cedros productions

essential holiday items

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:13:00 +0000

peppermint shot glasses.
also perfect for a wee glass of hot cocoa.

spy glasses.
perfect for snooping on gift wrapping, or spying on santa.

new fleecy sweatshirts and eyeballs.
perfect for keeping warm while being weird.

holiday spirit

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:24:00 +0000

these two videos are of the wee cedri singing some christmas carols. please note how sam smacks maria in the head to the beat and how maria gets caught in the always deadly rudolph loop.
clearly, they are feeling the holiday spirit.

baking

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:36:00 +0000

every christmas my grandma flotten would bake thousands of cookies to share with family and friends.
as young girls, my sisters and i would spend a december weekend with grandma learning to bake our favorite cookies with her. She was an incredible baker, truly one of the best i've ever encountered.
sadly, i did not inherit this gift, but christmas just isn't the same without her cookies, so every year my sisters and i each take our favorite recipes and crank them out.
this year the wee cedri and i made cinnamon sticks, pepparkakor, and lemon rosemary shortbread.

the cinnamon sticks are my favorite. i'm always amazed that chopped walnuts and butter work together to make these light and sweet gems. grandma's were always perfect little rectangles and mine look like amputated fingers, but tasty ones.

typically pepparkakor aren't covered with sprinkles, but for sam sam it's just not christmas until he uses an entire jar on sprinkles on three cookies - then socks his sister because she won't share hers.
ahh, holiday memories.

i made these lemon shortbread cuties for the annual cookie exchange. sam frosted them for me, but we did have to discuss how much pressure is truly required to attach the rosemary sprig.

color of the year

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:36:00 +0000

It's blue! It's green! Stop, you're both right!
Color authority Pantone has selected turquoise (15-5519 TCX on your Pantone fandex), with its legacy of Western jewelry and '80s fashion, to carry the banner of Color the Year for 2010. We associate the hue with the bold "Bondi blue" of the original iMac, but Pantone sees a vacation in a color swatch. "Turquoise evokes thoughts of soothing, tropical waters and a languorous, effective escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of wellbeing," noted the company in a statement announcing the pick. Given that the selection of the decidedly tropical hue follows "Mimosa," the 2009 choice, we're beginning to suspect that Pantone's color of the year selection process involves a beachside conclave and plenty of cocktails. Anyone else have a sudden craving for Bombay Sapphire martinis?

reposted from here

stillness

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:45:00 +0000

i printed out the pics from the photo shoot and fell in love with the wee cedri all over again.

it made me realize why parents love photos of their children.
good photos capture the spirit of the child, but not the actual child - so you can look at the images and think of sweetness and love and not the fact that your kid kicked you in the shins, or barfed on you earlier in the day.

nativity, the musical

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:31:00 +0000

auntie b got the wee cedri a nativity set last year. the kids love playing with it and maria, in all her catholic schoolness, finds great joy in educating sam about the roles of the various nativity players.

i tried to explain how I like it to be set up and preferably not moved, but each day i find some new arrangement. this latest set up has me wondering what went down in the manger.
baby jesus, joseph and a stick santa are in the manger and everyone else is lined up on the opposite wall.

i'm speculating that either someone said something to offend the entire crew, or they are all so overjoyed at the birth of the holy child that they are going to break into song and do a conga line all the way into the manger.

recap

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:59:00 +0000

here are a few photos from some of our recent adventures.

we had maria's kindergarten class over for coffee, donuts, and some general merriment.
it's a delightful group of kids and there are a handful of younger siblings who could be classmates of sam's should he choose a life of academia over a life of crime.

it's been freezing so we've been enjoying large mugs of cocoa avec marshmallows. these cupcakes were too cute not a take home and nibble.

we bundled and headed up to the zoo for the annual zoolights train ride. it was freezing, but fabulous.

kates brought hot cocoa for the kids and something to warm the adults as well.

this weekend the holiday fun continues with tree decorating, birthday parties, the nutcracker and hopefully the arrival of gramma sue.

