Tonight was the last night for our dear old friend and neighbor:
Liberty Frozen Custard. About seven years ago an inspired couple bought an old-school gas station and refurbished it into a beautiful neighborhood charmer, a locally owned ice cream, er custard shop that sold kiddie cones for less than a buck. They ran a lovely business for those seven years and realized that they just couldn't sustain it anymore.
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With the restored luster of this old-school place, families from around Minneapolis would stop in for a quick cone on a hot summer's day, after a concert or sporting event, or even in the middle of a cold, snowy afternoon. My kids grew up here, tasting their first bites of rich creamy custard while still riding in the baby Bjorn front pack. They learned how to play pinball, how to put a quarter in the little red car, how to get their own glass of water from the old fashioned beverage machine. I think Liberty Custard may have been responsible for helping me pack on a few pounds of pregnancy weight with Gus and Louise.
When we heard the news, we made sure to take a last family outing to celebrate their great run in the neighborhood and to say goodbye. Each of the kids got to play a few games, ride the red car and the boys took one last spin at the large chess set. I shed a few tears when I realized that for Gus and Louise, at ages five and three, Liberty may not be a memory they'll be able to take with them. We'll have to remember it in our hearts and retell the stories of their childhoods.
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Tonight Liberty Custard closed. While we were celebrating Ron's belated birthday with my family, my Dad ran out to grab a few of their last pints of custard to go with the cake. They were out of custard, but he bought a couple pints of their yummy Italian Ice. As we drove home from my parents' house afterwards, we saw them carrying the pinball table out the front door, loading it into a U Haul truck.
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Goodbye, sweet Liberty. We loved you 'til the last lick.
Carl turned 8 recently and I missed the occasion to send well wishes out into the blogosphere. He said no to a cake, unless I could quickly whip up a crazy cake in an hour, so we went with his old favorite treat to bring to school on his birthday, donut balls. Yes, good old donut holes. They make for a great cake, don't they? This Carl guy isn't so little anymore, and is starting to do things in a very grown up way. He's speaking Spanish to me and Gus much of the time we're at home, has really taken to Harry Potter books (is almost done with #4 on his own!), takes charge of a few household jobs, and is really learning how to think about other people's needs. He loves legos, beans and rice, soccer, making scrambled egg dinner for the family by himself, reading, playing outside, fishing, drawing, wrestling with Dad, calculating money, homemade coleslaw and riding his bike, in no particular order. We're really looking forward to lots of free time outside this summer so we can ride bikes and work on growing a sunflower forest for the kids to play in, with the seeds that he picked out. . Happy Birthday, Big C. We love you! 
We bought a huge bag of oranges recently at the local grocery store... maybe it was even 18 pounds. We all love oranges and have been eating them at every meal. After a while, however, we decided that no matter how good the orange might taste, 18 pounds of anything is too much!
The cool old-school juicers are from Mexico City, purchased outside "La Merced," the largest market in the country.
On Valentines Day I set the table with all kinds of hearts and red things, just like my own mom used to do for us. I hid behind the fridge to watch their faces when they saw the fun! 
We hosted officially ONE event here during the Christmas season, a post-Christmas pageant brunch with our parents. Our oven had just officially died and we were faced with the prospect of making brunch, oven-free. As a baker, I wonder if there is a more difficult fate? 
Alas, we remembered the electric fry pan and realized that our brunch could be saved! Hello beignets! We served a southern inspired four-course brunch. Louise had fallen asleep on the way home from church and continued her slumber. Carl and Gus busied themselves playing Legos nearby while both sets of grandparents enjoyed the leisurely pace of the meal.
While we were stuck indoors from the blizzard, the kids and I found many, many fun things to do. The boys mostly played with Legos, thrilled that I allowed them to spread them all over the living room and dining room instead of the cold basement playroom. Louise helped me make the dough for gingerbread cookies that we'll bake later this week and practiced cutting things up with her scissors. (Is that a 3 year old thing? She could spend hours cutting!)
I needed a little break from kid play, so I pulled out the laptop at the kitchen counter. Louise walked in and asked if she could do facepaint on herself. I think she was expecting to hear no, so when I told her "yes, as long as you take off your shirt and promise to take a bath afterwards," she was astonished. I gave her permission to paint. Permission to paint her entire body. And paint she did.
