Trying Something New!

But first...

Our little darling got her first boo-boo.

She was laying on her blanket outside while Mama and Daddy were playing frisbee.  One of mommy's tosses went wonky and rolled across her blanket, skimming her nose.  Didn't look like anything happened till the next day.  Poor little doll.


So, now that you've seen the boo-boo, here's the new stuff...



A couple of hours later, in the kitchen, she's about to try sweet potatoes for the first time.

Eeew... what did you say this was?  It doesn't taste like the barley I just tried for the first time a few days ago.

Ack!  I don't think so, Mama!

Ummm... Wait.  Is that the sweet potato stuff again?

 

Nope. I still don't like it!

Blech. It makes me shiver!

Gag!

Who doesn't like sweet potatoes?  Aria, apparently!

What an Awesome Yard!

Kingston and Aria are blessed to have a fantastic yard to play in...



The side yard has good fishing {wink}, and lots of cheerful flowers...





It has plush grass for spreading out a blanket and relaxing under the puffy clouds...





It has a little hill for making a ramp and making your dump truck go flying down!...





Then out back and down the hill, there's a farm with wide open spaces for running and flying a kite. There's also a great, big tree in the yard, with strong, sturdy branches; perfect for hanging a swing!...





One that a big brother can take turns using with his baby sister...





Yes, blessed, indeed.

Aria Eats Barley!

At six months old, Aria has tried her first morsel of solid food.

Joe and I were over at their place for dinner on Saturday and, lucky for us, Kristiina decided that was the night.

For the last couple of weeks, she has been sitting at the table with the family while they eat.  She sits in Kingston's highchair that clips to the table, and Kingston has moved to a booster seat.  {sigh} They grow so fast.

She has been utterly captivated watching their forks move from plate to mouth.  So, Kristiina figured she was ready to give it a try.  She made her barley.

Look and see how it went...








Other than a few shivers, I think she likes it! Isn't it funny how she grabbed the spoon and did it herself after the first couple of bites?!

So cute.

Welcoming Cypress

Baby Cypress Ballentine, that is.

My friend and co-worker, Heidi, is soon expecting a baby boy.

To celebrate mom and baby, we threw them a surprise shower at school recently.

It was a breakfast party and I contributed Lemon Monkey Bread; same as I took to Nic and Kristiina's for Mother's Day, but this was the first time I tried it.  I saw the recipe on Pinterest and have been eying it for weeks (and it's going gangbusters over there - it's been repinned from my Yummy Food  board over 2000 times!).  This was the perfect opportunity to give it a go, because Mama's been craving lemon!  It turned out super yummy!  Here's the recipe:

Lemon Monkey Bread
(from Creations by Kara)
12 frozen dinner rolls, thawed but still cold
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1. Cut rolls in half and place in a greased 9×13″ pan.
2. Drizzle with the melted butter.
3. Mix lemon zest and sugar together in a small bowl. Sprinkle HALF of the lemon sugar mixture over the rolls. Cover and let raise till doubled.
4. Sprinkle remaining sugar mixture on top. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. Remove from pan.
5. Combine glaze ingredients. Drizzle over rolls while still warm.

I adore the colors of Spring!  The blues and greens are so fresh and vibrant!

Whoa. That's some wonky action editing on that photo!

My love of these colors is quite apparent in my color selection of hand-made gifts for this Spring baby!  I seem to (inadvertently) have a theme going here!

That was a happy day. 

(Doubly happy for me, because coincidentally, it was the same day as my own precious child's 30th (!) birthday. Oh, the indescribable joy she brings to me.)

Over the past couple of weeks, Mom Heidi has had a pressing matter on her heart.  Little Cypress is breach.  He's never chosen to position himself head down, and his lack of turning is becoming disconcerting.

Following numerous remedies to encourage him to turn, Heidi had an appointment last week for an external version (before he gets any bigger), but he wasn't happy about the process and after four tries, they decided to stop and schedule a C-section.

That was heart-sinking news for his all-things-natural mom.  Like most moms, she wanted to experience natural child birth, wanted to avoid drugs, not to mention anesthesia, knives, and barrier curtains.

But alas, this is motherhood.  Sacrifice.  And she knows it... she realized a long time ago that she would go to the ends of the earth for whatever is in her child's best interest.  So, she's taking what comes, but that doesn't make it any less disappointing.  Derailed plans - they're always hard to adjust to, initially.

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."   ~ Jeremiah 29:11

One way or another, dear Heidi, he'll arrive. Whether as the result of your relentless laboring, or by the hand of one holding a scalpel; he'll be born, and you'll have that first, magical moment with him - he'll be wet and shrieking at this new sensation of cold and light, and you'll draw him close, shh-ing and cooing; instinctively wanting to protect and comfort him in the warmth of your bosom.  He'll settle down almost immediately, recognizing your voice, and you'll wonder at the miracle of life, laughing and crying, knowing that in this moment, you are at the absolute end of yourself. 

And in that same moment's time, your future will flash before you and you'll wonder if you can do this... shape this vulnerable little bundle into a man.  Time will pass too swiftly, and before you know it, the dizzying days will have spun out a grown up person ready to face the world. You'll have taught him to share his toys, to be polite and mind his manners, when to wear a tie and when not to wear white socks; more importantly, you'll have taught him respect and honor and integrity.  Your love and pride will be immeasurable.  

