Sunday, January 31, 2010

duck duck, goose. no seriously. duck!!

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We were on our way to Target to pick up our rad 3-D glasses for the Grammy's when we say what looked like just about every goose that has ever visited Arizona relaxing in the rain-made lake at the Pavilion's.

Cars were parked along the parking lot just to look at them, it was really pretty funny.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

levi turns 4!

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My nephew Levi turns 4 this weekend so last Saturday Jenny & Joshua threw a party for him. It was his birthday party so naturally he got gifts including the hilariously cool ride on toy tractor from the family. My mom never wanted my sister and I to feel left out on birthdays when we were younger and has decided to carry on this tradition with our kids. So, this year for Levi's birthday, Espen got a new Lego set. Espen was pretty excited, thrilled to get this new gift but if he only knew how excited I was! We got home from the party and pretty much immediately got to work on this 354 piece set. I think it's hilarious that Espen is 3.5 years old, I am 31 and the box says for ages 7-14. I told Jeremy that when I am 68 years old I am going to tell Espen, 'When I was your age I used to LOVE playing with Lego's'. Ha!

It took maybe an hour to get the whole Atlantis 'Gateway of the Squid' set put together and it took Espen about 2 minutes for him to take it all apart. Espen fell asleep on the couch watching Lost in Space (another wonderful gift from my mom) and left his Lego's ALL OVER our bedroom floor. At around midnight I decided it was time to go to bed so I grabbed a baggy and began to put Lego pieces away. That is until, I picked up a couple of pieces and snapped them together. The next thing you know, it's 1:30 in the morning, I am on the floor and Atlantis, once again was built!

I left the completed set up on our dresser and one of the first things Espen said to me in the morning was, 'See mom, you see what I put together all.by.my...self, you see?'. What a little scamp, I bet he was secretly weirded out that Atlantis magically put itself together.

Pasteis de Nata


A few days ago I received an email from J. Crew that featured information about their newest catalog, Spring Awakening, which was shot in Portugal. As always I was inspired by the clothes, but this time, the unbelievable backdrop of Portugal was the real scene stealer. One thing that really caught my eye were the Pasteis de Nata, a custard and pastry treat that has quite a history in Portugal. I found a recipe on Algarve Buzz and without ever really having had an interest in pastries or dessert making I decided to give it a try. Not only were the pastries out of this world delicious, but they were tons of fun to make.

Here they are just before they went in the oven.

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And here's the finished product. They could be a bit puffier...and burnt. Jeremy made a few yesterday and brought them to me at lunch, his were burnt and were scrumptious.

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**With the left over custard I made pancakes with custard filling. Kind of like a mix between an eclair and a half baked pancake. Jeremy thought it was a bit strange but ate his anyway. I thought it was a bit strange as well, but that just made me love it even more.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

blue velvet

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We watched Blue Velvet tonight. Laura Dern's hair is amazing in it. I am obviously jealous.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

I am high as a kite from this thing. So good.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

espen's new bed

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Recently Espen has been in to falling asleep on the couch at bed time. I remember falling asleep in the living room when I was little, it was the strangest feeling. I felt special because it was as if I was staying up 'past my bedtime' and there's nothing like being little and sleepy and having your parents pick you up and tuck you into bed.

This night in particular he desperately wanted to make his bed on the living room floor on my yoga mat. He brought out a blanket, pillow and what bed wouldn't be complete without his favorite buddies, black bear & white bear. He was so excited and proud of his little bed and I felt awful because he did this on a night when Jeremy and I decided to watch Black Hawk Down, um, not kid friendly by any means.
I told him he could sleep on the yoga bed tomorrow night while we watch one of his movies, picked him up and tucked him into bed.

Lego's - my new hobby

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We bought Espen a Star Wars Lego set for Christmas this year. I am in love. The pieces were out of the box for less than 2 minutes before I had moved Espen aside and began to dive into the task at hand, building the Echo Base. Over the past few weeks, everytime we pack up the pieces or bring them out again Legos are missing. I am not sure if this is good or bad. It bums me out a bit because we can never fully create the entire Battle of Hoth but at the same time, we can use our imagination and create what ever we want. I am notorious for making a mean spaceship with our dwindling Lego set.

parent & child yoga



Once a month at Desert Song Yoga they have a Child/Parent Yoga class for children 18 months through 3 years old. This was our second time going and we will be making it a monthly outing till August. The class is hilarious. There were 5 other boys in this last class, Espen was the oldest. The topic was 'Baby Bears'. We did a funny exercise with little Rubber Duckies, which Espen thought was hilarious and then moved on to a brief discussion on hibernating. Espen impressed the class with his knowledge of subject. I chalked it up to Sid the Science Kid, Sesame Street or maybe that Espen is a child genius until I told Jeremy, who apparently had just discussed in depth with Espen what bears do during the winter. What were the chances of that?

The last half of the class is when we set up an obstacle course for the kiddos. This week we set up folding chairs, bolsters and blankets to make a cave where the little ones could 'hibernate' in between balancing across blocks, tumbling over bolster mountains and rolling over an exercise ball.

