*night out

Ben and I were able to go up to Boston on Saturday night for a little date which turned out to be my favorite night out so far here [at the time... quite a bit of sadness mixed in now].  We took the train and got off at the first Cambridge stop and then walked from there along the water, crossing the bridge back into the Back Bay [I think that's what it's called].. we walked along the beautiful Commonwealth Avenue lined with gorgeous, historic red brick mansions.  There was definitely a festivity in the air with the marathon two days away - lots of runners, lots of people wearing past years' "Boston Marathon" jackets, supporters already carrying their signs.  We had a really amazing dinner at the Island Creek Oyster Bar and ended up talking a while with the older woman next to us who was running the marathon for her second time.  It's so sad to think how happy and excited everyone was and how horribly it all ended, how this event will never be the same and many many lives will never be the same.

Thankfully we did not go up to see the marathon, though I considered it after hearing that it is the best day of the year here, that it is just so much fun.  I don't know anyone that was injured, though the little boy who was killed lives in the neighborhood where I attend a Bible study and I'm sure I know people that knew him.  I don't really have any words, just a deep sadness and loss for words.  I am really looking forward to church on Sunday - our pastor is really an amazing and smart man and I know he will have encouraging words.  Meanwhile just praying and praying for the families affected and for this world to know the peace of Jesus Christ!


Anyway, here are some pictures - the city looked just beautiful and we really enjoyed getting to know it a little better.

This place had like 20 different species/locales of oysters to choose from!  It was really a fancy, swanky place and we had a great dinner, a great night.  Thank you Mike and Rosie for gifting us a date night ♥

*

Just some random pictures from the last little bit....

Vera made Edie this folder just like the one she is supposed to keep in her backpack. A spot for papers for parents and a spot for homework:

Vera had her first real swim lesson last week and was sooooo excited. Counting down the days like it was Christmas.  

Edie at the swim lesson. Her naps/no-naps are all over the place. This day she hadn't napped and threw an eNORmous fit in the car ride which ended abruptly when she fell asleep.  I could not wake her and ended up finally putting her on the bench here so I could take pictures of Vera : )

This was so cute.. I wish you could have heard her adorable little voice reading out loud here.  She likes to start each page saying, "..and the next day.."

Vera watching a kissing part on Tangled:

Edie was being a grump and went to hide out in the corner here. We seriously can't get over her cuteness sometimes:

making lemon merengue pie like Amelia Bedelia [who she calls Abedibia]:

*en casa

We just picked Ben up at the airport after a week away promoting the Boston Semester program he's developed [he is now at his office with them for an hour: GLORIOUS silence and solitude for me].  He commented on the way home that it was so nice to be back ... even though this place still feels so foreign and "not home." And I have to agree.  To be quite honest [and I do thank you all for mentioning that I seem so well adjusted haha] it sometimes just sucks to have moved here, to be so far away from the communities of friends and families that we love. To have everything be so freaking expensive that we can't afford a one bedroom dorm and my dreams of simply staying at home with my kids is fairly out the window.  To have a rabbit living in the closet who scratches and shakes her cage and sometimes makes our tiny apartment smell like bunny pee [imagine it, please].  Where daily stresses like this make for a *slightly* delicate and argumentative phase of our marriage.  Daily I go through hills and valleys of depression and contentment here but the constant truth is that nothing happens without God's hand in it, that He protects and provides for us even when that doesn't look like how we want it to. That He uses these things to teach us, to make us more reliant on Him than say.... large kitchens and our own bedrooms and the box of socks that we need but is buried in storage. We - this little family of four is together.   Home is this spot where He has us and thankfully He has given us each other!


He is good!:::::::::>>>>>>>>............



*I don't want to discount the friends and community and experiences we've had and are thankful for and who deserve a future post... : )

*La Pascua - 2013

We had a really wonderful - and quite busy - Easter this year. We went to two different Easter "eggstravanganzas" at local churches over the last two Saturdays, which were tolerable for me and incredibly fun for them : )

Do you know how happy Vera is to have her face painted like a bunny??  Edie had a little Hello Kitty on her hand which she was real proud of too.

Painting eggs at home Saturday morning:

Liz and Stephen arrived from CT (3 hour drive) on Saturday. We had lunch at our apartment and then took the train up to Boston to walk around and have a little snack in the North End.  I am only posting this picture because I am in it!  A rareity.

