PICNIC TABLE BEFORE AND AFTER

This little girl is crazy cute these days, but she is also the bane of my sleeping existence. She has the will of an ox, or whatever animal has strong willpower, and these days she has been waking up with night terrors (which I'm guessing based on how she wakes up yelling "no no noooooo") and then having the hardest time going back to sleep. I'm tired! We are all tired, except for Sloane, who can blissfully and thankfully sleep through it all.  

Anyways, what I mean to show you with that first photo is not my adorable and spunky 21 month old but the old wooden picnic table that she is so joyfully sitting on. I found two of these kid sized picnic tables on Craigslist (2 of them for $25) and when I brought them home, the girls were obsessed with them, especially Lola. She wanted to sit there everyday when we got home and specifically she wanted to sit there and eat an apple with her sister. The girl knows what she wants. I could have kept the tables as is, but I decided to spruce it up with white paint because I ultimately wanted them to live in the sunroom. Truth be told, the process was a little bit of a pain in the butt, but mostly because it is so hard to find time for extra projects these days. It had to be finished in bits and pieces, stolen moments here and there, and sometimes in the dark with an extra flashlight on.

The perk of having a four year old who wants to help: actual help!  She helped me get the primer on. 

These were the tables after they got a coat of primer and almost two coats of external paint (the top of the tables and benches got two coats, every where else just got one additional coat on top of the primer). After this photo, I moved them to the sunroom and sealed them with sealant.

And Ta-da! Here they live. We put them right up against each other so they make a long table for having friends sit around the table together. 

It was so worth it! We've already used it a ton for having dinner on the porch, crafts and Easter shenanigans, like in my previous post. 

EASTER EGG HUNT

This past weekend we had two families come stay with us from out of town, and along with a family of friends who recently have moved into town, there were a total of four families - 8 adults and 8 kids- that got to spend Easter weekend together.  It was great fun for all of us, but perhaps even more for the kids - they played their little hearts out with all sorts of pretend play and outdoor shenanigans. (The adult fun consisted of drinks and conversation about Enneageams! late into the night) On Saturday night when I put Sloane to bed, she exclaimed with a satisfied sigh, "Oh man, that was really a great day."

One of the things we did on Saturday was a little egg hunt for the kids. I hid hard boiled eggs and kazoos all around the yard and the kids were so enthusiastic in their search; most of these pictures here are from their hunt. Afterwards the kids exchanged some eggs for treats and dropped the rest of them into natural dye water, which didn't turn out like they were supposed to but none of them seemed to mind: there was way too much playing to be had. 

WHAT I'M READING V. 23

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly: I heard about this book because of the movie and I wanted to read it before I saw the film version. It wasn't what I expected so it took me a while to get into it. It was very serious and read more like a history textbook, but the content of that history was so interesting that I made it through. I also hadn't realized that so much of the story starts with and is related to the area of Hampton Roads, an area close by that I knew nearly nothing about, so it was fascinating to learn of its recent history. And by the end of it, I was thoroughly compelled and stirrred by the strength of these intelligent and hard working women who essentially blazed the trail in the field of space science. I'm excited to see the movie.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman: A friend recommended this as a light read and I was very much drawn into this WWI area. The setting is beautiful and the story is heartbreaking. The story centers around grief - the grief of war, the grief of losing loved ones, the grief of the ones who wait at home, the grief of a mother. I cried several times throughout the book, especially the end. I cried, I emphasized, I ached; it was cathartic.

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell: Another reccomendation by a different friend, and another one I really enjoyed. I listened to the audiobook version read by the author and it reminded me a lot of his podcast, 'Revisionist History', which I love. In this book, he sets out to show that the act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty, and that we often misinterpret these lopsided conflicts between giants versus underdog. He states that we are generally misled about the nature of advantages and he encourages people to reframe our perspective of strong and weak. He tells great stories of different people in these situations and it really is remarkable what can arise from people in the face of necessity. 

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple: Off the bat the narrator took on a breezy and familiar tone and I couldn't decide if I liked it or if I found it slightly annoying. But the writing was definitely funny, I found myself snorting aloud, and by the third of the way through I saw the real human ache underneath the sharp humor.  The story is about sisterhood, struggling with self, and a marriage - amusing to read but not entirely memorable. 

SPRING AT BEECHWOOD, A VIDEO

I started capturing small clips of life around our house when signs of spring started showing up. I wanted to document this season of our lives for posterity, but also because this season has gotten so busy that it gets overwhelming at times, and I don't want to miss appreciating the everyday and ordinary things. These are the moments that collectively make the story of my life right now. 

This video is a love letter to my family and a reminder for myself (as I made it and as I watch it) that it is the small and seemingly mundane things that are the most beautiful and precious.  

GROUND BEEF NOODLES WITH PICKLES

I have made this dish three (four?) times now so I thought it was time to share it because it has become a crowd favorite. I got the recipe from my friend Lisa, who inspires me in that kitchen with all her recipes and weekly meal planning posts, and this was one of them. 

The first time I made it I instantly knew Ken was going to like it because it has his favorite flavor profile of sesame oil, soy sauce, miso, white pepper with a meat (and he did!) This reminded us of this Chinese jja-hang-myun dish that used to be one of my favorites at Ken's dad's old restaurant and that flavor combination probably has a lot to do with it. Other perks of this recipe is that it is so simple to put together and the girls love it too. 

It is also versatile because you can substitute the ground pork for ground beef (like we usually do), toss in any type of greens to wilt, or make it with more or less broth depending on your preference. We've also eaten it over rice and liked it just as much. Side note: the pickles for this recipe is likely not meant to be kosher dill pickles but we've been eating a lot of those pickles and usually have then stocked in the fridge so that's what we use. 

Lola waiting for her bowl with great anticipation! 

OYSTER PARTAY

If you are my husband, sometimes a captain of a shrimp and oyster boat emails you (because you are on his email list duh) that he has a had a good oyster catch and he is offering to sell a lot of it for a very reasonable price, and so you enthusiastically engage and bring home a huge amount of oysters (too many?) and decide to invite other people who are also oyster inclined. And then your good friends offer to make a shrimp broil and some other friends bring side items, and you have yourself an oyster party.