cuckoo for tubtrubs

The latest obsession at our house is tubtrugs. I bought them at the hardware store for the garden, but they quickly came inside and the kids moved in. They are incredible, strong, and flexible. Charlotte is cramming into a small one and it doesn't mind. Check out tubtrugs.com. Such fun! I've shown great restraint in not getting one in every size.






On the sewing front, I finished a fun skirt for Charlotte. It's a bo-peep from Seams to Me, and it might be my favorite yet.



Last night I whipped up an orange amy butler layered skirt to go with a great new top. Photography by Charlotte.


On the cooking front, last night I made a little bowl of spring from smitten kitchen's blog. It was a barley and corn salad with arugula and haricot vert. Lovely! http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/the-new-recipe-smell/


I also got creative with some dough from my 5 minute a day stash and made little ham and cheese turnovers. A little laughing cow cheese and Penzey's sandwich sprinkle were my secret ingredients. So good I ate two!



We're missing our big man, who is traveling quite a bit these two weeks. See you soon! Have a wonderful time!



Remember, bloggers love comments!! E-mail responses are also great. Thanks to all of you who let me know you are out there. Love to you all!

Spring Portraits

On Friday, Charlotte put on a fancy hat, my wedding gloves and wedding purse, and we headed outside for some springtime portraits. Later Gracie joined us with a fanciful frock of her own. Such lovelies!


















William was willing to hold out for a couple of quick shots.

Gracie's First Jeans!

Gracie is hitting spring in style, sporting her first pair of jeans. Check out this picture I played with on picnik.com (free! easy!)


Here she is rockin' it at Kip and Julia's. Such a cute wave! See that swing in the background? Gracie is scared of all swings. Beware the swing!!



After the harrowing swing experience, Gracie soothes herself by playing with her back tuft of hair (hey, it's all she's got!). Gracie likes to play with everyone's hair, especially when she drinks her bottle. It makes your heart melt into a little puddle. And look at that baby belly!


We celebrated William's outstanding Easter hunt with a coconut party cake.


My favorite thing I found in the attic was a box of my mom's slips from the 1950s. Such beauties! Why don't they make them anymore? Charlotte is living it up with the ones I will let her touch.



And exciting news on the cooking front. The artisan bread in 5 minutes a day naan is a big hit. We love it! I had tried it before with a King Arthur recipe and didn't much like it, but this one was wonderful. And no rising time! Ready in 10 minutes.


And even more exciting news on the home front:
It's bye-bye, black hole!! Even though the sooty, cavernous fireplace opening was lovely, perhaps even more lovely with the black plastic trash bag that was taped over it all winter (not pictured for your protection), I couldn't take it anymore.



My dear artist friend Tobie hatched a plan that involved wrapping fabric over wood, and we emailed back and forth approximately 57 different fabric choices. I came home with some timid, traditional little number, and she sent me right back out. "Go funky! A big, bold pattern, with the juicy colors you love," she said. And I finally found it, and I love, love, love it! It makes the room happier and lighter. Thanks for pushing me, Tobie! You were right, as usual.



It's a yummy Amy Butler Belle print in bright blues, oranges, limes, and chocolates.



That's all for now. Tomorrow it's off to a conservation conference. Wes Jackson is speaking, it should be great.

Bunny time!

The children have declared Easter as their new favorite holiday, moving it up from third place behind Christmas and Halloween. This may have something to do with the fact they they ingested approximately 92% of their calories today in the form of sugar. Two Easter egg hunts, the decorating of a cookie bunny house, a bunny cake... OK, maybe I went a bit overboard. Usually I closely monitor sweets consumption but today I just let it slide. And boy did they have fun!

And just for the record, there was a lovely Easter brunch with ham, peas, sweet potatoes, and fresh rolls. William sat down and said, "Wow, usually we have a lame lunch."

Thanks, William.

We started by decorating Easter eggs with stickers.


When we took a walk around the block, that trickster Easter bunny visited our house! Even baby Grace got the hang of picking up eggs once she found out what was in them.


Can you believe the weather? Last Easter it snowed 7 inches (maybe I'm exaggerating).

We headed inside and the kids decorated the bunny house. Charlotte and I made a bunny cake.


Then we put on our Easter finery and headed over to our friends Andy & Kaitlin's for an Easter egg hunt extraordinaire!


Gracie surprised me by how big she seemed, sitting at the kids table, reading on her own, looking for eggs...




William was the oldest child at the egg hunt, and he earned a super big medal of honor. Instead of loading up his basket as fast as he could, he decided to get 4 eggs for himself and then to help the little ones. He is so amazing. Such a big, caring heart. Way to go, William!



My life is still largely consumed by the spring cleaning. My fashion consultant arrived on Friday night, and we went through every item of clothing I had not worn in the past year. Plus the twelve boxes I had in the attic. Twelve! I am not kidding. This is the pile I will consign. There were bags and bags of stuff for Goodwill as well. Holy buckets!



And this is all the stuff bound for donation, round one. That's a lot to fit in one car! I'll be back at it again tomorrow.

mama goes mod

I have updated my 'doo with a mod katie holmes little number. Quite fab, don't you think? I really like it.


Why is the background such a mess, you ask? Well my whole life is now consumed by Spring Cleaning. My neighbor and I are using a great guide from simplemom.net. At least I think its great at the moment. Yesterday I had a breakdown after spending 13 hours cleaning the TV room. Trust me, you'll be hearing much more about this endeavor soon. I could have also titled this blog Mama goes mad.

And here is some very exciting news from my neighbor Sheryl: Cafe Latte has posted the recipe for their chicken salsa chili. Some of you out there may remember how smitten you were with this concoction (hello, GG!) It is super easy and ready in about 30 minutes. Run, I'm telling you, run to the grocery so you can make this tonight! www.cafelatte.com/chicken_salsa_chili.pdf



Here is my latest creation for cocobelle. I modified a portobello pixie pattern by combining a couple of different styles. Can you see the little felt flower I stuck on there?



On Sunday we went to a first communion celebration for Via. Here are some cute pictures of the kidoos. It gave us a good trial run on the easter outfits!



Gracie discovered a piano for the first time. Such joy! Such noise!



Here's one of Ahna's children, Ava. Such a cutie pie!



And Charlotte checking out the Fancy Nancy book in her fancy dress is just the sweetest thing.