Peppercam

ONE

A year ago today, I was holding a tiny, sweet, chubby-cheeked baby girl, so grateful to be the mama who would get to be with her as she grows up.  And now look!



My sweetie. I hope she is as happy with her family as we are with her.



She especially loved it when we all sang her "Happy Birthday."



So we did it again!



And again, all day.



The girls and I were home, so we were able to spend the whole day doing things Emily enjoys. Like eating things off the floor and emptying cupboards! Not really, but that would have probably been fine with her. We had pancakes, went to baby storytime, took a little walk (what a day for a walk! Ohmygoodness Emily, you have a glorious birth date), had a big bath, crawled around wreaking destruction on the playroom, and ate cake.

She got a pillow for her crib. Big girl one year olds need one for their beauty sleep.



Bella gave her a huge rubber ball that we picked out at Target. She insisted that it be wrapped, so I wrapped it and put it with the other gifts, and Bella sees it and says, "Is it a Pinata?"

She got her very own bag of Teddy Grahams, a big hit. And a card that plays Winnie the Pooh when it opens. Her most special present isn't finished yet--I just need to knit a few more inches on it. I always take advantage of these poor babies who have no concept of punctuality.

We also went to Bella's dance class tonight. I wouldn't say that is one of Emily's favorite things, but she doesn't mind it. And it was family watch night!



And also costume try-on night. This picture just takes my breath away. You can tell she feels like a princess.



My two princesses. What a lucky mama I am.

02 March 2010 | Permalink | 2 Comments

A little catching up

Just so we are all caught up, here are some things that have been going on during my impromptu blog break, for which I don't really have a good excuse except that I have been exhausted and for a while in fact, was sure that I had mono but then it turns out I am just naturally tired and lazy with no viral assistance needed.


Feb 11: Bella gets hit in the head (deliberately) with a large chunk of ice at preschool. I get called at work and told they can't stop the bleeding, although it is only bleeding a little so don't panic even though you just heard the words can't stop the bleeding and are trying not to throw up. I take her to the doctor and she gets patched up, so all's well that end's well. Except that the incident starts us down a dark path of doubt about our choice of daycare. Because, first of all, how f'd up are you to hit a little girl with a large chunk of ice IN THE FACE? And why haven't you been sent home when I pick up my bleeding kid and take her to go get stitches*? And why did your parents not apologize when I later saw them? WHAT THE H IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? It triggered a primal mama protection sequence which is still unfolding. We went and visited a new preschool and Bella had a great time. But she's four and can have a great time at the mall play area, so we are taking that into account. We are very torn on what to do.

*she turned out to only need 'suture strips,' very handy little things!

Next in my rundown of exciting happenings, we got a piano!   

 

I am so excited. I have always wanted a piano and it is just surreal that now we have one sitting in our living room. We decided on a digital piano, a nice one, and I think it was a great decision, even if it doesn't fit my vision of a charming wooden piano. It has several "voices," which is super fun. The jazz organ alone makes the piano awesome. And don't be surprised if I put on my Jane Austen gown and play a minuet on our harpsichord. Oh, except I don't know how to play a minuet! Minor detail. But I am so excited to take piano lessons! I am going to start in March. I am just thrilled to have a piano in our house, especially with little kids who aren't too cool to sing and dance around while I hunt and peck the ABCs.

Look at Emily Bea!



She is very proud of herself zombie shuffling behind her walker. She aims for some destination (usually Bella) and when she arrives she squeals and bounces up and down. Yay me! She gets easily distracted by all the bells and whistles on the front of the thing, stopping walking to hang over and flip a few switches like she's a mechanic giving it a little tune-up before walking on.

