yesterday

Yesterday was one of those days.  We skipped stroller bootcamp (oh yes, that's a thing. and I love it.) in favor of maybe sleeping in a little (no such luck).  By eleven o'clock there had been half a dozen wardrobe changes for both of us (poor baby has super duper reflux).  And then immediately after a bath and fresh change of clothes, I set Harvey on our bed to run some laundry downstairs and came back to find that someone had leaked through his super amazing diaper and left a big soggy blow-out present on my white sheets.  Oh man.  I felt like I just couldn't win!

And then Evan came home for lunch and scooped up the cute (but messy) baby and made us lunch.  He is my hero.



And then after lunch I put my game face back on and made another batch of our new favorite cookies (they are perfectly chewy and special).

And then I surprise painted the front door yellow.  The color is called daffodil.

And for dinner I made some delicious kidney bean and quinoa tacos. Yum!

And then there was an after dinner walk around the neighborhood.  It smells so good outside right now!

So yesterday wasn't so bad after all.

And I am a huge fan of bad days turning into good days :)

nana knits

Harvey has been sooo spoiled with hand-knit goods from his nana and I've finally gotten around to taking pictures of all of them.  He is getting too big and pretty soon most of them will be too small :(  I wanted to be sure to get photographs of these gorgeous knits while they still fit, and I thought you guys might want to see them too!

This is Harvey's sleep-sack/kick-sack/sleeping bag.  It's basically a giant tube sock to keep those wriggly legs warm during naps.  I realize that he looks a little bit like a mermaid in the picture.  But he's not.  He's a baby.

 a little hat for my little friend.  

She made this BEAUTIFUL (ahem, handsome), vest that I love so much and kind of want a matching one for me.  And Evan.  And Gesso....?

Bonus--those buttons really button!

And I've already posted about those socks before, but his chunky legs are almost too big for them now.  Baby, stop growing!

Look!  Harvey can juggle SEVEN balls at once!  Sad story:  Gesso sort of gnawed a hole in the yellow ball.  grrrr.....

This blanket -- oh I love it!  It has all my favorite colors in it (I might have picked them out....), and it is so snuggly soft.

 I'm so glad I have my own personal knitting machine, otherwise I might have to learn how to knit!  haha!

s.o.t.m. club

Something that Evan and I like to do sometimes is memorize a scripture together.  And I came up with an idea to do one a month starting last month (you know, a scripture of the month club).  I picked this scripture because I love thinking about trees clapping their hands (I'm pretty sure they'd have to be aspen trees).  And if I'm being completely honest, environmental scriptures are my favorites.  They just are.

And so one afternoon I did a little watercolor mark up of this scripture and I think I'm going to try to do one every month.  Because wouldn't that be kind of fun to have a collection of favorite illustrated scriptures?  I think so!

p.s. Harvey was almost an Isaiah!

t shirt factory

It's been so good to have little projects started that I can tackle in bite sized pieces (or nap sized pieces if we're going to be specific).  Because as it turns out, I'm not very good at not having a little project (a baby is, for the record, a rather large project).   I was needing to make a little thank you present and I finally decided on what to make....some t shirts, of course!



I love freezer paper stencils so much.   So much.  

I made a pair of vw bus tshirts to send to a couple of cute nephews.  And then I spotted a tiny tool belt (tool apron?) at the home depot (77 cents, yo!) and made a little patch to cover up the blazing orange logo. 

 It got me excited to make Harvey some shirts, you know, once he stops puking on everything :)

eastering

 

 

 

 

 

I love holidays.  And as I was thinking of ways to make Harvey's first Easter extra special (because he totally cares, right?!), I thought:  CARROT CAKE!  Can you believe I've never made one before?  I know.  Shame on me.

We spent Saturday celebrating the arrival of spring by hiking with our little moss baby in the moss covered mountains. Sunday was spent eating Easter appropriate food (pasta primavera, carrot cake, and Harvey's easter candy {burp}), a blossom sniffing walk, and an afternoon of church with a super reverent baby (oh thank goodness).

Carrot Cake

from allrecipes.com (with added notes from me)

cake:

4 eggs

1 1/4 c. canola oil

2 c. sugar (I did one cup each of brown and white)

2 t. vanilla (I did 3 t.)

2 c. flour

2 t. baking soda

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 t. cinnamon (I did 3 t.)

3 c. grated carrots

pecans (I didn't add any because somebody in our house doesn't appreciate nuts in baked goods)

(I added 1/4 t. nutmeg and a couple of big spoonfuls of crushed pineapple (maybe 8 oz.?)

frosting:
1/2 c. butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

(I used two 9" round pans and reduced baking time to 35 minutes)

Verdict:  super delicious!  I will definitely be making this cake again next year.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!