A visit

We've got family visiting us at the moment. It's nice for g. to see her cousin and for the rest of us to be together.

Here are some scenes from our day. A view from the hotel, a boat tour on Lake Michigan, a splash at Millennium Park and a great picture of cousins. c.

Babs

Looking good even when your hair is not is why you either love or hate Barbie. c.

Notes from Haiti

I just read the Notes from Haiti over on the Mama to Mama site about the caps we sent in November. Thinking about one of the caps I made helping to save the life of a newborn baby is warming my heart beyond belief right now.

Some other ways to help in Haiti. c.

Relaxing

We are taking it easy in between the time that work and tasks take up. I think we are caught in a perpetual state of home improvements.

How is the summer where you live? In our world it has been cooler and rainier than it should. I worry that come October we will feel it never properly arrived. c.

Lions and tigers and bears

Oh my little lion sitting there second from the left. It takes a lot of courage to perform for the first time. c.

You know you want them

Thinking of ways to get your hot little hands on a set of these cream cheese carrot cupcakes goddesses? I bet you are. I was going for a red, white and blue theme obviously, or was until the raspberries that were meant to adorn the fluffy little peaks like glistening red gems of patriotic spirit went all mushy while I wasn't looking. How dare them!

These little lovelies were picked up at our local bakery, but I have tried with much success when I'm feeling a lot less lazy this wonderful recipe.

Everyone got their own personal stash of highly explosive and incredibly dangerous fireworks handy? Now all I need is a 10 foot match, that'll make things safer. To this day I am still amazed that all 3 of my guy cousins emerged with 30 fingers between them, evenly distributed.

Actually the 4th of July tradition in this house is a lot less exciting. Our dog thinks that fireworks signal the end of life as we know it. By sundown on July 4th you will find us all on the floor of the closet with a dog that is in cardiac arrest munching on cupcakes. Happy 4th of July weekend to all of us here in the States. c.

Take two

Waiting for ballet. Costume was on by 6 a.m. today. Last night she went to bed super excited, it's like we hit a pause button that resumed playing in the wee hours of the morning. c.

Perfect peach pie

Father's Day was about baseball, swimming and pie. My neighbor made a peach pie that was incredible. She's a great cook which has a lot to do with why it turned out so good. She shared the recipe with me but it's on Cook's Illustrated which is a subscription site so unless you are a subscriber you can't access it.

She opted to skip the lattice top and instead cleverly used one of her kids play-doh cutters to create this really cute top pattern.

I promise to find and personally test some peach pie recipes to share with you in the coming week. It's a tough job but someone has to do it! c.

Early bird

Happy Father's Day a little early.

I haven't been able to do my daily posts the last few weeks because work and family life have been pretty hectic. July looks like it's going to be a lot slower and I've got some project to share.

Hope your weekend is relaxing. c.

Full swing

Summertime activities are in full swing around here. We did a lot with animals over the last few days which included a trip to a little farm and to Brookfield Zoo where some of the creature were real and some were not. c.

Paint

We've been trying to get the kitchen area painted for a long, long time. I think you will see why from this photo. I hope to have before and after pictures (one day). c.

Filling the silence

We had a blast at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago the other day. Space seems to capture the imagination of everyone. They have lots of interactive exhibits and fun movies to watch.

There was a wall of post-it notes where kids wrote down what they thought they would need if they went into outer space. Some said things like oxygen and food while others asked for books and grass and music to fill the silence.

The grounds around the museum are pretty too, offering a great view of the skyline. c.

Hi

Yesterday I stopped myself from drawing a face on the lemon. I felt like I was becoming a bit predictable with drawing faces on edible objects. Then last night when I was done making pasta fusilli I noticed this staring back up at me. No drawing required, just a little imagination. c.

Holistic honey

I started to think more about the uses for honey recently when g. had a bad cough and the pediatrician told me to give her a spoon full of honey to help calm the coughing. Reminder: Children under one year of age should not be given honey.

Yesterday I was talking with a friend who's husband had an infected cut on his finger. She told me that he used honey to get rid of the infection. Wikipedia mentions a little something about uses in medicine. She also told me that she uses it on her face to keep the wrinkles away. She has beautiful skin so I thought to myself, where can I buy a vat?

In honor of my new best friend honey I made this super great honey lemonade. It's pure summertime in a glass. c.

