Bookworms

Both Winnie and Rush enjoy reading books. I love that! They were able to enjoy some outdoor reading time on our balcony this weekend since the weather was so nice.

September Food Blog

I thought that yesterday would be a good day to journal our food for the day, because I made these weird little beet cookies that I thought were so fun. You should make them! Warning, though, your hands will look like this for a while...

I got the recipe from one of my favorite food blogs that is geared towards cooking for kids. She makes a lot of stuff that I incorporate here at our house. Here is the link to the beet cookies:

Weelicious

Mine did not look like the ones on her blog, for a lot of reasons. I didn't have a microplane, so my shreds weren't as small and juicy, so I added water to my dough. They ended up being more like beet "biscuits" and weren't as red as hers, but they were really good! I also used turbinado instead of white sugar and used half whole wheat flour. They barely have any sugar in them, so they make more sense as biscuits than cookies, anyways, I think. Winnie loved them, which is a small miracle. She has requested more today, because we ate the whole batch already.

BREAKFAST

Beet biscuits, plain yogurt, and Rush's morning banana for breakfast. He only ate one biscuit, which is strange, because he usually eats anything.

When Winnie saw her yogurt (with chia seeds) and cookies, she said, "Oh, I am so excited!" She dipped the biscuits in her yogurt and was as happy as a clam.

My plate. I had a few biscuits with some melon. We went to the Kirkwood Farmer's Market this week with my parents and my Aunt Patsy and Uncle Chuck. They had this melon as their sample and Rush could not get enough of it! I hate cantaloupe, but loved this stuff. It was some cantaloupe mixture/hybrid something, but I can't remember what it was called. I think Rush ate about 12 chunks of it there, because he had 5 different adults to hit up for another bite. It was almost getting embarassing and awkward, like a farmer might ask us to leave for hogging the samples. So my parent's bought us one, Mom cut it up for us, and Rush and I are in heaven.

LUNCH

Winnie's plate. Her new favorite little entree, the "egg burrito," which is just a cooked egg wrapped in a tortilla. Also, her favorite side, canned pumpkin. I mix it with a little cinnamon and yogurt, and she gobbles it down. Strawberries, too!

Rush's plate...same wrap, but with avocado and some melon.

My lunch. I was hungry! Wrap made with whole wheat tortilla, dijon mustard, spinach leaves, broccoli sprouts, avocado, red pepper, garlic salt, and Gardein strips. Gardein strips are these amazing little non-chicken strips that are delicious! This wrap needed a little bulk because of my growling stomach, so I threw them in. On the side, black beans I had just finished cooking with diced celery and onion. And some Xochitl tortilla chips, which are the best tortilla chips you can buy at the grocery store.

SNACK

A bright green apple to share for afternoon snack.

DINNER

Little Mister swiping a few green beans before dinner

Applesauce for Winnie and Daddy

Sweet potato chunks for Winnie and Mommy

Bubble, Bubble...

Semi-homemade cheese pizza (with the help of Trader Joes dough balls and sauce. I guess I should only say "home-assembled" cheese pizza.)

And my favorite, steamed broccoli!

Forest Park

We absolutely love Forest Park. Clearly, we like the zoo, the art museum, the Muny, Jewel Box, etc....but we just love the park itself. One of our favorite spots is the fountains at Government Hill, just below the World's Fair Pavillion.

Yesterday afternoon, we attended the Member's Picnic and had such a fun time. It started at 4:00 and they served a really good picnic supper. We picked up our bag and walked back down all the steps so that we could wait on Andy to get there and play on the yard.

My kids were the first ones there, so they had all the balls, bubbles, yard games, and volunteers at their disposal. So much fun! Winnie had one staff guy (who was about 50 years old throwing and chasing his own frisbees! Poor guy. Rush loved walking around in the grass barefoot and gathering balls...and, trying to start a trend of rolled up, oversized sweatpants. We had supper on our picnic blanket and then walked down to the fountains for photos.

Then, we scanned the grounds to find our bricks that we have with our names on them. Winnie walked straight up to one of the volunteers and said, "Will you help me find my Winnie Gray Murphy brick? I can't find it anywhere!" Oh, geez, are we in trouble or what?!

