C'mon Spring!

This morning when we woke up, it was snowing...

Yesterday--it was very cold and grey--all day long...

I was curious about this time last year, 

so I checked my blog and almost exactly to the day:

I had posted a very different scenario.. 

I called last year's post...Signs of Spring--sounds nice, doesn't it?

See here for last year's SIGNS OF SPRING blog post.

Last year, the week's forecast for this time was a string of 70 degree sunny days..

This year--the forecast for this week is 40s/50s and rain..

(I promise, I am not complaining...just noting the difference with interest...)

Signs of Spring this year?  

Well, the crocus are up, that is true--

and I did make coconut macaroons this weekend...

Coconut macaroons and crocus are the harbingers of Spring, right?

But when the kids played outside last year--they were in shorts.

This year: they were hanging out in their coats...

They are soo sick of their coats...
and while we wait for the the daffodils to bloom...

I crochet granny squares.

 Lots and lots of granny squares..

I started like four years ago, before we moved East, to make a blanket for Magda. 

I put them down a long time ago and have only recently picked them back up again...

They kind of look like Spring, a bit...so maybe they can be this year's Sign of Spring...

And the good news is--after I crochet 3 more--

I...WILL...BE...HALF...WAY...DONE!

Only 59 more to go...should only take about 4 more years or so...

And since it was cold and grey yesterday, 

(a cold and grey spring day always reminds me of when Greg and I went to Italy..) 

I was kind of in the mood for a nice Tuscan minestrone...

I found this recipe and spent a cozy afternoon making a batch

 that we enjoyed with some grilled bread and a nice 

bottle of merlot...

Spring is just around the corner...right??

This recipe is really, really good and would be delish on any grey and rainy Sunday!

Hopefully there won't be too many more of those Sundays in the near future...

Happy Almost Spring!

Christmas 2012

Happy Holidays!

I hope this finds you enjoying a warm and
cozy winter holiday

with loved ones and friends.

Here are

some highlights from our Christmas-

a whole lot of words aren't needed...

That is Orange-Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Bark above on right.

Kids making chewy molasses spice cookies that turned out more like Ginger Snaps!

above: Home-made Italian fig cookies called Cuccidati...they are amazing!

below left: home-made almond meringue cookies.

Christmas morning...before presents..

After...

a wonderful moment & gift from an auspicious visitor...

Greg totally re-did the play room for the kids...

now its there work/craft space--and they LOVE it!!

Thank you for checking in on us today and all year!

All our very best to you and your family in 2013..

Happy New Year!!

lots of love,

Quentin

We are Thankful!

A couple years ago, I cut out a bunch of leaves from 

autumnal-colored card stock, strung them together to

form a sort of Fall Leaf Thankful Garland.

I hang them around the window by our kitchen table.

Every year since, we talk as family, about what we are thankful for and then

I write each of those things on a leaf.

Hard to read, but the list includes things like:

Home-cooked food, sunshine, Teddy, crafts, our dogs and cat, ice cream, our cousins, 

aunts and uncles, our schools, clean water, the beach, grandparents, mountains, birthdays, 

snow, trees, the park, our bikes, Santa Fe, our friends, chocolate, chewing gum, 

art supplies, books, chess, red wine and coffee... 

(ok, those last two things belong to the parents!)

But its fun to add on new ones every year and see what were thankful for in past years...

certain things tend to repeat every year, but that is a good thing!

This year we added Duct Tape to our Thankful Garland...

The kids LOVE duct tape...Luca made this awesome duct tape collage.

I think I might frame it.

I am thankful for many, many things but mainly I am thankful

for my awesome kids and my wonderful husband.

Have a lovely and warm Thanksgiving holiday!!

A Great Fall Weekend...

We had a really nice Fall weekend full 

of fall colors and delicious home cooked 

meals shared with friends.  

For dinner Saturday night, 

I braised turkey drumsticks--in an Osso Bucco style-- 

served over Parmesan Polenta...on the side, we had

grilled Radicchio, that we topped with gorgonzola and a balsamic reduction.

The turkey was garnished with a pine nut gremolata with lemon zest--

which helps to brighten flavors.

Really, this was one of the best meals I have made...EVER!

Collection of wonderful recipes here.

I also brought a little bit of fall foliage inside--which is always fun and dramatic...

I sent Greg out to poach this branch for me...

 It was also Magda's last soccer game--she played awesomely!

(She looked good too...)

Great team work!  Go Girls!!

Number 7 in action with her fancy footwork...she is good!

It was a gorgeous day, the girls won their game 

and finished the season with cake.

I love this time of year.

Spooky Halloween 2012

Ok, I am just going to say--right off the bat...It has been a crazy couple of days.

Sandy has been terrible for our friends and family up North, but our area just kind of

got side-swiped...about the worse thing that happened to us was that we had to take

all the outdoor Halloween decorations down and inside..

but we got two days off work and school....

And probably the best news of all: Halloween, for us, wasn't cancelled.

May I present: The Queen of England and a gallant knight...(who forgot his shoes.)

The big Halloween party was scheduled for Saturday night and at that point, there was no rain

and that night it was like high 50s/low 60s...perfect weather for a party.

We had about 15 kids and 15 adults from the neighborhood over...

so, I did a little decorating...

I drew a spooky village on the chalkboard that we have in our kitchen and sewed some orange ric rac on a black table cloth...I LOVE ric rac...

I tried to make as much as possible but I broke down when I saw this 

and bought the skeleton wall cling giant sticker art..

(complete with moths and spiders)

And, an excellent idea--I might add,  because there is no way I could have made it myself

plus it added very nicely to the over all look of things!

L. I turned the entrance way into a bat cave and covered the walls with lots and lots of cut out bats.

(special thank you to Mercedes and Cecilia for their many contributions!)

R. As a way to block off the stairs
(and prevent the kids from swarming the upstairs),
I turned the staircase into a crime scene, 

complete with a creepily hanging skeletor--of sorts...lots of cheese cloth!

This is a bat pinata that I made...

I wish it showed up better; this was one of the best things I made.

I got the idea here.

ok...wait!! I take that bat--I mean, BACK...these jello worms are actually the best thing I made..

I served them on a bed of crumbled brownies--(you know, for dirt!) and they were a HUGE hit.

Got the idea from here.

L. For the party, we had some crafts on hand...skeletons out of dried pasta, anyone?  

I turned the living room into a haunted laboratory. 

I filled jars with all sorts of stuff: eyeballs, snakes, bones, spiders...a brain!

ok, well, it was really a cabbage in green milky water, but it looked like a brain!

So, this was the setting.  

Saturday night, we had the fire pit going in the back yard and all the kids gathered round while some kids took turns telling and reading spooky tales.

Earlier in the evening, we took the kids on a haunted walk down thru the park, where an occasional parent would jump out from behind a tree and scare the daylights out of the kids...it was so awesome.

There were lots and lots of treats...

and there was this really, really good apple cider/bourbon punch 

with lemon and ginger that Greg made.

You know... for the adults...

So, everyone, ahem, had a great time.

The hurricane definitely put a damper on things but we consider ourselves 

very lucky that we had such a great party and a fun halloween. 

I am going to go pass out now...