v.2

I’m way behind on my posts once again. So I thought I would work on the current then go backwards. Saturday was the Toddler Take Over BBQ! I finally decided to go ahead and invite all of Sienna’s playdate friends over to our house. I always hesitate to do that since the majority of our playdates are in Bay Ridge so that means most of them would have to rely on public transportation to head over. But to my surprise, people were saying yes and before I knew it, 27 beings were coming over! (I say beings because the number includes adults, toddlers and babies). Initially I was in shock and started stressing about how we were going to fit all those people back there. And since they have never been over, I didn’t want them to have the incorrect notion that we had this big, beautiful backyard (which we so do not!) But Yves reminded me that these were nice, easy going people that go with the flow of things. Eventually I stopped stressing and got super excited about it. Eventually it ended up being less with some last minute cancellations so it worked out! The kids loved the kiddie pool and the sand/water table was a big hit as well as the sprinkler ball. All the guests loved the burgers (yay Bubba!) and hot dogs. I made homemade ice cream (vanilla with banana and strawberries), black and white cupcakes (in honor of Michael Jackson, solely coincidence!) with either chocolate frosting or butterscotch and blueberry slab pie. We have a lot of food leftover because everyone was so generous with bringing stuff! There was antipasto, guacomole and baked ziti from Geneva! Cole slaw from Starr, empanadas from Diana, fruit salad from Yan Ling, yummy veggie sticks from Michele…I hope I didn’t leave anyone out!

I shot film so I don’t have any digital shots but borrowed a couple from Yves.

Sienna with Phoenix, Nico and Ethan. Dakota, Sophie and babies Casey and Sylvie not shown.

Sienna enjoying her cupcake! There’s the blueberry slab pie!

Eating!

And here are some baking shots:

The Blueberry Slab Pie is from Martha Stewart’s baking handbook. I made the dough too! I had to do it in 2 batches because my food processor isn’t big enough to hold all the flour. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out but people enjoyed it. I think the biggest hit was the ice cream. I don’t have a shot of that!

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It happened today. The inevitable. Sienna climbed out of her crib during naptime. We came back from the Little Gym, stopped and had some pizza for lunch and true to form, she fell asleep in the car blocks from home. She usually wakes up by the time we get up the stairs. I play it by ear whether to put her straight into the crib (which usually doesn’t work) or let her hang for a few minutes before mentioning nap time. She was all whiney, tired whiney when we got up the stairs and asked for froggie and to take her nap. Great! No brain function necessary, nap it is!

I was in the computer room when half an hour after I put her down, I hear her babbling. Great, she’s up but I ignore her hoping she will doze off again or at the very least just tell her to go back to sleep. Next thing I hear is the air filter shutting off! I run over to the door and see Sienna running down the hall into the living room. With froggie. Sigh.

I tried reasoning with her and told her that if she wanted to get out, she should call for Mommy. I told her naptime wasn’t over and put her back in. I told her to lay down and close her eyes and she did and cuddled up with froggie. I went back on the computer but this time, I left the door open. Sneaky devil did it again but this time stayed in her room!

Sigh.

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I can’t believe I forgot to post about seeing Doves at Terminal 5 on the 4th with Joy and Pete! My photos came out on the darker side and at the time was lazy to fix them, which is probably why I forgot about it. The show was good. They have a new album out, that none of us have, so the majority of the show were new songs we weren’t familiar with. Of course the band and the crowd really picked up at the encore when they played a bunch of familiar songs. We got there around 9:15 and they were already playing. I’m pretty sure they just started. We walked out of there at about 10:45.

Prior to the show, we met up for dinner at a Mexican place called Tulcingo del Valle. It’s a small little place but their menu was pretty large. I got overwhelmed and ended up ordering mixed fajitas to get a little bit of everything. It was just ok. Paled in comparison to Joy’s and Pete’s dishes! Joy got tripe soup and chicken molé and Pete got fried pork skin in a green sauce. We also got an order of Texan style nachos that included delicious pickled carrots that were hotter than the jalapenos! (I forgot to take a photo of that!) Would definitely go back there and this time not order the fajitas! And you know it’s authentic when there is no sign of sour cream!

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Here’s an update on my latest crafty creations and swaps!

My first real complicated bag (for me anyway!) A messenger type bag from the New Handmade book. The biggest pain about this bag was just cutting out all the pieces. I just got to be patient and realize it cannot be done in a day!

I was going on a fabric buying binge for a little bit and then vowed not to buy any more fabric until I start to use some of my stash up. So I decided to make gifts for all of Sienna’s friend’s birthdays. Unfortunately for Phoenix, hers was next and I made her this P pillow. It didn’t quite turn out the way I had envisioned it but she seemed to have liked it and Geneva said she slept with it! I also made her a little tote bag to match. I don’t like to handstitch so I try to avoid it and see what happens? I went a little crazy on the inside of the P and then used no fray glue without realizing that it dries a little tacky! So I used glittery fabric glue to cover that up! (I discovered on reading a sewing blog that using the zipper foot to close up gaps is very helpful! Noted!)

This was for a handmade whatever you want swap. My partner is a fan of Lenore and since I have not heard of her, was very intrigued. She’s a fictional character created by Roman Dirge and inspired from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. She is quite interesting and macabre! I haven’t watched all the videos yet.

