Lulu and Luna

Our nieces from Charlotte visit every summer with their family and I try to find time to sneak away with them for a little craft time. Ron's sisters are both very good at making time for each niece and nephew, so I've joined them in this tradition. This year I had promised Ingrid and Annika that we would make stuffed animals or dolls or something they could hold. Last year we made tote bags.
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After seeing the cute dolls on Black Apple when she appeared on Martha (thanks to Layla, who brought this to my attention!), I decided these dolls would be just perfect to make with the girls.
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The girls dug through my fabric stash and found remnants of my past projects to integrate into their dolls. As a team, we ironed, traced, cut out, sewed, turned right side out, stuffed and sewed Lulu and Luna together. Such fun!
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Ingrid and Annika got to spend time with their other auntie later that evening and made a trip to Michael's Crafts to work on making faces and accessorizing them.

Still Blooming

I planted a bunch of seeds in my cedar planters that my Dad made last year. The planters are lovely... long and custom designed for our patio. The idea was to plant enough tall beauties to slightly disguise the fact that we have a chain link fence in our back yard.

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The flowers are doing well despite me. The soil is crumbly and dry, the leaves are getting wilty and cringe when they see me. I've been a terrible flower mom this summer. I'm too lazy to pull the hose all the way around the house. Isn't that awful? (In my defense.... one of our spigots is broken and awaiting repair, the one that is closer and more convenient to the patio... but still, flowers NEED water!) Every year I make mental notes as the summer progresses.... plan more nasturtiums, fertilize, remember to water. Maybe this year is the year that I actually transcribe the reams of mental notes onto paper.

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Does anyone else out there keep a garden journal? What are your hopes for next year?

Wild for Turkeys

There's a family of turkeys that has been hanging out in our neighborhood for the past month or so. Although I haven't gotten up close to inspect, it would appear that it is a Momma turkey and her five babies. They showed up one day in our back yard, in the fenced-in part where our dog likes to hang out. Gus spotted them from the window and shouted, "Mom, there's a pack of wild turkeys in our yard! Cool!"
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We've watched them from the windows, followed them around the neighborhood taking their pictures and once or twice, I've caught Gus chasing them with a squirt gun or a stick. I've tried in instill in the kids a sense of awe for their beauty, a curiosity for a "pack" of turkeys in an urban neighborhood. But yet, last week Gus said to me, "Mom, can I go get a knife and stab one?"
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Well, at least he asked. I think they'd out run him any day.

Harvest Time

We did a bit of harvesting this week. The carrots were planted this year, but planted a little too closely. They're a bit stubby, but perfect for little kid hands. The potatoes were planted last year and mysteriously showed up again this year. The kids and I imagined an alien potato hovering under the dirt all winter long, waiting and waiting for the spring and warm sun to return.

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We are well underway here in the back-to-school process. I am back at teacher's meetings this week for the first time in three years, preparing to teach Spanish part-time. As a result, the boys were at camp full-days this week and Louise began her half-day preschool. Monday afternoon was a bit testy: all three of them on a new schedule, the realization that I wouldn't be getting them ready in the morning any more, the frustration with an early bed time. Kids are resilient so I knew they would be fine. The one I was most worried about? Me. With five days under my belt now, I see that I'll be fine. All my worries? Not quite gone, but I'll give you an update next week after the kids show up.

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And you? How is your back-to-school transition going?

A little time away....

We went away for our 10th anniversary this weekend to a lovely place in the country called A Journey Inn. It is an eco-friendly Bed & Breakfast located on 66 acres of prairie and woods with winding paths throughout the property. We left on Saturday afternoon on a leisurely drive and arrived in the nearby artsty town of Maiden Rock, Wisconsin in time to visit a funky gallery owned by my friend's mom called Secret Heart Gallery. I had tried to visit it a while back when Janet and I visited Seed Savers in IA, but we arrived after hours and missed it. What a place! Ron and I found a few goodies to bring home to decorate our ever-expanding collection of Mexican-themed art in the upstairs hallway. I can't get enough of Frida!

Back at the inn, we enjoyed our stroll down the plush (and too buggy for being outside without bug spray) mowed paths through the woods and restored prairie. We dream of someday moving to our farm and maybe even turning the old house into a retreat center of sorts, so this place helped us to imagine what our lives could look like in ten years. The construction of A Journey Inn is very eco-minded and simple, with dramatic views of the nearby rolling hills and bluffs, as well as filled with thoughtful details like a walk-in shower, plush organic cotton towels, low VOC paints and a delightful organic brunch in the morning. The brunch is served at 11:00, with coffee and toast available for early risers (or coffee in bed fans, like me!).

We stayed on the 2nd floor and thought the view was amazing!

Our cucumber salad this morning featured house-grown cukes and tomatoes and was sprinkled with calendula flower petals and garnished with a nasturtium leaf. So beautiful!

For dinner we went to Norton's Downtown in Red Wing, MN. The restaurant is owned by a local MN musician and has been on our "must visit" list for years. Mmmm.

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We returned home 24 hours later feeling refreshed, well-rested and happily in love. And tomorrow... I return to work.

Happy 10th Anniversary to Us!

Ten years ago today... it was a beautiful 73 degree day. We were married in South Minneapolis, then proceeded to Uptown Lunds in our wedding clothes (where we met) for a little stroll and then to the reception at the Nicollet Island Pavillion. We've been busy... a house, a dog, three kids, a farm, lots of travel, and so much fun. I love you, Ronny!

We celebrated with a quick dinner at Pizza Luce but the real celebration will be this weekend when we take a little getaway to a Bed and Breakfast out of town. I can't wait!

