snails.

we've had an amazing spring this year. normally, by the end of april, we've had lots of sweltering days and it's already almost a dustbowl here. but we've had rain and mild temps and humidity (trust me, humidity is important).

anyway. i'm embarrassed by how infrequently we've walked to school over the past several weeks. there have been mornings where it's been pretty chilly and mornings where it's been raining...but really, there have been a lot of mornings where we sleep too late and then scramble around and can't make it on time without driving. sigh. daylight savings time ruins me every year.

BUT. on the days that we have walked, we have had the good fortune to find all sorts of snails. there's one particular house on our journey that has kind of an insane yard (truthfully, i think a hoarder may live there, but i guess snails love hoarders?) and there are boatloads of snails there in the mornings. they crawl along this low brick wall and they are easy to spot in the overgrown grass. the kids love looking at all their different shells and sizes. i have to admit, i know they are horrible for the garden, but i love watching them. emme likes the little bitty ones the best.

weekendly.

the weekends are never long enough and i always plan to accomplish infinitely more than is possible with two young kidlets, but whatever.  lately we've been beginning the weekend at the new whole foods up north by the kids' school - pick them up friday afternoon and let them go buck wild while we sip a beverage, enjoy the springier weather and graze on yummy snacks.

this weekend, we went to the natural gardener saturday morning to pick out some stuff to grow this year.  our yard was really well-landscaped when we bought our house, but it's been a super hard winter, so we had some stuff to replace.  plus, i wanted to attempt a few veggies this year, and i have a nice herb garden kicking as of now.  so for edibles we have: zucchini, yellow crookneck squash (heirloom variety - super excited), cucumbers, japanese eggplant, banana peppers, cherry peppers.  i will pick up a cherry tomato plant or two this week, as they tend to fare better in our super fun texas summers.  herbs: oregano, cilantro, rosemary, sage, english thyme, lavendar, feverfew, chives, spearmint, burnet salad.  i'm just guessing we'll lose the chives and cilantro before too long, but they've had a good run.  if i could grow other plants as well and i can grow oregano, i would be a horticulturalist.

the rest of april and a roly poly.

we are starting to formulate a routine, slowly .  it's easiest on days when i can work from home.  i wake up first, shower, start the motions.  prep the bottles, unload the dishwasher, feed the pets, let the dogs out, start breakfast, stuff the diapers, start a load of laundry.  all the things.  most days i feel like i see my children in a blur through the morning.  hollis usually wakes up late - a ball of chub and warmth in my spot in the bed.  some mornings i wake him just in time to change his diaper and clothes, give him his heart meds, and get him into his carseat.  we have to wake emme up earlier than that since she has so many opinions these days - about what she will wear to school, what and how she will eat breakfast, when she will conduct the rest of her morning chores.  but i still try to wait until the last possible minute, balancing that seesaw of the importance of sleep and my intense desire to spend time with her.  it's harder when i have to get myself ready too - find relatively clean clothes, avoid getting spit up on, throw on a layer of mascara and some work-appropriate shoes.  but most days we make it out the door with few, if any, tears, full bellies, and warm coffee in my mug.
the evenings are still the witching hours - you never know what you're going to get.  some days emme is exuberant, rambunctious, wanting to help or at least willing to play independently.  some days she is overly tired, cranky, the poster-child of two and a half year old moodiness.  sometimes, hollis can plow through until his favorite time of day: bath time.  but some days he is fussy and tired, hungry and discontented.  some days i am successful in getting him down for a mini-nap before the bedtime routine begins, but i question how good that extra sleep is for a child that is adamantly refusing to go more than a few hours between night wakings.  despite this, i still manage to get a somewhat functional dinner on the table so that we can eat as a family when justin gets home from work.  meal planning (when we manage to do it) is a life saver.  after dinner, it's haul everyone to the bath, lotion, clean jammies, cuddles.  emme has created an intermission in our normal progression from bath to jammies to books to bed.  now, she demands "a little bit of dancing" in the living room, usually while i'm putting hollis down.  she is turning in to quite the little dancer - twirling and jumping and shaking, getting out the last energy from the day.  once hollis is asleep, justin and i read books to ek in her bed and talk about her day.  i love the things she mentions from her day - the caterpillar she saw under a leaf, the tomatoes growing in her garden, the work she did with her buddies at school.  she always lists every item that was in her lunch that day.  we end the day with jb turning out the lights and she and i snuggle for prayers and a closed-eye recitation of goodnight moon.
hollis started rolling from tummy to back last week.  he also started laughing and it's a joyful little sound.  for the cranky dude he was for most of his first three months, he is really turning in to quite the happy little chublet.  he and i are completely in love - i can't get enough of all his rolls, his soft baby skin, his big gummy smile.  he is not a good night sleeper, but i'm trying to let him have his own journey.  a good night is one where i get three uninterrupted hours, and i haven't had many of those.  but in the grand scheme of my life, these nights awake with my baby are so few and short.  he doesn't love taking a bottle, so he's not eating enough during the day, hence the compensation of nursing half the night.  there are worse things and i know i will miss these nights when they are gone.  that being said, it is hard to be on my a-game, both at work and emotionally, when i haven't slept more than three hours in a row in nearly four months.
anyway.  i'm trying really hard to slow it down a little and focus on all the magical little things about this time, rather than concentrate on all the things i'm not doing - like exercising, sweeping the floor daily, crafting, organizing, running the dogs, etc etc etc.  it really is an amazing thing to be in this life with these little people who are so interesting and learning so much every day.

