Sugar & spice

More babysitting action, this time with sweet Miss Alexis, who enjoys knocking down towers of blocks, clapping and laughing, and practicing her crawling & walking moves.

Henry, Part Deux

Little man Henry stopped by for a visit last night while his parents went to the movies. We had a grand time, eating apple sauce, playing with Micky, dancing around, reading books, and finally tuckering out to the point of exhausted oblivion. We told Henry he's welcome to swing by any ol' time.

(check out our demented but relatively harmless cat)

His name is Henry

And he's totally stolen my heart! Tonight Ryan and I got to play aunt & uncle to our friends' darling babe for a few hours and it was sweet bliss. He is funny and happy and all smiles unless you try to put him down for a single instant. Heaven!


Kind of makes us miss our own nieces and nephew over on the eastern seaboard. Sigh.

Jack is back, plus other bits

Well, he was back. He's home in Boston now. And look at Ryan help Jack make up his bed. Isn't that nice?

This is Misha being comfortably bad, lounging on the table. It's a loosing battle, though, you know?

Summer's bountiful harvest.

Summer's bountiful harvest for dinner.

A dessert Ryan made (yes) recently for a picnic.

This one's for John. The two dudes on the right are going to be roomies again. The dude on the left wishes he was going to be their roommate. Incidentally, this is the type of establishment that most ladies would not actually be in, let alone sit in. I did it once and that was enough.

A summer shower

Yesterday I co-hosted a baby shower for the ever-cute Yosa & her hubby Paul, who are expecting in early September. What I loved about it is the atmosphere - it was more like a family BBQ than the traditional ladies-only affair.

Then there were the empanadas Yosa brought. I think those are what really made the evening a hit.

Until next time

Well, JJ&S have come and gone, and for a brief time it was like the good ol' days when we were neighbors except now they have this adorable kiddo in tow. And really, he fits right in.

Good times were had by all, mostly over food and board games. Looking forward to the next visit all ready!

Quick snapshot

JJ&S are in town - yipee! We've had dates every night and it's been just about too good to be true. Here's a glimpse of the trouble we've been getting into:




(this is what happens when Ryan gets his pesky hands on the camera: an inevitable, goofy self-portrait - how can you not love this face?)

More goodness to come.

How could it get any better?

Over Christmas, Abby & Mike stopped by with a gift. It came in a brown paper bag with instructions to put it in the freezer. Intrigued, I did as told and noticed that, for its size, the bag felt heavy. Hmmm...

Later, I remembered we had a present in the freezer and went to investigate. To my delight, I discovered mini pies pressed into canning jars, ready for the oven and perfect for sharing.

There were four varieties of deliciousness wrapped up in that bag: apple, blueberry, cherry, and pumpkin. All were absolutely delicious, especially the blueberry. Brilliant!

Thank you, friends, and feel free to drop by with sweet goodness any ol' time.

So long weekend. See you next week.

This is how I spent my Monday morning, aka Day of Me, aka Day off because they can't afford to pay me for five days of work. It was a fun day spent with Amy, Aiden, Seden, and Maya (catch a glimpse of that gorgeous leather sofa and chocolate brown wall - there are also cream silk curtains at tall windows and tastefully placed deep red accents involved).

And no this is not turning quickly into a baby blog, what with all the photos and sewing projects indicating otherwise.

Here's what else held my attention this weekend:

- a productive outing to IKEA for some cheerful accessories

- a trip to Fabric Depot to help my friend Siobhan pick out the materials for her Halloween costume we're going to make

- some baking follies

- a moment of autumnal zen with my new crimson glasses paired with some tea lights; all lit up they set a nice festive tone for down time

Welcome Fall. Welcome Aiden and Maya. Welcome pumpkin picking, apple pie baking, and holiday & birthday scheming. We're off to the start of a fabulous season.

Reunion

Aren't girlfriends the best? Six years ago we landed in Portland, Oregon direct from Boston, Mass. Right around that time, two lovely ladies also moved to town. It took one toy store and one apparently odd dinner party (I wasn't there) to bring the three of us together. Now, years later, we are still chums and get together whenever we're all in town.

Rachel, on the left, is a writer attending graduate school in Ohio. Abby, on the right, is a designer that creates wonderfully inspired graphics. That's me, there in the middle. The first photo is from four or five years ago at one of our infamous stitch & bitches, where we did a whole heckuva lot more bitching than stitching. The second photo is from a few weeks ago when Rachel was in town again. Notice, we're lined up in the same order both times. Interesting. Why do I always have to be in the middle of things?

Great to be together again, girls.

(both images courtesy of Abby, I think)