Boys in the Kitchen

We harvested our first ever cabbage from our garden last week and declared that a big bowl of coleslaw was in order to celebrate.
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The boys hauled up the food processer from the basement (an old-school one that once belonged to my grandma) and tried to patiently take turns running it.
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We're really into making our own salad dressing, but there is no better coleslaw sauce than Rudolph's.

Smiles of Summer

Hope you're enjoying every little watermelon filled moment of summer. We are!

Someone loves tomatoes

Our tomatoes are starting to yield a little bit of fruit around here. We planted three different varieties: cherry tomato, yellow pear tomato and an Early Girl, I think.

Gus called me over to the tomato plants the other day and said, "Mom, there's something that looks like a yellow egg plant growing!" Sure enough, our first yellow pear tomato was ready and Miss Louise was more than happy to be the recipient of our first yellow beauty.

I think that is chocolate ice cream on her face, by the way, her other favorite summer treat.

And you? What kind of tomatoes do you have planted chez toi this summer?

Birthday Sewing

For Louise's birthday this year, I really wanted to sew her a birthday dress and continue a tradition I began when she was one. A week before her birthday I found the perfect fabric and although I knew I had no time to be attempting such silliness, I decided to go ahead. The fabric was only found at faraway fabric stores or even a local store in NE Mpls... but that meant packing up three kids to a fabric store and hoping for the best. Instead, I found a terrific resource here in my own backyard, almost. An online fabric store called Cia's Palette is located just over a mile from here and... she delivered my fabric! I wanted to kiss her when she arrived at my door! Not only did she deliver it, she also consulted with me over the phone about which fabric would make the best contrasting fabric and mailed me some generous samples in the mail from which to compare.

I finished the dress after her birthday, but at least I finished it within a month of the date. Next year, my sister warned me, I had better get started after Christmas.

The Geek Squad

Carl recently learned about the Geek Squad, Best Buy's computer tech guys who dress the part and live up to their name. He digs the way they drive geek-mobiles and dress up in ties to go to work. He also loves that he is the first kid to make his own Geek-Squad lego mini-fig. (Geek Squad: if you come across this post, drop the kid a line! He'd love it!)

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These pictures encapsulate much of our daily existence: Legos and being outside. In fact, if I were to type a list of our top five summer activities, this is how it would look:

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1. Go outside.
2. Play Legos.
3. Go on picnics.
4. Read together.
5. Hang out with the cousins, most likely doing the above activities.

Of course we do other things, like eat a lot of frozen treats, make stuff, ride bikes and draw, but really.... haven't we covered most of the basic tenets of childhood?And you? How are you passing these lovely summer days?

The Green Kingdom

I saw a picture of kids in green crowns on my friend Kerry's blog and asked her how she learned to make them. Her response, "Really? I just wrapped them and twisted 'til they looked right."

So we made crowns of green and pretented we lived in a green kingdom with Gus as King and Louise as Queen for the afternoon.

Next on the list? Dandilion crowns... but I think we're a little late in the season. Maybe purple coneflower tiaras?

The Summer of Berries

We love berries around our house. We have three varieties from which the kids make their daily rounds of pre-breakfast sustenance. Many years ago we planted red and golden raspberries from cuttings from my parents' plants. Mysteriously one day some black raspberries popped up and appear to be on steroids. No matter how much I whack them back in the fall, they come back full force in the spring. It has been an amazing year for berries... the best crop we've seen around these parts. No, she did not get into my lipstick. This is 100% black raspberry slime. Do I need to start worrying now about her teenage years?
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And you? How do your berries grow?

Using up the Veggies

My dear friend Stephanie came to visit last week with her boyfriend Rolf. They live in Angola (in SW Africa where they speak Portuguese) and she visits the midwest once a year. Minneapolis and Iowa are always her stopovers to see friends and family and we happily play hosts for as many days as she allows us. We had a lovely time hanging out... cooking, eating, drinking, playing with the kids, remembering old times, taking a cooking class at Cook's of Crocus Hill, going to the cabin and more. We had a few friends over for a last minute barbeque, or as Rolf calls it, "a brai." I think that is the S. African way of saying "amazing BBQ."
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Ron and Rolf were in charge of all-things-grill and meat while Stef and I took over the crisper drawer and its overabundance of vegetables from several CSA shipments that hadn't been completely used up. Our goal was to use as many of those veggies as we could. I think we did pretty well: roasted vegetables with sundried tomato dip, refrigerator pickles with radishes and cucumbers and fresh dill, a Swedish beet salad with apples, onions, sour cream, a bit of lemon juice and s/p, and then a salad we had noticed at Whole Foods and tried to replicate with beet greens, swiss chard, shredded carrots, sesame oil and ginger. The steaks and chicken legs were amazing, but I found myself more impressed with the potatoes and onions individually wrapped and placed in the coals in the bottom of the wood-fired grill. I don't know if the men were more excited to eat it that night while it was fresh, or the next morning heated up for breakfast. Mmmm.

A bit of calm

We have had a wonderfully jam-packed summer so far. Camping, cabin, friends, hikes, swimming, reading, Chicago, house guests, cooking, playing in the garden... and so much more. As I sit down here at the computer (which is a million times faster than it has ever been, thanks to Rolf!) I realize now that I need to sit still for a few days.

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This afternoon after our lovely guests left, the kids and I went over to Lake Nokomis and I let them lead. We just walked and discovered and named trees and looked at rocks and talked to dogs and swung from willow branches and learned how to use a pump on a water well and rolled in the grass and laughed and laughed. And that was that. No hurries or let's go or c'mon. I just followed their lead, carried their water bottles and snow peas and just let them be kids.

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I think I shall be back here more often now. I have a back log of photos I'd like to share. Hope you didn't give up on me.

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Go, run, take off your shoes and feel the grass and sand. We did. I shall sleep well.