Hello!

Hi blog friends!  I just wanted to stop by a leave a quick update. I hope you all are doing great and enjoying your Friday.  Here are a few things that are going on my world:

Hugo turned one!!!

Can you believe my baby is now one? I can't. He is running, climbing, and getting into all sorts of fun things these days. He just learned how to give kisses and sign "please" (he can also sign milk, more, all done, and light). He is obsessed with our chickens and could watch them all day if we let him:) He loves chasing the dogs around, dancing, and walking to the park. 

His birthday party theme was blue squid. His most favorite book is Biggest Thing in the Ocean (which is all about a big blue squid) and his favorite stuffed animal is a blue squid, so it seemed fitting. I ordered a HUGE cake and about 1/4 of it got eaten. We sent cake home with every guest and still had a ton left over. We froze it and ate on it for weeks. Lesson learned.

We ended up having his party a few weeks after his actual birthday because.....

We moved!

We bought a new place and moved in February. We desperately needed more space. Our old house was 750 square feet, which was fine for us for a bit, but we were feeling very cramped over the past year or so. I LOVE our new place. It's so much bigger but still feels cozy. We are enjoying our new neighborhood too. There is a park 2 house down from us, which is so convenient. 

Kya's Illness

I received some really bad news about one of our pups, Kya, a few weeks ago. I took her to the vet because she has started snoring really loudly and making weird snorting noises when she sniffs. It turns out that she has lymphoma, which is a very aggressive/rapidly advancing cancer. The snoring/noises are happening because the cancer is causing her lymph nodes to be extremely enlarged. She likely only has weeks left to live. I am completely heartbroken. I've had Kya since she was 3 weeks old. I bottle fed her when she was a baby (she was abandoned). We have been through so much together and I can't imagine her not being here. 

My heart just feels so incredibly sad. I've cried so much since we found out. I'm really scared that I won't make the right decision about when it is time to say goodbye. I really, really don't want her to suffer. 

We are trying to make the best of the time we have left with her. She loves running on the beach, so we went to the coast a few weeks back so she could run, swim, and lay on the sand. It was such a beautiful day and we all had the best time together. We even enjoyed strawberries and cream (one of Kya's favorite treats:). 

Hugo update: 10 months old

Holy smokes.  10 months old.  My baby is 10 months old!  He is an absolute joy and I am loving every single day with him.  He is constantly learning and doing new things.  How lucky am I to be his mama?!?!

LIKES:

*Moving!  Hugo crawls, army crawls, rolls, climbs, and walks while holding onto things.  He wants to go, go, go and explore everything.

*Books.  We usually sit on the couch and read for a good 30 minutes or so every morning when we wake up. This is one time that Hugo actually sits still. He gets so excited for his favorite book, I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean. He can even turn the pages by himself now:)

*The recycling bin.  When we are in the kitchen, Hugo makes a beeline for the recycling bin (we have it sitting on the floor by the sink).  He likes to take everything out of it, rip up papers, shake plastic bottles, etc.  It's the funnest thing.  Who needs toys?

DISLIKES:

*Getting his diaper changed (who wants to lay still for 1 minute?  ha!)

*Being buckled into the car seat.  He's fine once we get going, but he has no problem letting us know that he doesn't appreciate being strapped down.

SLEEPING:  

Hugo sleeps in bed with us.  I like having him close by, he likes to be close by, and it makes middle of the night feeding much easier.  He wakes up anywhere between 2-6 times to eat.  This is fine with me at this point.  It's typically a quick feed and then we are both right back to sleep. 

EATING:

He is still nursing a lot and doesn't seem extremely interested in solids.  Some days he will eat everything we offer him and other days he just wants a few bites then he is done.  He is adventurous though and will try pretty much anything.  His favorites include mango, peanut butter (usually on a rice cake), pear, steak, and avocado.

PLAYING:

Hugo loves his stand up piano (like this).  His other favorite toys include maracas and a wooden hammer.  He carries that hammer around everywhere!  He enjoys non-toys a lot too, like plastic bottles with water or rice in them.  When I change his diaper I always give him something to hold to distract him.  It's always the weirdest thing like a sticker or a price tag (that came off of new clothing) that he loves the most.  

