Babes

So for the last year and a half or so there have been 2 animals on Emma's Varsity team...Mama Kitty (lately referred to as "Miss Mama Kitty") and Baby Kitty (Miss Mama's daughter, of course...lately referred to as just "Babes").
Now that Emma's potty trained she has been coming down after we put her to bed for all sorts of reasons, so we're working on encouraging her to stay in bed. But tonight she came down for a decidedly different reason. Apparently she had been giving it some thought and finally felt compelled to come down and let us know that she thought that Babes should go to someone who didn't have any animals.
I followed her back up the stairs to my closet where I keep a bag to drop off at Good Will. She dropped Babes in, told me another little girl could have her, and then hopped back into bed.
Such a proud parenting moment.
I can't tell you how much I love her generous little heart...

Supper Swap

Welcome to Supper Swap!
The concept of a supper swap was fairly new to me when my friend Sarah invited me to participate. In a nutshell, you find a few like-minded foodie friends to swap meals with through the week. So, I cook a meal for our family and 2 others on Mondays, and 2 dear friends cook on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (the days I work!). No planning, shopping, prepping, cooking and minimal cleaning up on those days...heaven!
So let me share with you a few of the fabulous meals we've dined on since we started last week...

• Balsamic-rosemary Roasted Chicken with Red Onions and Potatoes
• Gourmet Meatball Subs with Carmelized Onions and Gruyere with Greek Salad
• Italian Sausage, White Bean and Spinach Stew
• Shrimp Risotto with Roasted Asparagus
• 3 Cheese Pizza with Lemony Arugula and a Celery/Walnut/Parmesan Salad
• Meatloaf, Twice Baked Potatoes and Nonna's Salad
  

So now I'm a Supper Swap evangelist.
More to come...

Why I have the greatest mother in law in the world.

This last week my dear friend and college roommate Caitlin got married.
I flew out to Colorado for the wedding (one carry-on and one purse in tow, no diaper bag, pacifiers or baby food), leaving the kids and Andrew at home in the wonderful hands of my mother in law.
The week was amazing and so much fun. I'm pretty sure I don't get out much,...ok, and I'm a mom. So let's just say I enjoyed myself and leave it at that.
And while I LOVED the time away, it was so good to come home to Andrew and the kids. Nothing like going away to appreciate how much you left behind.
The house was spotless, the laundry had been done and my mother in law was planning our (Andrew's and mine) next vacation to Vancouver while she watches the kids.
I'm blessed beyond belief.

Really? On an iPhone?

I've been holding out, but alas...these latest pics, emailed to me at work by the girl watching Emma and Luke, have pushed me over the edge.
This is the month I finally give in and get an iPhone.

3 Years Ago...

...our lives were forever changed when our sweet Emma Grace entered the world.
She has grown into a thoughtful, generous, hilarious, passionate, wonderful girl who also happens to be a total goofball (quite possibly our most favorite trait).Here she is just hours after she was born...3 amazing years later she continues to light up our lives.
*As a side note, this is the outfit she chose to wear on her birthday.Andrew the proud father giving Emma the "big girl bike" he worked hard the night before to put together.
"But it looks kind of small," you ask? Continue reading below...Emma's birthday was full of all the things Emma loves...we started the morning with our friends Ana and Mia eating pastries at 85Degrees Bakery and skipping hand in hand around the District.

Emma requested "hamburgers and sweet potatoes" for her special birthday dinner, and we finished the evening with the "strawberry and blueberry" birthday cake that confirmed my career choice in something other than professional cake decorating.Ok, so remember that bike up above that Daddy slaved over? Turns out it was too small for Emma so...here's round two.

My baby girl looks 3 going on 7 in this picture.
And the good news is that the second bike fits with room to grow!

Love you, Sweet Girl.

Luke Months 5 and 6

Luke Month 5...showing off his 6 pack.

6 Months.

I just had to sneak this one in.

She's growing up...and I'm pretending to like it.

Today Emma's little neighbor friend was out front, playing with her dog Maggie. Since it was an unusually warm January day I encouraged curious Emma to play outside with her friend and their furry companion.
I found them a few minutes later in our neighbor's side yard, and with as must strength as I could muster I asked Emma to make sure to let me know before she went anywhere, so that I was aware of where she was and also to avoid having our neighbors think my daughter roamed the neighborhood at the ripe old age of 3. I explained that she needed to come straight home when the 2 girls were done playing, or when our neighbor's Mommy said our sweet neighbor girl had to come in. "Yes, Mama," Emma responded.
About 10 minutes later the front door creaked open and my 3 (going on 10) year old baby girl had just walked back (albeit 15 feet) from her playdate.
"How was it?" I asked...
"Fine. Ella had to go so I came home," she said.
I smiled and told her how proud I was of her as she was becoming such a fabulous, responsible little girl...but secretly I thought that maybe putting a dead bolt really high on the front door might slow down these attempts at large leaps in responsibility.

Merry Christmas...Happy New Year!

Happy New Year.
We hope you had a fabulous Christmas. Here's what we've been up to.

Dessert for Andrew's birthday at Bruxie, a gourmet waffle stand in Old Town Orange (and a new favorite!).

Luke turned 4 months. He is so full of joy.

Emma proudly displaying her creatively decorated giant gingerbread man.

Andrew's family came into town to celebrate Christmas and to escape the rainy WA weather...unfortunately our CA Christmas looked a lot like home for them (with the exception of this one sunny day...the day they left).

Emma got an Ikea easel for Christmas, the best $15 we've ever spent. She loves anything artsy or crafty. She got a sweet flower head garland too as you can see.

I'm not sure Emma knew what to do when Santa arrived at this Christmas party we went to.

Christmas morning at my parent's house. We had a great day full of amazing food, family and gifts.

Emma thanking her Granny for a Fancy Nancy doll and matching outfits.