traditions

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:46:00 +0000

daddyo and i both come from big families with even bigger christmas traditions. we've spent the past few years trying to find the balance between incorporating the old and attempting to embrace the new. all the talk of traditions reminded me of my grandmothers.
i had two very different grandmothers. my grandma flotten was quiet, sweet, only wore skirts, and was incredibly creative. she could sew, knit, and bake anything her grandchildren's little hearts desired. my gramma kamman was outgoing, loving, and hysterically funny. she always had funny quips or dirty jokes to share - and she wore pants suits.

one christmas, i think when i was in my early teens, during christmas eve mass she covered my hand with hers, patted it and sighed, "i think this is my last christmas", she whispered. i was horrified and told my mom after mass. my mom blew it off saying gramma was being dramatic. well this whispered proclamation went on for years, and each christmas when her hand would reach out to cover the hand of the nearest grandchild, the rest of us would start to giggle.
my gramma kamman died in january of 1990 and at her funeral one of us said, "well, i guess that was indeed gramma's last christmas", and the crew of grandchildren collapsed in hysterics. my gramma loved a good joke and would have thought it was hysterical as well.
i sort of miss that silly christmas tradition

st vincents

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:29:00 +0000

check out this happy video to raise awareness of breast cancer. it's from st vincents, my local hospital. all of our doctors are at st vincents, both kids were delivered there, and they have also had ear tube surgeries there as well.
in every case we have had exceptional care, not good, but exceptional. these people clearly love their jobs, and believe in what they are doing, and it shows.

i have a million examples of little kindnesses demonstrated during our experiences; from the labor and delivery nurse who stayed over her shift by two hours to stay with me through maria's emergency birth, to the anesthesiologist who held my hand before taking sam into surgery and said, "i'm a dad and i promise to take good care of him".
congratulations to st vincents for all the well deserved attention. you people rock!

THE civil war

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:21:00 +0000

when i moved to Portland i heard much bruhaha about the civil war. As a history buff i was delighted that this important historical event was considered so newsworthy by my adoptive state.

apparently i misunderstood, and in a massively large way i might add. it turns out the civil war that people in these parts speak of with such passion is actually a football rivalry between the university of oregon and oregon state.

auntie b is an alum of OSU and has been espousing the various virtues the beaver has over the duck to the kids for quite some time.
as much as the wee cedri adore their auntie they simply weren't buying any of it, until recently.
during the aebelskiver smackdown maria's friend E (whose mom happens to be a sorority sister of auntie b's) taught the kids the OSU fight song and they were instantly hooked. not sure if it is the catchy jingle or the fact that they both adore E.
the kids both do the cheer on command and i have to say it's especially enthusiastic when they've had lots of sugar as you can see in the video below.
note moo's most interesting form on the "s". she does this behind the back move that i find to be most advanced and a little paula abdul - in her glory days of course.

favorite things

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:56:00 +0000

daddyo took an unintended break from employment this year so i haven't been perusing many shopping sites. there's nothing is more depressing than finding many a thing you can't afford, and frankly who really cares about all of the things that i love?
well apparently miss leena lou does, so girlfriend, this 2009 favorite things list is for you. i tried to find a slew of things that you, and those on your shopping list, would enjoy.

I love all things felted, ok maybe not all things, but you get the idea. spiderfelt has cute little felted balls with designs or letters. a funky take on the alphabet blocks and one that causes considerably less damage when it gets chucked at your head. humm, perhaps i can get everything in sam's reach felted.

i love these cards from Speckles & Weeds. they have super funny parenting cards (much like MA) but these are a bit more swanky.

i have a secret love affair with all things fred flare. the stuff is fabulous and i can always find something that reminds me of fourth grade. i'm hoping they'll be in my stocking this year.

i also love these bookmarks. cute gift to give with a book to your favorite librarian. hint hint.

i long to quit my day job to become a baker. sadly, i'm not as good as one would need to be to actually earn a living making baked goods.
so i'll stick with the librarian gig and spend my free time drolling over sprinkles, cupcake cups and toppers at layer cake.

