Playdate PDX

Quinn and I met our friends Mari and Logan at Playdate PDX earlier this week. Playdate PDX is an indoor playground and cafe. They have this huge play structure that even the adults can fit in comfortably. We got there pretty early and it wasn't very crowded. The kiddies had a blast climbing up the stairs and going down the slides.

Mari playing in the balls. 

Giant slides. Quinn and I went down twice. I think I was having more fun than her.

Break time! My favorite part of the trip. I had coffee and a bagel. Mari and Logan had a giant hot chocolate and a giant cookie. Quinn seemed like she wanted a hot chocolate too, so I went back up to the counter and asked if they made kids hot chocolates. They don't, so the barista gave me some in a little espresso cup and topped it off with whipped cream...for FREE! How nice is that? My little chocoholic drank the thing down in two gulps.

Mommy hot chocolate with her baby.

Gulp 1 of 2.

I think we will definitely be going back, but we'll go earlier and leaver earlier. It started getting kind of crazy around lunch time with a bunch of jerk kids and jerk parents. I can only imagine what it's like on the weekends and that's something I never want to experience.

Meemoo's Visit

Meemoo came to visit for a whole week! We saw the sights, ate too much, and worked on refinishing the kitchen cabinets. Here are some of the highlights from her trip.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm

Reed College

Around the House

Two cookies for breakfast. I guess that what grandma's are for.

  Farmers Market

Washington Park 

Easter Egg Hunt

 Thanks for visiting us Meemoo! We miss you already!

I see you Easter Bunny....

Change of plans

Sometimes things just don't work out the way you hoped, but then you end up getting something good out of it anyway.

I started out trying to make this skirt (from the blog Me Sew Crazy) for my little angel. There was even a tutorial on how to make it! But since I'm not so great at following directions or sewing (and it was midnight), I kept making mistakes and so I just gave up.

I didn't want all my hard work to go to waste though, so I made a cute little bag :)

 

 Maybe I'll attempt the skirt again another day. 

Balls!

Q playing in her temporary ball pit.
Hopefully Marshall is going to build a ball pit under the fort in the backyard.

Q-tip ball take 2. The first one that was made a craft day didn't turn out so well...

Any my favorite, the coffee filter ball. I took one of the balls I had left over from
our Q-tip project and poked coffee filters into it.
I think it's going in Q's room.

The Painting Blues

The weather. It's got me down. All I ever wear nowadays is grey and black. And the only color I want to paint is blue. 

The walls in the living room and kitchen have been painted now for a couple weeks now... Here are the before and after pictures. 

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

 AFTER

I really like the color of the living room. The jury's still out on the color of the kitchen though. And although it's much better than the first color we painted, I kind of feel like I'm in a swimming pool. 

I am so over painting.

Cupcake Fail

Last night we thought about getting a cupcake from a cupcake shop. But I felt like $3 is a lot to spend on a mediocre cupcake, when I could make 12 mediocre cupcakes at home for practically free! 

Anyway, I decided to try a new recipe. 

Mmmmm....don't these look yummy!

The recipe called for molasses as the sweetener...a whole cup of molasses. I guess I should have realized then that these would not taste right, but the batter smelled kind of like chocolate covered malt balls, and who doesn't like those? Also, molasses is probably better for you than regular sugar. Marshall tasted the batter, and well, his expression said it all. I reassured him that they would taste better after they are baked. Wrong. They were so gross.

Even with Mounds of whipped cream. 

What a disappointment.

I had to redeem myself. So, I made another batch of chocolate cupcakes. And boy were they tasty!

Here is the link to the recipe from the NY Times.

Excursions

Ah, the weekend...it goes by so fast. 

We started off the weekend by going to the farmers market at PSU. I love this place! I especially love all the pastries and prepared foods - the fruits and veggies are good too :)

Made to order drip coffee. 

I have a chocolate panini and Q has a sugar covered yeast roll
(this might explain why I'm getting so fat).

Huevos Rancheros. Look at that bacon!

Sunday (today) we had planned on going to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, but not all the tulips are in bloom, so we decided to go to breakfast at the Hands on Cafe at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. Excellent decision - it was delicious! Fruit sprinkled with ginger sugar, sweet breads, and then the main course.

Marshall's omelet. He didn't want to take a picture of my fennel fritters because I had taken a potato off the plate...whatever.

After our meal we explored the campus. Q had a blast walking on the gravel paths and throwing flower petals (I think she's preparing for her role as a flower girl - don't disappoint her Auntie Kerri).

Showering herself with flower petals

Annoying Marshall by getting in his shot

He likes to take pictures without people.

Hope everyone had a great weekend too! Looking forward to the next one!