And it's all because of grace.  That we mothers, in this broken world, are able to do anything right at all with the precious souls entrusted to us... it's pure grace.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9

With love and prayers and excited anticipation, I am among those who are eager to welcome little Cypress. 


(...and from another Mom's Heart on how we miraculously get this done...)

My Mother's Day

It was terrific!


We headed over to Nic and Kristiina's for brunch and fun on the farm.  I took Lemon Monkey Bread... I'll be posting that recipe soon.  It's really delicious.  Kristiina made an egg and bacon skillet dish and we had our customary, yummy, french-press coffee.


Little Miss was feeling a bit drowsy and fell asleep at the table on Mama's lap!  Haha, that's a first!  She was really zonked... didn't even stir when she was laid in the crib!  What a sweetie.

After brunch but before farm-fun, we went outside for a photo shoot for our little 6-month old (when she woke up).  Preparations being made...

I just love baby feet!  Aren't hers adorable?!

What a quizzical expression!

"What, Kingston?!"

Ahhh, down on the farm.

 We enjoyed the sunshine and breeze while Nic and Joe played frisbee (after they pulled out a few of those sumac trees).

All the while, Kingston was delighted to play in gramma's car.  It's a favorite pass-time.  (We drove around instead of just heading down the back hill because there was baby paraphernalia to take with us).


Don't ask me about that hair... oy!

He asked gramma to get in the driver's seat, and then we proceeded to take a pretend drive to Canada, then to Sesame Street.  We made right turns, left turns, stopped at red lights, and watched imaginary pedestrians cross in front of us before we could go again.  On our way to Sesame Street, we named all the characters we were going to see when we got there; Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Abby, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Oscar...  It was great fun.

There are those precious little toes again.

She was just cooing and singing up a storm in that seat.

Oh, what's this?  Toes?  {{grin}}

 Chewing on her thumb and teether simultaneously!

When she turned restless, I picked her up to take a walk on the dirt path and sing a song (or two), hoping she'd give up the fight and fall asleep.


When Kingston realized I'd left the yard and noticed my diminishing figure walking away from him and the others, he nearly shrieked and said, "Where's Gramma going?!"  As soon as I heard him, I turned right around.  He came running toward me, kicking up the dirt under his little, scurrying feet; threw his arms around my thighs when he reached me and said, "I'm sorry I left you." (I'm sorry you left me... he's still learning his personal pronouns.)  {{grin}}  ...and what I think he was trying to say is, he didn't want me to go anywhere without him.  Sweet, precious boy; he walked on the path with us till his baby sister fell asleep.


Then, back to the car and more playing/pretending, this time in the back seat.  He played in the car almost the whole time.  He loves it!

See that precious hand of his?  When we got back up to the house, he walked up to me where I was seated on the couch, placed that sweet toddler hand on my cheek, tilted his head, looked straight at me with dreamy eyes, and softly (because I was holding his sleeping sister) said, "Gramma, [he pauses, searching my eyes]  I love you."

{{sigh}}  That little guy makes me swoon!




Kristiina and Nic gave me this camera bag for Mother's Day.  Kristiina said that it was a thrift store find.  She could have stopped right there and I've have been utterly delighted.  I love recycled, repurposed, looks-like-new-but-I'm-so-glad-you-didn't-spend-a lot gifts!

But she took it a large step further and hand-made these padded inserts to keep my camera and accessories safe from bumps and dings.  They're adjustable and removable!

Now, that delights me!  I love, love, love hand-made gifts, especially by my awesome girl!  She is so talented!


She also made me a custom subway art wrap that speaks of being a mom and grandma.  Why didn't I take a picture of that?  It's awesome!  I'll post a pic of that later...


What a thoughtful dear she is!


I had a great day.  Hope you did, too.

Playing with the Telephoto Lens

Last Sunday afternoon, I took a walk around the yard with Kristiina's telephoto lens. 

The lilacs are starting to open!

This was in the tree when we got here.  It had been left behind.  I think it's supposed to be some kind of nesting house... I'm not sure, though.  I never see the birds paying any attention to it.

They pay a lot of attention to this one, however.  This one gets filled with good seed pretty regularly.

Things happen so fast in Spring.  These hostas have doubled their size in just a few days' time.

Just playing with that lens...

These are bright and cheerful, aren't they? 

Then I decided to take a walk to the pond...
 

This little guy was curious about me.
 

I have no idea what these are.  
 

I found a lot of dandelions along my walk to the pond and have a fairly sizable infatuation with them this Spring, for some reason.  I have enough photos of dandelions for a post of their own; so stay tuned!


 Back at home, here are those lilacs, again.

Then the chipmunks came back.  We had two going  at once... one in the feeder out back in the lilac tree  - the one pictured above with the grosbeak on it - and this guy enjoying the goods out front in the feeder in the tree by the kitchen window.

(I'm back inside, by the way, and shooting these through the window. It seems to make them a bit hazy.)

Look at those chipmunk cheeks!

This bluejay and the chipmunk were taking turns in the front feeder.

I think I like that lens... I love the depth of field it provides.

That was a nice afternoon.




You're going to love this... a couple of days prior, Kristiina and I took the kids to the park.  It's one of Kingston's favorites because it has a sand box and he loves to shovel the sand into the dump truck!


Well, Aria swung in one of the playground swings for the first time and loved it.  Just watch!








{{smiling}}