anthropologie is king of the display world (check out the buyers new show on the sundance channel). they mange to arrange goods in such a way that you want to nibble each little item.
i love their housewares - check out these whiskey stones (these babies were so hot last year they were sold out for months). no need for ice cubes with these stones. of course for us ice cube eaters, these could cause a serious dental emergency.
the entire anthro kitchen area is filled with adorable aprons, dishtowels and things that make me drool. (leena, the monogrammed cocktail napkins scream ginny)

if you don't want to spend the money for stuff from anthropologie then send the crafty folk on your list to purl soho. they can drool over patterns for both fabric and yarn and you might get some groovy stuff out of the deal.

i have this thing for personalized items. i think it stems from my desire to have my name in lights, preferably in Vegas. maria shares my love so we may work some kind of mother/daughter gig opening for david copperfield.
kates bestowed this sweet stamp on miss moo for her birthday. you would think she had received the presidential stamp. the kid was stamping things like crazy with a look of total power on her face. i expect that's a bit what sarah palin would look like given the chance - although maria, at the tender age of 5, has superior grammar skills and a better fashion sense.

sarah + abraham make tons of fabola personalized items. I think their water bottles are stylish and groovy.

They also do these cute little holiday stickers, return address labels, stationary and lots more. i love, love, love them and when i get my Vegas gig going i think i'll hire them to design my programs.

I have vivid memories of the various groovy lunchboxes i had as a child. With the amount of passion I had for each one you would think my kids would have killer lunch boxes. think again. they have totally lame ones.
i know they would much prefer something divine like this sweet one from bluesky rocket. you can personalize one of their designs, or upload a photo of your child to be on the lunchbox. maria would keel over from sheer joy.

If you haven't been watching Glee then quite frankly, there is something very wrong with you. Soundtracks are available and you need to own these, both of them. My kids are already addicted. Moo's fav is "walking on sunshine" and sam's is "it's my life", not surprisingly mine is "endless love".

long before we had kids, daddyo and i took a cooking with peaches class. our fabola teacher just released this new cookbook called rustic fruit desserts. it's heavenly for all those who enjoyed berry laden baked goods.

The scarves from the sundance catalog are particularly lovely this year. I've placed my order with the scarf fairy, have you?
their jewelry collection is always dreamy. i tend to fall in love with the $200 necklaces, but apparently i'm supposed to use my salary to feed the family. whatever.
they also have a fun collection of ornaments (note the dog ones for all you dog lovers, or friends of dog lovers).

every year i do a cookie exchange with a handful of local cookie loving chicks so i'm always hunting for new recipes. my mom bought this for my sisters - but not me - we'll discuss that in another blog post, but i was given access to look at it and there are some great recipes. ever so slightly bitter about this so let's move on, shall we?

it's almost worth having another baby just so i can buy lots of onesies and shirts from little umi. they have sweet images of cars, flowers, animals on the front of the shirt and if you chose you can personalize them. sizes run from 3 months to 6 years. Great new baby gift.

i was introduced to O & Co a few years ago. Last year I had the pleasure of visiting their NYC location. they have interesting infused olive oils and vinegars. the basil olive oil makes a caprese salad utter perfection. their balsamic vinegar choices will blow your mind, as maria likes to say. Great for making your own salad dressing or marinades. They also have cute little sizes that are lovely hostess gifts.

also on the kitchen front is the g spout. the idea of something that attaches to a pan to help you pour is brill, but the name, well... let's just say the excitement christmas morning would reach a whole new climax if this gift was opened in the right company.

i've been eating aebelskivers since i was a wee lass. my dad made them in my grandma's cast iron pan. i have that pan and continue to make them for my kids. i've been pondering a new pan, but my DNA repels me from the swanky new non stick pans featured in william sonoma.
i was quite pleased to see that ingebretesens (fab MN store for all things nordic) was selling a new nine hole cast iron pan. i broke it in during the aebelskiver smackdown this year and give it five stars. these babies are super easy to make and even more fun to eat. if you buy the pan, let me know, and i'll email you my favorite recipe.

