One of my friends (who has a food blog here), made mini bastillas just like our Moroccan restaurant downtown P-town. She sent me the recipe she used, but it looked too involved, so I found a simplified version online and it turned out pretty wonderful. To my surprise, it wasn't any more time consuming than assembling a lasagna and the kids even ate it. Hylton is our pickiest eater by far and he was literally sucking the flaky pieces of Phyllo dough. ...Could have been because it was entirely covered in cinnamon and sugar, but whatever...
The day before Sterling started Kindergarten, Michelle and I took the kiddos to the Zoo for one last Summer fling.
Hylton loved the Sea Lions and all the kids were barking at them.
Sterling & Evie started soccer. Despite the fact that she could actually kick and pass the ball (pretty well for a 4-year-old), Evie quit the first day. Just not for her right now, I guess.
I love these action shots of Sterling. It makes it look like they are playing a knock-down, drag-out game of soccer, when in reality, they are mostly running aimlessly across the field, tugging on eachother, oblivious of the ball.
We finally got some ripe plums (a month later than last year due to El Niña); not many at all since we severely cut both trees back too late in the spring, but a few.
Speaking of El Niña, this is the day last week that we got torrential rain (1" in under an hour) and this is how our "rigged" downspout drain worked:
It's a little hard to tell in the movie, but the water is flowing right back toward the house, along the foundation and around the crawl space blocks so that it looks like we were trying to create our very own, personal moat...
This is how it was supposed to work, in theory (ie, still attached to the downspout, water flowing away from the house...):
Yes, that is packing tape...
On Sterling's first day of school, I was a little disoriented. I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself, so I pulled out some material and decided to try to make Evie a pair of pajamas, which she needed in a bad way since she's been wearing pajamas 2 sizes too small for a couple of months now.
Hylton and Evie happily fell into the flow of a different kind of day together without Sterling:
With them playing so nicely together for the most part, I was able to make a nightgown in about 2 hours.
She was in love with them. She modeled them for me and then proceeded to chassé and pirouette around the living room in her new, twirly Hello Kitty pj's.
It seems like all our projects around here take us forever because life happens. Things are constantly creeping in to replace the things that really need to get done (like the gutter drain). One of those things was the East hedge of Arborvitaes that were easily 24' tall. My Dad was going to come take his power trimmer back, so we needed to get them wacked down to size.
Doug cut them down to 8'. Our next door neighbor who has lived here for 20 years says she has never seen them so short.
Unfortunately, we didn't take a picture of the before, but I have one from last winter so you can see how tall the hedge was compared to our Magnolia tree.
Sterling celebrated his 6th birthday last Monday, so we had a family gathering for him on Sunday. I decided not to do cake this time, but made fruit salad instead and put his candles into ginormous marshmallows. There were a few complaints, but Sterling was happy.
The boys- Papa Jack, Papa Larry, Uncle Scottie, Papa Scott, Sterling
Grandma DeeDee and Hlyti, Evie
Sterling showing Grandma and Grandpa his "thousand dollars" (actually $15 in ones) that came out of his card from Papa Scott.
Grandma Bobbie gettin' down with Bocce in the front yard
These pictures crack me up because there's absolutely no way you'd ever guess we were related (sarcasm alert).
Sterling in his new Mario jammies from Aunt CC.
4 comments:
I like posts that never end! Lots of great stuff!
The torrential rain/malfunctioning gutter made me laugh...and then groan. did you have a flood?
I wished for action shots of whacking down those hedges! Sheesh. They were tall! 8 feet is still impressive.
I did a double-take on Evie's pajamas...with three boys I was expecting something with arms and legs. Nightgowns...oh, yeah! I forgot they existed.
Where do I begin? First of all, I love Evie's night gown. That is F-a-n-c-y with the embellished roses on the bottom. Now I see where/how the days are going since Sterling is gone. I haven't seen the windows and I like! What in the world are you using Ego syrup for at the get together for Sterling's b-day (don't answer if it was brunch). I love your fall decorations. Very cozy looking. And lastly, there was a "meanie" on Jared's team in those pics who kept name calling my players:) The kids have probably already forgotten, but I'm protective of every little kid. I hope to see you soon.
Where did you get the pattern for Evany's pjs? Too cute! Novalee was admiring them for a rather long time yesterday. :)
You and mom are definitely related. Now if only you were BOTH wearing black shirts, it would have been a done deal.
Loves.
Woman, you amaze!
Post a Comment