The Barnyard Babe

Yesterday we discovered a new little "zoo" in the area that was dirt cheap, easily accessible and just right for little ones.  This zoo, unlike most, caters toward its youngest patrons and instead of giraffes, elephants and polar bears, it houses mostly farm animals.  Plus a few llamas, raccoons and bobcats for good measure.

The highlight of the day was getting to feed the ducks.  For $1, D got to buy a cup of "duck food" and then stand on a little bridge over the pond where the ducks were quacking away hoping to get a bite.  D threw one pellet at a time, and counted to three every time.  We could have easily been there for several hours had Grandpa not helped to speed the process along a bit!

To the Zoo!

I couldn't remember the last time I was in a zoo, but it had been a LONG time.  I was elated to join my parents in taking Miss D to the zoo last week for our first trip together.  Naturally, D loved every bit (mostly the animal crackers and wagon rides) and was so easy to entertain the entire day.

D also wanted to be sure that her pal Dot got to see everything at the zoo.  How very thoughtful!

Somebody is always game for a little Peek-A-Boo.  Even when riding in a wagon at the zoo.











And of course, D always wanted to make sure that Dot could see everything, too.  She took great care in ensuring Dot had just as much fun at the zoo as she did!









D loved watching the seals, sea lions and dolphins.  A few of them swam right up to her and she would back away from the glass, but all the while squealing with delight.  A great day!

Home Grown & Wind Blown

It worked.  Those seeds?  They grew.  Into gorgeous little green shoots.  Then the wind kicked them all over our balcony and some snapped and died; others survived.  Some were replanted or reborn (not kidding).  But the end result is that we have five enormous tomato plants, three green pepper plants, one ghost eggplant, one Brussels sprout and lots and lots of herbs.



I hadn't really considered the fact that each of these plans would produce SO MUCH FOOD so the dilemma quickly became what to do with them all, but fortunately, my family and our neighbors have been gracious enough to help  take some off of our hands. Fortunately, Miss D loves her some tomatoes! :)



Now that fall is starting (I'm still mourning the end of summer, for the record...) I have to figure out what gardeners do with these luscious crops once they've stopped producing.  Funny how that never occurred to me when I was feverishly planing away in the spring!  What a great journey, though.  Next year?  Fewer tomatoes.  More herbs.  Cucumbers.  Red peppers.  More Brussels sprouts.  And pretty flowers in baskets hanging from the railing.

Choo Choo, D is TWO!

One of the best parts of being an Auntie is getting to celebrate little one and all of her wonderful-ness.  She turned two recently, and my brother and sister-in-law threw her a little bash with our fam and some close neighbors.  D is obsessed with Choo Choo Trains, so naturally, they were everywhere at the party.  I was honored to be asked to help with a few details. Here they are:

Who doesn't love a great sugar cookie?!  My S-I-L had asked if I would make some as a party favor for the kiddos who were coming over and I excitedly agreed, as I love to bake.  I had stumbled across a train cookie cutter a few weeks before and bought it because I knew Miss D would love anything train shaped, and it came in very handy for this project!

One of the kiddos coming to the party is VERY allergic to eggs, so I wanted to make sure to use an egg free recipe so his parents didn't have to worry about whether or not he could eat one.  I had never used an egg free recipe before, but they turned out deliciously!  Super soft, just a little crisp on the edges and bottom which I love, and super easy to get off the pans to cool and frost.

I used a basic frosting recipe (powdered sugar, milk, vanilla) and funneled it into small craft bottles so I could "draw" it onto the cookies.  I did the red outline first so it could set, and then went back over with the other colors to fill in between the lines.  It worked wonderfully and was so much easier than any other method I've tried before.  I let them set overnight, and then put them into cellophane bags with train bows to take to the party and put into the gift bags my S-I-L had started.

Easy, cute, and super tasty!  Great combo!

