Braids and Baby Cobbler

Okay, so they're not yet Anne of Green Gables worthy, but I was very happy that we could plait tiny little braids into Zöe's hair yesterday. She looks so cute and sassy when her hair is short, but it's just so darn pretty with big fat curls that I'm thinking we'll grow it longer for a bit and see how that works out. Perhaps we'll have some bigger, better braids in our future.

Yesterday I took Braids and the Boys out to pick some berries. They love searching the bushes for the perfect fruit, which are so often elusively hiding under a patch of leafy greenery. There usually unfolds all manner of contests between Them and Me, with categories ranging from Most Berries Picked to Berry With The Ugliest Bug . Since I'm a Zone Picker (as in, "yeah, yeah sure...let me just get these few here....and here....and here...") I'm oblivious to much of the contest shenanigans, so I don't win any of them. And boy did it feel a lot like Blueberries for Sal with Zöe puttering along behind me, eating the blueberries as quickly as I could put them in the basket. When she'd sneak some from The Boys they'd scold her, "Zooooooeee, take 'em from the treeeeees, not our baskeeeeeet!" Then she'd just get sneakier.

Once home, Zöe donned her Hello Kitty apron (which was mine long, long ago) and helped me make my very first cobbler with the blueberries and marionberries we picked. As a girl my mom used to play a wrestling game with her big brother, my Uncle Joe, which they called "Mountain Joe and Baby Cobbler." I always loved thinking of them playing their made-up game, and the title used to throw me into fits of giggles when I was small. And so "cobbler" has been one of my favorite words ever since. Oy, you should hear Zoe say it over and over. I swear I could listen to it all day long...So without further ado, here's our Baby Cobbler. I pretty much felt like a Mountain Joe when I was finished eating. Yum. Of course, more pictures here.

Bag-A-Rama

I made my first purse last week for our Anniversary date night. Oh my goodness...it's so much fun to make a purse! It seems so odd and not right, all inside out and hoopdey, and then you pull the whole the right side out and...presto! Like magic, it works! This is Amy Butler's Velma Bag and I used the leftover fabric from the cute skirt I made a while back. And speaking of cute skirts...I sized it down and made three more of those pretties. There's fabric for at least four others waiting in the hopper. I love that pattern!

I've been very inspired by all of the patchwork stuff I've been seeing around like this, and this, which have been inspired by this incredible book which I finally bought at Uwajaimaya on Saturday . So today I tried my hand at some quilted patchwork. My, oh my. There will be plenty more of this in my future! It's really satisfying and fun.

I Love a Parade!

After staying up rather late to make my little independent girl a little Independence Day dress, I thought I was having visions of delirium when the festively decorated wagons, bikes and scooters began making their way up our street to the schoolyard. After making some inquiries, we learned that there is an annual 4th of July kids parade which winds its way through our sweet tree-lined neighborhood. How did I miss that memo? I'm not one to miss out on the fun, even while suffering from very little sleep. So in the 15 minutes we had until the parade began we threw together our vehicles and joined the fray.

It was sweet beyond words. And while I know we don't live in Beverly Cleary's actual neighborhood, it felt like something straight out of a Ramona book. More fun photos here.

And as the sun set, that same schoolyard became a meeting place of a different kind. People came from all around hauling boxes and bags loaded with fireworks. Each one may as well have been marked with "TNT" on the side, so cartoonish was the way the roman candles, bottlerockets and mortars protruded from their containers. The neighborhood was rattled by continual explosions, the sky thick with smoke, raining showers of sparks. A little more edgy, but equally fun!


And speaking of fireworks...Happy Anniversary honey!! It's been nine incredible years of wedded wonder (14 since we first became a couple!) and the colorful explosions of sparkling beauty that I first felt when I met you, continue to fill my heart every day. I love you!

My Favorite Five Days

Yesterday marked the beginning of my very favorite five days of the year. It begins with my birthday, culminates with our anniversary and contains lovely sunshine, food, blueberry pie, fireworks, splashing, family and lots of fun throughout. Hooray for the summer! Yipee!