Spring outings, travels and playdates

Due to our extended winter we had to be creative when it came to our morning entertainment.  Lucky for us the Seattle Browders gave us a membership to the KidZone Museum in Truckee where the boys and I had lots of fun on the coldest of days.  The boys loved pretending to drive the tractors and create masterpieces in the Messy Art room.

And believe it or not, we enjoyed sledding into April with friends like Ashley.

In early April we traveled to Sacramento for Auntie Steph's baby shower.  I didn't get many good photos but did manage to capture one of soon-to-be big sister Julianna seriously watching her baby cousin Gabriel.  Since then her baby brother Bradley has been born.

We stayed with Auntie Beth and Uncle Pete over the baby shower weekend and the boys had so much fun painting their own wooden trains with Auntie Beth after a visit to the Benicia Book Store.

The week following the baby shower happened to be our spring break so we took advantage of the Sunday morning to visit the Explorit Science Center in Davis, CA.  The boys had lots of fun with their friends Jacob and Evan trying out lots of hands-on activities.

We welcomed some warm weather during the end of spring break and met with my friends Steph and Katie at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno where we let the kids run wild and caught up with each other.  Between the three of us we had five kids and one on the way.  Julianna held her own as the only girl and Ben and JT hit it off as the "big boys."  JT had just celebrated his 4th birthday and Ben's was less than 2 weeks away. Sam and Cal, the little boys, had no clue they weren't the big guys of the day.  We enjoyed lots of playing and a picnic lunch before calling it a day.

And now that Ben seldom naps we find ourselves looking for quiet activities to do while Sam snoozes.  So we invented "Potato Parties" where we use our many Mr. Potato Head pieces to make the silliest creations we can think of.

Easter was months ago...

April 4th to be exact.  We had originally planned on heading north to Yreka and the big family egg hunt.  Unfortunately our winter seemed to never end and the thought of me driving all the way with just the kids (Brian was still catching up from his absence due to our trip to Belize) in snowstorms just didn't sound very appealing.  Not to mention that at least one of my sisters and my mom were sick and didn't know if they would make it there either. 
So, we opted to bundle up in our snow gear and check out the Incline Village Community Egg Hunt on the beach on the Saturday of Easter weekend and then spend Easter morning at our church, St. Patrick's.  Initially the boys were sad not to see Gram and Pop, and everyone else but soon were okay with the idea of an egg hunt on the beach.  As you can see from the photos, everyone was fine with the situation.  Ben's friend, Ashely, was very excited that we didn't leave town for the weekend :) And yes, that's snow on the ground...just a dusting but not the only snow we saw during the holiday weekend.

Before heading to church on Easter morning the boys dove into their Easter baskets with much excitement then had bunny pancakes for breakfast. 

Very Far behind....Ben's birthday

Way back in April we celebrated Ben's fourth birthday.  We began our celebrations early by taking Ben to our local bike store where we have purchased several bikes for the family and let Ben pick out a new "big boy bike."  He had a glide bike for the several months before and had learned to balance very well.  We decided to go with the logic that to learn to ride a bike you need to learn balance rather than how to pedal and asked the guys at the bike shop to assemble his new bike without the training wheels.  A couple days after ordering it we got a phone call that the bike was ready to be picked up.  Unfortunately, the day the bike was ready we were experiencing a spring snow storm so when we brought the bike home in the morning we had to park it in the garage and wait for the driveway to melt off.  By the afternoon all was well and we bundled up and went out to try the bike....success!  Ben needed a little help getting settled on the seat but as soon as I let go he was off!!!  Riding a two-wheeled bike before his 4th birthday was such a big deal for Ben!!

Ben's actual birthday, April 28th, was a Wednesday so Ben got to be the birthday boy at preschool and share blueberry muffins with his class for snack.  We also were lucky to have our neighbors in town from southern California so we all went out to dinner at Ben's favorite pizzeria here in town.  He asked to have a vanilla-strawberry cake so we whipped one up for him.  Though it was late April it is Tahoe afterall and when we emerged after dinner we found our cars buried under at least 8 inches of fresh snow. 

