Week in Review

After her big theatre week, capped off by not sleeping much the night before the theater festival, Cora got sick. So, she missed out on helping at a wedding in L.A. with me and Violet. 

We were in a cool part of L.A., so we took advantage after Melanie released us. We went to the Grove shopping center and the adjacent L.A. Farmer's Market, a historic gathering of international cuisines and foods. We ended up getting empanadas, which are similar to pasties. We then hunted for boba, which took us to the Beverly Center mall. Then, finally, home. It was fun having a city adventure with Vi. 

On Sunday, we had a home day after church, and I tidied up and baked bread and oatmeal cake. 

Yes, I'm back to making oatmeal cake again, my old standby healthy breakfast I've been making since Cora was a baby. It will be a good, filling food for Stace at work, as we dive headlong into a new eating/lifestyle plan for him. It's not that he's unhealthy, but he had some bloodwork that caused his functional medicine doctor recommend some changes. We read through all this paperwork Sunday afternoon. 

Violet and I took a walk at the Iron Horse Bridge trail, with the Santa Clara River flowing nicely.

We've had a second rainy year in a row! 

Also, Vi went to the orthodontist and learned that she can be DONE with braces forever! We weren't sure if they'd recommend a second phase, but she is good to go. Very exciting. She had a mold made of her mouth to create a new invisalign-style retainer, like Cora and I have.

Vi and I have also been doing some shopping this week. The store Loft keeps periodically emailing me codes for $20 off, so we went in a couple of times this week and Vi ended up getting some stylish black pants.

I was cleaning out the freezer and found these sad hamburger buns. Winston thought they were worth a try, though.

Yep, just a normal cat, doing normal cat things, like eating frozen hamburger buns.

Don't you get between Winston and his bun!

Both cats will completely disappear under the dishwasher.

And also, I came home from morning school dropoffs to find SOMEONE had wanted to try the oatmeal cake.

Easter festivities

Happy Easter! 

We started our Easter celebration with church on Saturday evening, followed by Red Mango frozen yogurt. 

He is Risen! He is Risen, indeed. 

On Easter morning, the girls opened their baskets and later received these DVDs, as we talked to Nan and Pop in England.

 Nan and Pop had the family over for Easter dinner - Big Nan, Dean, Jenny and Euan - so it was great to catch up with everyone at one time. Cora and Violet both loved their respective DVDs - a new Tinker Bell movie, and a new Thomas show.

 Later, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for our Easter dinner, where our yummy meal included braised lamb shoulder. It's our first time doing lamb for Easter, but we loved it and I think we have a new tradition. As Uncle Bill puts it, Jesus Christ is the "Lamb of God," not the Ham of God. Cora surprised me with her interest in the meat - she kept asking for more, though she was calling it chicken.

After dinner, the girls played with bubbles. We had a very enjoyable Easter, considering the fact that Stace and I were both battling a stomach bug. Violet had it in the week, the night following our Great Egg Hunt, and I came down with it Thursday. Stace's turn was Saturday into Sunday, so I was very happy he was up for Easter dinner.

Home improvements

Stace has been perfecting his cheese-and-onion soda bread. He made a pair of loaves last weekend, and another pair Thursday night when JT, Jim and Callie came up for dinner. Yum!

 After a month of searching, we've replaced our living room furniture. Here is our new sectional/chaise, which fits our back wall perfectly and provides seating for five or six. It was really inexpensive, but with two little ones and two cats, we're not in the "pricey couch" time of life.

We had enough money leftover from our tax refund to get all the pretty pillows...

...and this comfy leather reading chair, which reclines and rocks.
Stace and I are so pleased with our living room now! For the first time since we moved in, it really feels like "ours," with furniture we've lovingly chosen.







In recent weeks, Stace also has improved our home's exterior. He installed motion-sensor lighting on either side of the garage door, and in the porch.









He also replaced the ugly weedy gravel next to the driveway with prettier rocks, over a weed-blocking fabric sheet.










I had hoped we could put in bark, to match the bark elsewhere in the front yard, but then it rained in the middle of the project. Whoa! Talk about a swiftly formed pond! We learned why rocks were the choice however many years ago.

Seattle Post 1: Flying Well, Eating Better

Our plane trip from Burbank to Seattle on Wednesday went very well. The girls stayed occupied with coloring, books and snacks.

