wine country.

This past weekend Travis spoiled me with a birthday weekend away in wine country. G was happy to stay home with Grammy while we packed our bikes and our corkscrew and drove north to Solvang and Los Olivos.

As this weekend was all about ‘moi’ I was able to convince Travis that he needed a basket on his bike for our picnic and vino. Quite a different look than when he is cruising on his Harley, this pic makes me laugh!

Hot sun, a cool breeze, and a sweet little orchard made for a perfect rest stop…

Alright, enough of this water, let’s find a winery!!

bread + cheese + wine = the need to find a shady spot for a little rest

Sitting on a patio amongst hundreds of acres of vineyards while sipping delectable wine at the top of the hill, meeting up with some of our great friends made for a truly perfect day!

I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend!

this week’s happy

Some things that made me happy this week:

Smelling:: the roses in full bloom in our backyard

Coming across:: this photo of my sweet nieces from our last trip home

Watching:: my little dishwasher hard at work

Making:: “liebe” deliveries to the shops in the village on my bicycle

Laughing: at Grammy trying out a new bed with G at IKEAHappy Friday!

g’s free!

Hoorah, G is three!

I had fun making another ‘confetti’ garland for the special day…

I knew that George would love nothing more than  to wake up to a table full of new planes and cars. I had bought a big basket full of these locomotives at a yard sale a few weeks back for only a few dollars for all of them and had been saving them for a special occasion like today…

So nice to have Grammy here to celebrate the day…

 G LOVES marshmallows, so as a special treat I dipped some in melted chocolate chips and then in sprinkles…

LOVE these colors!

Birthday pancakes to start the day!

Off to the beach for a birthday picnic to meet our friends Gillian and Tallulah

Leave it to Grammy to find GIANT marshmallows!

The night before G’s birthday I had a last-minute idea to make him a ‘birthday shirt’ using an old shirt of his and some fabric I cut into a 3.

G was so proud to tell people “today i’m FREE”

Happy Birthday to a sweet ‘free-year old’!

three.

Georgie boy, today you are three.

Three years ago today you were placed in my arms and I was blessed to become a mom. Your mom.

I was in awe of our little miracle we were about to take home.

The most amazing thing to happen to our little family of two. We became a family of three.

Life is full of excitement and wonder through your eyes.

These days you love to…

play:: with trains, trains, trucks, cars, tracks, and trains

listen to:: the rumble of your dad’s motorcycle driving through the village, down our street, and up the driveway home from work

looking at:: anything with wheels, tracks, motors

talking:: without taking a breath so that when you’re excited about something your face turns red and by the end of the sentence you have no air left

to eat:: your dad’s delicious pancakes in the morning with maple syrup. dip, dip, dip.

to read:: your thomas the train magazine

to hold:: your 2 blankets for nap time and bedtime

to watch:: the garbage trucks and cement trucks on the street

to learn:: about every little detail about locomotives. Words like ‘semaphore’ are now in my vocabulary.

to climb:: into bed with us early, early most mornings. (we don’t tell you this, but your dad and I love the sound of your little feet scurrying out of your bed, into our room, and climbing over us to find a spot right in the middle of us where we all fall back asleep)

to say:: ‘merry christmas’ each night to us before falling asleep

to delay:: bedtime over and over again. more apple juice please, all done apple juice- please take it away, more apple juice, love you, hug-kiss, merry christmas, just one more apple juice please….

the routine of :: ‘hug kiss’ before we leave you…will you remember to always do this for me g? makes my day.

Oh G, you are a sweet thing and we love you so!

Happy Birthday to you!

tea time.

i picked up these sweet tea cups from anthropologie for a little thank you gift for g’s ‘teachers’

i wanted to add a little something to the tea cups, so using my circle punch i made some tags and added a stamp…

i bought some tea from the “coffee bean” which looked so dainty and fancy in these pretty tea bags…

glued the tags onto the teabag label, and wrote a little thank you note

picked some lavender from the garden and added a circle as a gift tag and it’s complete.

not many coins spent, some homemade love, and a cup of tea ready to be enjoyed!

carrot salad.

I always like to know some recipes that require minimal ingredients and simple preparation.

This is a good one for that.

Fresh and simple. Carrot Salad.

This cookbook by Alice Waters is the best for fresh and simple.ingredients needed:

1 lb carrots, 1 tsp red wine vinegar, 2 tsps fresh lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

 Yummy eating carrots in this different shape. And the combo of parsley and lemon couldn’t be fresher!

1. Peel and grate carrots
2. Make the vinaigrette by stirring together in small bowl the red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper.
3. Whisk in oil.
4. Taste and adjust as necessary. Toss the carrots with the dressing.
5. Add the fresh parsley.  Let the salad sit for 10 minutes. Taste again and, if needed, add more salt, lemon juice, or oil.

happy mother’s day!

ich liebe dich mama.

danke, danke, danke!

baby love.

Enjoyed having some girlfriends over to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Baby #2 for a sweet friend.

I had such a fun time getting ready for this evening and made some cute decorations (if i do say so myself!) using materials I had in my sewing/crafty stash.

A mini-garland to top the cupcakes…

And my new version of streamers…

I had so much fun making this circle garland. I had no idea what it would look like once I sewed up the circles but I just kept punching out the circles while watching “Friday Night Lights” (love.that.show) and once I started punching I just didn’t want to stop!  Once this was up I didn’t want to take them down…no need to buy anymore streamers for special occasions.

And so great to have an out-of-town girly friend stay the night for a sleepover so that our vino and conversation to continue well into the night and then early the next morning when G came out to wake her at the crack of dawn. Miss you Kammer!

home

we’re back.

feels good to cruise on home after a wonderful visit home.

pretty great having 2 places to call home.

springridge farm.

A visit to Springridge Farm is always part of our visit to Ontario.

George gets frantic with excitment at the site of all these trucks just waiting to be played with…

Audrey, our little Babushka!

G was surprised to see flakes start to fall.  Crazy Ontario weather…snow/hail at the end of April!??!

Dainty and graceful she is not! But how great those outfits are Audrey Shannon!