A few days later we had four of his buddies over for a Lego-themed birthday party.  My only comment to that is that six little boys ages 2 to 4 in our condo was a challenge!  They were all very well-behaved but it was just SO MUCH ENERGY!!!  I made another cake for Ben and experienced some slight issues upon icing it when the waxed paper I had put under the edges of the cake on my cake stand stuck and pulled out a huge chunk of cake.  A little extra frosting and everything was patched up.  And as Brian put it, they're four-year old boys....it's cake, they won't notice.  Everyone had a great time and Ben was thrilled with all of the fun.

Blood Brothers

This time of year has always been busy for me.  It used to be the wrap-up of a long year of teaching, now it's the big push for fund-raising in my non-profit work.  This week alone I have three meetings in three days (all focused on a charity golf tournament which I am helping to head), tennis lessons for Ben, my summer softball league is kicking off with our first game, I am preparing for a large catering job through my business, and we are planning for Grandma and Grandpa to come visit for a week.

Last night I had my first of the three meetings so after dinner Brian and the boys walked me over to TCF where I was meeting the rest of the board to take care of business.  I kissed the boys goodnight as I wouldn't be home in time to tuck them in and went on my way.  Their plan was to check the mail then take an evening walk before going home for bedtime.

When my meeting wrapped up I headed home and was careful not to make any unneccessary noise and disturb the boys.  After I closed the front door I noticed that Brian had a rather sheepish look on his face.  I asked him how everything went with bedtime.  He motioned toward a pile of dirty clothes on the floor and I saw it....Ben's t-shirt covered in blood.  I gasped and asked what had happened.  Brian assured me that everyone was okay but it was Sam not Ben who was hurt. 

The basic story is that Brian and the boys took their walk in the quiet neighborhoods near us and were crossing the street to the much-traveled path on Lakeshore Blvd. when Sam apparently tripped.  He hit his nose squarely on the ground and when he stood up he was crying and the blood began to flow.  There was so much blood that Brian's hand was filling with blood as he tried to pinch off Sam's nose to slow the flow.  Brian said he literally had handfuls of blood that he was flinging on the ground.  There was so much blood that Brian couldn't tell where it was all coming from, just Sam's nose or his mouth too.  Brian frantically looked around for anything to use to sop up the blood and calmly told Ben that he needed his shirt.  Ben obediently took off his outer sweatshirt and offered it to Brian asking, "This, Dad?"  Brian replied, "No, your t-shirt," which Ben removed and handed to Brian who then put it over Sam's nose and mouth.  Ben put his sweatshirt back on and had to hold it closed around his naked belly as the zipper was broken.  Brian said they were quite a scene walking home....Ben clutching his sweatshirt around his body, Brian carrying Sam who had a bloody shirt over his face.

Brian said everyone actually stayed very calm.  Sam didn't cry for long, Ben didn't get upset, and they were all able to get home and get Sam put back together.  The one thing that I find irksome is that Brian said as many as four people passed them on the walk home and none inquired into the bloody scene.  Ben wasn't even upset when Brian told him his shirt, "May not make it."

Once Brian and the boys were home Brian could see that in addition to the bloody nose Sam also has a scrape below his nose and had a cut inside his lip, presumably from his teeth. When I checked on him later on I could see the scrape and could see that his top lip was swollen. When he woke up this morning he and Ben both told me the whole story and Sam assured me that he was okay.

The aftermath.

Sam no worse for wear.

Catching Up

It has been quite a while since I've taken the time to sit down and fill the world in on the Browder family happenings.  This will most likely be the first of several posts to catch up.  I am also not going to promise to tell about events in chronological order so bear with me.  Here it goes....

