Medley

Oh lord, such sweetness. 
My girl makes my day shimmer.
Last fall I took Violet to this music class.  It's called Music Together, but she calls it "Teacher Music Class".  It's pretty great.  You sit around with your kid in a big circle of other parents and kids, and Teacher Sarah leads everyone in various songs.  Every once in a while she dumps out a basket of shake-eggs, or little drums, or bells, and the kids get to go crazy dancing along to the music. 
Anyway, like I said, we did it last fall, and Violet really liked it--  although admittedly she spent much of the time playing with the door stop in the corner.
Well, we decided to do it again this summer (thank you, Grandma Sprague), and Violet now is way way WAY into it!  We were surprised, although I guess we shouldn't be--  lately she has been singing constantly, every song, any song--- and making up songs too.   The time between fall and summer equals the exponential growth of the mind of a two year old; suddenly the door stop doesn't seem so interesting.
Here is a snippet that is pure indulgence for mommy and daddy, and probably for the grandmas and grandpas too... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz2LHR93DdA

Puzzle fun

Tick tock-- I could watch this little mind spinning its sprockets all day.

It is becoming quite apparent that this is going to be the summer of puzzles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zriB45AUR1E

Veggie Confession

Roasted Zucchini, Mushroom and Pesto Panino

I have a confession---  
We've gone exclusive.  Veggie exclusive.  Well, almost.
It started in India.  Three months of no beef or pork, with just a little tiny bit of chicken maybe once every four days.  Honestly, once we got over the adjustment period, (which did take quite a while), I started to realize that I suddenly had an enormous amount of energy; more than I've had in years.  We came home and introduced meat back into our diet, and then decided that it didn't really belong there, at least not on a daily basis.
I think it takes your body a ton of work to digest meat.  We haven't gone full vegetarian, but I do notice that after a dinner that contains meat (even just chicken), I feel lethargic, spacey, languid the following day.
I've always had a problem with the meat industry in our country-- (how could you not!) the way it is veiled so completely-- (watch "Food Inc." if you don't know what I'm talking about)-- and I've always kind of considered going green, but I've never really known how to do it exactly.  I think there are several ways to do it--  but these are the main tricks that have helped us:

1) Remove the mindless meat from your life.  This is the meat that you buy and eat almost without thinking--  pepperoni on pizza, hamburger (it's just as easy, and less expensive to order a veg. burger or take baby steps and order a turkey burger), soup meat (pea soup doesn't actually need to have a ham bone), meat ravioli, etc....

2) Realize that you still need protein.  Now this is an important one.  If you just cut out meat from your diet, and don't replace it with anything, then it's not going to work.  Adding a few beans here and there can do wonders to salads, or soups, or mushed up into spreads for sandwiches.  Hummus is a fabulous snack with just about anything used as a dipping utensil.  A blob of Greek yogurt with dinner and lunch goes a long way (greek yogurt has tons of protein compared to other yogurt).

3)  Compose a meal in pieces.  Now this has been a big one for us.  In our country, usually when we think about a meal, dinner for example, we think about the "main dish"-- usually a big meat dish, like pot roast, or pork chops, or baked chicken.  Then we add a couple of things as an after thought (some potatoes, or a little salad, whatever).  When we were in India we saw a whole new way of eating that is quite the opposite of this, and it is very conducive of the veg. diet--   it's the idea of putting a meal together in which the rice is equal to the beans is equal to the stewed vegetables, is equal to the creamed spinach, is equal to the tandoori chicken (when served), etc.... .
There really isn't a "main" dish when you eat this way, which makes it both quite a bit healthier, and also a bit simpler.  There isn't this pressure to have one huge knock-your-socks-off casserole that fills your plate, because of the simple fact that when you eat vegetarian it is important that you do indeed have all these different little components to insure that you are getting what you need nutritionally out of the meal.

Anyway, like I've said, we haven't gone totally veg. YET.  But for the first time in my life I truly don't crave meat the way that I used to, in fact it's getting a bit hard to cook it and eat it, especially where there are such beautiful veggies rolling into our markets this time of year.  I'd be interested to hear from my veggie friends out there (especially those with kids).  How do you run your veg. kitchen?       

