It's a Beautiful Day!

Thursday was the warmest day here since last September. Portland was in the upper 70s which meant our little mountain was in about the lower 70s. It felt like a heat wave! We spent the entire day outside in pure bliss.

We read The Flowers' Festival for the 100th time this week. K wanted to learn how to curtsy like Madame Pansy so I taught her and she hasn't stopped doing it since.



The skirt she is curtsying in was one of my Kid's clothes week challenge items. My friend Sarah sent me some fabric and patterns last month and when K saw this knit flower fabric she immediately said she wanted a long skirt made out of it. Wednesday morning I grabbed my Oliver + S Lazy Days Skirt pattern and with her help sewed this up quick for her. It's now her favorite play skirt. She cracks me up with her choices of tops to wear with it. She knows nothing about the 1960s or hippies but by her choice of outfits in these photos you'd swear she was an expert!



We set up a canopy in the front yard (the only place the sun hits) and that became the girls' art studio for drawing, painting and even braiding blades of grass together.





Brother wind kept trying to blow their canopy away, though!



Paw Paw requested a few belly rubs...



How could we deny that handsome face?!



A ladybug friend stopped by for a visit and played with both girls.



What a magical day! C was wiped out and crashed in the shade. Napping outdoors are always the best, don't you think?



Wishing you all an enchanting weekend!

It's a Beautiful Day!

For the Love of Oregon

I do believe the state of Oregon is really a slice of heaven hidden in plain view. Forgetting about our financial struggles out here, it really is heavenly. The more we explore our surroundings here, the more I fall in love.



Kevin's job required him to spend the weekend at the coast so the girls, dogs and I tagged along. We couldn't wait to get out to ocean and just take it all in. I used to love the look of the beaches in California with all of the cliffs and rocks and oh my, that cold water! I missed it while we were living near Virginia beach. The beaches were very different there - oh so humid and hot! (I did love the Outerbanks, though)



I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the coast to find that the Oregon beaches were very similar to the Cali beaches that I missed, but even more beautiful and of course, even colder. Ironically, my mother was driving home to New York from Florida that same weekend. When she passed through Virginia, she called us to say that it was 91 degrees there. I couldn't have been more happy to be at our cold beach at that moment.

The area we were at was a bit 'touristy' but you would have never known it if you were with us. The girls just wanted to spend the entire time exploring the cliffs, sand dunes, etc, so we never went near the crowds and shops. I feel so blessed to have such nature girls. It truly is magical to see their faces light up over a broken shell in the sand. They really do get more excited over nature finds than any thing money could buy.


I loved watching them investigate every inch of their surroundings

Here's a few glimpses at our weekend:






Beach walking


Sand play (K tucked her dress into her pants so it wouldn't get wet, smart, but it cracked us up!)


Happy dog off lead...


unfortunately, we can't let our husky do the same





Isn't this gorgeous?!


Amazing tree trunk




One of K's many nature finds


'Treasure hunting' Goodness, I love how the girls view nature finds!


My little stinker refused to smile even though she was very happy, would have been a great shot...


I had to throw this one in, too. We spotted this Pee-wee Herman mobile parked by an antique shop we stopped at on the way home

For the Love of Oregon

Baking to Remember

I don't think that it is a secret that baking day is my favorite day of the week! It seems like I am always posting about it, but I just can't get enough! Baking, in general, reminds me so much of my Grandma. She passed away when I was really young so I don't have as many memories as I wish I did of her but I oh do I have such wonderful memories of her baking. It may seem silly but when I bake I feel like she is here with me. I hope it always stays that way and that my girls have such sweet memories every time they bake when they are grown.



The past week or so baking has really been my creative outlet instead of the usual knitting or sewing. Something about the whole process of creating healthy but delicious food has really been a much needed meditation for me, even if it sometimes doesn't come out that great. Of course it helps to have two eager helpers. K has always been my sous-chef and C is right there with her. You should here the conversations between K and I when we are cooking, she loves being called sous-chef!



