If you give 5 kids some rope (after they've asked for 2 weeks straight!)

They might just spend the next nine hours creating a village in the trees...with pulleys, swings, and rooms. The creativity of children left to their own devices is amazing.


Emma lashed this little rope swing together. There is a piece of wood for the seat.





No tree village is complete without lots of adornment.



They even made a sink for the dishes.

the point was to get a picture of Evan SNUGGLING

Evan has the cutest little snuggle. He burrows in and puts his head right on my chest and sucks his thumb. We all love it so much because it is so babylike. Today he was in a super cuddly mood so I told Nina to run get the camera. It's one of those things about Evan I'd like to remember. But then he went nutso and started biting my chin...hard! And arching his back. So much for snuggles.


owie! seriously, he means business!

so proud of himself.


better luck next time!

cookies, cookies, cookies

I love cookies! And I am a total sucker for healthy cookie recipes. I collect them. I especially love the ones you can make in 5 minutes or less, have plenty of protein to balance the sweet making them an acceptable snack for kids, and of course, taste delicious and turn out moist. That's all I ask, really. It's not so much.

A month or so ago, my friend Trisha posted an Almond Butter Cookie recipe on her blog and I almost made it like three times. Can't remember what got in the way, but this weekend when Geoff and Darcie were here, Geoff made an almost identical cookie and they were awesome! They can be made with chocolate chips, but they were super delish without. I made my own almond meal by pulverizing almonds in the food processor, and substituted it for some of the flour, as Geoff indicates in his recipe. I included Trisha's recipe below. The only real difference is the egg, and I will try that one as eggs can only enhance, right?

p.s. we did try the cookies with a couple tablespoons of mini chocolate chips today and yeah, they were really tasty.

Geoff's Nut Butter Chocolate chip cookies
1/2 C Almond butter (or half-n-half peanut butter) <---yes, do this!
1/2 C Maple syrup
3 T olive oil
1 T vanilla
1 C flour (can substitute ~25% almond meal)
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
chocolate chips or shavings - optional

Mix it up. 350. 8-10 min., you know the drill.
* just go ahead and double this thing, you'll be glad you did.

Trisha's Almond Butter Cookies
1/2 cup natural almond butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped almonds (or more)

Preheat the oven to 350*F. In a large bowl, combine natural almond butter, maple syrup, oil, egg and vanilla extract until well blended. In a separate bowl, mix together whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, along with chopped almonds, and stir until just combined. Let sit for five minutes. Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls, flatten to about 1/3 of an inch and place onto cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Makes 18 cookies.


350 for 8-10 min

Life is sweeter with good friends.

Whew! What a week. Our lazy summer kind of fell by the wayside this week, but all for good reason. We had a BBQ here with some of the kids Sela went to tennis camp with and their families, as well as neighbors on Monday night. We had the Messmers, Medds, Schusters, and Banks over and the kids played their little hearts out. The Banks brought some incredible king salmon from their Alaska fishing trip and everyone else made sides...with friends who are such wonderful cooks, potluck is always more fun, not to mention delicious. I made some herbed foccacia (I'm addicted), provencal potato salad, baked beans(which I forgot to get out of the oven),greek salad, black bean and quinoa salad, and the rest I can't recall. We ended the evening with campfire and s'mores and too much sugar :)

Nina helped me pick flowers for the bbq.


There can never be too many s'mores

Sydney, Gracie, Kate, Maisy, and Nina...big 1st graders!
Salmon salad the next day.

Tuesday, we had a work party here for some of the marketing team in Zig's group. They were having an offsite all day and came by the house for appetizers before heading to a late dinner at Barking Frog. Zig was stuck in traffic on the 520 bridge and called and told me he would be late but that everyone else was behind him so not to worry. Since I hadn't met any of these folks previously (most work in the Mountain View office, New York, and a few other spots), I was glad to hear he would be arriving first as planned.  As soon as he said they were running behind, I decided to feed my kids dinner, and felt relief that I had a few more minutes to set up..it had been a busy day and I was running quite a bit behind. And then I looked down the driveway and saw an unfamiliar car coming up. Turns out Zig wasn't in front so the party started with these kind people, who I had never met, helping me bring all the food out and set up. They were awesome. Oh and Rollin decided to help too and turned the dessert upside down. Love you, Zig. A little chaos is always good, right?!

