Fall Break: Day 1

Lunch with Dad!

Black Sheep Cafe

Best lunch? Black Sheep Cafe in Provo with Brooke and Amber!

Miss Lu ordered a particularly memorable hot chocolate while the rest of us shared shockingly pink prickly pear lemonade.

Texas Roadtrip, Day Four

Braum's ice cream for dinner. The kids thought it was wonderful. Although we all worried a but when Nick wanted pickles too ...

Cute cooks

Miss Lu is always up for cooking. Especially if it involves some kind of dessert. It's a great playdate activity because they're involved for a while, then they play while things bake and cool, and then they come back again to decorate (these particular cupcakes ended up elegantly frosted in purple and yellow). 

It also helps that she has a wide array of fashionable aprons to choose from :)

Take 12 Challenge: February

This month I decided to take my twelve pictures on Valentine's Day to capture the holiday (and the craziness!) throughout the whole day. Nick and I celebrated early this year—based on how the day went, that was a good choice this time around!

Fairy bites

Lately, Miss Lu has been pretty insistent that she obtain some form of dessert after every meal. I don't know where she gets that ... anyway, the latest hit? "Fairy bites," aka pieces of a hershey bar topped with whip cream and sprinkles. Everything in Lucy's world is better with sprinkles.

She's also not opposed to the sugar cookies our secret Valentine's family brought over the other day ...

Season's end

Lucy's soccer team had their "big game" day for their last day of practice. I'm really proud of her—she's learned to run after the ball (as opposed to just running around), how to protect it by blocking out, how to dribble, and even scored a few goals here and there! She had great coaches, so to say thank you I made these cute soccer cookies to hand out to all the kids and coaches during the awards ceremony. When Lucy saw me frosting them in the kitchen she said "Oh thank you Mommy—I feel loved and special that you're making these cookies for my soccer team!" Too cute :)

 

 

(If for any reason you need little "Go Team!" flags for an upcoming event, here's a JPG of the ones I made.)

Lunch bunch

This fantastic banana is going in Lucy's lunch tomorrow. Yes, I'm really an amazing mother :)

 

 

(It's double sided! Sweet!)

Chow's on!

Miss Lu made dinner this week. She chose the menu (mac and cheese, salad, and chocolate cake for dessert). I helped with things like turning on the stove, but she measured, poured, and stirred until everything was ready. She was so proud of herself!

 

I told her I would put a picture on our blog, and she said "So everyone in the world can see it? And say 'Wow, a six-year-old cooked dinner?'!" Well, it is a pretty big deal :) 

Thai tacos

We had Thai tacos last night for dinner. Well, I'm not sure that's really their name (I kind of made them up), but the fresh thinly sliced veggies balanced by the sweet-salty chicken and piquant fresh ginger, alongside the garlicky peanut sauce reminded me of the yummy Thai meals we ate with our friends the Smiths back in Sandy. Which reminds me: we need to make Thai soup again (Melody taught me how).

Everything looked so pretty laid out on the table that I had to take a picture. A successful experimental dinner night—hooray!

We've been busy ...

... canning peaches!

Lucy has decided that she loves canning. She's a great helper. She wants to help with every step of the canning process ...

It took a few days, but we eventually ended up with 20 beautiful (and sealed!) quarts of peaches to add to our cupboards. Now, onto the garden salsa and pickles!

Mr. Nick turns 31

We weren't around last year when Mr. Nick turned 30, which was a pretty big deal as far as birthdays go, and it was a shame not to celebrate it properly. So we decided to make up for it this year with a big barbeque party to celebrate number 31. The way I see it, he's firmly entrenched in his thirties now—there's no going back ...

Our friends Katharine and Ben came and brought their camera—I love the shots that Katharine took (except she's not in them!). Thank you Katharine!

Mr. Nick, grillmaster (the grill was his birthday present)

Our semi-American Gothic

Some serious grilling went on

Good friends 

The kids' "table"

It's actually rare to see so many of them sitting down at once; they mostly ran, non-stop, up and down the stairs and pathways in the backyard, for the entire party

We affectionately dubbed this one the "Napoleon Dynamite" cake

The chocolate almond cake (recipe from the Cake Doctor) was a big hit

Lucy supervised the main event

He earned her approval

Food for thought

I've been following Jamie Oliver's career more closely for the past five years or so. Something about a chef with a passion for social change is appealing to me. I thought his TED presentation was pretty powerful. What I eat (and more often, how much) is something I'm always struggling with, but I thought Oliver's point regarding the loss of a home food culture was particularly important. It's strengthened my resolve to involve Lucy in cooking our meals, and made me proud of the various ways Nick finds to grow a portion of our food. 

Dinner tonight

Menu: homemade hawaiian pizza with salad and steamed broccoli

Conversation: The Usual ... with a bit of Lu thrown in for fun
1. "Okey Dokey" was said 5 times
2. "Oh, I love to eat little trees" was said twice (little trees = broccoli)
3. (referring to the salad) "Hey, the red leaves come from red trees and the green leaves come from green trees, right? Because people like to eat trees."
4. "I'm the cookie getter! Here Mom, I'll bring you one!" (selects cookie and heads back to the table) "Oh, here, I'll break it in half so you can share!"

Hatful invention

Miss Lu, running around with the rice basket on her head while Mr. Nick and I tried to cook dinner (ok, it was all Mr. Nick that night with regards to the cooking—sticky rice, peanut sauce, and spicy chicken strips. Mmmm....)

Her silliness knows no bounds.

Diner Dinner

This is the handsome Mr. Nick and I (yes, I know I'm lucky!):

This week he took our little family out to dinner at a '50s diner to celebrate some good stuff.

We ate yummy food, watched America's Funniest Home Videos on the big screen, and laughed at Lucy's antics. I don't write about him a lot, but that doesn't mean I don't like him.

In fact, I love him.

And I'm proud of him.

Dinner conversations

I love the things that come out of Lucy's mouth. Dinner has been especially fruitful lately.

[Monday's dinner: homemade orange chicken, white rice, potstickers, fresh veggie sticks, and broccoli garlic stirfry]
Lucy: [munching away] Mom, I love it when we eat American food!
Nick: What's American food?
Lucy: You know, rice and chicken and this stuff.

[Tuesday's dinner: Papa Murphy's Hawaiian pizza and salad]
Lucy: [Praying] ... Please bless the food ... and, um, errr, hmm ... [long pause] thank you for cousins, and bless the food, and please bless Daddy so he can go to work good, and bless ... the food ...

[later that meal]

Nick: Hey Lucy, how was preschool today?
Lucy: Good.
Nick: How was dance?
Lucy: Good.
[pause]
Lucy: So, Dad, how was your work?
Dad: Good.
Jenny: [Thinks: Well, that's better than no conversation ...]


(As much as I love Papa Murphys, I wish I'd made some of our homemade pizza ...)