One more Moore

Green

See, I told you. It's so green. I took a mini-drive up Provo Canyon on Friday. I moved to Utah from California when I was 10. We moved just about 2 miles south of the mouth of this very canyon. Many a picnic were spent up this canyon. Drives to Heber for shakes at Granny's. Drives up to Sundance & Aspen Grove. Maybe I've been away too long (10 years) but really, I never remember it being this green. It's really beautiful here. THE Provo River. It's a good time of year to be a fly-fisherman on this river (or so I hear).  Last night we had a picnic at the park with extended family. I brought a bowl of cherries and am not embarrassed to say that I went back to the store today and bought 5lbs to take home with me (produce is so inexpensive here) Chris admitted that it 'absolutely grosses him out' to have cherry pits floating about the car'?? What? I haven't had cherries in years. But he said that he will take it upon himself to bring a proper cherry pit receptacle. Phew.  I also made some killer grilled veggies sammys, which were to die for. I don't mean to toot my own horn (toot) but they were good. I'll share the recipe next week when I make them again : ) xo

Cozy Cone Motels

The cozy cones have been getting some serious playtime (and don't Mr & Mrs The King look so deluxe at my sisters salon?) If you have children who have cars, you really must make your very own cozy cone motels. They will love you all the more for it.  Happy Friday!

Water Babies

We high-tailed it up to Utah over the weekend. Chris has been planning a week long fly-fishing trip with old Boston friends so we dropped him off in SLC on Saturday. He called today to say they had to hike 5 miles to get to a river and then hiked 5 miles back. Sounds like unadulterated bliss. Chris is now officially unemployed in Greenland so he can do all the fishing he wants.
 So I am here with the children. We went up Provo Canyon on Monday and it was so green. I don't remember it ever being that green. I must go back with the camera- it was gorgeous. We have a very fun-filled week ahead of us (and even a girls night or two for the Mama of the house) and a day of thrifting. It's always so good to come back here and see all our family and friends. A little pool on Grammy's deck was a huge hit with my little water babies. They can't stop running on the grass, either. The grass. A gift I wish I could give them back home. They love the grass. I am so jealous of people who have lawns. I think they take them for granted. They've probably never had to be without them. I just want a lawn. Is that too much to ask? One day, one day I keep telling myself. And then we will all dance and laugh-about and permanently look like this: but with clothes on.

Tomato & Zucchini Pasta

I know it's not technically Summer, but doesn't the warm weather feel wonderful? My friend Michelle had us over for lunch today and made the most amazing pasta dish, I had to beg her to share and she obliged (I did ask, right Michelle?)

Ingredients
3 medium zucchini, sliced into rounds & cut in 1/2
1 to 1 1/2 lbs Sweet Grape/cherub tomatoes
1-2 heads of peeled garlic, left whole
A few good shakes of dried parsley
A few good shakes of dried oregano
A few good shakes of dried onion
Dash of Salt & Pepper
1 pkg sun dried tomato chicken sausage*
1 lb linguine
Parmesan Cheese

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400. Slice sausage into rounds and cook. Set aside. Combine zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, oregano, onion, salt & pepper in a glass 9x13 dish (see above picture). Add Olive Oil and toss to coat. Bake in oven for approx. 30 minutes, or until the tomatoes just start to pop. Meanwhile, boil water & cook pasta according to package directions. Combine tomato & zucchini mixture & add to pasta. Top with parmesan cheese.

Michelle says this is also really good with spinach, too.
*Sausage is optional. If you want to cook vegetarian, just omit.

 It was so delicious. We'll come over for lunch anytime. Thanks again!

Four

Four is soo good. All day I thought about the day he was born, 4 years ago at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. I was so anxious to meet my first-born. He was late. Almost an entire week late and every minute of everyday seemed to last an eternity waiting for his arrival. He is our Boston Bean.
Henry loves to paint (mostly watercolors). He loves to snuggle and usually says "come and snuggle me." He loves to cozy up on the couch under big fluffy blankets. His favorite present that he opened today was "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" and his favorite thing that he did today was "Innoventions" at Disneyland. He loves baseball and told me yesterday that he wants white pants with stripes on them and a white shirt with stripes (uniform) so that he can be a 'real person'. He is such a good brother to his sister (as long as she does not get 10 feet within his cars or trains.) Trains are starting to take a back seat to his new love: cars. I was up until 2:30 this morning making felt 'cozy-cone motels' for his cars (don't laugh).  He is so tender-hearted and sensitive in the most wonderful of ways. He's starting to get jokes and laughs at movies and books. Henry has lots of imaginary friends: Olivia, Ian, William, Julian, Francine and 'all their friends' sparked by his first "Olivia" book he received last Christmas. They come everywhere with us. Sometimes, after returning home from running errands, I have to open the back of the car to let them all out. Sometimes, Chris can't sit down at dinner because he might sit on Olivia.

