Spring Things!

Parent who have kids with birthdays near Christmas, you have my sympathy.

This year, LMC's birthday and Easter were four days apart and that meant a week full of activity, and stuff, and more sugar than Momma would normally allow. Pair that with a bad cold and her cousin's birthday the weekend before,  it means I'm just getting my feet back under me right now.

That said, it was full of joy. LMC is at the age now (3!) where she gets that these are special days and is super excited to meet the Easter Bunny or find eggs, blow out candles, or get to wear her birthday crown. She is cultivating a deep appreciation for Peanuts and Bass/Rankin holiday specials. She also doesn't have huge expectations about it though. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she merely asked for a pink cake with pink frosting and pink candles. I wanted the cake to be pink tasting and not just pink-colored, so I made cake flavored/colored with raspberry jam (and a few drops of food coloring). It was a little over-sweet with the jam. but was still a big hit with the birthday girl (especially the frosting). 

She got a number of neat gifts from family and friends for her birthday, but the one I'm most proud of is her quilt I made to be just like Curious George's (her favorite character/tv show). I managed to find a Michael Miller fabric that was really close to the print on George's bed and used a tutorial for a Self-Binding Blanket (scaled up and modified to include batting) and then tied it with some multi-colored cotton yarn. I had no idea how tiring the tying process would be for my hands, and the cotton yarn plies separated more than I would like, but for my first completed quilt, the whole thing turned out rather well and is very cozy. I can see how this quilt thing could get addictive. 

We just moved her to the big-girl bed a few weeks ago and while she had chosen to lie on top of, rather than under it, I think she appreciates the quilt (as much as a three-year-old will appreciate a blanket). I also finished my Good Night Sleep Tight embroidery I started forever ago in time to hang it over her new bed. I'm kinda in love with my little french knot sheep and am planning to turn it into a pattern/kit. LMC must like it too, because when I started working on my new embroidery project from cozyblue, she asked if that was for her room too.  

Despite the fact that Winter has seemed to hold off doing all it's wintering until Mach, it was actually warm enough to do our egg hunt outside, which was great fun. That tiny patch of snow is all gone now, my bulbs are starting to bloom and my seeds are sprouting indoors. It's all starting to feel very much like spring, even if we still have to wear our winter coats for a little while longer. 

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Pecan Oatmeal Apple Crisp (and Apple Abundance)

So we went a little overboard on the apple picking this year and picked a ton on our annual trip to Ricker Hill a few weeks back. (also we went on a weekday, so we had the full run of the bounce houses to ourselves and had to take advantage of that!) So even after two sizable pies, I still had about a bushel left and no gumption to make more pie, and so, enter crisp! This recipe is a mashup of three different ones, so it has a little bit of everything in it, which makes it totally delicious.And it's a big batch recipe (3 Qt baking pan), so it means that I'm down to only 2 dozen apples now!!

Filling

• ~10 apples, peeled and chopped
• 3 Tbl sugar
• 1.5 Tbl cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbl orange juice

Topping

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups flour (Up to 1/2 cup can be whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbl white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1.5 sticks salted butter, softened
• 1 cup chopped pecans 

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F

Place all filling ingredients into a 9x13 (3 QT) baking pan and mix together. Adding more apples as needed to fill pan.

In a separate bowl, mix all topping ingredients, except nuts, together until they make a consistency like wet sand. Mix in nuts as desired. Sprinkle topping loosely over apple mixture.

Bake for ~ 50 minutes until topping is browned and apples are soft.

Serve warm with ice cream 

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Happy Halloween (Hold Onto Your Hat) !

I'm a former theatre kid and I sew, so suffice it to say, I love Halloween. Socially acceptable excuse to spend way too much time on costumes? I'm in! (In another life, I'd totally be a cosplayer). 

This year, I wrangled the whole family into it (except Steinbeck, who holds no truck with costumes). One of LMC's favorite characters is Alice In Wonderland, thanks to some pop-up books and the Royal Ballet version. It doesn't hurt that I have a deep abiding love for all things Alice myself, and am happy to encourage it. So the theme was an easy choice. (Second option was superheroes - which might still happen for Free Comic Book Day). LMC got to be Alice (obviously), I had a red dress in my closet that made the Queen of Hearts a simple choice, and Mr. Cleaver decided he wanted to be the Mad Hatter. 

LMC's costume was the most detailed. It's McCalls 6187,  and there's not a piece on this thing that isn't gathered, lined or trimmed. But it is adorable. The apron is, somewhat oddly, part of the bodice and attached, and the apron strings are a bit long, but otherwise it was time-consuming, but a relatively simple sew.

The whole dress is Kona Cotton, so it can be thrown into the wash easily should she decide she wants to add it to regular wardrobe, which is what happened to last year's Olivia dress. The sizing is 3T/4T, so it was a wide on her, put the apron ties kept everything in place. I hemmed the skirt as narrow as possible so she can wear it for a while. Since it's Maine, we threw a long-sleeve tee under the whole thing and then added my Belacqua cardigan when it got chilly. 

