Great dinner guests

My Grandma and Grandpa Girard came over for supper tonight.

They don't live far but we don't get over to visit them as much as we should.  So I was happy when they excepted our invite to Sunday Supper.
We had some time to visit before supper was ready.  Levi made sure to show off plenty by spinning around in circles and introducing great Grandparents to all his cars and trains.

Gabe roasted another amazing piece of pork for dinner.

He rubbed it with rosemary, thyme and oregano.  And made a sauce to go with it inspired by this.  The meal was completed by some mashed potatoes, turnips and chives.  (I threw in some cream cheese and cream too.)  And my favorite, roasted asparagus.  I also cut up some strawberries and whipped up some cream for dessert.  My son has a new found love of whipped cream.  After he finished his strawberries he insisted he was still hungry but declined Gabe's offers for more pork, asparagus and fruit.  So he had some oranges...with whipped cream!  His dad's idea.  Not mine!

Guest Bathroom Revealed

 This is what we started with:

We took this picture of the downstairs guest bathroom when we looked at the house almost three years ago.
Notice the cheap red vinyl tile? The outdated standard builder vanity?  The fake marble blue counter tops and the striped wallpaper?  It was a beauty.
The only thing we ended up keeping was the toilet and shower.  Neither of us could justify buying a new toilet (even though it is off white) when it works perfectly fine.  Eventually we'll hire someone to come and redo all of our showers but that will require some more saving first.
So we tore everything else out.  It was a lot of work! (Remember this post about all the work we did in a short amount of time?)

 And it was just play for one of us!

As always, the hard work and time was worth it.
Drum roll please...

Here's the finished bathroom:

All ready for my sister and her family to visit at the end of the month.  That is if I can convince my mom to let them stay over at our house instead of her house!

Sunny Sunday Supper

I had this great plan to create an Earth day post along with our Sunday supper this week.

But this weekend has been pretty much non-stop activity and I'm exhausted.  The weather has been amazing and the last thing I wanted to do was put together a thoughtful post about the Earth.  I figure enjoying the sunshine was probably the best thing we could do to celebrate the Earth any way.

(But if you want a glimpse at what I was planning, do a little research in how bad eating meat (and dairy) is for the environment.  Here are some articles to get you started.)

We think buying our pork (and lamb) from Gabe's Aunt Jaki helps our footprint since her animals are treated like pets and their place is 2 hours away.  But we've decided to try and limit our meat consumption.  Clearly we'll have to work on dairy next!

That was the amount of cheese that went into tonights supper.
I decided when trying to feed 2 & 1/2 year old boys it's not really the time to try an ambitious truly meat and dairy free meal.  So we made this for Sunday supper today.  It is hands down the most perfect macaroni and cheese recipe.  Just not the most eco-friendly!
As you can see, the Weisserts joined us for dinner on this beautiful evening.  We even got to eat dinner outside!

Here's my attempt to get a shot of the little boys sporting their Lightening t-shirts.  But there were so many other things they would have rather been doing than posing for photos!

We'll keep working on the whole meat and dairy free eating.
And the bathroom photos will finally be coming later this week!  Gabe has to paint the new baseboard some evening this week if he's feeling up to it.  He starts a new job tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.

A new baby & a new bike

Ok, so the baby is not exactly new since she's now 7 weeks old.  But she's pretty darn close.  And she's definitely new to Levi so introductions were in order.

"Levi, meet Brooke."

"Brooke, meet Levi."

Levi sure snuggled her up good.  She got lots of gentle kisses on her head and some not so gentle tickles on her knees.  She's a wonderful little thing and all of us enjoyed holding her this morning.  Sorta makes me miss having a little one around.  But then I remember I get to sleep without interruptions at night...

Levi also got a new bike this week.
Last weekend we went to three different bike stores in town looking for a red kick bike.  With no luck. We found lots of kick bikes but none that were red and this kid knows what he wants.  He wouldn't settle for the really nice yellow and black one they had at Bike and Hike.  It just wouldn't do.  So the UPS man delivered a wonderful red bike for Levi this week!  And a new helmet with red flames ("Just like Lightening").
And we had a beautiful afternoon today to take it out for a spin.

Spicy Sunday Supper

We're finally getting back into the Sunday supper swing of things.
So glad!
I've missed it.

