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 Little feet + Summer dresses + new doormat + warm weather 

=

Pure bliss.

 We are parked here today battling a major, major case of the pukes (again.) It started @ 4 a.m yesterday with Kate. I took them on a long drive up the PCH in the afternoon thinking some fresh air  and change of scenery would be good. We drove to Oxnard, popped into our favorite thrift shop and headed home. Kate decide it was a prime opportunity to puke again. In the car. With rapid force. Then she tried to cover her mouth & hold it in, which sent it shooting everywhere.  After about 5 minutes I was at a place where I could stop. I got her out,  held my breath, and changed her clothes. We had picked up a long sleeved t-shirt for Henry at the thrift shop which he graciously allowed Kate to change in to (it was all we had.) We stopped at a car wash on the way home, bought a tree-shaped air freshener, tried to get rid of the stench,clean up, and head home.  Now the car smells like puke with a hint of vanilla. We made it through the night. Barely. Henry got it this morning. Bad. We are on our 3rd load of laundry and I've had entirely too much contact with bodily fluids. Wish us luck. We'll be watching movies & snuggling in the rest of the day.  (and maybe I'll have some time to get those lampshades recovered this weekend.)

 Self-portrait: Charlie's first time at the beach. Santa Monica Beach Feb 2010

Charlie is:

starting to grasp things with his hands

improving his hand-eye coordination

non-stop smiling

alert & awake most of the day

sleeping for long periods at night

laughing

kicking

overall: a complete dream.

Doesn't it feel good? It's warming up here in Southern California (well, it's always warm…but you know.) We hit the beach for the first time this year on St. Patrick's Day. Charlies' first time there and it was good. We stayed & watched the sun set. Anyway, the beginning of Spring always reminds me of when I used to work at Williams Sonoma  (about 10+ years ago) they used to simmer this amazing concoction on the stove and it made the whole store smell amazing. I feel like I've blogged about this before. Maybe I have or maybe I just thought about blogging about it but didn't. Regardless, I make this concoction every Spring and it makes the house smell like heaven.. You need a small stockpot filled about 2/3 full with water. 1 lemon, sliced, and a few sprigs of rosemary (on a cold dark night, armed with scissors, I did a little snippy snip of rosemary from the apartment bldg next door. Don't tell a soul!) Then add 1-2 tsp of vanilla:(can I get a HUZZAH for taking the picture while pouring the vanilla???)

I let it simmer all day long, adding water as needed. You can use the same mix for about 2 days; after that it gets a bit stanky if you know what I mean.) It's this wonderful scent of citrus with the warm vanilla and the rosemary…ack…the rosemary just ties it all in. Your home will smell mahvelous!

Here's to Spring!

 I love asparagus; really love it. We are approaching asparagus season and one of our favorite ways to eat it is to drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. We bake it on a cookie sheet at 450 for 9-11 minutes. When it comes out of the oven, we sprinkle it with Parmesan. 

I'm realizing how much I enjoy photographing food. Is that weird? I love images of food. When we lived in our old apartment, I had to go outside to take pictures because it was the only place that had enough light and there I'd be with a ham sandwich or something lame and my camera and the neighbors would walk by and look at me like I was the village idiot and I would feel like the biggest MORON. Our new place has a window in the kitchen which is nice so I can keep my food photographing within the confines of my own home. Heaven forbid the neighbors find out what kinds of kinky things go on behind closed doors! 

I have reserved some tickets for the "Picturing Food" exhibit/lecture on April 8th at The Getty which I am so excited about. Tickets are free, but you need a reservation. I think there is still space if you sign up. So far, no one wants to go with me (what gives??)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

(and Happy Birthday to you Patricia, who was born on St. Patrick's Day!)

xo

 I like to call the 'nursing ear'. It makes me smile every time I see it. Tell me I am not the only person this happens to! I've always wanted to capture it on camera, especially with the other two, but it would always bend back before I could grab the camera. Today I was prepared. Oh, I could gobble this one up!

