spring break road trip

home sweet home, but man we had a fantastic 9 day road trip through 4 states (yes you can be impressed that we did this with a 3 yo and 5yo). we got home last night (and dorothy was spot on...there is no place like home), but we are still smiling from the series of great visits we had with dear friends. so wanted to share a little of our trip with you.

stop number one- missoula, mt.

our friends aaron and caitlin with their little ones emma and wilson. aaron and i were in pa school together and both todd and caitlin had gotten environmental type graduate degrees. needless to say we hit it off. we had our first kids at the same time (riley and emma are a month apart) and then went on to have the second set (wilson is 9months older than lucy). caitlin left the office world when the babes arrived and started her own business making baby slings which i will shamelessly plug www.sproutpouch.com (hers are not the kind involved in the recent controversy). the kids had a blast playing together and the adults got to hang out. great visit, great friends.

stop number two- bozeman, mt

todd's life long friend julie and her boyfriend mike landed here recently and are caretaking a sweet pad (we had our own wing to stay in practically).

it was great to catch up with her and get to know mike. the kids had a great time exploring and julie even took them fishing in the pond in front of her house.

....and proved herself worthy of the rod she was tossing around by landing a little trout much to the kids delight.

we took a gamble and schlepped our skis but it paid off as we had a super ski day at bridger mountain just outside bozeman. lucy went up the lift for the first time and riley cruised the blues with confidence. beautiful sunny day.

lucy up on the lift with mom....

....then cruising down the slopes

and riley showing us all the way down...

stop number three- coeur d' alene, id

our friends erik and myrna with their kids kylie (19yo), makena (9yo) and keilani (4yo) are always fun to visit.

erik is a friend from our africa days (he was not in the peace corps, but was working as an attorney in south africa and let us crash at his pad in durban). he met myrna when he got home and the rest is history. the kids had a fantastic time. the big ones hung out, played soccer and catch (riley was smitten with makena and would follow her anywhere!) and the wee ones spent hours playing dress-up (super cute). the grown-ups got to hang out and chat.....which we so enjoy.

stop number four- othello, wa

we of course had to stop to say hi to our good friends the shelbys. grace, abby and jonathan were the hardest part of leaving othello. always good to see them. just a quick overnight, but worth the stop for the yummy grub grace makes and the hugs.

home stretch of the drive and all worn out....

so today it was back to work for me. back to school for riley. todd spent the day unpacking and putting order back into our home.

waahooo for road trip 2010!!!! happy spring breaks to you too.

almost spring

Spring hasn't exactly sprung, but it's definitely thinking about it. We are getting ready as well and most of our attention has turned to getting the garden prepared. We expanded the garden, doubled it really.

Below is the view from the upstairs window of our backyard. The two large garden plots in the back and over to the left is the chicken coop and yard. The middle of the yard has the remnants of a recent soccer match (Riley I'm sure won).

We found that we needed a fence since we like to have our chickens free-range and they like to bathe and scratch in the lettuce. So fence we made. Sunk the posts, put the fencing on, and Todd built these great gates recycling some old lathe from the walls of our house.

Then Todd recycled the old pump house from the irrigation system (the county redid the system last year and now we don't need the pump), and bought an old window at the rebuild-it center. Voila a cold frame. Ultimately we want to build a green house, but that is realistically a little ways off, so the cold frame will work well for now.

Most exciting was that we planted our seedlings. Lots of everything, (tomatoes, broccoli, greens, peas, beans), oohhh its really gonna be a spectacular garden this year. Lucy loves to water the little seedlings.

oh and look!! The garlic I planted in the fall is looking good so far!

The daffodils bloomed late last week. I didn't get a picture of them because Riley picked a bouquet of them for me. We had to have a little talk about which flowers mommy likes in her bouquets and which ones she likes to leave in the garden.

So next week we are off for spring break. Road trip!! We are visiting friends in Montana, Idaho and a quick stop in good old Othello, Washington! We had to find babysitters for our chickens and for our little seedlings! (so thankful for good friends)

Happy (almost) Spring to you!

I heart...

