new years eve kit

I always have big plans for christmas deliveries.. something nice to take around as a family to all our friends and neighbors. So many of our friends have great traditions they make each year. My friend Gwen bakes delicious Challah braids. Our old friend Valerie has mastered homemade caramels. My mom and dad make wonderful candied pecans. We haven't quite figured out one thing we want to make each year.

JR sometimes reminds me of the year I decided to make gingerbread cookie families for about twenty of our nearest and dearest (a big gingerbread dad and mom and small gingerbread children to represent each member of the family we were delivering it to). I was about 8 months pregnant at the time and spent about three days working on my gingerbread dough, rolling out the cookies, cutting and baking and then painstakingly decorating each gingerbread person, and packing them into boxes. It was a little crazy and added much to the holiday stress at our house.

Since then I have tried to think of things we can give that are thoughtful, but maybe don't demand quite as much time and effort as those gingerbread cookies did. This year we made New Years Eve Kits. Most of our friends have small children and won't be out partying too hard. We know most of them will be home watching movies and playing games and trying to make the night feel festive (while still tucking their kids in by 10!).

We bought a few 4-packs of sparkling apple cider, then hit the local party store for noisemakers, balloons, blowers, poppers and some sparkly confetti. We packed everything up in a clear party bag and delivered it with a bottle of Martinelli's.

Happy New Year!

bee's tummy

My friend Heather Ross was on TV yesterday, chatting with Martha Stewart while they sewed baby bloomers from Heather's book Weekend Sewing. Good thing, since Heather's expecting a baby of her own this summer! You can watch a clip over at the Martha site.. and even download the template so you can make your own. I designed Heather's book and took my kids with me on several of the shoots, so I got excited because that little baby in the photo is none other than my Bee. Kind of fun to see your baby's cute tummy on TV when you least expect it...

valentines 2011

My little boy is now 6, and he wants to be involved in the creation of his valentines. C is a pretty creative kid, and loves to draw, so we decided to make a little portrait of each of his classmates in first grade. It took a little time, so we spread it out over a few days.

I was inspired by this spread in our Doodles book (a coloring book I highly recommend). I showed it to C and pointed out all the different hairstyles and clothes and facial expressions and how each person is unique. With the help of C's class photo, he was off and running. 

I drew a little template, with a head and shoulders drawn in, and a frame where he could write each child's name. This helped make all the portraits roughly the same size, and gave him a starting point for each drawing. Our valentine's fold in half with a little spine (that says Happy Valentine's Day 2011) and then C wrote on the back "A Portrait by C..". I've made a PDF that you can use, which fits four valentines to a page, just fold and cut to make your own. We're stapling a little bag of treats inside, because my kids know a valentine is only worth it's weight if it involves a little candy.

I love how they turned out. And I can honestly say the C loved making them. He spent so much time making sure each picture looked just like the person he was drawing.. copying their shirts and hairbows and smiles as best he could. He's so proud to pass them out to his friends, but I am a little sad we have to give them all away!

the witching hour

First, an apology: These photos don't do justice to this beautiful party. Everything was so lovely in real life, and I'm sorry that I couldn't capture it better with my camera (low light and I do not get along!).

My friend Aleisha has started a new Halloween tradition, a witch party she calls "The Witching Hour". The invite read "Leave your warlocks at home, don your most bewitching attire and come revel in an enchanting ghouls' night filled with a sinister supper and wicked company. Brooms and black cats will be checked at the door. A prize will be awarded for the most spellbinding hat." A baked potato bar was served for dinner. Friends gathered in the backyard around a glowing fire, decked out in black (think striped tights, pointy hats, and lots of black tulle!).

For dessert, I brought some little pots of pumpkin pie (served in tiny mason jars). There were delicious raspberry bars and marshmallows for s'mores to be roasted on the fire.

Little hand pies were left at the door as a favor "for the flight home".

a baby shower brunch

Funny story. My sweet friends planned a baby shower for me, a brunch on a Saturday morning. But then I surprised us all by going into labor that Thursday evening, over a month before my due date. When they came to see me at the hospital they insisted we cancel the shower. "No way!" I said, knowing how much work they had already gone to. "The shower is on, I will be there!"

I was due to be released from the hospital Saturday morning at 11 AM. The shower was at 10. "I'm going to need to get discharged early on Saturday," I said to the nurse. "I have a baby shower I need to get to." The nurse looked up at me, "Well you might need to be late for the shower." I replied, "No, see... the shower is for me!" And then all the nurses laughed, and yes, I made it to the shower on time.

