Grandparenting & a Zoo Trip

Photos of today's marvelous zoo adventure

starring Liliana, Vera Rose, Mom-mom, & a Mandrill:

Both girls wore their "Junior Zookeeper" vests.

So happy to ride the train!

       Time spent with a grandparent is: time deeply imbued and steeped with love, security, and generosity--at least that has been my experience and is now the experience of my children.  Brian and I moved back to our home state to be closer to family since family is the greatest earthly riches with which we have ever and will ever be blessed. 
       We are now doubly grateful for that homeward instinct since our girls receive almost daily guidance and love from my parents plus the occasional but no less meaningful visits from Brian's parents who live further away.  We are so thankful for all the time and love that our parents have given to our children because we know that our girls' giggles, their future wisdom and morality, and their self determination and self-worth will partly stem from all that comfort, belief, and joy flowing from their grandparents.  Parenting becomes a little less of a monolithic, almost intimidating task when there are layers of family to help instruct, encourage, comfort, and form our children.  Thank you all who help nurture our little sugar plums into the sweet, godly young women that I hope they become!

A Bridal Brunch: Celebrating Family

Yogurt, Granola & Fruit Trifle

Hibiscus Mint Iced Tea (linked)

Carved Watermelon Turtle

Scones with Hibiscus Butter (linked)

Basil, Mozzerella, Tomatoes & Olive Oil

Vegetarian Zucchini Squash Casserole

Granola Trifle Garnish

Angel Food Cake with Berries & Cream

       One of the most beautiful aspects of family is that whatever is defined as "family" is constantly being altered, changed, and (my personal favorite) grown. Today we celebrated the recent official addition of my cousin's wife, Portia, to the family! Since they married in an extremely private ceremony, before announcing their "secret" and stuff-of-love-stories engagement to the rest of us, we had the opportunity to celebrate Portia as a new bride instead of the typical bride-to-be at our Bridal Brunch this morning.
        The most enjoyable facet of expanding a family, other than the obvious joy of deeper dialogue with a new friend, is the celebration(s) that accompany that growth: whether it be baby showers, weddings, or in this case, a Bridal Brunch centered around tea and utilizing all the information that I could possibly glean from Portia's Pinterest account (favorite foods, hobbies, etc from her boards). I adore planning, researching, shopping, decorating, and baking for a family party, especially since it involves dialoguing with my family members as we scheme and plan the event. An excellent-- perhaps perfect--day is a day filled with cookbook/magazine/internet scouring for satisfying event ideas.  And the fun triples once menu drafting with a cousin, baking with my mom, and attending the actual event with my daughters and family. 
       Thank you Portia, for joining our family, and for giving us a reason to celebrate you. We wish you and Philip a loving and joyous life together!

Menu:

Scones with Hibiscus Tea Butter

Basil Tomatoes with Mozzarella

Watermelon Balls in Carved Watermelon Turtle

Goat Cheese Grits with Corn

Spinach Salad with Apples

Quiche

Peach & Berry Tarts

Hibiscus Poppy Seed Shortbread Cookies

Strawberry Angel Food Cake

Buttercream Roses Topped Cupcakes

Hibiscus Mint Iced Tea

 Blooming Jasmine Flower Silver Needle Teas

What is Your Special Memory?

Granola &  New Mexican Hiking

       I love how certain items, even food items, evoke certain memories.  As I combined the wheat bran and other ingredients to make my Grammie's homemade granola this morning, I not only had all the special memories of a wonderful grandparent (who often made the granola for me when I was in college and would drop it off when I was home visiting, just before my drive back to college), but this granola also reminds me of my time in New Mexico.  I lived on the Mission compound in the checkerboard portion of the Navajo reservation for a year, while I taught 3rd and 4th grade Navajo students. 
       It was the year after graduation from my undergraduate college and for the first time I lived on my own, with my own little apartment, and 2,000 miles from family.  My favorite activity (other than spending time with my special Navajo family who had "adopted" me into their family life) was hiking amid the sagebrush and climbing to the top of mesas.  As I think of it, I can smell the pungent scent of the sagebrush and can see the yellow flowers on the rabbit brush. 



       My favorite hiking spot was to go to Chaco Canyon (similar to Mesa Verde but without many tourists) and I always had a batch of Grammie's recipe granola in my backpack, along with my water or Gatorade, my hunting knife, and a whistle.  I would hike to the end of a trail or venture to the top of a mesa and eat my lunch of granola as I viewed the spectacular landscape and watched the jack rabbits scatter below.  So, as I make this granola to share with my girls, I long for the time when they will be old enough to hike the steppe country of New Mexico, to wade through arroyos, to rediscover petroglyphs inside a cave, and to meet the wonderful Navajo people that were so good to me when I lived among them.  And until then, I will savor every wonderful memory, as I savor each bite of granola.  What is your favorite memory that is tied to a food item?

Petits Fours on Limoges

Petits Fours on Limoges

       We made a batch of petits fours glaces yesterday to add to the French food that my mom was serving at her Questers meeting last night (The Questers International is a group devoted to the study of antiques and history) as she presented her paper and research on the French porcelain known as Limoges.

 

       Limoges is my absolute favorite kind of dishware because the moltant gold is so luxurious and so glorious--not to mention their equisite floral patterns. Limoges is a region of France with many porcelain factories that produced hard-paste porcelain starting in 1771, after they discovered kaolin in the locale (kaolin was the ingredient that helped achieve porcelain that could resemble Chinese porcelain).