Mom and Dad's costumes were much simpler. I bought a pair of striped tights, made a crown out of glittery craft foam and punched some holes in a old deck of cards for the collar. The collar was a bit tricky to wear, I had to pin it to my hair to keep it up, but it really pulled the whole thing together. 

For Mr. Cleaver, I sewed him a quick bow tie (and learned how to tie one!). The pants he had in his closet, the velvet blazer is mine, the hat was from Amazon and the shirt and socks we picked up for cheap at Goodwill. I also took the opportunity to purchase a pair of pink flamingos, which I have always always wanted, so we could reenact the croquet scene, which I think was LMC's favorite part (that and getting to use the fancy teacups). The hedgehog was the first thing I ever needle-felted. 

We took LMC to about 8 or so houses to trick-or-treat then spent the evening handing out candy. We got 105 trick-or-treaters before we shut it down, ate a Halloween cupcake and collapsed into bed early. 

As for holding onto your hats? If you've seen Curious George: A Halloween Boofest as many times as we have, you'll know what I mean. ;)

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The Penultimate Weekend of Summer

How it is already September? The local schools start back up this week and when I dropped Little Miss Cleaver off at daycare they had changed all the decorations to leaves and pumpkins. Don't get me wrong, I adore Autumn, it's my favorite season, but summer seems to go so darn fast! It doesn't help that it doesn't start feeling like summer until July, but still. 

I have kept to my goal of taking more time off this summer and we seem to manage two weekends worth of activity in every one (having a kid that gets up at 5 AM helps there). I took a half-day Thursday and all day Friday off, so we could do this penultimate weekend of summer right. 

We took LMC to our favorite beach, which she adored. Splashing in the water, playing in the sand, screaming and running from imaginary lobsters. Mr. Cleaver and I aren't huge beach people, being easily burned, but her joy at it, makes the multiple sunscreen applications and big hats worth it. We lost a sand shovel in the tide and the tide gave it back. We took a beach break for shuffleboard and burgers and ice cream and then returned for more surf and sand angels. The weather was perfect and it was a glorious day.

Sunday, we grabbed a discount pass from our local library (Libraries are awesome!) , LMC picked out her fancy new kitty-cat party dress and we went to the Maine Wildlife Park. We saw all sorts of critters, but if you ask her about it, LMC will tell you all about the turkey that she tried to feed popcorn and that bit her finger and that she told it no more biting. (She's fine, didn't break skin, just scared her.) Both mornings ended with an insta-crash in the car seat and an epic nap at home.

Good summer living if you ask me.

One Person's Weed May Be Another's Flower

One of my favorite things about being a parent is the chance to see things from LMC's perspective. For example, in her mind, the way to play football is to throw the ball and then fall down. In her world, everything with a skirt, peplum, or just a swingy hem is a "ballet skirt" and requires dancing. Knitting means taking the needles and poking them into the fabric. All of which are not inaccurate.

And of course as we grownup are mowing, uprooting or spraying dandelions, most kids are building bouquets and making wishes. When does that shift happen? When do we move from fun to the fear of an imperfect lawn? There are an awful lot of pretty "weeds" out there, but one man's weeds is another child's flower. It's only a weed if you don't want it. 

I makes me wonder, are there other things that I'm assuming are weeds, that just might be flowers?  That the traffic is the chance to sing along to one more song? That my to do list is not a series of chores, but opportunities? There are some things that are just the pits, no matter which way you look at them, but maybe not as many I might have thought. 

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Easter

A bit late in posting about Easter, but with the new pattern release on Tuesday, a snowstorm yesterday and another bad cold in the interim, well, that's sometimes how things go.

Easter was fabulous. Little Miss Cleaver was really into it this year. We had taken her to see the Easter Bunny at Haven's a week before the big day and she was enamored, giving him hugs and showing him how she could hop, waving good-bye when we left. The piece of chocolate he gave her didn't hurt either.

The day before we dyed eggs with the classic PAAS kit, which she though was great fun. A few shells were cracked, and one egg was eaten, but even a few days later she like to pull her pretty eggs out of the fridge and reorganize them in their carton.

Of course there was baking - blueberry muffins and a lemon cake, and this delicious hash-brown crusted quiche. LMC just keeps getting better and better as a baking assistant - do you see those pouring skills? She also mixed together the wet ingredients for the muffins with no extra whisking needed from me. Makes her mama proud. 

The Easter Bunny brought some books,small toys, some sweets and a brand new tutu, which has been in frequent rotation ever since. He also hid a number of eggs filled with more toy animals, all placed neatly out of Steinbeck's reach since he has a habit of chewing on such things. With a little guidance (look, over at the TV!) all eggs were found and a good time was had by all.

I definitely have a greater appreciation for all my parents went through to make holidays special for us as kids, but I have to admit, as much prep work as there is, it's also a whole lot of fun!

Snow!

We ended up with 20 inches of snow yesterday, somewhat shy of the 30+ inches in February 2013, but a whopper of a storm nonetheless.

But Mainers handle storms like no others I've known. We hunker down at home, wait it out, and then start cleaning up after the last flakes have fallen. I drove to work today a few hours late past some large snow mounds,to arrive at a full parking garage and office. Its amazing how quickly Mainers moves on. Of course it'll be a few days yet before the piles are moved, and we have more snow in the forecast for Friday and Monday, but that's winter in Maine for you. 

