.:Meet the Ritchies:.

The tables are done and in use – I am so glad that project is finished! It was a lot of work but I think they turned out beautifully. The girls were amazing at helping with each step. Now I need to start sewing some halloween costumes! Yay October!

P.S. Our floors are on our “to do” list of projects, anyone have any suggestions? I think right now we are leaning towards putting the click flooring over the top of our hardwoods, unless someone knows of a good deal on re-finishing them!

Yummy Apple Pie Recipe:

4 cups sliced delicious from-the-tree apples gifted by loving in-laws (or if you don’t have in-laws who gift you with apples then you can get yours somewhere else!)

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp cinnamon

Pillsburry Double pie crust

Slice up your apples, mix with flour, sugar and cinnamon.  Place one pie crust in a glass pie baking dish, add filling.  Lay second crust over the filling and crimp the edges, trimming excess as needed.  Cut slits in the top of the pie crust and then brush with milk and sprinkle generously with sugar.  Bake as directed on the Pillsbury crust box.  Mmmmm…perfection.

P.S.  thanks Bill & Betty for the apples!!  They were scrumdiliumptious!

We received this in the mail yesterday from Claire’s school…

Love.

I received the most amazing text message this evening – totally unexpected.. to quote Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, “the best kind of prize is a SURPRISE!”  Our beautiful and amazingly talented wedding photographer, miss Courtney Jade, let me know that she has posted our wedding pictures on her blog and will be giving us all of our photos to view later this evening!  I am F R E A K I N G out!!!

What are you waiting for??  Go see for yourself!!

xoxo

Tonite I took Claire to see Miley Cyrus at the Rose Garden.  It was a very brave move, I know!  We found parking not far from the garden on the street, so as to avoid the crazy crowds on the Max (and the fact that I forgot my tri-met pass at home and did not have any cash on me) and I also figured we’d avoid any sort of traffic jam mess that usually happens following an event there.  My ears are still buzzing, and Claire is now sleeping soundly probably also with a ringing in her ears (I should have made her wear ear plugs, I know, I’m horrible).

It was a great show, Miley Cyrus is quite the performer and her set and backup dancers were a joy to watch.  She had so many costume changes and all the outfits were really cool.  It made me want to come home and sew, and also do a million crunches (thank goodness my work is now offering fitness classes, particularly one titled “buns and abs” that I will be partaking in tomorrow!!).  I realize she is a teenager, and I am so not – but still, a girl always wants to look her best right?  Anyway, we were the first stop on her tour and it was great to see how much she puts into her concert.  I was starting to doubt the ticket price when the opening band, Metro Station, took to the stage.  Just because it’s her older brother’s band does not mean they should be anywhere near a stage.  It was awful, and that’s being nice.  Oh dear.  He really needs to take some pointers from his younger sister!

We had a great time and I got a few pictures, I didn’t take my new fancy camera because I wasn’t sure if they’d allow it in the door.  So I used my small one that doesn’t zoom in very close.  We had good seats, but not fantastic for getting close up shots.  This was not Claire’s first concert, I took her to see HelloGoodbye when she was 9 at the Crystal Ballroom.  But this was her first big show at the Rose Garden, and while we were standing in line for a t-shirt I realized it was mine as well.

I still remember my first concert, it was Tiffany and I was also in the 6th grade.  She had a cold, so she wasn’t singing her best and I remember being a little disappointed at that. What was your first concert?

I have these tables that I bought when Claire and I first moved to Portland almost 10 years ago, they are your basic screw-together inexpensive black wood tables that I believe I purchased from Target.  Needless to say, over the years these tables have gotten a lot of wear and tear.  So I decided that instead of just throwing them away and buying new ones, I would see if I could just do something fun and give them a facelift!  Mosaic!  Of course, that’s a great idea.  So Mark and I went to the Rebuilding Center here in town and picked up an armful of mis-match tiles (for only $3!) and with the help of our very creative daughters, we have the “coolest tables ever!” (direct quote from Claire).  In fact, her exact words of 11 year old wisdom were, “We could never have found tables as cool as these if we’d looked all over Portland, possibly the world.  And what’s even better is that we have the memory of making them ourselves!”… I love her.

So please enjoy our day in pictures, the grouting has yet to be done – it turns out that six hours of placing  tile pieces can give one a real pain in the neck.  So this explains the delay in my post, and the fact that they aren’t yet complete.  Tomorrow I will start the grout process and post the final final pictures when I finish!