I ordered all the plants for our new veggie garden. I hope that is a successful adventure! I also got a little carried away with ordering some new flowers for our new landscaping. But I'm not as worried about that. Flowers I can handle. (Usually.) Some of my more exciting purchases are a mix of woodland plants for the back fairy garden area, a peony bush for the front, moonflowers to climb up the deck posts, a 'tiramisu' heuchera (I love tiramisu!), and a lime-green echinacea. I can't wait to spend the summer hanging out with our new landscaping! Maybe I can even have a garden party. And I can wear my Jane Austen gown and play the harpsichord! OHMYGOSH!

The last thing is that I made these fabulous slippers.



Are they not SO CUTE? I had to do some major adjustments on the photo, since there is actual flesh exposed and it is so blindingly white that my camera exposed it like I was taking a picture of the sun.  They are this pattern, which I give 4 out of 5 stars. I docked a star because my heel really turned out nothing like the heels in the picture. So either I misunderstood the pattern (I doubt it, SNIFF!), or her heels are knit differently. But they do stay on and they look super adorable and they are very fun to slide around the kitchen in while pretending to be an ice dancer. So overall, two needles up.

They are part of my wardrobe revamp, wherein I am tossing things that have been worn way past the point where I would even consider giving them away to homeless people. Out with my old ratty slippers, stretched-out bras, pajamas from tenth grade, and shoes with actual holes in the bottom. I cleaned out my closet and drawers and bought a few new things and now everything is fresh and tidy and wearable. Aren't I awesome. Definitely!

Well thanks for joining me for the recap. I am off to dinner and knitting night. I hope you are having a great week!

24 February 2010 | Permalink | 5 Comments

The Fairy Family

We found these at the library! How cute is that! Cousin Claire had given Bella a bunch of these for her birthday, and now she is hooked. Good thing there are 500 of them.

We were concerned Brent would feel left out. So Bella and I wrote him his story.

Brent the Peanut Butter fairy was in trouble! He was hanging from a branch and it was making cracking sounds. He had started out well enough, on a ladder picking some wonderful, juicy berries at the top of the berry bush. But that ladder, in a huge gust of wind, had blown down to the ground, leaving Brent hanging on for dear life.

"Oh wouldn't it be nice to have wings right now!" panted Brent. 

Just then, he heard laughter tinkling on the wind. It was Joanne the Butternut Squash Fairy and Amy the Amethyst Fairy coming back from South America, where they had been on a wonderful fairy vacation, just hanging out. 

"HELP!" cried Brent, who was doing some hanging out himself.

But the two fairies were talking and laughing to each other and didn't hear him. Brent's tiny hands were starting to slip. He needed to think of something fast!

Aha! He took his wand out of his belt and waved it around a little. Then he yelled into the tip, "Joanne! Amy! HELP!" His voice boomed out of the microphone wand.

Joanne and Amy stopped talking. "Did you hear that?" asked Amy. They both cocked their pointy ears to listen. 

"HELP!!" echoed Brent again.

Joanne and Amy raced toward the voice. "That's Brent!" said Joanne. They rushed through the bushes and were startled to see Brent dangling from the top of a tall berry bush. They flew as fast as lightning and grabbed Brent, one on each arm, right as they heard the branch go CRACK!

They flew to the ground and set Brent on the grass. 

"Thanks!" he said with relief, rubbing his sore hands together. "I was just trying to get some berries to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to welcome you home."

"Well maybe next time you should let the flying fairies do the high altitude work, ok?" Amy winked and flew up to get a berry. She carried it as they walked to Brent's cottage.

"Now how about some of those sandwiches? I'm starving!" said Joanne. Everyone laughed.

09 February 2010 | Permalink | 1 Comments

This is me trying to be organized about meals. One of my new year's resolutions! I sat down last Sunday made a plan. Here it is:

S:  Fresh Pasta with Tomatoes, Crispy Deviled Eggs (these are from How to Eat Supper and they are so good)

M: TV Dinner Night! Pierogies, Carrots and Dip

T:  Chili (Mom and Dad brought supper!)

