Goodbye, Lilli

Sadly Lilli the chicken died today of a sudden illness.  She seemed sick yesterday morning and by bedtime last night she was clearly weak and disoriented.  This morning she didn't come out of the coop and I found her barely breathing and covered in waste.  Dev and I knew she didn't have much chance of pulling through but we gave her a bath and some fresh food and water. 

By the afternoon it was clear she was going to die and Dev planned on putting her down so that she wouldn't suffer, but when he brought Beatrice out to say goodbye to Lilli he found she was already dead.

Goodbye, Lilli! You were my favorite chicken, the one who most liked to be held and petted, and you will be missed.

Beatrice and Restaurant Manners

Not quite facing forward, but close enough.

Beatrice still has terrible table manners, even compared to other children her age.  Not only is this embarrassing when we're eating out, but it also means that both our kitchen and her clothing are a huge mess after every meal.  As an incentive to improve, we've been taking B out to special "fancy" restaurant meals where she can practice better table manners.

Today we took her to a French restaurant* where she received the following grades:

1. Be polite and friendly to all restaurant employees and other customers. A
2. Speak quietly. A-
3. Leave your seating area neat and clean (no spilled or dropped food, etc.) B+
4. Remain seated in your chair, facing forward. C
5. Eat foods with appropriate utensils (ie., not with your hands). D

Her favorite parts of the meal were "considering food options" and "french fries."

* She has been desperate to try escargot, which she considers the ultimate "fancy" food, but unfortunately they didn't have any today.  Maybe next time.

Arthur and His Friends

Just some really cute photos from Arthur's visit to Amy Robb's house today.

Eating turkey quesadillas and fruit pouches with Miller and Ivy.

Batman.

Amy was watching Arthur for us while Dev and I took Beatrice for a special fancy lunch at a French restaurant.

Glitter Jar

Lately Beatrice has been having occasional bouts of anxiety where she needs help relaxing.  Last week I made her this glitter jar and it's been incredibly effective at helping her with meditative breathing - now every time she gets upset she asks for her glitter jar and lies down and stares at it until she calms down.

I found the idea for these glitter jars on Pinterest (here, among other places).  All you do is fill a glass jar with boiling water, food coloring, a few tablespoons of clear hair gel*, and about a tablespoon of glitter.  The hair gel makes the glitter fall very slowly through the water (similar to the glycerin we used in the snow globes). Highly recommended!

 

* Some sites recommended clear glue instead of hair gel but when I tried that the glue didn't dissolve, it just clumped up on the bottom.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Making valentines at Amy's house

   

 

  

I made Dev a heart-shaped carrot cake.

Valentines Beatrice made for her relatives (and the chickens)

My dead bat for Valentine's Day

The End of Winter

This week I declared winter to be over, even if the calendar says otherwise.  The temperature here has been vacillating wildly, with highs of 70F one day and 40F the next (not to mention rain, wind, bouts of hail, and frost at night).  But there's still plenty of sunshine, the trees are just starting to bud, and the bulbs we planted in the yard last fall are coming up.  Plus I got bored with all the winter decorations in the house and redid everything in new shades of yellow, cream, and green.

Goodbye, winter mantle!

 

Winter decoration jar

Here are a few miscellaneous winter photos that I wanted to capture before we move on to spring.

Miller and Beatrice are always hugging at school.

 

 

 

 

Attempting to get a group photo at baby gym.

Arthur carries an apple everywhere he goes.

My favorite photo series of the season, Arthur and Beatrice jumping in puddles outside of the Long Beach Aquarium.

 

And a few more:

At the Farmer's Market.

Arthur and Summer at the Farmer's Market.

Dev holding Lilli.

Arthur and Beatrice holding hands at the pirate park.

 Farewell, winter!

Beatrice Writing

Beatrice's first time writing her name! (I just wish we'd started her out on a longer piece of paper.)

Winter Recipes

 

Carrot soup with lemon-tahini and toasted chickpeas

Apparently all I've been making lately is soup and cookies.

1. Caramelized tofu with shredded Brussels sprouts 

2. Cauliflower sweet potato soup

3. Lemony lentil soup

4. Caramelized shallots

5. Carrot soup with lemon-tahini and toasted chickpeas

6.  Italian white bean and mustard greens soup

7. This is absolutely the best recipe for oatmeal cookies you will find.

8. Roasted chestnut cookies (I've mentioned these before.)

Coconut thumbprint cookies with salted caramel centers

9. Mexican hot chocolate cookies (These too.)

10. Vanilla bean cupcakes with salted caramel frosting