*

The girls and I spent a good hour on the driveway yesterday - Vera riding her bike around pretending she was going to outer space and back, then sifting through a small pile of sand [something to do with her treasure map and captain hook..]. Edie was languishing after her 5:45 wake up and only a micro afternoon nap. I had a third round of yerba mate [needed after MY 5:45 wake-up call]. Anyway, just some everyday for ya.

*

A blog I follow is having a "pantry/freezer challenge" - motivating me to get through as many meals as I can using the things I have already. I was quite proud of myself last night being creative with what I had on hand. We had leftover salmon and pasta. I made a pesto with arugula, lemon juice, Parmesan, pine nuts, green onions, parsley + salt and then mixed it into the penne with some ricotta [from like 3 weeks ago - we always have remnants of this kind of thing that never get used] and some pasta cooking water. Yum I loved it and so did everyone else! It's a proud moment watching your 1.5 year old eat arugula :)

Tonight we'll have burgers - making a dent in the dozens of buns leftover from the graduation party! Maybe making this "public" on my blog here will keep me accountable and we'll save some money this month and get that freezer cleaned out...

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*el pescado

Rosie came to stay with us for a few weeks before and after graduation to help out with the kids, the cooking, etc.  Most of you know she has the magic touch when it comes to preparing food - everything she does tastes delicious and looks beautiful.  A few things we had that I want to remember are the sukiyaki, green curry, Ben's grandmother's rice pilaf, gobo [burdock root]...... I know there are others. 

The two that I really want to make a lot this summer, using things from our garden are these two salsas she got from Giada De Laurentiis - a citrus/parsley one with salmon and an arugula/parsley/lemon one with the halibut.  SO fresh and delicious, I just wanted to keep eating spoonful after spoonful.  I would really like to add more pescado to our diet.  Don't you just feel so healthy and smart when you eat salmon??  I definitely believe in eating good quality foods - I just try to temper the cost a bit having a weekly beans+rice dinner and as many 'leftover' nights as I can get away with.  Anyway we are having  fish tonight and I'm going to make one of her salsas using all the arugula and parsley I already have in the garden. I love summer eating :)

Here's the recipes:

Halibut with arugula salsa

Salmon with citrus salsa verde

*DOCTORADO

BEN CATER, PHD!

I recently found this fun one on my phone - wasn't aware of it. I love it!! 

Crazy tired kids, crazy hat hair...

Vera and Rosie made this awesome banner. Vera drew everything - all the trees, mountains, surfer, trout, etc. Rosie just guided her along :)

The graduation was Friday evening, and earlier that day we went out for an awesome lunch at Pago with our families.

Saturday we had a party here at our house.  I feel like it went pretty awesome!  I remember when we first got to Salt Lake and were at the Farmer's Market. Ben always gets a pulled pork sandwich from a particular booth - in the very beginning he declared that's what he wanted at his graduation party. It seemed so far away at the time! It's so crazy that it's come and gone already!!  We did have some delicious pulled pork sandwiches and bbq chicken along with homemade salads and a big costco "Professor Ben!" cake.  

It was so fun seeing all the people who have supported Ben [and us] over this phase in our lives.  I do wish I'd got more pictures - hopefully people will email some on over ;) 

If you're curious about our plans...... we don't have any!!! Ben needs to finish writing his dissertation and will defend in the beginning of June.  After that we may have a clearer idea of what to do. He's waiting to hear about a couple temporary type jobs and we are also considering moving to Nevada if it doesn't work out here financially.  It's comforting to know God does have a plan and he will guide us through it!

*candyland

Things have been super busy with Ben's graduation (!) last weekend and family still in town.. Still I'm sad I've hardly put anything "cotidiano" here on the blog.

Last night Vera and I played candyland. She was very wistful at the end just *wishing* she could go live in the candy castle. I suggested she imagine one up and draw it - which she was SUPER excited to do. I updated the picture from this morning - here is the finished product taped up on her wall. She is so proud of it!!

More updates on the graduation soon...

*

Just some more of Edie lately. I forgot to mention she is just like her sister and is already determined to dress herself - spent about 15 minutes the other day trying to get this sweatshirt on as pants.

The one in the bike was the other day - our first family bike ride - well minus Ben who is working non stop :(. Before we left I told her to "show me happy" :)

*18+ months

A few weeks late, but want to get down what little Edie is like at around one and a half.  I love this picture of her and her beloved Puppy. She is so excited to see Puppy after even a little separation - it makes your heart melt a little.

At her appointment this week she finally had hit the 20 lb mark!  20 lbs 10 oz.  My printout says she is 12% for height and 22% for weight.  I still have her facing backward in the carseat since ours goes till 30 lbs. and she seems to not mind.  When she got her shot she just whimpered a little and I said, "are you ok?" and she said "yeah" in a shaky little voice - very cute :)  We just love our pediatrician - Dr. Katie. I should have got her picture with them as who knows where we'll be at the next visit??