W: Knit Night (this means Brent usually gets McDonald's)

T:  Porcini Farro (except I couldn't find Farro so I made this Pasta Bake instead--delicious), Salad, Grape Phyllo Tart (from Martha Stewart's new book, super good)

F: Pumpkin Leek Soup, Cheese Flautas

S: Chicken Marsala on sage polenta, Salad, Rice Pudding

It went more or less like that.

And now it's already time for this week's menu planning! Any recommendations?

I am so in love with myself for working on this new year's resolution. Self, you are so organized and awesome. I hope I don't burn out after three weeks. Which could so happen. Because planning, shopping, and cooking add up to a part-time job and heaven knows I don't have time for that in between all my knitting and American Idol watching.

07 February 2010 | Permalink | 7 Comments

Planning for a Good Year

Happy February!

Bella's not a big fan of this sledding arrangement ("She's CRUSHING me!"), but she has decided it is better than no sledding. Apparently we need to upgrade to the tandem?

01 February 2010 | Permalink | 0 Comments

Birthday Girl

I think the birthday girl had a nice fourth birthday.

16 January 2010 | Permalink | 2 Comments

Savor the Sweetness

I am constantly amazed at how sweet Bella is. She is thoughtful and sincere and genuinely compassionate.* When I do something like stub my toe, she will demand "which toe?" and go get an ice pack. She loves to setup Emily with lots of toys, which Emily typically throws aside so she can crawl around and eat sock lint, and Bella will run around, "She needs fresh toys!" gathering different toys. At preschool they wrote down what each kid said they wanted to be when they grew up and Bella was the only one who said "a momma." Awwww.

I realize this is probably a big sister phase, and the clock is ticking before the crazy I-hate-you-all-and-I-want-a-cell-phone tweenager phase kicks in. But for now, let's savor the sweetness. I thought a good way to encourage her compassion and thoughtfulness would be to have her help me volunteer. So I did a little searching around for good pre-school volunteer opportunities, and found a bunch of great ideas. When both girls are older, there will be a lot more "on-site" opportunities, but for now I stuck to the at-home things.

• Minnesota Visiting Nurse Agency has many ideas for "kits" you can shop for and assemble at home and bring to their offices for their home-visit nurses to bring when they visit low-income families. The one that I think would be most interesting to Bella is the "Rub a Dub, Safe in the Tub Kit." It includes baby towels and washcloths, baby wash/shampoo, wipes, diapers, diaper cream, a bath toy, and some onesies. Lots of fun things to put together! And don't you love thinking of a little baby having fun in the bath, all clean and splashy? There is nothing cuter than a baby having fun in the bath. Another donation idea they gave was that they are always in need of books. Because, they say on the website, 95% of the households they work with do not qualify as what they consider "literary homes," which means they have less than 12 books in the house. IN THE WHOLE HOUSE. I realize I am sheltered, but OMG. We have like 1200 books. My heart just broke.
• Habitat for Humanity cookie baker! How fun is that idea! We love to make cookies. And apparently Habitat for Humanity likes to deliver cookies to job sites to reward volunteers. But we would just deliver them to the main office, so that's easy enough.
• Chemo Angel. Kind of a heavy subject for a little kid, so I'm going to dumb it down: sick person needs cheering up. I think at a basic, non-cancerous level, this is the kind of personal mothering activity that Bella is drawn to. And since it is all through the mail, it is pretty non-threatening. I think she'll be a wonderful chemo angel assistant!
  

So those are my ideas for my sweet little girl. I'll let you know how they go!

*Just to be clear, Bella has her moments. Two nights ago she screamed like a banshee and shouted "I AM SO ANGRY! AND FRUSTRATED! AND NOW I AM SAD!" (she will continue adding emotions--scared, lonely, thirsty--for as long as they keep surfacing) all because I had put her stool in front of the sink to brush her teeth. But it was the wrong sink! I AM SO ANGRY!

11 January 2010 | Permalink | 0 Comments

Happy Birthday Brent!

