*the art of breakfast

On the blog Simply Breakfast last week she was taking a few days off and invited readers to send links to photos of their artful morning meals. I laughed one morning when I looked down at my icky old banana peel next to a huge peanut butter jar. Before I took the photo I even moved aside a baby nasal aspirator thing and some Q-tips. So pretty.

*favorite

Ben and I routinely ask each other, "what's your favorite thing about her?" The answers always change as she grows and changes herself. Lately one of my favorite things is her cute little posture when she's sitting on her blanket busily examining a toy, as well as her teeny little hands that she's discovering how to maneuver better and better. Ben's favorite thing is to sniff her little head - he still can't get over the sweet baby smell. Another favorite he told me last night is when she grabs something and so intensely wants to put it in her mouth that she shakes [like when she grabbed my hand in this video...]

*pet peeve

I have a friend whose pet peeve is pet peeves :) Isn't that right, ____?

Anyway my new pet peeve [if I may use the phrase] is packaging!!! I may sound like I want to be all cool and "green", but really, don't these companies get it?? I looked in our kitchen trash and it was filled with non-recylceable soup boxes, milk cartons, and all sorts of little useless plastic scraps. To quote my friend Jenny's husband, "Do you hate the Earth?" I loved The Good Food Store in Missoula - they had an enormous bulk section and a shelf full of sanitized yogurt tubs, jars and other containers that you could use to fill up with rice, parmesan, tofu, chopped almonds, slivered almonds, sliced almonds... I read in Real Simple the other day about a couple who only generates a half a trashbag of waste a week. Now I don't want something like this to consume our lives, but at the same time I'm going to make an effort to be creative [um - use the cloth diapers that I already have?], produce less waste and not hate the Earth :)

*

Who can resist taking pictures of a baby all snuggled up after bathtime?

*outside

Back from a walk with her daddy the other day. Apparently she held on to his hat the whole way. Winter is making its retreat and we are looking forward to Spring and lots of walks, hikes, quilts on the grass and generally being outdoors.

*feeling thankful

It's been a good day. Vera went down so easily for both naps and slept for almost 2 hours the second one. The whole day she was just freaking adorable and Ben and I had fun talking about her cuteness and how much we love her. This morning it was overcast and windy - a strong, warm cozy kind of wind if that makes sense. Later on, there was a big downpour that turned into fat flakes of snow. After Vera's glorious long nap, kind Ben offered to watch her and I went down to Coffee Garden to read [I just started the Omnivore's Dilemma - yikes]. I also had time to sit down with mate [I did it!] to read my Bible, was inspired for a new project, and just felt God's goodness all around.

The night is ending well too. Tonight Ben went out for Irish food and beers with our neighbor and I'm home eating a yummy dinner in front of a toasty fire. I'm quite proud of myself actually - I like to cook but am not very good at just "whipping something up" out of what's in the fridge. But I did it! I sauteed leeks, garlic and pepper flakes in a copious amount of olive oil, then wilted a bunch of spinach in it and added ricotta [it has to be that good "mozzarella fresca" brand] and a bit of the pasta water [an invaluable trick learned from Giada]. I put it all on penne with a [huge] handful of pinenuts, some parmesan and kosher salt. yum! The only thing missing is a glass [and the rest of the bottle handy] of wine.

[by the way, I love brackets because they let me add thoughts to my thoughts]

Anyway, just the kind of day that reminds me of how much I have to be thankful for.

*el veintinueve

On the 29th of every month in Argentina it's traditional to eat ñoqui (gnocchi in Italian). The couple I lived with there, Elsa y Antonio, would always have them homemade. Elsa taught me how and it's really not that hard - just time consuming. So last night being the 29th, I really wanted to have them but didn't feel like making them. The whole point of the tradition is that at the end of the month, all you have left in the cupboard is potatoes and flour. That would make sense for Ben and I [having no income and all...] but no, I went to the little gourmet shop and bought some ñoquis that would have horrified Elsa at how much they cost. Oh well -- just this once. To be honest, they weren't as good as homemade. I did put them in my big serving bowl just like we did there. Elsa would place the fuente on the table and Antonio and I would fill up our plates - at least several times. There was always a bottle of tinto on the table as well as little baguettes that lay on tablecloth waiting to be torn up to soak up sauce. Favorite memories.

I ♥ NPR

Tonight on the way to the grocery store I heard about a witty, interesting new musical opening in New York [please let me go there someday] called Passing Strange. The other night I listened to a journalist for some big newspaper talking about how he and his journalist buddy had a contest to see who could get the phrase, "raises new and troubling concerns" into print the most times. I love those little bits of culture and comedy that I would never come across otherwise. I love Saturday mornings with Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me and This American Life [I love his easy non-radio voice!]. I love how I can finish their names for them: "I'm Robert Siegel ... and I'm Michelle Norris." I loved the story board [I think that's what it's called?] that I'd hear on my way to work last year. It would always be ending just as I got to school and I'd be fighting to keep the tears from spilling over.

Anyway, just a little something that makes me happy.

*¡gymboree!

Thank you Emily! Vera loved her first Gymboree class today. We met her little friend Trinity whose mom taught with me last year. Her favorite things were the bubbles [she was literally shaking with excitement] and the "baby soccer" where you use your baby to kick the ball ... sounds a little strange but Vera LOVED it [which of course she would because she's going to be a little soccer player]. She had her little mouth wide open in a smile the whole time and laughed out loud when the ball came near. It was adorable. I even got into singing all the clappy baby songs - who am I??

