Summer Morning (a photo essay)

Jumpin' (all clothes in place)

Cruisin' (still fully clothed)

Play is a Child's Work

Washing Rocks (where'd them clothes go?)

"Sockey"

Cruisin' again

Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers

A Perfect Day

Memorial Day was:

• Breakfasting on croissants w/scrambled eggs, cheddar and bacon and fresh cut mango
  
• A morning hike through Aliso Woods
  
• Planting an herb garden
• Cleaning house and garage
• Turkey Stroganoff for dinner
• Unlimited talking time

Being with my best friend and favorite kid all day= Perfect Day

Finger Detox

It's really quite charming the way Sage sucks her fingers...the middle and ring finger of her right hand. She first began when we sleep trained her at 3 months. But all good things must come to an end.

With her baby braces looming in the near future we knew it was time. We've been talking it over with her for weeks. Last night we put socks on her hands and taped them at the wrists so they would stay on all night. She cried and cried; Shane and I took turns sleeping with her last night and she made through the night without her fingers.

Last Family Night we sat down and talked about rewards for after the finger detox is over. Here are Sage's picks:

A jack-in-the-box, ice cream, a ride on the train (the real train) to Zoomars (petting zoo) and a ride on a pony

Listen Up

Holly Brook is genuinely talented...gorgeous voice, great lyrics and beautiful piano.
Listen up here.

Cheap Tunes

Paying $0.99 per song over at iTunes adds up fast. We like this site for all our music needs. You can't beat $0.19 per song.

Pledge of Allegiance

Warning: May cause motion sickness due to intense flag waving

The Treasure of Mission Viejo

Another Saturday without Shane (sigh). We always miss him...something about knowing he should be home and he's not.

Sage and I spent the morning at our new favorite spot...the Mission Viejo Library. This place puts the AV branch to shame. Great selection of children's books, hundreds of DVD's/documentaries (my fave!), fabulous used bookstore (I'm a used book junkie) AND a playroom! A fabulous room full of toys, legos, books, puzzles and an occulus right above us (see below). We stayed cool and passed the hours till Shane came home.

P.S. Every Tuesday from 10:30-11 AM there is a storytime and craft for kids 3+.

Signs That Summer Is Here

• Hot, flushed cheeks at the park.
• I pulled out the fan for Sage's nap today. "Our cold days are lost," she observed.
  
• At the Farmer's Market all the food was wilted....but we bought it anyway because it's fresh and organic.
  
• The first crop of organic peaches I just bought got dead ripe before we could eat them...which means it's time to make Dead Ripe Fruit Vinaigrette. Yum!
  

Dead Ripe Fruit Vinaigrette

About 1/2 cup very ripe fruit--strawberries, blackberries, peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines or tomatoes
2 cloves garlic (or 1 large one)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 to 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt, freshly ground pepper and a pinch of fresh herbs to taste

1. In a food processor or blender, puree the fruit and garlic. Add the remaining ingredients, seasoning with salt, pepper and herbs.

P.S. Did you know that many blenders can be used with a standard mason jar, or wide-mouthed mason jar? The blender whips it right in the jar! Here's how:

Step 1: Remove the base from the regular blender container.
Step 2: Screw on the base to the mason jar. Make sure it is nice and tight.
Step 3: Invert the jar and place on the blender.

How To Broaden Your Musical Horizons

You must check out PANDORA. You can create your very own radio stations. Here's how it works:

• Choose an artist like say Jack Johnson
  
• Pandora breaks down Jack's music and analyzes it's "DNA" (acoustic guitar, melody driven tunes etc.) --they call it the Music Genome Project
  
• Then, they find artists whose "DNA" matches Jack and voila you've got your very own radio station with cool music from artists you know and some new ones too
• If you don't like a song on your station you give it a thumbs down and it skips to the next tune and they won't play it on your station again

Love it!

Listen Up

Remember Lisa Loeb? She teamed up with a college friend to make a beautiful children's CD. This is for all you mamas out there...listen up here.

M-Day

Before he gives me a gift Shane loves to give me crazy hints to throw me off the scent but there's no way I could have guessed this one. This year he gave me (along with a massage) a challenge. He told me that I was going to do something very tough, something that would push me to my limits emotionally and/or physically. We brainstormed together:

-finish the last 30 credits of my undergrad? (that's right folks...I am a college drop-out)
-become a doula?
-write a song and play my guitar/sing at a local open mic night?
-learn to swim (I can dog paddle but nothing more)
-learn to mountain bike?

