Niamh's Imagination

Yesterday Niamh was playing by the bookshelf with heart shaped crayons and a Hello Kitty face made of Perler Beads, and narrating a story between the two, when Rowan said "Mama, I sure like Neevie's imagination."

Niamh is a storyteller. Besides telling stories with her toys (or non-toys, as the case may be), she is also the one who will pick up a book and tell a story as she flips through the pages. Sometimes related to the actual story, sometimes not. I especially love it when she narrates her life in real time. Like the other morning when I asked her to go upstairs to get dressed. She cheerfully replied "Okay, Mama!" while walking up the stairs. And then in a slightly quieter voice "She said as she dashed away."

iPhoneography at FuoriBorgo

The lovely Francesca over at one of my favorite blogs, FuoriBorgo, asked me to do a guest post for her on iPhoneography way back in December. Being the terrible procrastinator that I am, I've finally gotten it done for her, nearly two months later. Thanks for being so patient, Francesca!!

Niamh during quiet time a few weeks ago. Comfy!

Chocolate Pie For All

Happy National Pie Day! Okay, I'm not really that on top of things. Nor do I really care that much that it's National Pie Day, as much as I love pie. But I happened to see it mentioned on Facebook as I was preparing to write this post, and thought it was a mildy interesting coincidence.

Anyway, In summer of 2001 Pat and I discovered one of our favorite desserts in the May/June issue of Cook's Illustrated. Their chocolate cream pie became something we made for many, many special and not-so-special occasions. After Niamh was old enough to care if she was eating the same dessert as us or not we stopped making it very often because of the eggs. But then (!!!!) a week or so ago I saw a vanilla pudding post on Smitten Kitchen which led me over to her chocolate pudding and chocolate pudding pie recipes. Both eggless! I don't know why it never occurred to me that puddings can be made without eggs.

I made the pudding straight away, but waited until Pat returned from his latest business trip before making the pie. I ended up using the crust recipe from CI (slightly adapted), and the pudding from SK. The pie turned out really great, but Pat and I both agreed that it didn't seem quite as chocolate-y as the CI custard/pudding recipe. I think next time I'll add the chocolate according the the CI recipe.

All in all, thumbs up. It was the perfect addition to movie night on Friday. And we're thrilled to be able to make our favorite (one of, that is) dessert again!

clearly, not everyone was riveted by Astro Boy

"Mama Braiding My Hair With One Arm"

Neevie-roo's Turn

Niamh, a few months back, said a few things which I wrote down in order to not forget:

"I wish the moon would fly down to us in the car so I could hold him."

And when I asked her to please stop growing:

"If I stay four years old I will never get to have a birthday and everyone else will die and then there will be nobody to cook me dinner."

A Duck: Art by Niamh

Pink Boots

Niamh has ditched yellow as her color of choice in favor of pink. And she's going all out with it...

...right down to her new pink boots.

Portrait of Bumpa by Niamh

With "blue eyes, nose, snout (nostrils), mouth, arms, and legs"

Allergy Update

We finally got Niamh in to see an allergist. They did a skin test on her, and she had pretty strong reactions to egg white, egg yolk, whole egg, and peanut. Not too surprising, though I was hoping the peanut allergy had gone away. I don't think she's been exposed to peanuts since she was about a year old. He prescribed an epi-pen for her, just in case. But the good news is that the doctor said there's an 80% chance she will outgrow all of the allergies. Five, he thought, would be a likely age for the allergies to start fading away. So we'll be going back in about a year for more tests. And he thought it would be worth it to see if she can tolerate eggs in baked goods now. Hooray! I think today is a good cookie baking day!

Here is a National Geographic article on allergies, which I found very interesting.

