mini frittata

{image from www.snackinginthekitchen.com}

ingredients:

1 lb jimmy dean sausage

1 cup broccoli florets, chopped

8 large eggs

1/4 cup of milk

1/2 T vegetable oil

1/2 tsp baking powder

s&p

fresh parmesan, grated

directions:

preheat oven to 375.

spray your muffin tin well.

in a large saute pan, brown the sausage (about 5 minutes), 

then add the broccoli and sauté a few minutes. 

in a large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil and baking powder.

season with s&p. 

spoon the sausage mixture in the bottom of the muffin cups.

pour the egg mixture over, 

and sprinkle with grated cheese.

bake for about 15 minutes. 

loosen the frittata with a knife, and pop out onto your plate.

 eat warm with some fruit and a big slice of sourdough toast :)

i halved the recipe and just made 6, since these probably don't keep very well. 

they were really good though!

enjoy!!! 

kiwi crate

this is only our second box, but i really like it.
check it out here!

first day of preschool

august 23rd, 2012      nine o' clock.

i fixed her a big breakfast this morning.

cinnamon oatmeal, toast, strawberries and milk.

("wow! this looks delicious!" ha) 

she started getting fussy but i tried to insist she eat,

since it was going to be a whole three hours before i saw her again :)

i washed her hair in the kitchen sink, like my mom used to do with us,

threw on her clothes, 

asked her to please find a special place to put the 7 necklaces she had on, 

and out we went.

she was so excited and couldn't have been more easy to drop off.

we got there extra early.

she smiled the whole time.

she picked out her name tag and walked right in.

her face lit up when she found her own cubby (#17) and got to put her purse inside.

(her backpack is not here yet...bad mom).

she washed her hands, school rule, looked all around and sat by the train tracks.

i held eli, knelt down to give her a hug and told her i'd be right back.

"ok... bye mom." 

she said it quietly but happily.

i was relieved, although i fully expected it.

but as soon as i turned around, tears.

not hers - mine!

i held it together til i got to the car.

i buckled eli up and starting full on crying.

it was so unexpected, i was laughing at myself.

i hadn't had an ounce of this feeling all morning.

i heard it was really common for moms to cry after dropping their kid off for the first time,

but i honestly thought it was silly and knew that wouldn't be me.

wrong.

my sweet ives... not quite all mine anymore.

i'm so proud of her and love her so.

whew.
august is too much for this mama!!!

for your information:
i bought myself a journal today,
so maybe this will be more short & sweet :)

happy birthday kevin

twenty-nine.

it was simple.

but i think he was happy.

chocolate cake and presents with the kids.

ivy was more excited than at her own birthday. 

when kevin rode up on his bike after work

she couldn't contain herself!

it was sweet.
that cake was good. 

eli refused to touch his bite.

he'd reach his fingers close to it and then pull away.

ivy shoveled it in.

then a burger date at the stanford park hotel.

kevin stayed there while interviewing for his job a few months ago

and said they are the best.

yum.. agree.
we planned on bowling, ha.. but we're old and tired.

so we walked & talked with hot chocolate 

(weird to be cold and drinking hot chocolate in august)

and that was that.
thank you mary. 

happy birthday kevin!

i sure do love you.

happy birthday ivy + eli

ivy is three and eli is one!

my babies are growing up.

it doesn't seem totally crazy... it seems just about right.

there's been a lot packed into the past 3 years, so it hasn't flown by.

after all, she's lived in texas, scotland, massachusetts, and now california.

and has visited mexico and charleston extensively :) london, paris, prague, vienna...

she's taken music, art and dance classes and ridden horses.

she wears underwear. and jewelry.

and loves to make believe.

she has a little brother and four (almost five) little cousins.

all at the ripe ole age of three.

so it really didn't sneak up on us.

even still, i can remember her birth like it was yesterday.