Play time

We had a near miss with a broken nose this weekend. Falling flat on ones face on the concrete doesn't do much for little snouts.

For a little treat we made a stop at Paper Source after things were all checked out. I shouldn't be allowed in there, it's pure heaven, I want to move the entire store into my house. I was able to exhibit a tiny bit of self control and left with a few stamps to add to our collection. When I was in the store staring at a wall full of crafts dreaming up stuff g. and I could make together I said to my mom, "I really love playing with g." Then she said, "It's g. that is playing with you." So true. I wonder how old she will be when she finally says to me, "Mom I really prefer scuba diving, or mountain climbing, or playing the drums, or..."

Differences

My 3 year-old is starting to notice and ask about differences in physical traits. I get lots of questions about boys vs. girls and old vs. young. One recent question about crunchy eyes, or laugh lines, had us all in stitches and probably produced a few more laugh lines.

Do you eat a lot of sweet potatoes? We really don't. Today I grabbed a few of those instead of the yellow ones. I baked them and they made the whole house smell sweet. c.

Little

Like little hands sitting really still for a real manicure on the very last day of school. c.

A long weekend

It's Memorial Day weekend here. We are enjoying the nice warm days, the museums, the BBQs, and some gardening. c.

Curry!

I have been searching for and trying out some new recipes because I have been is a serious rut for a long time. I'm not the worlds best cook but I like cooking because I find it relaxing. The cleanup isn't all that relaxing but who's thinking ahead?

The Thai Red Curry I made last night was so incredibly delish. I followed this recipe with a few exceptions; to make it vegetarian I used firm tofu in place of the chicken, or you could use those tofu chicken strips (I am the next time I make it), I omitted the fish sauce and added in yellow peppers. I also went for the 3 teaspoons of the curry paste 'cause I like it spicy!

An exception to the policy

Remember my I don't care if it's messy policy in the craft department from yesterday? Turns out that does NOT apply to cooking. Apparently I can't handle the idea of flour and sugar getting all over or the accidental ingestion of batter due to raw egg factor. "No, Watch Out, OK That's Enough, Mommy's Turn!" Kinda takes all the fun out of it.

We did have lots of fun eating the banana muffins that we made. I used this recipe and adapted it to muffins by cooking it for 30 minutes, cutting the sugar to 3/4 cup and adding a few handfuls of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the final batter. They turned out supper yummy! c.

An organized mess

I had a laugh with my neighbor the other day because the ONLY thing in my house that is organized is my craft drawer. I guess that says a lot about me. This craft drawer in my kitchen functions so well. There is an anytime you want policy and an I don't care if it's messy policy (the unorganized side coming through). I got the pencil boxes from Walgreens. c.

Product love

I love the line of Klutz activity books because they are so super fun and clever. I've given them many times a presents. Today we are having fun with the stencil book. It gives g. the ability to put little scenes together. Tonight we will be working on some fashion design with my neighbor's crafty 6 year old. We will let you know how that goes tomorrow! c.

Happy faces

Mother's Day was relaxing. Our lilac bush is finally blooming. The best part of the weekend was that g. drew her first face. We've had nothing but random scribbles and then all of a sudden on Saturday she made people. This was my Mother's Day card, a drawing of me and g. c.

Mo drawing

Yesterday while I was driving in the car victoriously listening to NPR after a battle of wills over NPR vs. some high pitched repetitive kids cd, when the celebrated children's author Mo Willems was on All Things Considered talking about why we stop drawing once we are adults.

Willems tells Michele Norris, "is that people stop when they decide they're not good at it. Nobody stops playing basketball when they realize they're not going to become a professional. The same thing should apply to cartooning."

It was a great 5 minute segment you can listen to it here. You can check out Mo's blog here.

Why not look across the table tonight at your spouse, partner, kid, dog, cat or hamster and do portraits of each other? I bet at the very least you will have a good laugh!

Check out Mo's dedicated to drawing dining room. c.

Fear No Art

It's museum mania around here. This weekend we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. They are showing a fantastic exhibit by Olafur Eliasson. The 3D environments were quite something to experience. I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

There is also currently an exhibit on Buckminster Fuller that was fascinating.

"Does humanity have a chance to survive lastingly and successfully on planet Earth, and if so, how?" ~ Buckminster Fuller

And my salad by Wolfgang Puck was delish! c.