I'm a sucker for cute stationary and pretty much everything from this etsy shop is divine. now to find the time to sit and write notes to people.

we got dumped on with snow last year and when i dug out my winter boots i found them to be a size too small. i blame sam and will deduct all future shoe purchases from his college fund.
given the piles of snow i opted to buy a new pair of boots. i chose some boots from keen, which is kind of buying local as they are based in pdx. these boots are warm, waterproof and have killer traction. they come in five different color choices if this one doesn't float your boat.

I have a small obsession with stones. they remind me of lake superior and lutsen, which makes me feel serene and happy. vivaterra has a ton of groovy stone items, from this mat, to beautiful candles to fountains.

The soda drinkers on your list will flip for this cool gadget. You can puncture the top and insert a straw. I'm not sure how useful it is, but don't the bottles with all the straws in them look cool?

Check out this funky piece of tinfoil. It is a reflective sheet that clips onto almost any chair. it curves down behind, and partly under the chair, and reflects the radiant energy from the fire toward your bottom and back.
Made of a durable reflective laminate material for long life. Great for campers and cottagers, also good in front of wood stoves or heaters in ice fishing huts, or so the website reports. as long as it doesn't hamper my s'more making it's fine with me.

I love the textiles from new house textiles. Beautiful table linens and kitchen towels. the only bummer is that they are based in the UK so shipping may be expensive and take some time.
check out their herring print - that's my fav.

sam the man is obsessed with all things truck. i can't remember who introduced me to this website, but i love the variety of images available. they've got stuff for rockers, truck lovers, space dudes and many more.

i was working phone reference when a mom called in looking for information about a local company who produces cardboard houses and rocket ships. i found color me house and passed along the info, but not before i drooled over the rocket ship. I want one for myself. The rocket is also available at green party goods and theirs looks to be for bigger kids.

we all know our kids are the next Leonardo da Vinci, Jasper Johns, or Mary Cassatt. Here's a cool way to show off their artwork in style with a tshirt me kit. as an added bonus putting the artwork on the shirt gives you more room on the fridge.

I hope there are a few things in this mish mash of items that will make your holiday shopping tres simple and fun. for more ideas, especially for adults, check out the NY Times gift guide.
I also have some book recommendations that I'll pop in the mail to you this week. Make sure you buy some for yourself to enjoy on your tropical vacay.
happy shopping

creative folk

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:24:00 +0000

i have the good fortune of working with some rather creative folk. many of my colleagues are writers, artists, actors, bakers who do this library gig as a side job.
as luck would have it there happens to be an incredible photographer in the bunch. i conned him into coming over to take pictures of the kids.

i'm not much of a fan of the posed picture - too many bad school pictures have scarred me - so i love that Jayson just let the kids run and snapped away.
.

no offense to the bird

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:50:00 +0000

but the inhabitants of chez cedros are ready for christmas.

there are certain seasonal changes i associate with the holidays. portland is similar to minneapolis in many ways, but not when it comes to weather.
i adore the weather here, but i'm genetically engineered to recognize chiristmas when the temps drop below freezing and the outside world is a blanket of white.

for the most part christmas in portland is green, so i require a few weeks of ramping up to get myself in the holiday spirit.

we broke out the christmas cds a few weeks ago, i bought the kids new santa hats yesterday, and next on the list is a case of champagne then we are ready for a holly jolly christmas.

what's in a name?

