Cousins!

Last weekend Ryan's cousin Traci was in town with her daughter, Miriam who is just 6 months older than Ezra. (Funny that I used to think that 6 month difference was soo huge!)

It was fun to watch them play together. (Oh, and I guess you can also see some new additions I've made to Ezra's play kitchen.)






And then on Monday, Ryan's cousin Jessica babysat Ezra so that Ryan and I could go on a date! It was soo fun. We had coupons for free smoothies at Jamba juice, so we started out there. And then realized we were actually really hungry, and a smoothie wasn't going to fill us up, so we went across the street and got a pizza from BZ's, a local place we've been wanting to try...very yummy! And, they said if we give them, at least a 90 minute notice, they'll make a gluten free pizza for Ezra (the 90 minutes is so they can go to the store and get the right flours), how cool is that?? Then, we went bowling (yay for free bowling coupons)!! woohoo!! It has been soo long since we bowled together, just the two of us. Actually, now that I write that, I don't know if we've ever gone just the two of us before. Ryan won, but it was a close game...as in, it all came down to the 10th frame. I won't tell you our scores though because, ahem, I don't want you to be too intimidated to go bowling with us someday. :) And, last but certainly not least, we played ski ball and air hockey in the arcade room...

...we came home to find Ezra still sound asleep, just like he was when we left him.

On Tuesday morning we had planned on going to Stay and Play at the library with Jessica and Eleanor, but when we arrived, there was a sign on the door saying it was canceled for this week, so we went to Erik Hite Memorial Park instead.

Here is a picture of Ezra and Eleanor giving high fives that Jessica took on her iphone using the instagram app. Though I'm not really interested in an iphone...I do like the idea of having a camera on me at all times...and this app. :)

Birthday Suits!

We went to the pool with Stephanie/Owen and Micha/West last week. After swimming for a while, we laid our towels in the grass for snack time and let the boys run around naked. They loved it.

And, what's cuter than 3 naked boys eating watermelon?? Oh, I know...Stephanie 35 weeks pregnant!! :)

home again home again jiggity jig

Now that we are back at home, and adjusted to Pacific Time (which took wayyyy longer after this trip than it has after any other), we have been busy playing our days away.

We've been trying out a lot of new art mediums.

Finger Paint. A big hit at first, but generally only holds Ezra's attention span for about 7 minutes.


Sidewalk Chalk. Quite fun. And since we keep it outside by the front door, we often draw a line or two whenever we exit or enter the house. However, I think that there is a strong shift starting to take place in wanting to fill the chalk bucket with rocks vs. actually using the chalk, which is also super entertaining and totally cool by me. My favorite part about the chalk is that when a piece breaks he says, "uh oh" and then tries to put it back together.


And, we've also been playing with playdough. Sadly, I don't have any photos of the playdough playing though. I'm impressed that it holds his attention for 15+ minutes, and he doesn't eat it (I made it gluten-free just in case though :)

We were given a new dryer, and a certain someone realized that the fact the door opens down (as opposed to the side like our old one) makes a great little stool to stand on and throw things into the washer. He is the quite the helper. And he loves clean clothes. It doesn't matter if they are already clean, it's fun to throw them in the wash again.


Oh, and we've been rockin' out to the ipod. (I have some video of it, but it turned out all choppy...I'll have to see if Ryan can fix it.)

Maine Part Three: The Wedding!

The night before Jill and Oakley's wedding, there was a lobster bake. Ryan had the privilege of going with the dads (fathers of the groom and bride) to get the lobster. They walked down one dock to the lobster-man's boat where the lobster were handed over in their cage and then lowered back down into the water and tied to the dock. Then when it was time for the lobster bake, the cage of lobster were taken by row boat over to where the bake was held. These were real deal fresh Maine lobsters, folks. Delicious.

Playing on the beach before lobster-eatin-time!




Abby and Jana (a great friend from Boston--Americorps City Year to be specific)


Our sleepy boy...


DINNER!


Oh, and this was the view from our bedroom window...


In case you can't see what we saw while lying in bed...here is a closer look (wedding set-up taking place in the background in this photo)...


Ryan played the music for the ceremony...


The ceremony. so. beautiful.


Post-ceremony trip to the beach...


Ezra and Isla (less than a week apart in age), testing out the lawn games...






Ezra, the self-appointed bartender


He took his job very seriously.


Congrats Jill and Oakley! We love you!

Maine Part Two

The week before the wedding, Jill's friend Christina and her daughter Amelia were our "housemates". Amelia just turned one, and was Ezra's BFF for the week. :) Here they are eating ginormous green beans from the garden just after our run.


Ryan in charge of the tractor...ahh! He actually did ride around on this for a day, although he was the passenger. :)


The Cutting Garden, where you can come and pick fresh flowers all day, everyday. One of my favorite places to be. Lucky for me, I was in charge of getting the flowers for the wedding and spent lots of time here. :)




It also has a great stash of herbs and veggies...


More time on the beach...


Look at how beautiful these rocks are!! (I think Ezra is on the rock phone again)


If only this had been video instead of a still shot...Ezra was singing and dancing to the radio...this boy loves a good jam.


stay tuned for part three...

lots going on in the kitchen...

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. My hard drive is practically full, so I can't download (upload? I can never remember which word to use when) any more photos until we get an external hard drive to put them on.

So in the meantime, I present to you what is going on in our kitchen...

Ryan is playing a private house party tonight, and Ezra was really tired (teething) and went to sleep at 6:30pm. So, I decided to create a total mess in the kitchen and create all sorts of things at once.


Spinach Ricotta Bites These are already out of the oven and I may have tried 1 or 4...and they are super scrumptious! Gluten-free, and toddler friendly.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream As good as it sounds.

Roasted Honey Cinnamon Chickpeas Pretty dry and dull tasting...probably won't make again.

Creamy Coconut Quinoa This is a breakfast staple for Ezra...and I like it quite a bit too!

Maine...Part 1

Our last week in the northeast was spent in Maine. We loved it. Like, really really loved it. And therefore, more pictures were taken than can be acceptably put in one post...so I will be presenting Maine in several stages.

A little background... Our trip to Maine was centered around our friend Jill's wedding. Her parents are the caretakers of an estate right on the ocean. It's gorgeous. There are about 7 houses/cottages on the estate and the owners generously offered the wedding guests to stay in them. Well, we just happened to be free the entire week before the wedding. (Convenient, no?) And Jill said we could stay there for the entire week. Remember, I said this was right on the ocean?? For free?! With a wonderful friend and her family?!! It was nice. Really really nice.

Here we are exploring the yard and beach of one of the cottages. This is where the lobster bake was the night before the wedding.




Here, Ezra and I are on "our beach"...can you find us? (We could see this view while lying in bed...Oh Maine, I do love you.)


Jill made us work super hard all week. Like, we had to spend time walking the beach and collecting gorgeous rocks to be used as center pieces. It was rough work...but someone had to do it. :)


This beach was probably our favorite places to be. Well, this and the cutting garden...but that will have to wait for another post. We would just throw rocks into the water and Ezra would laugh when they splashed.




Ezra spent lots of time calling people on his rock phone...


...and licking the salt off of rocks...


...and smiling really big...how could one not?






...I think being next to dada is one of his favorite places to be...

Meet Seamus!

While we were in the northeast, we got to meet a very sweet little man...Seamus (Shay-mus) Patrick, son of our dear friends Will and Orla...both of whom I met while studying abroad in Ireland.

Here they are after our outing to the park...


And, here is Seamus after the walk home...