{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment}

{this moment} Inspired by SouleMama.

what we're reading

Surprisingly, it hasn't been much of a book week for us. Ah, I know--it's because the big kids started camp on Monday! They are off swimming, playing, creating, singing, and otherwise enjoying themselves at the JCC for most of the day. We also just instituted a "one book each" rule at bedtime, hoping to slim our evening ritual down to a half hour or so rather than... who knows how long it was stretching these past few weeks. So our reading time has been reduced by quite a bit.

However, Matea has managed to find time to ask for her (Disney) Princess books. I bought a set of 12 hardcover books a the grocery store about one year ago, and they already have had a lifetime of use. Especially Cinderella. We have read it so many times that Matea can recite the entire thing, word for word, as you turn the pages. She also can recite it when the book is completely out of sight!

I missed my last book club meeting, but should be finished with Great House by Nicole Krauss any night now. One oddity about reading on a Kindle is that it's hard to sense how far into a book you are at any given moment--no thickness to feel between your fingers, and gauge how many pages are left after the bookmark. I haven't been reading much lately, but hope to spend a bit more time lazing on the couch soon.

~jkg

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.


~jkg

what we're reading

Our latest reading excitement is Take Flight, the public library's summer reading program. I didn't realize that even preschoolers could participate, otherwise I would have introduced Meris to the joy of weekly prizes a couple years ago. This year, he came home from school with a flyer about the program. The goal is to read (or be read to) a total of nine hours any time between June 13 and July 30. The kids color in one egg on their reading log for every 20 minutes that they read. I think Meris colored in nine eggs within the first 36 hours of signing up! He has become quite the independent bookworm.

I've got my own summer project--getting my kids to eat more widely and with greater gusto. That said, I'm pulling out cookbooks and looking for recipes that I think may appeal to them. Reading posts by a good friend who blogs at little gem has inspired me to be a bit more creative with my cooking, now that I'm coming out of new baby bliss and trying to take care of my family (and myself!). She reminded me of The Petit Appetit by Lisa Barnes, a cookbook with simple yet interesting recipes for babies, toddlers, and young children. I've brushed it off and made a grocery list... now to get cooking!

~jkg

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama.


~jkg

what we're reading today

We have not been in a book rut this week, so it's a bit difficult to choose one title for a mini-review! Since I'm feeling a bit nostalgic (common symptom of new mommy brain, right?), I'll go with Lucille by Arnold Lobel. This book is part of the I Can Read series, which apparently has been around for years and years, because Lucille has a copyright date of 1964! (Just checked the site--the first I Can Read title was published in 1957). The copy we are reading was mine growing up (hence the nostalgia). It appears to have been part of a USPS auction, and was marked down from $4.75 all the way to $0.75!

Anyway, Matea has repeatedly asked me to read this short tale about a purple horse (Lucille) who briefly tries to escape her horse-ness and become a lady, as in one who wears a hat, lovely white dress, and four shiny red shoes. Lucille joins the farmer's wife (her co-conspirator in this endeavor) at tea with all the other ladies, only to discover (spoiler alert!!) that she'd really rather remain true to herself and work out in the fields with the farmer and other dirty farm animals. I'm not exactly sure why Matea is so drawn to this book--perhaps the humorous illustrations of a silly situation--but I admit I also find it a satisfying read, even after 30 years!

~jkg

{this moment}

{this moment} - Inspired by SouleMama. A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.


~jkg

what we're reading

I think it's been a couple days since my last reading of Ponyella. Matea's new favorite is The One and Only Opal from the Toot & Puddle series by Holly Hobbie. Some of the books about the two little pigs and their friends strike me as a bit random--this one in particular seems to be teaching a lesson about being kind to others, but the ending doesn't offer much of a moral. Ariel is the one who pointed this out to me, though. Matea likes it because the little pig Opal wears a tutu on the cover. I picked this up used because I love the illustration style--soft, slightly realistic watercolors (I think). All in all, a well-loved book.

