunday, when you can fill a grocery bag (provided by the sale) with as many books as you can fit for $10.

I have two favorite parts of the weekend. One of them is packing and repacking my bag (multiple times throughout the 4 hours we spent at the sale today) to maximize the number of books I can fit. It's always amazing to start with a gigantic pile of books, then pack strategically enough to still have half the bag empty and go back out into the convention center to look for more books to fill it.

This year I had 43 books in my bag - a new personal best.

My other favorite part of the book sale is the big reveal, when we all sit around after the sale and each take a turn showing every book in our bag. I love seeing everyone's selections; Kellaura's usually contains some books on gardening and horses, as well as books by authors that I most likely have never heard of but will at some point become very attached to through Kellaura's influence. Amber's selection is always completely giving, picking up antique books for her parents, baby books for her sister, mechanical books for her husband, and even gourmet gardening books for Kellaura and black cat books for me.

My find of the day was a book that I have wanted since I heard about it, Go In and Out the Window, a book of folk songs with music and illustrations from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I also came home with a nice selection of fiction (including some Dick Frances and Ngaio Marsh thanks to Kellaura and Kate's influence), Cooking the Norwegian Way, a stack of board books for Rush, a knitting book, and from my Saturday shopping, Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook, which maybe I will use someday instead of serving chips and hot sauce.

It was a tiring and awesome two day book sale marathon. Rush didn't actually attend the book sale, but was exhausted from spending all weekend with the guys. He's sleeping; I'm just pretending for the photo. How could I sleep with so many new books to look examine?

Earth Day 2010

For Earth Day, I'm thinking about the ways that we are personally making changes to our lives to be kinder to the Earth and ways that we could still improve.



We've made some positive changes like planting the garden (talk about local produce), composting full force and bringing our own bags to the grocery store. I am 100% completely sold on using reusable bags. It's hard enough getting Rush and all the groceries into the house while the cats hover by the front door trying to escape, so I love that it cuts down on the back and forth trips from the car. And I have the greenest bags ever because they are not in the least bit hip. Instead of buying the cute bags that you can get at almost any store, I'm using bags that Trent got for free from his subcontractors at work. My bags may have huge logos that say things like COMMERCIAL JANITORIAL, but at least I didn't buy something I didn't need. I mean in this specific example I didn't buy something I didn't need. I actually buy things I don't need constantly. Sigh.

We actually ate salad that we grew! Rush approved; he's a tree hugger. Literally. He loves trees.

Back to our environmental evaluation, there are a million more things we could be doing better. I've been too cheap to buy any green cleaning products, but hopefully that will change. Also, I know that it would be soooo easy to use cloth diapers when we're at home. Even if I only used one cloth diaper a day when I knew we weren't going to leave the house, it would really help lessen the incredible amount of diapers we throw out. Unfortunately I just haven't been able to bring myself to buy any cloth diapers. The disposables are just so easy. And the cloth diapers I want are fancy and cost $25 each. So. I know a lot of people who use cloth diapers at least part of the time, maybe if they just put on the pressure maybe I'll invest in at least one or two. Pearland recycles almost everything, so we really have almost no trash...except diapers.

Our goal is to be more and more gentle on the earth and to enjoy God's creation as much as possible. I'm just going to try to live more like Gran and Pop, who used a small bathroom trash can in their kitchen. They had a huge garden, reused everything, and didn't buy a lot of extra crap that they didn't need. Rush's newest word is "outside" and he reaches for the backdoor saying "outside!" That's our motivation to live green.

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." -John Muir

Clara-fied

We're ready for a totally different beach experience this summer. Gone are the hours of board games while Rush snoozes on a blanket; it's time to throw some sand and build a gate at the top of the deck stairs. Here's Rush last May on his very first beach trip, which was also our first post-Ike beach trip:



And here is Rush today:


Snazzy hat, don't you think? It's from the Gulf Coast Market, aka The Big Store, the place to get your Hot Balls - boudin balls!

I just love snuggling with that little guy. I know one day he'll be begging me to go down to the beach by himself, skimboard in hand, so I'm just enjoying these moments while they last. Rush was initiated into my shot glass sunscreen regimen, which make fun of me if you will for walking around with a white film of sunscreen "soaking in" but my dermatologist actually said this exact phrase to me a few weeks ago: "You're pretty white." So it's working. Rush inherited my whitey-white, pale skin, Trent's blue eyes, and the classic Norwegian blond hair, so we're keeping him protected.

Another highlight of the weekend for Rush was playing "open and shut the door", which really never gets old.

And what can top strawberries on the deck for breakfast?

It was my Uncle Steve's Strat-O-Matic baseball draft this weekend, so the beach party atmosphere was in full-swing at the newly opened DiMarco cabin. We finally got to meet the infamous H, who has -through Steve- introduced us to the world of board games beyond Monopoly and Scrabble. Trent stayed up late playing all kinds of new games, while I was the person heading back to the Clara-fied cabin by myself at 7:30 to put Rush to bed, then reading alone or falling asleep early. You can just call me the New Aunt Betty-Ann, who for the past 12 years has missed all family nightlife while she was putting her kids to sleep.

It was another Sunday where we left the beach at 7:30 AM so I could make it to church in time to teach Sunday school. In the car on the way home from church on these weekends, we always talk about how it great it is that we'll be home early enough to have another day of the weekend. Then of course we get home and crash because no one should have to get up at 6:15 AM during a beach weekend and we're exhausted. Trent's napping on the couch, Rush is napping in his room, and I'm avoiding moving our sandy clothes from the front door to the laundry room.