It was a lovely morning, in a beautiful setting, with so many of my friends and family. And the food was delicious. So good in fact that I had to contact each person who made something and get the recipe for myself. And of course, I'll share with you (just download this PDF).

The color palette was citrus shades of orange, yellow and a bit of red and green. The sweet invitations were done by my friends over at Blonde Designs (I've edited some information for privacy).

And for favors, my friends made little jars of homemade strawberry jam, which is what JR and I gave out as favors at our wedding. I couldn't believe they had gone to all that work, and the jars looked so pretty sitting out on the table.

I admit I have changed my tune about baby showers. I used to be a strict enforcer of the one-shower-per-person rule. One really great shower for your first baby, and that's it. Friends tried to throw a shower when I had Bee, and I refused, I really hate to be the center of attention. But after struggling for some time to have a baby this go round, I am all about celebrating babies, whether it's your first or your fourth!

favorite things

My friends have started a great tradition of throwing a "Favorite Things" party twice a year. A week before Baby M was born, we gathered at my friends home for the Spring party (they also have a Winter party in early December). Funny enough, I think this may be the only photo of my pregnant belly.

Here's how it works: Each person brings their favorite thing (anything you like.. your favorite lip gloss, favorite kitchen tool, favorite gift wrapping supply, a gift card for your favorite frozen yogurt, etc.). It can't cost more than $6, and each person brings five of the same thing. When you arrive at the party, you write your name on five slips of paper and throw them in a big bowl. The bowl is passed around, and each person takes five names (making sure you don't pick your own.. or two of the same name).

One at a time each person introduces their favorite thing and then reads the five names they picked from the bowl, passing out their gift to those five guests. After everyone at the party has presented their favorite thing, each person should end up with five gifts to take home. It's always interesting to see what people choose, and some guests have started to bring a notepad and pen to jot down what people love (this is how I was introduced to Trader Joe's Sea Salt Chocolate Caramels, which are nearly my undoing each winter).

This year I decided to bring basil plants as my favorite thing. It's always nice to cook with fresh herbs, but I hate buying a little pack at the store, using a few leaves, and then tossing the rest away when they go bad. Basil plants are inexpensive (these were $2.99) and somehow they stay alive for quite a while in my yard, despite my lack of a green thumb. I printed up some of my favorite recipes that use fresh basil and included that, along with a little jar of pre-made pesto (I like Trader Joe's version).

You can download my favorite basil recipes here.. (These are printed four to a page, so you can print them out, and add them to your recipe file.) And if you have a favorite basil recipe you'd like to share, feel free to comment, my basil plant is producing like crazy right now!

friday night camping

Sandwiched between our trip to New York, my little brother and his family coming for a visit, and my shoot in the Bahamas (May has been busy!) we took a quick camping trip with the kids.

Part of why we moved to California two years ago was so we could be close to my family. My parents live about ten minutes away, and my older brother lives less than a mile away. The cousins love each other, and sometimes when I feel badly that C doesn't have a brother, I am so glad he has two older cousins who help fill that role.

So when my sister-in-law asked if we wanted to go camping, we were in.. despite our crazy May. We had three families in all... perfect for divying up all the gear that comes with camping. (And especially helpful when you get to the campsite first and realize you have forgotten all of the firewood. Oops!)

JR was in charge of buying a tent and came home with this little number. I took one look at it and reminded him there are 4 people in our family. To prove to me that his tent was the perfect size, he set it up in the living room the night before the campout.. and yes, all four of us fit (barely!). I love the feeling of having my whole family snuggled in together.

The most exciting part of camping for the kids is the campfire. They love gathering the sticks for the kindling and letting us know when we need to add another log. We kept it easy.. hot dogs for dinner followed by s'mores. All the kids went to bed around 8 (or at least got in their tents.. we could hear them talking and giggling for the next few hours) and the adults sat around the campfire and talked.

In the morning we had omelettes, made to order on two little camp stoves. My friend had chopped up all the ingredients (like peppers and onions) beforehand and she and her husband set up a little omelette bar. Delicious!

We took a hike in the morning in the hills around the campsite. Though I think my kids are pretty tough, they were both wanting to be carried about 20 minutes into our little nature walk. By the end of the hike, they were both in tears. I coudn't quite understand it until C came down with a fever that afternoon and the doctor told us it was strep throat. Bee came down with it a few days later. I feel a little badly about that hike..

