How To Eat Pasta – by Isabel

BAKE Party at Suzanne’s

There’s a new thing happening thanks to Suzanne over at Straight Down the Mountain.  She started this whole idea of families from all over the Bay Area who have or are in-process of adopting from Kyrgyzstan, becoming a group who get together, form community and bonds with each other.  YAY!  B.A.K.E stands for Bay Area Kyrgyz Entourage.  I’m totally a BAKEr.  Here’s what happened:

 

 

Suzanne’s back yard….FAB

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the hammock

 

 

 

 

Suzanne, Ivy & Dylan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suzanne’s Lagman was one of several traditional, central Asian dishes served.  One was a dish that I screwed up and it ended up being not the traditional manti but ended up being what I called Kyrgyz nachos.  Please, don’t ask.  Delicious, yes.  Authentic….no.  Absolutely no picture was taken of it.  I’ll do better next year…

Isabel’s Room Got Jealous – NaJuPicMo

That Suzannah’s room got the big re-do, Isabel told me that her room needed some spiffing up too. I rose to the challenge and started going through boxes and thinking about colors. I repositioned the crib and cleaned out the closet. Here is what we ended up doing.

1 yard oil cloth: $7.99
1 packet of doll house clothes pins: $1.99
Flower-Shaped placemats: $12.00
Redecorating with stuff I had around the house…PRICELESS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the kiddie picnic table all done up with oil cloth which I love for kids’ projects and under high chairs and picnics too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got out all the doll dresses that I played with when I was a girl, some of which were my mom’s doll dresses from the 1930’s and 40’s.  This is only fueling the ongoing vintage dress obsession. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, I didn’t make this.  I got it about 6 months ago and it’s from the Land of Nod catalog and I have coveted it ever since Suzannah was a toddler.  Yay for having two girls!  Izzy gets to lay in her crib and wake up to tiny doll dresses on her wall.  (Are you noticing a theme here????) 

 

 

 

The lighting on this is terrible, I understand.  But, if you can imagine buttery yellow flower-shaped placemats, then you can see what I’ve done with them.  I got out about a yard and a half of ribbon, glued on these flowers with fabric glue and about two hours later, I had an instant valance for a very plain window.  No sewing whatsoever.  I bought the placemats on deep discount not having any clue what I’d do with them.  I love it when things turn out to be a perfect thing for something you haven’t even planned yet.  So now Isabel’s room is very soft and warm and inviting.

You Can Pick Your Friends, But Don’t Pick Your… NaJuPicMo

Golly! Those Cupcakes have Lollies – NaJuPicMo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 These cupcakes were totally copied inspired from a Martha Stewart magazine.  They couldn’t be simpler.  The key to their appeal was the dipping of cupcakes into a bowl of sprinkles and covering the frosting completely.  Suzannah and I took sour patch strips and cut them into leaf shapes and, Bob’s your Uncle, stick a lollipop in and you’ve got some very fun cupcakes.

Best. Picture. Ever – NaJuPicMo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zannie asked her, “Can I have a hug?”

and she came right over, laid down and gave

her a hug.  Then, she just stayed there and it was

quiet for a long time.  It was so incredibly sweet and I

don’t think I’ll ever forget this moment.

Room Makeover – Zannie Edition- NaJuPicMo

Giving credit where credit is due…the title of this post is lifted from Suzanne, over at Straight Down the Mountain, who waits for M. to come home from Kyrgyzstan.  Anyway, today was a marathon change from what used to be the Pink Room into the more mature, more 7 year-old and ready for second grade Suzannah room.

Purple with aqua. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made the quilt and pillows myself.  Above the bed is a little decoupage Flower Fairy thingy that I made.  Suzannah knows lots of flowers’ names thanks to the flower fairies.  Curtain from recent shopping trip to Target….

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stole from the bathroom the aqua beach glass cups.  I took food coloring and painted a white shade purple, then took out the ol’ glue gun and put on the daisies.  Ribbon may follow…not sure yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Suzannah’s book shelf I found myself remembering when I bought the little porcelin sleeping baby girl in Ireland in 1999 when we decided to start trying to have a baby.  Suzannah was born 3 years later.  Next to it is one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, she is about 2 months old there.  Then there is what Suzannah believes to be the most beautiful Matryoshka doll evah.  We bought that in Bishkek or Moscow…memory fails me.  This picture represents a lot of how hard things have been in the waiting for us to be a family, and the joys of now being a mother to my daughters.  

Now here’s something you’ll really like…noodle sisters…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isabel’s favorite food group is the Noodle group.  Suzannah is seen here offering noodles from her own soup and Isabel is refusing them.  This is a first.

Frosting & Boots with Steamed Milk – NaJuPicMo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moments after a particularly delicious cupcake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Target, while coveting rainboots, Izzy is seen sipping steamed milk

NaJuPicMo

 
<img src=”http:// ” alt=”najupicmo” />

I totally just invented this, but I’m excited.  Here’s the selling point…sooooooo much easier than NaMoBlahBlah… whatever that thingy is.  Anyway, the ideas is that July is for posting pictures.  Post one picture a day.  No text necessary!  Take a picture of your vacation, your breakfast, the sweater you’re knitting, your bathroom renovations, the progress your teeth whitening strips are making, your sunflowers in the garden, the plums you brought home from the farmers’ market,WHATEVER! A picture a day…it’s all we ask. 

I fully understand and appreciate that I could have and should have thought of this and promoted it beginning about two weeks ago, but better a tad late than never.  So…I’ll kick things off by posting pictures of our Kyrgyz picnic and get-together in San Diego. 

 

Lyudmilla with Izzy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Judge from Tokmok

 

 

 

 

 

Izzy enjoying the teacups at Disneyland

 

 

 

 

So, tomorrow I’ll be back and see how many of you are doing this!

 

 

What I ought to feel

…is gratitude and thankfulness.  I ought to stroke my daughters’ hair and feel the softness and feel my heart melt.  I love the cards I got and the beautiful picture frame that was handmade. 

But I am so, so sad today.  I am putting on a good show, because it’s the right thing to do.  The sadness is winning right now. 

My heart is broken in two for missing two mothers today. 

What I want, I can’t have.  What I want to do is to have my mom over for a big dinner, or to go to my childhood home and celebrate there with my daughters.  Instead, I’ll drive to the cemetary that I walked through on my way home every day after school and place nasturtiums on my mohter’s grave. 

I would love to call M. today and have her feel comfortable in accepting that she is a mother too.  I wish that even if she rejected that she is a mother, that we could at least have a relationship.  I suppose we can’t have the latter without the former.  I don’t pretend to understand or know.  I guess that’s the problem in the first place. 

So, what I ought to feel is a whole lot of gratitude.  I was never promised any children whatsoever.  I have two miracle children who are healthy and happy.  I ought to be praying for Isabel’s mother and sending her good thoughts and reassurance that her daughter is alright and loved and that I’m so sorry that her motherhood has not been given a chance.

I’m just so sad.  It’s all so unfair, all the loss.  For all of us.