Making snowflakes back at the apartment. I am so embarrassed to have guests in this place, but everyone so far has been very gracious :)

We headed up to Park Street Church in Boston for Easter service. It was really really beautiful - such an incredibly meaningful and joyous day Easter is.  I could barely sing the words to the hymns because of the lump in my throat!

You could hear the music and the trumpets loud and clear from outside. Made me happy.

Afterward, we walked a bit in the Boston Commons and let the girls play at the playground. It was the warmest day we've had so far which was so welcome.  I am SOTIRED of the cold. so . so. tired.  :)

Vera wore this little dress when I was pregnant with Edie!

They were so cute playing together - Vera can be such a loving, wonderful, protective big sister.

Liz and Stephen left at lunch time and we all rested.  After a crazy night before [puppy went missing!! he was found after church] I was gifted with a nice nap from Edie.  Of course we paid for that at bedtime but that's another story. I was thankful for the afternoon break.

We had a really nice dinner with the McCoys and a few other couples from the college.  The kids had tons of fun hiding eggs over and over and over.  So thankful for them here - they feel like family.

A very memorable first Massachusetts Easter!

*new haven

Several weeks ago we drove down to New Haven, Connecticut to visit some good friends we met while in Montana [yes, Liz is in CT too - they were tied up that weekend]. Crazy how all of us [plus four more kids all together] ended up out here 7 years later! Travis is getting his PhD in History at Yale University [no big deal] and he took us on a little campus tour.  I thought it was absolutely beautiful, amazing and inspiring.  I left with this lump in my throat saying I need to go back to finish my Masters.  Not at Yale ;)

This was one of the graduate student study halls.  Isn't it gorgeous??  I could get a lot of serious thinking done here.

This is the Beineke rare book and manuscript ... center (something like that).  I loved it!!! The whole building and feel of the place is just fascinating, and they also had really interesting examples up of the kinds of writings they keep.  This was one of the moments that I felt an intense desire to go back to studying literature.

This was a little exhibit up in the library on the Italian invasion of Ethiopia.  It was really interesting because I had just finished Cutting for Stone which talked a lot about that.

In the history graduate study room:

We went to their church on Sunday which was really wonderful as well.  Heartfelt singing, preaching and fellowship. This painting strikes you immediately when you enter - so beautiful!  The artist [a Japanese man.. don't know his name] happened to be at the service that day and talked a little about it.

Vera and Edie just loved being doted on by these girls. This is on top of their super-high loft.  They got along really well with the little brothers too and had fun being rowdy and silly.  They are really a wonderful family that clearly puts God first and does everything with joy.  The few times we've seen them since Montana I've left feeling inspired in so many ways.  I'm sorry I didn't get more/better pictures.

Myndi is an amazing cook!  Everything delicious and creative and effortless. And amazing home-roasted espresso a couple times a day : )

*cotidiano

some everyday moments as of late:

Edie getting up when she's supposed to be going to sleep.  Just now she has gotten up about 8 times as I've uploaded pictures to whisper, "Puppy needs to go potty," "I touched my eye," "my tummy hurts," "I need to give you a hug and a kiss" "I made a card for Puppy. Where is the card?".... !!! actually I am kind of over it at the moment.  [this picture was a nap... she had put her jammies on and came to tell me she needed these pom poms.] Make that 12 times as I've written this post.  This is sooo unlike Vera!! She didn't even get out bed in the morning until like a year ago! She did scream and cry - just from her bed : )

silliness and silly faces are definitely part of our everyday. all day.

and this kind of thing too:

mad because she couldn't get her arm through:

obsessed with the bunny.  I don't like letting Eloise out lately because Edie smothers her.

playing restaurant:

 reading Are You My Mother [with some help]:

*los 2 terribles

We have been experiencing some nap-skipping, tantrum-throwing terrible twos around here lately. I just love this picture of Edie seriously grumpy the other day, not wanting to share the rocket ship grocery cart.  

*la dieta

You probably know I love books and documentaries about food, whole food, healthy food, food politics... anything that gets me fired up against corn syrup and cheetos-like substances.  My favorite book is probably Omnivore's Dilemma - I love that it's not radical or unobtainable to follow his advice: eat food, mostly plants, not too much.  I've always tried to eat healthier, non-processed food, but I fully admit that am often lazy and will have a spoonful of peanut butter with my yerba mate instead of taking the time to make a salad.  Or I eat the rest of the girls' honey toast or mac and cheese. Or I eat not one but two raspberry bars at the bakery or go back for thirds of ice cream [hypothetical ;)].  This needs to change.

