Keeping Busy & Sad News

After dropping the big boys off at camp, I took my littlest man to the $1 showing of Paddington Bear at Regal Theater up north. It's their Summer Movie Express. The last time I took him to the movie theater was last summer for one of these. We met up with friends, and I forgot my wallet. I ended up having to take him out of the theater periodically, as he was only a little over a year old. We did better today, but not by much. We stayed for 1 hour of the show. It was alright, since we were meeting friends for lunch, and I wasn't sure if we'd make it back in time if we stayed for the whole movie. Luckily, I only spent $1 on my ticket, he was free, and we shared a kids snack pack for around $6.

We made it back a little early, so we stopped at the playground. Crosby really enjoyed going for a ride of the zip-line swing.

Lunch was at Cactus with our friend who nannies two boys we met through karate. They have a pretty decent kids' menu. I ordered C the beef brisket flautas for $4, which came with sour cream and guacamole. He seemed to like it, but ate more of it in the car on the way home than in the restaurant. Go figure.

Before we picked up brothers from camp, I went to check on our frog, Murray. He was dead. I was really shocked and sad about this. We found Murray a few weeks ago, when he still had a bit of his tadpole tale, in Seabrook, WA. I was the one who caught him, but Tyler claimed him, and has been taking care of him since. I didn't tell him that Murray died, but he didn't check on him before bed tonight. He seemed so good yesterday. When I found him, it looked like one foot may have been stuck between a rock and the side of the aquarium. My guess is that he drowned. Good-bye, Murray. You will be missed.

When we first got Murray's aquarium, and crickets for him to eat.

What a cute frog.

Fava Bean & Shitake Risotto

It's been tough for me to motivate to cook when the house is so hot. But, we have so much wonderful, fresh produce in the house, I need to make use of it, and quickly. We are only in week 4 of 20, for farm fresh organic vegetables from Oxbow Farm. The last 3 weeks have brought us sugar snap peas, fava beans, fennel, garlic shoots, shitake mushrooms, lettuces, and more. This week's box shouldn't disappoint, either. This year, we are not hosting a pick up site, as we thought it would be less chaotic while the remodel is going on. It's the first time in several years (4 or 5??) that we'll have to pick up our box. We almost forgot last week! We do have the option of having it delivered, if we order a pizza from Pagliacci, where the boxes are dropped off this year. Dangerous.

Anyway, I digress. Back to cooking in this heat. Currently, it's 80 degrees F in our kitchen, a touch cooler than yesterday. And, it was pretty muggy yesterday. Basically, not very comfortable, especially when I was about to make it hotter with my cooking. I was determined to cook dinner and use up our fava beans. I had saved 2 weeks' worth of them. These babies were gorgeous, and delicious. Sauteed in a little browned butter, in the same pan I used to saute the shitake mushrooms, then added to creamy risotto. 

For the older boys, I left out the mushrooms. I wish they would like mushrooms. I think it's more a texture thing than a taste thing. 

I think it turned out nicely.

Getaway

After school let out yesterday, we drove out to the WA coast to the town Seabrook. We were just here back in April during spring break with Ma. We've rented a much smaller place this time for just the 5 of us. It's nice, but the last place was so fabulous, this is like we're slummin' it. Ha! Spoiled.

Really, though, I do feel spoiled, even if this place isn't as big or well stocked as the last. I mean, raising my 3 boys is so hard. {One is super moody, another is happy yet wildly crazy, and the third is super duper moody, cute, and wildly crazy.} I'm usually exasperated by 9am. BUT! Yes, there is definitely a silver lining. Raising these boys comes with priceless rewards, like the things we did as a family today, and I feel so fortunate.

Hiking down to the beach via the "Gnome Trail."

Crosby putting on David's Cavs ball cap like it ain't no thang.

Seeing my 2 year old flying a kite for the first time.

Playing in the sand & finding tadpoles {yeah, on the beach!}.

And, my life is extra sweet because I have the best husband to share these moments with. He said to me while we were on the beach, watching our boys with another random group of kids, "I love seeing kids play & explore like this. It's what growing up should be like." I love his appreciation for the wonders of childhood.

Last Day of School

I can't believe I only took one picture all day.

What is even harder to believe is that school is over. Come September 9, I will have a 3rd grader, a 1st grader, and a preshooler! Oh my. Yea, C will do 2 half-days at a Mandarin immersion school on the east side. It's so minimal that I won't really get anything done. 

Anyway, here's the one picture.

I did take a few pictures from Ty's kindergarten celebration last week!

Wash In Cold

As a kid, I wanted to Sun-In my hair like the rest of the girls at school. But, I knew that my mom would disapprove. Yeah, I said, "disapprove." Even though my parents considered me to be "wild," I was really pretty good. I mean, Sun-In would leave some pretty obvious evidence of me rebelling against something Ma felt strongly against. I wasn't stupid.

Fast forward, oh, 20-something years (or more) later. I'm a mom of 3. Now, the clock is ticking, and I only have a few more years to pull off something as crazy as neon blue and neon green hair. Funny enough, Ma thinks it's great! Ah, I love her. 

So, this is the wildest of my wild hair. In the past year, I've done some purple with blue and bits of green, some blue with pink, and now this. It's taken me a few weeks to get used to, but it's pretty fun. I feel like it makes people do a double take and think, "What? Anny?" Yup, it's the same, pretty good-girl me. Just with a little extra color.

Oh, and my little tip for colored hair...wash in cold water. Yaoza!

Morning Bird Feeding

This morning, after we dropped Tyler off at school, Crosby kept saying something that sounded like "Yatzee" to Tyler's teacher. I thought it was totally legit, since we've been playing Mickey Mouse Yatzee the past week, until I heard something that sounded like, "duck." That's when I realized he was saying duck in Mandarin. Yia-tzi. Since we had a little bit of time before our "baby college" class, I was happy to oblige. So, off we went to the arboretum, and ducks we found! Along with some Canada Geese, and crows. And, baby geese! Can you spot the little guys?

Ducks are truly so much nicer than geese.

I say ducks are nicer, but they are just as eager to eat as geese, and even a little more daring. See that light brown one? Yeah, she managed to take that whole piece of bread from Cros. I think he dropped it because he was a little scared, and she swooped in, snagged it and ran. One geese hissed at us a bunch, which was freaky. When we were down to our very last bit, we threw it and ran, as more ducks were landing in the water that very moment! Whew!

Mushrooms For The 2 Year Old

I made a pork stir fry last night. It called for shiitake mushrooms. Crosby loved the mushrooms. He had leftovers for lunch, but had eaten all but about 4 tiny pieces of mushrooms last night. I served him what I could, but when he asked for more, I couldn't say no. I cut up more mushrooms and sautéed them with some of the stir fry.