       So, Liliana watched and mixed and today she tasted!

Yes, she picked a fairy princess dress to wear today! And her favorite French baked good was the Madeline cookies that her Grandma made (partly because they tasted divine but also, I suspect, because she loves the Madeline books by Bemelmans right now).

Vera Rose & Her Crib

 

Sleeping in Her Crib       Last night was the grand experiment: Could Vera Rose sleep in a crib instead of between Brian and I in our bed?  We moved into our bedrooms on the top floor as of yesterday since our mattress and the second crib mattress had just arrived and the upstairs floors are now dry and hardened (the wood floors were refinished).  After dismantling Liliana's crib, carrying it up two flights, and reassembling it (plus so many other details), we were ready to see how Vera Rose would do--and I was fully prepared for a very sleepless night of calls from our dear baby.  Well, the first hour was full of unrelenting screams as I read Beatrix Potter to the girls and as I sang song after song.  Then, suddenly, Vera Rose sat down in the crib, and then lay down in that cute baby way with her little diaper in the air and her face nestled against the mattress.  And she slept--and slept and slept and slept!  At 10 am this morning I heard my little girls start to babble to each other and went over to see--and a smiling, happy baby is what I found!  I can not believe she slept all night long so easily (not counting that first part!).  I hope tonight goes well, too!

Update: We have now had 3 full nights of blissful sleeping in a row! The second night, Vera Rose cried just for 30 seconds at a time, about once every 5 minutes, while I read aloud to her and she fell asleep after about a half an hour.  The third night, Vera Rose cried for just a few seconds at a time and fell asleep after 15 minutes (although I ended up reading aloud to Liliana for about an hour or two because she was awake and loving it!).   Each night, neither of the girls awoke during the night and they slept in until 9 or 10 am each morning.  This was SOOOO much easier than I expected!  I'm sure there will be moments when I'll miss my little snugly baby cuddling next to me (plus it made it easier for nursing), but I am simply loving the special bedtime storytime and the extra space in our bed!  Thank you for your prayers.

A Patterned Toyroom

A Patterned Toyroom

Adding Candy-colored Fabric Backing to the Toyroom Shelves

       Hoping that a little punch of color might be a fun addition to the downstairs toyroom, Liliana and I selected bright pastel fabrics to line the back of each shelf.  Liliana tended to select poka dot fabrics while I loved any of the candy-colored ones-- especially those with vintage childrens' scenes, fairies, roses, or fleur-de-lis.

      

             

       Since we'll probably take down and reuse the fabric someday, I simply used a staple gun to connect the cloth (which had been ironed with edges folded behind) to the wooden boards at the rear of each shelf.

       I tend to like monochrome, minimalist white when I decorate rooms so this toyroom was a fun chance to fully embrace the "clutter" of all the toys and to see lots of pattern.

       This toyroom is located in the walk-out basement floor of our home and the room had been painted dark grey and used as a pantry by previous owners.  The shelves were handmade from old fruit crates and boards a long time ago.  Once we moved in, our very first project was to clean this room and paint it white so that the girls had a playroom immediately.  Thank you, Mom, for all those hours of painting!  Now, as we continue to unpack toys from storage and as toys rotate in Liliana's interest, the toyroom continues to evolve.

       The opposite wall of the toyroom contains an equal amount of shelving but we've used it for our library of picture books.

       Hanging in the center of the toy shelving are two hand-painted colonial-style portraits of a little boy and girl.  I found the paintings at an antiquing festival last year.  I love their naive, folk style!  My hope is that they will watch over many happy tea parties, dolly feedings, robot stackings, and all the playtimes that occur in this room during the years to come!

Liliana & the Dollhouse Display

A Dollhouse Display

We also utilized the window sill for our miniature display.  Note the antique German bisque-head doll.  The two larger dolls I made from cloth strips around pipe cleaners and scraps of fabric and lace.

       Liliana painstakingly "helped" me as we washed one of the dollhouses that had been in storage, then unpacked some miniature furniture and placed it inside the house.  Our current home has the original 1920's era windows still intact between the living room and the sunroom (that used to be an outdoor porch) so the dollhouse was placed out in the sunroom with its back facing through the interior window so you can see the inside of the dollhouse from the living room: our best solution for keeping little fingers away from delicate handiwork and keeping the tiny choking hazards away from baby Vera Rose.  One of the unexpected benefits to having the dollhouse positioned this way is that I a love watching the light filter through the dollhouse windows--especially at night.

Liliana sits in one of our newly uphostered French salon chairs. 
Behind her are the 1920's exterior windows which are now interior windows due to the later constructed sunporch.

       This dollhouse was made by my Uncle Sandy when I was little.  It originally had two floors and an attic but was then renovated (how wonderful were my parents and Uncle to humor me when I had expansion plans as an elementary-age child!) to add an additional floor and a side addition which added 4 rooms. 
       The curtains are antique lace pieces (used to be dress collars, etc) and the bed linens are made from antique handkerchiefs. The dolls are either antique finds or ones I made. Liliana is having so much fun peering in and telling me all about the scenes she sees! 

       She tells me we must be quiet because the baby is sleeping, then points out the children being tucked into bed, and of course points out the cake, the dog, the dolly...  and then Liliana runs to either her little sister or her daddy to tell them all about it, too.

My darling little sugar plum, Liliana Etta.