As for my own bookshelf, I'd like to suggest Essential Exercies for the Childbearing Year by Elizabeth Noble to anyone who is pregnant. I got it after borrowing a copy from the doula I used during my first pregnancy. This crunchy mama of five had also worked as a labor and delivery nurse, taught childbirth classes, and was trained as a lactation consultant--basically, a highly experienced pregnancy/birth/infant care consultant. What I like most about the book is the exercises it gives for re-zippering your abdomen in the early post-partum weeks. I have re-read it after each baby!

~jkg

this moment

Inspired by SouleMama, here is a moment from our week.

~jkg

what we're reading

We are still spending lots of time reading and talking about Ponyella, but we do have something new from the library. We recently discovered the Crinkleroot nature series. I first brought home Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Trees; it was such a hit that we now have Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Birds. Meris professes to love nature and animals, so he is the primary fan of these books. The Crinkleroot character is a knowledgeable little old man with a long white beard who takes the reader on nature walks. I haven't read them many times--Ariel is the preferred bedtime reader at the moment--but the illustrations are pleasing and the content apparently compelling.

As for me, I've been flipping through The Family Dinner by Laurie David. It's a cookbook, but with lots of tidbits about why we parents should make it a tradition to eat dinner at the table (as opposed to in the car) with our children most nights. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but it's a fun collection of anecdotes and photos to browse through when I've got my hands free to hold a book (as opposed to a newborn!).

Happy reading!

~jkg

what we're reading

Both Meris and Matea are budding bookworms. Meris finally can read on his own, which means that soon enough I'll be reading children's chapter books again. But for now, we are deep in picture book territory.

This week, we've had multiple readings most days of Ponyella, by Laura Numeroff and Nate Evans with illustrations by Lynn Munsinger. As you might be able to tell from its title, this is a Cinderella-inspired tale about a pony. I picked it up on a whim at a Scholastic book fair, but turns out that both kids love it.

As for my own book shelf, I am almost finished with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I've been reading it for a book club meeting (which I missed--it was last night!), but it also had been recommended to me by a friend. It's a fascinating look at Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose cancer cells have been an essential part of medical research for decades. However, the narrative includes way too much repetitive detail about the author's adventures reporting the story with the Lacks family.

And that's what we're reading!

~jkg

still pregnant....

Here I am at 40 weeks, 3 days pregnant.... Just for fun, I've got photos from the tail end of my previous two pregnancies.


This is a belly full of Meris, taken just days before he was born (as far as I can tell/remember).

Matea was born less than 12 hours after this photo was taken.

I'm not sure we'll take any more belly photos this time around unless I hit 41 weeks. I'm ready for some newborn pix instead!

~jkg

Pregnant women can jump!

So it's apparently been about one year since my last post. Quite a bit has happened since then. For one thing, I'm expecting baby #3 in about three weeks. As a last-blast family trip, we enjoyed 10 days of February warmth and sun in Florida. This included a visit to Disney World, complete with a jumping shot in front of Cinderella's castle. (Yes, jumping at 31 weeks pregnant is painful.)

Meris had a good jump here. Hopefully Matea will be able to jump on command by next year....

Matea's favorite activity these days is "triking." Here she is, raising money for Beth Emet's Early Childhood Program, one of the two preschools she attends. This is also an opportunity to point out her Cinderella costume, a hand-me-down she wears at least 22 hours a day, 7 days a week!

And last but not least, here we have her blowing out candles at her third birthday party. (Note that she is again/still wearing the Cinderella dress, just over one month after the trike-a-thon!). Matea requested strawberry cake with strawberry frosting for her party, so I dutifully found and made the recipes in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book. I decorated them with dinosaur toppers from ShopBakersNook.com--cute enough for a little girl's birthday celebration! The sheet cake base is Grandmother Whitehead's Famous Texas Fudge Cake from Birthday Cakes: Recipes and Memories from Celebrated Bakers by Kathryn Kleinman. My husband, who normally turns down chocolate cake, says that this one is a keeper. He also loved the frosting--but then, who wouldn't love mascarpone frosting (tinted green), also from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book.

The cupcakes were a hit with both the kids and adults. Personally, I think I need to break out my pastry bag and improve my frosting technique before the next birthday party baking project. Another project for the list of things to do with all my free time!

~jkg