Last baking day I had a craving for bagels with cream cheese. The girls and I decided to try to make our own whole wheat bagels. We tried the recipe in 'the New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook' and it was fun to make. Granted we need quite a bit of practice in forming the perfect bagel ring but I think we'll get there with practice. The girls especially loved watching the bagels being dropped in the boiling water, we made so many bagels that was a good 45 minutes or so of entertainment.


Part of our bagel assortment

After the bagels were done we looked for a good cream cheese recipe. We came across quite a few involving yogurt that sounded really good so I combined and altered a couple of the recipes to make up my own version. It was simple and a healthy substitute to cream cheese. It only had three ingredients, yogurt, honey and strawberries.



We mixed the three ingredients together (above) and then poured them into a strainer lined with cheesecloth (it's very similar to making curd if you have ever done that. My husband used to make it all the time back when he was a monk) and let it sit on a dish in the fridge overnight.



The next morning it was the consistency of cream cheese. Excited to try it right away, K set our table, while I lit our candle, toasted our bagels and spread on our strawberry yogurt cheese. Then we all sat down at the table and enjoyed our homemade breakfast (aren't those the best kind?). It was delicious. I can't wait to experiment more with the bagel and the yogurt cheese recipes to see what else we come up with. Who knows, maybe those will be my WIPs coming up.



Wishing you all a delicious start to your week!!

Baking to Remember

The Rain Came...

The other night we had our first real storm in Oregon. It was lots of fun to watch out of our big living room windows while we sang rain songs. Although, it wasn't so fun later on when we discovered the rain flooded our downstairs/basement area (We have a split level house). Luckily it didn't hit the side with my studio but it did flood our media area (We keep our tv and computer out of site from the girls and this downstairs area is perfect because we never go down there except when the girls are sleeping at night). Since it only hit the media area of the downstairs I say it was Steiner's wrath (joking!) but Kevin doesn't quite agree. Anyways, I have lots of mopping and airing out of carpeting I need to get to, so I thought I would share some pictures from my MIL's visit last week.


C and 'Purple Grandma' in deep conversation (the girls gave her that loving nick name)


Sleepy birthday girl


K teaching Purple Grandma how to finger knit


Colorful bird


C chatting with a squirrel friend


Squinty eyes


Oh how I love how breastfeeding friendly Oregon is!!


Silly K and my punk girl C (rockin' a mohawk with her sideways hat)


C thought it would be more fun to sit here


Choo- choooooooo


Game night

Thanks for bearing with me. I hope you all have a dry weekend!




Happy May Day (on Saturday), dance a couple times around the May pole for us, we are missing it this year.
Have a great one!!

The Rain Came...

Old Father Sliffslaff-Slibberslak

There too old father Sliffslaff-Slibberslak came slowly creeping along."Ha, there you all are! Welcome to the big forest," he called to the children.
- The Story of the Root Children by Sibylle von Olfers

We love snails. Until we moved here we weren't fortunate enough to see them in our yard. We had quite a lot of slugs (and still do) but no snails. You can imagine how excited we all were when we found snails in our very own back yard the first day we moved in.



Every now and then the snails will leave us shell presents and we bring them inside to create our own snails out of beeswax for our nature table.



The other day, the great outdoor challenge came indoors when old father Sliffslaff-Slibberslak came in our house for a visit - courtesy of Kevin. He found this huge snail back by our deck and had to bring him in for the girls to see...



and oh how happy they were to see him! K showed him his picture in the 'Root Children' book and C just loved watching him creep across our window sill.



He spent quite a lot of time inside with us and was such a friendly little guy. He never once went into his shell to hide. Perhaps he knew he was safe with us.



But all good things must come to an end and it came time to release him back outdoors to find his root children friends once more. Both girls gave him a kiss good-bye and watched as Daddy put him in a safe place back outside.



We hope he comes for another visit soon!

I'll be back Monday playing catch up after this week spent away from the computer.
Wishing you a weekend of outdoor fun!!

Old Father Sliffslaff-Slibberslak