friday cute shot

Coordinating handmade corduroy dresses for New Year, courtesy of Gramme.

a friend party, a party with friends (birthday, part 2)

Amazing elephant bonnet handmade by Lilac's mom Rachel

After a day of fishing on Friday, we tromped over to Laurelhurst park after nap to meet up with friends and continue the celebration. My dessert energy was tapped out from the chocolate cake of the day before, so Lucy blew out candles in a bite-sized cupcake covered with Funfetti. (This is my favorite of the Betty Crocker frostings, and Lucy doesn't have enough frosting experience to have an opinion yet. I continued to eat this out of the refrigerator one pilfered spoonful at a time until I came to my senses a few days later and threw it away.)

Scarlett came by bicycle bearing gifts, Ramona chilled with Lucy's Nana, Luca and Lilac and Eli all partied down. There was a brief and nearly ruinous balloon escape, the birthday girl's first taste of grief, but the day was salvaged by crying, duck watching, snuggling, and ultimately the sport of competitive blanket-pull (great idea, Chip and Lilac!).

I don't know who won, but everyone came away tired and happy.

Happy Birthday Sweet Lu!

pizza with candles on it (birthday, part 1)

Here's the real story.

On Friday morning we woke up with Lucy and started the day right with candles, bacon, and a birthday crown. She opened her presents: a tutu, tiny handmade oven mitts, matching mama-Lucy aprons, and some art supplies. We looked at a stack of pictures from her first two years of life. We ate bacon (I discovered her limit--four whole slices), toast with butter, and smoothies.

Then: fishing! Nana, Papa, Uncle Lance, Aunt Sarah, and Teagan met us at Hagg Lake for a boating adventure. We found a place where the tiny fish were biting and we reeled them in. Teagan had an awesome time playing with the fish in the bucket and trying out her sea legs around the boat; Lucy mostly just wanted to sit in someone's lap.

Back at Nana and Papa's house Lucy found a passel of balloons waiting. Pizza was the backup plan for dinner in case we didn't catch enough fish, so Mama made pizza dough while the men cleaned perch on the porch and Lucy played with Titi and Aunt Sarah.

Nana fried up the fish as a snack, or "Dinner Part 1" as we of Fillmore blood like to call it. Forty fish doesn't sound paltry, but they were little and delicious and Lucy as the birthday girl ate far more than her share.

There was an interlude during which Lucy opened presents. The first one was a set of nesting monkey dolls, which she immediately wanted to open and start playing with. I heard myself say, 'Let's just keep opening presents, you can play with them later," then realized that was ridiculous advice (stop enjoying! just open and move on!) and instead we sat and watched her play with every present in turn.

After presents there was pizza, homemade, with basil and mozzarella and hot capicola and whatever magic delicious gestalt comes when you mix those ingredients plus tomato sauce together in a hot oven. This being our second dinner did not stop anyone.

Then the cake, a dense, flourless circle of chocolate I made the night before, knowing that Lucy loves chocolate but isn't much for cake. By this point in the meal I think Lucy thought we were crazy, two dinners and then dessert?, but a second birthday seems as good a time as any to welcome her to her food heritage. We served it with fresh whip cream courtesy of Nana.

Lucy licked her fork, but cousin Titi (like the rest of us) cleaned her whole plate.

Then it was home with a tired two year old and a chance to sleep it all off and get ready for the next day's adventure.

friday cute shot, take 2

completely edible, but eating is somewhat discouraged

Inspired by this post, I finally got my act together on Tuesday after work and Lucy and I made some homemade playdough while Shaggy was gone at class.

We used a recipe from First Art, and even though I did it wrong and just combined everything in the pot before pitting it on the stove instead of heating, stirring, and combining in the correct order, physics gave me a little break and it turned out fine.

We've been storing it on the counter in an Oxo snap container with a piece of canvas that I got at the art supply store as a playmat, and so far she has asked to play with it everyday since we made it. She slaps, pounds, squishes, rolls, pokes holes, and asks me to make an endless list of things (some her idea, some mine), including balls, horses, cows, pizzas, bread, toast, hats, caves, ducks, and more.

We've mostly been using our hands so far, though I found a couple of cookie cutters back in my cabinet and picked up a couple of small non-sharp butter knives at the thrift store for Lucy to experiment with. I still need to get her some sort of small suitcase to keep sculpting utensils in ( primary criteria is that it be something she can open and close by herself), but for now we have a spot in the living room to stack things and it is working fine.

Play Clay
adapted from First Art

1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 to 2tsp of food coloring (we mixed some red and yellow)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup flour


Combined water, salt, cream of tartar, and food coloring in a cooking pot and cook on low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. When it starts boiling, add the vegetable oil. Then add the flour.


Stir until the dough starts to pull away from the side of the pan, and when you pinch it, it doesn't stick to your fingers any more. It should look much like play dough. 


When you're done, put it on the counter and knead it until smooth. Play! Store it in an airtight container and it should keep for a very long time.

This is why the recipe has all that salt.

giddyup

Lucy's future friend Eli, with the curls and the cheeks and adorable dimples, had a birthday this weekend to celebrate his first year of life. It was cowboy themed with bandannas, pulled pork barbecue and sarsaparilla, and the weather was perfect.

Sheriff Eli, the birthday boy

 Lucy wore a dress hand-sewn and hand-smocked by her Gramme, and topped it with a corduroy vest (since I couldn't locate any leather fringe at the thrift store). I appliqued a star over the Winnie-the-Pooh on the chest, and then later wondered if it was a major faux pas to come to another baby's cowboy birthday party dressed as the sheriff. Sure enough, Eli was also the sheriff, but he was very gracious in sharing his star and no dueling was required.

Deputy Sheriff Lucy, no dueling required

There was an overflow of cuteness going on. Just look at the eyes on these beautiful babies!

Scarlett

Baby Bea

And now, a picture extravaganza. Happy birthday, Eli!