Sentences... Already?

I didn't think that this would happen so soon, and we've kind of laughed off a few other times but the last 2 days we have truly had sentences. REAL sentences! Yesterday morning she did something adorable (there are so many things I don't recall exactly what it was) and I said "Eleanor, you are too cute!" and she nodded and said "I TOoooooo COot". Which shocked us to the core. This morning, she got a ball stuck in a bowl and she held it out to Stacy and said "I need Hep".

Isn't she too young for sentences? Please?

The latest cake...

I'm rather proud of this one. I think it turned out quite cute. I was given the expectant mother's fabric for the colors, and I ended up replicating parts of it on the umbrella. Turned out cute! The fabric is here if you're interested.

Viking Cooking School: A Night in Italy

We all chipped in and got Erin (and ourselves!) tickets to a "Night in Italy" cooking class at the Viking Cooking School. The menu was herbed flan (savory, not sweet), grilled portobellos with herb butter, veal chops with a white wine, fennel, and tomato pan sauce, angel hair with olive oil and fresh herbs, and almond cake with orange liqueur whipped cream (did I forget anything girls?). The flan was delicious, the cake and whipped cream sinful, and the rest just sort of "meh" in my opinion. I loved the sauce for the veal, but am not a big fan of the whole CHOP aspect of the dish. It would be better with just a veal steak, grilled, in my opinion. We had a lot of fun, though we really could have TAUGHT the class, we discovered! It was nice to be out of the ordinary and in something new and fresh. I think Erin had a great 30th birthday! She needs to have another one next year so we can do this again. :-)

Mother's Day

What a great day my baby and my Baby gave me! Hubband woke up promptly when El squeaked (a feat, for him, particularly since she squeaked at 545 am!) and turned off the baby monitor before he went to get her. After changing her diaper and feeding her breakfast he realized I was probably waking up (around 645) and made breakfast. He and El put together a pretty tray with scrambled eggs (dill and sour cream), veggie links, and some whole wheat waffles with real maple syrup. There was a pretty mug with pumpkin spice coffee, a glass of apple juice... and the new Nora Roberts book (from Ella! See above photo). They gave me my tray (the first time in my life I've had breakfast in bed) and tiptoed out to play in the living room. I ate, and read, and ate and read some more. It was bliss. We took our time getting ready and then headed out to Lowes where I got to pick out the paint for the master bedroom and found some pretty throw pillows on sale to match the new walls (which won't be actually painted with my pretty new paint for another few weeks probably). After that it was off to lunch/brunch/2nd breakfast at Brother Juniper's. Technically it was lunch, but we all got breakfast food. Back home, where El napped, I read my new book, and Hubband worked on his desk for the office/studio. After a good long nap (during which I finished my new book!), we took off for the mall and the indoor playground there. El had a blast. Its been so rainy lately that she doesn't get much outside or playground time. Then we drove through baskin robbins on the way home. It was a great mother's day!

The Boyd Zoo

Ella has taken to playing the ABC Zoo Game on Fisher-Price.com lately. Its a great little game for infants (push any button and the game will advance to the next letter and animal), and she asks to play it at least once every day. After only a few times we noticed that she was making the animal sound BEFORE the animal even was completely introduced. The game would say "M." and she would start making monkey sounds. The computer then says "MONKEY starts with M" and the cartoon monkey makes the monkey sound. Beyond knowing at least 10-12 of the animal sounds on her game, she also knows what the kitty says (maow maow, very highpitched) and the sheep (bahhhh bahhhh; accompanied always by a sage nod of the head), and the ducky (wak ak--although not yet consistent with this one). She will sometimes remember that dogs Woof and cows Moo, but we're not quite to the pig stage. Suffice it to say, however, that on any given day if you walk into the Boyd house you may do a double take and start looking for the critters....