Mostly, I just love everything about him. Even when he give's me the big thumbs down. Thank you Henry, for bringing such joy to our little family. We love you for it. You are wonderful.

xoxo

The Teepee Party

Is it teepee or tepee? I've wondered about that ever since we decided to have said tepee party. The party was good. We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends who came to share in the celebration. This picture is forever going to give me a good chuckle. Chris just admitted that he was hoping that no one took the cupcake with the buffalo on it. "Really? Why?" I'm thinking what use do you have for a mini buffalo? Apparently he did. So whoever was the lucky one to choose the cupcake with the buffalo, I hope it brings you great joy. Just know there is a man out there who is suffering inside.   We had a lot of fun with the tepee's. You could get about 4 small children in there and I think they enjoyed them (but probably not as much as we did making them!) There were 'tours' given of the outside of the blue tepee. Planets, stars, etc.,. I remembered why we decided to have a tepee party. I had seen these 'play tents' over at House (instructions on how to make your own at Sew Mama Sew) and we decided right then & there we must have a tepee party. I made felt headbands for all the children with 3 felt feathers sticking out the back (modeled here by Miss Jade). Henry (the Big Chief) had one with a bunch of feathers in the front- but alas, he did NOT want to wear it (he did get a bit of a bloody headwound when the swing hit him in forehead...there was alot of blood, but he lived) so I couldn't totally blame him. Almost 1/2 the children that came were girls and so I came prepared with leather and pony beads so they could make their own necklaces and bracelets (made by a few boys, too!) Henry requested a "chocolate cake with a bunch of stuff on the side." It is our all-time favorite chocolate cake recipe. The wagon was a special last minute addition from Henry and I think it's perfect. The birthday boy, biting his lip while feeling a bit shy while the gang sang "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you.." Henry's friend Adit tipped him off to what he had brought him for his birthday and Henry begged to open it right then and there. He clung to it for the rest of the afternoon. It's good to be the birthday boy (and even better to have friends who are just as excited as you!)

Happy Birthday, Kate!

1 whole year. Wow. Moments after this photo was taken, the cone broke in half, the ice cream rolled down Kate's face and a big glob hit Henry in the forehead. People were laughing at us. The nerve.She is always so jealous when she see's Henry with a cone. She screams out in anger. Tonight we decided to celebrate with ice cream instead of cake. (Note:  grip of said cone= ice cream cone disaster). My sweet little Kate. One day I will tell you about the day you were born. About how I woke up at 6:30 a.m. with minor contractions and after a few hours of waiting we finally decided to go to the hospital around noon. I will tell you about how your Father convinced me, on the way to the hospital, that we had plenty of time and how he really needed to return some DWTS props and could we please just go and do that before we checked in? The lot was after all, just a few blocks away from the hospital. And the props only needed to go back to Hollywood. I will tell you how I had the most intense contractions, in front of the hospital, on the way to return the props and that I almost made him drop me off. "They are still 10 minutes apart" he kept saying. "We have time." The next contractions came in front of the warehouse, where the props were being returned. I thought I would never forgive him if I delivered you in front of a warehouse. But the contractions slowed and when we finally checked in, I was only at a 4. We did have plenty of time. As the day started to turn to night, I kept hoping you'd be born that day and not on our anniversary. I wanted you to have your own day and not have to share it with anyone else.  You were born a few hours later. After being a week overdue, I was so happy you were finally here. We love you so much. And now you are 1. And you love tomato's. And anything that involves your brother. You are starting to stand and are not shy in letting us know when you do NOT like something. You smile at strangers and they adore you.

I can't believe how much you've grown.

I love you.

So much.

xo

My own Jackson Pollock

We are just about done painting tepee #2. Henry wanted a blue one, because blue is his favorite color. I let him have free reign over this one (he was very disappointed to wake up this morning to find that the brown tepee had already been painted by his Mama while he slept.)  He cannot wait to give his friends a 'tour of the solar system painted on the outside of his tepee.'
One (of the many) things that's awesome about being almost-4: Your Mama let you keep your pants on backwards all day. Because you worked so hard to get them like that in the first place. Being almost-4 rocks!

Do you Spoon(flower)?

Well I do. Sort of. Spoonflower is this amazing, amazing online design-your-own-fabric shop. Anyone can design their own fabric. I remember when the beta was first launched, which seems like ages ago. Anyway, you can sign up to receive weekly newsletters from them to purchase that weeks fabric winner. Meaning, every week there is a contest against 6 fabrics that have been designed by other people. You vote on the one you like, and whichever design gets the highest votes is then available for purchase for a limited time (1 week only). Every week, it's a new contest.
This was the winner a few weeks ago. I AM TOTALLY IN LOVE. So much so, that I don't even dare to cut into it. I have 1 glorious yard. 1 yard of pure joy. The print is no longer available (sad for you, happy for me) but keep your eyes peeled, they have some really great stuff.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Ours is winding down as is our very busy weekend. National Train Day at Union Station: check. Tepee supplies at Home Depot: check.  I got to pick out my very own giant flower pot from Home Depot yesterday. It's gorgeous and I love it. The next 10 days bring 2 birthdays and an anniversary. Oy.

My Mother's Day wish for Henry to sing "Mother Dear I Love You So" with all the other primary children at church today was greeted with a giant thumbs down when the time came to actually perform. For days he's been saying "I'm NOT doing it!" Later this afternoon he hummed the whole song in the back of the car.

"Henry!" I said, "Thank you so much for humming that song for me!"
"It wasn't for you." he replied. "It was for Olivia." (his imaginary friend)
"Oh."

3 years ago around Mother's Day, Henry was about to turn 1, just as Kate is this week. We went to Long Beach and took pictures of him in this little chair and now, it was Kate's turn. A little Mother's Day tradition if you will. An every-other-3-year-tradition. Henry's 1 year chair picture can be seen here.
What started out as this, very quickly turned to this:

Fughettaboutit. She would scooch her little bum to the edge, plop right onto the sand and head straight for the water. It was near impossible but we got one, phew. Life can resume.
Try keeping 2 kids out of the water (insert evil laugh.) Henry was told he could only put his toes in. His pants kept getting rolled up higher & higher. Isn't Motherhood grand? Even when they don't listen, you just want to squeeze and love them to death. I love being a Mother. I love watching my children grow. I love all the questions that are asked. All the curiosities about the world they live in. I love all the Mama's in my life. Hope you had a wonderful day!

(most of my day was spent trying to keep this one from crawling in the ocean!)

xo