[...I couldn't choose just 3 photos...]

*la biblioteca

I really love our public library - it's the kind of place you'd want to take an out-of-town visitor. I realized today too that it's only a mile away. That'll be fun when she's bigger and we can walk there for story hour or just to pick up some books and explore their kiddie floor. She'll of course be an avid reader just like her mommy -- and she'll love Anne of Green Gables, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ramona, Roald Dahl and all the classic fairy tales. She can skip Babysitter's Club. Tamara, should I introduce her to Christy Miller and Brio? :)

*los[california]caters

Ben's parents were here for a short weekend visit. We had a good time: Rosie, Vera and I went shopping and bought some cute summer dresses, Ben and Mike built Boone a fence so he doesn't turn our yard into a mudpit again, Mike fixed our bathtub [yay, Vera can have a real tubby!], Ben installed a "plank" for Boone to enter the basement window from outside [so Ben isn't it?], we went out to a fun dinner Saturday night and then Ben and I went on to Barnes and Noble for a *date* [I felt like it was a very Mormon couple-like thing to do :)], we all went to church together, Rosie taught me to make wonton soup, and we sat around the fire watching Vera scoot around on the floor. "All in all" [don't you love/hate that phrase?], it was a great weekend and so fun to see Vera hanging out with her family.

*los mates

poor little friends -- sad and neglected

*corners of my home

I really like SouleMama's "Corners of my Home" string of posts - simple sweet snapshots of those little spaces that make up your house and home. So here's three little corners of our home that I love. Not necessarily *sweet* shots, but a fun little secret that I discovered as we were moving in: all our rooms are painted, but each closet still has it's old 1940's wallpaper. I like mine the best :)

*uh-oh

I'm thinking we'd better lower the crib mattress ... ...

*a couple more

Finishing up sharing pictures from this weekend as this weekend we make room for more visitors! Ben's parents arrive tonight :)

Gramma Sheila

Busy kitchen

This reminds me of when I was little and loved babies.

Can you believe how old these girls are already??

Another nephew getting the last bit of ice cream.

*an explanation

When people ask me if I ski, I don't quite know what to say.... um kind of? My whole family is big-time into skiing and I'm just not. I think I could have been given different circumstances and a little [a lot] less stubornness on my part. Here's what happened: when I was 6 or 7, my parents put my younger sister and I in the same little ski school. I think I've seen a picture of all of us and I'm at least a head taller than everyone else. So then Liz starts getting better at a faster rate than I, and the older siblings (and my dad too I'm sure) start giving me a hard time about it. That, combined with my fears of going fast, not being in control, hurting myself, looking stupid and getting snow in my gloves didn't set me up to be a die-hard skier like everyone else. I always wished I could have the whole mountain [well all the easy runs] to myself, so I could just ski and concentrate on getting better without worrying about having one of my brother's cute older friends seeing me. I also thought that if I just had some "cool" ski clothes, everything would fall into place. Usually I had to rummage through the ski drawer trying to find gloves that matched and a hat that didn't itch. So anyway, I always violently protested a family ski trip - usually all the way up until lunch in the lodge [as long as I got hot cocoa and one of those cups full of french fries...]


That all said, I went skiing on Sunday afternoon and had a pretty good time. I let Ben know ahead of time that I was only going on blue runs and that he couldn't make me do anything I didn't want to. I think I'm over the not-matching bit and wasn't too worried that I was the dorkiest skier on the hill. Granted, I only had to go for a half day [ok, at the end of every run, I'd look at the clock on the lift and think yessss that one took 30 minutes ... that much closer to going home to my baby.] No, I did have a fun time and Ben was great, telling me that I looked good and all. He's always very sweet and encouraging and would get mad if I said he just said all that to make me feel better.


Ok. I feel I've explained enough. Isn't this what a blog is for? You may have only gotten through the first half of the first paragraph, but at least I got it all out.

[Sarah, that's where we hiked this summer :) I like hiking.]

*more snow

[I wish I'd had a video of this last moment.]

*shades

Vera checking herself out in her little sunglasses. She looked so cute - I couldn't [can't] get over it.

*at home

I "get" to ski a half-day this afternoon. The past few days I've stayed home with Vera (and one day with Marie too) while everyone skies. Well and yesterday Gegi, Marie, Vera & I went on an Ikea adventure. Anyway, these are just some cute pictures from the last couple days: chewing on her toes, scooting 3 whole feet to get to her toy basket and blowing bubbles on the wall.

*the wards

This has been one of those months-long anticipated weekends: all of my family [minus Liz :( ] is here for a ski vacation/reunion. The Myers get here tomorrow and Tom's family was busy, so George and his family and my parents were here for dinner. I don't know if you know this, but I love to make dinner for my friends and rarely have the chance to for my family. That doesn't seem right, does it? Anyway, it was a fun fun night. Vera was a little overwhelmed at first but warmed up as the night went on. Actually she gets a little delirious when she's tired and thought just about everything was funny. She couldn't fall asleep fast enough though after everyone left.

*****

She got a little overwhelmed here and we had to abandon dinner for a second try later on.

Happy ♥ day!

Lots of space.

I told Tyler I was going to put this picture on the Internet for everyone to see.

This is Marie getting the last drip of ice cream. Is this what you meant, Liz, when you talked about kindred spirits?

Tyler making V laugh.



***

More pictures of the weekend to come...