Roo's hair

Poor Roo keeps getting left out of the blog. The big Roo-news from just before J left on a trip: his first haircut.Before

After

Quite a dapper little fella, don't you think?

Macadamia Nut Pesto

MacNut Pesto. Yes, it is as good as it sounds. Here's J's recipe:

3 c. basil leaves, packed
1/2 c. spinach leaves, packed
1/4 c. parsley, packed
1 c. oil
1 tsp. salt
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbs toasted sesame seeds
1 handful raw macadamia nuts (just over 1/4c.)

Chop mac nuts in food processor. Add remaining ingredients except oil. Coarsley chop, stopping to push leaves down. Slowly add oil. Mix with pasta and devour (see above photo).

Don't let the expression fool you - Mr. Serious Face loved it. See the pesto all over his face?

Only two things that money can't buy...

...and that's true love and homegrown tomatoes. (C'mon, sing along!)

Gardening in the rain

We got caught in a rainstorm at the garden yesterday. Kids didn't mind too much.

Of course, by the time we got home the rain had stopped. They didn't mind that either, as there were still puddles for jumping and a gutter flowing with water perfect for sending sticks and acorns downhill.

Through Doodle's eyes: The Garden

Here's a glimpse of our garden experience so far as seen by Doodle:

plot marker, J digging in the rain, some of the rocks we unearthed.

"Mom, make a funny face!", kid garden bucket, and one of the many flag photos.

These flags are all over the garden.

Flag closeup, garden view, candid of Roo.

Self portrait.

Muuuuuuuud

Mud play mid-hike is much more enjoyable (and likely to be permitted by The Mom) when it's 81°outside. Hooray for a balmy spring day!

Of course

The one time in a great while that a photo of me, taken by Doodle, turns out looking pretty good...
...my costar has to make a funny face. Of course. Darn kids. :P

The birds want you to...

Roo loves birds. He's also pretty easily distracted. The other day we were sitting at the table for breakfast and Roo was crumpling his waffle, laughing at his sister, and doing anything BUT eating. Finally he noticed the birds outside the kitchen door, pecking at the bird seed we'd scattered.

Me: "Roo, do you see the birds?"
Roo: "Yep!"
Me: "Are they eating?"
Roo: "Yep!"
Me: "You should eat too."
Roo: blank stare, continues to crumple waffle
Me: "The birds want you to eat too."
Roo: immediately starts shoveling waffle into his mouth

I think we're on to something...

Shovel fun

When you're 15 months old, even a snow shovel is fun.

Look over here, kids. Kids?!

Why is it so hard to get a pair of kids to look in the same direction at the same time?

Really. There are only two of them. It should be easy.

I think they're conspiring against me.

Roo loves birds

He looks outside first thing in the morning, searching the sky. He looks at me, signs, looks outside again. He's searching for birds. He loves birds.

Our friend Liv recently posted a photo of a jay on her blog. Roo saw it, and for the next day kept pointing at the computer and signing bird. I told Liv this, and requested more birds on Roo's behalf. She replied with a bird photo post. Roo loved it. Here's his reaction, complete with hooting sound which he now uses for all animals:

Thanks, Liv!

Cabin Fever!

Roo's been sick so we've put ourselves in quarantine since Saturday. Stuck in the house with a four year old, a 15 month old, and a restless mama. We've done lots of reading...

(Roo is signing book here. He signs that and 'sleep' regularly.)

...and we've had lots of dance time. We watched Episode 1 and 2 of Project Bellydance, so now Doodle is alternating which awesome bellydancer she's pretending to be (the latest is Shems, a Utah lady now in Baltimore. We love Shems!). Note Doodle's innovative costuming - she's using the pink ruffly skirt as a bustle for her sparkle skirt, and a red sequined "scarf" as a hip drape. All her own design.

Sassy action shot

Bustle view. I think it works, don't you?

We've also been baking, perhaps a bit excessively - I've since crossed off (and eaten) the vanilla pudding too. Today: bagels maybe, or possibly pasta if Roo takes a nap and all the stars align just so.
I've also been teaching myself to knit, we've set up our own living room farmer's market, and since yesterday have been pretending to be cast members of Stomp (aka drumming on everything in the house. I had no idea it would be quite so popular with the kids, but it's a lot of fun).

Add in lots of coloring, outfit changes, and birding (see the sidebar bird list? we added that undetermined hawk this afternoon with much jumping and shouting of "Ooh! OOH!" while looking out the kitchen window. Some of the smaller family members may have been standing on the kitchen table to see. Birds are cool enough to warrant that behavior, after all). When we're lucky there's the occasional Roo nap and you've got a picture of what we've been doing for the past few days while J is out of town.

Only 46 more hours until he's home. Not that anyone's counting.

This is what happens...

...when you leave the 14 month old at the table to play after breakfast. You find him digging all four of his little teeth into the stick of butter, happy as can be. *sigh* Cute happy culprit visible in the background.

Unseasonably Warm

The daily weather forecast on the radio has been for "unseasonably warm weather" every day this week. We've made a point to soak up as much of it as possible, knowing that winter is just around the corner.

The insects seem to have the same idea. Ladybugs searching for a good winter hiding spot

while dragonflies squeeze as much living as possible into these last warm days. (Doodle caught this one with my hat, and later it landed on her leg to finish a meal.)

Ahhh, Vitamin D. Good stuff.

Photos from our outing to Penn-Roosevelt State Park.

Kitchen

New to us: a play kitchen, handed down from a friend trying to declutter.

I knew Doodle would love having a place to play with all of her pretend food, but I hadn't expected Roo to love it too. He plays alongside his sister, putting cups and cars in the sink, half of his (real) cracker in the oven and running around with a plastic baguette hanging out of his mouth.
I have a feeling this kitchen will get a lot of love from these two this winter.

By the way, anyone know a good source for little kid play pots and pans? Doodle's tiring (already) of cooking her creations in tea cups.

Insect song

We went to Shaver's Creek Nature Center today for a kid's activity. Doodle learned all about insects, and was excited about learning this song.



I fear a family band is not in our future. Oh well. At least we like bugs together!

dejá vu

I took this photo while we were out climbing and playing last weekend, then had the strange feeling I'd taken a very similar photo before.

I was right.

Doodle's four or five months older in her photo than Roo is now. But look, I even got my pants right!

Climbing at Mocanaqua

We went climbing a few weeks ago at Mocanaqua, a place about 2 hours away. Our friend E was trying out his new camera lens, so we got some good photos from the outing.

Dirty Doodle pretending to be angry. The bath was sooooo gross that night.

Dirty cute Roo.

That's the look J gives me when I'm nearing my wit's end with a frustrating crabby Doodle. This look says "Patience, love. She's only three." I get this look a lot.

Roo fading.

And whaddaya know? With enough climbers around to belay and play with children, even Mama can get on the rock. I just did one route, a 5.7, but it was good to climb nonetheless. Hopefully next season I'll get up even more, and maybe even start improving at this whole rock climbing thing.