happy birthday to me.

well, my last child-less birthday (or at least, child that lives in my house instead of in my body) is upon me and it's been awesome so far.  jb and i did our celebration yesterday, as i think weekend birthdays trump monday birthdays any day.  i woke up to the best gift ever - a brand new bernina sewing machine from jb, mom, dad, and joe.  unbelievable.  it is currently all i can think about and i just want to be at home sewing things and learning about it.  i am so touched by how generous and awesome my family is.  everyone, really.  i am definitely feeling the love today.

anyway...the rest of the day was spent relaxing and playing with the new sewing machine, with a few errands and a dog park jaunt thrown in for good measure.  it was the first day we've hit 100 degrees this year (in contrast to last year, when we'd already had 42 days of 100 by this point), so it was wicked hot.  perfect for the entry into august, honestly.  for dinner, jb and i had a hot date to vespaio - an italian restaurant we'd never been to on south congress.  it did not disappoint.  we started with olives and a fig/cheese plate, followed by spaghetti pomodoro (homemade pasta and veggie deliciousness from their garden out back), followed by a seafood mixed grill (the grilled drum over polenta was my fave), followed by these little mini donut things with peach gelatto from fredericksburg (nearby german town famous for its peaches).  we split everything, so it was still an insane amount of food, but not too overwhelming....

today has been great.  lots of phone calls and texts and facebook messages, and i appreciate all of them.

yesterday, we harvested two of our watermelons.  they are awesome!  we haven't cut in to either yet, but they look delicious and we are quite proud of them.  here's jb displaying the pair.

also, it's hard to tell in my black shirt, but i think my belly is right about the sizeof the melon.....

finally, we had to say goodbye to our orange sherbert room.  i think i mentioned it got painted while i was in boston (you can see the new green behind the watermelon shots), but here's the last pic of the orange.  it was a good color....

i hope everyone else is having as great a day as i am.  much love.

ten days, ten hours, and home again.

i am home.  finally.  i had a great time on my many adventures, but it was a long time and i am really happy to not be going anywhere else again for a little while.