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:16:00 +0000

i'm not sure i know anyone who grew up loving their name.
my full name is a mouthful and barely fits on the standardized test forms - the true test of any name. i longed to be named anne - short, simple, and all the letters easily fit on the form.
after a few decades of torture for having a moniker that rhymes with barf, i finally love my first name. i have always loved my middle name, it's my maternal grandmother's maiden name and i share it with two of my cousins. i never had a huge attachment to my last name and thought that if i married someone named stewart, or washington, it would be fun to change it.
but i was married later than your average gal, and by the time i got hitched i had become rather fond of my full name. my father was also dying and i wasn't interested in parting with anything that connected me to him, so i opted not to change my name.

my choice was not a rejection of the cedros name, or me trying to prove anything. i actually quite like the name cedros. I'm proud to be a part of the cedros clan and am delighted my children have the same last name as some pretty spectacular people.
i'm also proud that i have my own last name, one that forever binds me to my sisters, mother, father and my brilliant engineery cousins (aka the smart flottens). i love it when i meet someone, introduce myself, and find that they know someone in my family.

some people get that we are a dual name family, others don't. to some, my last name is always cedros, and i appreciate their love and inclusion. to others, i'm a flag waving flotten - no matter how you pronounce it. at this point i don't much care what people call me, but i do find it comical when people aren't sure what to do with a two name family.
oddly enough the two places that have the hardest time are the dry cleaners and moo's school. for some reason both places have me listed with a hyphenated name. can you imagine me trying to cram that long name in those little bubble dots on the standardized test form?

wishlist

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:13:00 +0000

did you know that you can add the amazon wishlist button to your toolbar? me neither.
i find it brill and tres merry.
click here and start wishing

smackdown 2009

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:39:00 +0000

the trash talk was fierce.
the game plans were shared with loved ones in hushed tones.
the supermarket trips were covert.
yes folks it was the 2009 aebelskiver smackdown.

the usual suspects were there representing their native lands. the variety of flavors was astounding; pumpkin maple, lemon with cherry jam, dark chocolate with apples and a few fabulous ones with bacon. we topped it off with lattes, champagne, bloody marys and birthday cake.

all in all it was a delightful morning with my nordic peeps.

gobble gobble

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:58:00 +0000

i received this bird in the mail from my mom the other day.
obviously some of the members of my family have an "interesting" sense of humor.

we have a history of finding odd things and mailing them off to unsuspecting recipients.
at one point a muffin was sent back and forth so may times it had to be officially shellacked to prevent decay.
so this bird is mine, but only until i find the right occasion and person to send it to.

fall foliage

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:44:00 +0000

we have had spectacular fall colors this year. someday i'll have a camera with a decent shutter speed so i can document the beauty appropriately.
the wee cedri share their father's passion for puttering around the yard. this is their attempt at helping to rake leaves. note the difference in style. maria was super focused on gathering a large pile with the intent of jumping in said pile.

sam liked the idea of jumping in a pile of leaves, but he found it challenging in his fire boots. the smart little cookie opted to so hollow out a little leaf circle which provided a lower clearance for him to jump in.
apparently the little dude isn't just eye candy.

multitasking

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:49:00 +0000

so we've established that i'm terrible at balancing work, life, marriage, and shoe shopping.
i'm trying to embrace, and revel in, the level of my suckageness, but it's not working.
i inherited all of my mother's genes for order, organization and cleanliness, so i find it incredibly stressful not to have the time to clean and straighten things up.
a few weeks ago someone told me that grand central had a u-bake section. we'll save my rant about using a letter for a word for another time, but let me state, grand central you're not Prince.
i purchased some already rolled out pie dough this weekend and took it for a ride with some pumpkin pie filling. i would love to have the time to whip up my own pie dough, but i don't and while this dough wasn't a rockin as daddyo's, it was quite good. it also left me time to clean the bathroom and order some shoes from endless. this is my kind of multitasking.

halloween recap

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:26:00 +0000

we had a very happy halloween at chez cedros. for the first time in ages the weather complied and it was dry and balmy. we had a slew of folks over for the big polenta feed (the traditional meal on the saturday night of goodies weekend) the hit the streets in search of sugar.

maria ended up as cinderella. she changed her mind a good ten million times. i finally told her she could be whatever she wanted, but it had to be with things in our house as i wasn't buying anything new. yes, i'm already booked for oprah's mean mom episode. sam had a hand me down bee costume from cousin ben and he loved it. he thought he was a rather spooky bee, but with those cheeks he was insanely cute.

