kids books you should check out

We’ve recently checked out some books at the library that I loved and can’t wait to share with Ruby when she gets a little older. They would be excellent additions to a classroom or home library.

Artist to Artist is a collection of interviews with famous childrens’ book illustrators. The essays include some of the artist’s work, sometimes including works-in-process and work done by the artist as a child. It is so inspiring and made me want to pull out the art supplies and explore the different techniques that they used. I learned about lots of new-to-me illustrators that I’ve added to my library list as well.

365 Penguins is a fun read with lots of math skills thrown in along the way. A family gets a delivery of a penguin a day from an unknown source. They struggle to house and feed them all with lots of humor. I enjoyed the mad style these people had as well. Lots of orange and super cool furniture and clothes.

I really miss being as up-to-date with children’s literature as I was when I was a literacy coach. I’m reading The Lolita Effect: Why the Media Sexualize Young Girls and What You Can Do About It right now which is a bit terrifying. I’m looking forward to the parts of the book that are the “what you can do about it” things.  It’s not a book I can read before bed, but one I feel is an important read.  Have you read it? What are your thoughts?

What are your favorite books your family is reading lately?

Little bunny

We had such a great Halloween. Ruby read a bunch of Halloween books that we censored for all the scary stuff. My favorite censor was a book that had a character who was going to t.p. someone’s house. Every time we read it, we said he was bringing the woman some toilet paper from the store because she ran out. Wasn’t that nice? Made me laugh every time. Anyway, I think Ruby’s favorite part was going on a walk in the dark, as she puts it, when we went trick-or-treating. We went with some friends and stopped by a handful of neighbor’s houses to say hi. Last night I had to run to the store and as I was walking out the door, she said, “Walk in the dark?” very excited for me.

I’m feeling better and better, although I’m still ridiculously tired. I try to nap when Ruby naps and I’m still exhausted by my bedtime. But I’m feeling the baby move! And I can eat so much more than crackers all of a sudden!

giveaways

I’ve been listing items from my shop on  Cosa Verde for several months. It’s a great website that showcases “green” products of all kinds. You can search by organic, recyclable, etc. and all the shops I’ve seen are wonderful…that’s the beauty of having to apply to the site. Anyway, Cosa Verde had a table at the latest Crafty Bastards show and I donated some items to them for a giveaway. Then they used some of my items in another incredibly huge giveaway that you should enter! The Climate Action Giveaway features an insane amount of prizes (including some of my bath fizzies).

If you’re in the area, Meet Your Maker is preparing for two holiday shows this year. We have a couple more spots left for the Nov. 22nd show!

We got our last CSA yesterday. boo hoo. I think its time to make soup.

yellow potatoes

carrots

lettuce

copra storage onions

shallot

purple-top turnips

parsnips

sunchokes

delicata squash

butternut squash

black kale

leeks

Craft and CSA

Well, I’m starting to get my mojo back. Last week I baked cupcakes, picked up some un-finished knitting, and got back to planning some meals again. It’s about time. But I don’t know if I can promise more frequent postings just yet. Today is day four of no napping for Ruby (and me – grrrrr). The first two days she pulled off her diaper over and over, but I got smart and taped it shut with packing tape. Ha! But she’s still not sleeping.  Update: Ruby outsmarted me. She just pulled the diaper down like underwear, didn’t bother with pulling the tape or tabs. I finished this little scarf a while back and finally got around to getting a photo of it. It was a pretty easy pattern and quick to knit.

We’re enjoying our last couple weeks of our CSA.  Here is our latest haul:

yellow potatoes

lettuce

candy storage onions

red storage onions

sweet peppers

turnips

cauliflower

delicata squash

kale

spinach

Big news!

I am so excited to finally announce that I’m pregnant! The little sprout is about the size of a lemon and already changing all of our routines. I’ve had so little energy and John has had to pick up a lot of the household work that I usually take care of. But we couldn’t be happier. The baby is due in April – actually on Earth Day – which, knowing me, means it will be born in early May.

