memory

I am so grateful for the way this blog has changed what I photograph. Before blogging, I wasn't as consistent in documenting the small details of our lives...now there are lots of photos like the ones above. Years from now, many of the things that happen each day will be erased from my memory. Those many little things I think I could never possibly forget, but then I naturally just will. I'm so glad I have these to jog my memory about the mundane snippets of my boys' childhood that are precious in my mind.

modes of transportation

The theme of Jane's "corner view" look at life around the world this week is modes of transportation. Here are a few of my "transportation" images from the past couple of days at home.

I hope your week is full of many bits of beauty.

a spring weekend

Our weekend contained:

the beach
planting trees
sleeping with the windows open
picnics
blossoms
margaritas
baseball
an outdoor birthday party
birds everywhere
church
lingering daylight
bare feet

(Thanks Hannah for the list inspiration!)
What did your weekend include? Happy Monday!

Happy Saturday!

I played around our yard some and talked to the fence posts, sung songs and made the weeds sing... - Woody Guthrie

What are you up to this fine Saturday?

For the Weekend: Downtown Oatmeal Scones

All the talk about breakfast favorites earlier this week got me hungry for scones; Cal and I made a batch of my absolute favorites.

Pasta & Co's Downtown Oatmeal Scones

2/3 cup dried sour cherries
2 dried apricot halves (1/3 ounce), cut into 1/4 inch dice
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup plus 3 tablespooons flour
2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350F.

Soak cherries and apricots in hot tap water for 15 minutes.

While fruit soaks, place buttermilk and egg in a mixing bowl. Without stirring mixture at all, add oatmeal andl et soak for 10 minutes.

Drain fruit well and add to buttermilk mixture. Do not stir.

Place flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and butter in a food processor bowl equipped with a steel blade. Process until very well blended.

Using a circular motion, gently fold flour mixture into buttermilk mixture. Do not overstir.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and pat it onto a round about 1 inch thick. The dough will be very sticky. Do not add flour, and do not knead. Lightly flour a knife to keep it from sticking to dough, and cut into 6 equal wedges. Place wedges on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes on the middle or top shelf of the oven. Check, and if necessary continue baking another 4 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 6 scones.

heart rate

These were found when tidying up - musings of a six year old....

a perfect day

Thank you all for your concern and good wishes for Abbott yesterday! He woke up with all three loose teeth intact; the front two came out before breakfast. The remaining loose tooth isn't bothering him. Whew - disaster averted.

Alexi and I got to spend the day together at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival while the boys were in school. Times of leisure together like this really help keep the whole thing going. Sometimes they're hard to make happen in the busyness of family life, but they are so worth it for the whole family. It was a perfect day!

weekend report

I hope you had a most enjoyable weekend! It was a perfect, sunny, springlike weekend here. Just right for baking, lots of play time outside, and an outdoor evening at the Mariners. Unfortunately, the weekend ended in a rather dramatic way - three of Abbott's upper front teeth were knocked loose while wrestling at bedtime. The teeth injured are baby teeth, fortunately; we're going tomorrow for xrays.

Some things I'm looking forward to in the week to come:

* a visit to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
* helping with a teacher appreciation lunch at Abbott's school
* book club (Dealing With Disappointment by Elizabeth Crary and Mindset byCarol Dweck - parenting books)
* a luncheon in support of Childhaven

What are you looking forward to this week? Happy Monday, my friends!

May There Always Be...

These images make me ridiculously happy; I found myself humming this lullaby while looking at them:

May there always be the sunshine,

May there always be blue skies,

May there always be my mama,

May there always be me

What do you always want there to be?

in bloom

Lately Cal has been full of questions that are usually along the lines of, "Does God make us alive?" Yesterday he wanted to know all about his cooperative preschool experience (a preschool he attended a couple of hours each week with me when he was one and two), in an effort to remember it. He wanted to know what he liked to do; I explained that he spent the majority of the time painting at the easel when it was available, and making crafts, if one was set up to do.





He continues to love creative projects at school and home. Cal's preschool class has been working on this fun project all week - making a rainbow garden of flowers, a different color every day.

the incubator of greatness

Unstructured time is the incubator of greatness. - Ken Dryden, hockey legend

Last night Abbott and Cal started spring hockey. Spring hockey consists of weekly three on three games, no practices. At the orientation after the game, the organizer said that this program had been set up because, given the climate in Seattle, our kids don't get free play time on ice as children growing up in colder climates do; that the program was designed to give kids unstructured time on ice with other kids. He proceeded to quote Ken Dryden as cited above. Exactly. Here's what our unstructured time at home has looked like lately.

(campfire next to tents)