auntie b and the kids created a delicious ghost cake. they loved assembling the ghosts, although i do believe they ate far more than they assembled.

both kids had halloween parties at school, which they loved. at our previous uber organic, uber montessori school no holiday was celebrated which i find to be pathetic.
sam partied with a dragon at his preschool and maria had a non uniform day. anyone who has attended a school that requires uniforms knows the days you don't have to wear them are reason enough to party.

but she also had a full on halloween party with tons of candy, games, and orange frosting. i finally got the girls at her table to stop giggling and wiggling long enough to pose for a photo. they are a fabulous gaggle of girls - incredibly thoughtful, sweet, polite and fun.

goodies

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:12:00 +0000

the annual cedros baking weekend (aka the goodies weekend) was last weekend. we had a small, but super efficient crew this year.

we went through five gallons of honey and 40 pounds of flour. the first batch of dough was for the turdilli.

the dough is rolled out into strips that are cut into 1/2 sections and rolled off a butter paddle. they are then deep fried and soaked in honey. the second goodies made was the strufoli. the process is similar, but they are not rolled on the butter paddle so they puff into little balls when dropped in the oil. they too are soaked in honey.

next comes the pitta, my personal favorite, this dough is rolled thin and a mixture of chopped walnuts, almonds, golden raisins and cinnamon sugar is spread on the dough. it is then rolled up like a cinnamon roll. it's baked then honey is drizzled over the top. can you see why we need five gallons of honey?

it was a fabulous weekend, such fun to see everyone and have the kids involved in this family tradition.

sam

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:21:00 +0000

a photographer came to sam's school to take pictures.
not surprisingly his were ADORABLE.

holy roller

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:57:00 +0000

i love the concentration and piousness.

numbers

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:24:00 +0000

7.5
this week i realized that i've lived in portland for seven and a half years. this is shocking to me because, in many ways, it feels like i just left minneapolis yesterday. this revelation got me thinking about numbers and memories.
25
the number of years i lived near lake harriet. i'm guessing i ran around this lake a few hundred times with kristin or leena solving the world's problems and checking out boys.
41
my current age. when i was a young lass i had many ideas of what my life would be like in my forties. it's quite different from what i imagined, which is neither good nor bad, it just is. although, i think at some point i was supposed to have a volvo and three kids.
16
number of years since i entered graduate school. it's been nearly two decades since i sauntered up the stairs of helen c white hall. i couldn't have picked a better profession, or a better graduate school, for me. i met some dear friends (my partners in literacy) in that lush bathroom at HCW.
23
years since my freshman year of college. back in the days of bon jovi's livin on a prayer i met a gaggle of girls who would become my sisterhood. we've gone through life together - attended countless weddings, shared parenting advice, and discovered miraval. this group can rally and be an incredible force during more difficult times - from bad hair choices to heart breaks they offer support, comfort, and always find a way to make me laugh. also, if you need someone to put a hex on an ex beau or an evil boss, this is your go to group.
31
years i have known AEC. i have a handful of very close friends, but there's onlyone that i have known for 3/4 of my life. it's a friendship i treasure.
21
years since my grandpa flotten died, nineteen years since my grandma kamman died, seventeen years since my grandma flotten died, five years since my dad died. the pain doesn't go away, thankfully the memories don't either.
5
i've lived in five states for varying lengths of time. long enough to form strong opinions about their politicians and fall in love with some aspect of each location. i love the lakes and the birch trees in minnesota, the southern warmth and mountains of north carolina, the lush green pines of wisconsin, the excitement, majesty, and history of new york, and the rivers, bridges and bounty of oregon.

while this exercise made me realize that time flies, it also made me think that i'm not as bad at math as i once thought.

busted

noreply@blogger.com (marf) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

i would bust her, but i too feel the need to toss one back during close Badger games

*before you call child & family services i'm pretty sure she was drinking lemonade. however, auntie b was pouring so you never know.