tuesday. ivy & bean.

annie Barrows, author of the ivy & bean series also collaborated with her aunt, the late Mary Ann Shaffer, on the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society. read my review of this from last year, here!

what's better than an author that writes (or co-writes) an awesome book that leaves you wanting to read ten more just like it? a radical kids book series for your daughter with nine books in the series and counting!


now, to get to the point. what makes a best friend? sometimes opposites can become the best of friends because they’re opposites. for ivy and bean, their differences mean that they have more fun together than they could ever have separately.


the humor, illustrations, and writing of this series very much remind me of charlie & lola—and who doesn't love charlie & lola? this duo is made up of curiosity, humor, tons of first and second-grader ideas, and good ideas that tend to end in a sticky "situation."


there's nothing like hearing your 6 or 7-year old laughing from the other room while she reads to herself—these books ensure lots of this.

p.s. the reading level on these is perfect for first and second graders! and if you want to read aloud, kindergartners love it, too!

tuesday. no way!

can you guess the answer to the big question? girl or boy?

good thing i already know the answer and you don't have to wait to find out!

woo-hoo!

friday. greek yogurt.

my doctor mentioned at my last appointment, that i need to be making sure i'm getting enough protein. i like meat and all, but unless it's fish, i generally have 4-5 bites every other day or so and i'm good. just enough to taste. which is not, apparently, enough for a daily diet. so, he mentioned greek yogurt is really high in protein and has a lot of other benefits, too. but, i'm not one to eat something that doesn't taste good.

who likes pudding?!

now, how about yogurt that seriously tastes and has the texture of pudding, but also has all these other awesome things, too?!

• thicker and creamier texture (like, by A LOT).

• lower in carbohydrates.

• higher in protein (often by DOUBLE what normal yogurt has per cup ... to put into perspective, some can have up to 20 grams in a cup!).

• lower in sodium (up to 50% less depending on the brand).

... i finally tried it this morning with breakfast.

... and will never eat regular yogurt again. ever.

friday. rhubarb.

it's now the middle of april, and what do i have to show for it? rhubarb. that's about it right now, but the raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries are slowly coming back to life as we speak. and the garden will be planted ... soon? we'll see how the next few weeks go. the weather's not cooperating, but i'm getting ancy.

my rhubarb, however, is loving life, the sandy soil, and the endless rain we've been having! while everything else is still trying to hibernate and reluctantly ward off spring, my rhubarb is charging ahead, and by next weekend I should have enough for mini-pies! (mini-pies are way cuter than normal-size pies, and they make me feel better about eating a whole one.)

p.s. these pictures are not mine ... i wish they were, but sadly, they are not. maybe after this week, i'll have my own! click to see where they came from.

and, just this morning a new rhubarb recipe magically landed in my email (thank you, karlene!):

rhubarb custard pie.

ingredients.

use deep pie plate - 9" pie

3 eggs

3 tbsp. milk

2 C sugar

1/4 C flour

3/4 tsp. nutmeg

4 C cut up pink rhubarb

1 tbsp. butter

how to.

1. pre-heat oven to 400.
2. beat eggs slightly; add milk.
   
3. mix sugar, flour, and nutmeg; stir into mixture.
   
4. mix in rhubarb.
   
5. pour in pastry-lined pie pan. Dot with butter.
   
6. cover with lattice top and bake at 400 for 50-60 minutes, until nicely browned.

tuesday. seven.

every year it gets harder to realize you're growing up right in front of me. i'm so proud of who you are, and i love that i get to be here to watch you grow into the person you want to become.

seven years ago today ...

• i stared at the ultrasound screen at the hospital and realized i was terrified i'd never get to meet you.

• i prayed for the first time—to whomever might be listening—just to make you ok.

• i had never been so scared in my life.

• i met the tiniest baby i'd ever seen—and you were perfect.

• when the doctors let me see you, you pursed your tiny little lips and gave your mommy her first baby kiss.

• i cried. a lot. about everything new thing you did. and seven years later, it hasn't stopped.

• you turned your dad into a big baby.

• my lack of motivation disappeared, and all of the sudden i wanted to do everything, just to show you that you could, too.


things i've learned since then ...

• the day you were born is still the most terrified i've ever been.

• my favorite job in the world is getting to watch you learn and grow, and find things out for yourself.

• i apparently, am never going to stop crying over every little thing you do. get used to it.

• you are the best big sister a kid could ever have.

• you are sensitive, and caring, and always think the best of people.

• you clean better than i do.

• at 7, you have better fashion sense than your entire family put together.

• you are a perfect piece to our family puzzle, and we'd all be lost without you.

monday. adorable-ness overload.

after rearranging basically our entire house this weekend to accommodate this new baby on the way, i realized something quite peculiar. something i've never faced before ... and i'm not quite sure how to handle it.

we have a nursery. ready-to-go. as in ... room finished, furniture in the room and already put together, just waiting for the 'boy' or 'girl' announcement to get a crib bedding set. with taylor, her room wasn't even anywhere near being done until she was about 3 months old. brennan's was ready somewhere between 2-3 weeks before he was born. we generally don't have the time or the money to do anything in advance—and it truly makes me crazy.

and today, i found myself sitting in front of my computer with the wonderful epiphany ... i'm almost 14 weeks along, we find out baby's gender on the 25th (if baby truly loves me and lets us find out by showing off his/her parts), taylor is in her brand new room, brennan is moved up to the big-kid bed and in his new room, and i have a fully functional, ready-for-decor nursery. i could cry just thinking about it!

instead, i found some of the cutest crib bedding i've ever seen. my sewing machine will be working diligently VERY soon.