Granted, I don't have to do any shoveling (Mr. Cleaver does yeoman's work there), but the nice thing about a big snow (provide you keep your power) is how its forces you to slow down, take it easy for a day. Of course me being me, I made up some storm scones in the AM and took naptime to finish up a deadline project and sew on the sashing for my quilt top. 

As for the quilt, I've learned quite a few things already, like I would have saved myself a whole heap of seam ripping if I had just pinned my pieces together first, instead of thinking I could sew evenly in a straight line (which gets harder when the line is several feet long). Also I now know to not assume that the solid-colored pieces are dyed and not printed. But I'm very please with where it's at right now, and LMC has certainly claimed it (as with any piece of fabric or knitting I leave out) as the perfect place to "nap" or hide. 

I'm in a bit of an inbetweeny place right now. As of last night, I'm halfway through my first read of The Little Prince, and I've got nothing much in the queue to follow, I've got one knitting project finished and nothing new on the needles yet, and an embroidery piece that's stalled until I purchase some different fabric. But while my hands were empty while watching TV last night, the possibilities are open and I've got several new ideas I want to get started on, including a box of yarn that should be arrived on my doorstop soon.

I'm thinking I'm might share the process of my next knit design from start to end, would that be of interest to anyone?

Bradbury Mountain

We Cleavers are creatures of habit, and this is never more true that when fall begins. As soon as the leaves begin to change color, you can bet there's a good chance we'll be hitting the fairgrounds, picking apples, baking pies, and hiking Bradbury Mountain.

Since Mr. Cleaver and I had our first date there back in 2005, we've made a point of returning each fall we've lived in Maine, and so this year, LMC got to take her second trip, having been carried up last year. And truth be told, I carried her about 90% of the way this time too, without the benefit of a carrier this go around. But this year my budding geoloist was enamored with all the rock and ledge, but perhaps even more enamored with all the dogs on the trail!

And LMC was quite the trooper, as she got carsick on the way up (fortunately primarily on a waterproof jacket). We were spectacularly ill prepared, having no extra clothes and having forgot her sippy cup (and Steinbeck's doggy bags). But despite that early mishap, we had beautiful weather and a lovely hike. And LMC did look awfully cute in her new winter cap.

Apple Picking at Ricker HIll

Little Miss Cleaver is, for the most part, a pretty good eater and if there's one thing she loves to eat above else it's fruit (unless it's honeydew melon, because she ain't having none of that).

She is, however, somewhat picky about the quality and seasonality of her fruit. Watermelon in July - gimme more! Watermelon in a fruit salad in September - no way. So it's perhaps unsurprising that her favorite outings seem to be our PYO trips, because fruit fresh off the plant? Nothing better than that!

And I tend to agree, our annual Ricker Hill trip is always one of my favorite days of the year. Beautiful views, fresh fruit, apple cider doughnuts, and Steinbeck gets to come too? And this year they even added a hard cider tasting room.

Its was unseasonably warm this year, but everyone still had a great time (even Mr. Cleaver, who we forgot to get in front of the camera!), but I think LMC had the best time of all!

PS - check out the photos from last year, my little one has gotten so big!

Weekending

With the arrival of good weather and the Annual Old Port Festival in Portland, it's really starting to feel like summer here. And with summer comes copious amounts of sunscreen, bug-spray and activity for the Cleaver clan.

LMC got to take in her first parade, which featured beautiful large-scale puppets from Shoestring Theatre and sampled a bit of fair food. We also visited her first farmer's market and picked out plants to go into the new raised beds, which despite her efforts to pluck them back out have been firmly planted into their new homes.

The boxes are approximately 4 ft x 8 ft x 6 inches. We got a yard and half of loam delivered from O'Donals in Gorham, which we combined with some of our Garbage to Garden compost from last year.  We probably could have gotten away with a yard of dirt, but the leftovers will go into additional boxes we hope to have in place for planting next year.  Because, obviously two boxes aren't gonna cut it. :)

As for this year's plantings, I kept the plant list fairly similar to my first garden attempt, with the addition of lettuce:

• Plum tomatoes for salsa and sauce (3)
• Sweet bell peppers (2)
• Broccoli (6)
• Lettuce (6)
• Basil (4)
• Thyme (1)
• Rosemary(1)

I think I'll probably pick up a few more herbs (I'm thinking cilantro and maybe parsley and mint) and I also planted 4 strawberry plants around the deck in addition to our existing blueberry bush.

Growing up I lived in a house on a corner lot with a huge backyard that my parents filled with all sorts of edible plants. We had cherries, granny smith apples, boysenberries, strawberries and cherry tomatoes most of time. As a kid, my friends and I would spend our summer afternoons out there, reenacting dance routines from Newsies over the sprinkler and eating our fill of the backyard bounty. It was bliss.

Now as a grownup, I live in a house on a corner lot with a huge backyard, that I'm slowly filling with edibles, so my daughter too can eat sun-warmed fruits and veggies to her heart's content.