sprawl II

oh man. amazing song off the new arcade fire album. get it. the entire album is superb.

p.s. down 9. yes.

can you smell what the rock is cookin'?

eli wrote up some suggestions/ideas for lunch. i liked his "egg salad with dijon" and "BLT".
chunky monkey muffin

3 cup flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup bran

2 eggs

1 cup butter

3/4 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla

2 cup mashed bananas

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chocolate chips

in a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. in a separate bowl, mix together eggs, milk, vanilla and butter. make a well in the dry ingredients and then pour in egg mixture. mix until blended then gently fold in mashed bananas, nuts, coconut and chocolate chips. put in greased muffin tin or mini cupcake tins. bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.

morning glory muffin

2 1/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups grated carrot

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup nuts {your choice}

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup grated apple

3 eggs

1/3 cup applesauce

2/3 cup oil

2 tsp vanilla

in a bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. stir in grated carrots, raisins, nuts, coconut and apple. in a bowl, beat together eggs, applesauce, oil and vanilla. stir the liquid in to the dry ingredients until just combined. spoon into greased muffin tin or cupcake tins. bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

mini muffins. they are the perfect size.

today eli and i went through the family cookbook and picked out 2 recipes to make. we needed muffins for the morning, to throw in lunches, snacks for ida, etc. i made 2 batches, cooked them in a mini muffin tin and ended up freezing 5 bags full. good deal.

we decided on aunt mame's "chunky monkey muffin" and aunt allyson's "morning glory muffin". muffin. that is a funny word all the of the sudden. muffin. say that 10 times......

so, go make your own muffins. get to it.

holy cleaning

hey coat room, laundry room, bathroom, office, dining room, living room. you got deep cleaned today. your floors were vacuumed, hand washed and detailed. your baseboards were wiped down. your walls were spot treated. your coats were organized and weeded out. your shoes were paired. the paperwork was stacked. the bills were paid. the fabric was sorted. it was hot outside. probably the nicest day of the "summer" and when i went to the bank to make a deposit the lady behind the window asked how i was enjoying the weather. well, i guess i didn't. i just felt hot and sweaty on my early morning walk, then felt hot and sweaty all day on my hands and knees scrubbing and moving and shoving stuff around. i actually thought i would do these heavy duty tasks when eli got back into school {1 week and counting} but i started in yesterday and can't quit.

i have been watching what i eat for 31 days now. i have lost 7.6 pounds. it is good but i am stuck. the scale won't budge. it is making me frustrated and glum.

come on body, cooperate.

vw

clued into vampire weekend a couple of days ago. one of my favourites. the entire album is great.

summers end, with text

goodbye old friend
prince's island park

saunders/cichy ladies lunch
all the children we produced?!?
crave
crave cupcake heaven

aud-squad

eli
the guys

all the kids minus the 2 babies
baker park + kick the can


us

HEY! it's clear in calgary!

this last week we have been living with the smoke from the forest fires going on in british columbia. it has been like living in a fish bowl. i don't like seeing the air i breathe. it makes me claustrophobic. anyho today the air is clear, it's sunny and clean. what a nice way to close the summer or the beginning of fall. {with the weather being so cold and grey, it has kind of felt like october around here....}

let's see... the volvo.

it's gone. we donated it. it served us well. the volvo came into our life when our honda accord was stolen. we lived in south pasadena at the time. it was 3 weeks before eli was born. i waddled out to the car on my way to a doctors appointment. hmmm, i thought i left it out front...i'll check on the side street...well, thats weird... must be in the underground parking...wow, no car.. WHAT THE HECK?!? bub beep beep bub beep bepp beep, ya, hi c.j.? ya, did you take the honda to school? no? riiiiiight you have the 4runner...well, that's funny 'cause i cant find the honda..... a week later i was sitting on the back row of the pantages theatre chillin' during the intermission of the lion king. "what are you going to do about your car?" my brother dave asked. "oh, i don't know, we would really like to get a volvo, but they are so expensive..." "i'm selling my volvo!" said the little old lady sitting in front of us {who had obviously been listening to our conversation}. the rest is history.

we acquired the car, that little old lady gave us a $1000.00 dollars off the price, a baby blanket and $200.00 toward eli's mission fund. {found out she had just returned from a mission and her son was the service manager of irvine volvo}. what are the odds?

we had our annual back-to-school cousin party-palooza at baker park last night. i honestly don't think we had gone there since dave and lisa moved. it was good to go back, the kids had fun. they all looked grown up and mature ready for grades K-4.

during the week we had a tasty lunch at cousin alysha's home and got together with some of the ladies in the family. we soon found we were very out numbered by the children. how did that happen?!? great food, great company, let's do it again.

so. on with life.

lisa and the kids flew home today, there is a week and half before school starts, need catching up on laundry, cleaning, organizing. maybe i will even unpack my bags from our las vegas trip from mid-june.

it's winding down. time to get back at it.

good times

vendome cafe
@ cole's baptism


the kids & great grandma alice


dave @ dusk

the last few days we have been busy with a variety of different things. one day we had a visit from grandma alice. the kids loved seeing her and we had a good chatty chat. the next day we rode the c-train downtown, ate at a tasty cafe, bought some cupcakes, walked around stephen avenue and got rained on. can't beat that...

today we all got together for cousin cole's baptism. a milestone in his life. it was very nice to hear the testimonies of the other cousins that have previously been baptized. they have grown and matured. afterwards we had a delicious meal and relaxed on the deck while the kids ran around playing, playing, playing. it was just a perfect evening. so calm and pleasant.

end of summer sewing itch

real quick...

haven't been sewing much, just not around, busy with other things, but all it takes is visiting some of my favorite fabric designers blogs and i get that twingy excited feeling in my guts, like i am about to get on a roller coaster and that tells me it is almost time to start creating again. it is a very, very good feeling. that's all.

s'more summer fun

hiking to the hot springs
bonus, a waterfall into the hot springs

happy birthday!
dodging mosquitos
a black-bottom cupcake for the birthday girl
shooting off rockets
pre-race smiles
ready



watching and waiting {notice eli's hammer. all the kids made one, so industrious}
the kids cheering dave on
mom & i and our staged finish since no one was there to see us cross. yup, that's pretty much what we looked like...

chuck rolling in...
the kids waiting for the guys at the finish line...
dave & dad coming to the finish line

audrey demonstrates the perfect canon ball
i think everyone got air but eli...
c.j. & ida
lisa

we got back last night from the cabin.

the weather was alright, a bit patchy, some sun, some rain. the kids had fun playing with cousins, building forts, making caveman hammers out of rock/wood/industrial packing tape. the guys ran their guts out in the "loop the lake" 1/2 marathon while we were there. mom and i registered the day before and did the 10k. it was really, really fun. the great part about the 1/2 marathon race route this year was that it passed by the cabin twice which gave the kids an opportunity to cheer on their dads and grandpa. when everything was said and done the 1/2 marathon was a torturous experience for the poor guys. on the other hand, mom and i had a really great time with the 10k. here's my opinion, 10ks are the perfect distance. not to long, not to short. it takes you out of your comfort zone. good stuff. i never would have been able to complete the 1/2. good job guys.

we did some hiking up by fairmont to some natural springs on lisa's birthday. on another day, c.j. busted out his rockets and the kids raced around a scrubby field trying to recover the rocket and their army men that would parachute down after they would blast off. if they weren't running around, they were having a dance party in the dirt parking lot with lisa and i. i pumped up the music and opened the doors to the van, it was pretty ghetto but the kids loved it.

we swam at the lake, we baked cookies and squares. we had delicious meals and chatted into the evenings.

hey cabin, you rule.