Next up was making a little train for D and her friends to play in, and for their parents to get some great photo opps.  We used a few cardboard boxes, wrapped them in wrapping paper and then added a few details, cut out of construction paper and stuck em on with a little double sided tape.  So easy, and the kids LOVED the train!

You can imagine how elated D was to get to have this train in the house on the tracks that my dad put down with electrical tape - she was over the moon about it!

All of the kids loved scooting around on the tracks in make believe trains, the cardboard train, in toy trains, you name it!














This was one of my favorite projects:  I made a birthday card for D that looked like a little choo choo and stuck some cut out photos of her in it so she could move herself around on the train.  She loved it, and continues to play with it months after her party!







My S-I-L put together a cute little train cake for D made from pound cake, frosting, and some yummy candies which the kids (and grown ups) loved.

She also did choo choo peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (to the right of the cake) with peanut butter cracker wheels and pretzel stick axles.


The kids loved getting to grab their snacks from this little train, stacked with goodies at an arm's reach for them.

Veggie fries (julienned veggies) with hummus dip cups and fruit kabobs were the other side dishes for the kiddos.  They loved getting to have their own containers and ate more colorful foods than any of us expected!


 It was such a fun party, and adorable to boot!  11:00am-1:00pm so all was wrapped up in time for the littles to get home for a nap!  Happy Birthday to Miss D!!

Let's Paint!

Who doesn't love to paint?!  Spending time with a two year old is a perfect reason to bust out the water colors, brushes and paper.  Fun?  Yes.  Messy?  Maybe a tiny bit.  Worth it?  Are you kidding me?  This kid is a regular VanGogh!

Knit Knit Knit...and a few Purls

Years ago, my Aunt Jane taught me how to knit.  Well, how to knit and purl, specifically.  Since then, I've had an on-again, off-again relationship with knitting, but lately it has been on-again.  A few friends are pregnant, and my adorable niece is always a candidate for new knitted goods.  So, these have been the newest creations:

Double pom pom hat and mittens for Miss D:  I'm thrilled to report that she wore these throughout the summer as well - this girl loves a good hat!  :)

I made it a bit bigger than normal for a toddler so she'll be able to wear it for a few years and used a cotton and acrylic yarn so it's nice and soft, stretchy and machine washable!


Her mittens, however, I will need to remake this fall.  They were "just right" last winter, but will be too small for her this year.  I'm thinking I'll make some that are attached by a thread to weave through the sleeves of her coat so she doesn't loose one or both at school!

This girl loves to get herself dressed to go "bye bye."  She picks out her own coat, hat, mittens, shoes, etc. and generally is dressed quite appropriately for the weather!




The next creation, requested by my sister-in-law, were these adorable pink leg warmers for D's dance class.  I thought they'd knit up pretty quickly (I was wrong - and you can see where my frustration led to mistakes in the pattern), but although they took forever, they turned out pretty cute.

I used a super soft cotton/acrylic yarn from my local yarn shop and they even gave me pointers on the size of double-pointed needles to use - it was my first double pointed project and was actually much easier than I thought it would be!




The only problem?  Someone didn't exactly love having leg warmers on her cute little leggies.  And by "didn't exactly love," I mean this:

She's off the hook for a while.  

Instead, I started knitting some little baby beanies for my friends' babies who will be born this fall.

I found a pretty simple pattern as I wanted to learn how to change colors for the stripes and was pretty happy with how they turned out.  The pink and grey was my first attempt (I used the same pink as I had for D's leg warmers, and picked up the same yarn in grey and blue for the rest), and was thrilled that this knitted up in about two hours.  

The pattern was followed to a T, but the shape of the beanie turned out a bit more beret-shaped than rounded, but the pattern assures me it will fit a newborn's head perfectly.  We shall see!  

I used double pointed needles for these, as well, and just marked where I had started so I was sure to end in the right place.

I will make a few more of these in bigger sizes (yes, one for Miss D for sure) and am hoping I can figure out the shape of them a bit more.

