2009 « Our Life and Times

Archive for 2009

Enjoying the Fruits of our Labor on Labor Day

Posted Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 by Mollie

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Are you wondering what ever happened to our tidy little garden? Right now it looks like a tangled jungle of zucchini and tomato plants– wow, those things can really grow. The zucchini has been steadily producing 2-3 fruits a week for us all summer long, which has been wonderful, as it is a family favorite! When California got it’s heat wave a few weeks ago, the grape tomatoes finally turned red. I love putting lots of them in salads, and Natalie is happy to just pop them in her mouth. (Andy still maintains that he does not like the taste of plain tomatoes in a salad. How sad for him!)

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This week we picked a large bag full of Roma tomatoes. It seemed like they all ripened at once, and we had to figure out what on earth to do with all of them this Labor Day weekend!

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Andy made salsa… it tasted amazing! I made tomato sauce and used it to make three dishes of lasagna. Not bad! The extra effort of growing our own vegetables has actually been so much fun. I think we’d like to be farmers “when we grow up”. 🙂

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Posted in Gardening, In The Kitchen, Life & Times | 7 Comments »

You Can’t Teach an Old Dad New Tricks

Posted Sunday, August 16th, 2009 by Mollie

Tonight I saw a picture of Andy and Ben on my sister’s Facebook, and it immediately reminded me of one of him and Nata that I took almost exactly two years ago. It makes me smile!

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The kids (it still feels new and exciting to say “the kids” now that I have two) are both 4 months old in these pictures. I think they look so different!

Posted in Just For Fun, Life & Times | 5 Comments »

Mini Vacation

Posted Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 by Mollie

When your vacation budget is somewhere around $0, you have to get creative and take advantage of whatever you can. This week we had a mini vacation to Hollywood Beach! We are so fortunate that one of my dad’s clients lets our family use her adorable beachfront cottage in return for taking care of some maintenance. Andy took the day off work and we headed over there for a fun and relaxing day.

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Natalie was beyond excited to go to the beach, notice her leading the way to the water. I don’t think she even remembered the last time she was there… but she was excited anyway!

We don’t like to get too much sun, so we came inside for the hottest part of the day. Fortunately there’s lots to do inside, too. We baked cookies, Natalie painted, we did some reading, and I took a nap, a rare treat. It was nice to get away from our normal hectic life and computers for a while and just have a slow day.

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Poor Ben was a little grumpy. He’s teething again. Natalie was having a great day though. She loved everything and was ready to hit the water again in the afternoon (not sure what she thought that rake was going to do to the ocean… but she thought it was important!).

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An added bonus was having Mom and Laura come over after dinner to stay with the kids while Andy and I had a date! We ate at The Whale’s Tail overlooking the harbor and watched the fog roll in. I miss living near the beach!

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Posted in Life & Times | 7 Comments »

Wine Country

Posted Sunday, August 9th, 2009 by Mollie

On Saturday, my sister Jamie and I helped our long time best friend Melanie celebrate her birthday with a wine tasting adventure to the Santa Ynez Valley. Mel’s wonderful boyfriend Rob chartered a “party bus” to drive us and other friends to some beautiful vineyards in the Los Olivos area above Santa Barbara. It was fun to see what our local wines are like and taste and buy some that I don’t drink often… apparently Syrah, Viognier, Grenache, and Pinot Noir are some of the most common varieties produced around here. I learned a lot! We had a fun day and really enjoyed making some new friends, but I couldn’t remember the last time I was that exhausted!

I’m definitely planning to take Andy up there some time this fall… big thanks to him for being cool with me leaving him with the kids for the whole day!

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Posted in Life & Times | 3 Comments »

Milestones

Posted Friday, August 7th, 2009 by Mollie

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Some of our kids’ milestones come too quickly, and others can’t come soon enough. Last month we had some of each. Ben got his first two teeth a week before he turned 4 months old! I will miss his gummy grin. Andy added an arrow to the picture, the teeth are still a little hard to see. I can’t believe how fast he is growing up. He’s also started rolling over this week, he is anxious to get mobile!

On the other hand, Natalie learning to use the potty in the beginning of July was a welcome change around here. I am wishing we had worked on that sooner! I am so proud of how quickly she took to it and how well she continues to do, even when we are out. (No picture needed for this one, right?)

Natalie says the funniest things sometimes. She came up behind me while I was writing this blog post, took one look at the picture and said with concern, “Oh no, Ben’s eatin’ trash!” It’s hilarious to hear what she’s thinking.

Posted in Benjamin, Life & Times, Natalie | 4 Comments »