if you can't find caleb these days...

...chances are you'll find him here with a good book (or 10).

trans am

There's a thift store located near our doctor's office that we like to hit up when we're out thataway. It's in an old house, run by elderly women, and a quick rummage through can turn up some interesting items...like this old model trans am for a whole whoppin' 25 cents. We picked it up for Caleb.

Daddy spent a few minutes putting it together. It was so old it was actually made in the good ol' USofA!

And Caleb enjoyed it.

brother & sister

caleb's day was made...

...when the firemen paid us a special visit recently for our fire inspection, a required part of our adoption home study. The truck drove up, and out piled 5 firemen. Caleb had been waiting all day for their visit.



While they inspected the house, he ran around like a goof ball showing them his swords and other random things. Then the fire chief said he would let us see the truck. So Maddie and Caleb got a personalized tour of the fire truck and its equipment, and they even got to sit in the front seat.



Firemen are just wonderful people, aren't they?

maddie's rocking chair

A couple of years ago I found this pale pink rocking chair at an antique store and bought it for Madeleine...only it was plain pale pink then. She loves it and has had it in her room since then.
About a year later, I was noticing all the cute spindles and had the idea to paint the rocking chair with a McKenzie-Childs flair to it, but just keep it a bit less busy. Of course it took me a good year until I actually followed through with my idea. And what pushed me to finally make the time to paint this chair for Maddie was the fact that I picked up a $5 rocking chair for Caleb at a thrift store that needs to be redone! Now one rocking chair that needs to be painted is plenty--I don't need TWO hanging over my head! So I took an afternoon and went to town painting. To keep my sanity, I didn't worry about the edges being clean or I knew I would drive myself crazy and it would take me weeks to finish. I just painted and kept on going despite the rough edges. (And of course Maddie hasn't noticed.) She loves her newly painted rocking chair! It was fun to do a painting project (so few and far between these days!) and it was fun to bless my Maddie with a girly rocking chair makeover.

(Just relaxin'.)

'dino' by caleb

this is what happens...

...when you lose not one but TWO pairs of sunglasses over the summer. You are stuck with nothing or your sister's old pair.

twenty

Mommy, this is ten... ...and this is anudder way of ten. Very cute, Caleb! I don't think I've ever seen ten done quite that way before. :)

garden update

This year is the first year I'd say my garden has done well...even though come the end of July I was too busy to follow through with all my plans to keep planting. I've kept a tally of my little harvest and I've already brought in well over $200 worth of produce! Amazing. I've only got a tiny plot and some pots on the patio, and well, I've ruined quite a bit as usual. And I've still got my fall crops to come: escarole, fennel, lettuce, spinach, squash, green onions, beets.

I had a few monsters take over my garden. That enormous cherry tomato plant on the right, the squash bushes, the mighty marigolds (I must have picked the biggest variety ever--they're like bushes!) These monsters stifled out the roma, jalapeno, a few herbs, swiss chard, beans, beets and the miniature canteloupe. You win some and you lose some, right? I had a few troubles...beans, for one. Something kept eating my beans and I wasn't faithful to spray my castile soap-mixture, so I just gave up and stopped re-planting them this year. We only got about 3 or so pounds of beans early in the season. I did miss them though, so next year we'll give it another go! Beets: the first spring crop did great, but I forgot to water the 2nd crop one day early on and the tiny seedlings shriveled...and again the third crop! Yikes! I've got a fourth try going right now, so far so good.

I had some pleasant surprises...lemongrass! I had a hard time starting it from seed, and after a few tries I had this sorry looking blade of grass, which I transplanted into my garden early in the summer. I was sure it would die. It grew scantily during June, and then July hit and it burst into this gorgeous plant you see below! It's pushing near 3 feet high...Anyone want some lemongrass? Stop by and bring your scissors!Fennel was another pleasant surprise. I kept reading how hard it was to grow in the spring, but I tried any way. It grew just fine this spring, and lo and behold a few stray seeds ended up sprouting along the way and grew throughout the summer. I've picked a fennel bulb every few weeks all summer long.

Didn't do so well: peppers, carrots (poor flavor so I stopped planting them), mini canteloupes (only now are there finally a few melons!), cucumbers, striped roma tomatoes (kept getting blossom end rot), beans (my fault for not spraying faithfully!), spring spinach (bolted early despite the cool weather), lavender.