Rush's Favorite Things

Standing at the bottom of a slide and throwing the playground ground cover on the slide, swinging, flipping through books, Ritz crackers, and meat - he's a little carnivore.

Go Bruins

Last weekend we got together with the group that ten years ago would have been referred to as Trent's high school friends, but now is just our friends, the Harrises, Johnsons and Monclas. Our plan to spend all day at Discovery Green was thwarted by a cold and rainy morning, so we spent most of the morning at the park waiting for the rain to pass. It ended up being a beautiful (if a little chilly) day, but the rain had already destroyed any hopes of lounging around on blankets and flying kites. After eating lunch, we did have some time to enjoy the weather outside.

While it was raining, the guys gave in and started playing frisbee. I'm not sure if they realized it or not, but it was obvious to the observers (the women) that they've reached the age where they can't catch a frisbee. It was a little sad and very entertaining.

We spent the rest of the day at our house, enjoying a little rest time (unfortunately Rush skipped his nap - see below) and hanging out in the backyard. I had a great time, especially at dinner when we crammed eight adults and five children around the kitchen table. It was a new kind of dinner party, loud and crazy and full of life. Not that our other dinner parties didn't get loud and crazy, but they didn't usually involve so many high chairs and toddler spoons.

Herb-tastic

The herbs are really taking off and in some cases taking over. I'm trying to use as much as I can, so that means mint tea...


...and rosemary cookies, created by added basil and lemon zest to this recipe...

and basil dip which Casey and I invented last year - basil, cannellini beans, garlic, sea salt, pepper, and olive oil in the food processor. Rush loved it, obviously because it was served on his very favorite food: Ritz crackers.

In other news, I just saw a commercial for Rescue Me, coming back in June - finally. Viewer discretion advised.

The Gardening Continues

Agh, it's becoming a gardening blog! There's just so much set-up and talking about mulch. When do we get to eat something fresh?

Before we get back into the gardening, I'm sharing the quilt square I made my part of my first group quilt. It's a group of people from church making a quilt for the baby of a friend, and this is my contribution:

I just need to trim the edges and cut off some of the red at the bottom. Those are my choices for "boy colors"; knowing the people I'm working with, I can't imagine that else everyone in the group is thinking pastel blue only so it should turn out nicely.

So back to the yard...The tomato plants are now in the ground, along with chives and carrots. It looks like the lettuce we planted (too late, because apparently you plant lettuce in the fall) is almost ready for cutting, so we should get a homegrown salad or too before the summer heat arrives. And the next picture is ready for its gardening propaganda close-up. Gardening - Bringing Families Together Since (in our case) 2010!

The Lord is Risen Indeed, Alleluia

Here's our best picture of Rush in his Easter clothes:

Between leaving for church in the rain at 7:45 AM, two hours in the nursery, and a really late morning nap, the "eating my shoe" photo was the only non-meltdown shot. He spent all day in a tired daze, falling asleep right after church, waking up to eat lunch and one Peep out of his Easter basket, then pretty much going right back for another nap. We had a great lunch with Nick and Kellaura, who are good enough friends that we could test an entire meal of new recipes on them and they brought the world's greatest Easter dessert: a toasted coconut key lime cake with a rum glaze. They're going to be invited for Easter next year, and in fact, every year.

Rush had some jelly bean bags in his Easter basket, which works with one of Rush's current favorite pastimes: throwing things. Sure they looked more like colored bananas than jelly beans, but if there was ever a project when it didn't matter, this is it. Who expects a jelly bean when it's not in an Easter basket? The other 364 days of the year then can just be bean bags.

We dyed eggs on Saturday, which went really well. My favorite part about being an adult is doing all the things I wasn't allowed to do as a child. (Isn't that everyone's favorite part?) Oh, we're out of boiled eggs but I still feel like dyeing? I'll just dye regular, unboiled eggs. And when I was making deviled eggs on Sunday morning, I ate as many as I wanted while I was making them. Growing up we had all these silly rules like "save some for company." I'll save some for company, but I'll also make enough that I can eat constantly while I'm getting ready for company to arrive.

Mmm, a little taste of Mom's Fresca - what a treat. Those eyes say it all. We're still sticking to milk and water in the sippy cup, but grapefruit soda gains another fan. Happy Easter!

I'm In

So Earth Day is in April and to celebrate people are promoting the April Stash Bust. It's essentially a pledge to not buy any new craft supplies/tools/materials for the entire month and to make something with what you have...could this be the perfect challenge for my life? Don't I have an entire Rubbermaid tub full of old blue jeans that I've been saving for years in hopes of making something fabulous? And another Rubbermaid tub filled with fabric? And a third (thankfully smaller) tub of socks for making sock monkeys? A gallon Ziploc full of beads and wire, a bag filled with felt scraps, a drawer full of paper and blank cards, a drawer full of yarn...motivation to use all this stuff is just what I need. I won't even have to carry the Michael's ad around in my purse just in case I stop in and need the coupon.

Great Idea! A not so great idea I found is a pattern for kitty leg warmers. It may be an April Fool's joke, but my cats don't recognize April 1 as a holiday. In our house that's the fastest way to get your eyes scratched out.