It will be fun to see them on the little peanuts' heads once they're finally here!



The other sister-in-law request was a cowl scarf for her birthday.  She had seen one at The Gap a few months before and figured I could make the same one, so I found a "Gap-tastic" pattern and worked away for about two weeks on this one.  I was happy with how it turned out, except that one side seemed to be a bit more snug than the other (my tension apparently shifted the longer I knit...) but my S-I-L loved it so that's all that matters!

Barefoot & Fancy Free

I love the moments that are presented to you when you learn very quickly what littles like and do not like.  In this instance, D let us know very quickly that she's not a fan of having grass on her bare feet.

Grandpa had just mowed the lawn & D loves to help clean up, but she opted for sweeping the sidewalk where she wouldn't have to actually walk in the grass...

And of course, everything was made "all better" by brushing off those little piggies, putting on some shoes and going for a walk with Grandma.  Life doesn't get much better than that - for either one of them! 

Planting Seeds

After spending the last nine years in international school-furnished apartments, one of the things I was most excited to do after moving to the US was to grow things I could actually eat.  I have become obsessed with my little 17th floor herb garden, but it is a small and lovely reminder that even in the middle of a huge city, we can still grow our own healthy, delicious foods.  My Aunt Carol has been a gardener forever, and recently showed me her greenhouse.  It is impressive (as is her garden), but mostly I appreciated her reassurance and willingness to support me in my newfound passion.


Attempt #1 at the herb garden occurred when my parents sweetly sent my boyfriend an herb garden for his birthday.  Thyme, Sage and Rosemary plants in a cute little box arrived the day after I left to go to Alaska.  They sat on an east-facing kitchen windowsill and were pretty much dead when I got home.

Attempt #2 began after I ordered some seeds from amazon.com and decided I'd just grow them myself. I bought clay pots from Michaels, painted them with blue and black chalkboard paint so I could label the herbs in each pot, and was ready to go.

Or, so I thought...

It turned out these gorgeous little seeds didn't really want to grow.  The rosemary was a total no show, the oregano was very picky, and the others seemed to not want to take the time out of their busy seed schedules to generate greenery.

But I kept at it, watered so they were moist but not wet, rotated them to get even sun, sang and talked them into germination.  Whatever it takes, right?!



Attempt #3 began with a few more pots, a few more seed packets and a new A-frame table (also from amazon.com) to keep all of the pots cozied up by the nice, south facing sunny patio door.  "Water when needed" was not the most helpful of directions, yet the only I could find.  So, I opted to just continue to ensure that the soil was moist but not wet and hoped for the best.

I learned a few weeks later that the seeds could potentially all germinate leading to a busy and overcrowded pot which I'd need to thin out and manicure a bit.  So, out the lovely, innocent little seedlings came in order to give their neighbors more soil space to thrive.  A little insect killing soap to keep the mites away, an oscillating fan to keep things fresh and it seems we have actual herbs growing!

Now...if only they produce enough for us to actually be able to eat some!

Painting Eggies with Little One

With Easter just around the corner, what better way to introduce little D to some of the traditions than to teach her the art of painting Easter Eggs!

Watercolors have become a favorite activity recently, and the eggshells provided a fun new surface for her to paint on.  Admittedly, she loves swirling the paint brush in the water bowl the most, but she did a great job with the actual paint, too!

She loved getting to choose colors to paint and did a pretty spectacular job of holding both the egg and the paintbrush!  

We used the very inexpensive little color kit from the grocery store and drew some on some of the eggs with the included "invisible crayon" prior to dunking them in the dye, and others we (the grown ups) wrote on with a Sharpie before painting them.  

D's little hands were just too sweet for words.  She did a great job with all of it - and was so concentrated on the task.  A fine little student we have here, don't you think?

I was also impressed by how fascinated she was by the color on the paper towel under the eggs.  When we finished and were getting cleaned up, she held it up and said,"Ooh.  So pretty!"