friday. listen to the wind.

recently, greg mortenson visited gonzaga university here in town to talk about his travels, writings, and life's work. i wasn't able to attend (as it was sold out almost immediately), but it made me think about his books again!

about a year ago, i read three cups of tea, by greg mortenson. this book deserves a post all to its own. needless to say, it made me question how i live my life, the perspective i have on the world, and whether i benefit society in a way that actually means anything. profound? absolutely. but so relevant to a situation we hear about daily on the news and go about our daily lives. if you haven't read it, go buy it. even if you aren't interested, you will be by the second chapter.

but, i digress. shortly after reading three cups of tea, i spent weeks looking for something similar (check out his second book, stones into schools) and ran across a kid's variation of the story. i went and checked it out at the library to read to my 6-year old. the story is wonderfully re-told in a way to help kids understand so much more about the world outside their own—while relating to a subject so incredibly relevant to our children today. it's a beautiful mosaic-collage picture book, with references and information in the back with pictures of the schools mortenson has built, and the trials he's gone through to get there.

just a quick summary for those that haven't heard anything about it:

greg mortenson stumbled, lost and delirious, into a remote himalayan village, korphe, after a failed climb up K2. the villagers saved his life, and he vowed to return and build them a school. the remarkable story of his promise kept is told in the voice of korphe's children. this story illuminates the humanity and culture of a relevant and distant part of the world in gorgeous collage, while sharing a riveting example of how one person can change thousands of lives.

an example, here is a list of schools mortenson and his foundation have built. truly amazing.

thursday. grapefruit.

pregnant or not, grapefruit happens to be one of my absolute favorite fruits in the whole wide world. and i truly think it could be one of your favorites, too—if you knew how to eat one!

i spent years saying, 'no way' to the mistakenly named 'bitter' fruit. the truth is, the fruit itself is anything but. it's sweet, tart, juicy, and wonderful. it's the rind and the 'membranes' separating each segment that give it that icky flavor. so here's the solution ... don't eat that part!

1. yes, i do, in fact realize i'm dedicating an entire post to how to eat a grapefruit. it's ok, you'll thank me when you try it.
2. watch the video ... it will weird you out, make you think the guy's a total creeper, make you laugh (if you're anything like me), and teach you how to properly eat a grapefruit—for reals.
3. you will probably have the urge to go buy one immediately and try it out. i'm grabbing my keys as i type.
4. if you think this entire post is ridiculous, it's ok. you can still go watch the video and have grapefruit slicing knowledge under your belt for the next time someone asks.
   
5. enjoy .. and humor me. Click here!
   

wednesday. crazy.

for those who don't yet know ... early october 2011 we'll add another crazy kiddo to our family, making the third and final installment of our family. we are beyond excited and can't wait! we've been waiting a long time for this little bug to come along!

p.s bear with me as i create a new layout for the blog ... it's not cooperating as it should.

tuesday. crema di arancello.

what happens when you're pregnant and one teeny little drink of something alcohol-related sounds just lovely? if you're me, you spend sunday afternoon mixing up a batch of this yummy drink, crema di arancello. basically, it's an orange creamsicle flavored alcohol that you keep in the freezer. the best part? it sits for several months to give it even more fruity flavor. which means, no one gets to drink it until i do!

ingredients.

10 blood oranges

2 vanilla beans

3 bottles (750 ml) 100-proof vodka or everclear (i had 105 proof everclear my boss made, hence the recycled whiskey bottle)

4 cups sugar

5 cups water

step one.
wash the oranges with a vegetable brush and hot water to remove any icky stuff; pat the lemons dry. in a large glass jar (1-gallon jar), add your alcohol. scrape two vanilla beans into the alcohol. it looks like dirt. it's not. it smells way better than dirt.

step two.

carefully zest the oranges with a zester or vegetable peeler so there's none of the white stuff on the peel. add the orange zest to the vodka as it is zested. make sure to use only the outer part of the rind. the pith, the white part underneath the rind, is too bitter and will make your cello not nearly as sweet, and really bitter.

step three.

cover the jar and let sit at room temperature for at least 10 days and up to 40 days in a cool dark place (the cupboard works great!). the longer it rests, the better the taste will be. shake or stir a little every few days if you like. as the arancello sits, the alcohol will slowly take on the flavor and rich orange color of the orange zest. when the color is no longer deepening and the rinds look whitish, it is definitely done.

step four (i haven't reached this part yet ... that's why the pictures stop here).

in a large saucepan, combine the sugar and water; cook until dissolved, or until thickened if you want a thicker, sweeter drink, approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

Let the syrup cool, then add it to the arancello mixture from above. add an additional bottle of alcohol. allow to rest for another 10 to 40 days.

step five.

after the rest period, strain the liquid through a cheese cloth or coffee filter and bottle: discard the orange zest. keep in the freezer until ready to serve.

the best part of having 10 zested blood oranges? fresh-squeezed OJ!

tuesday. funny.

whoever wrote this could become my friend very quickly ... not all pc, but funny and true nonetheless.

1. nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

2. map quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

3. obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

4. bad decisions make good stories.

5. "do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this—ever.

6. i hate when i just miss a call by the last ring (hello? hello? damn it!), but when i immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. what did you do after i didn't answer? drop the phone and run away?

7. i hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. what a waste.

8. i keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

9. i think the freezer deserves a light as well.

10. i disagree with kay jewelers. i would bet on any given friday or saturday night, more kisses begin with miller lite than kay.

11. sometimes, i'll watch a movie that i watched when i was younger and suddenly realize i had no idea what the heck was going on when i first saw it.

12. i would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

13. i have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

happy friday!