i'll start with a vegas recap.  we got in thursday afternoon/evening and walked around a little after we got settled.  we had late dinner reservations at del frisco's, which was delicious.  it's a really nice steak house that jb and i wanted to take everyone to for mom's "birthday" dinner.  the waiter brought delicious cake at the end and we were all more than stuffed.
friday morning we got up early (me, early enough to lose $20 in a slot machine and promptly decide that gambling is not for me).  we hopped on a bus tour to the hoover dam, which was, in a word, awesome.  i didn't really know what to expect, and i wasn't honestly too excited about the hoover dam, but that thing is incredible.  we learned a lot about the engineering feats they accomplished to build it (and during the great depression, no less), as well as about the ecological challenges the entire area is facing (lake mead, which brings water to 1.3 million people, is projected to be dry in the next ten years - yikes).  anyway...even though it was about 120 degrees up there, jb and i walked across the dam from nevada into arizona and back.  it was a spectacle to see, and very hot, but i've done it.

jb's HDR shot of the generators

the four hesterlys battling the desert (i'm looking quite expectant....)

friday night was cirque de soleil love at our hotel.  incredible.  if you like the beatles at all, this is a must-see experience.  the set design, sound mixing, and production value were ridiculous.  jb and i have decided we want to see it again, since i'm quite sure i missed tons while trying to take everything in at once.  it was the kind of experience you don't want to blink for.  

saturday, we rode the bus up and down the strip and went into a few different casinos checking things out.  highlights included the botanical gardens at the bellagio and lunch for me, mom, and dad at mon ami gabi, a cafe inside paris (heirloom tomatoes and goat cheese = yes).  after that, mom, dad, and i ventured to see siegfried and roy's tigers and lions, as well as the dolphins kept in pools at the mirage.  i probably need a pet tiger.  saturday night, we headed out to fremont street.  that was awesome - clearly if i go back to vegas, that is where i will be staying.  it's old-timey, kitschy vegas and we had a blast there.  we found this little italian restaurant in the gold nugget and it was delicious.  

all in all, we managed to jam pack a week's worth of vacation into about 3 days, so that was quite fun but tiring.  

of course, there was no rest for the weary, since about 13 or so hours after getting home, i was back at the airport heading to boston.  boston is a great city, and i did get to spend some quality time out and about, even though i also worked at least 12 hours a day.  the hotel where my conference was was super close to everything, so i got to walk around a lot and explore some of the history and culture of the city.  i also have 2 close friends who just moved to boston a couple months ago, and they live about 6 blocks from the hotel i was in.  i ended up staying at their place wednesday, thursday, and friday night because of some issues with over-booking the hotel, so that was an unexpected treat as well.  

saturday was time to come home, but due to some mayhem with airlines (remind me to not fly united if given a choice) and the weather in chicago (my layover), i ended up not getting back until about 1 sunday morning (as opposed to 10:45 saturday night).  10 hours of travel time is not my friend.  i can't remember ever having been that tired, but considering there was a time a few hours earlier when i thought i wouldn't be able to get home before MONDAY (again, united airlines), i was just sooooo happy to be back.  jb and the pups picked me up, and now here i am.  home again home again jiggity jig.  

while i was away, niblet's room got painted and it looks great.  we are both super happy with the color - it's mellow and soothing and will work for a girl or boy nibs, i think.  haha.  also, jb got to feel nibs give a little kick yesterday for the first time.  or maybe a punch, i'm not sure.  in any case, s/he is moving lots these days and i am so happy that jb is starting to get to join in on the fun.  

oh, here are a couple of garden pics to break up all the writing i've done on this post....

pepper and yellow pear tomato harvest from an evening a few weeks ago.

our first heirloom.  why aren't these available all year round?  

alas, if you've made it this far then you are quite the patient one.  more soon, i'm sure.  

garden update #2.

i have more pictures than this to post, but it's been a super long time since i wrote anything about the garden.  we had a serious setback with the housesitter situation after the trip to st. thomas, but thanks to diligent watering and a moderate summer (so far - fingers crossed that it continues), it's bounced back a bit. yay!

anyway - we've had some delicious peppers (sauteed on fajitas = tasty treat), several little yellow pear tomatoes (in salads and pastas), and even a couple of heirloom tomatoes (my absolute favorite food of all time).  our pumpkin is gone, as is the squash, and the cucumbers are alive but not really fruiting.  but the spectacle to end all is our watermelon patch.  here is a pic of one of the fruits from a few weeks ago and then one from last week.  we'll be harvesting soon and i'll post a pic of me holding it next to the belly, since i think we're about the same size now.....

