"kitch"

You know the saying "One man's trash is another man's treasure"? It's true. Or at least in our "hood" it is. Around here we see all kinds of things sitting next to the trash cans on trash day. In fact just today on our morning walk, we saw a king sized matress set (it was black and floral and probably from the '80's) and we saw an orange velour rocking chair, a broken down bar cart some random well-loved outdoor furniture...

and THEN... just 2 houses down from ours, we saw THIS....

a well-loved kid-kitchen! it was super dirty and had probably been kept outside, maybe stored along the side of their house for a year or more... and was covered in stickers - lots of them said things like "girl power" and "100% angel"... i said - "hey kurt, do you think beanie would want that"... and he said "sure"... so we picked it up and walked on up to the house for a little detailing before Liam got home from daycare!

He calls his new toy "kitch" and likes to pretend to wash dishes and cook things.
He even made me a golden graham and fruit loop salad last night (a career as a chef just may be in his future)

he is not so much of a food snob that he doesn't use a microwave..
(we didn't get ALL of the stickers off... we left a few)
even Jinx and Ace are benefiting from the new "kitch"

tweet.

Nope, this post isn't about twitter. just a little birdie update.
They are getting bigger - and cute - and NOISY.
Not sure how many there are - i think i counted six.. and they are outgrowing their nest very quickly. I think they are almost ready for flight lessons and to be kicked out of the nest.
Although love that mamabird chose this location so close to my door, and right at waist level so i can keep an eye on what is going on - I will be happy to get my door and outdoor table back. We have been avoiding that area of the yard (except to take photos and a quick peek once in a while) as not to disturb this growing family so they feel safe here.

aren't they cute?
see
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/4568695059_06da176caf_b.jpg
and
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3316/4624420328_6654b73113_o.jpg

to see what they USED to look like!!

friday night - pizza night

If you haven't had a pizza party since your 10th birthday party... it's time to throw one!
The girls got together to go to Farmer's Market on Thursday (our adventures can be seen here) and we got all kinds of yummy items - that to me sounded like would make great pizza toppings - so i said - hey, "PIZZA PARTY AT OUR HOUSE TOMORROW NIGHT!" so, it was set. We would provide the dough, sauce, cheese, basic toppings, salad and some wine - guests brought any "special" toppings that they wanted plus some wine and dessert.

the stats:
- 10 friends
- 2 dogs
- 1 liam
- 8 pizzas
- 1 raspberry lemon tart with ice cream (todd made the tart onsite - even the dough was from scratch - he is a MASTER baker!)
- LOTS of toppings like: fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, onions, cilantro, mozzarella, olives, ham, chicken, pepperoni, pepperoncini, arugula etc. etc.
- lots of wine, and a few old school rap lines

we set all the toppings out and got creative... probably the most creative was brookes "garlic, arugula, olives, pepperoncini drizzled with truffle oil!"

but we had the basics too.

meet my cute hubby, the chef - he looks and cooks like bobby flay

a few pizzas waiting to be put back on the grill

... and some warming up


...the assembly line - taking requests

...just a salad

...my favorite - classic margherita

... i think this was pesto, chicken and garlic

the recycle bin at the end of the night.

coy

so - you know the little "coy" thing i mentioned in my monthly letter to Liam...

here it is - well a little bit - not the FULL blown "coy act"... but he's got pretty good game goin on here. i am beginning to think that this is a happy thing... because he LOOOVES sitting on daddy's bike... so its more like a "coy to joy" kind of thing... i have a ton of pics from this little impromptu photo shoot - i just couldn't stop shooting, and i can't narrow down any photos either. i don't think i have posted an edited photo in months (these also are SOOC) i keep thinking if i could just narrow them down - i would take the time to edit... but, that hasn't happened... and sleep is too important to me to stay up late nights to do it :) so - enjoy Mr. Coy in all of his un edited glory!

Happy 21 months Liam

Dear 21 Lima Bean,

The next time we celebrate this number; it will be over a cold beer. (god help me)
You are SO Liam. There is no other word for you – so, “Liam” it is. I’ve never met anyone like you – you make me smile every day, and you make me crazy sometimes… your giggle is infectious and your sweet little voice is like music to my ears.

