Easter weekend

The tree right outside the door is in full bloom this week. We call it a flowering plum, though I have no idea if that's right. All I know is it smells so nice and I can't help taking photos of the lovely blooms. We were happy to see it buzzing with honey bees.

As the days get warmer, the dogs spend more time outside (yay!) lounging in the yard. They like the grassy circle by the driveway where they can keep watch.

Ole enjoyed the morning egg hunt and basket of goodies. Later in the day, he chipped pieces of chocolate from his bunny, reloaded the eggs and hid them for his dad to find. It reminded me how much kids love searching for hidden things--maybe I'll start hiding his breakfast in the mornings. ;)

And then there was the food. I patted myself on the back for a yummy Easter dinner, though I suppose the internet recipes really deserve the praise.

It's this pork tenderloin recipe and this crock pot scalloped potato recipe and steamed asparagus with butter, salt, and lemon zest.
And no Easter dinner would be complete without deviled eggs! Thanks be to hens.

Here on Monday morning, I'm contemplating a slice of coconut cake with my morning coffee. Maybe just a sliver!

Shiny eggs and bouquet of tulips.

Happy Easter!

One week on

I'm happy to introduce Wren, a sweet and snuggly yellow lab puppy and the newest member of our family. Here she is fresh from her very first bath, warming up in the sun:

We've had her home for a week now, and I'm deep in the throes of exhaustion. I'd been taking my full nights of sleep for granted, I guess, now that Ole sleeps a solid eleven hours and we head to bed pretty early ourselves on these dark winter evenings. Pup wakes every three hours (if we're lucky!) and has 3am bouts of playfulness. It is getting better already, though, as she seems to be getting more comfortable here and less worried if I'm out of sight.

We celebrated her two month birthday (yeah, I acknowledge that's not a thing) with *snow*! Three or so inches fell in giant flakes in just forty-five minutes. We bundled up and ran outside to play.

Pepper has been enormously helpful, playing and wrestling with Wren and tiring her out. She doesn't seem to mind being gnawed on the way we do, and for the most part (there was one unfortunate eye biting incident), she's been very gentle with the puppy.

The goats are terrified of the tiny pup. She has even been helping me herd them from place to place--until they realize she's not so scary. Clark, apparently, is the bravest of the three.

It has been a pretty fun week, and very reminiscent of having a new baby in the house. I even tried out ordering groceries online to pick up when I realized I couldn't really leave her alone in those first days. We're spending our whole four day weekend at home watching her play and sleep and eat and make cute faces. Pretty fun, indeed.

Counting down the days

We were treated to the loveliest late winter day yesterday. It was 56 degrees and sunny and I insisted that we all go for a walk to soak up a little sunshine.

We truly are counting down the days--only five more until the most exciting thing ever: we're getting a puppy! We made the trek to Willamina, Oregon, a couple weeks back to choose a pup from the litter of yellow labs. This gal was playful (but not too playful) and relaxed (but not too sleepy) and when she sat right at Alex's feet that sealed the deal. She wasn't quite ready to leave her mama or seven brothers and sisters, so we've been patiently waiting until she's old enough. We are still agonizing over the perfect name for her.

We have been busy preparing for the big day, gathering supplies and refreshing ourselves on puppy training. Oh boy, what are we in for!?! I converted Ole's old crib into a crate for the pup. I know it's maybe a little pathetic and symbolic, but it also turned out pretty cute.

In other pet-related projects, I decided to tackle an ugly corner of the upstairs. This curtained closet houses the litter boxes, raised up on a make-shift table to keep Pepper from snacking--gross! It's stinky and kind of a big leap for our older cats, so I aimed for something more contained.

Apologies for the blurry photos. I realized far too late that I'd forgotten to switch my camera lens from manual focus to auto focus resulting in dozens of blurred shots, including a bunch of puppy shots. :(

I found a used bathroom cabinet and sheet of laminate at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. For some reason they were having a sale, so my grand total came to $3! I cut a fat cat sized hole in one side and gave the whole thing a couple coats of paint in our upstairs trim color, "Popped Corn." And voila! I love how it turned out, and hopefully it will be less stinky. Next I'll tackle the closet's flooring and try to find something that matches the rest of the upstairs, and maybe someday the whole closet won't have to hide behind curtains.

And I'll end with an evening shot in the yard. I just love the lighting of late winter afternoons!

A new year

We rang in the new year on the Washington coast, braving the cold and wind on our favorite beach with lots of adventurous surfers and dog walkers. Well, I mean New Year's Day--we were sound asleep when the fireworks woke us at midnight the night before.

I spotted a dark blob out in the water way down the beach and snapped a photo with the long lens. It wasn't until I uploaded the photos back at home that I realized it was people on a large piece of driftwood partially submerged in the water. The Oregon and Washington coast are known for their dangerous sneaker waves that roll these giant logs and crush people, so here's my public service announcement for the day: Get off that log!!!

Hello, it's only January and look who's nearly ready for Valentine's Day! I actually started planning last February when I recruited Ole's classroom aide to save all those broken crayons for me. I'd planned on making charming crayon hearts for his classmates. Unfortunately, Ole was completely unimpressed, so I brainstormed a little and chose Lego molds instead. I've been working on them for weeks (Ole lost interest ages ago) and I love how they turned out.

Valentine, I can't Lego of you!

Oh, Mexico

We've returned from a wonderful, relaxing beach vacation near Zihuatanejo, Mexico. The casa we stayed in was several miles from town on the long, soft sand beach of Playa Blanca. There was day after day of hot sunshine and it was glorious. It was quiet and remote and just felt great. Why do we live in the cold, boggy Pacific Northwest again?

There was a whole lot of swimming every single day.

And a lot of this:

And a lot of this:

The casa had a nice private inner courtyard. We were amazed to see a hummingbird nest right out in the open, about waist high, in the yard with a newly hatched hummingbird inside. It grew noticeably in the week we were there. So cool!

The caretaker, Gabriel, told me all about the many iguanas that live on the roof and in the surrounding trees. He said there were five in this tree alone. I spent a lot of time looking for those iguanas but never spotted one. "Huh," he said, "maybe someone took them." Oh, Mexico.

The house had a part-time cat who showed up daily to be fed and attack our ankles. She definitely ruled the roost and had me out buying cat food and cooking special cat meals. The owner named her Jessica, but we all agreed it didn't suit her, so we called her Gatito (little cat). She was absolutely lovely when she wasn't biting and scratching us.

Every night was a beautiful sunset. One of our last evenings, Gabriel and his family came for a visit and Gabriel fished for sardines (to feed his own cat, Panchito) in the setting sun.

Gabriel, Lenora, and Gabrielito

I'll admit that I've checked out a few Mexican real estate sites "just to see" if there's a perfect beach house for cheap on Playa Blanca (no luck, drat!). So if we should disappear, look for us on the beach just south of Zihuatanejo. [That's a Shawshank Redemption mention there--we even watched a bootleg DVD of it while we were there!]