Friday

What a nice change of pace now that Mark's Mother's Day packages are all gone. He did a lot of baking for the Flea in the last couple of days but it's not been like the previous week. Tomorrow he's taking his usual fare and probably a new recipe he tried today: vanilla chocolate chunk rice krispie treats with dulce de leche swirled on top and inside the treats. I haven't had anything but a lick of the bowl and, believe me, his homemade marshmallow makes rice krispie treats a real "treat," in the truest sense of the word.

I picked Mia up from school today and we went to the bookstore to get 2 more of Mo Willems' pigeon books. OMG they crack me up. Not only are they funny, but he has captured the essence of childhood in that silly pigeon. Kids can totally relate to him.

Then we went to the fish store, bought some catfish for Mark to prepare for dinner. While there, Mia swooned over the eel in the case, impressing the heck out of the cashier. She couldn't believe a little kid would know what eel was, much less carry on about it. Mia says that today the teacher had spices out and the kids smelled them, trying to identify them. She said that one of them smelled familiar so she kept sniffing, then finally got it and blurted out, "curry!" She was right and quite proud of her little self that she was the only one who knew what it was. No big surprise to any of us who know her proclivity for trying any and every exotic thing on a menu.

Here are some non-kid pictures. I like the myriad things on Mark's kitchen island...gives you an idea of how a baking business kind of takes over. The watermelons are for a watermelon cooler he sells at the Flea. The first picture is a batch of biscotti, mid-process. I had the distinct pleasure of having one later while still warm from the oven. Melted in my mouth. Good thing I don't live here. That last picture is the kitchen island...serving also as a drying place for Claudine's jacket.

There....I didn't think I had much to say, but I did manage to ramble on.

Crunch Day

I think this is Mark's last day of baking for the Mother's Day orders so I tried to fill in as much as possible. You know, chief gopher. I went to the post office a couple of times to help him mail Mother's Day packages, shopped for chicken dinner, went out again to buy a pound of butter, made said chicken dinner, played with the girls which goes without saying, and kinda cleaned up wherever the opportunity presented itself.

Here are a bunch of pictures. It's too hard to cut any more. The doll is in there because she's using my airplane pillow...I just want you all to know how much these girls have taken over my life. Same with Mia and the cat, Toby, on my bed. Ooooh, and there are those pretty little black pepper rose jam thumbprint cookies, under shrink wrap. The motley group of cookies and biscotti are the seconds that don't get sold......it's hard to resist so much goodness.

And check out little Claudine's striped tights....so sweet looking on her. Had to put in another goofy Mia shot; she is still hamming it up at every chance. I've taken to calling her Diva.

Mark is having quiet time with the two of them...a rare thing since I've gotten here but his spare time will increase somewhat from now on. I hope.

Brooklyn, day 2

Mmmm, I had a good night's sleep! Mia quietly hovered over me in the a.m. until my eyes blinked open. She never used to have that kind of decorum. She crawled under my blanket and we stayed warm together until the needs of the day were no longer avoidable. I.e., brush teeth, finish her nanny Mala's birthday card, eat breakfast and get dressed. We really should have gotten started earlier as she has the energy of a hummingbird flitting at full tilt. Focus, Mia, focus!

Jenna took Claudine to school while Mala, Mia and I talked about allergy season, aging and the death of parents. We noticed Mia being extra quiet and both assumed that those were downer subjects so I asked her if that kind of talk made her sad. She said yes, but then thought better of her answer and came out with the truth: "Really, I'm just bored."

Then I took some Whimsy packages to the post office for Mark as he was at Boathouse for the day. On the way back to the apartment I stopped at the playground to play with Mia who was there with Mala. I got to push her and her friend, Rosie, about 350 times on the swings. At least 350 times. I actually had fun doing it. Kid energy is so clean and energizing. When Jenna showed up with Claudine, Mala took the 2 girlz wherever it is she takes them and Jenna and I came back home. Her to her computer and me to my book, Rhapsody in Red, and a nap.

For lunch I fixed us a salad of romaine, grilled chicken, and snow pea sprouts with avocado, apple and french fries rimming the plates. Most of those were leftovers of Mark's great dinner last night. Then I found a bag of brownie butts and had a small one. I was soooo restrained.

Now Mark is in the kitchen making maple marshmallows and hazelnut cookie dough, Jenna's still working on whatever amazing project is up for her now, and I'm here on the couch doing this. Tonight I'll add to this as the girlz and I are going to have an adventure.....we're going to order a Grandma's Pizza and stay up late while Mark and Jenna go out and get to have a grown-up evening without any of us.

OK...adventure over. I bought a pizza down the street. Big one. They chose the toppings. I had to order a couple slices of another kind of pizza just for me. And guess how much they ate? They each had half a piece. Can't win. Mark says it's because they ate cake a couple hours before dinner.

Then we played on the computer a while, watched TV and read. They were excellent. Since Mark told them they could stay up til they got home, the girlz opted to do just that. Sagging with exhaustion most of the time, but they did it! When Grey's Anatomy came on I had to figure out a way to keep them from seeing scary parts (some little girl shot the hell out of her father and wondered why he didn't die.) Mia agreed to face the other way on the couch and even pulled the blanket over her head. Sounds kinda sad....but it was fine. It was just a little while. Parents came home 9:20, surprised to see the girlz awake. And thus ends the adventure. Wonder what tomorrow will be like with the sleep deprived kidlets.

Mark and Jenna's New Venue

Well, Mark and Jenna must be doing just fine....heaven knows they're working hard enough at it. I just found out they have a new place to sell their goods on-line, called 1000 Markets. Their blog talks about it.

And go visit their shop on 1000 Markets; it's quite nice.

I'm going there in December to help them with what promises to be a busy busy ordering time. Can't wait to see them all.