This evening Mike and Sharon joined us for dinner.  Gabe spent some time cleaning up the barbecue yesterday afternoon and he fired it up for the first time this "year".  Some chicken thighs smothered in  Gabe's favorite buffalo sauce (he's found it bottled at New Seasons...no surprise) came off the grill perfectly.  I wanted to make a side dish that felt sorta like bar food but without the need to deep fry.  So, I made these to go along with the spicy chicken.  Highly recommend them!  What a yummy dinner.
Then to top it off...Mike and Sharon brought an interesting (and delicious) twist on floats for dessert.  Levi had the traditional root beer float.  But us adults had this as our floating liquid instead.  Good stuff and good friends.

Packy's Big 5-0

The Oregon zoo's oldest elephant turned 50 today!
(Packy was the first Asian elephant to be born in the western hemisphere in 44 years.  You can read more about his historic birth here.)

So we got our party ears on and enjoyed some music (and birthday cake) with the big birthday boy.

 

They had Packy in the inside viewing area this morning.  With the glass, it's not the best spot for photos and we weren't able to get a great photo of the birthday boy!  But we had fun celebrating this morning.

Happy Easter

A fun filled Easter celebration occurred this weekend.

Levi dyed his first eggs.

He was a little disappointed we couldn't dye the eggs red.  So, he wanted to dye them all pink since that's the closest color we could get to red. 

The Easter Bunny hid eggs at Levi's house and at Grandma and Grandpa G's.  He got really good at finding eggs today.  And he was pretty excited the ones at G&G G's house had treats or money inside them.

And we got to spend some time with family.

When I asked Levi at lunch what his favorite part of Easter is, he whispered to me..."Jelly Beans."
So, after nap time we're going to enjoy the sunshine and probably eat some jelly beans.

Imaginary Friend

I think I've mentioned Levi's imaginary friend before.
In the last month, Levi's been mentioning him more and more.  He never talks directly to his friend but tells us all kinds of things about him.  Levi's friend's name is Doosher.
Here's what we know about Doosher (all according to Levi of course):
1. Doosher likes Levi's toys.
2. He likes Lightening.
3. He drives his car to Levi's house.  So that means he's big.
4. He likes to play at the beach.
5. Sometimes he takes toys away from Levi.
6. He's strong.  "Mommy, Doosher can help you.  He's really strong."

Such a silly kid!

All work and no play

makes Gabe happy that he can go to work and "rest" tomorrow.

Gabe and I have spent the last 4 days working on our downstairs guest bathroom.  The bathroom we haven't really thought about in 2 years since we never use it.  But when we bought the house, it was the room that came in second for the race to a complete remodel.

Even with all the work we put in this week, the bathroom isn't done...yet.  But we have a deadline of Friday because Gabe's mom will be here to visit.  I do have to thank my parents.  Levi got to spend two days at Grandma and Grandpa G's house so we could get some uninterrupted work time.  It was definitely needed and appreciated!

Here's what we've been up to in the last 4 days:
-Lots of shopping (5 trips to Home Depot/Lowe's/A-Boy Hardware and 2 trips to Target)
-Cleaning off all the leftover wallpaper glue.  Yes, there was wallpaper in the bathroom.  I'll show you the before pictures when we're all done!
-Taking out the floor.  Gabe had to remove two layers of vinyl and the underlayment.  That's the part of the project that took the longest.

-Taking out the vanity/sink and toilet

-Painting two coats of paint on the ceiling

-Painting two coats of paint on the walls

-Laying new floors (underlayment and cement board)

-Laying tile

-Grouting tile

I was hopeful that we'd be almost done tonight.  But I don't think my time frame for home improvement projects is always realistic.  And sticking to my timeline wasn't helped by the 4 hour appointment Gabe had on Friday afternoon and the fact that we went to see this with our friends (Alexis and Eric) afterward.  Obviously, we didn't have the time or energy to do a Sunday supper tonight.  Plus the house was a complete disaster until about an hour ago.  Hopefully I'll be back in a few days to share the complete before and after of the project!

Breakin' into Spring

We've started spring off perfectly.

Five days in Newport, having a blast.

We even had some wonderful Oregon coast weather.  (That doesn't happen all the time.  Especially in the spring.)