This was for a Wacky and Unusual June Holidays swap. I procrastinated on this so sent it late but once I got into it, it was fun! My partner likes the Union Jack flag so made these photo magnets with photos from flickr for Flag Day. She likes gargoyles so I altered the gargoyle photo I took from Eastern State for Camera Day. She likes hot cocoa so sent her that for Name your poison day. And then I made her this reversable cotton cuff (from the New Handmade book) for Sewing Machine Day.

Close up of the photo and the cuff. I really liked how the photo turned out!

Wearing the cuff and showing the reverse side.

I put the photo magnets in this altered Sucrets tin.

Here’s a bird stamp I carved for yet another swap!

And a crochet mushroom for the same swap (the top opens but I failed to photograph that!)

And just so you know that not everything I try works out, here is a hat I attempted to make. I had to take measurements of my head and make a template. It was actually pretty easy to do. I know my error tho. Since I wanted to make it easier on myself, I had rounded out one of the measurements I made (and a very important one at that!) and found out that it really messes the whole thing up. I will try it again! Good thing I practiced on old sheets!

(I am smirking underneath the hat)

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After swim class on Saturday, we had our first BBQ of the 2009 season! Start time was 2pm and we had put Sienna down early for a nap. It worked out well as she willingly went to sleep after lunch (also earlier) and swim class helped with that. She slept for 3 hours although I basically woke her up so who knows how long she would have really slept.

It was super fun! Peter made his delicious deviled eggs, Nate and Mari made fruit kabobs and Joy brought over her Wii with Guitar band setup (drums, guitars and microphone!) Yves came up with the brilliant idea of putting one of the extra tvs in the garage and setting up the Wii there. We kept the food simple with Bubba frozen burgers (quite good for frozen!) and hot dogs. I made my Potato Apple salad and a new recipe, a lighter version of Cold Sesame Noodles from Martha’s website. For dessert I made homemade oreo cookies, banana choco chip muffins and at the last minute decided to try vegan vanilla cupcakes with butterscotch frosting. Everything was well received! Yves has a funny video of us during rock band. Apparently, you could hear the singing a bit from the front of the house. I might be getting some funny looks from the neighbors!

There really is no reason I posted this shot, it’s just that Sienna looks like such a grown up here!

Sienna really took to the drums!

Skippy was eyeing the hot dog on the table!

Did I mention that Sienna really took to the drums?

Yves’ drum solo

Grilling is hard work!

Joy cutting up a burger for Sienna. Awww, she would make a good surrogate mom! HA!

Pete and his cuddle buddy!

Sienna tries a vegan cupcake

Nate, Sienna and Skippy looking for ants

Homemade Oreos recipe here. They weren’t bad. Don’t know if I would make it again

Vegan Vanilla cupcake recipe here. I came across the recipe by accident and was curious about it since it got good reviews (if you know me or read my blog regularly, you know I am not vegan). It was quite yummy and you wouldn’t have known it was vegan. I decided to do a butterscotch frosting.

My crack muffins as Pete refers to them and the vegan cupcakes pre frosting.

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On Saturday Sienna had her first swim class (we missed the first one last week) and she loved it! She was a little apprehensive at first but then really got into and probably could have stayed longer than the half hour class. I took like 8 videos on my camera and filled up my memory card! I haven’t done that in awhile. I thought the class was just going to be them hanging around in the pool but they are actually teaching things like kicking and putting your face in the water. I need a class like that! The teacher was really good and really enjoyed being with the children. I wonder if she teaches adults? HA!

First getting in

Not exactly sure…

Really into it!

Please leave a comment or e-mail me for the password!

First Swim Class! from Lisa on Vimeo.

Yves was exhausted after the class and we put Sienna an hour early for nap (also because we were having the first BBQ of the season later that afternoon). She slept for 3 hours and I basically ended up waking her up so who knows how long she would have slept.

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Sunday we had a playdate with Raya, the 3.5 year old daughter to my old friend Tami. Tami and I were best friends in elementary school. We hooked up again around 2001 because she knows Tommy from college, what a small world. We lost touch after that and then hooked up again because of Facebook. We met at the playground by the Brooklyn Bridge. I love that playground mostly because I love the view of the Brooklyn Bridge, it’s my favorite bridge. Afterwards, we had lunch at Bubby’s.

I love that smile on her face in this shot!

Tami and Raya

Robert and Raya (and my shadow)

Raya kisses Sienna

Going down the slide

Sienna eating a biscuit at Bubby’s. She got a scrape on the side of her face from a fall.

Yves cutting up Sienna’s french toast

Even though Yves cut up little pieces, Sienna grabs the big piece he didn’t cut up!

My smoked chicken salad sandwich

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Saturday was supposed to be Yves and Sienna’s first swimming class but the half marathon that closed off Ocean Parkway really backed up the service roads. Once we resigned to the fact that we were just going to miss it (the class is only half an hour), we went to the playground in Marine Park instead! We were probably more disappointed than Sienna! The park was fun and we ran into Tommy and Maureen at their softball game!

Please leave a comment or e-mail me for the password!

The Marine Park dirt run from Lisa on Vimeo.

Having a snack on the bench

We had lunch at the Golden Krust by us and this was afterwards

This was from a little walk around the hood during Memorial Day weekend

A nose kiss!

In the backyard enjoying some sun.

Bubbles!

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