Makin' the Most of It

With the onslaught of seemingly endless wintery weather, most New Englanders are getting pretty weary of the snow. Our driveway is especially treacherous and LONG. While we have a pretty good work-crew of shovelers between the two condos that share the driveway, we are getting to the point where there is nowhere left to put the snow. Since Maceo officially learned how to walk about a week ago, we are trying to give him the chance to test his new skill on real ground. So, Craig managed to find a tiny patch of asphalt that was cleared in the back yard and Maceo gave things a go. When encountering patches of ice, Maceo resorted to the old standby of crawling. We are bracing for another 48 hour storm starting tomorrow morning, so this may have been one of Maceo's last outside walking adventures for quite some time.

Happy Birthday Grandpa BobBob

Grandpa BobBob (Maceo's new moniker for Craig's father) celebrated his 70th birthday this past week. What better way to mark such a momentous birthday than to splurge on an oyster brunch? We enjoyed 30+ amazing oysters and other seafood delicacies at the new Island Creek Oyster Bar this past Sunday. It is a beautiful open space with comfortable seating, excellent service, and plenty of oysters to choose from. While Maceo does have a penchant for the gourmet (aged Gruyere, Manchego, and Truffled Parmesan to name a few favorites) we decided not to push our luck with raw oysters. However, he still makes a pretty cute poster boy! Happy Birthday Bob - XOX






* In case you don't recognize it, this is BobBob demonstrating "Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people." Maceo was impressed.

Portrait of an Artist

More Painting Fun

Our Little Piccaso...or maybe Pollock?

Can you say ARTIST? Move over abstract expressionists - there is a new talent in town.

Today was the first session of "Paint n' Play" and boy did Maceo have a blast. The structure is simple - all the little ones strip down to their diapers, put on a t-shirt smock, and jump in! Today featured body paint and water tables. The "teacher' gave us a little overview of the materials, reassured us that everything was safe if ingested, and then we were left to explore.

Maceo was immediately drawn to the painting aspect and spent a lot of time dipping his fingers and toes into the little bowls of paint. It took a lot of coaxing to get him to use a brush and paint the walls. He seemed to be channeling the idea of "body as canvas". About midway through he decided to check out the water table. I think he scared the rest of the little ones away with some pretty vigorous splashing so before long he was the only "man" left standing. Before the rest of the crew vacated the area, I managed to get a shot of Maceo and his buddy Owen together at the water tables.

I wish I'd taken my real camera - these are just from my blackberry. The close-up shot is pretty awesome. Stay tuned for future posts.

Now that's cozy

A super dad-baby snuggle post bath. Hard to tell, but Maceo is naked as jay bird underneath dad's shirt.

Felted Bunny

When my mom was here earlier this month we joint-crafted a felted wool bunny to add to Maceo's collection. We are now up to an owl, a turtle and a moth/butterfly. I think it came out pretty great - especially since we did not have any pattern. The best part may be the carrot! The green top was all my mom's idea. So clever. As you can see from the photos below, the bunny has taken up permanent residence in Maceo's man cave.

Crafting Update: Felted Quilt

A long time ago I posted photos of a felted wool quilt I was in the process of making. It lay in an unfinished state for quite some time because I was not sure how to proceed with backing it. After buying a lot of orange fleece for the back, I was advised by several quilters not to give it a backing as it would be come far too thick and difficult to clean. In addition, the prospect of affixing the back to the quilted front was incredibly daunting as the material was too thick and inconsistent to sew with the machine.

In the end, I used extra thick binding tape in four different colors and simply bound the edges to make them finished. Overall, I am happy with the finished product. I actually wish that it had a heavier weight - it is too thin for a winter blanket and probably to warm for something in the fall/spring. I also wish that the actual sewing on the edges was more clean - the machine had a hard time with the varying thicknesses of the fabrics (the biding tape and pieced wool) so it created a somewhat ruffled edge which is inconsistent with the bold square pattern. I did enjoy the process and think I would try to make another one in the future. However, I think something more the size of a lap robe would be more practical.

The Decent

The biggest downhill slope Maceo has traversed. Check out his excitement at the end.

A Working Man

This is a crummy picture but the outfit was too awesome. I bought this because it was the cheapest all-black outfit I could find for his kitty costume at Halloween, but after the holiday he is channeling a pretty awesome James Dean/gas station attendant look.

