sweet sunday

 eli begged for muffins this morning, so we made blueberry ones. my kids just like PLAIN muffins though, so i kept a few plain for them.  we also made blueberry crisp the other night and it was soo good. i'm having blueberry cravings apparently.  moving on...

 i think my mom used to fix my hair like this sometimes when i was younger, because i had serious deja vu this morning with ivy. i don't easily see myself in her, but i did today. she loved it... such a girl.

 ivy's preschool friend around the corner had the cutest birthday party this evening... i took 100 pictures and she's not even my kid :) i thought it'd be weird if i put them all on my blog.. ha but here's a few from her backyard circus birthday! the kids had a BLAST. there were games to play to win little prizes, a funny clown, hot dogs, popcorn & cotton candy, grilled chicken kebabs, little homemade cheese puffs, fruit, cutest stamped clown bags, susie cakes. beautiful afternoon and just pure joy watching the kids have so much fun. they are the sweetest family, and i hope to become better friends.

blueberry muffins
blueberry crisp

over & out!

ivy goes to pre-k

august 21, 2013
kirk house preschool
menlo park, ca
MWF 9AM - 12PM
TH 1- 4PM

this is ivy's second year in preschool, and her second year at kirk house.
i love her school and have been so happy and grateful for this sweet place for her during the morning.
she's now going 3 mornings a week, plus a special afternoon class that's a little more structured, helping to prepare them for kindergarden. she loves it loves it.
she has the same teachers as last year, and the same rooms, it's all very familiar and she didn't skip a beat. mostly the same children from last year, a handful of new ones. i think 22 total, with 5 teachers. the whole little school is open to them (it's small), and they are free to roam about from room to room. ivy usually starts in the art room, then moves to the dress-up area, does a project with a teacher, plays outside, has snack and "table time" with her small group teacher, they talk about the scripture verse for that week and different topics..  there are 4 rooms and a playground. each friday there's a bible based puppet show with teacher carol. it's a sweet little place and i just can't say it enough!

we made our favorite oat bran muffins with sprinkles for breakfast,
 ivy wore a little gap polka dot dress,
her gold jellies, and a pony tail.
the students wear jackets in the morning year round because mornings (and evenings) are cold here. ivy's not a huge fan of them though, so she usually takes it right off and puts it in her cubby. #11 this year. (she might just be wanting something to put in her cubby, i'm not really sure.)
she took the envelope from my hand as we were walking in and said with squinted eyes and a nodding head, "thanks mom. i need to carry my information." eli loves her school too.. but he misses her while she's there :( it's nice to have some eli time... for a few more months at least!

 we had dinner at k's office... pizza and ice cream trucks outside.
we celebrated the last day of summer/first school day with huge ice cream cones.

although he's tiny by this truck, he looks so old to me here

here's to a sweet, calm and joyful fall!

today

My poor blog.
I'll just start with today and try to fill in later what I can.
Not that today was anything extraordinary - just a starting point.

so, first things first... i am sitting in bed (alone, k is out of town, very sad) eating a version of giada's chocolate chip cookies. and yum. ok, moving on.

the kids ate leftover oat bran muffins for breakfast. i had special k and decaf hazelnut coffee.
just hold on.
it picks up...

we opened all the curtains, picked up the house, folded laundry, did the morning routine.
ivy did some morning reading in her cowboy hat (thanks craig) and cabo bangles. she LOVES frog and toad and anything else emily sends her way.

i'm trying to start back on having a scripture verse for the week. major slacking. so i said deuteronomy 31:6 for them.
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you or forsake you."
 eli got a kick out of saying "be STRONG!" really loud with his fist in the air and then cracking up. He is so happy and fun. Ivy has to be coaxed into repeating the phrases. It is like pulling teeth, but so it is.

we got dressed and went to the doctor for Ivy to finally have an official allergy testing. we've suspected she has a peanut allergy since she was born pretty much. thankfully, she got most of her nerves out the other day when we came for a consultation.. thinking that's when she was going to be tested. the nurse was really sweet, ivy sat on my lap facing me, hugging me while she got three "scratches" (as the nurse called them) on her back. (when i tucked her in tonight, she said "mom, those were NOT scratches!? they were super hard POKES or something.")  it was obviously painful and she cried (if k were in town, this for sure would've been a daddy job. i hate it), but she was all okay in a few minutes. eli was so sweetly sympathetic. so....she does have a peanut allergy, in the top half of the range, and i was instructed to have an epi-pen and benadryl around. oook.

then we went to our first day of gymnastics this fall... kids had a blast.

lunch... dropped ivy off at preschool...
put eli down for a nap....
laid in my bed....
(told you this would pick up ;)

febreezed everything down in the backyard with eli. poured water on it and scrubbed it.
that's his thing.

picked up ivy.... went home.. played...made spaghetti.... took baths...read, sang, brushed teeth, prayed, went to bed.  baked cookies.  just want to add eli did splendidly on the potty today. he is also wearing white boys underwear from target that are the cutest on his tiny hiney.

this is the worst written post ever. i am so tired and have no creativity or filter.
just a starting point.
oh yes and 30 weeks along today! :)

sweet baby

selfie from eli 

30.......