Niamh's First Day of Dance Class

Niamh went to her first dance class on Monday afternoon, and surprised Pat and I by doing so well. Even though this was all her idea, I was doubtful that she could do it without the tears, pulling on Mama, hiding behind Mama, leaning on Mama, hugging Mama, etc that is normal every time we go somewhere new. Even if I am staying with her! Even if she has done it all before, like with preschool or hanging out with friends. She wouldn't let go of me at the very first, and whined a little, but the teacher suggested that I sit in the studio with her for a few minutes, and that did the trick. She let go of my hand, sat down with the other little girls, and that was it. She even spoke when her teacher asked her questions! She smiled through the whole class, and has declared that all of the girls in it are her friends (though she can't remember their names). We are so proud of her and happy for her!

at Dairy Delite after class

Cowgirl in Pink

Bug Hunting

The kids have been enjoying hunting for bugs a lot lately. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that they enjoy helping me hunt for bugs, which is not quite what I envisioned when I got them the nets and bug "houses". I really don't like bugs. I've found lady bugs pretty gross ever since my dorm room in college was invaded by swarms of lady bugs one autumn. And every time one of the grasshoppers we've got jumps I've have to work hard to suppress a squeal of disgust. Guess what the most common kind of insects are we've been finding? Yep, ladybugs and grasshoppers. Also a few roly-polys, and some sort of little hopping/flying beetle that lives in our grass. We almost caught a month/butterfly once, but it got away at the last second. Anyway, I'm really hoping with some more practice that this is something the kids can do somewhat independently!!!

Backyard Sprinkler Fun

There were no thunderstorms yesterday afternoon (somewhat unusual), so the kids spent some time in the backyard playing in the sprinklers.



For some reason Muriel is not very fond of sprinklers in our backyard, though we go to a spray park with sprinkler-like things, which she likes quite well. The sprinkler in the first two photos waves back and forth, and she would not go near it. The one in the last photo doesn't move around, so she'd play in it a bit more...but not much, as you can see from the photo.

But all three were up for popsicles afterward!

Playing Dress-up in the Backyard

Saturday Morning at Horsetooth Falls

On Saturday we were out of the house by 8:15 for a hike to Horsetooth Falls. It was a really lovely hike, and just about perfect for the kids. Short, but still long enough to feel like a real hike. The weather was a bit cooler than it has been, and there was small, clear pool at the end for wading. I think this is one we'll have to do again, especially in the spring when the falls are more of a waterfall and less of a trickle!

Colorado Train Museum

Is anyone surprised that we went to the Colorado Railroad Museum last Sunday, on our second weekend here? Or that we bought a year membership? It was a big hit with the children, so I think we'll be putting that membership to good use.

Rowan's favorite engine, though it was frustrating to have to share it with other children who wanted to play on it. Especially because he was too shy to play in there unless he was alone or with one of us. There was a rope you could pull which rang a bell on the outside of the engine.

this was through the window of an train car that held stacks and stacks of old bound copies of the Rocky Mountain News.

Rowan Makes it to the Rocky Mountains

Okay, so actually we all made it to the Rocky Mountains last weekend, but Rowan was the most excited about it. This is how the hour long car ride into the park went:

Rowan: Are these the Rocky Mountains?
Pat/Emily: No, these are just the foothills.

five minutes later
Rowan: Are these the Rocky Mountains?
Pat/Emily: No, these are still the foothills. It's going to take about sixty minutes to get there.

three minutes later
Rowan: Are these the Rocky Mountains? There are a lot of rocks!"
Pat/Emily: No, still the foothills, Rowan. We will tell you when we get to the Rocky Mountains okay?

two minutes later
Rowan: Are these the Rocky Mountains?

Needless to say, he was thrilled once we finally got there. Even though we were out of the house by 9am, it was very crowded by the time we got into the park, and finding a parking spot at a trail head was difficult.


We ended up doing a very short "hike" (walk) on the Alluvial Fan Trail. It was crowded, but the river was beautiful, regardless.




We even spotted some wildlife, though it wasn't the Bighorn Sheep Rowan is dying to see.

After our hike and a snack we decided to head back into Estes Park for some fishing at Trout Haven Ranch. We were completely unsuccessful despite the vast numbers of fish that could be seen swimming around the pond. The children, especially Rowan, were quite disappointed. Luckily we live close enough that we can go back often, perhaps on a day when the fish haven't already seen a gazillion worms.

Niamh, Our Little Dancer

Niamh has been dancing up a storm (thanks to Zoe Elko and Angelina Ballerina). She often goes outside to do her "ballet".