Wednesday the girls were giddy with excitement for the Davises to arrive. Sela and Nina were with friends during the day and I just had Rollin and Evan here. My friend, Lilian, has had numerous doctor appointments for her new baby so we were excited to be able to watch her darling girls, Anna and Leah, during the day. I think this was the first time Rollin got to be in charge and take friends around and entertain without his sisters around. He kept things hopping and they were all dirty and tired when Lilian arrived. They had so much fun and played "Mom, Dad & Baby" in the treehouse, among other things. I was trying to get ready for Darcie and Geoff so Rollin was a really big helper! Love that boy!

Anna, Leah, and Rollin








After they left and I scrambled to pick up the girls, we flew into the driveway just a few minutes ahead of the Davises. The girls picked up right where they left off and played solid for the next five days. Darcie, Geoff and I enjoyed the few minutes of downtime, usually at night when the kids were asleep, to catch up and visit, although I could still use more time to further discuss a few things! We also enjoyed seeing Heather Parry and her kids and Lori Thompson, Micah and Maverick.

Thursday night we had tickets to Martina McBride with the Thompsons and Sharps. The Davises were able to join us last minute because Dave and Lisa stayed in Wyoming longer than they had originally planned and Geoff finally decided that he liked us enough to endure the twang :)  The concert was good, Zig and Geoff don't appreciate country music quite as much as we do (California boys) and Zig kept saying "that Reba McIntire concert was awesome!" Whatever :) We all agree that the company was the best part, of course, and Chateau St. Michele is a such an ideal setting for a concert when the weather is nice.

Friday we had nothing, and that was nice. The kids played all day. We visited and cooked and made snacks and cooked and made snacks and stayed up too late trying to get all our talking in. Sela and Tennie were off most of the day trying to create a natural tanning cream...aka dirt :)






Fun Dips (Emergen-C style)

Saturday we hosted a dinner for a few families who had won a dinner at our house as part of the  Microsoft Giving  auction. Zig donated dinner and a day at the farm and it was time to "pay up". I got out early Saturday to do grocery shopping. I was running out of steam so I planned to go to PCC and get some salads from the deli to supplement what we were making, but there was just nothing that looked good. It was all kind of blah and that didn't feel right. I hurried and came home and got to work....Well, that is after I searched for a gluten free dessert and gluten free graham crackers. Two of the guys were gluten free and one 9 year girl was a vegetarian who eats salmon. Another guy was lactose intolerant but he didn't tell me until he got here (I panicked). Fortunately he said it was mild and he brought his pills to counteract the dairy. Let's just say the kids got a couple movies in that afternoon. Desperate times, right? Zig had a keynote to prepare for and was occupied till 3 so it was pretty much my auction dinner, which is fine, in hindsight. He has a lot going on and somehow together we manage to get things done. We were scrambling at the last minute and I was kind of wishing I had just bought those darn salads! But it all worked out just in the nick of time, literally. Thank goodness no one was early!We grilled salmon again and I made some salads from the garden, my favorite being a beet orange salad. We have tons of beets and they were in the garden one moment and on the table 3 hours later. I love that!  We enjoyed getting to know these families and ended the night with a campfire (notice a theme?)

Sunday we took it easy. Actually, we took it easy until it was church time. Zig  flew out to New York in the morning (lucky sucker) and I took the kids to church alone. I knew it would be a challenge and was questioning why I wore heels the second I sat down. Evan and Zig usually spend the meeting in the nursery (Evan likes to shriek at the most quiet moments) so today it was my turn.  While in the nursery, I heard a familiar voice and it became clear that the sweet little voice over the intercom was Sela's. She was sharing her testimony and I wasn't even in there to watch. Many people approached me afterwards to tell how much her thoughts meant to them. Sunday afternoon we had dinner when the Davises returned from visiting our old church. The kids filled the remainder of the evening dressing up, performing in a talent show, and I'm pretty sure there was at least one more naked parade. Good times. Oh and what better time for a washing machine to malfunction than when guests are here and the kids have spent the last five days getting filthy.

 
Ceci likes the spotlight! She's so fun to watch.


Sela singing Taylor Swift something

Adele and Nina

Rollin trying hard to steal the spotlight
Geoff and Tennie having a conversation in French. Tennie's French is really good!

Interesting reactions from the peanut gallery



The audience...Geoff making cookies.

All done!
The three little girls are little exhibitionists!


Ceci leading the naked parade

Adele and Nina are little free birds.