Recently you have become shy – coy rather. You understand that it’s pretty cute and you use it to your advantage. You do this thing where you scrunch your shoulder all up against your head and kind of bury your face into it… and then you smile sheepishly… it melts my heart… and the lady at costco… and all the girls at the salon… and gail at daycare. Your shyness is endearing but it is a slow process for you to get warmed up to people in social situations. Last weekend at Tye’s birthday, it took a good 15 minutes before you released your death grip on Daddy and got up enough gumption to go play with the other kids… but when you finally do get your independent streak – you make friends quickly. We love watching you interact with your friends and are proud that you are neither the bully nor the pushover J My “laid back” baby boy!

Your vocabulary is blowing UP. You repeat everything. You are starting to call your daddy “Kurt”… in fact last Sunday we were at our small group – and you were outside playing with the other kids, when you strolled by the screen door and caught a glimpse of him and yelled “KUUUUURT”… the cute outburst was a welcome disruption to our study on Phillipians!

You love that you can recognize things and KNOW what they are. You point in the sky “BIRRRD”… You see a puppy while on our walk “DOOOOGGG”… we drive by a soccer field “BALL BALLL BALLL BALLLLL BALLL” you pull open the refrigerator and most of the time request “CHHEEEEEEEEEEEZE!!”– this is pretty much how our days go.

The summer is starting – and your birthday is just around the corner – how can you be closing in on TWO (which by the way is your FAVORITE number to say, and it sounds more like "toe" when you say it... but we both know that it is TWO!). We are going to try to relish in the fact, and squeeze as much fun as we can into these very last months of you just being ONE.

I love you Mr. 21!
Xoxo
Your mama.

party season has begun!

We were lucky enough to get invited to our friend Tye's 3rd bday party on Saturday... I think it is Tye's bday that officially kicks off "Birthday Season"... and the party circuit.
And what a way to kick it off - the weather was great, and we all had a wonderful time! (Happy Bday Tye!!)

Tye's mama sent these cute pics of Liam... notice he has something in his mouth in every photo... you would think we never fed this kid!

juice

mmmmmmm
cookie

soapy joy

amazing how simple igredients are sometimes mood altering.

take soap + water for example.

add in a daddy + a lima bean boy... (optional jinxie dog)

and you have true joy.

if only we could bottle it up - we would be millionaires!

joy (joi)

n.

a) Intense and especially ecstatic or exultant happiness.

b) The expression or manifestation of such feeling.

ps - i don't know why some of these images are the wrong way - no time to fix... sorry if you get a neckache...

Mom's Day = no photos :(

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies out there - and let's not forget the grandmothers as well.
We stayed close to home - as Liam wasn't feeling at the top of his game. All the kids at daycare were sick last week, so I knew it was bound to hit home sooner or later.

Just some random photos of some of the lovely things we enjoyed and were blessed with on Sunday. (unfortunately - not one photo of liam, kurt or me ...

Mom... I wish you were here - I made a bacon and arugula tart that i SO wish you could have enjoyed... IN BED!

there was a LOT of cheese in it - gruyere... yumm!

i used eggs from the farmers market - they were really beautiful
unfortunately i didn't take any pics of the finished product, but it was yummy and you can get the recipe here.

my awesome hubby and kidd-o brought home flowers for me on sunday morning... thanks guys!

wendy-lou picked up these sweetie-peas at the farmers market for me - they smell SOO good!

oh and let's not forget the other gorgeous and massive display of roses from liam and kurt... aren't they pretty? i am a lucky mama.

AMAZING pasta in 15....

When the Cat's away ... the mice will play...

not to worry - these meeses ... (me and kammy) generally only play in the kitchenwhen our beloveds are away,

Tonight was the typical:
kammy: hey - i am thinking of blowing off my plans - are you around
me: yes, but i'm home w/ Limabean
kammy: ok - what you got in the fridge
me: not much... pasta in the pantry, and some herbs in the garden
kammy: great - i have some yummy tomatoes and some mozzarella

me: great - come on over!

so - here's how it goes down:

1 pot boiling water
1 package of pasta - we used: "riccioli" from costco...
1 pint little cute delicious grape or cherry - in season local tomaotes
a few garlic cloves
a bunch of basil from the garden
a container of the little mozzarella balls (ciliegiene)
sprinkles of grated parmesan cheese
splashes of great olive oil

boil the water.
plop in the pasta - 11 min.
reserve some of the water

drain the pasta and put pasta into a bowl
add tomatoes, chopped basil, crushed garlic, mozzarella and olive oil
add some reserved water as needed
sprinkle w/ parm - s&p as you like.
toss... serve..

yummy.
easy.
fast.
fresh.
yummy.

mr. cool

Every once in a while we pick up the little carters outfits at Costco for like 8.99 - how cute is this little set - "Mr. Cool"?