Food Day

Got our CSA from Harvest Valley Farms today. Lil Lil sat, wearing her Kate Mack tutu bathing suit, in the backseat and ate strawberries all the way home :-)! Need to digress a bit here and say that I REALLY need to embrace the iPhone, AT & T and all, because my phone is useless - I so desperately wanted to snap a candid photo of my pink-clad strawberry princess but sick phone wouldn't let me. Anyhoo.... I used some of our fruits and veggies to make dinner - the carrots, strawberries, bib lettuce - more... and.. of course... Lil helped (so sweet - if she has helped me do anything at all - in this case shop, unload veggies, etc. - she just stands and expects to be given a kitchen task - a chef in the making, maybe?).

Am currently coveting my neighbor's personal chef, who comes to her house every two weeks (when she gets her CSA basket from Kretschmann's) to make a couple of homecooked yummy meals all sealed up in freezer containers and ready to serve. Today was her first day, and... as I stood and filled the kids' water table in the driveway, I could smell the most wonderful things coming through her window (and my neighbor does know that I was outside the window, btw - in fact, she kinda found me there :-) - wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened in our neck of the woods - ask us about the flying squirrel sometime...).

And ... last "food" fyi. My boys and their friend next door captured these bizarre little wormies that swim (they got them off of a trash can lid - our neighboring pediatrician joked about West Nile - me and my other neighbor surmissed that they must be wee little mosquitos - either way - YUK!!!), and.... they fed one to their fish (Tom Tom, the formerly shy fish, nabbed them - boys thrilled - now they can sleep - though I have the jeebies right now - boys on the other hand are alternately sprawled across the foot of their nifty new "big bed" - Milo - and curled up on the retro green beanbag chair on the floor - Enzo, watching Shrek :-) - too cool).

Anyway - watched World Cup festivities (are the Black-eyed Peas EVERYWHERE?).... played outside..... organized some paperwork. Happy. And so are the little ones (have proof of a day well-played - water toys strewn about the backyard and naked Barbies on a little doll bench by my herbs on the deck - drying off after a dip in the water table :-) - and, yeah - I'm still letting Lil play with Barbies and wear tutus ;-) - let Olivia do the same and look how she turned out (all three Olivias out and about tonight again - ah, summer....).Hope you're all enjoying your days too.

Two signs of summer - chicken salad and tennis.

So - tennis is a big theme today. My Olivia and her pal, Olivia, walked to the club -tennis rackets in hand - though got there in time to sit out due to thunder and lightening (oooo..... another sign of summer, eh?). And... have you been watching the French Open? I have - rather enjoy it - marvel at that clay. I caught the Nadal / Melzer match today (Nadal took it). Fun to watch (whilst organizing piles of clothes for Good Will :-). And.... to round out the tennis theme, my three guys played tennis on the Wii for a bit before dinner (Lil was pretty impressive playing lacrosse with big sis today too - for a two year old ;-).

So - light dinner tonight (after the Wii and tennis) - Made some chicken salad. I really like egg salads, chicken salads, pasta, tuna - whatever, so.... experiment a lot. This one worked tonight: Used a couple leftover chicken breasts that we grilled the other night (marinated in lemon, olive oil, garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper - another experiment of mine that paid off :-). I chopped the chicken and added the following to taste: drizzle of balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, finely chopped white onion, finely chopped English cucumber, pepper, mayo - really good.

Hmmm... another sign of summer is that the Race Around the Square in my hood (Edgewood / Regent Sq. area) is registering families and individuals right now. Doesn't take place until August, but... a good time to get in on it (while we're thinking of it, right?).

And, finally, photo: My Olivia had been perusing these old ski photos from two years ago, and... I love them all (sooo much fun that trip!), but... grabbed one quickly because I like how calm Lil is - how animated Milo is (as usual ;-), and... how I appear to have SUCH a loving gaze for my two youngests... I may post more of these in the next few days - like all that fog and evergreen behind us :-).

Oh - and DON'T FORGET! Check out Callapitter and That's Church (see my blog list) for updates on Kate and Peter's Treehouse. The meeting is Monday night - 7 pm in the Wilkins School Building off of Braddock...

Way to go, Olivia!

The first of many assists in this game. Way to play Attack, Olivia!

Lacrosse season has started.

My Olivia's favorite sport. Here she is in action (albeit from a bit of a distance) on Shadyside Academy's field. This game is still going on - footage emailed to me with the subject "penalty" - yikes. They do play hard, these girls ;-).

Bliss & some Easter clothes

Today, Olivia is off to a spiritual retreat (she didn't even take her cell phone!) - Enzo is settled into his kindergarten routine despite having to deal with the developmentally inappropriate fractions!!! that are now being introduced in his classroom (yesterday, when I did my P3 pick-up with Milo, I saw Enzo happily doing a puzzle in his classroom with his friend, Ignazio, and when he saw me he said he missed me but would have fun at lunch :-) - Milo will be hosting Daddy and Lilliana in his gymnastics class today. Should be a fun morning.

Photo: A few months ago, baby sis, Lil, compares her Gymkhana "visitor" award with Milo's "end of semester" ribbon, which he is, obviously, proudly displaying (the kid really does have some talent - I may get my gymnast yet!).

Tip for the day or my retail fix of the day - depends on how you look at it... My kids are always pretty preppy, springy, spiffy on Easter (a tradition long held by my Dad's family - big Catholic group - slavic-inspired food and fun on this holiday and others, of course, but we ALWAYS dressed :-), so.... lovin' these J.Crew accessories for boys, and the kid model looks so much like an older version of my Enzo that it's freakin' me out...;-)

Oh - and no water in the house for a bit this am - Water Authority hard at work with giant trucks and a big hole out front. Have built themselves a fire in an old barrel to stay warm. Hmmmm.... this may take a while.....(rant for another day :-)....