my posse

delightfully sweet. delightfully funny.
two lovable children. one huggable honey.
they fill me with laughter. they fill me with joy.
my husband, my daughter, my redheaded boy.

farm fresh produce just outside our door

today was the day we started our CSA (consumer supported agriculture) pgm. through city fresh. it was very exciting to see what type of produce was in store for us for this week. it was also very encouraging to see people supporting our local agriculture. i even ran into a couple of people i know: library guy with glasses (we know each other but don't know names) and julie who owns our hood's cafe phoenix. the photo is a sample of what our $10 got us for the week. because i came towards the tail end of the pick-up time, they gave me an extra bunch of lettuce (they even offered me more) and an extra bunch of green onions (they would have offered me more of that too). for any of our local friends interested in finding out more about CSAs, please feel free to contact me.

i can't wait until next week!

thursday play group

now that emma is feeling better, we were able to make it to our thursday morning play group. with a new month comes a new location. this park is much smaller (though still nice!) than the park last month, which was easier for the parents to keep an eye on their kids. the more intimate setting also allowed for the parents to converse with each other a little more. no slides for emma this time. she was content to hang out with me, snack or climb up and down a few steps of the playground.

market fresh

i always forget how satisfying it is to shop at the west side market. now that it's warmer out we've been going there more often (i don't particularly care to go during winter, especially carting a toddler). not only do you get wonderful produce, but the sounds, smells, and people all make up the whole market experience. we went on monday and got a fantastic deal on meat. we bought a full rack of beef ribs, 2 lbs. of ground meat, 1 lb. of breakfast sausages and a piece of t-bone steak for $25! between purchasing all of our produce for the next 2 weeks and about 1 month's worth of meats, we spent a total of $60. it can't be beat!

come to emma's kitchen

thanks to gram and pap for the fabulous birthday gift! and thanks to aunt corrie for the pots and pans and all the glorious play food (complete with tofu, sushi and soy sauce!). emma absolutely loves the little kitchen, and it's fascinating to watch her. she knows just what to do with everything.

thoughts on baking

tyler came home this week with a request for me to make some sort of baked good for his band party. my old stand-by for school treats are brownies (from scratch). tyler had also requested the same, so it worked out.

usually, i make it with tyler assisting in some capacity. however, this time around i decided to turn the tables. since he has had plenty of experience helping me bake, why not allow him to do it himself? i literally did nothing except stir. but that was only for about 60 seconds at most. once he was on a roll, he insisted on doing everything himself. even the stirring (usually his arm gets "tired" after a brief stir and i end up completing that task).

i was merely a guide.

i only gave suggestions when he asked for them, and i allowed him to discover his own baking methods-keeping mine to myself. sometimes it's hard to let-go and allow your child to do something on his own, even if it's something as trivial as baking. and it's difficult to resist the temptation of making your child do something your way. sometimes there are many roads that lead to the same destination. likewise, a child's own method of doing something may not be the parent's way. it may not even always be the most effective method, but it yields the same result. the best way for a child to learn is to try it. even if they fail. then try again.

and the end result...

delicious, moist, chocolaty brownies (he did not come home with any left over).

a glimpse into ohio's history

within the north chagrin reservation, set back in a spacious field, sits squire's castle. it's actually not a castle at all, but in fact a gatekeeper's home built in the 1890s for feargus b. squire's future country estate. unfortunately, squire's plan to build a summer home never fully materialized. he sold the property in 1922, and the cleveland metroparks purchased the property in 1925.

legend has it that mrs. squire died in the gatekeeper's home and her spirit still haunts the castle [insert spooky music here]. but we didn't see anything except for some old firewood in the fireplace and some grafitti on the walls.










following our visit to squire's castle, we took a explored the woods surrounding the area. there are plenty of man-made trails there for walkers, joggers and horse riders. and no shortage of poison ivy either.

sunday evening was spent enjoying a delicious meal from the grill and playing some intense games of croquet. though the wee ones did not participate in the croquet fun, they did enjoy the freedom of roaming in the backyard playing in the mini house, chalk drawing, and cramming into emma's school bus. no one was able to beat, todd, the reigning croquet champion. not even aaron and jon's combined forces deterred him from finishing a winner.

fun with chemistry

the next david beckham

soccer is the sport of choice for tyler at the moment. of course, his most favorite athlete is the very well-known david beckham, who left his home country to play for the l.a. galaxies. these photos are from saturday's double-header.