I heart so many things. The sound of new snow. Rain. The smell of fresh ground coffee. 80's music. Cheese (particularly goat cheese). Little old men. The belly laughs of babies. Fall colors. Pickles. Musicals. Cool sheets on a warm night. The symphony. Hiking. Candy corn. Books. Brews. Skiing. The smell of onion and garlic sauteing. A good massage. Sleeping in a tent. Girlfriends. My family. The blue-eyed smile of my husband. Then there are the babes. Someone once told me that having a child is like watching your heart go walking around outside of your body. So true.

Today we celebrated Valentine's Day with the love of our family. We made a fabulous fondue of artichoke hearts, red pepper and monterey jack cheese......

....we all got new trowels cause a family that gardens together, eats together. True that.

....and then finished it up with chocolate fondue

oh yeah!!......

pure chocolate bliss.....

....the grown-ups enjoyed raspberry liqueur martinis made from our homemade hooch

We all agreed that fondue is definately a Valentine's Day tradition. We heart it.

Happy Valentine's Day!

winter days

After the craziness of the holidays I always welcome the return to a normal rhythm in our home. Work, school, cooking up yummy meals, ...our evenings spent doing puzzles, reading books, or having our weekly game night (we got several new games for X-mas and birthdays which have been fun). I would say the word quiet but that never describes a home with two small children, and certainly there is an element of being cooped up in the house that can have the kids bouncing off the walls. This of course is when you head outside depite the weather (we are Oregonians and don't let a little thing like rain get in our way). We have managed to get some good sledding and skiing in depite the paltry snowfall this year.

A few photos of the past month to share. First we made and canned some applesauce. Remember when we bought our winter supply of apples from our favorite orchard in October?? Well the apples were getting to be not so crunchy and before they actually spoiled we made them into sauce. We each had a heaping bowl of warm sauce and to my heart's delight Riley exclaimed "this is way yummier than the applesauce from the store!" Exactly.

Riley peeling the apples.....

...peeled apple corkscrew

lucy's apple glasses....

daddy cooking and canning the sauce....

.....and a bath to finish off the night.


We've been having some great ski days with both kids. Lucy spends her time (and really we are lucky to get an hour out of her before she starts asking for hot cocoa) on the "magic carpet" which replaced the rope tow (my gloves give thanks!). She screams the whole way down in part delight and part fear. She is having fun and we hope to get her up on the lift by the end of the season.

Lucy riding up the magic carpet....

...then squealing down the hill!

Riley is becoming a great little skiier. He can easily get down any green run and is now turning solidly enough to tackle the blues. He loves going fast (we've had a couple of talks about skiing in control), is into jumps, and generally is having a ball skiing.

Riley getting ready to ski...

...and he's off! Wait for me Riley!!

look at that form...solid!

.....and of course posing for the obligatory picture at the top of the mountain. What a gorgeous day to spend on the slopes with my little ski buddy!

The kids have also gotten in a few sledding days. Here they are playing in the snow with their friends Lani and Mel (and dad Steve).

We have been keeping warm and busy and having fun. Hope your winter days have been warm too!

happy birthday lucy

our sweet baby girl turned three today. lucy was all wrapped up in the warmth of birthday wishes. lots of calls from family afar and packages in the mail to help her celebrate.

she had a birthday party with all her little buddies from pre-school, who she requested come dressed in full "princess" attire. it was pretty cute to see all these little girls dressed up complete with crowns and wands...and all just loving it.

we had a great dance party....

then of course a princess castle cake!!!

happy birthday lucy! we love you more than words can say!

merry and bright

the busy holiday season (which I adore) has left me with little time to blog and it has been sadly neglected. so a quick tour of our wonderfully merry and bright holidays.

breakfast with santa...

decorating the tree (which clearly needs to be done in costume of course)...

riley's first holiday music program at school....i mean how cute is this child!

baking cookies for santa. somehow in my dreams it was this ideallic thing i would do with my children. in reality it was barely controlled chaos with copius sprinkles!

zoolights...which was actually enjoyable despite this picture of lucy's pouty face. she's a moody nearly three year old, what can i say?

christmas morning was glorious! the kids running downstairs, and amazingly running right by their unwrapped presents from santa in order to first to confirm he had been there evidenced by missing cookies. then the looks of pure wonder and glee as they zeroed in on those gifts. lucy got a new scooter and riley some new skis. christmas morning is such a joyful experince with young children.

hope your holidays were merry and bright as well