more cuteness

does it ever end?

the yellow balloon

When Mike came home from work today he arrived on our doorstep holding a helium-filled yellow balloon. Much cuteness ensued.

Dance Time!

this little muffin has some sweet moves. and yes, that is her little bottom peeking out - sorry about that.

you gotta love the solo bootie.
thanks again to cousin Peyton for introducing us to Pigloo.

Domestic Goddesses

I never thought I would be so domestic as this, but indeed I have come a long way, thanks to my friends. Sweet MaurLo organized a day of cooking "freezer meals" and invited Katie and me to join in. Between the three of us we watched over our five children, cooked 12 meals from 4 recipes, and caught up on the little details of our lives. I chopped what seemed like a billion onions, but in the end, it was worth it. The freezer is full!

working on veggie jambalaya

sometimes baby-wearing is the only way to go...

scooping out the quinoa squash casseroleokay, we admit we turned on the tv at one point to keep the little monkeys occupied.but there was wholesome book-reading time as well. best of all, though, is the food for the soul.

sorry for the cheesiness. and now, a recipe:

Quinoa squash casserole
1 medium onion, chopped
8-10 mushrooms, sliced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed well
2 cups peeled and diced kabocha squash
1 cup chopped kale
2 TBSP fresh parsley or 1TBSP dried
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Line bottom of 9x13 casserole dish with chopped kale.
Saute onions in olive oil until soft. Add and saute mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, and garlic for about 5 minutes. Stir in rest of ingredients and bring to a boil.
Transfer mixture to casserole dish and cover. Bake until liquid is absorbed, about 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and fluff with a fork. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Makes 6-8 servings.

Pigloo bisous d'eskimo

A discovery that is a new favorite dance-time song for Maya.

Cousin Peyton Comes to Town

We had a much-anticipated visit from Mark, Erin and Peyton this past weekend. Mark is in Harper's Ferry for Border Patrol training and Erin and Peyton flew into BWI from north country. Maya was practicing all week to say "Peyton" but it sounds a bit more like "Bih buh." We're working on it.

Little P, Uncle Mark and Mayumi in the "family room"the cute little elf!reading books with Auntie Erincousins!
Maya absolutely adores her cousin - you could see her always watching Peyton and trying to be like her. apres-dinner dance time. go papa penguin!On Saturday we spent the morning at the Building Museum. Perfect indoor fun.blocks and toys galore expressing interest in puzzles now

Maya's very good at sharing holding handswhat a cutie!celebrating Erin's birthday

Peyton helps!

Thanks for visiting - we love you guys!

more museum fun

Maya and I loved the Museum of American History so much that we went back again this week - this time with Katie and Co. The Spark Lab is our favorite place with their "Under Five" zone. Blocks, little tables, chalkboards, magnets, etc. Crazy fun. And plenty of photo opps as well.

Full Day

It didn't really feel like a busy day, but it was full. We had a leisurely morning chatting and saying goodbye to our boarders.Jennifer, Sean, Rai.
Check out Rai's socks. Awesome.

Maya is finally starting to get enough hair on her head that I was able to consider putting in pig tails. Pretty cute, right? They didn't stay in for long, though.

Katie came over with Cora and Alex. Maya is in the background lovin' up Alex.

See.
Afterwards we went over to Kimberly's to keep her company while she got ready to attend a cocktail party for President (I love writing that!) Obama's staff.
Trying to decide which shoes to wear...
On her way out the door! Hope you had an amazing time, KTK.
Then I picked up Mike at work and we went out for sushi at this little place by his office. Because I didn't feel like driving in the horrible traffic or cooking tonight.

Mmmmm, seaweed salad, tempura, and a tuna boat.

You guys, I am so tired now. It is 10:30 and I'm hitting the hay. Hope y'all had a good day, too.

Heart Breaker

My friend, Tanya, just sent me these photos from when we went to visit her in Exeter, NH over the Christmas holiday. Her son, Brodie, is almost two years old and he is incredible sweet, smart, and cute. Not bad for a possible future boyfriend. I mean, he's clearly interested...