Nah...none of those sounded right. Then we came up with the biggie...Climb Half Dome.
For those of you who don't know what Half Dome is let me fill you in:
16.4 miles round trip hike, takes anywhere from 10-12 hours (depending how fast you are). The climax is a 425-foot rock face at about a 45 degree angle, luckily you've got steel cables to hold onto as you go up.
Nice Mother's Day gift, eh? Actually I love it! The last time I really pushed myself mentally and physically is when I gave birth to Sage at home. Home birth was a huge milestone in my life and I think Half Dome will be too.

Try These on For Size

Some fun words I like to say (just don't ask me what they mean):

• serendipity

• duplicitous

• fiduciary

• obfuscate

• kerfuffle

Bikini Wax

Summer is coming and with it comes two words that strike fear into the heart of every woman...swim suit. Swim suits mean showing off cottage cheese and stretch marks and, of course, the dreaded bikini area.

In search of a better way I got brave and went to Dona the lovely Afghani lady who threads my eyebrows (the ancient art of hair removal using sewing thread...love it!). She waxed little tiny areas at a time and it was amazingly painless. And the result? I feel fabulous and ready for a swim suit. Weeeeeeell...almost.

You Likey?

Introducing my new swim suit! Think I'll blend in at Laguna Beach?


Weeeeell...on second thought that might be overdoing it a tad...how about this one?

*This little nautical number is from DownEast Basics

Child Labor

With the down turn in the economy and Shane's office manager (Julie) about to retire (to have twins) we thought we would give Sage a chance to pull her weight around here.

She loves shredding Shane's old office papers and spent a good part of yesterday working away.

Deprived

Over dinner tonight (Asparagus Fritatta and Sprouted English Muffins) I told Sage that I would cut up some strawberries for our dessert.

S: "What are desserts?"

A: "Something you eat after dinner."

Poor kid.

Listen Up

If you love Jack Johnson (he's just plain Jack around our house) then you will love Matt Costa. Listen up here.

This One's For Shane

Shane loves to make fun of all the giant bows/flowers on the babies/kids at church. But Aliso Viejo Ward baby bows have got nothing on these.

How the heck did they make the bows stand up like that?

*photo from Shorpy

How Sage Got Her Name

As a nine-year-old I read the story of a little girl named Sage Volkman. At age five, Sage was in a terrible fire that changed her life:

"When Sage was first wheeled into the burn unit, the medical staff had little hope that she would make it through the night. 'They gave her a 10-percent chance of living,' Michael [her father] remembers. She had third- and fourth-degree burns on her face, arms, chest, and legs. Her nose and one ear had been melted off. Her fingers were so charred that they would have to be amputated. She lost 35 percent of her eyelids. One lung had collapsed, and another was barely functioning; a quart of soot would be extracted from them."

Sage writes, "I am happy and people wonder how I can be with all that I have gone through. I tell them you have two ways to see the world, as a good place with wonderful people to love and be loved by or you can see everything as a problem and feel anger always in your heart. I choose to be happy."

Today Sage is a graduate student at the University of Utah. You can read her whole inspiring story here.

P.S. This is a recent photo of Sage (she loves pedicures)

The Friend

I loved this church magazine as a kid and now Sage loves it. We try and read a little every day and every time (without fail) I get choked up.

As we read the simple stories, Sage learns in every page that Heavenly Father loves her and is aware of her. And I love the Friend because I am taught right along with Sage.

Jellyfish

We spent the afternoon frolicking at the beach, climbing rocks, picking up dead jellyfish and getting wet in the high tide. We returned home and sat down for our Taco Salad dinner. See we eat normal food...if you call grass fed beef, homemade chips and raw cheddar normal.

Shane gave Sage his last sip of kombucha and the following conversation ensued:

Shane: "I bet Mommy is jealous." (I was! I had already finished my kombucha.)

Sage: (not sure about that big new word) "Mommy's a jellyfish!"

Shane: (heartily agreeing with the comparison) "She's all soft and squishy like a jellyfish."

Whaaat? Thanks a lot Shaner!

Belly Laughs

I have a fun new friend named Christie. Her blog makes me laugh till I cry.

Nope

I'm not pregnant...not yet at least.

Why I Love Shane: Part 2

Every morning Shane and Sage make breakfast together while I sleep or workout. It's either sausage, eggs and toast or oatmeal and smoothie (weird I know). Sage can now confidently crack eggs, stir a hot pot of oatmeal and peel bananas thanks to Shane's patient teaching. I especially love to listen to them chatting away in the kitchen while I lie in my warm, cozy bed.