weekend trip

Today the baby and I are hopping on a plane. We're flying to Utah to attend my cousin's wedding tomorrow! I flew numerous times with Little S but this is Baby J's first time in the air...I'm looking forward to a funfilled weekend with extended family and introducing Baby J to her great-grandparents.

This was our conversation this morning:

Little S: What are we doing today? (she asks me this almost every morning - I guess she like to have the day's events organized in her head :)

Me: You're taking Baby J and me to the airport.

Little S: Well, I don't know how to drive. What about Daddy?

I made this turkey burger last weekend and loved it - try it if you're in the mood this weekend. I served it with sweet potato fries. The burger is so good you don't need anything on it besides the pear chutney. I found the Major Grey's chutney and chipotle Tobasco in the condiment/dressing isle by the bbq sauces.

Easter wrap-up

After a total of 5 egg hunts I think Little S got the easter routine down pat. In fact, I've been trying to put our house on candy de-tox ever since!

Easter celebrations started early for us because we blessed Baby J 2 weeks before Easter and had an egg hunt for all the kids after lunch. It was something for Little S to look forward on a day that was all about Baby J. During the drive home from church before hunt Little S asked me if Peter Cottontail was going to be at her egg hunt. So cute. (She is obsessed with the 3 easter books my dad sent her - especially loving the Peter Cottontail song book.)  

One of the highlights of the hunt at our house was when my friend Cass and her kids showed up with REAL eggs! Her 7 year-old son snuck into his grandpa's coops where he raises quail and other winged animals and put all the eggs in his basket to bring to the egg hunt! Of course, the kids cracked or dropped them one by one as the afternoon progressed.  Anyway, that was Little S's first hunt of the season and then there was one at school, another that she and D stumbled upon downtown on Easter Saturday, one at our friends' house and one with the cousins on Easter Sunday. Whew, what an Easter!

Easter Saturday we spent at our friends' (also D's business partner) house for their family lunch and hunt. Their redhead son and Little S go to school together and Little S says he is her best friend - they are so cute together.


Easter Sunday we headed to Long Beach for the cousins celebration and dinner. We took cupcakes and the easter bunny cake below to the party.



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Cousin's first bday

A few weekends ago we went with Little S to her cousin's first birthday - robot themed as you can see from the cake below. When Little S realized the theme, she roamed the house chanting, "I am ingle-bot...I am ingle-bot," - it's a line from a Max and Ruby episode she's obviously seen too many times.

The party was at the home of my sister-in-law's sister in Malibu. The kids loved playing dress-up and swimming together in the hot tub while enjoying the gorgeous view of the ocean. The birthday boy had a great time demolishing his cake and the girls loved decorating spring shaped cookies and eating sprinkles.




Partying so hard wore her out!

a prolific hooker

That's what they called her because she was still hooking at age 99!! Rug hooking, that is.

"She was the most prolific hooker you ever met," one of the local hookers told me as she described Peggy - the 102 year-old hooking legend who passed away last year and whose work I bought at the local rug hooking association's annual auction over the weekend.

They refer to themselves as hookers - and they aren't joking when they say it! You just have to get used to the lingo.

My friend Chanel recently became a member of the group and is one of its youngest, by about 40 years. Chanel is very creative and is a master quilter, but she's given up the quilting and has devoted most of her creative energy lately to rug hooking and wool dying. She gave me a most precious baby gift - her first hooked pillow:Chanel's rug hooking blog is here

our first pet

During spring break a few weeks ago Little S acquired her first pet: a caterpillar. We got it at Kidspace Museum in Pasadena. It came with a cup of caterpillar food and general instructions on parenting your caterpillar through its transformation to a butterfly. We woke up one Friday morning 10 days after bringing it home and he/she had emerged from the cocoon in the top corner of the plastic box. Little S was so excited to finally have her butterfly.

We took it outside to let it go and butterfly just hung out on the box lid - there was no grand release of the insect. We watched it for a while, moved it around, and eventually Little S went inside and checked on it periodically from the window. Butterfly hopped around the sidewalk and eventually flew away, unnoticed. (My friend Cass went with us to Kidspace and her 2 boys kept their butterflies in the house, playing with them for a few days until the bugs eventually died from so much "love" from the kids.)

home sick

Little S has a fever - we've been chillin' at home for the last 2 days... It's so sad when the little ones are sick - their usual energy and excitement for life is so deflated. These pics are from a few weeks ago. I've got some blogging catch-up to do!

Blessing Day for Baby J

I'm posting lots of pics for the benefit of grandparents who couldn't be with us this past Sunday. It was a great day for our family.