Tanya, it was so nice to catch up with you! Come down to visit us soon!

Obama Madness

I didn't plan to go.
But how could I not? Cold weather and crowds just weren't a good enough excuse. We bundled ourselves up and headed towards the National Mall, along with the millions of other people. We knew we wouldn't get anywhere near the jumbo-trons broadcasting the inauguration, but we wanted to be near all the action. Everyone was in good spirits, people had traveled from all over the U.S. and the world to be here. There were older folk who had participated in the Civil Rights Movement, there were young adults who, for the first time, truly believed that anything was possible, and there were every-day, ordinary people who were proud to be a part of the democratic process. I liked being surrounded by these people. It felt good to be a part of this day.

We brought along our boarder, Rai, and then met up with Stephanie, McArthur, Stacy and some of their pals to walk from Eastern Market down to the Mall.

Mike carried Maya on his back as we walked through Capitol Hill.

By the time we got to Capitol South she was conked.

There were so many people but the crowds were tame.

For Mike's own entertainment, occasionally he would stop and ask people "why are all these people here?" Needless to say, he got some chuckles and funny reactions.
Since this is what it looked like on the Mall, we knew we weren't really going to get much closer...

We finally stopped stake out a spot near the USDA/Holocaust Museum on Independence Ave. Maya woke up and got to run around a bit. We met some older African American women who traveled from Ohio - they said that we were the first people that they had talked to from DC. It's inspiring to realize that this inauguration meant so much to people that they were willing to make the long trek to participate in it; the majority of people we ran into were non-residents.

Even my teeth were cold.

On our way home we stopped in to visit Eagle who had recorded the inauguration on his DVR, so we were able to watch the entire ceremony. I, of course, loved the President's speech, particularly when he said:
--And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
--For those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
-- For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.
-- Those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism ... They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.
-- What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility --a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

I also loved Aretha's solo and the poem by Elizabeth Alexander (though not so much the delivery), but my favorite was the amazing performance by Yo-Yo Ma, Perlman, McGill and Montero.

Praise song for the day.
Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."
We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."
We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.
Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self."
Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.
What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.
In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

~Elizabeth Alexander

Now we are warm and cozy in our home. But the excitement and anticipation and hope from this day continues to permeate the air. It's a good time to live in DC.

obama cake and boarders

I decided on Sunday, after Stake Conference, that I needed to bake an Obama Cake. It's how I show my love for someone - by feeding them. I know he'll never know of this devoted act of mine, but it was suddenly crucial for me to do this. So while Mayumi napped, I pulled out the flour and cocoa and butter and sugar and got to work in the kitchen. I seriously spent hours pouring my heart and soul into this cake. It was rich chocolate brown, in honor of our first African-American president, with creamy vanilla butter frosting and the HOPE logo painstakingly painted on top. I brought it over to Kimberly's for a little dinner party. She made this amazing soup and homemade bread and I contributed my Obama Cake. It was almost painful to cut into it after all that work. But, despite my amateur cake-making attempt, it was a pretty divine-tasting confection. It was so worth it. Perhaps someday we'll invite our neighbors, the Obamas, over for dinner and feed them Obama Cake. I'm sure they'd love it. In other news, at the last minute and on a whim, Mike listed our spare rooms for rent for the Inauguration on Craig's List and immediately people responded. So, in a mad flurry we cleaned our house, changed the sheets on the bed, hung up some more pictures, and prepared to have (paying!) houseguests! Sean from Cambridge, MA and Jennifer from Connecticut are staying in the guest room and Ray from NYC is staying on the futon bed in the back room. They are - thankfully - nice, interesting, well-behaved guests. I stress out a little when I have to play hostess, but it has actually gone quite smoothly. We even shared some of our Obama Cake with Ray! Perhaps someday Mike and I will open a little B&B and make Obama Cake for all our guests.

Maya playing with Ray.