Levi's favorite part was probably digging in the sand.  Here's the sandcastle "we" built.  I built it.  Levi helped me decorate it.  And being a typical boy, he had to smash it.

We got to fly Levi's new Lightening kite.  This picture was taken just moments before the string snapped and the kite went sailing down the beach.  Gabe chased it and chased it.  Levi cried because Lightening was gone.  And we were lucky a little kid way down the beach was able to grab it and return it to us.  But, it won't be flown again...

We also got a chance to check out Yaquina Head Lighthouse.
And we couldn't pass up the amazing tide pools at Cobble Beach.

We really wanted to see some grey whales and went on a 2 hour wildlife boat cruise.  Unfortunately the conditions were pretty rough out on the open ocean.  So, we set crab traps and caught some lovely guys.  Levi wouldn't touch the crabs but he sure loved watching them!

And we did see these Steller Sea Lions trying to get up on a buoy in the rough conditions.

A trip to Newport isn't complete without spending a rainy morning at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  We had a great time watching the sea otters get their breakfast.  Levi loved the jelly fish and the touch pool.  When we were exploring tide pools earlier in the week, he would have nothing to do with touching the sea anemones.  Well, he got brave at the aquarium and we couldn't tear him away from them.

It was a great spring get away.  Newport is a good Oregon coastal town to explore.  I feel like there's more to do when the weather is rainy and windy.  As it so often is...

The rest of the week Gabe and I are hoping to attack our downstairs guest bathroom.
We'll see how that goes.  After getting home this afternoon, all we got done was a quick trip to Target and Home Depot.  What did we come home with?  Paint and a shower curtain.  That was it!  Neither of us is being very decisive about our choice in tile and the new vanity.  Hopefully we'll get some ugly red tile and an old vanity ripped out of there bright and early in the morning.

Tex-Mex & Vegetarian

We invited my dear friend from college, Mindy and her husband (and also one of Gabe's co-workers) Mark, over for dinner tonight.

When accepting our invitation, Mindy warned me that they've recently decided to eat vegetarian and she hoped that wouldn't be too much trouble.  I assured her it was not.  Gabe and I have often discussed the heath benefits, and ecological benefits, of vegetarian eating.  But then I realize there is no way I could give up both sushi and bacon for the REST OF MY LIFE!

In thinking about what veggie dishes to make, I immediately thought of soup.  (That might be because it's almost spring and we had snow falling this week.  It might also be because I went to see Wicked with my mom and Becky this afternoon and I knew Gabe needed something easy to put together for dinner tonight.)  Well, Gabe convinced me that we should do something "Mexicanish".  Probably because we didn't make any other Mexican inspired meals this week and he's going through withdrawals! So, we compromised with Tex-Mex.  

I made corn bread from scratch this morning.  Which, I've never actually made before.  The Jiffy mixes are just too cheap, easy and yummy to bother with making it myself!  But I wanted to try something new so I tried out this recipe.  These veggies (along with corn) go into the bread.  It was great!

Gabe made his favorite vegetarian chili.  It's been made at Monday Guys Night on many occasions but I've been resistant to trying it because it just seems weird.  Oranges in chili just doesn't seem quite right.  But it's really yummy.  Especially for those who love things "sweet" like me!

It's always sad to say good-bye to the weekend...
But I only have 4 more days until SPRING BREAK!
I think I can do it.

-h (Gabe edited and uploaded pictures for me while I folded laundry!)

Better late than never

This week really got away from me.  So much for that promise to get back on here this week and share some photos (and stories) about Levi.

Levi's got lots of phrases he loves to use all the time.  Two of my favorites are...
"Watch this trick."  (Then he proceeds to do some thing that really isn't that tricky.)
and
"I have an idea." (Which he uses EVERY TIME he wants to do something.)

We had a two hour delay for school on Tuesday because of snow.
By the time we got out to play in it about 9am, it was pretty much gone.

But lets be honest, this is Levi's favorite part of playing in the snow any way.

And according to Levi the "warm" coco I make is "super duper yummy".  And tastes just "like a chocolate chip".

So here we are enjoying our weekend again.
We've started the weekend off right by celebrating St. Patty's day.