Today the Davises headed to San Juan Island. The time went by fast. We're all pretty worn out and I know the kids probably stayed up much later here than they usually do. Same for Darcie and Geoff! But it's always great to spend time with old friends. Our kids have known each other since they were babies and it's so neat to see them all growing up. Tennie is 10! Now that is hard to believe! Where has the time gone?!

Sela and Tennie in 2002

Come back soon!

stuff and stunts

Here's a little recap of our week:

Sela had tennis camp all week long at UW. She enjoyed carpooling with the Banks and Messmers. Lots of "slug bug" type games going on in the car with Hunter and Jack. At one point on the way home, I stopped and moved Hunter to the side seat because he was in the middle getting it from both sides the whole way home! They all had a lot of fun and Sela earned the "most improved camper" award. She has been really eager to play with me so we all went out last night and she really DID improve a lot, in one week. Very exciting.

Sela, Nina, Emma and Sophia finished their first "Summer Fun" neighborhood newspaper and delivered it to the neighbors. The content is so darling and includes animal models, a craft, an interview, information about a talent show and a history of the kids on Maple Springs Farm (Sela, Nina, Rollin, & Evan) and Fat Beagle Farm (Emma & Sophia). It's 7 pages long.

We had the Norrises, Hamptons, and Gudmundsons over for a bbq and campfire on Monday. We rarely saw the kids but heard lots of squeals all over the yard. I was excited to make a french style potato salad with fennel, potatoes, and herbs all fresh from the garden. I used bits and pieces of an Herb Farm recipe and a Barefoot Contessa one. So rewarding! 4 babies in attendance made for a bouncy evening for the parents.

A few of the kiddoes

Zig, Tom and Sarah

And it can't be a new week without a new stunt by Rollin.

Evan is getting louder with his shrieking in public places. Not so fun. Thank goodness for Rachel.

We worked on a framing project for the girls artwork. I actually got all of the pictures framed and we are starting to work on their room. I found them some new, bright comforters and we have been playing around with configurations for the artwork. I'm pretty excited to see it all hung! That's where Zig comes in.

The girls and I hit he Bellevue Arts Show this weekend. We had the traditional NW fare of blackened salmon salad and those yummy warm Fisher Scones with raspberry jam. I know there's some not so stellar ingredients in their scones, but gosh once a year they taste good. We looked at all the incredible art, this show is top notch,  and then somehow ended up at the Nordstrom sale. I really wanted to look for a pair of nude heels, but go figure, we spent all of our time in the kids section and then had to run home to get Nina to a birthday party. New shoes for the girls, none for mom. It's not the first time.

berry + dark chocolate muffins

I love this recipe because the muffins are only slightly sweet. These taste like muffins should taste, which in my opinion, is not like cupcakes. I use strawberries, raspberries or a mixture. And I use more berries than the recipe calls for. We often sprinkle little bits of dark chocolate and berries on the tops and if we're really getting fancy (pretty much all the time), a little bit of turbinado (raw cane sugar) to make them have a bit of a crunch. Sugar sprinkling is a coveted job around here. Rollin did the honors this morning.

raspberry & chocolate

strawberry & chocolate

Muffins à la Framboise, Eclats de Fève de Cacao

- 4 Tbsp (75 g) butter
- 2 C (230 g) all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
- 1/2 C (100 g) sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 C (125 ml) plain yogurt
- 1/2 C (125 ml) buttermilk / fermented milk / kefir
- 1 C raspberries (or more!)
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate pieces

Yield : 12 muffins

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and grease (or line with paper cups or leave alone if they are silicon) a set of muffin tins.

Melt the butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan, and set aside to cool. In a small bowl, combine the cacao nibs and brown sugar. Set aside.

In a medium mixing-bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt) and stir to mix. In another medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients (butter, egg, yogurt and buttermilk). Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients, and stir with a spatula until just combined. Do not overmix. The mixture will be lumpy, that's okay. Fold in the berries and dark chocolate bits.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tins and into the oven to bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until risen and golden. Turn out on a rack to cool, and wait for 10-15 minutes before removing from the tins. Serve warm or completely cooled.

take that uncle ryan and uncle martin :)

And this next one is where he first learned the back flip. Apparently time-outs aren't the most effective punishment for Rollin. He's in his room training for the circus. Warning...a couple of these flips are flops, and a little painful to watch!