12:44AM august 18, 2009.

so long. so, so hard.

her eyes were navy blue.

i'll never forget it.

and now she's three!

a few words to describe ivy: 

creative, dramatic, energetic, feisty, sweet, independent, empathetic, maternal, 

smart, imaginative, shy, wild. 

all rolled into one. she's kind of a mini-me.

and eli.

his first year went by more slowly, since it was mostly in cambridge.

and pretty uneventful.

when i think about our time there, the first thing that pops in my head 

is carrying him around in that bjorn. 

we were attached.

up and down those wretched stairs,

in restaurants, stores and parks,

during church,

all through the town.

me and him. 

so easy, so sweet.

he only wore white onesies. (til like, last week).

i think i can say i successfully kept him a baby a good long time. 

he's had his share of flying though, to texas, mexico, cambridge, charleston and california.

he loves the water, animal crackers, the swing, his striped bear, walking, 

being tickled on the bed, shaking his head no, oat bran muffins,

 holding something in his hand (golf club, stick, pen) 

but probably his favorite thing is being held. 

he's such a mama's boy. 

lucky me. 

ivy requested an "ocean party with alllll the sea animals and a scuba diver in it".

she said that word for word if anyone asked her.

still not sure where that came from, and i really resisted the idea, but an ocean party it was.

mom & gen (with estie!) flew up thursday and planned the whole thing.

life savers!

it turned out really great and we had a fun time. 

{MENU}

ocean blue coolers

hamburger sliders - daddy grilled

seashell pasta

goldfish

fruit

homemade birthday cakes  + ice cream

m&ms

the kids made sea creature picture frames and sand bottles

almond white cake  + cinnamon chocolate cake 

party favor: fish cookie cutter + sprinkles,  ocean stickers

thank you gramma and aunt gen! we miss you already.

happy birthday ivy + eli!!!!

santa cruz weekend

last weekend we packed up the car and drove an hour to santa cruz. 

kevin's company was having a beach bash so we thought it'd be a fun place to spend eli's birthday.

(we actually celebrated his birthday the next weekend)

we cruised the famous little boardwalk and let ivy ride the rides. 

that's definitely a once-is-enough kind of place,

but ivy really enjoyed it.

and eli enjoyed his first ice cream cone :)

we met up with kevin's co-workers on the beach

and ate, played in the sand and had our caricature drawn. 

the next day we rode a steam train through the redwoods.

i found this somewhere and it seemed like a cool thing, 

but it was probably a cooler idea in my head than what it ended up being. 

(hot, long and crowded).

kevin and i always like to joke about what my dad would be like in these situations.

(not well. not well at all.)

all staying in one hotel room together wasn't the greatest night's sleep, either.

i thought it was fun to be bunked up together and ordering room service.

kevin thought i was crazy. 

traveling with kids is just sort of a fickle thing - it can turn out too many different ways.

 oh well, it's still fun.

live and learn.

a very happy birthday to my sweetest little boy.

i'll do a real post later.

                  good morning, one year old!
when i told ivy it was eli's birthday,
 her eyes got big and she said "we have to make eli a birthday card!!!"
oook.

santa cruz beach

 steam train through the redwoods

the end

zucchini + carrot muffins

I saw these on pinterest so I thought I'd give them a try. Ivy loves to sprinkle them with sanding sugar, and I throw in some flaxseed to balance it out :)  Her and Eli love these so that makes me happy. They are good, and of course freeze well. Sorry about the weird fonts -- I was too lazy to re-type it :)

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
• 1/2 cup finely shredded carrot

Preparation:

Grease and flour 12 muffin cups. Heat oven to 375°.

In a mixing bowl, beat the oil with eggs, sugars, and vanilla extract.

Combine the flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; add to the wet ingredients; stirring until blended. Fold in the shredded zucchini and carrots.

Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or granulated sugar, if desired. Bake for 20 minutes.

tgif

weekend plans:

--eat donuts

--sleep in 

--swim 

--get some plants planted

--practice walking with eli, he's so close!

--grill! now that our grill man is out of the hospital/bed and back to normal... although he's technically not supposed to eat for 10 more days. 

(that's not happening)

--zoo? 

--try to hem curtains with brooke's tip: stitch witchery!? thank you brooke!

--buy birdseed

--pedicure pretty please

--attempt to reupholster dining chairs, that should be funny

--start gone with the wind

--try not to feel guilty if none of this gets done :)

happy weekend!