I thought it was Thursday all day today, and other random thoughts.

Memorial Day must have thrown me off. I totally missed my visiting teaching appointment this morning. Sorry girls. I thought you were coming tomorrow.

My sewing machine is in the shop. That must be why I have an incredible urge to sew something. Oh well. I will have to wait for at least a week (a week!). Leonard, from the Bernina store, didn't want to tell me that I had neglected my machine, but he somehow left me with that impression. I can't wait to get it back all spiffy and clean.

I moved my big wing chair from the Arizona room to the office. Champ was wreaking havoc on it it, anyway. I don't know how good it will be for my back, but it sure is a good fit for 3 kiddos who want to play computer games. Stella is especially fond of the Curious George page on pbskids.org.

As soon as the kids are in bed I am off to pick up our redbox rental and get some Golden Spoon. Yum.

Happy weekend.

The girl behind Grosgrain has my dream job.

Well, I don't actually think it's a job. It might be more of a hobby. She sews pretty things, then takes really great pictures of herself or her little one wearing them, and then gives them away. It's fabulous.

Today's giveaway is too lovely to pass up. She calls it a vintage wedding dress. I call it gorgeous and would wear it all summer long.

She survived first grade.

But she was too sick to go to the last day of school today. There were lots of tears as we watched the entire first grade enjoy "water day" from our back gate. Life stinks sometimes.

Luckily, I have all of summer vacation to make it up to her.

First up on our list of fun things to do (as soon as we are all well enough, of course) is a trip to the store for a brand new pack of markers and some water balloons. It doesn't take much to keep us entertained around here.

It's a good thing I don't live in the Pacific Northwest.

Because after one morning of unexpected overcast skies and drizzles, I was in a mild funk. Not that I enjoy 100+ degree weather, but I sure do like to feel that sun on my face.

Stella went to nursery yesterday.

She's sitting to the right of the woman in the red shirt.

I guess she loved it.
Does this mean she's older than I think she is?
sigh.

Thanks to Mike's Tumblr for the photo.

I'm in my kitchen with my eyes closed.

And this music is playing really loud.
I'm pretending I'm at a Coldplay concert.

Get your free live Coldplay download here.
Thanks for the link, Elliott.

a pretty bowl and some pancakes

We enjoy pancakes. I make them several times a week and I always use a ratty old plastic bowl for the batter. Even though I have a whole stack of really pretty bowls. It's like I'm saving the nice bowls for some sort of special occasion. I do the same thing with clothes.

I hate that I do that.

Today I made our pancakes in this cheerful green bowl. As silly as this sounds, it made for a much nicer pancake-making experience. So I'm going to stop saving my nice things for a special day that will probably never come.


Anyway, here is the recipe for our favorite pancakes:

IHOP-ish Pancakes
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil
a few teaspoons wheat germ

Mix it all up and pour onto a preheated skillet.

I rarely have buttermilk, so I use the one-tablespoon-of-vinegar-for-one-cup-of-regular-milk substitution. Stella and I enjoy them with chunky peanut butter and syrup. Mabel and Oliver go the boring route with plain old butter and syrup. Sometimes we get fancy and put whipped cream on top.

Read this book.

You won't regret it.
It's really really good.
And funny, and sweet, and also pink.
I have been reading it all day and can't put it down.

You can find it here.

I love Mother's Day.

Oh, how I love these silly blue-eyed kids!

At our house, Mother's Day starts on Friday night. Isn't that the best idea you've ever heard? I had a good weekend. I renewed my dedication to motherhood. I reminded myself to be more patient and find more joy as I care for these sweet little people. I thought about how I am doing as a mother and what I can improve. I reflected on the wonderful examples of motherhood in my life. Mostly, though, I thought about my kids, and how lucky I am to be their mom. They make my job so easy.

I hope your weekend was just as nice.

Get the molasses.

I made biscuits.

What? You don't dip your buttermilk biscuits in pure molasses? Then Wilma Britton was not your grandmother, and also, you are totally missing out.

I don't think I've had biscuits and molasses in at least 10 years, but as I ate them today in my kitchen in Arizona, I might as well have been five years old in our kitchen in Villa Park watching my grandma cut the dough with the edge of a drinking glass. We would beg her to make them almost as soon as she arrived for a visit. And then we would crowd around the table and eat them warm out of the oven covered in molasses.

I wish I had my grandma's recipe, but today Martha Stewart's had to do.

Buttermilk Biscuits
4 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1 3/4 cups buttermilk, plus more for brushing

Preheat the oven to 375. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining.

Pour in the buttermilk; using a rubber spatula, fold buttermilk into the dough, working in all directions and incorporating crumbs at the bottom of the bowl, until the dough just comes together. The dough will be slightly sticky; do not overmix.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With floured fingers, gently pat the dough into a round about 1 inch thick, pressing in any loose bits. Do not overwork the dough. Use a floured 2 1/4 inch round biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits as close together as possible. (Use one cut edge for the next biscuit.)

Place the biscuits 1 1/2 inches apart on an unlined baking sheet. Generously brush the tops of the biscuits with buttermilk. Bake, rotating the sheet halfway through, until the biscuits are golden and flecked with brown spots, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer biscuits to a wire rack to cool.

I don't have a pastry blender, so I used my hands. Also, my biscuit cutter is larger than the size recommended. They turned out well, just big. I guess you could eat them with butter and jam instead of molasses, but I've never tried them that way. I think you have to start on molasses young. Oliver had to spit his bite out, but Stella thought it was ok. I was in heaven.

bike shorts for Leslie

See what I mean about the giddyness?

It's contagious.

She is standing, but is not steady enough to walk yet.

Our garden grows.

(please notice the size of these leaves in comparison to my size-7 foot)

Our pumpkins are taking over.
Our cilantro is over two feet high.
And we harvested our first tomato yesterday.

Who knew having a garden could be this exciting?


p.s. Stella was giddy all day yesterday.
She is a different girl than the one in the cast.
We are pretty happy around here.

She bends.

Let the squeezing commence.

Tomorrow I can breathe again.

I know that having a baby in a spica cast isn't the hardest trial one can face, but I'm not going to lie, it's been weighing us down.

So tomorrow after Stella gets her cast off and has a really long soak in the tub, we are going to celebrate. I am thinking of having a party where we'll just take turns squeezing her. Because honestly, I can't think of anything else I'd rather do.

I dream of this sink.

We would love to redo our master bathroom someday.

This is the prettiest sink I think I've ever seen.
I am filing this image away for that blessed day.

Happy weekend!