Had to have green blueberry pancakes this morning...just for the occasion.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

sunday suppers return

I feel like it's been forever since we've hosted our Sunday Supper and this is going to be quick.
(I'll have to stop by with pictures of Levi later this week for the Grandmother readers.)

We had Bryan and his girlfriend Jackie over for dinner tonight.
Gabe made this pork roast and gravy.  And I made these mashed sweet potatoes.  Both were super yummy.  I did modify the potatoes slightly by adding some heavy cream.  Heavy cream makes everything a bit yummier.  I think I also added too much rosemary.  Levi loves sweet potatoes but didn't really like them all fancy.  I think the rosemary was too much for him.  He had broccoli instead.

After dinner, Levi had fun showing off on his bike and building crazy Lego creations with our guests.  Once Levi was in bed we got out the game the Morrisons sent Gabe for his birthday gift.  We played it for the first time last night and I beat Gabe.  Tonight, Gabe was the victor.

I've got laundry to fold and a new book club book to start...

Birthday Trifecta

Happy Birthday Gabe, Tricia and Travis!

In celebration of the day he was born, Gabe and I have a birthday date for dinner tomorrow night.

Happy (early) 33rd Birthday Gabe!

little bit of everything...

Describes our weekend perfectly.

Gabe's dad and Joanne came up to visit/celebrate Gabe's birthday weekend.  They took us out for dinner to one of Gabe's favorite places.

Levi took the pedal car he got for Christmas from Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey for it's inaugural spin.  The empty parking lot at the dairy was the perfect spot.  It was a great first ride.  Complete with mud puddles and all!

We decided to take a walk around the dairy and go check out the duck pond.  In the process, we met a 4-H girl and her mom walking the goats.  They took us back to the barn for the full 4-H tour.  We got to meet Daisy the pot bellied pig.  Feed carrots to the 2 miniature horses, 2 normal sized horses, and donkey.  Pet the two rabbits and find eggs in the chicken coop.  The final part of the impromptu "tour" was holding the 9 week old chicks.  Levi said that was his favorite part.

Everybody Read!

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, today is National Read Across America day!

We celebrated the occasion.  

It was a great excuse to buy some new books.  And they had to be Dr. Seuss classics!

And then read them of course!

Hope everyone picked up a good book today!

supper(s) away

We didn't host a Sunday supper this week.  But that doesn't mean we didn't spend some great time with friends and family!  That really is the point of our weekly meal gathering after all.
On Saturday evening we had dinner with friends at the Freitas house.  Levi, Finn and Enzo had a great time playing together and chasing Taya around.  Here she is hiding from the boys (and the camera too).

 

Levi probably enjoyed baby Evan the most.  Evan will be 4 months next week and Levi loved making him smile and giggle.  Baby smiles are a wonderful thing!

 

Tonight we didn't host a supper at our house because we wanted to visit Tricia and Travis' new place.  They haven't been in their new town house long but they've already put a lot of work into it.  It was great to see them, enjoy a nice dinner and see their new home.  We're very happy for them and are looking forward to celebrating in June on their wedding day!

Next week we get to celebrate birthdays!  Gabe, Tricia and Travis all have their birthday in early March so the big party will be next week.
We will get back to hosting Sunday suppers after the March birthday celebration.  I'm looking forward to it!

Making "New" Crayons

I've been terrible about picking up the camera this month.
But here's our silly guy playing "fishing" with Jupiter.  Can you guess who the "fish" is?

Levi and I did a fun craft this morning.
I found it here (from Pinterest) and was able to gather enough broken crayons from school already to give it a try.  Pretty sure we'll be able to make a bunch more in June.

Together we took all the paper off the crayons.

Then I melted the crayons in tin cans in hot water on the stove.
I poured the melted wax into the race car molds I found at Michael's.  (On clearance!)
Finally, we let them cool in the fridge for as long as I could get Levi to wait.

Obviously, Levi's favorite crayon cars are the red ones cause they are Lightening.
And of course he made a race track around his table while I wasn't looking.

Then I got smart and covered the table with the biggest pieces of paper I could find around the house.  I think we'll need to invest in some butcher paper to keep that table covered.
Levi's having a blast with the new crayons, even though he's not really using them as crayons!  They're just more race cars to play with!