Enjoy

Michael just got back from Solvang after accomplishing his first double century of the year. Cool accomplishment but crazy too. He said he had 140 miles of wind to deal with. I love this picture he took on his drive. We don't have wildflower blooms like that up here yet. The plan was for Maggie and I to go down with him and then go seperate ways for a few days, as I was going to visit my old college friend Amber who lives in the area. It didn't work out in the end but he did bring me home some special treats. Amber started a cupcake business and recently opened a storefront in Solvang. Cupcakes are "the thing" these days and it looks like she has a niche down there. It was fun to try a few of her creations. Whenever I visit her blog (Enjoy Cupcakes), I'm always lusting after the new flavors she and her hubby come up with. My favorite was caramel cookie dough (a vanilla-type cake with some cookie dough in the center-the one in the middle) and the runner up was tangerine mint mimosa. After visiting her weekly menu, one cake I would love to try is vanilla honey lavender.
Michael got home from his busy weekend in good spirits and finished it off with some daddy time at the park while mommy took a wonderful afternoon nap :-)

Spring

On the first day of spring, we didn't have a tea party for Maggie as planned. There was so much celebrating around her actual day that instead, we had cousin Eden, auntie, and uncle over for some burgers and relaxation.

With spring, we have a little garden planted and it is just starting to take off. Until it gets really hot (probably in June), we will be growing lettuce and arugula, kale, chard, spinach, beets, red cabbage, asparagus, cilantro, peas, and Italian parsley. I harvested some early shoots of asparagus this week. Michael also built me a potting bench near the garden and used walnut-colored stain on the wood. It turned out really nice. I'll post a picture soon.

Often at work people bring in yummy treats. This past week was a ton of homegrown Italian flat-leaf parsley. I grabbed it, then stared at it for a few days until I found the right recipe: chimichurri. The picture on this link does it more justice than I ever could. I used my food processer and then spooned it into an ice cube tray. A little messy but really yummy. I always guess with measurements when following recipes and I went heavy on the garlic, light on the extra virgin olive oil. I think it will be good mixed with pasta and meat. I'm going to try and convert Michael (not a parsley lover yet). Maggie had some on her pasta last night and she ate it up. I also brought home local cheese from work yesterday-two cream cheeses, one with garlic and herbs, and chevre. Yum!

Bleary eyed

I was contacted a couple weeks ago by Good Day Sacramento/Channel 31 to see if myself and other knitter/crocheters wanted to be filmed to support National Crochet Month. We ended up filming at Babetta's, a favorite knitting shop in town. I was suprised at how many women showed up at 6 am! Maggie was with me in the ergo, still a little sleepy, but we both made it on TV!

See the clip here.

1 year

Dear Maggie,

Happy bithday little one. We just celebrated your day with lots of love, a few presents, play time outside, and ice cream cake. Yum!

Let's see...

You are walking. It started about 2 weeks ago with a few steps and has progressed rapidly. It has been so fun watching you learn to walk. Kind of magical actually.

I can see you transitioning from baby to toddler. Bittersweet. You are babbling, posing questions, pointing to everything, and we talk back to you like we understand what you are saying.

"Oh really? Wow, I can't believe that."

You mimic everything we do. You like to brush your teeth and hair like momma. You put the phone up to your ear and oops...you point the remote at the TV. Your dad taught you that. You are really strong and have learned to climb up onto things and get down by yourself. You are a little too confident getting off our bed. You love sitting in your baby chairs.

You also love your baths and I have to watch you carefully because you try to climb into the tub before it's ready. This is the year for starting baby swim lessons. I'm hoping that you learn the survival float so that I will know we are prepared around water as you grow.

Now that you are walking, outside is where you want to be. It's a whole new world. You love watching the birds, squirrels, cat, and you like to pick up everything. You are quickly becoming our little helper in the garden.

You will have a party soon with family and cousin Eden. Afternoon tea with more cake and more fun!

We love you,

Momma

Not happy

After digging through my drenched backpack that I used to work in the field yesterday (sideways wind/rain and COLD!) I found more wet stuff to hang out to dry and my sad little pink camera at the bottom of the backpack. It was in it's knit case totally wet and now it won't turn on. So sad.

We have it in the sun hoping for better days...

Oh jeez

This post was going to be about haircuts (or "getting your hairs cut" as some say), but it never materialized. This is all about the Magster, Miss I'm Into Everything.

This morning we woke to our rambunctous little lady with a piece of poo in her mouth, discovered by daddy. Where did she get it from? We're not sure. I wasn't that grossed out but he was. I'd already come to terms with the news of my niece finding the cat litter box around this age. I guess it was only a matter of time. A good way to start the morning though.

Maggie did get a little haircut after Hawaii. Shorter in the front and over the ears. She's got lots of curls near her neck but it's straight on top. She is taking more steps. 3 is the max I've seen this week. She wants to climb into everything.

She has 6 teeth. 4 on top, 2 on bottom. Her two teeth on top are spread far apart. When she smiles or laughs, she looks like such a little kid now, not so much a baby. Michael says her uppers look like chicklets.

Her birthday is in less than 2 weeks!