Class ended with a healthy snack of apples and water and of course big hugs and thanks to Mary from the kids. We ended the the morning by a not so healthy trip to McDonald's so that Espen could complete his Alvin and the Chipmunk talking (annoying screeching)toy collection.

This is definitely a fun way to spend a Saturday morning.

it's an apple pancake kind of morning.

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Before we head out for Child/Parent yoga I thought I would make an old favorite of mine, Apple Pancakes. The pancake mix we got is the 'Just add water' kind, but I like to doctor them up like Bisquick's Melt in your Mouth Pancakes. Add some baking powder, sugar & lemon juice to the mix and voila, THE best pancakes EVER.

Monday, January 11, 2010

monday funday

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I decided to take a few days off of work to give my Mom a break from watching the kiddos and to spend some time with Espen. We had such a good day!

Kate had told me about a place in North Scottsdale called MacDonalds Ranch, an actual working ranch that offers horseback riding, cook outs, birthday parties and all things country western. One thing they do offer that got me interested is free pony rides for kids, all you have to do is tip your guide.

So, on Monday morning before Jeremy had to go to the work at the Boys and Girls Club, we headed out to the ranch. When we got there there were two workers walking around, although they didn't really greet us or make eye contact with us. Not sure what to do or how to get a pony ride, we took Espen over to the coral to see the horses. I was shocked by how cool he was around these huge animals. He would put his palm out, let them smell him and when they seemed okay with him he would go in for the pet, first on their noses, then on their cheeks. Jeremy took Espen around the ranch for some hilarious photo ops. I wrangled (pun intended) a cowgirl and inquired about the pony rides. She helped me fill out some paperwork, found Espen a little helmet and off she went to get Sheik, come to think of it, maybe his name was Chic, either way, she got the horse saddled up and ready for Espen.

Although he didn't move a muscle during the entire 10 minute ride, he didn't seem scared at all. He got up, held on tight and did really well. When we were all done with the pony ride we tossed some horse shoes and said goodbye to Jeremy. Off we went for our second adventure of the day.

We headed to McCormick-Stillman Rail Road Park. Once there we ended up riding the train, then the carousel, then the train again, we ate some hot dogs, went to the train museum and finished it off with sharing an Ice Cream cone. The next thing you know it was 4pm. What a day.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

this birthday present socks.



When my dear friend Sarah asked me what my favorite color and shoe size was I kind of had a feeling I would be getting some sort of knitted footwear. What I did not realize is that for my birthday I would receive one of, if not the most amazing handmade gift ever. These are not just socks, these are deliciously soft, perfectly fitting and intricately knitted cashmere/wooly foot candy. I do not own a pair of socks. If I need socks I stretch out a pair of Espen's. So, these socks, if you can even call them socks, are very dear to me now and thanks to the talented LimeJuicy my tootsies will forever be cozy.

Sarah these are amazing. Thank you so much! xo

On a side note, is it summer yet, my legs are whiter than they have been in ages.

how cool is espen?


He's super cool! And how cool is his Aunt Allison for buying him such cool 'fold up' shades? She also bought me Burgerville Hamburger Dressing while she was in Oregon. I have eaten it on practically everything: eggs, yep. chicken, yep. tuna sandwich, you bet.

And about those glasses, I was so jealous of Espen's new glasses I have since purchased my own pair of Wayfarers (yes Jeremy tells me I look like I am trying to be 18) and with this recent purchase I vowed NEVER to pay full price for anything again. I feel like a chump for ever spending full price on things like shoes, clothing and accessories. Almost everything I have purchased over the last 6 months is still out there to purchase but for a fraction of the cost. Case in point. New sunnies. Buy them new for $139 or get in a painless 45 second bidding war with someone on Ebay and pay $40. Come on! Need I say any more.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

hello 31.

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Today is my 31st birthday. I woke up to my favorite breakfast. Scrambled eggs, Taco Sauce and bread to fold the eggs up into. So good. The boys treated me to a lovely version of 'Happy Birthday' and thus begins the anniversary of my birth.

Today I will do absolutely nothing until 5pm tonight when we head out to El Torito (I know, high school) for Mexican food with the entire family.

Friday, January 8, 2010

birthday eve


Tonight I received a few early birthday gifts from Jeremy & Espen. Wine, sugar & coffee, 3 things I cannot live without! I love my boys.

Each gift had a funny card, for the sugar they thanked me for being so sweet. For the coffee the told me they loved all of my energy and for the wine...well, see the picture.

Goodbye 30, it's been fun.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

what does espen do while we make dinner?

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He plays video games...with headphones.

I'm wondering if I should wait till tomorrow to write this. My last entry was the 6the of January 2009.


I just got off of the phone with Jeremy and we realized that for the past two years we have stayed in for my birthday. And I came to realize that my 30th birthday was probably my favorite one so far. My family was there, my best friends of 16 years were there and it was the official day that Jeremy and I packed up a U-Haul and moved into the Bon Vie.