A couple of weeks ago I hosted a baby shower for Hannah. I had some super-cute decor ideas but needed help with planning the food. Enter Maxine.

She made me make a quiche, which I had not done before. It was divine! And fun to make! And even my pie crust turned out well and also kindof pretty! The cosmos aligned!

The first layer was sour cream, with bell pepper and spinach and garlic and green onion.

Then crumbled bacon.

Twenty pounds of shredded cheese.

And the egg-and-spice mixture on top.

If only I wasn't the only person in my family who would eat it! Then I could make it every. single. morning.

we're still getting curtains, but the stripes in the dining room are lovely and I'm glad I took the time to paint them:

I still need to get an extension cord for my sewing machines, and curtains for the window (oh, those curtains!) (and maybe some organizing)

found a perfect spot for my mini teapots! And now i need more! :)

the fabric/book shelf in our room is all put together, and mostly-sort-of organized.

we're starting to feel like grown ups. finally!

Domestic Bliss.

Finally, the hammock from Brazil that has been living in a closet or a box for the past 13 years has a home. And 4 boys who love it. Poor Daddy - the kids usurp it every time he thinks he's going to "get away for a bit".

It must be a guy thing? Because I just get bored...

I have a friend who recently moved across the country with 3 kids. And I have another who recently moved to a different country with 4 kids. And I do not know how they managed; because moving to a nearby city with 3 kids was quite the experience!

We slept in the back yard in a tent while we were painting. The boys loved it. They wanted to do it every day until the end of time.

And now that we're all (mostly. kindof) settled in, they have adjusted to the new location and new schools (more on THAT later) and more space.

During the two weeks before the move, my good friend Robin and my neighbor and friend Maxine took turns taking my kids and feeding them and keeping them sane.

Connor was out in the sun too much one day and started peeling - if you look closely you can see his skin is peeling off in a heart shape between his shoulder blades. heh.

Once I convinced him he wasn't dying of some weird disease, he thought it was pretty funny.

They stayed up late and played with random things left behind from the last tennant. Hopefully we didn't keep anyone awake.

It was tough at times, and we all stressed out a little bit, but we're back to normal now and everyone is happy.

especially mommy.

Nobody kept a straight face while I was taking pictures during the move. Which means now they get to see their goofy mugs on my blog. Ha!

This is Ty. He really likes peeling tape.

He isn't as fond of putting ON the tape,

painting our house,

for two days in a row...

and helping assemble our bookshelves.

But he did it anyway.

Thanks!

(also, credit to Hannah for coming over with an air mattress (she's on bedrest) and hanging out while I taped, taped, cleaned, and taped the whole week before). You guys rock.

This is a few weeks late, I know. This move kinda kicked our butts for the first little while. But we're settling in!

We painted the house on the Friday/Saturday before we moved in. And we learned that there are a few key things to have on hand when painting an entire house in a day and a half:

1. junk food. mostly to keep the kids occupied. go ahead and judge! it saved us!

2. Friends who show up unexpectedly and then drop all their plans for the rest of the day to keep on painting until it's all finished.

3. Did you know that there are two Round Table Pizzas in Burbank? TWO! You don't want to know how much money we spent there in August. My parents would be horrified.

4. This little guy insisted on helping. And being nursed every hour or so, just in case I had thought about weaning him too hard.

5. Did I mention good friends?
Thanks Nick and Kamy!

The Paint:

Red: door; Olive green: Master bed; white and greys, living room, dining room, and craft room; Browns, boys room.

gettin' ready!

we have a lot of painting to do.

because,

no.

Notes on a Week.

because our current place has tons of closet storage, we have been hanging most of our clothes and using plastic bins for the stuff we can't hang. The house does not have much closet storage at all - so it was time to look for some real furniture.

found this on craigslist for a really nice price. am in love.

somebody is obsessed with wearing shoes.

all. the. time.

however, clothing is optional.
the apartment has towers growing in it now. against this wall and that, in nooks and crannies.

he knows what to do with 'em!

"There she is, set for stun!"

"wait, where'd my gun go?"

Yep, it's Comic Con time again! And again I had to send Craig without me. Alas. Next year for sure, right? Separation anxiety can't last for more than a year, right?

right?

daddy brought home tons of loot as usual. Van got a Man Called Jayne hat.

Fletch got a zipper mouth stuffed animal.

Comics, of course.
Pokemon, of course.
I also scored a Dr. Who shirt. Lucky girl that I am.

may have found a house near craig's new workplace. hope it works out. fingers crossed.

so, Craig got a new job.

Starts pretty soon, gotta move before the school year starts up in 5 weeks. It's all suddenly crazy around here.

But good. Good crazy.

Mostly.

1. I do not like tomatoes. I do not like them, Sam I Am! I never have.

2. I keep getting tomatoes with our CSA produce box. I cannot waste them!

3. My friend/neighbor is a peach and shows me awesome things to do with tomatoes. So I can eat them.

These were cherry tomatoes. I cut them all in half, and put them on a sprayed baking sheet with aluminum foil on it.

Then I added a tiny bit of olive oil (i put it on each one with a dropper. probably you don't have to be as anal as all that). And added a tiny bit of salt.

And roasted them for 3 hours on 250. And they taste divine. And I am making sausage and tomato and basil pasta for dinner tonight.

Yay!

ah, peace.

i'm ready to go back now.

The best thing about being on vacation up in the forest is that the kids just love it. Everything is exciting to them. Grandpa teaches them how to identify different trees, they see more animals in one day than in an entire year down here in the city, and they can pretend that Pokemon are behind every boulder and in every tree.

Also, the boys got to see Elle for the first time in several months. There was much joy and rejoicing. And water gun fights.

Van discovered the beauty of throwing rocks into the lake. He sat there at Grandpa's feet for EVER, and I had to keep replenishing his little rock pile. If it ran out, he would sit and grunt at me in increasing urgency until I did as I was told.

(dad doesn't always carry a gun, that was just in case of bears and stuff)

I bought the boys some authentic sheriff and marshall star badges at the Weaverville Motel, where my sister works, and they had a few days of fun with Aunt Jacquie pretending to capture each other and collect bounties and put people in jail. Ah, the good old days!

The sun has finally come out in L.A., so we might be taking some summer pictures here pretty soon - now that we can play outside without shivering!

While we were on vacation Craig spent a few harrowing days helping a company clean out his mom's house. While he was there, they ended up finding many, many photos. Photos that we had never seen. I had never seen a photo of Craig before the age of 5; and only one fuzzy photo of his father, ever (he died when Craig was 9).

So it was a big deal. I spent hours taking pictures of the pictures with my digital camera. And guess what?

My baby:

My husband:

RIGHT?

1. Sorry about June. I was in a bit of a coma for June. Thank goodness it's over. School it out and Craig is done working on the Project from Hell. I'm alive again!

2. We got back from a vacation-back-home a couple of days ago. I just uploaded 705 photos. So I should be posting regularly for awhile just with this ammo.

3. Karalenn, this is the only decent shot I can find of my new haircut. Alas, I am blinking.

4. Husband! I have one! Here he is! (also, children. cute ones, if I do say so myself). He's been off work for 15 days. Two more left. I hope they draaag!

5. I bought this for Fletcher. I'm not sure he got it for more than 5 minutes. It was absconded by the baby who turned into a violent mass of screaming and teeth when Fletch tried to take it back. We made it up to him, he was a good sport about it. :)