On Thursday, Uncle Bill had to work and Aunt Patty offered to stay home with the girls so Stace and I could have a date day. We had a fabulous lunch at the Yacht Club Broiler - if you're ever in Silverdale, Wash., we highly recommend it. We enjoyed delicious clam chowder, crab cakes and a seafood salad with lobster, fresh crab and giant prawns. Oh my. Then, we went shopping to get ideas for redoing our bedroom and maybe buying a new couch or sectional.

On Friday, Cora had her wintertime beach experience, collecting clams and oysters that we had for dinner tonight (Saturday).

 It may have been cold and wet, but when you're five, it's no bother to go harvesting your food.

On Friday we celebrated Cora's birthday (again! Lucky girl!) with Aunt Patty's amazing strawberry shortcake. This was after two types of homemade soup and this cheese-and-onion soda bread that Stace loved so much, he was considering leaving me for it.

Today, we went to Stokes Auction, a monthly event with all sorts of interesting things to peruse and bid on. Uncle Bill and my mom grew up going to auctions with their dad, so this was a blast from the past for them.

This time around, there weren't any cars for Uncle Bill to buy to flip, but we did go home with goodies. See the crockery I'm holding? I thought it would look great in the display cabinet in our kitchen, and I set my limit at $20. We got it for $7.50! Later, we saw similar pieces for sale online for a lot more, so that made me happy. Maybe I've found a line I can try to collect? (If you look at the link, the pitcher looks the same as the one we bought, but the plate we have is more round, not scalloped. We also got a matching spoon holder.)

Here was tonight's feast - salmon caught locally by a friend of Bill and Patty's; clams and oysters from the local beach; homemade gnocchi, bread and pesto; and pasta. It's hard to say goodbye to Patty without having gained five pounds!

Growing up, part 2

We took our girls out the other night to Chronic Taco, a Mexican quick service restaurant. Normal, right?

Well, yeah, but it was one of those nights that showed in little ways how they are getting bigger.

For one thing, Cora was eating chips with guacamole and salsa. She loved it!

And Violet was really happy to eat about a third of Cora's quesadilla. It was a breakthrough to have something new to feed Violet for lunches and dinners.

Several times since then, I've made Cora a tortilla-n-cheese, and cut off some for Violet. She always finishes it.

Violet also ate a lot of pasta the other night, which made me happy. Before, she would just spit out pasta. But the other night she couldn't get enough. So I now have more options for Violet's meals.

First project finished

We proudly present, drumroll please, Stacey's Garage!
Stace built all the cabinets (out of boxes) and installed the countertop. All of his tools are now neatly stowed, ready for our DIY projects.
We also put up a shelf in the kitchen, on a large bare wall. It actually frees up quite a bit of space in the cabinets and on the counter.
Another little project (which didn't photograph as clearly) I completed this week was scrubbing down the interior doors with those Magic Eraser cleaning pads. They really made a difference, though I seemed to use up one per door. The doors had all been really embarassingly dirty with crayon and pencil marks and other assorted smudges. Now they look clean, at least at first glance.
And, since we're getting more settled and I can now think about cooking, I made blueberry crumb muffins the other day, which Cora loves.
I also made a salmon stir fry, following a recipe from this great cookbook Stace's parents gave me for Christmas. It's by Brit wiz chef Jamie Oliver, and it's called Ministry of Food. It's full of simple (but brilliant) recipes to get people back to making food, mostly from scratch, in their own kitchens, instead of resorting to takeout and fast food. I highly recommend it!

Not my idea of lunch

Cora has been very good at feeding herself for a number of months now. I give her the food and the fork or spoon, and she takes care of business. Often these days, I don't even need to wipe down her face and hands when she is finished.
I say all this to preface today's story and photo.
For dinner on Sunday, we had pasta with broccoli and salmon, with alfredo sauce. Cora enjoyed hers (though she didn't eat much of the fish), and there was just enough left for a lunch portion. I heated it for her on Monday, and gave her a smoothie to drink, with the lid off the cup because the seeds kept getting stuck in the spout.
I sat down near her to eat my sandwich, expecting to finish Cora's leftovers when she was full.
A short while later, I glanced up to see that Cora decided to test out a new recipe she created. She had dumped the berry smoothie into the lunch. Yum!
Needless to say, the leftovers went down the garbage disposal. What a waste of good salmon!
(If the photo at right is making you queasy, scroll down for adorable pics of Cora in the snow.)