 This weekend found us in the kitchen baking muffins. There was a time a few months ago when we made these muffins about 5 days in a row. They sit on the counter and before you know it they've been gobbled up for breakfast, lunch & dinner. I had some zucchini that was near death so we took advantage and baked up our favorite variety: Chocolate Chip Zucchini.Grate up the zucchini and set aside.  Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Mix wet ingredients and then add together. The batter will seem really thick, but once you fold in the zucchini the moisture from the zucchini loosens things up a bit.  The recipe calls for mini- chocolate chips which I didn't have this time around so I just  chopped up  the regular sized ones; definitely do this as it distributes the chocolate chips more evenly. Add to batter.  The scoop.  Tell me you have a scoop. You need a scoop. Run and get a scoop now. Total and complete lifesaver. These muffins took 2 scoops of batter to fill their cups to about 3/4 full which was perfect. I use the scoop for cookies, too. It makes for mess-free and uniform muffins/cookies.  See? All filled up the same and no batter all over the pan.  Scrumptious. Now go make some muffins!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Combine the egg, oil, milk, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in zucchini, chocolate chips and walnuts. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done.

• Original recipe hails from Allrecipes.com.

 I decided to grab the camera today and document our happenings. Today was a busy one; we had lots to do. It started out with a trip to Target for paper towels, a curtain rod & eyeliner and a quick "look" at some toys: I'm not sure what prompted the super hero cape today. He hasn't worn it in ages, but he wanted to wear it so there you go. It was lunchtime by the time we left and our bellies were rumbling (well, mostly mine.) We stopped for chips & salsa, tacos, tamales & rice. We ate in the car and drove back downtown to the fabric/fashion district: Mom needed some fabric and I, well, I think the fabric I got for the curtains aren't working. I really love that brown/white & green get-up (second over from the right) and the yellow print up on top. It was too crazy with 3 children to actually focus long enough to make a decision on which fabric to get, so I skipped it all and didn't get anything. Maybe another day when I don't have all the kids. It was 4:30 and we were parched. A frosty beverage was in order. Delish. We headed home to try out the new bubble machine Grandma got (they had only been asking for it since the second we left Target.) It claims to blow about a thousand bubbles in the blink of an eye.  From there it was straight into the bath (which I would have normally skipped had Kate not rubbed her hands on the car tires & then directly all over her face.) I watched them in the bath while sitting on our bed folding 4 loads of laundry. I was tired. I made a call to Chris to pick up Chinese on his way home. I put the kids in their jammies and we waited for Pops to come home. We ate and then put the kids down. I'm pooped and going to bed. I think tomorrow we'll stay home and maybe venture out to the park. Or not. 

 Poor Charlie, he is so the third child. He turned 3 months on the 25th of Feb- but we were in Utah at the funeral and the whole week was such a whirlwind (in a good way.) These past 3 months have been crazy- 3 trips to Utah, Christmas, moving, blah, blah, blah. But Charlie doesn't seem to mind. I have no stats- I missed his 2 month apt (oy oy oy) but he's happy and healthy and good. Except for today, when I made him spend the entire afternoon in downtown L.A's fabric district:

Well were are still here in Utah. Chris went home on Sunday,
narrowly escaping the pukes that had been plaguing Henry & me (and now
Kate) over the weekend. Still not in tip-top shape but feeling much, much
better. The pukes are the worst. I’ll just stop talking about it, so I don’t
totally gross you out.

 I was able to get some thrift shopping in, which I
really, really wanted to do. That always helps to lift my spirits!  The thrift shops in Utah have soo many
children's clothes (surprise) and well, the kids are growing like weeds and so
we were in need. It’s sometimes hard for me to justify buying clothes at full
price when they out-grow them so quickly. Plus, I always find really awesome
stuff, so it makes me glad. We scored on some old-school Fisher Price toys; tell me you
had one of those up top. So awesome.  This was completely an emotional purchase. I so remember
having this as a kid. And Henry's’ eagle eyes spotted this Western Town: So cool. Now we just need
some little people.  I found a bunch of great sweaters for Charlie (I think baby sweaters
are the best.) This is one of my fav's: And a little winter hat for Kate: All in all a good trip to the thrift shops; as Henry says
“We found lots of treasures!!”