Back in early May we were happy to welcome Brian's parents, Dave and Sarah (Teddy and Nan) for a long weekend in Tahoe.  It also happened to be Mother's Day weekend.  From the moment Sarah arrived at the Reno Airport on Thursday, May 6th, the fun began.  Because it was a Thursday I was in the Meals By Maggie kitchen making my weekly dinner so we had our amazing sitter, Mary, drive over the mountain with the boys to pick up Nan.  As soon as they arrived back in Incline the boys had Nan playing...riding bikes, digging the the dirt, reading books, and just wearing her out in general.  By the time Brian and I arrived home from work the boys were bubbling over with excitement after playing with Nan and Mary and taking a bath at the Hyatt where Nan was staying.

The next day Nan and I left Sam with one of our other favorite sitters, Jen, so Mommy and Nan could attend the Mother's Day Tea at Ben's preschool.  At the tea we were entertained by twenty little voices singing songs.  Later that afternoon we welcomed Dave after his brief visit in Modesto with Great-Grandpa before driving up the mountain for the rest of the weekend.  Later on in the day we were joined by Roger and Janet and all headed out to a great dinner at a local Italian restaurant owned by some of our friends.  We were joined at dinner by more friends, George and Irma, who own the home in Belize where we all stayed back in March.  It was the first meeting for Dave, Sarah, Janet and Roger with George and Irma.  We had a great time telling all of our stories about Belize and hearing more of George and Irma's, including how they met while George was in the Peace Corps in Belize.  After amazing food and good wine we parted ways for the evening with promises to George and Irma that we would be going to their home in Yo Creek again.

The rest of the weekend was fairly low key but included a lovely Mother's Day Bruch at Garwoods on the lake, all of us hanging out, cooking, eating, and reading the many new books Nan brought for the boys.  One book in particular called Moonshot tells the story of Apollo 11's first lunar landing.  What many adults would consider less than entertaining our boys found captivating!  In the weeks following Nan and Teddy's visit the boys have built their own space ships and have appropriately named them "Columbia" and "Eagle".

Ben's classroom decorated for the Mother's Day Tea.

Ben and Nan

Ben showing us his sunflower.

Ben Michael Collins piloting "Columbia"

Sam Neil Armstrong piloting "Eagle"

"Houston," Armstrong says, "Tranquility Base here.  The Eagle has landed."

Orbiting the moon.

Star Struck

John, Sue, Joanne Weir and I after our great class!

Pineapple Carpaccio with Prawn and Pepper Salad

Gaining inspiration from Joanne Weir.

Crunchy Cormeal and Tomato Galette

Syrian Bread Salad with Mint, Peppers and Tomatoes

A new use for Dad's smoked trout....Smoked Trout and Tequila Quesadillas with Summer Tomato Salsa

Chorizo Handpies

Risotto Croquettes with Mozzarella

Coco Loco Tequila Cupcakes

Cheers, Sue!

It doesn't often happen that a home cook/caterer gets a chance to mix it up in the kitchen with a REAL chef. And it is even more rare for that chef to be a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author too. But I did it!!!! I got to cook, talk, and have my cookbooks signed by Joanne Weir! I even have photos to prove it! Joanne (yes, I feel like I can call her by her first name) has written 17 cookbooks including the companion cookbook to her "Cooking Class" series, Wine Country Cooking, and her newest book Tequila.

On Friday, June 4th, Joanne was the guest chef at the Nothing To It Culinary Center in Reno where I attended her "Small Bites for Summer" class with my two friends, Sue and John. The evening was filled with Joanne's witty teaching style, great recipes, amazing food, good wine, and great company. The night was also sponsored by Le Creuset and each class member walked away with a new chef's pan. I took along one of Joanne's cookbooks I already had called From Tapas to Meze to have her sign and purchased another called You Say Tomato to use this summer for all of the wonderful tomatoes I expect to be receiving soon in our CSA Harvest boxes.
I have attended several classes at Nothing To It (www.nothingtoit.com) including classes on Crepes, Thai Cooking, and Crockpot Cooking, and I have always walked away with tons of enthusiasm about trying new recipes but the evening with Joanne Weir topped them all so far!