giada's hazelnut and chocolate chip cookies RECIPE

(omitted the toffee & hazelnuts, added coconut and grey salt. so goood)

tgif

rare moment of sweetness... yes they are actually being sweet, ivy doesn't have him pinned down

chicken & spinach enchiladas

photos by ivy:

this week hasn't been particularly long, just really tiring. 

kevin and i feel 100 years old by 8 o'clock. 

is this normal? we're pretty sure we're the only ones. 

our dinner dates have to be at 5:30 or i literally can't make it. :) 

hey evvia. best restaurant around hands down. 

highlights from the week (last week?):
when ivy cried because i told her she can't marry eli.
homemade chicken enchiladas
ivy wore shorts! (and without any drama)
eli is basically practically bottle-weened
the glorious weather
the day eli only ate chocolate milk, a chocolate milkshake and croutons.
new summer dress in the mail (for me, not ivy for once)
eli's gymnastics class....picking up a squishy ball and dunking it one-handed?! impressive.
 sweetest kid ever. he goes where he's supposed to and always wants me right by him.
when it's time to go, he says "bye bye" real softly and leaves without any fuss
even though it's the best 45 minutes he's ever had in his life.

weekend plans:
make blueberry muffins and eat 'em all
take ives to a local kid's musical.. she is going to loove it
susie cakes
clean the backyarrrrrd
go watch a stanford baseball game with ivy's preschool.. should be fun
horse riding lesson
oh yeah.. take the kids to benihanas per ivy's request haha i'm super excited about this
i miss tokyo
and while we're at it, novroskys and chula vista.
wow i am fat.

hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

He is Risen!

 we were in town for easter, just us, so it was pretty laid back and simple. 

(we haven't been in texas for easter the past 3 years so that's kinda sad) 

but we had a wonderful day.

ivy woke us up when she walked into our room with her easter dress half pulled over her head, a sponge in her hand and a jelly bean in her mouth. 

"mom! eli got a sponge in his easter basket!"

"really? cool, sweetie. go put it back reeeallll quietly and i'll be there in just a minute."

(e loves to clean). 

i thought it was sweet she was so excited for him :)

not so sweet that she raided both baskets before the crack of dawn.

we made our favorite muffins with sprinkles 

opened baskets 

got dressed for church. 

(ivy couldn't have been more excited to wear her dress and flower headband. 

she is literally crazy about dresses.) 

celebrated easter and our risen Lord.

 home for naps and baking.

glazed sugar cookies and coconut pie. 

our super sweet neighbors invited us over for an early dinner. 

grilled lamb chops, mashed potatoes, asparagus, 

salad and homemade bread. so good. 

we sat outside and it was just so nice. 

her older kids hid eggs for mine and ivy was in.to. it. 

after she found them all, she re-hid them and hunted again by herself. 

eli found some too and ate probably 7 chocolate eggs. 

i do not know where he kept finding them. 

they have a few chickens, so when she first invited us over for dinner and an egg hunt, 

i thought they were going to hide chicken eggs..and i was kind of worried my kids would be disappointed and i would get embarrassed and aren't those really fragile?...but..it was just the plastic ones :)

she even had this big prize bag and everything. 

so, so sweet.

and that was nice and all, but the glory of Easter is really something entirely different.

i am so thankful for Jesus and the cross.

He is Risen!

By His wounds you have been healed. 

hope y'all had a happy easter!

re-start

i can't believe it's been 3 months! 

 i wasn't sure if i'd ever be back, but.. i kind of missed it so here i am again. 

i think maybe instagram took over and blogs are now like so 5 years ago...

 but then i reminded myself i'm trying to keep this for a little family record 

and i should get back on it or i'll be realllly bummed down the road!

well, i'm not even going to try to recap the past few months 

so i'll just take a deeep breath and forgive myself 

for january, february and march and start here. 

wednesday march 27th:

taken during eli's nap... goofball! 

ivy took this pic (among MANY) which i thought turned out cute

we made pancakes for breakfast

made our beds and picked up the house

the kids dumped out a bag of cotton balls outside and ran in and told me it was snowing

then i made them pick every one of them up using a hair clip

so i could have five minutes of peace.. you know what i'm saying? 

(i actually read it was a good exercise for their pincer grip haha)

what moms actually do that kinda stuff? 

moving on..

lunch, naps, diapers

park, pirates, family of sea lions,

family of squirrel-fish (fish that can climb trees)

family of ducks,

forts, puzzles, the tale of mrs. tittlemouse,

chocolate peanut butter smoothies (YUM)

a few spankings,

watch mr. don prune the trees,

about a million other things..

dinner, baths, jammies

daddy home!

with a box of pizza?

second dinner

brush teeth 

BED.

this is our chicken & rice-a-roni soup we had for dinner 

which was "lish" as ivy says 

and now we are all totally caught up.

whew!

are you like, so glad you're back in the loop? :)

merry christmas and happy new year

a wonderful merry merry christmas was had 

although you'd never know it by my pictures. 

since there are 5. 

i'm fired. for reals.

