the morning started with my loves loving me. what could be better than that?

family and friends were stopping in all day to help around the yard, bring me wishes and gifts and enjoy my favorite birthday dinner since i was little. my mother made me her yummy tomato sauce with spaghetti. we ended up with 12 of us. it was a beautiful evening and we set up the tables in the garden and enjoyed. our fabulous neighbors let us cook the pasta in her kitchen (often difficult to keep the water boiling on the hot plate).

great news on the kitchen front today. tom stopped by with the electrician and the excavator. looks like we are getting closer to a solution to the water in our yard.

tom also brought over some slate samples for the counter. andrew and i are not yet in agreement on the color choice. i don't think this will be a problem.

after 9 days apart sweet peas best friend has returned. they enjoyed their afternoon together.

sharing stories

hunting with the new metal detector

digging

planting

giggling

sharing the joy.

blueberry smoothie.

about 1 cup of frozen blueberries
a few tablespoons of plain nonfat organic yogurt
a handfull of mint
juice from a wedge of lime
a few ice cubes
acai mixed berry juice enough to generously cover mixture in the blender

blend until smooth.
enjoy with a few nuts or hard boiled eggs.
yum!

we met with our kitchen designer, tom johnson today and we are getting much closer. i think that we have narrowed down the cabinet choices and we in theory picked out the solid surfaces; just waiting on quotes.we are so thrilled that tom can help us. he really understands how we want to try and use as many sustainable products as we can. also we just love his designs. milo vineyards is amazingly beautiful but what i really love is the feeling he has created there; very easy and welcoming.

i am whirling between extreme excitement and utter anxiety.

one of my favorite reading pictures-this is what i think of when i think of her love for books.

sweet pea is so excited about her reading program at our local library. i think if she continues at the rate she is at now she will be finishing harry potter's 4th book on her own by the end of the summer. i believe that this is her goal.

we are going to be starting our book reviews. when sweet pea was smaller we tried to have a book list with her playgroup friends. it was a not as straight forward because we were trying to share emails. this should work much easier.

she read the biggest fish by sheila keenan last night and it has some measuring projects for us to do in the back we are very excited to work on those today.

i am reading this book called made from scratch discovering the pleasures of a handmade life by jenna wogenrich. she talks about the joy of reuse. one of my favorite topics. she suggests that best coffee is from an old percolator. i was talking to my husband about this and he said that he loved the coffee that you get at the big family gatherings from the percolator. i told him that i was on the hunt for one.

is this beautiful or what? loving this and the coffee tastes great too. i had been wating to get a new coffee pot until the kitchen was done but we have been having people drop in more often with my mom home and wanted some coffee to share,the cup at a time that the espresso machine makes was not cutting it anymore.