The fabulous few: lettuce, green onions, escarole, fennel, mini squashes, cherry tomatoes, lemon grass, sage, basil, dill.

Next year I'm definitely re-planting almost everything I tried this year. I prefer to plant a variety of items, so when something does poorly, all is not lost!

qotd

"He's pretending to be a roasted pig!"

the ancient world | cave painting

Step 1 : Crumple up your cut piece of brown paper bag.

Step 2: Smooth out your crumpled piece of 'cave wall'.

Step 3: Paint away.

tod

Every morning this week Caleb has woken up and crawled into my room as Tod, from Fox & the Hound. And every morning, as usual, I have sent my early riser back to his room to play until I am ready for the day. And when I have called him to come downstairs with me for breakfast, out Tod has crawled down the hall and down the stairs. And, by the way, Tod likes to crawl down the stairs first.

a birthday party | no, not for braden this time!

Braden and I got to attend a birthday dinner for a sweet lady Thea, one of the small group leaders Braden serves. It was quite the gathering--she has lots of friends, many of whom she's known for years.

We brought Thea some lovely lilies and roses.
The restaurant had YUMMY food! I had an eggplant concoction that was kind of like eggplant parmesan but without the cheese and noodles, and Braden had a lamb shank w/ veggies. (I told Braden we need to hit that joint up again!) And to top it off, that kind gentleman there on the left (Andy) and the party organizer (Geri) surprised us by paying for our dinner as a gift to Braden for his birthday. So kind of them!
(Oh dear, so does that mean this was technically a bit of a FOURTH birthday party for Braden??!)

playdate

Maddie got to spend an afternoon at her friend Lauren's house. Each time these two girls have gotten together, they are a dream--just two happy girls playing playing playing.

(I'm afraid that Maddie's not used to being 'the tall one.')

b's bday | three

Even though we'd had two parties for Bray, of course we still had to do SOMETHING for him on his actual birthday. And the way to my man's heart is most definitely through his tummy. So it was: filet mignon + delmonico + oaxaca corn + zucchini fritters + grilled peaches with chevre.

Here are the kids "surprising him" after they wouldn't let him in the dining room upon his arrival home from work.

Daddy's birthday banner.
And Maddie pulled out her crown for him to wear again.
There was no new cake this night. We didn't need any since we devoured the tiramisu cake leftovers! (And don't you think THREE cakes would have been a bit much?!)

new favorite summer recipe

This recipe couldn't be easier, and it is so good!

Cut fresh peaches in half and remove the pits.

Mix 2 parts balsamic vinegar to 3 parts honey.

(For 2 peaches, I found that an ample amount was roughly 2 t. balsamic vinegar + 1 T honey.)

Place peach halves sliced side down on the grill for 2-3 minutes until some nice grill marks appear.

Flip peaches over and drizzle the balsamic-honey mixture over them.

Leave on the grill for another 2-3 minutes.

Remove from the grill and immediately sprinkle on some chevre.

Oh, I can not tell you how yummy these were!

(I first read about this idea here, but tweaked it as I usually do.)

(side note)

This morning Caleb said to me, "Mommy, can I go downstayuhs for bweakfast now? It's taking a long long time." It took me a moment to realize what I heard. Not "wong wong time;" he actually said, "long long time." Good job, my boy!

b's bday | two

Oh goodness! As I was prepping my pictures for this post, I had to laugh at myself and what I wrote in the last post, "Where did these goofy kids come from?" Well, let's just say this post answers that question!

But first, oh the food! Braden and I love good food, so part of a good party is some really good food, and Braden's mom always makes seafood for us. This time: two kinds of shrimp + soy-glazed salmon + simple buttery mahi mahi + salsa covered halibut. Delicious! Even Maddie who declared she would not like the mahi mahi, ate it and asked for more.

As I mentioned in the last post, Maddie had just received her camera, so she was all ready to take some pictures of her daddy's birthday. Braden obliged by smiling...

...and posing...
...and exaggerating...

...and acting like the kids!

Question answered! :)

And that mountainous cake? It was a three-layer tiramisu cake, with marscapone and all. Very yummy!

Once again, we enjoyed celebrating Braden's birthday. What can I say? He really is a great guy!