Diva-ween Costume Contest

Here they are, The Princess and the Pea......


The costume contest was held at Max's, the dog bakery downtown. Unfortunately the turn-out was low but we had a great time anyway. Grace got a kick out of the other dogs dressed-up in their costumes - there was a dragon, king, fairy princess and a cheerleader among others.


And yes, the judge awarded The Princess and the Pea a trophy for their cuteness, exciting times indeed!

Sophie's Pea Costume

There's a doggy costume contest being held downtown this weekend. We knew Grace would get a kick out of the whole thing, seeing the dogs dressed-up and all. The idea occurred to us that she and Sophie could both get dressed-up and participate together. Our brains swirled with ideas. Dean thought they should go as Little Bo Peep and a sheep but then we would need to create two costumes with little notice. So we settled on Grace being a princess and Sophie being a pea - get it, the Princess and the Pea.

Thankfully Grace has many options as far as a princess costume is concerned but Sophie on the other hand needed a costume created for her. So guess what I did this morning while Grace was at school - yep, sew a costume.


Grace created a "pattern" for me to follow (as drawn above). Unfortunately the single pea idea just wasn't working so I made a pod - Meme had the great idea of using several of Sophie's balls as the peas.


Here's the finished costume, modeled on giraffe since I didn't have the heart to torture Sophie two days in a row.

Check back tomorrow to see Grace and Sophie starring as the Princess and the Pea!

Fall Performance

On Tuesday Grace participated in her school's "Fall Follies" show. Her pre-kindergarten class sang and danced to five songs. It's amazing how just a short time ago Grace was adamantly apposed to partaking in such events but now she loves being up on stage. Here she is.....


.....singing "Feelings in my Heart" with her pre-K class.


.....performing "Hula Hands" with her dance class (she was on stage twice - quite exciting I tell you).

After the show was over we all (Meme and Pop came too - they haven't missed a show yet) headed for dinner at Tijuana Flats - a great ending to a perfect evening!

Book Inspiration :: Homemade Applesauce

Our latest book inspired project came from the story, "Applesauce Season" written by Eden Ross Lipson and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. The book was about a family that had a yearly tradition of making homemade applesauce during the fall months.

After Grace and I discovered the recipe at the end of the wonderful story we decided to try making applesauce too - after all, Grace has the jarred variety nearly every night along with her dinner. We waited until today, while Meme was visiting, to cook our first batch.......


In order to make applesauce we had to have apples - six pounds of them. Since there are no apples grown locally (we would've loved to handpick them at an orchard) we headed downtown to Whole Foods Market to buy organic. We ended up with four varieties of pure yumminess.


Grace didn't care to peel, cut or cook the apples this time around. She waited until the cinnamon and sugar was ready to be added, then she joined Meme and I in the kitchen.


Here she is sneaking a spoonful of our first, but certainly not our last, batch of homemade applesauce. We had it along side our pizza for dinner and oh was it delicious!

Autumn Moon Festival

Today we celebrated the Chinese holiday known as the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. In China it's a time when families spend time together honoring the moon on it's brightest and fullest night. Here's what we did:


Grace and I made moon cakes, a tradition in many Chinese households during the festival. We had to do a bit of improvising since the moon cake mold that I had ordered many weeks ago didn't arrive in time. We used a biscuit cutter to achieve the shape and then Grace topped the cakes with rabbit faces (it is said if you dream of rabbits tonight you will have good luck), stars and moons.

Just in case you were wondering, we tucked a piece of homemade chocolate fudge in the center of ours. Fudge is by no means the traditional filling but I didn't think red bean paste would go over well.


We ordered take-out from a local Chinese restaurant for dinner. Grace just loves the "crunchies" - she ate them with her chopsticks.


After our dinner and dessert of moon cakes we headed out for walk to see the full moon in all it's glory. Upon returning home it was time for Grace's bedtime routine which included being read the books, "Mooncake" by Frank Asch and "Round is a Mooncake" by Roseanne Thong and the wonderful illustrator Grace Lin.

May you have sweet rabbit dreams tonight!

Break From the Heat

The sun has set on what was an absolutely beautiful day around here. We caught a small glimpse of the weather that lies ahead of us in the upcoming months - ah, I can't wait!

After Grace got home from school we spent the remainder of the day outside - swinging, swimming, drawing and even eating our dinner in the fresh air, something that we haven't been able to do in many months. After dinner we watched the sunset and Grace entertained us by singing some impromptu songs.

We look forward to what Mother Nature has planned for tomorrow!

Monday

Grace and I started our Monday morning by baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies. They seem to be the favorite cookie around here - enjoyed by both of my chocolate lovers. I'll occasionally bake several sans chocolate so I can get in on the Toll House cookie eating too, yum!


Wishing you a sweet start to your week!