So anyway, last year at some point I watched Forks over Knives [thank you, Jenise!] and it really made me evaluate what we eat.  Seriously, if you haven't seen it, you should!  The last month or so I have made a serious effort to change our eating habits and even Ben is [almost] completely on board.  Instead of one "Meatless Monday", I am trying to make as many meals as I can revolve around vegetables and legumes, whole grains [sorry, I just don't like the idea of this paleo diet everyone's on!] and try to limit butter, cheese, extra oils, white anything, sugar... *  I do truly believe it is healthier to limit meats + dairy and also it is not as expensive.  I had the E2 cookbook out from the library last week and got a few ideas, as well as some I've found elsewhere and from my own head. I seriously need to just overhaul many of my go-to regular meals.  Here are a few winners that I am going to go back to.  If any of you friends have any vegetable heavy meal ideas, please let me know!

-this kale salad [seriously it was so good and filling! I had some carrots and hummus with it and wasn't even hungry later on]
-green curry with chicken or broiled tofu, green beans, peppers, spinach...
-chickpeas [I made them from dried beans for the first time - so much better!!] mixed with a pico de gallo type salad, cider vinegar, diced potatoes.  I got this idea from an Indian buffet we went to a few weeks ago. So fresh and delicious!
-salad as the main course. my favorites are spinach with goat cheese and steamed beets and pinenuts, spinach/kale with roasted butternut squash [thank you again, Jen], feta and walnuts.  I've served it on top of quinoa or brown rice so it's more filling and we are less tempted to eat before bed [on these nights I basically separate the salad into parts on their plates and add mac and cheese or sliced turkey or just something healthy so they fill up].
-Ina's Winter Minestrone with added kale [I guess minus the pancetta...]
-black eyed peas + rice + avocado + spinach + parsley/cilantro + salsa verde
-black bean burgers from the E2 cookbook... made these tonight for the first time - I loved it, Ben thought it was pretty good [I think he just didn't want to admit it was really good :)], Vera said she didn't like it but ate it all without prodding, Edie liked it enough to eat half.
-miso soup with bok choy, watercress, tofu [I haven't done this one yet, but will once I find this amazing miso paste that Rosie used to bring from CA...]
-lime-pozole-tortilla-like soup with or without chicken.
-black bean+sweet potato+spinach burritos

*I am not going to completely cut out these things because I enjoy food :)

*el acento

One of my favorite things here is hearing the accent. There are a lot of transplants and internationals here too, so not everyone has it.  I just love it when I hear a good, solid, I've-lived-here-my-whole-life version. Like the guy at the post office - he's got the best I've heard so far. I've loved overhearing people talk about getting out their snowblowah or the lady at the pediatrician's office saying I have reached Havad Vangahd [Harvard Vanguard].  When I talked to the school secretary on the phone the first time I couldn't tell what her name was. It sounded like O-land-a. So the next time I asked for Mrs. Orlander, thinking her last 'a' was an 'ar'... but it turned out to be Orlando :) My favorite is this girl Vera met who goes by Sarah Dilababa because there are two other Sarahs. I recently learned that her name is Della Barba. Ahhhhh I love it. I don't have a lot of people to comment on this with, so I share it here with you!  Vera's school is really interesting - I would say half of the parents speak Chinese. Also about six kids in her class are Irish... so we have Boston accents, Irish accents, Chinese... it's all very interesting.

*la lectura

I have tried several times over the last couple years to get through a chapter book with Vera.  Either things get busy and we never solidify the habit or she isn't super interested - or both.  I admit I was totally jealous of her little friends who seemed to be flying through the Little House books, Narnia, etc. Of course, jealousy and competition should not be my motivation :) Really, I just want so badly for her to have that same reading experience that I did - lost in those amazing and wonderful worlds!!  I was such a reader when I was little, literally devouring books and reading both those series multiple times.  So anyway, thankfully in January we found the book that kept all of us captivated - James and the Giant Peach! It was so fun to read together - I didn't even want to miss out if Ben were reading on a particular night.

Since then we read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory [one of my faaavorites] and are in the middle of the first Boxcar Children.  It made my heart happy to hear her exclaim last night, "I wish I was one of the boxcar kids!"  That's the kind of play I so loved as a kid - pretending to set up house in the woods, collecting berries and finding treasure :)  Anyway, I do hope that she loves to read as much as I did.  She's doing well on the road to reading on her own - she can sound out pretty well and reads the little Bob type books sent home from school, but I would say it hasn't "clicked" in a major way yet, which is just fine.

***