MamaPie

Lists 9/12/11

Here's what came home from the library with me today:

• Nina Crews' The Neighborhood Sing-Along
• Amanda Soule's Handmade Home
• Stevie Parle's Real Food from Near and Far
• Mercer Mayer's There's an Alligator Under my Bed
• Cooper Eden's The Glorious American Songbook

I've made two new things in the Vitamix this week, both inspired by recipes in Jeremy Safron's The Raw Truth:

• Miso-Tahini Salad Dressing, which is roughly 2 tbs each tahini and white miso, the juice of a whole lemon, a date and water.
• Banana-Chocolate Shake: 4 dates, 2 frozen bananas, 1 big tablespoonful of Artisana cacao-coconut butter.

Both of these recipes are keepers and will be making many repeat performances in my kitchen.

In my sewing "queue" (that endless, constantly reworked jumble in my head of everything I want to sew):

• Oliver + S Sandbox Pants: I bought some beautiful Kaffe Fassett fabric to make a pair of these for Reuben. I'm a little scared to make my first buttonholes, but it's got to be done sometime, right?
• I just got Sewing for Boys in the mail. I'm so excited to dive in to these patterns!

So, tell me: what books do you have checked out from the library? or have you cooked anything new this week? or what are you looking forward to creating? c'mon humor me - answer a question!

Ezra's Nature Table

Getting Ready for Back to School

It's that time: thinking of apples, a slight chill in the morning air, finding the first baby chestnuts and acorns on the ground, some new clothes folded in the boys drawers... Back to school! I love being able to re-experience the excitement of this time as we get things ready for Ezra to go to first grade and for Reuben to have his first school experience.

Some things that we have done, or that are on our to-do list to prepare for next week:

1. I ordered both boys TOMS for their "indoor shoes" at school. The cuteness was pretty phenomenal when they both tried them on.
2. Lots of thermoses purchased and school lunch ideas discussed.
3. Need to buy Ezra's lunch basket.
4. I'm going to make them each a "Kidlet" for their room. The plan is to put the outfit for the next day in before bedtime.
5. I made 12 curtains for Ezra's first grade classroom. A major cutting error resulted in a major amount of stress for me, but they ended up great and, in the process, I learned to use a serger, which is awesome. I want one.
6. I need to make 2 drawstring bags for each boys locker.
7. I need to match the hundreds of unmatched socks that have been languishing in the laundry room this whole (sockless) summer.

Are your kids going back to school? What do you need to do?