Veda working her tile magic...

For being the first time I had ever attempted something like this, I have to say I am quite pleased with the results!

Claire and Veda were so amazing at it!

the most painstaking part was gluing each individual piece down, luckily my wonderful husband lent a hand!

our pets, however, did not... Linus, Big Ears and Charlie, ah yeah... my favorite part is Linus' bottom lip, so cute!

Claire has always been a picky eater.  When she was little I would feed her anything that was easy to make (I was not adventurous in the kitchen, I didn’t have time for it), and anything that she would eat, just as long as she was eating.  So her menu options were usually cheese, cheese or cheese.  No seriously – items such as Macaroni & Cheese, Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Cheese Quesadilla, etc… you get my point.  And as she’s gotten older, and I’ve gotten more comfortable in the kitchen, her palette is increasing.  ESPECIALLY when we go to Costco.  This afternoon after she got home from school, we took a trip to Costco, finally.  And why I say finally is because we tried to go there on Monday, who knew they’d be closed on Labor Day?  Then on Tuesday we had Back to School night at Claire’s school.  And on Wednesday we had to do several things and Costco didn’t make the list.  So we made it today with the goal of getting their yummy garden burgers for a BBQ dinner tonite.  If you haven’t tried them, I highly recommend them.  They are in the section where there is cheese and raviolis and guacamole.  Near the meat.  They come in a plastic tupperware container, easy for storing.  More on that later.  Claire’s only reason for tolerating a trip to Costco is, of course, for the samples.  And I’ve realized that there really isn’t anything she won’t try, as long as it is served in a little paper muffin cup by someone wearing an apron.  Is this what I should have done when she was three and refusing to eat her dinner?  Hmmm, they say hindsight is 20/20…

Well, we got the veggie patties and a whole lot more.  And Claire sampled chocolate covered raisins, philly cheese steak hot pocket, some protein energy bar called Zone or something, whole wheat spaghetti with olive oil and parmesan, Canadian bacon, an ice cream sandwich and veggie stick chip things.  And amazingly, she still ate all her dinner.  When we were telling our guest, George, about our trip to Costco he and Claire continued the conversation by thinking of clever ways to get a second helping on the sample.  Including taking off your sweatshirt, putting your Mom’s sweater on, or sunglasses, or claiming you were getting one for your “little sister”… so creative those two are!  And I had no idea Claire knew how to be so sneaky!  No, that’s not true.  She’s had years of practice.

She also played photographer this evening, here is how it went…

oh! and I got fudge bars for dessert, as evidenced by the chocolate on Veda's chin! Sugar free, and tasted like chocolate soft serve, yum!

George is welcomed by the dogs, oh the dogs...

I don't have an explanation for this, except that Veda makes the best crazy faces ever!

There aren't too many of these left on the bush that look so pretty...fall is on it's way! Minus the 90 degree weather for the next 2 days of course...

This is our piano that we purchased from a co-worker recently, now we just have to learn how to play! Anyone giving lessons?

And now, I must be going, Spaceballs is on the television and it’s calling for my undivided attention…

xoxo

This week marked the start of a new school year.

For Claire it’s a brand new school in a new district in a new chapter of her young life.  6th grade.  Woooooah!

When I asked her what she was most looking forward to this year, at school, she said “getting to know my teachers and all the students”…

For Veda, it’s the big 3rd grade and when I asked her what she was most looking forward to this year, she said “well, my teacher said that the 3rd grade is the best year because you learn all about Portland and it’s past”… I think I want to sit in on those days!  How fun!

Here’s to a very successful academic year for both of them!

xoxo

sorry, again i used my iPhone because it happened to be in my hand.

College football season has officially begun… Go Beavers!!!!

so the other evening Claire came flying through the kitchen and stopped to share a story with me, she was very animated while telling this story but all I could notice was the goofy outfit she was wearing.  I love her more every single day, even though I don’t think that’s possible sometimes.  She is starting middle school next week.  I wish her luck.  Did you have a good or bad middle school experience?  Feel free to share your story in the comments.  I didn’t have your typical middle school experience because I grew up with all the kids I went to school with.  So it wasn’t a huge transition, it was just another grade level.  I am hoping that Claire will thrive in this period of her life.  It’s not an easy one.

the only thing i had handy was my iPhone, sorry for the grainy picture!