Shopping with Mama

Mama has been in possession of her driver's license for eight whole months and she is finally getting confident enough to drive more than 10 minutes away. In preparation for the "big storm", Mama and Maceo drove outside city limits to the Legacy Place Shopping Mall in Dedham (25 minutes away with some sections of the trip posting a speed limit of 45 miles per hour - FAST) to enjoy a Whole Foods market unlike any in Boston. Huge isles, endless samples, and about 6 "food" stations to choose from when it was time for lunch. Can you believe that we spent nearly 2 hours in the store? Maceo loved saying "hiiiii" and "byee-byee" to every possible person in the store - about 4 times per customer. There was one woman in the veggie section that he seemed to be obsessed with- he must have parroted his greetings about 15 times to her specifically.



In any case, here is a photo of him gazing into the bakery case dreaming...

A few more snow shots...

The love bugs.

And the Snow Keeps Coming

It is official! My last three-day weekend grumble has been replaced by a three-day weekend smile. We had another BPS snow day today. Craig stayed home from work and we had a grand ol' time. Neems and Laura came over for lunch, and then we headed out into the powder (nearly 8 inches) for some more Pelican sledding action. Video to follow, but below are some great photos of Maceo and Daddy enjoying Franklin Park. There was even sunshine and clear sky for a few minutes! The temperature is supposed to drop PRECIPITOUSLY (like -0 by Monday morning) so we tried to get as much outside fun in as possible before we turn into icicles.

Bread & Butter

This morning, as I was leaving the house at an ungodly hour to attend a rather useless (in retrospect) "breakfast meeting/professional networking event", I miraculously budgeted myself enough time to have some breakfast. And so I opted for a simple piece of toast with butter. Quick, easy, and a chance to use up the last piece of bread before it went stale/moldy.

Now I already knew this particular bread was good - a Sourdough Boule from Fornax Bakery in Roslindale Village. For those of you that appreciate the foodie details, a sourdough boule is "a Mediterranean inspired sourdough boule, full bodied with a chewy nutty crust and a moist porous interior. Lot's of nooks and crannies for butter or olive oil. Ingredients: High gluten unbleached, unbromated white flour, organic rye flour, organic whole wheat flour, filtered water, salt, and poolish (water, flour and yeast). " I have tried multiple times to post the link to the bakery but am experiencing technical difficulties - google "Fornax Bakery Roslindale" if you need the nitty-gritty.

I also am well aware that bread and good salted butter is a stellar combination. But my, oh my, did I get the proportions right this morning. EVERY little nook and crannie was brimming over with perfectly melted, salty butter. When I put it in my mouth, it was the best thing that had happened in about a week (sorry Craig, Maceo and anyone else I might be offending). And after a crummy weekend (see past posts for the grim details) this one incredible piece of toast was an amazing anecdote to a long and unforgiving week/end.

PS. I did not have time to take a photo - but I took the liberty of finding a close approximation from the photos archives of google. Mine was better. It saved my week.

Slowing down...and starting to look like a little boy

walking, walking, walking

Getting ready to start charging ten cents a lawn this summer.


Proud as a peacock!


Pretty funny, huh?


What seems to be the problem?


You've got to be kidding me! This crap again? Might need to call my mechanic.

A LONG, LONG, LONG weekend

Factually, this was a three day weekend to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. I'd been looking forward to the extended weekend for a long time - imagining getting some crafting done, reading, baking, more sledding with the boys, some new eating adventures, visiting with some friends, going to a potluck, maybe even a little mommy-alone time. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Alas, my plans were foiled by Craig coming down with a pretty scary sore throat (replete with a dime sized ulcer) and Maceo coming down with a fever. And now you can see how these events conspired to manufacture a very different version of the long weekend I had been imagining. Now don't get me wrong - I feel terrible for Craig's sickness as I know his throat and head are killing him. I feel terrible that Maceo had a fever and a convulsive cough and had to be dragged to the doctor and poked and prodded. I feel terrible that their weekends were ruined. But I also have to admit that I feel sorry for myself too . Sorry that someone has been sick in this house since December 22nd. Sorry that we couldn't make any of the dates we had planned. Sorry that I was essentially trapped in the house taking care of people who could not take care of themselves. It just feels like this entire month has been an endless feedback loop of sickness and cooties and I desperately want a weekend to pass when we can enjoy ourselves and I can leave the house by myself for at least four hours. I am beginning to lose hope that we will ever realize such bold fantasy.

OK, enough of that. I did take Maceo back out on the sled today despite the fridigid temperature. After a 45 minute spin on the ice, we came home, ate some lunch, and did some serious playing. And I did manage to make some small progress on my quilt, as well as add a jellyfish to Maceo's underwater-themed mobile. So not all was lost, Below are some photos of the playtime - the afternoon light was so warm and orange but unfortunately I could not really capture the feeling in the photos. But you get the idea.


Investigating his "Learning Farm".



Getting more comfortable with "walking" with assistance.



Playing in front of his new tent.