Lists

With my upcoming trip to Montana looming, I have been making lists like crazy. Lists of what to pack in what bag, lists of what to do before I leave, lists of questions I have about traveling with a baby cross-referenced with which friends to ask these questions, lists of what I need to buy... and all the lists are rattling around in my brain (usually writing them down helps, but this time it isn't) distracting me from everything else I need to do. Like keep two children alive, for instance. Hopefully we all survive tomorrow so Titus and I can get on the plane early Friday morning and put us all out of our misery.

PS - New little quilt in the shop.

Father-Son Camp out

Last weekend Brett and Moses went on their annual father-son camping trip with our friends Drew, Ian, and Kellar. (Titus is still too little so he got to stay at home with me.) They went to Kennedy Meadows, which is where Brett and his dad went for all their camping trips when Brett was a kid. They had a wonderful time with lots of adventures. Here they are with the fish Moses caught using the grasshopper that he also caught by trapping it with Daddy's hat. Pretty dang cool (all those Man vs. Wild episodes seem to have paid off...)

And this is what they woke up to the final day - snow! Luckily they were staying in a "sleeper cabin" rather than tents - that might have been a bit too extreme for two 3 year olds and a five year old! Moses was thrilled; snow is absolutely his favorite thing on earth and he got to play in it for hours before packing up to drive home.

Titus and I are really glad to have them home and it was fun hearing all their stories. This coming weekend Titus and I are taking an adventure of our own - we'll be going to Hungry Horse, Montana to visit my Grandma. Any tips on flying with an 11 month old? Seriously - I need all the help I can get!

Ah me

You know that time of night when the kids are long-since sleeping and you have a million things you've been waiting to do all day but all you want to do is go into the little one's room and pick him up in his sleepy warm snuggly goodness and nuzzle your nose into that chubby little place where his cheek meets his neck? And then you want to go into the big boy's room and pick him up, gangly legs and all, and hold him like he used to let you do before he became a "big boy" and sing him a quiet silly song and hold his sweet little hand? And then you wish there was a way to make them stop growing up so fast - not forever, but just for a little bit. Just until you got tired of crawling around on the kitchen floor and building lego tractors and calling all food "na-nas"and laughing together about things that nobody else would understand ... And then you realize that all the things you wanted to get done tonight aren't really important at all and that you have a wonderful life and you just love your kids so much it hurts. And you decide to go to bed and skip the ironing and get some sleep so you can do it all over again tomorrow. And you're looking forward to it. You know what I mean? I love that time of night.

Fall snuck up on me!

Last week I was lamenting the fact that I was still wearing shorts, and today I'm in a sweater! That happened fast. Oh well, the Indian Summer quilt is in the shop anyways. :) I was really tempted to keep this one to use as a wall hanging, but decided it would go better with a baby and lots of snuggling.

Home Made Fig Newtons

I can't take any credit for these - our neighbor made them from freshly picked figs and they are phenomenal! She also gave me an extra jar of the fig filling, so I'll be cooking up some of my own soon. It's actually pretty simple: Just cook down a pot of peeled and chopped figs along with some honey and chopped walnuts. You want it to reach the consistency of really thick jam. Then make a basic sugar cookie dough, chill, and roll out into a rectangle. Place the fig filling (you want it to be warm so that the cookies cook correctly) in the middle and roll the dough up around it, forming a log and pinching the ends shut. Bake just like that according to the dough recipe and cut into cookies after they cool. Yum! The perfect fall cookie.

Indian Summer

Just when I get antsy for a good ol' sweater and jeans, it gets super hot around here. One of the perks of California, I suppose, though I'm always ready to be done with summer by the time September rolls around. We've been making the best of the heat, though, with lots of afternoons on the shady lawn and running through the sprinkler. Who doesn't love a good run through the sprinkler? (Answer: Titus. He was pretty insulted by the whole thing, poor kid.)

This morning I was able to rescue some of my millions of scraps from the scrap drawer and work them into a little quilt. I think I'll call it Indian Summer - the colors remind me of this time of year. The tiny pieces in the last photo were too small to save. It was sad throwing them away, but I did my best. I always feel so resourceful when I use up scraps.

Oops

Well, I was ahead of the game yesterday - dinner was waiting to go into the oven, the kitchen was clean, and I was sure that, for once, I wouldn't be rushing around like crazy at 5 pm. But then this happened. No, it wasn't an earthquake. Sadly, the pantry already looked like that, except for the Honey Nut Cheerios sprinkled over everything. Everything.

Ug. Of course the first thing I did after accidentally dumping the box was run for my camera, solidifying the fact in my husband's mind that I am a complete lunatic. But then I cleaned it all up and was, of course, running around like crazy at 5 pm. Oh well. Up side: the pantry is now clean. Down side: no more Honey Nut Cheerios. :(