Things I Love Thursday

• Having my friend Juliane in town. It's been ages since we've had a chance to spend any time together. Three hours of chatting feels like 30 minutes!
• The delicious comfort of traditional holiday meals:

• Geneva's logic: "You know what helps when your sick? To eat treats like lollipops and cookies. Remember when Dora brought goodies to her grandma when she was sick? Like that."
• My friend Michelle's Texas Cheesecake recipe (um... SO sinful!)

• Spending a couple afternoons this week enjoying the Oregon sunshine.
• The beautiful lilies we received from Tiffany the night we hosted Greg's sales team to dinner last week.

• The fact that I pulled off hosting 18 people to dinner last week!
• These cards I made recently:

• Avery's blossoming personality. She is one funny kid!
• Squirrel watching. We have the squirrel superhighway along our back fence. It is seriously entertaining. We typically enjoy our squirrel drama in the morning over coffee and chocolate milk, but the action really goes on all day. We love it!

• Sisterly love and crib-silly-cuddles. Sometimes Geneva likes to be the one to get Avery up from her nap (which includes climbing into her crib with her). It's not always this sweet and quiet--more often than not, it's jumping, singing, crazy chaos. 

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Portland Children's Museum

I cannot believe that we've lived here for a year and this morning was our first visit to the Portland Children's Museum! I had no idea what we were missing. We arrived as "first-timers" and left as members!

Geneva has been talking a lot about visiting "the museum" so I figured a nice St. Patrick's Day adventure was in order. We checked out the Children's Museum online this morning and then headed out that way in the grey wet weather.

The museum shares a parking lot with the zoo (which we try to visit at least one day a month) so the girls were a bit confused when we arrived. They quickly warmed up to our "new" destination when they realized they could touch and play with EVERYTHING. They are literally the perfect ages right now to really enjoy all of the museum.

They made art projects and got dirty,

practiced being pediatricians,

worked on shapes and colors and building,

painted their own faces,

worked with clay,

hammered, glued, cut, created,

ate a warm lunch,

splashed and poured,

twisted, turned, pulled and climbed,

brushed and examined,

and made an appointment for our next visit!

It was a whirlwind of a morning. Needless to say, they took great naps this afternoon. As members now, I look forward to many returns. What a perfect place to spend a wet Portland morning.

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Her Terms

Geneva: Mommy, the only way we can be best friends is if you let me watch shows every day. 

Me: Couldn't we be friends too if I just take good care of you, keep you warm, make you good food to eat, buy you clothes when you grow out of your old ones, play puzzles and read books to you? 

Geneva: No Mom. That's not an option. 

Me: That's not an option? 

Geneva: No Mom. You have to let me watch shows every day if you want to be best friends. That's how it has to be. 

Me: I see.

(Apparently, we're not going to be best friends.)

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Treats

Greg was away on business this last week and the girls and I managed to keep ourselves fairly entertained. Jenn came to visit and brought the girls their Christmas presents. Art supplies are always a huge hit!

It was a treat for them to have random presents in March and a treat for us to watch them create their masterpieces.

Note the concentration.

Geneva has a new favorite bedtime story that we checked out from the library. It's called, No More Cookies! by Paeony Lewis. It's a very cute read about a little girl and her stuffed monkey trying to get Momma to give them some cookies. I don't want to spoil the ending; however, there is a recipe for Magic Monkey Bananas we just had to try.

We didn't have "empty" popsicle sticks but the plastic spoons worked just fine.

Our Magic Monkey Bananas were a treat.

Avery's silly personality is a treat.

To help celebrate my friend Michele's birthday, I made a cake. It reminded me so much of my Grandma. I used to have to bake a box cake (typically, Yellow and in a 9x13 pan) every Friday after school and then frost it with homemade cream cheese frosting. It was one of my chores. Grandpa like to have a cake on hand. I haven't made frosting in ages. 

I jazzed it up a bit by adding cocoa powder.

Geneva helped me frost the cake--we were generous in the amount of frosting we applied. She asked if we could add sprinkles: Of course!

After all, it was a treat.

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Things I Love Thursday

• The British comedy troupe Man Stroke Woman. 

I should maybe just name this post "Man Stroke Woman" because while there are so many things in my life I love and am grateful for... the sketches from this group are so hilarious I watch them over and over and nearly come to tears each time. I wont post any of the videos here on the blog because many people would likely find them offensive. You should be forewarned that the content is very "adult themed" (so don't watch if your kids are in the room, or if you're sensitive to profanity, or if you're opposed to very dark humor, or if you think there are some subjects that are just taboo... I'm seriously warning you, this may not be for everyone). 

So if you're up to it, here's what you need to do: Go to YouTube and search "Man Stroke Woman." Then watch! For some of my absolute favorites (and some added insight into my own "whack" sense of humor), add the following search terms (or just "click" on them):

• man cold
• do you know what I like 
• estate agent
• come and go
• bad breath
• dog lover
• good morning
• may I be blunt with you
• the blind date

Seriously, I could go on and on... 

Enjoy! (I hope.)

