Isa-Day

9 am: Breakfast, Mayan gives the last pancake to her sister "since she's the birthday girl!"

9:30 am: Isadore gets her birthday request, a kitty costume (that i stayed up 'til the wee hours making)

Its a kitty-hoodie!

With cute pink kitty paws!

9:35 am: Cat nap

Noon: (after a visit to Finnegans Toy Store) Lunch at Jamison Square

1 pm: Walk around Jamison Sqaure

2 pm: Join our friend Kylin who is turning 6 at her Puppy Paw-ty

the coolest baby ever, Kiran, with the coolest mom ever

4:30 pm: Time to pick our kitty noses

and to open presents! a puzzle...

and soccer ball (and Gumby and Pokey) from D and G

and a beautiful dress from Walter and Bruce!

5:30 pm: Play with pirate gear!

7:30 pm: (after chicken and sweet potato dinner) Open cards from family (yay a kitty card from NaNa and Noah!)

8 pm: Finally, cake time!

8:01 pm: Make a wish!

Thank you everyone for you calls, cards, gifts, and most of all LOVE.

simple celebration

in an effort to simply this year, we had one party between Mayan and Isadore's birthday's......handful of friends, ice cream sundaes, party hats, confetti, balloons, and sack races. it was perfection.

isadore, birthdate aug 28 2004

mayan, birthdate july 21 2002

the uber-talented rick

so when does this party start?

the party crew: kaden, madeline, mayan, olivia, isadore, kylin, rosie (elanore had not yet arrived)

makin' sundaes

well i can tell you that stain won't come out

neck and neck sack race

kylin has her mama's smile!

i *heart* this shot so much (thanks for taking it Cath!)

blake explaining the egg-in-spoon race to an attentive yet eager audience

and the added bonus, most of the gifts people brought were handmade! amanda made the girls a bitchin' puppet theatre with sock puppets that hangs in the doorway, breana made adorable tutus, and danielle made all of us (blake and i included!) fabric bags that are made just like plastic sacks from the grocery store. we sure know some crafty people!

garden suprise

so Grandma came to town to give us each a massage and help in the yard. we were admiring the garden beds one evening after sushi and contemplating cutting back some blackberry vines, when grandma says "are those blueberries....?"


sure enough, after we cleared out this:

we found these! big fat, bug-free SWEET blueberries:

we got about three pounds and there are plently more yet to ripen....

did i mention, how amazingly fertile our soil is....



i *heart* portland gardening

xoxo

I made a skirt

...and i couldn't feel more proud:) check out my domestic goddess craftiness:


Next, one for Isadore with kitties on it and maybe even a wool one for me....! (no kitties, of course)

Mayan Grace is Five Years Old

...and Blake and I can hardly believe it. Seriously, half a decade. Our baby girl, our first born? It's just beyond-words-incredible. She is such a cool person, everything about her--we are both enjoying getting to know her as she gets to know herself. Here was our day:

super special gluten-free, dairy-free and tomato-free pizza!!!

mayan has been wanting to use placemats so i handmade her some really cute ones and had then waiting for her when she woke up

waiting for the Max

Youth cast Wizard of Oz in Washington Park

ready for a nap in the parking garage

thanks for the books aunt NaNa!

sweet homemade card form Cookie

ah........hot, yummy mayan-friendly pizza

can you guess what this is?

* hint: it's NOT tomato sauce....

























give up?

it's MOCK tomato sauce! i just *whipped* up a batch for Mayan's birthday--i want to make her a pizza so this will make a great red base. i stress *whipped* b/c it is actually kind of a pain to make so i only do it once or twice a year. this batch will give me enough for her pizza, some spaghetti later in the week and a few containers to freeze. so what gives it the rich red color? Beets! it has a very vegetable-y flavor, pretty yummy really, but it has a pinky color unlike real red sauce. she loves it though! for this batch i went heavy on the italian herbs, but i have also given it a less-italian flavor to use for enchiladas. got the recipe from a vegan book years ago:

mock tomato sauce:

steam 7 cups of orange yams or butternut squash (peeled and cubed) and 2 medium beets (peeled and chopped--i use rubber gloves to protect my hands from beet stains)

meanwhile saute 1 yellow or white onion (chopped) and 2 or more garlic cloves (minced) in olive oil until transcent.

other ingredients:
6 cups of stock or water
2-3 Tbsp of soy sauce (i DON'T use this--i use 1 Tbsp of fish sauce since we can't eat soy)
2 tsp liquid sweetener (maple syrup, honey...)
2 tsp apple cider vinager
1 strip of Kombu sea weed washed and minced (this is too hard so i didn't do it and added some salt instead)
3 tsp chopped parsley
chopped herbs: rosemary, marjoram, basil, oregano, thyme

blend all of this together--i use a food proccessor so i split it into two batches. then put the red sauce into a big pot with 1 bay leaf or two and simmer for 20 minutes or so, until it is heated through and the flavors can "mingle." keep close to stir frequently, b/c it tends to bubble and "pop!" leaving nice reddish-pink splotches on everything:-) don't forget to take out the bay leaves when done.