Lazy Sunday

Chris was off snowboarding with Greg today.

It was so cold here and gray outside.

The boys and I decided to have a lazy Sunday, playing with cars,

watching Cars and Cars 2, and eating soup.

Beautiful baby toes

Playing with cars is very serious business

I WANT TO WIN!!!!!

I love handbags. I still try and carry my white ones (which I have more of than any other color for some reason) even though I am also hauling around two dirty little boys. I have actually been pretty successful at keeping them pretty, actually. But I came across this AMAAAAHZING giveaway today for a 

Balenciaga Arena Classic City in Noir worth $1545

OMG!  

I would die if I won this gorgeous, gorgeous bag.

And it's black, so I don't even need to worry about the dirty little boys I haul around.

You can enter the giveaway at Fashion Chalet, go check it out!

3/52: I Dreamed a Dream



f/5.6, 1/13s, focal length=48mm, ISO 640

I dream that my boys will be best friends for the entire lives. I want them to be there for each other, to have each other's backs.

Chris has a dream that they will both play football at Ohio State on the same team one day (hmmmm). 

STOP SOPA Update

I received the following email from the folks at http://fightforthefuture.org/:
________________________________________________________________________________

Today was nuts, right?


Google launched a petition. Wikipedia voted to shut itself off. Senators' websites went down just from the sheer surge of voters trying to write them. NYC and SF geeks had protests that packed city blocks.

You made history today: nothing like this has ever happened before. Tech companies and users teamed up. Tens of millions of people who make the internet what it is joined together to defend their freedoms. The free network defended itself. Whatever you call it, the bottom line is clear: from today forward, it will be much harder to mess up the internet.

The really crazy part? We might even win.

Approaching Monday's crucial Senate vote there are now 35 Senators publicly opposing PIPA. Last week there were 5. And it just takes just 41 solid "no" votes to permanently stall PIPA (and SOPA) in the Senate. What seemed like miles away a few weeks ago is now within reach.

But don't trust predictions. The forces behind SOPA & PIPA (mostly movie companies) can make small changes to these bills until they know they have the votes to pass. Members of Congress know SOPA & PIPA are unpopular, but they don't understand why--so they're easily duped by superficial changes. The Senate returns next week, and the next few days are critical. Here are two things to think about:

1. Plan on calling your Senator every day next week. Pick up the phone each morning and call your Senators' offices, until they vote "no" on cloture. If your site participated today, consider running a "Call the Senate" link all next week.

2. Tomorrow, drop in at your Senators' district offices. We don't have a cool map widget to show you the offices nearest you (we're too exhausted! any takers?). So do it the old fashioned way: use Google, or the phonebook to find the address, and just walk in, say you oppose PIPA, and urge the Senator to vote "no" on cloture. These drop-in visits make our spectacular online protests more tangible and credible.

That's it for now. Be proud and stay on it!

--Holmes, Tiffiniy, and the whole Fight for the Future team.

P.S. Huge credit goes to participants in the 11/16 American Censorship Day protest: Mozilla, 4chan, BoingBoing, Tumblr, TGWTG, and thousands of others. That's what got this ball rolling! Reddit, both the community and the team behind it, you're amazing. And of course, thanks to the Wikimedians whose patient and inexorable pursuit of the right answer brought them to take world-changing action. Thanks to David S, David K, Cory D, and E Stark for bold action at critical times.

P.P.S. If you haven't already, show this video to as many people as you can. It works! http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/
_______________________________________________________________________________
 
Please continue to protest this bill by letting your Senator know that you oppose PIPA and SOPA.

Yogurt Cake

I made the easiest cake last night and it is so yummy. It is only a tiny bit sweet, but is so moist and full of good things, like Greek yogurt and olive oil. It's ok to have cake for breakfast when it's so good for you, right?

I found the recipe on The Kitchn and adapted it a little- switched some of the flour for almond meal, added cardamom. The recipe calls for full-fat yogurt but all I had was low-fat and it worked fine. I also wanted to add some lemon zest, and once we tasted it both Chris and I thought that would be a good addition. It seems to be a cake that is adaptable to so many different flavor combinations, you could use different oils if you want to change the flavor up (like walnut oil or hazelnut oil, or even canola oil if you wanted a more neutral flavor). Plus, it has a good amount of protein due to the Greek yogurt, so that's always nice. See, I told you it's good for you! The recipe below has my changes, follow the link above to get the original recipe. 

If you make this cake, I would love to know what changes you make to change the flavors!

Please head on over to Delightful Order by clicking on the button below and what others are doing for the Delightfully Inspiring Thursday Party!