My favorite things about her are how she says "yeah" to any and all questions.  Even if she doesn't understand the question, she always gets it that you're asking one.  I just love the way she says it - hard to describe in words.   Actually, yesterday I asked if she had a poopy diaper and she said, "yeah" - then she realized I think that meant I would take her inside so she changed her mind and said (wait!) no!  She is just in the last week putting 2 words together:  

Lola dish, Daddy dish - Lola's shoes, Daddy's shoes. Our dar! - our car.  New bopper! - new diaper.  Today on the way to church she said biiiiiii(g) truck!

Other funny words:
La - socks, trash
Lalo - pants (trying to say pantalones)
knee - hurt (I think bc it's usually her knee that gets hurt)
lellow - yellow (of course)
nu nu - noodle
dish - shoes, fish
nana - food (she has said this since she was like 10 months)
añana añana! - when she's really hungry

I also love how she just loves her baby friends - especially Fiona and Jubilee and loves to get real close to say hi and give hugs and kisses.  They are not quite as excited as Edie is to receive the lovin... however, her intentions are sweet :)

She is pretty headstrong and determined to do just what she wants.  I think I remember correctly that Vera was obedient as far as "don't touch that," "don't drink that," etc.  Edie has already pulled off all the tops to the marigolds we planted last week and keeps trying to uproot the peas as well.  Yesterday she started to take a swig of my corona when we were out gardening - I feel like Vera respected when I said beer/coffee was for mommies and daddies only.  Maybe I'm remembering wrong?

Her favorite books are Goodnight Moon and Duck in a Truck (she loooves to point out how dirty the frog is at the end).  She loves Signing Time of course - I really need to get a video of it soon. Some favorites are grow, tree, racoon, owl, bear, airplane, ice cream... 

She loves to be outside, like most little ones.  Loves the sandbox, loves Eloise, loves Boone, loves to feed them, likes to go for walks, loves to go down the little slide at the park by herself.  Sleep is normal - she takes a 1-1.5 hour nap in the afternoon, goes to bed around 7:00 and sleeps till 6:00-7:00.  She really started sleeping all the way through consistently once I weaned her about a month ago.  Well, except while we were in Seattle - traveling and also her bottom 2 molars broke through - ouch.

Anyway, loving our little kona coffee bean [daddy's nickname for her] to pieces :)

♥ ♥ ♥

*Seattle - last one I promise

Just want to document the rest of our trip.  We got to spend some good time with Julie and her two little ones - it was so much fun.  I wish we could live around the corner from them and get to hang out + walk to coffee/icecream/donuts all the time!  

silly faces:

hanging out on their awesome porch:

Queen Anne is so awesome, so walkable... sigh.

I love these friends of mine:

Having some soup in Ballard with Tamara.  This was really the only rainy day our whole trip - a bummer because I've never seen Ballard and was looking forward to walking around. We still had a sweet time just catching up and being together.  Note Edie's cream cheese moustache :)

I feel so grateful that we were able to take this trip and that we got to spend so much quality time with these friends and George's family!  Next time maybe we'll have more time and be a little more flexible with naps/sleep and be able to see even more friends :)  and go to the zoo - every time we've tried to plan that it's been too rainy.

*Easter dresses

Whew - I had a hard time getting a picture of these two in their matching Easter dresses!  I also should have taken the pictures before church when they were nicely pressed and we weren't starving for Easter Brunch. 

I was really pleased with the dresses - the girls looked so sweet.  My mom made Vera's and I made Edie's.  Hers was a really easy $5 pattern from ManiMina on etsy and only took a few hours to make.

The cousins.  Tyler was born my senior year of high school, Jamesen my senior year of college and Marie a week after Ben and I got married.  Look how big they are now - makes me feel old!  I love these kids so much.

We love her funny little smile  :)

*Seattle: parte dos

For some reason my computer will only download the first half of my pictures from my camera... I'm worried - there are a lot on there!  Here's some I did get:

This was our first night and Vera's first [successful] sleep over.  I can't tell you how enormous her smile was here - she was beaming.  Earlier, George had given her a marshmallow peep and warned her that she wouldn't be able to keep from smiling.  When I commented on her huge smile here she exclaimed, "It's because of the Peep!!!"  She then talked non-stop for the next half hour or so to her cousins, "and guess what? and you know what? ..." It was pretty sweet. Jamesen and Marie were so sweet, generous and patient with her - really wonderful.

At the neighborhood Easter egg hunt:

Edie spent a good while at the egg hunt down here by the water throwing pebbles:

The weather was incredible.  Both days we sat out on the front yard and just hung out or read.  

Tyler is the best big cousin ever:

Edie loved him, "Hi Tie-ta!"

such great girls:

Mexican Train: