Picnic

Apple Banana Muffins

Some people love to classify little girls as, sweet and mellow, and boys as, wild and rambuctious with huge appetites.  I have not found that to be true for my children except for the part about "boys having huge appetites."  I recently made the mistake of teaching Eero how to sign "eat" and now he will walk up to me and sign "eat" sometimes as soon as 15 minutes after we finish a large meal.  At first, I assumed he was just practicing his new found skill but I decided to stick him back in the high chair anyway.  Sure enough, he wants second breakfast and sometimes even third.  I try to keep up with a batch of muffins every week to have on hand for his post-breakfast snack.

Apple Banana Muffins

Photo Highlights from our Holidays

At Christmas, we were enjoying the snow in the Sierras at our cabin. And one-week later, we were enjoying the 68-degree weather at the beach in Santa Cruz where my family lives.  Life in Northern California sure is sweet!

{Bijou}

{At the tree lot}

{Doug and his boys}

{Me and Sweet E}

{A view from the tub}

{I totally appreciated Bijou's Christmas Day artwork}

{Bijou and her cousin Alistair at Manresa beach}

{twin photo shoot attempt, always an action shot}

{Me & Eero}

{Bijou}

A simple scarf

I often start the year strong, fulfilling my expectations for myself like many of us tend to do with the fresh start of a new year.  For the past couple of years, I have resolved to give only handmade gifts for the various birthday parties we attend throughout the year.  Inevitably, those with birthdays in the early months get something handmade and by the time the fall rolls around, I'm browsing the aisles of Target.  So.... staying true to tradition, Bijou's friend Edith received a handmade cowl scarf made from striped jersey knit.  It's soft, comfy and stylish and when I had B try it on for size, she insisted I make a second one for her.  She wore it to school every day last week and even declared, "I'm going to wear this everyday!"  Happy Birthday Edie!  And Happy VERY Early Birthday Bijou!

Almond-Cranberry Quinoa Cookies

When I found this recipe in my Bon Appetit this month, with the title, "Cookies for Breakfast,"  I knew my children would be delighted.  Unfortunately, my sweets-loving children quickly noticed the lack of sugar and added grains and decided this wasn't going to be as great as they had expected.  The adults and adult visitors to our household found them to be quite tasty so I decided to share this recipe anyway... Enjoy!

Almond-Cranberry Quinoa cookies

Resolutions

Since their vocabulary is limited to... car, hi, mama, dada, sis, go, more, wawa and ball, I decided on their resolution for them this year.  

To make the trek from the car to the house by themself.  

This Mama is done lugging 50 pounds of boy, plus 10 more pounds of various crap to the house each day and I'm sure my chiropractor will thank me for it.  So far, they are off to an excellent start and enjoying their new freedom and independence.

A Holiday Tea

As you can see, I'm playing catch-up this week here on Picnic.  My excuse... one of my little guys broke out in hives and a double ear infection Christmas Day making my relaxing holiday... well, not so relaxing.  So although my blogging intentions were good, I have not found a good time to sit down and share some of my holiday highlights until now.

A mother-daughter tea was decided on among myself and 3 of my close girlfriends to celebrate the upcoming holidays.  Bijou was delighted that I had come up with a good alternative to taking her to the San Francisco Nutcracker.  I had taken her last year and she desparately wanted to go again but I told her that I needed a year off to recuperate from last year's experience which involved a few threats and a lot of whining.

The girls enjoyed their tea sandwiches and scones and we indulged in champagne and some traditional English fare.

Bijou had good manners (for the most part) and has earned the opportunity to see the Nutcracker in 2012. 

Yummies from Crown & Crumpet.

Bijou's Cookie Party

This post is a bit belated, but as I like to say, "better late than never!"

I'm couldn't be happier that my little 6-year-old has caught my entertaining bug.  When she asked if she could have a holiday party with her friends this year, I knew I couldn't say "no" even though our calendar was filling up quickly and I wasn't exactly in a good position to take on any more.

We decided on a cookie decorating party and found the perfect Evite invitation with the details scrolled out onto a recipe card.

My Mom was kind enough to mix, roll and bake the cookies for me during her weekly visit.

The kids got to work, frosting and sprinkling the cookies and licking their fingers, of course.

Screen Printing Class

If I wasn't a stay-at-home mom, I'd love to be a textile designer.  I had my opportunity to make my first textile this past fall when I took my first screen printing class at the Richmond Art Center.  It was fun to learn the process and develop a deep appreciation for all those hand printed tea towels, handbags and scarves I have purchased over the years on Etsy.  It proved to be a bit more challenging than I had anticipated, but more fun too!  In addition to screen-printing some t-shirts for my husband and kids, I made this feather motif textile on stretch cotton knit that I plan to turn into a couple of cowl-neck scarves.  Hopefully, many more creations will be shared in the coming months.  I plan to take the class again in the spring.

Sweet Potato Muffins

My twins have quite the healthy appetite.  It's a nice change from my picky girl who has hardly eaten a vegetable since 2006.  The only one she likes is carrots.  Anyway, I'm proud to say that my boys are foodies and will eat practically anything.  For snack time, I like to whip up a batch of muffins every week.  This week's muffin was sweet potato, inspired by the large bag of sweet potatoes that were included in our CSA box this week.

Sweet Potato Muffins

Photo Booth

I had the pleasure of going to Bijou's school and photographing her and her classmates for a project they were working on for their Grandparents.  I bought a set of props from this shop, and used the leftover tablecloth from my boys carnival-themed first birthday party for the backdrop. The kids had a great time and the photos made a cute addition to the books they would be giving to their Grandparents.

I plan to reuse it all at my niece's first birthday this weekend.  The photos make for a cute party favor too.