 

Yogurt Cake

1 1/2 c Greek Yogurt

2/3 c olive oil

1 1/4 c sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

1 c almond meal

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

pinch of fresh ground nutmeg

pinch of ground cardamom

Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch round pan lightly with baking spray or oil, and line the bottom with parchment.

Whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, nutmeg, and cardamom right into the liquids and stir just until no lumps remain.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, covering with foil at the end if the top is browning. When a tester comes out clean, transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Serve the cake warm or at room temperature. When well-wrapped, this keeps very well for several days.

A Winter's Day

I went out for a walk around Burke Lake yesterday.

There were a few runners but otherwise was empty and so quiet.

It was chilly (mid-30's, I guess) but the air was fresh and it felt good to be by myself somewhere quiet.

STOP SOPA

Fight for the Future

Trendy Toddler Tuesday

Casper wasn't really into getting his picture taken today. But at least he let me dress him, eventually. We came very close to taking this picture wearing pajamas pants and a white undershirt.

Casper is wearing his skinny Levis, what he calls his "farm" shirt, and a cute sweater. He looks so cute in these colors! For accessories, he is carrying around a gray pick-up truck and a camper that attaches o the truck (both by Matchbox).

Today, we are linking up for Trendy Toddler Tuesday at Mummy's Busy World. You can click on the button below to go right over there and link up!

2/52: Made With Love

 f/4, 1/40s, focal length=24mm, ISO 800





Everything in this photo was made with love.

The cradle was built by Chris's dad and many different Bing babies have slept in it.

The crocheted afghan (you can just see the edge of it) was made for Owen by his Auntie Gwen. She makes a baby blanket for every new baby and it is so great.

The sports blanket was made by my mother, who also made one for Casper when he was born, in a Hawaiian theme. 

And, of course, Owen. One of the two greatest things I have ever made with love.  

Head on over to My3Boybarians by clicking on the picture below to see the rest of the participants.

Today

I wanted to do 10 on 10 yesterday, but the day got away from me. So today I just took a random selection of shots, and here it is: my life.

Wordful Wednesday: BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!

The first thing Casper did this morning when he got up was to start pushing everything that had wheels off of his play bench. While saying BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as loud as he could. Before I even had a sip of coffee.

In other Casper news, he asked to wear big boy undies last night (and went 2 hours without an accident) and is wearing them again this morning. We are using the bribe method of potty-training, and told him if he did go until bed time last night in bog boy undies with no accident he could have a toy today. He kept saying he wanted Max from the Cars movie who is red like McQueen. We could not figure out who he meant, but it finally dawned on me that he is talking about Mack, Lightening McQueen's semi-truck! Ha! As soon as Ilhana comes down to watch Owen, Casper and I are going to go get Mack. 

Have a great day, everyone, I have to go get Casper back on the potty! Wish us luck! 

First Snow of 2012 and Trendy Toddler Tuesday

Yesterday we had our first snow of 2012 and of our winter, actually. It's been a very nice winter so far but we finally got some snow. I rushed home from lunch with Chris (we went to Super Pho in Herndon) and got Casper dressed to play. Yes, I realize he didn't have any gloves on, he outgrew his from last winter and I haven't bought him new ones yet. I will today, though. 

After dinner, Chris took Casper out to one of the elementary schools that has a huge hill and they went sledding and had snow ball fights. I didn't get to go since someone had to watch little baby Owen (we had a good time at home, too, though- lots of giggles and coos) but I bet I could have taken some great pictures. Next time, maybe!

We actually ended up with a few inches of snow, it kept snowing from lunchtime until dinner, I think. it's has mostly melted already though. Here's some pictures from our deck of the woods behind the house I took right before dinner (which was Italian Wedding Soup, perfect for a chilly day).

Today, we are linking up for Trendy Toddler Tuesday at Mummy's Busy World. You can click on the badge below to go right over there and see all the Trendy Toddlers.  

Casper is wearing his "cozy" hat, which happens to be his favorite, an awesome jacket from The Children's Place, lined pants from target, and Swiss Army hiking shoes also from Target.

I love this coat. It has a fleece that can be zippered into the coat for more warmth or he can just wear the coat or fleece separately, depending on the weather. The pants are great, too. We have two pairs, one in black and one in brown. They are a khaki-type material lined with a thin and very soft fabric. They seem to keep him warm and protected from the wind well. The shoes are great, too. he actually is about to outgrow these and I went to Target yesterday to get a new pair but they don't have his size anymore.

   

And here are some fat baby shots to brighten your day!! This is how Owen and I spent our time together while the two older boys were out sledding.