Happy Easter

Ozzie participated in his very first Easter egg hunt this year. Our mom/baby play group hosted a hunt and family pot luck at the local park.

This is where I am supposed to say that he loved every second of it and ran like a mad man to fill his Easter basket full of eggs. Truth be told, he wasn't into it at all. In fact I ended up picking up eggs for him after his first few. Eventually he got so bored he ran for the trees and wanted to play in the dirt instead of finishing the egg hunt. Oh well, some day he'll get it. For now we have pictures where he looks like he's enjoying himself... maybe.

No frilly Easter baskets here. We are all boy all the time!

 

What he did enjoy was the parachute until a little girl hit him on the head with a racket. Poor guy, he didn't even see it coming.

Here he is running to get under the parachute. Super excited!

The he gets hit; after the altercation (just kidding) he was over the whole event and we left early.

We did manage to squeeze in some lunch before leaving. Although I think Ozzie's lunch consisted of brownies and cookies. My contribution to the pot luck was Ina's Potato Salad. I am not a huge fan of potato salad but I figured it was what you brought to an Easter pot luck. AND because it's Ina's recipe, it is probably the best potato salad I've had.

Potato Salad- Ina Garten
Ingredients:
3 pounds small white potatoes
Kosher salt
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red onion

Directions:
Place the potatoes and 2 tablespoons of salt in a large pot of water. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are barely tender when pierced with a knife. Drain the potatoes in a colander, then place the colander with the potatoes over the empty pot and cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel. Allow the potatoes to steam for 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, dill, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Set aside.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in quarters or in half, depending on their size. Place the cut potatoes in a large bowl. While the potatoes are still warm, pour enough dressing over them to moisten. Add the celery and red onion, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Toss well, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Happy Easter!

Meyer Lemon Margaritas

We squeezed (no pun intended) these in a few weekends ago at the very end of Meyer Lemon season. After a day at the Seattle Aquarium (post coming soon), Oscar and I relaxed with some Meyer Lemon margaritas. It was the perfect ending to a sunny day downtown. YUM!

Meyer Lemon Margarita

1/2 oz. fresh Meyer Lemon juice

1 1/2 oz. good quality Tequila
1 oz. Cointreau
Kosher salt for rimming glass

1. Rub the rim of a glass with a Meyer lemon slice. Swirl the rim through a small pile of kosher to salt the rim.
2. Put the Meyer lemon juice, tequila, and triple sec in a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake for 15 seconds.
3. Put a few cubes of ice in your glass. Strain the cocktail into the glass and enjoy!

Ozzie's First Art Work

Here is the first of many folks. He painted this shamrock at a St. Patrick's Day play date. He hated every second of it. Call him pretentious but he hates dirty hands. So immediately after touching the paint he wanted his hands cleaned. I had to force encourage him to paint his shamrock.

I can not wait to have a house filled with his artwork!

Mommy's Little Helper

In order to keep the house clean or clean enough, I've created a schedule for myself where I accomplish a few chores around the house everyday. It usually takes me no more than 30 minutes and I get to spend the rest of the day playing with Ozzie; not to mention my weekends are free to enjoy time with Oscar. I love my cleaning schedule, it basically keeps me sane.

Lately Ozzie has decided that he wants to help Mommy complete here chores. You bet I gave him his own floor duster and let him at it. After all, this will only last for so long; soon enough I'll be nagging at Ozzie to help clean house.

After our chores, we decided to have some whole wheat banana bread as a snack. Ozzie took his outside. I have no idea why he chose to eat it by the fence but I thought he was funny enough for a picture.

A little dirt makes banana bread taste even better.

Here he is coming to ask me for more. He realizes about half way to me that I will tell him to finish what he has on his plate first and quickly shoves it in his mouth. So predictable!

Sweeping floors makes a hungry helper!

Spring?

We have been extremely fortunate with a mild winter here in Seattle; or dare I say an early Spring? Now that I have said, err typed, that out loud it will probably snow buckets tomorrow. I am hoping not because I have so been enjoying the Spring weather.