I think Brent had a nice birthday. I made lasagna, the recipe from Apples for Jam, more or less, and it was sooo good. That is one of my favoritist cookbooks ever. The recipes are right up my alley and all of the text and pictures are about children/childhood. It has such a cozy, sweet feel. Love it.



We (Bella and I) also made pineapple dream cake, which is just yellow cake with special pineapply frosting. Bella added all the ingredients to the bowl, even the 3 eggs. She is actually becoming quite a help in the kitchen!



We were highly amused by little 10 month Emily Bea stuffing chunk after chunk of cake into her mouth. She ate half my piece! When she was 3 months old, she was "student of the month" at her daycare and I had to fill out a sheet of her 'favorites,' and for favorite food, I jokingly put Twinkies. WHO KNEW?

The girls and I had a fun day getting ready for Daddy's birthday. We also went to Party City to get ready for Bella's birthday! She was so excited and cute, picking out her Strawberry Shortcake supplies. And then pouring through them when we got home, and showing them all to Daddy when he got home. So sweet!

Here she is swimming!



She was not as big of a fan as she looks in the photo. But hopefully it'll get easier. I signed her up at Foss, which is the yuppie swim school around here, in an effort to make her first experience as great as possible. And I suppose it was a pretty good first lesson, but the instructor decided to spend the last 10 minutes making them take turns putting their ears in the water. Which destroyed Bella. I ended up squatting at the edge of the pool, trying to pat her back while she sobbed that she didn't like swimming lessons. Kind of heart breaking. I have a feeling this experience is going to involve lots of bribes and some advanced parenting techniques.

06 January 2010 | Permalink | 3 Comments

A couple recent projects

Check out this pirate house! I made it for my swashbuckling nephew.

02 January 2010 | Permalink | 2 Comments

And it's over

Zip! Just like that, Christmas is over. I hope you and yours had wonderful, cozy, and safe celebrations. Our travel (just local) worked out just right with the weather. Santa managed to make it to our house during the worst of the snow on Christmas Eve, so we had a good time opening presents and drinking coffee while the snow piled up. Brent didn't even bother to blow the driveway until about 3 pm. Now THAT'S a holiday!

Having both our girls for their first Christmas together was magical, and all I really needed to have a perfect holiday. Emily Bea has just learned to battle-crawl in the forward direction (previously only went backwards, so frustrating) and she became very fast during Christmas. Every present that was opened soon had little Mimi frantically speed-dragging herself over to examine it. The girls got lots of wonderful gifts. This ball pit was especially exciting!



I got an amazing surprise when Bella opened her gift from Aunt Sally's family... the vintage Sesame Street set I had so persistently tried to get off ebay!! NO WAY!



Now I get to have fun seeing if I can get good deals on all the accessories for it that are on ebay. I do like a good cyber-shopping challenge!

Due to all of my pneumonia drama*, a few things slid by this year. Like baking. Didn't get any of that done. (Although we did make a gingerbread house. That counts, right?) We didn't celebrate St. Lucia day. My aunt and uncle in North Carolina didn't get their usual box of goodies. I didn't send a Christmas card (although I made one for you blog readers!). I contributed nothing to both family dinners we went to. And in fact totally forgot about our Christmas dinner. (Luckily I found some old filet mignon in the freezer!) The blog and my etsy shop had to take a hiatus. And, perhaps the lowest point of the season, I missed Bella's holiday show at preschool.

But looking at the bright side, I finished my shopping, wrapping, and gift-making in time. Our house was decorated. We got a picture with Santa (adorable!) and celebrated St. Nick day (remembered at the last minute). So not all bad. Quite nice, actually.

I wouldn't want to do it this way every year, but it's nice to know some hallowed traditions can be left for another year, and the holiday still feels special. Even Christmas Lite is still Christmas, and I am so thankful to have such wonderful families and to be able to be together with them.

