Little Miss turns 6 months old today! She would like you to know that she is officially sitting up by herself and has even pulled herself up to a standing position when the mood has struck.
This is her showing off her brilliant thrift store find of a dress.
Ale and I made this yesterday. It was time to clear off his art wall to make room for new creations. I took several papers that he had watercolored on and cut out bird shapes to make this very cool looking mobile.

Ale and Miles bake with Rachael:

Ale made a movie for Clover's 2nd birthday last month...

Ke'ano learns to play his first song on the guitar:

the quotable ke'ano:

"If you bought babies from stores, I bet Yeva would be from an expensive store. Ale would be from Target."

5 Minutes a day for fresh baked bread. This is a great recipe.

Yeva got her ears pierced! I may be the white one in the family but my little ones are half guanaco and culturally the baby girls get their ears pierced quite young. At least that' my justification for doing it even though David did not care one way or another. And I while I didn't exactly have the latin matriarch of the family pull out her ice cubes and needle to pierce my baby's ears...Claire's did a fine job.
I hosted our art lesson this week and we made paper mache masks. I can't believe how cool they turned out to be and will definitely do this again soon as it was fun and messy as can be for a group of 3-7 year olds. I made Ale's look like Nacho Libre. No surprise there...Now I need to finish his costume.

A busy weekend:
Lucy, Cesy, Rosa and Pamela joined us on Saturday. We hiked up to Amir's Garden in Griffeth Park.



Ke'ano looks just like David did when he had a fro many years ago.


On Sunday we headed out to Ranch Palos Verdes to the beach.
Lots of critters to be examined.


Baby toes in the Pacific
Our visit was cut short after one explosive diaper and nothing to change into (for mom or baby).

Two of many books today I loved.

I came home to these for no reason in particular on Wednesday. Love the latin lover.
We've been going to the farmer's market on Saturday's for a couple months now. We have a $20 budget, however there was a new vendor there this past Saturday selling local olive oil. He asked if we wanted a sample which of course we accepted, and then another of a different kind and then he says--you need to try this balsamic vinegar...you could drink it it's so good-- so we tried that. I'm not a fan of balsamic. I use it for cooking when needed, but it's not a staple in my house. I've had the same bottle in my cupboard for over a year. But, this balsamic was incredible. So we splurged (made possible by the fact that they accepted credit cards.) We have been enjoying this purchase. We also bought Honey. But we always buy honey on Saturdays. We love honey. We love food. Speaking of food, tried out a new scone recipe this morning. David gets after me for making too many goodies. ( (I know, he has it rough). The middle ground? Whole grain goodies. They weren't bad at all, I'll definitely make them again. I made a few substitutions. I didn't have dried apples so I used mostly dried cranberries and some dried apricot I cut up. Since I have a bazillion vanilla beans I substituted two beans for the cinnamon and because I didn't have any apple juice concentrate on hand I used more buttermilk. Lovely accompaniment to a spinach cheese frittata I made for breakfast.

The Quotable Ale:

"Hey Mom," (shouted from the bathroom)
"What Ale?"
"Why do butts push out pooh?"
"I don't know Ale. Because God made us that way I guess."
"Oh."

I go to thrift shops occassionally and every once in a while I hit the jackpot. I went to a nice kids shop yesterday only to find out they were closing their doors on Monday. While I'm sad they're having to close I was allowed to get 18 items for only 10$. Not a bad deal!

Ale got a new "daddy like" shirt yesterday.

I purchased 3o vanilla beans a month ago for nearly nothing on ebay from the Organic Vanilla Bean. I wanted to try making extract. If it works, it will be very cost effective unlike most things I make at home these days.
Here's the break down:
Vanilla Beans: $10 for 30 ( I only used 12 for this batch).
Vodka: $12
Mason Jars: $1.15/each

I used this recipe.

I'll report back in eight weeks when it should be near completion.

Ale got a Slip n Slide for his birthday. Ke'ano and Ale have both been bugging to use it since it was opened but we haven't had HOT weather to justify setting it up (hot, meaning at least 73 degrees...Ke'ano would have been happy to use it when it was 60 and overcast outside). Yesterday wasn't too cold so we broke it open. Ke'ano was disappointed by the size saying the picture made it look much more impressive than it was--I took this opportunity to talk about advertising. They had a blast regardless of the size--sore tummies and all and from running and flopping onto the thing.
They actually played very well together for once...

He contemplates his approach

While they played I made butter using the mason jar method. Just pour the heavy cream and shake till the butter forms. Fascinating to do....
And the end result? Incredible. I couldn't make fresh butter without making fresh bread so I made some baguettes.

WEEKEND REVIEW

Friend Edwin turned 31 and he was going to chicken sit for us this weekend. I experimented with these cupcakes. I used this recipe only I cut it in half and added some cayenne pepper. I will definitely make them again.

Yeva turned 5 months!
Ale and Yeva take their first bath together
We headed down to San Clemente for the weekend with our good friends.


Ale loved announcing the trains' arrivals every time they passed through

On the walking path along the ocean

Once home I made these delectable goodies for dear friend and baby catcher, Kelly, who had a beautiful baby boy on Saturday night. Her labor was almost two hours...