This Morning, Over Breakfast

Liv: "I'm going to be womanizer for Halloween"

Me: "Really?" (trying to hide laughter)

Liv: Just kidding. I'm going to be Dorothy.

Ribbons for Ryan

Our neighbors, the Bankys, have a 10 yr old son Ryan who needs your prayers. Ryan was admitted into the ICU over a week ago with autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Essentially he has a very strong bacteria in his body that is causing anti-bodies to attack his red blood cells, dropping his hemoglobin to dangerously low levels. The past week has been a roller coaster - but the good news is that he finally seems to be stablizing. Ryan is a tough little guy with a sweet older brother and terrific parents - the entire neighborhood (and then some) is behind them with all of their prayers and good thoughts. Please contribute by praying for Ryan's healthy recovery.

Go Fly a Kite

Full of malarkey.

Sweet Girl

Is it Popsicle Season Yet?

Spring has Sprung

Cool LA

A portion of the globes are in the Rose Garden - gorgeous!

The Gov greeting kids.

LA Mayor Villaraigosa admires a globe done by Manual Arts High School students. Hands off, Antonio. As we like to say: "embrace the solution, not the globe!"

Mayor and Gov greeting the crowd. This was taken by 11 yr old Hailey Brue. She's good!

Left to Right: Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, Villaraigosa, Laurie David (producer of An Inconvenient Truth and Stopglobalwarming.org founder), Gov and Wendy Abrams unveil one of the new Cool Globes - "Preserve our Ecosystems"

Blog posts have been a bit infrequent lately, mostly due to the fact that our LA exhibit opened this Wednesday. The weather was beautiful, the kids adorable, the globes inspirational, and the Governor - well, he's still Arnold to me.

Uncle Mike Turns 30

No photos of the birthday boy. Just of the two girlies, and Grampie allowing Liv to fancy him up.

A Flair for the Dramatic, This One

Feeling under the weather, Olivia does her best to make everyone aware of her plight.

Easter

We hosted an Easter brunch, Olivia had a really hard time staying away from the set table.


The girls gathering their loot.


Spring pea soup with creme fraiche, chives and homemade garlic croutons.

Sweet Esme. She was all about Liv's little house.

The girls.

We brought a chocolate cake over to the Scarsella's - with some curious holes in it.

Everyone watching the Wizard of Oz at Nana and Papa's

Papa's homemade lamb cake!

We also celebrated Nana Honey's birthday.

Grace and Liv are a year apart - you'd never know it though!

Little Helpers

Liv got ready to go help Uncle Mike move in to his new house. But before we left, a taste test of some Easter candy was in order. You can tell by Liv's face that she's never had a chocolate egg before, and is suspicious of their similarity to something she often finds in her diaper.


But hey, it's not so bad. In fact, after her first one, she promptly asked for more.


We're at Mikes now - and the girls do more playing than helping. Which works out perfectly.


Liv and Esme were upstairs, and we heard someone strumming a guitar. Guess who?


The girls doing their best to make sure Uncle Mike's vacuuming was all for naught.

Easter Preview

We went to see the Easter Bunny at our grocery store - not quite what we envisioned, but it was good enough for Liv. We also colored eggs - Liv's face is full of the chocolate cake she was helping me make.

This is Not a Cooking Blog.

It's a shameless "look how funny/adorable/mischievous Liv is" blog. But I have to sneak in a recipe or two, especially one so tasty. Olivia has landed squarely in the picky eater category, much to our chagrin. So we've been trying to make her eat what we eat for dinner. Broaden her horizons, expand her pallet, etc. I thought I'd avoid the daily battle by making homemade macaroni and cheese. The recipe is from here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ and it really is fantastic. I think the trick is to put enough ground mustard in, and to grate your own cheddar cheese. I'm dissapointed to report that Liv didn't touch it. But - there's enough left over for me to try again tomorrow. And the next day. Also, I should note that my sister-in-law Meghan totally has the cooking thing covered.

Princess Oven

Liv and I baked cupcakes with - get this - these mini ice cubes!

I had squirreled away some of Liv's Christmas booty (this one from Aimee and Marc) to bring out on a cold winter afternoon. Or for when it snowed in April. You put the ice cubes in the purple tray, pour the mix into pans, and voila - 10 - 12 minutes later you have delicious cupcakes.

Olivia could barely contain her excitement.

See? I told you.

Uh oh. Looks can be deceiving. Liv put on her best game face and soldiered through eating the "cupcake."

What a martyr. She even finished off the icing.

Party Girl

Olivia was lucky enough to have a weekend full of parties, ending with Aunt Dorth's birthday celebration on Sunday. Right before we left, Liv grabbed my lipstick and "expertly" applied. She's 2.5 going on 15.

Happy Engagement!!!!

Mike popped the question to Laura this Saturday, and then we all surprised her at Old Oak Tap in the city. I love how happy Laura looks, and how proud Mike looks!



Some serious activities going on here with Tommy, Patrick(Laura's nephews) and Olivia.


The happy couple!



Trouble x 2.


Liv trying her hand at being coy at the bar. I have a feeling this is only the beginning.

Sweet girlies.

Esme looks as if she's trying to take flight.

Whoot!

Liv and Esme enjoying the scenery.

Waiting patiently for the guests of honor.

Grandpa sits down for a visit.