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Things I Love Thursday

• My new french press. Our coffee machine took a dump last weekend. After checking Consumer Reports we decided on a new machine. Unfortunately, everyone else loves this coffee maker as well. It's sold out and on back-order EVERYWHERE. I've always wanted a french press--but it didn't seem very practical. To hold us over until the coffee maker becomes available, we bought one. I love it! 
• That the mums I featured last week are still looking great.
• The fact that I'm having dinner and seeing a movie tonight with girlfriends.
• The website/blog(?) Food Porn Daily. Just visit the site, click an image and drool. They even have recipes!
• My dad's on facebook! WooHoo!
• When Geneva tells me she's "imagin-ating" something.
• My husband.

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Things I Love Thursday

• Hearing that my friends are expecting babies! One "cat" is out of the bag... if you've been paying attention you would know that Dave and Amy Pearson are expecting. Well, guess what? Take a close look at the photo below... Yep. It's twins!!! I love it! Another great friend of mine is also expecting... but that cat hasn't escaped yet--so that's all I'll say! 

• Geneva's blossoming enjoyment of cuddling and snuggling (or snoogling, as we call it in the Jones Household).
• The Oregonian's (our local newspaper) FOODday section that comes out once a week on Tuesdays. The link is to the online version (obviously) which is not nearly as good as the printed--but you'll catch the drift. I typically cutout at least 1-2 recipes per issue and I make at least 1-2 recipes per month.
• This valentine that Geneva made me. She said, "I want to make you a valentine Mom. What do you love?" I said, "My family." While my ears are a little big, I feel good about how thin I look (I hope your giggling at that comment!).

• Having coffee with my neighbors on Monday mornings.
• Mums--the only flower I should ever buy because they stay looking good so long. I am famous for leaving dead flowers in vases around my house.

• I took this picture of a picture of Greg and I that was taken circa 1999 (that's a convoluted sentence for you). Here's what I love about it: 1) the way I'm looking at him--like I know he's the one; 2) the memories attached of the beautiful place we spent the weekend; 3) his sense of humor and the fact that he's wearing a safety vest; 4) that after all this time has passed it's not the safety vest that's so funny--it's the fact that I am wearing overalls.

• How much Avery loves being tickled--it's a hands over her head, huge smile, giggling "Again! Again!" then back arching, hysterical bursts of laughter, kind of love.
• Throwing a few rinsed and dried chicken breasts (boneless, skinless--touch of salt and pepper) in the crock pot and letting it cook 8-10 hours on low setting. Then shredding the chicken for a few dinners during the week: chicken tacos, chicken salad, lemon-chicken pasta, quesadillas. Seriously easy. I've made lots of things in my crock pot, but until my neighbor Miffy suggested this, it had never occurred to me to just do plain chicken to "dress-up" later.
• Reading Geneva's valentines:

• Having a touch of sunshine this week. Oh, and Avery shouting "The SUN!" when she sees it bright outside.
• Our zoo. More specifically, the fact that Geneva loves her zoo key and making the machines "talk to her" whenever she passes one. I remember loving this aspect of the zoo myself when my Dad used to take us to the San Francisco zoo nearly every-other weekend.

• Hearing Geneva shout, "Mt. Hood is out today!" when the sky is clear enough for her to see it. Or having her declare, "I don't see our mountain today" when the weather is hiding it from us.

• Taking the girls to the West Linn Public Library to check out books (and music). I didn't have my camera with me--but next time I will! Here's a picture of the outside I found online. I could not believe it took us this long to really explore it; I was definitely impressed. It's such an elegant space--like art gallery elegant. Very modern, but cozy too. The entire backside is made up of windows that look onto a small wooded area with outdoor patio space. The children's section is on the lower level and it's comfortable and relaxing with books, toys, stuffed animals, and lot's of small furniture for little bodies. We all loved it!

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Pay It Forward

This is how it works...

The first three people to leave a comment on this post
will receive a gift from me during this year.

When and what will be a surprise.
BUT,in order for you to receive your gift,
you have to post this on your blog first.
(Which means that sometime during this year,
you'll send a gift to three people as well!)
Get it?

So, the first three people to comment will be the lucky ones!
Good luck!

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Advice?

Three-year-old Geneva has the flu. She needs a good nap. She's decided it's not in the plan today. Here's our 2pm conversation; she is laying in bed and I'm knelt beside the bed. 

Me: Geneva, you need to have a nap. Especially today because you're a little bit sick.

Geneva: But I'm not sleepy.

Me: If you lay still and close your eyes and your mouth then the medicine will work better.

Geneva: That's not true.

Me: Yes it is.

Geneva: Mom, that is not true.

Me: Yes, honey... it's true. Medicine works better if you have rest too. You can't fall asleep if your singing and playing in your bed. Please close your eyes and your mouth and take a nap.

Geneva: But I'm having a problem with my ankles.

Me: Really? Your ankles are giving you some trouble?

Geneva: Yes. My ankles are rubbing and it's making me feel the throw-ups are coming.

Me: I see. Well, be still and quiet and you might feel better.

Geneva: What are you going to do about my ankles?

Me: I'm not sure. Let's talk about it after your nap.

So, what do I tell her now???

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