California

Last Thursday Violet and I boarded the plane and flew off to California for a few days, leaving Tyler to chomp through his dissertation.  We've lived in Seattle for almost 7 years now.  CRAZY, right?!!!  We love it here, we really do, and we don't have any intention of leaving in the foreseeable future, but there is something completely satisfying about returning to the homeland, aka Berkeley.

Playing with Rose and John

Let me tell you--  my parents house is a bit like a sitcom.  Five times a day, people just show up.  There's a knock on the door, and you never know who it's going to be.  A neighbor, or one of my four brothers, or eleven nieces and nephews; always someone fun with a question or a cake or asking to borrow a lawn chair.  It's the way we were raised, in a very open-home kind of way where an average Tuesday night dinner is a weekly party where everyone is invited.  No pretense or formality; just everyone wanting to be together.  
Something Tyler and I miss more than anything in the world. 

        

On Saturday, and then again on Sunday we all got together.  All of my brothers.  Their kids.  My sisters-in-laws.  My parents.  We total around 25 when we're all together, and the wonderful thing about my family down there is that they get together so often and so easily that there is this very large and supportive loving community of people to raise all of the kids.  My nieces and nephews ("the cousins") are all best friends; the older ones kind of watch out for the younger ones-- it's really a fantastic thing.  

John, Violet, Samir, Rose, and April

Enter Violet.  

Honestly, she didn't really know any of them that well before this trip;

she was so little the last time we really spent any time with them, and then of course we were in India, but throwing her into the bunch was better than I ever could have imagined.  She just sort of tooled around with all of them, and played, and was looked after by some of the older girls.  And I got to hang out with my four brothers.  SO fun!

A few highlights from the trip:  

Reading the paper with Grandma Joy

Violet loves her Grandpa Eldon

Violet and mommy on the carousel

Playing with Sanjay

Violet at Samir's birthday party

Cousin fun

Dad and Mike

our lovely mother

Sammy

Uncle Petes!

Violet with Uncle David

Violet with Grandma Joy 

Fun at Point Reyes

Oh brother, who decided this photo was a good idea?

So much!

There has been so much!

First, we got our car!  Oh, 1998 VW Jetta, how we have loved thee...  But we are no longer afraid to drive in the rain now that we have our new car--  which is a good thing, since we live in Seattle.  Our new Subaru is divine, and definitely was worth the wait.

What else?  Well, it was my birthday.  I have been feeling a bit blue lately about feeling so far away from my family in California, and it seems especially hard around birthday time.  But on June 2, as I walked down the hallway, I was met with this fantastic collage of photos of everyone in my family holding up these little Happy Birthday Rachel! signs.  Tyler knows me well--  and giving me my parents-brothers-nephews-nieces-cousins-aunts-uncles-etc. to have on the wall in front of me during breakfast was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.
The rest of the day was lovely too, with a trip to the locks, and a nice lunch.  Violet went to bed and Chris and Vicki came over (thanks guys!) and stayed with her while we tried to go ice skating (the rink had unexpectedly changed their schedule, so we'll have to go another time), and then went to my favorite pub in the whole world:  The Pacific Inn Pub on Stone way, right by our house.  Have you tried their fish and chips?  It's this teensy little dive bar that just so happens to have the BEST fish and chips in the whole universe.  No joke.  We used to go there once a week, before the Violet O. was born.  It's a little slice of heaven in the form of cheap beer and fried goodies.

In other news, Violet is now very into doing these giant floor puzzles.  It's funny to watch her hold these enormous pieces;  she looks like a miniature shrunken version of herself as she stumbles around using both hands to carry a piece to the top of the puzzle.

Also, I am loaded up with work.  Which is a great thing!  Shoe work, elephant work, India bird work, and a few other projects.  Tyler's really busy right now too--  so we decided to take a day over the weekend and just be together in the sun (did I mention the awesome weather we've been having lately?)
More pictures?  Yes!  

I'm sure there is something else, but it's slipping my mind.  So I'll just leave you with a few snoots.