Our plum trees bloomed in late February and Oscar caught a shot of a pretty little birdie sitting in one of our trees. He may just be staring right back at us.

Another sign that Spring has sprung in Seattle are the pussy willow branches that we picked up at the Farmer's Market last weekend. I am not sure what I will do with them yet but for now they are keeping another birdie company in the living room.

I can't tell you how happy these furry little buds make me.

Next up, planting Spring vegetables in our garden- I can't wait!

Play Dates

We have had a very busy March so far with countless play dates, trips to the aquarium, the Little Gym and a visit from my favorite nephew. Needless to say I have been ignoring my blog. My apologies. But when Ozzie is having this much fun, how can I turn these events down?

Jammin' on the piano at a play date

I promise to return soon with more pictures from our adventures.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

My Aunt Lori makes the best banana bread. Our entire family gobbles it up whenever she makes it. It is sinfully delicious but like every other dreamy treat, its not too good for you. So when she emailed me a whole wheat banana bread recipe I had to give it a try and made two loaves for our Valentine play date. The kids and mommies raved about it!

Aunt Lori's Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 ¾ cups sugar
2 cups mashed bananas, about 4 medium (I added one more for more moisture)
½ cups coarsely chopped nuts (I omitted the nuts because of the kiddos)
2/3 cup vegetable oil (try substituting coconut oil for a healthier treat)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp banana extract (this is Aunt Lori's secret ingredient- the extract really helps the flavor)

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms of 2 (8 x 4 in) loaf pans with cooking spray.

In large bowl, beat all ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 45 seconds, scraping bowl frequently. Pour batter into pans.

Bake 50 to 65 minutes, or until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans, cool 2 hours before slicing.

Enjoy!

Aloha

I just finished booking our Hawaiian vacation for later this year. Sigh.

I will be sipping cocktails while enjoying this sunset view in just a few months....

Just What The Doctor Ordered

The past few months we've been plagued with reoccurring colds (thank you The Little Gym), back injuries and sleep apnea concerns; not to mention the not so welcome transition to the terrible two's (about 6 months too early!).

So I couldn't be happier to spend an evening with my best girlfriends to celebrate T's birthday and forget about it all for a few hours. Good friends, food, cocktails and conversation help make life a little sweeter.

Valentine Play Date

Ozzie and I hosted a Valentine play date for one of our mom/baby Meet Up groups. When the organizers of our group asked for volunteers I knew I wanted to host a Valentine play date so that I had an excuse to decorate the house even more than usual. I love Valentines day!

Three moms brought their kiddos over and all of the kids played together well. Ozzie loved the company and was wayyyy excited. He screamed so loud he made one little boy cry. Oh and he tried to force feed another little boy his sippy cup and kazoo but other than that, it was a good time all around.

Our play date was in the morning so I went with light snacks. Whole wheat banana bread (recipe coming soon), raisins, apple slices and apple juice.

Since I don't throw adult dinner parties anymore, I broke out my vintage goblets for water glasses. Just because it was a baby play date doesn't mean moms can't drink out of something pretty; and why collect vintage goblets if you don't use them every chance you get?! I really love that none of them match.

Definitely stuck with the Valentines theme for the table top. Who says you can't use doilies for little boys parties? Okay you really shouldn't use doilies for little boys parties, UNLESS it's Valentine's Day.

Here is a picture of Ozzie inspecting my work.

And then he got distracted by a drawer full of awesome stuff!

It was a special treat to eat lunch here instead of in his high chair. 

And juice was a super special treat.

About half way through lunch Ozzie decided that he wanted to eat in his high chair. I think he knew it was in closer proximity to the juice boxes. Don't worry he didn't get ALL the juice.

I sent each family home with heart shaped brownies (recipe coming soon) in the famous Twig and Thistle Valentine brownie bags; though I printed on white bags.

Ozzie and I really enjoy our mom/baby groups and hope to have more play dates in the future. Out of respect for the other families (I don't know if they want to be on the blogosphere) I only took pictures of my decorations and Ozzie.