BUT, i guess i'd rather have had a great christmas with a family i love

 and no pictures to show for it,

 than a no good family or holiday with lots of pictures! -- right?

 (just trying to make myself feel better.)

and no pic from our fancy new years dinner with g+p.

and that's a shame cuz we were looking good... 

happy 2013 to you and yours! 

o christmas tree

this is our first year to get our own christmas tree! 

(i can't remember if we had one on eaton... so i'm thinking we didn't).

for one reason or another, we've never really had a chance/space to, 

and we're usually gone most of the holidays so it's not really worth it, 

but i really wanted one this year. 

we drove to a little tree lot, ivy picked one out, and they delivered it to our living room. 

gramma strung on the lights and ornaments when she was here. 

and ivy colored a little star to put on top. 

then she got really into ornaments, adding things here and there.

an angel she made in preschool, 

a red and green wreath from church, 

a pack of gift tags that she got from a saleslady at jcrew. 

i love it.
perfectly imperfect. 

so colorful and bright.

now if only i had anything to put under it!

whistler

  kevin whisked me away to vancouver for a long weekend for our anniversary 

and it was the loveliest time. 

 he told me just the night before where we were going, although i had a feeling.  

so gramma and cc came to stay with the kids, and we were off! 

i love the snow and mountains, especially this time of year. 

so beautiful and romantic. 

we spent two nights in vancouver

and two in whistler. 

kevin skied, 

i spa-ed (i just made that a verb)

we slept in,

and it was all such a treat.

what's better than sleeping in and waking up to snow covered mountains?

it was really nice just being on our own clocks

and having nothing to do.

it was beautiful, relaxing, quiet, slow. 

perfect for us.

maybe next year we'll pick up the pace :)

it was also soooo fun coming home to the kids 

who seemed 14 and 4. 

(how does that happen?)

ivy was so giddy to show me all the fun stuff she did and made. 

i know they had the best time.

 mom and cindy decked the halls

and had our house perfectly cozy and festive.

as well as a minor house-lift 

and total car clean-out.  

i can't thank you enough!

tis the season to be jolly!! 

happy 5!

this picture has potential.... if we were 8 feet closer. 

oh well, it looks like we are about to say our vows again, so it's kinda appropriate :)

five years!

it's hard for me to believe it's only been five. 

it's just hard to remember my life before kevin. 

we met when we were 15. 

so we've known each other for 13 years! 

that's crazy. 

i guess it's hard to separate our knowing each other from actually being married. 

plus it's been an eventful ride. 

2 countries, 3 states, 4 cities, 5 residences

plus 2 adorable children

 and a bazillion plane rides.

i'm glad it's only been five though-

we are still young

with hopefully a lot more to come.

i love him so very much.

i always knew i'd marry him.

i'm glad he came around and made me his wife.  

i'm the luckiest!

five things you probably didn't know about us:

1. we slept in a double bed for 2 years, thinking it was a queen

2. we almost moved to idaho

3. we met at kevin's 16th birthday party, which i wasn't invited to

4. kevin has a pacemaker, i had a hearing aid, making us the oldest young couple :)

5. i can't think of any more! this is hard!  

happy anniversary us!

happy thanksgiving!

we had a wonderful thanksgiving last weekend in cabo. 

(aside from passing on a bug to every member of my family. so, so sorry.) 

we had the best time, and ivy was in. heaven.

she loves playing with staples and esther and being their mini teacher. 

it's the best watching them together. 

they're the cutest, smartest, funniest, sweetest little girls! ever. 

the weather was beautiful, and the weekend was relaxing and perfect.

(except for the sick bit. sorry again.)

these times are so dear to me, as we're far away and our family is ever growing! 

i'm so thankful for such a beautiful place to spend some time with them. 

thank you mom & dad! 

{olive, staples, eli, ivy and esther. minus baby truett}

the only picture of the whole weekend. i officially am the worst.

pleeeeeease do better over christmas, chaiss!!  

hope y'all had a very happy thanksgiving! 

bacon minestrone

this was dinner last night and it was easy and good. 

super duper healthy, and the kids ate it.

winner in my book!

i got it from this blog, with a few adjustments. 

6 slices of bacon

1 small onion

4 garlic cloves, minced

1-2 cups of chopped kale

handful of baby carrots, sliced

squeeze of tomato paste

1 cup of pumpkin puree

1 TB fresh thyme

2 TB fresh oregano

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup of small pasta (I used elbow)

1 can of white beans 

handful of grated parmesan cheese

 + a small piece--about an inch--of Parmesan cheese rind (optional)

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups of water

(it may seem like a lot of liquid, but the pasta absorbs some)

salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in your soup pot until crispy, remove from pan.

Add onions, kale, and carrots to the bacon drippings and sauté until they begin to soften.

Add garlic and sauté for a few minutes more. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in fresh herbs, bay leaf, tomato paste, and pumpkin puree.

Add chicken broth, water, beans, parm rind and pasta. Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes. 

Reduce heat and simmer until you're ready to serve, or turn it off and then heat it up again when you're ready.

Remove the Parmesan rind.

Ladle into bowls, and top with crumbled bacon and sprinkle with cheese.  

Serve with toasted sourdough.

enjoy :)