Daddy's Girl

This morning Amelia whispered in my ear, out of nowhere, "Daddy is so beautiful he's handsome. And he's a genius."

Exclamations

The other night Evelyn was slouching around dramatically, whining loudly as I made her pick up toys, "I'm so TIRED of having to do EVERYTHING around here." Funny, Alan and I were thinking the same thing.

The Garden

Wow, it's enjoyable to have a garden and eat it's bounty! The girls have loved planting, identifying, and picking the food (carrots are like plucking a treasure right from the ground), and we've all enjoyed eating it.

When the girls and I got back from our week of camping at the Ranch, Alan had harvested these zucchini, one of which was 15 inches long. I had a recipe in my "Simply in Season" cookbook (partner to my can't-live-without "More with Less" cookbook) for Stuffed Zucchini, especially for the oversized fruits that hide under the leaves (yes, I'm pretty sure zucchini is a fruit.)

Well, we gobbled it up. Evelyn's exact words were, "You made a really good dinner, Mom," as she ate the pieces of baked zucchini before the ground beef and vegetable filling. (It didn't hurt that it was after 7 pm and everyone was famished.)

Recently, we ate sauteed zucchini, green pepper, tomatoes, and carrots over rice with a side of green beans, all from the garden. Oh yes, and a slice of cheese, for protein. We sauteed the green beans with garlic we'd grown, dribbled with some lemon juice and--wow--very tasty. There's nothing quite like eating your own food!

And the girls? Well, they're my favorite garden, growing like weeds and blooming every day.

What do I want for my birthday?

Yes, today is my birthday, and my mom's given me a GREAT gift: she has the girls all day for me. Since my life is typically on the busy side, I truly crave a day of, well, nothing. And yet everything.

I just got back from hours of sitting and READING by the shores of Loch Raven Reservoir. I hadn't read a book in 3 years, and I devoured Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea. Diana had given it to me for my birthday last year, and it was the perfect thing to read at this moment on this day for a lot of reasons. You'll just have to pick it up and read it for yourself. I also read a collection of writings by C.S. Lewis on the topic of love, all of which was tremendously satisfying. The geese were honking, the water lapped gently, and there was, for some of the time, a nice breeze. It even threatened to rain, which would not have bothered me in the least.

Then I came home, ate some lunch on the porch swing, and took a nap. Now I am blogging, because it is something I really enjoy and I've not done it because I've been back and forth the the Ranch a lot lately (but having lots of fun AND getting work done!)

Then? I'm going hiking and running in the woods with my lifetime friend, Diana. We might live less than a mile apart, but we rarely do anything one-on-one, so this is another very sweet gift on my day of nothing...and everything.

Lastly, Alan and I will go to Mom and Dad's together to just hang out, hear about the girls' and Mom's adventures together (Amelia is currently challenging my abilities to decipher her best mode of operation when it comes to potty training. I was quite happy to turn her over to my mom for a day and let her work her grandma magic on the problem. We'll certainly enjoy the stories, even if we're still scratching our heads at the day's end!) What a nice day. Time to myself, time with a lifelong friend, time with the two people who ushered me into this life, and with the three who now share it under the same roof with me. All with very little thought to TIME at all! What a gift. Just what I wanted.

Out on the Town

Lisa & I enjoyed an evening at the Inner Harbor last week--a stroll through the Science Center (here's Lisa playing a harp with laser strings, which was very cool), happy hour at the Rusty Scupper (where you can eat decent food w/a great view for a GREAT price, as long as you ASK for the happy hour menu!), and some tourist-style window shopping. The best part was sitting together, talking, watching people, and reading our favorite Scripture passages aloud while the sun was setting. Thank you, Lisa, for a nice night out!

The Red, White, and Blue

My mom got these cute outfits for the girls, and they wore them to church on July 4th weekend. That is SUCH an Amelia face in the first one, with Evelyn snuggling up to--what else ?--the flowers. And who can resist a picture of sisters embracing?!?

4th of July

It's a River Valley Ranch time of year. The girls & I went to RVR to pick up cousin Kelby, who's been washing dishes there for a few weeks. We went early, and on the way we stopped at a rural graveyard (the girls run around, stop at gravestones--or "statues" as Amelia calls them--and ask me to read the people's names.) Evelyn found some plastic flowers (no, we didn't take them off a grave--they were stuck up against an old outhouse, and since we had no idea what they'd once adorned, I let her take them. I hope that's not terribly unethical. Evelyn could have kissed me for letting her have them.) At RVR, we played at the Fort Roller playground (oh yes, Evelyn chose the double-tutu outfit. That's her for SURE) before taking Kelby home with us. And if it looks like Evelyn likes Kelby, well, that is an understatement. She's president of the Kelby fan club.

Shelley came over and we had a picnic in the backyard. I even bought hot dogs (can't remember the last time I did that.) Local folks shot off fireworks, we enjoyed the swings until the mosquitoes drove us inside, and Esther came over for a game of "Apples to Apples," which I think Shelley won (or did I win? Wow. I am getting old. I can't remember whether or not I won the game!) Nice. Very nice.

Road Trippin'

Thank you, Amy, for loaning us your car for the drive from CA to Portland. What a gorgeous drive that is (giant Redwoods, monoliths jutting out of the ocean...) We rolled the windows down and soaked up the scenery with Amy's mix CDs as our soundtrack. (Can you identify the tune that inspires Amelia's car seat dance groove? Seemed fitting given the two-day drive with young children and the fact that we enjoyed it!!)

The Streets of San Francisco

(Or "Fran Sancisco" as the girls say it.) The city was full of street musicians, so the Blackman girls had lots of opportunities to practice their moves. This was on one of the days we spent with Amy.

yet, still, even more pictures from vacation

West Coast #3

Fran Sancisco and other delights