Ruby knows I have a baby in my belly, and every once in a while she talks about it. She came to my OB with us and saw the ultrasound. She loves our doctor and is pretty relieved that I’m the one getting stuck with needles at these appointments, not her, although she’s concerned.

I’m really happy to be through the first trimester and can’t wait to start feeling this little one move! I’m starting to feel more like myself now and hopefully soon I’ll be able to eat normally again. No big cravings yet, but lots of food aversions. No fun.

Thanks for being patient with my sporadic blog posts, now you know, I just couldn’t peel myself off the couch.

Happy fall and CSA report

We usually celebrate the new season by having a big meal showcasing local food and such, but John was out of town the day of, we got a hot spell in the middle of the week, and I just didn’t have the energy for it all. We’ll postpone until October sometime. But Ruby and I went out for a walk around the neighborhood and looked for signs of fall. We spotted changing and fallen leaves, which I asked her if she wanted to collect, but she just moved them off the sidewalk into the grass. We looked for acorns, but didn’t find any that day. We have since, and have a little collection of them and chestnuts we’ve come across. Anyone know what these pink berries are?

Lots of goodies in our csa this past week:

russet potatoes

carrots

lettuce

cucumber

candy sweet storage onion

red onion

pears!

sweet peppers

ancho pepper

cilantro

ambercup squash

summer squash

spinach

tomatoes

a giveaway!

Hello, faithful blog readers. Oh, its been a long couple of weeks. I wish I could blame it on the start of school like most people, but a lot of it is just a plain lack of energy around here.

We spent a couple of days in Portland and stayed at the Kennedy School. We ate as much as we could in Portland, I got to visit Anthropologie (bliss), and we were able to meet up with John’s cousin who was visiting from Florida.

Then I flew out for a long weekend in New England to visit a couple great friends. It was my first time away from Ruby which was so bizarre. I didn’t quite feel like myself. But it was nice to have an adult conversation and be able to finish it. My friend lives 3 blocks from the coast, so we spent a lot of time on the water in beautiful, incredible old towns. I loved it!

I returned home, tried to dig my way out of laundry, emails, and piled up mail and then Ruby got a fever and was pretty miserable. We spent a lot of time snuggled up on the couch reading books. She hasn’t napped in a couple days, which is making everyone cranky. Today she finally did, though, so I’m starting to feel a little more back to myself.

Anyway, thanks for sticking around during my longer-than-planned absence! I appreciate all the music suggestions – keep them coming! This is my 3-year blog birthday, and I’ve enjoyed it so much. I really love sharing little bits of our lives, hearing about yours, solidifying friendships, and meeting new blogging friends. Thanks so much!

I’m giving away one of my favorite products – the French Clay Facial Scrub.

Just leave a comment on this post by midnight Monday, Sept. 28 to be entered and I’ll randomly choose a winner. If you want another chance to win, blog or tweet about the giveaway and send me a link.

Edited: Congratulations, Amy, you won the scrub!

Happy Fall!

new music?

I’ll be flying (by myself!) soon and need to fill up my ipod with some new music for those long layovers. Any suggestions?

CSA report

We share our CSA with another family just our size. It seems to work out pretty well for us this way. They are out of town this week though, so we got all of the food and are loving it!

yellow potatoes

carrots

romaine lettuce

photo by Esteban Cavrico

cucumbers

Superstar onion

storage onion

shallot

orange pepper

red cabbage

cilantro

summer squash

yellow watermelon

tomatoes (2 lbs!)

corn

For lunch today I made a variation on a black bean salad from Once Upon a Tart. I didn’t make it as spicy since Ruby is eating it, and instead of the veggies it calls for, I included cabbage, corn, avocado. The lime juice/cilantro vinaigrette is what makes it though. We’ll have pizza at some point this weekend, I just can’t decide what to put on it. Suggestions?

parenting links

Kiddley a no-longer-updated website, but the archives are full of fun activities

Rookie Moms the name says it all. Posts and activities are organized by age group (through pre-school)

The Artful Parent

Kidmade another old website, but full of old goodies

Playful Learning – a new to me website that I love