Art That's Not Cheesy, aka Vegan Art

We hosted the monthly dinner with The Vegans this month.  While our evenings usually include a rousing game of Taboo or Boggle, when they're at our house I sometimes try to get them to do something artsy or craftsy.  After the requisite eye rolling, they usually settle down and (dare I say) enjoy themselves some arts and crafts.   

This time I charged the group with making some new art for Babytown--the area of the house that is dedicated to all of the baby-playing, diaper-changing stuff.  

He Vegan's contribution (hilarious!)...

And a little lovely from She Vegan (apparently the same picture she's been drawing since she was 5, or something.  If that's the case, it's pretty darn good!)...

Hey, who's watching the baby??

Another great dinner with The Vegans.  And Babytown's never looked better.  Thanks, you two!

PS- Andrea made some incredible food... Spanish rice, refried beans, and enchilada sauce, all homemade.  They were amazing.  I turned the sauce into sweet potato enchiladas, plus we had chips and guacamole for appetizers and I made a single-layer chocolate cake with cinnamon chocolate ganache for dessert.  It was all delicious!

Crowded Cakes

Leave it to Portland, an enormously popular hotbed of foodies and kitschy food establishments, to come up with a breakfast spot where the customer actually makes their own food.  And, to top it all off, it's so immediately popular that the wait to get in is was too long and we gave up and went down the street to the good ol' standby, Cricket (a breakfast place where they actually hire cooks and servers).  Don't get me wrong, I'll be the first to say that Slappy Cakes, where the griddle is built into your table and what you order is pancake batter that you cook yourself, sounds like a whopping good time.  And we decided we will definitely go back, but maybe later in the afternoon next time (happy hour?  they do serve drinks!).

Instead, like I said, we ended up at Cricket.  Tried and true.  We had delicious goat cheese omelets and eggs benedict.  Elliot sat in a restaurant high chair and seemed to enjoy drinking water out of his Mama's glass, both of which were firsts.   He also got a foot massage while he nursed.  We made friends with (read: Elliot wooed) the ladies sitting next to us, one of which will be having her first baby on Tuesday.  So that was very exciting.  We all ate Party O's for hors d'oeuvres.

But the funniest part of the whole outing is how un-photogenic I think all of the pictures ended up.  Not terrible, just a little...off.  And I didn't take 127 shots of each thing, like I usually do.  Nope, just a couple random pics of us at Cricket.   Oh, and we did have one delicious oatmeal pancake that we all shared. The cook made it for us in the kitchen.  But you'll have to take my word for it, because I forgot to take a picture of it.

All in all, it was a perfect Saturday morning.

Shout Out to Raffi

You wake up in the morning,

It's a quarter to one.

You think you'll go

And have some fun.

You brush your teeth,

Ch, ch-ch-cha

Cha, ch-ch-cha.

You brush your teeth,

Ch, ch-ch-cha

Cha, ch-ch-cha.

You wake up in the morning,

It's a quarter to two.

You just don't know

What you should do.

You brush your teeth,

Ch, ch-ch-cha

Cha, ch-ch-cha.

You brush your teeth,

Ch, ch-ch-cha

Cha, ch-ch-cha.

Golden Rings

Elliot has baskets and baskets of wonderful toys... wooden rattles, plastic chewies and bells that jingle, soft blocks for stacking and knocking down and balls for rolling.  All of which we are so grateful for.  But sometimes it's the simplest things that bring the greatest joy.  Elliot and our little childcare-share friend seem to find endless enjoyment in these canning jar rings.  They are loud when the bowl gets smacked.  Hard for teething on.  Easy to grasp.  And there are lots of them.  They have become a daily staple in babytown.

Woodland Creatures

We went for Elliot's first hike today in Forest Park (isn't that a great name?!?).  It was such a fun day.  Here's a look at what we did.

Everyone started out with smiles.

Elliot was strapped onto his SG, Annika, which made for some great smooching.

And a great way to see all of the new things, like the river we walked along.

There was so much for a baby to see and hear and learn about that it wasn't too long before he was sound asleep.

While he slept, I played in the old stone house.

Then it was time for some lunch.  (Thanks for the sandwiches, Annika!)

Elliot woke up after lunch and was transferred to his Mama's back... which he clearly liked a whole lot!

We made our way back down the trail and finished a wonderful first hike.

As you can see, all of the woodland creatures had a great time!

(PS... Auntie Granny, isn't his fleece suit perfect???!?!)

Party O's

Okay, so the box actually said Purely O's, but I thought it said Party O's. I'm pretty sure they will forever more be called Party O's in this house. And look at what a party it was! Mind you, he doesn't yet understand that he can put them in his mouth, or even necessarily like them if we put one in for him, but O what fun he had (hee hee, couldn't resist)!

As Suggested

To avoid this, today I fed Elliot like this...

As you can imagine, clean-up was a whole lot easier!

I Can Do It

My previously oh-so-clean mealtime baby who wanted nothing more than to keep his hands out of the way as one of his mamas shoveled food into his mouth as fast as she could, has started demanding that he grab the spoon and feed himself with each bite. Needless to say, we now save bath time for after dinner.

Kitchen Fun

Sometimes sitting on the kitchen floor with some mixing spoons is all a baby needs.

His Forever Stocking

I was committed to making all of us our official family stockings this year and wanted a woodland creatures theme to them, but life with a baby moves at its own pace. I was able to at least make Elliot's and settled for smaller, stand-in stockings for the rest of us for now (the felt that I used for those ones is made out of recycled plastic!). I figure if I can make one of our stockings each year I'll be in good shape. Andrea has requested a scene of a mama and baby deer for hers... I guess I should start working on that one now!

Storytime with Nan

Nan is an excellent storybook reader. She and Elliot have had a great time making their way through Elliot's library. She's read all of his Hawaiian language books, and has especially enjoyed his new The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and I Love You Stinky Face. It is so much fun having Nan here!