in baby news, i woke up yesterday morning (at like 5:15) to get ready to hop on my plane to boston, and the baby had hiccups.  that was the first time i've felt that, and it was super awesome.

tasty treats.

food is on my mind a lot these days.  i've always loved meal time, but it's taken on new meaning between being pregnant and being done with classes and thus having time to spend in the kitchen again.

we harvested our first tomato yesterday!  we haven't eaten it yet - probably tomorrow - but it is beautiful!  i have to give jb full credit for all his hard work with watering and fertilizing and feeding.  we've got tons more on the vine, so i'm sure we'll be taking lots of pictures as the full bounty comes to fruition.  that is...provided it doesn't get too hot in the next week or two....

also, this weekend while driving back from lafayette, jb and i decided to challenge ourselves to get more creative with meals.  we're each taking one day a week to cook something we've never cooked before (or, at the very least, something we hardly ever cook....).  super fun!  my night was monday of this week, so i made black bean soup (recipe from the joy of cooking) and chicken enchiladas (recipe was sort of a weird hodge podge of my brain and the joy of cooking).  the soup could have used some extra pizzazz (i didn't have a ham bone or salt pork to cook with), but the enchiladas were pretty good.  i shredded chicken and mixed it with salsa verde combined with some cream cheese for the insides and then enchilada sauce and grated sharp cheddar on top.  not bad.

jb, though, in typical fashion, totally showed my efforts up last night.  it didn't hurt that everything we ate was super duper fresh - the fish had been fileted less than 2 hours before we were eating it, the lettuce and onions from the salad and dill for the fish were in the ground yesterday morning (gotta love farmers market days).  and the bread was fresh baked from the farmers market as well.  tasty!  anyway...menu was: baked butterfish with sauteed dill and garlic; bibb lettuce salad with toasted pecans, purple onion, goat cheese, avocado, and mandarins; and freshly baked ciabatta.  doesn't get much better than that, so i took a picture.  and no, that whole chunk of bread wasn't just for me....i promise!

fruits of our labor

well, we harvested the first fruit from our garden a couple days ago - a cucumber.  we ate it last night on toast with a little cream cheese....deliciousness.  it was so crispy and fresh!  nothing like produce straight from the garden.

we also randomly have tons of rose bushes around our yard.  i kind of hate roses - they are beautiful, but growing them is a huge pain and i end up slicing my hands and arms open on the thorns every time i deal with them.  but, whoever lived here before us planted them around, and despite not taking care of them in ANY capacity, every year around this time, we get mega blooms.  this year has been especially fruitful, so i cut some and put them in a vase.  they're not looking as great anymore, but i am sure i can just go cut some more and replenish the arrangement.  we have some hot pink ones and some weird mottled pink and white ones that don't do as well when they're cut.  

i guess that's all for now.  this is the first weekend i don't have to think about school at all and it's SO WEIRD.  jb will be rocking his 100-mile bike ride tomorrow.  more to come.  

garden update #1

so, things in the spring garden are really growing, so far.  i think it's a combination of fresh rain water (jb is so diligent, and it is because of him that the plants are all still alive....), functional temperatures (nights in the 50s, days in the 70s = perfection), and chicken poop.  jb dressed everything with a healthy amount of chicken business last weekend, and we've really seen some great growth since then.  i really hope the weather stays spring-ish (as opposed to summer-ish) for a while longer so we can actually reap the benefits of all this work.  here are some pics from this afternoon:

(valley girl tomato plant - one of eight tomato plants we're growing this year....)

(one of our heirloom varieties - i think we have three total, out of the eight tomatoes)

(eggplant - you can see the pole beans in the background)

(squash)

(habanero pepper - we're growing like 6 different types of peppers, too)

(tomatillo, one of two)

(pumpkins!  from seed....)

(watermelon, one of three)

(bluebonnets - these aren't in our garden, but they're in our yard)

happy weekend!