wish i knew you.

this weekend has left me feeling full and grateful. we were blessed with perfect crisp springy weather; a welcome change after that peek of summer this past week. i found a new song to obsess over and play thirty times while cleaning my house. ‘mom, youre playing it again?’ yes, sorry. your hint is the title of this post…name that band folks and you get a golden star. an imaginary one, but nevertheless you are the winner.

lets see… saturday morning spent cleaning, then a bit of swimming. an impromtu open house visit that turned out to be a really legitimate house we could go for, but try not to get your hopes up bc this house hunt is exhausting on the old emotions right? 

made it home to watch mary poppins, did some dancing, bc you know, step in time. “its the master!” 

a chilly windy sunday morning, mass and wiggly kids. then an fabulous afternoon, early mother’s day celebration brunch at el charro. delish and oh so lovely. a few tears of laughter shed; always a good thing. then home for dinner prepping, and making a strawberry rhubarb crisp with my favorite kitchen helpers, chef dec, mike and fran. needless to say many strawberries were consumed in the process. 

and top that off with some fabulous sidewalk jumping! thats a wrap. and for all interested parties, here is what i can tell you about that fruit crisp. easy peasy; here’s a loose rendering of what we did:

set oven to 425 bc your are already baking potatoes in there for dinner.
chop a pint of strawberries and three large stalks of rhubarb up and place in a bowl. add a half cup of sugar, 2 T flour, hefty pinch of salt, dash of vanilla and almond extract, and juice of half a lemon.
toss well.
melt half a stick of salted butter and add to whisked mixture of 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of flour, handful of oats and dash of cinnamon. whisk and mash into a crumble.
place strawberry mixutre in cast iron skillet, top with crumble and cook until bubbly. serve warmish with vanilla ice cream. cheers!

say what?

 i know! a post. amazing right. i mean its been a couple years but who’s counting. in an effort to find creative outlets being at home, ive somehow decided to hop back into this space i use to devote so much of my time to. lets face it, i love to write…used to be an avid journal keeper…and maybe just maybe i have an audience out there. who knows, lets give it a try.

 so this is life lately. 4 kids: Ruby just turned 9, Declan 7, Mikey is nearly 5, and Frances is on the verge of 3….going on 16. Ruby just had her first communion, Declan is one day away from losing his two front teeth, Mikey is getting pumped to be joining the STA community next fall, and Franny is dancing and talking up a storm…running the household over here really.

 we recently had a wonderful trip to the beach for spring break and spent some time with my sister which was great! the beach is truly a soul soother. we all need it once in a while. the boys had to hold back from gathering all the crabs they found at this awesome little beach in laguna. they are at a stage of constant bug finding, and wanting to keep every little creature in a cup. i suppose will be sad when they are older and this stage has passed.

 other than that? summer is almost here. well its pretty much here in phoenix, just waiting for school to get out. and for a pool to magically appear in my back yard. if you wish it, it will come right? we’ve been pondering for a while whether or not to move east; the pondering continues…but im just not sure im ready to leave downtown and all that i love about living down here. terrifying really.

 so im thinking about what i have to offer you. what would you like to see here? im thinking some recipes, good reads, local shops i love, dinner ideas, az day trips, deep thoughts from frances, and some musings here and there. perhaps the occasional craft or sewing project. let me know what youre up to and want to hear about! ive been eyeing making this dress for a while. i’ll let you know how it turns out when i get to it!

good to be back folks! hope you still read blogs. hahahaha!

back to school

with summer over comes the beginning of yet another school year.

while it is always sad to see them off, i think everyone was kind of ready 

to get back into the swing of things. seeing old friends and making new ones; 

ruby entering 2nd and declan starting kindergarten...we are off to a good start. 

we shall see what this year brings!

one for franny.

a wee bit belated...

our sweet little frances turned one july 10th! 

since she is quite the food lover she went crazy for her cupcake

like it was the best thing she has ever had. 

franny frou we love you so!!

summer things.

swimming with cousins.

 projects.

making jam.

swimming at encanto.

lazy mornings. 

day trip to sedona.

tye dying. 

good eats. 

and not pictured are plenty of messes and fights. 

just keeping it real. 

summer we will be sad to see you go soon, but we may 

possibly be ready. still not sure.

three yr.old mikey.

june 18th our sweet little monster muh mike turned three. he is mighty delicious these days. no big fiesta, just a simple affair...the usual morning donuts, balloons, and some presents. making and decorating chocolate cupcakes for mr. sweet tooth was a giant tasting bonanza. simply loving his hilarious faces these days. mikey we love you too much!! yippee for three; by far my favorite birthday so far as ages go.

summer.

ahh, summer. here are some bits and pieces. besides being hot and sunny, we've been enjoying the slowdown. a much needed slow pace after the crazy school year. less car and more time together is what i call good stuff. 

so we have a bit of a summer schedule. its rather loose, but enough to keep us on track. we have swim team in the mornings; work on math and reading; we venture somewhere fun on wednesdays (ie. art museum, library, splash pad); we have summer movie passes thursday mornings; and so far we have made it to one glorious swim meet. not my favorite in 115 degree weather with a baby and no way to cool off. 

soon we leave to the beach for the fourth and i can.not.wait.!!!

hopefully the tiny crabs decide to pack up and ship out of balboa by then, bc you know frances will be pulling out her tiny grill and cooking some up with a side of sand sauce. 

keeping it cool.

yeah summer!