*As for my pneumonia, I got the best gift I could have asked for in the form of new antibiotics that work. Merry Christmas to me! I had pneumonia since mid-September and in early December was referred to a pulmonologist, who did a bronchoscopy and decided I must have drug-resistant pneumonia. This was great news (14 days of antibiotics and I'm cured), and I am so excited that the new antibiotics are actually helping (after just one week even). Hooray for modern medicine! I was even out sledding twice this weekend! YEEHAW!

28 December 2009 | Permalink | 2 Comments

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving already

What a crafty weekend we had! We started out with the Holiday Fair at the Minnesota Waldorf School. I was super excited. I had been wanting to see inside the school, since I secretly wanted to send the girls there, and also couldn't wait to buy up all kinds of handmade crafties. But then there weren't that many handmade crafties (although we got a cute coat/hat/scarf set for Rosemary), and the school had a weird vibe to it that cured me of wanting to send the girls there. I think Brent about nailed it when he said it was the Renaissance Festival of schools. But the "Gnome Cave" attraction was stellar, and we all enjoyed an awesome lunch. You could also make a gnome and a candle holder, but for some reason Bella wasn't feeling crafty. Shoot.

Sunday we had fun making Thanksgiving cards! We used 54stitch's instructions.



The hardest part was getting Bella to draw a turkey. First she studied pictures of turkeys in Blue Hat, Green Hat. Then she filled a few sheets of paper with scribbles. Then she declared turkeys too hard to draw. Luckily, it occurred to me to make a hand turkey! Phew! Crafting crisis averted.

I love the way her turkey has "wings" down on the chest. Turkey breast(s) anyone? tee hee.

We made tons of prints, since squirting the paint into the pan was Bella's favorite part. Then we glued (gluing! second favorite part) them to the front of cards and wrote "Happy Thanksgiving!" and Bella signed her name. I signed Emily's too even though she didn't really help much and mostly just rolled from the kitchen to the dining room and back, occasionally shrieking as she went by.

Also yesterday we busted out the new ice cream maker. I was going to give it to Bella for Christmas, but then I read the instructions--FIVE hours to make ice cream?? That is so not going to be fun on Christmas day. But it sure is fun while you're making handprint turkeys! And, although it really did take 5 hours in the freezer (maybe not that long if you aren't 3 and don't check on it every 5 minutes), that little $14 ice cream maker made some FANTASTIC ice cream! We made mint chocolate chip and at first Bella thought it was too minty (OOOH MORE FOR ME!) but then wolfed down a whole bowl (DAMMIT!).

It is surreal that this week is Thanksgiving. Tomorrow the girls have a "free" day at daycare and I am going to have a nice day at home baking rolls for the big feast. Should be fun!

23 November 2009 | Permalink | 0 Comments

Grand Opening!

I suppose it was inevitable. I had to fulfill my shop-owning fantasies somehow. And, so far, the new Etsy Peppercam shop is doing a great job. I get to design a banner! I get to arrange things! I get to make business cards! All very exciting.

Here is what it looks like:



www.peppercam.etsy.com

I sell safety-pin watches, which I have worn for years and let me tell you, they are FUN. Adults love them, kids love them, everybody pours attention on the watch.



I also have some beaded snowflake ornaments in there, although those aren't getting as much attention as the watches-- even though they are gorgeous (if I do say so myself!). They have a couple issues: a) my photos are kind of crappy, they are a bitch to photograph since they are CLEAR, and b) they take me about an hour each to make so I priced them accordingly, which might be a little steep for the useless decoration category.

And--more shop fantasies--I got to buy packing supplies! What a fun trip to Papersource.



I know what you're thinking. Where are the KNITS? Well, I haven't quite figured out what would satisfy the balance between time spent and money earned in the knitting department. Because most of my knitting projects take me hours and hours to do, and no one wants to pay $100 for a baby sweater. But I have the Etsy bug so I'm sure I'll think of something to stick in the shop!

22 November 2009 | Permalink | 4 Comments