Romantic dinner for two

Joy over at "You know how we're an art family" started a series of dinner parties when her Elizabeth threw a dinner party for some of her loved ones. I thought Charlie and I could join in the fun. Here you go, Joy!

Here are Blondie and Henry having a nice quiet evening:

Here is Charlie chaperoning:

What Charlie would look like as a brunette

Oh my gosh!

I've been growing my hair out for a while now. A couple years, actually. I started to do so after I'd had it cut short when Charlie was a baby. I had thought that I wanted it long, and then it got so long that I really couldn't stand it anymore, and the kicker was having another baby around to pull it CONSTANTLY. Anyway, it was so long that I really wanted to be able to do something useful with it. You know the mantra reduce, reuse, recycle. So I kept growing it just to be sure that I had the required 10 inches for a donation to Locks of Love.

Last night I washed and conditioned my hair one last time and took some pics. I was so nervous about the whole thing that Paul didn't even know which way to encourage me. So I visited the Locks of Love website to look at pics at all the beautiful children that get to have hair only because of donations like this, and it was all the motivation I needed!
This morning I showed up at Anne Welsh, a really great salon in Del Ray, our beautiful neighborhood in Alexandria. As it turns out, Joan cut off 14 inches!!! What do you think?

Before:

During:

After:

What a beautiful Mothers' Day!

My Mothers' Day started with a little sleeping in and then breakfast in bed. Then we went to church as a family and then headed to the wineries. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day! The sun was out with a slight breeze and gorgeous blue skies peppered with billowy clouds.

We spent the day with great friends, Melissa and James, in the wine country of Virginia visiting the following wineries: Chrysalis, Swedenburg and Piedmont. We tasted some incredible wines, but the winner for me was Sarah's Patio Red at Chrysalis. We all shared a bottle of this chilled semi-sweet red over a lovely picnic next to a pond and rolling green hills. I was reminded what a gorgeous state we live in!


Even Henry tried a few and settled on a lovely white.


We spent some time at each winery, appreciating the different wines and atmospheres. Swedenburg even had a Mothers' Day chocolate fountain!

After our wine tasting was finished, we all had dinner together in Middleburg--cute little town!--and then headed home, exhausted, but so happy with our lovely day.

First food for baby!

Well, after 7 months, my baby has started solids. Today we opened a whole new chapter in Judah's life. Here is video of his first attempt with sweet potatoes. There's not much excitement in the video, so please don't feel guilty about not watching all of it. And if you're squeamish, watch out for the beginning . . .

I'm still not sure if food was a hit with him.

Curiously, I have this photo of Charlie when she first started with solids:

Goodness, they look alike, don't they?

Couldn't you just EAT them?

This is a photo of the Hypertufa that my brother and sis-in-law made for me for my birthday. It still contains the same flowers that they planted for me back in December. It was looking rather beautiful yesterday, so I snapped a couple shots. Thanks, Lance and Katherine!

Okay, so I may have turned Charlie into a tree-hugger, or at least a flower hugger. I've explained to her that plants grow better when they are loved, so she's been talking to them every day and occasionally giving them kisses. Honestly, they are the best growing, most beautiful flowers I've planted here thus far!

Yesterday after I'd taken the pics of the kids, I downloaded them, and then I noticed that I'd downloaded a few that I didn't remember taking. Apparently, Henry had conned Charlie into a little photo shoot!

Last but not lease, here is a picture of Judah's absolutely edible chubby foot. He's just scrumptious!

Rainy day

This rainy Sunday called for a fun project for Charlie and me. Today I decided we would make potato candy, just like my grandma used to make. I'd never tried making it before, but I knew it was fairly easy. The recipe that I took down from my mom was something along the lines of: "mash a small potato, add a little milk, and then mix with a bunch of powdered sugar." Then you take that, roll it out, slather a layer of peanut butter, roll it up, then slice it, and you end up with little rolled up pieces of potato candy. It's delicious. But did you notice anything missing up there? Like measurements?

So, in case you read this post and give in to the temptation to make your own, I'll save you a little hassle and let you know how much of what worked for me. :) And I'll tell you this, too, it's VERY sweet. A little goes a looooong way. And it's not exactly a health food--I told you it's candy, right? So don't judge.

As I said, you take a very small potato and cook it (I microwaved it) so that you can mash it (without the skin). Then mash it with about a tablespoon of milk. Gradually add almost a pound of powdered sugar. Yes, I said almost a POUND. I used a pound, and it was just slightly difficult to mold. Then you work that into a dough, and split it in half. Then roll each ball to about 1/4-inch thickness. A trick that I used is to roll it between two sheets of parchment paper. Works like a charm, and then I didn't have to wash my rolling pin. Once you get it all spread out, slather on your peanut butter. Roll it up so that it looks something like a burrito (as Charlie said), and then slice it into your bite-size candies.

Charlie really loved making this as well as eating it. So yummy!