I'm amazed that just 25 minutes from where we live, you can be in such beautiful countryside. May is the perfect time to go camping (at least in Southern California). It's not too chilly at night, and not yet hot enough that you are boiling in your tent by morning. I'm always glad to see that the kids can entertain themselves when we leave them to their own devices, they spent most of the morning looking for ladybugs and chasing squirrels and helping take down the tents and carry things to the car.

It does take a bit of gear to have a comfortable campout (this pregnant lady was very happy for our air mattress). And sometimes it seems like a lot of work for just one night. But will my kids remember that they went camping as a family? Will they have memories of different campsites and the funny things that happened along the way, the way I do from my childhood? I'm doing my best to make sure they will.

candygram

small flat box + happy birthday sticker + mini gumballs = my kind of birthday card

books and pie

I am lucky to take part in a small book group with a few friends. Over the years I've participated in quite a few book clubs, and they all have their own particular flavor, some more successful than others. Because I know many of you do the same, I thought I'd share a few things we've been doing with our book club in the hope that you will share things that are working particularly well in yours.

1. We read one book each month. (Sometimes we combine July and August if everyone's going to be off on vacation, or December and January to avoid the holiday rush). Every six months or so we pick the next few books we're going to read. We have one rule: You have to have read the book before you can recommend it. And we try and pick books that are easy to get a hold of (via Amazon, the library, local bookstore, etc.).

2. We meet the same day each month, and at the same house. (For example: we always meet the first Tuesday of each month, and we meet at my house.) We used to rotate around to everyone's houses but meeting at one house seems to be working better for us, it may be simply because we always know where we are meeting!

3. We discuss the book. We used to just sit around and talk, but we've been trying to make a concerted effort to actually discuss the book. We ask one person each month to take a few minutes to write up some questions (you can usually find some already written online somewhere) and we write them up on little 3x5 cards. When you arrive, you pick a card or two and when it seems appropriate, you pipe up with your question and everyone weighs in. Book club is about socializing as well, so we definitely get off on tangents, but the cards help us to guide the conversation back to the book from time to time.

4. We keep it all pretty low-key. I've been to book clubs where there was a full buffet offered, and lovely as it was, it sets the bar so high that people are nervous about hosting or bringing refreshments. We just do dessert. Sometimes we can use the book we've read as inspiration (we recently read The Madonnas of Leningrad and my friend brought a delicious honey cake she learned to make while she was in Russia). Other times we've just had berries and ice cream. Everyone takes a turn bringing the dessert.

This month was my turn. Since we had read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, I made my first every sweet potato pie. I looked over a few recipes but settled on one from Everyday Food. And it was delicious! Sweet potato pie is similar to pumpkin pie, but with a slightly different flavor and consistency. This recipe has a mixture of pecans and brown sugar that you spread on top, which makes it especially good. I might have to make another one for Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie this year. Top with a big dollop of whipped cream, and you'll see what I mean.

If you'd like to share what's working in your book club, I would love to hear it. The books shown above are ones I've read and enjoyed in various reading groups. If you have recommendations, I'd love to hear them..

baseball party

I'm a fan of simple, thoughtful birthday parties, especially ones that pay attention to detail. A great kids party doesn't need to be elaborate, or cost a ton of money, or require renting out the local bounce house. I think this baseball party, thrown by my good friend Emily for her son Thomas, proves just that.

The invitations were cardstock circles printed with the party details and then "stitched" with wax twine to form a baseball. A second card shows a map to the baseball diamond where the party was held.

The kids lined up in the infield for pre-party warm ups, coached by Thomas' dad. Emily had put together a CD with baseball songs including The Star Bangled Banner, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and We Are the Champions. They stretched, did some jumping jacks and took a few laps around the field. My favorite part was when all the kids took turns batting and the dads caught balls and tagged the runners as they ran around the bases. Games included a water balloon toss and a relay race around the baseball diamond.

The place settings were tan cardstock cut in the shape of home plate, and each child got their own box of Cracker Jacks. Dinner included submarine style sandwiches (on Emily's homemade french bread), watermelon and grapes, fresh veggies, and chips and salsa.

Cupcakes were made with white frosting and red icing stitches and Emily made little pennant cupcake toppers. (You can find some great vintage pennants online, like these.)

Favors were cellophane bags filled with baseball cards and old fashioned candies like Tootsie Rolls and Necco wafers. My children had never seen baseball cards before and spent the next week trading players back and forth trying to get more "red guys" (they know we root for the Angels!)

Happy Birthday Thomas! And well done Emily!