FIRSTS:

First tooth (bottom left) - 8/10/14

Started reaching arms up (to be picked up) - 8/22/14

Started moving all around the house via army crawl - 8/29/14

Stood up on his own (with support) -  9/20/14

First wave (he was  SO proud of himself:) - 10/26/14 9mo old

First clap- 11/8/14

Turnip the Heat

Hi!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Things have been busy around here - I spend a lot of time chasing Hugo (who is now 10 months old!  What?!?!) around the house. He loves to climb, crawl, army crawl, and walk (with support) all over the place. I will do proper update on him soon.  I also have a few outfits to share.  I ended up doing 15 minutes of black friday shopping yesterday, at anthropologie of course. I picked up the Tapestry Pencil Skirt, which is gorgeous IRL.

I wanted to do a quick post for any local (Portland, OR)  readers.  My friend Joanna is running an awesome sale for her cooking school, Turnip the Heat.  Isn't that the best business name?  See a post from her website below.  I'm thinking about attending the Edible Giftsfor Adults class.  I love giving out homemade gifts!

Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend:)


SALE IS ON!


All Turnip the Heat Classes are 25% off until Sunday, November 30th! Stock up!

Would you like a gift certificate for an adult or kid class? Those are 25% off too!! Email turniptheheatcooking@gmail.com to get a gift certificate mailed to your home just in time for holiday celebrations.

Classes for December

Holiday Baking for Kids
Edible Gifts for Kids
Edible Gifts for Adults

And if you are planning ahead….

Valentine’s Day Romantic Dinner Date!

Classes are scheduled through March. Check them all out here

Beekeeping adventures: conclusion of year 2

We got honey!!!  I'm so excited.  This year went really well.  My hive thrived and produced some beautiful and delicious honey:)

I didn't have a lot of extra time this year, so I wasn't able to do a hive inspection every week like I did last year.  My philosophy this year, and in general, is to let them do their thing and interfere as little as possible.  It's enjoyable to me to watch them and try to figure out what they are doing and why they are doing it but I feel like they know best.  I don't like to use chemicals in the hive (for pest control) and I don't like to interfere with them in general (unless necessary).  They are magical little creatures!  It has been such a pleasure to have them in my backyard and to observe their very complex structure/process and watch them flourish this year.  

The Queen!  See how different she looks from the other bees?  

We caught a swarm this year!  Our friends hive swarmed and ended up in a big tree in front of their house.  We went over and (very carefully!) captured it.  That was a great experience and now we have 2 hives!  I'm hoping they survive the winter because they didn't have a whole lot of time to get established.  Fingers crossed.

Beekeeper selfie and look at that frame full of honey:)

This is a frame full of delicious capped-over (ready to eat) honey

We decided not to rent an extractor and go with the more simple method of scraping everything off the foundation and filtering the honey out.  This definitely has its pluses and minuses but it worked for us this time around.  It was actually much easier than anticipated and I enjoyed the whole process.  The best part was using my hands to mix it all up and break up the honey cells. 

Here the honey is dripping through the filter.  Yes, I plan on using all of that wax for something (not sure what yet)!  This was our second harvest.  The first was bigger and we actually used a giant mesh bag to let the honey filter through for 24 hours.

Pure, raw, beautiful honey!  We are still in the process of getting all of the honey in jars and I plan on getting some labels/stickers made up and giving these out as Christmas gifts.  

Jumping back in

Here is a quick OOTD from last week.  It is definitely a repeat, but oh well.  Since it's been so long since I posted an OOTD, I really just wanted to jump back in and get started.  Because I was pregnant last fall and couldn't wear most of my clothes, everything feels new again.  Score!  This was the first outfit this year that kind of felt fall-like, which is really exciting to me.  I love tights!!!

Top and Skirt:  Anthropologie

Cardigan and tights:  J. Crew

Shoes:  Gee WaWa

Check out my new ring!  I saw it on Usha (her blog) and she told me about the cutest little etsy shop ever, Apple Latte, where I purchased the ring from.  They sell a few other honey comb items that I definitely have my eye on:)

Speaking of fall, I am enjoying a nice warm cup of pumpkin spice chai tea this morning.  So good!