Preschool

My baby girl started preschool today! It was an orientation of sorts, as I spent the morning there with her. The school asks that a parent spend one morning before they officially start. I stayed very background this morning and just watched Winnie to see how she would do. As I expected, I think she wants to assume a leadership role. Her two sweet teachers said that they could use a third! I love this school. They start the morning in a big, open gross motor space until everyone arrives. They head up to their room (W is in the purple room) for circle time. They sang a couple songs, talked about the weather, and chose their daily jobs. I knew when the teacher read out the choices that Winnie would chose "Snack Helper." And, she did. That's right up her alley. After circle time, they did a movement activity, dancing and singing with maracas. Winnie was a little shy during this. I kept wanting to say, "God wouldn't have given you maracas if he didn't want you to shake them!" from Dirty Dancing, but I refrained because that would have been highly inappropriate in the preschool room. When that was finished, they had snack...orange smiles that Winnie (of course) didn't want to eat. She didn't mind, though, just watching everyone. She had some water. They next chose play stations and rotated into an art activity, painting with stamps. Winnie colored at an easel, drilled at the tool station with a cute boy, played with an Etch-A-Sketch, and splashed around at the water table. They ended the morning outside, where they play until their parents pick them up. Winnie rode on the tire swing the whole time with two little girls and led them in various chants. Then she performed "Poker Face" for her class and teachers. I don't know if that's good or bad, but I loved it. She was really sad to leave, which I consider a super good sign. I love her new school and love that we found it. It is just what we were looking for!

Winnie's cubbie. I thought her little cow was so cute! She told her teacher she would have rather had a pig or a pony. Sheeesh.

Winnie's name on the job wall.

Playing at the water table. "It's like I'm in the bath but I'm not neck-ed!"

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Los Angeles

Andy and I went on our first vacation, sans kiddos for five days last week. We had a great time! We flew to Los Angeles to visit our friends, Mark and Kara Poshak. They live in Pasadena, which I love...that is where I would want to live if I were out there. I don't think it's only because of the amazing new Whole Foods they have there. But maybe a little. It's also the home of the original Trader Joes, which is less exciting to me, but still noteworthy. We got some beer and ice cream there. One major highlight of the trip was not having two toddlers for alarm clocks, which we took full advantage of. Because we are so used to taking photos of Winnie and Rush, we didn't do a great job snapping shots. Some of these photos are from my phone. I had to have some extra ones to beef up this post!

Andy and me on a deck at the Griffith Observatory. It was a lovely place and very educational to a gal like me, who knows very little about the planets, atmosphere, etc.

This was my french toast from Marston's Restaurant in Pasadena. Food Network Magazine named it the "best place to eat breakfast in California." I ordered the french toast, because it was apparently a must have. I should tell Food Network about Stoby's in Conway, Arkansas...I thought it is way better than Marston's.

On Saturday, we also spent the afternoon at the Getty Center, which is just beautiful and unbelievable. To call it a museum is an understatement. We could have spent two days there. They didn't even show any works from my favorite artists, and I still LOVED it. They were showing a beautiful exhibit on modern photography. Shots from the Vietnam War, Rwanda, and the Iraqi War were especially evocative. You have to go if you are ever in L.A. The tram ride up there is worth the $15 they charge to park. I spotted the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air house on the way up. But clearly, from the photo above, the architecture is modern and wonderful. There are sculptures and breathtaking, panoramic views at every turn.

My friend Scott Cable, who I've known forever, also lives in Pasadena and is coincidentally a friend of Mark. We all went to the Cable's house on Saturday night. (We were trying to look awkward in this photo. It's a long story.)

This is a shot of the back of Mark and Kara (they are beautiful people, even from behind) and that's me on the left with the stripes. This is taken on the pier in Santa Barbara...it captures how foggy it was there. It was the strangest weather...foggy, hot in the sun, cold in the shade. We just walked around the main street and shopped a little, had lunch, and toured the pier. We did make a friend there...

A sea lion that we spotted, just sunbathing on an unsuspecting boat. These guys were so cute! We also spotted some dolphins and a lot of people fishing from the pier. It would be so bizarre to live somewhere where sea lions might be hanging out on your boat, I think.

And now, what you've been waiting for...the real reason we went to California. The Poshaks were just a cover. My love, David Gray.

I am slightly obsessed. He is my favorite musician. I judge people if they don't also love him. I definitely cried a few times during the show because I was so happy. He played "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" (which is a rare thing for him live) and "This Year's Love" back to back. I was a pile of mush. No, really, he puts on an AMAZING show and we all had an amazing time. We were at the Santa Barbara Bowl, which is just beautiful. And, he didn't have some chump opening for him, but this guy...

Ray LaMontagne, who is also another favorite of mine. Seriously...what a great show! I was singing and dancing and crying and loving every minute of it!

We four spent the night in Santa Barbara on Sunday, then drove back to LAX to fly home on Monday. We only had to make one mad dash at the Dallas airport to catch our connecting flight.

Special thanks to Mark and Kara for hosting us, my parents for caring for Winnie and Rush while we were gone, and Ray and David for singing their hearts out.