...it comes highly recommended.

Oh if only every night dreams could be as full of fantasy as this book...

Have you read it?

Better yet have you read it to your kids? It's lovely full of wonder old school marvelous fantasy literture. And it comes highly recommended.

the copyright is the year I was born! And the face on the back of the book brings me back to my favorite movie instantly....

If you open a book, you'll enter another world all together

What's for dinner.....

DINNER IN A POCKET--->

I love my little dinner idea book from Martha. The app is even cooler, and always with me...

So I made this for dinner last night, looked fresh, lighter & still YUMMY. I struggled a bit on what to make along with it, til I remembered how much I LOVED Ina's Tabbouleh recipe...Here's how it all went down:

• 
  
• Riata - basic cucumber yogurt sauce
• I've used this one & it is better than the one included in the chicken-patty recipe
• 
  
• 1 (about 3/4 pound) cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1/4 cup whole-milk plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, or parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

I paired it with one of my all time favorite healthy non-lettuce salads... you know the kind- that have lots of crunch factor. This one works perfect and leftovers are appreciated.

Ina Garten's:

Ingredients

• 1 cup bulghur wheat
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (1 bunch)
• 1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (1 bunch)
• 1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (1 bunch)
• 1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and medium-diced
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place the bulghur in a large bowl, pour in the boiling water, and add the lemon juice, olive oil, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Stir, then allow to stand at room temperature for about 1 hour.

Add the scallions, mint, parsley, cucumber, tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper; mix well. Season, to taste, and serve or cover and refrigerate. The flavor will improve if the tabbouleh sits for a few hours

all said & done, it was super yummy, even Chef Hubby loved it. Simple, delish, fresh & starting toward Summer flavors- a clear winner!

Try it & let me know how it goes...:)

Curious or creepy?

So let me be the first to say, I love my kiddos names. It took us months and months to even make a list of top 3 with each of our kids. It was a secret only the 2 of us shared, we didn't want anyone elses influence on our choice, so we never told until we announced :) We never settled on a name until we'd "met" them, looked and settled on who they looked like, its just us & how we did it.

So, last night I was flipping (aka drooling wishing turning slight shade of green with envy) at the PBKids Catalog. You know the one that gives us a slight case of the iwant-ies. And I started noticing a theme....MY KIDS NAMES! Nope not on all personalized stuff, the titles of collections! 4 outta 5 people!

-Mackenzie collection -
-Madeline Bedroom Collection-
- Parker Lampshade-
-Abigail Jewelry Box-

so...Kinda makes me curious, did we somehow just nail it on the current not popular but trendy jackpot? Or should I be creeped out that PBK has a voice recorder in my hospital room for "research". HA!

Just for Kelly's blog readers: I wrote this a while ago...and thought it was too perfect not to post.

But to fill in the blanks, our names are

Mackenzie Ayn

Parker Alan (after his dad's middle name)

Abigail(Abbie) Ada -(after mom's middle name, I didn't pick it daddy did;)

Madeline Ashlynn (daddy named her too)

Boston Andrew (his big brother picked his middle name, after all he prayed for him for 1 1/2 years!)

and if you see a pattern {A} when we were pregnant for the first time & could NOT narrow it down, we realized we both had A middle names & to help us started a tradition of using A as middle name

TAF-CAF-MAF-PAF-AAF-MAF-BAF

thats that.

Some all time favorites...

No reason for the order, just a few pictures that when I scroll through my iphoto library they make me pause, even for a few seconds sometimes minutes, pause & recall. I adore these pics for the person I miss who's grown & changed but also for the moment that flew by & wonder if I appreciated it enough.

Here in random order : some of my all time favorites.....

Boston- hardly sitting up only about 6 months of pure yummy-ness. UGH, I miss this like crazy. He was one for the record books. HUge blue eyes, sandy hair like a good Cali-baby and weight about 21 lbs!!!
Kenzie & Momma last summer on DC trip, being with just one of my loves and taking TIME the word I hardly ever achieve was lovely. Genetics crack me up because this is the one thing I was more excited to see with my very own eyes than ANYTHING else back East. I do declare this American saw her Declaration of Independence. And that other cute american girl was almost moved to tears over it too- crazy history-lovin gene.
Very random but funny, here is me when I was 17 I think....with my little sister. We have only a few pics of us together because she is 12 1/2 years younger & I only lived there occasionally. But I love it because even as a snapshot it is a really great photo. Lighting, texture, etc. Anyway, this one is for you Batey.
My son, gosh he's growing up. You know when you take a photo & you see your kids face but you see it all grown up? Scary. But this I saw, its like I could see how he would look in senior pics or even after- and I just think he's as handsome as can get.
Abbie- on the beach in Pismo, Mother's Day couple years ago.... she always acts goofy, posing etc for the camera. I love that it is just her looking & I can see HER. Just her. It just makes me gaze & wonder...
THis kid. Oh she's a packer- loves to pack, she dolled up in twirly dress, moved my adirondak into sun, got her parasol & a mag....she's just do dang sweet.
These are both all time favs- seriously wonderful wonderful cuteness. Boston was my only chubby baby & I loved it!!! Look at those eyes.

Celebrate First Day of Summer=Olallieberry Picking. So much fun, so great, perfect kick off, wonderful memory...
New Years Day we always walk on Carmel Beach together. We happened to go later this year than past & the shadows were long... Look at my boys big & small.
Parker wanted a boy so much, he prayed & prayed... he got a sister (again) and look at how how they are connecting, engaged, introducing. I love this picture...it tells of years to come of Brother Sister Love.
Yes, below is a duplicate but look at these 2 sets of eyes & faces together..dreamy, huh. These 2 look so much like their daddy & even though boy & girl, so much like eachother. Clearly not the same age but with 5 different faces in each of my kids-these 2 make me grin.

Proud Momma

SuperBowlSunday?

Yep, but also Scout Sunday. Today is also very special because all over the world, scouts are participating in the 100th Birthday of Boy Scouts, at places of faith-all different faiths-all over the world. We participated at St. Joseph's right here in Spreckels. Adorable walking to church, isn't it. Strolling really.

Here are all the boys, Tigers to Webelos-Standing Proud. Darling bunch aren't they!
Parker was asked to carry the Pack 60 Flag. He'd never attended mass before so we had to brush up on a bit. He couldn't take communion- but received a blessing from the priest.
Marching in.....Boy Scouts are:

• Trustworthy,
• Loyal,
• Helpful,
• Friendly,
• Courteous,
• Kind,
• Obedient,
• Cheerful,
• Thrifty,
• Brave,
• Clean,
• and Reverent.
• what's not to love about that?!

I am so proud of Parker & I think he is proud of himself too.

we're making "Balentines" again...

Here I am again, looking for something fun & creative using things (hopefully I already have) for Valentines! Last year we made these. I especially like the bee cards....

What to make this year?? Madeline wants to make puppets for everyone (yes, out of paper bags). Sounds fun. Abbie will be happy as long as it is cute & sweet.. But then what do you make for an 11 yr old boy?? It is his last ;( Booohooohoo! They just don't have fun parties in middle school. I was thinking something like "Your the ticket, Valentine". Lame? Cool, kinda? I need something that is NOT lovey-cutie & happen to have a spool of red tickets.....

I'll post the results, in the mean time-I need suggestions!

Happy February!!

FOUND ME!

well....just a note to say that if you followed me here from fisherfamily7.blogspot.com

HI! & thanks for following me & my silly reason to change my blog-name. I do have much to add-

ttfn (ta ta for now)

Ada

this is what I made for dinner- YUM. And healthy & different. I LOVE arugula, and once again loved how it changed a dish that would have been nothing the same without it.

But then this is what I wanted to make. Found it on a cute blog - here called Cookie Mondays. Adorable. Don't you want to make these too??

Eat me..Drink me...FIND ME!

Hello Blog world. It is a strange world indeed. I in fact am a huge fan, but seems strange that we read/write to everyone or maybe no one! I started out with no IDEA what a "blog" was. Seriously, it was like 6 months after I heard of it before I found out what one was!! Lame, I know. Now I am a big big fan of many blogs... mostly about photography, decorating or craft ideas, food (of course food!) baking, families & children & did I mention photography?? :)

Either way, I am writing under a different name. I never liked fisherfamily7 after I started reading all these fun, creative, silly names. Like jellybeans & cherrios. Or the cottage nest. Or several other names for just random blog-ness. Anyway, after we had Boston I wrote this on his birth announcement

-Our hearts are full with five to love-

And I like it much better, hopefully enough to write more often ;)

find me there:

http://ourheartsarefullwith5tolove.blogspot.com/

Maestro...

Piano, guitar, trumpet, cello, violin- children playing is music to my ears!

OH my sweet Madeline....

She had her first piano recital on Sunday. It was just lovely. I have to say even though it was long, and mostly just beginners- what a thing to celebrate. All of the children were proud, without any noticeable stage fright & waited patiently for their fellow performers (it was almost 1 1/2 hours!) WOW! She played "My Hobby Horse", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and "Yankee Doodle". Happy to say it was a slightly dressed up affair (too many of those for adults, hardly ever any for children these days...). My grandparents came & my mom....she got flowers-nothing like flowers to make a girl feel extra special :)

Madeline waiting to be called in...to wait some more :)

Her fans: Kenzie, Daddy, Abbie, Great-grandma, Great Grandpa, Parker, Boston & Grandma. Mom is behind the camera -forgot to get a picture with my girl ;(

Madeline before her name was called. She was watching the other performers & sitting with her teacher.
Performing. Sweetness. Concentration. Posture. Told you it was lovely...
Big pink roses from a smiling girls Daddy...

Wow! Lots of flowers, she said "I feel so special, like a princess or something."

Teacher & Student. She is a wonderful teacher, patient, talented, firm but kind. Madeline wants to please her, what more could a mom ask for!?
Kisses for a sissy, "Good job Madeline" said in 2 year old talk.