Zoolander Movie Snacks!

So...what do you make to bring to a Zoolander movie night??



Or...if you're like me and you are worried an actual frappuccino would melt before you arrived you bring Orange Mocha Frappuccino CUPCAKES!! :)

Orange Mocha Frappuccino Cupcakes

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brewed coffee
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3 tsps apple cider vinegar
• 3 tsps pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup special dark baking cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Blend the sugar, coffee, oil, eggs, vinegar and vanilla until well mixed

Sift the flour, baking cocoa, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl

Add the flour mixture to the coffee mixture and stir until combined

Grease 12 muffin cups and fill each one 2/3rds of the way with batter

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 22 minutes

For the Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 5 tbsps fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 1/2 tsps pure vanilla extract

Add all frosting ingredients to the mixer and beat on high speed until smooth and fluffy!

Once cupcakes are cool, pipe the frosting on top with a piping bag (or a plastic baggy with a corner snipped off) 

You can also embellish your cupcakes with printed Starbucks labels and straws if you want to get a little fancy :)

Adversity

I am a person with a great memory for details.  In fact, I make it a sort of personal quest to collect small tidbits of information about my friends and family and file those facts away in my mental filing cabinet (which I am considering updating to a mental online database!) I never toss out a file, never recycle a page, never consolidate, paraphrase or condense. I preserve each and every one and over time, those mental files slowly start to paint a complex picture for me about each of my loved ones.  I can then use my insights to better understand the people I care about and to avoid little things like serving them a dish that contains an ingredient they don't like, or picking a restaurant or suggesting an activity that isn't up their alley.  Generally, I strive hard to avoid conflicts and I find my mental filing cabinet to be a fantastic tool for helping me navigate around certain loaded conversation topics in certain crowds, which is something I find to be immeasurably useful.

My husband, however, likes to clean out his mental filing cabinet on a regular basis.  He finds it boarder-line ridiculous that I went four years without cooking pork for dinner because of one small side remark he made during a dinner about not liking pork.  He is often left shaking his head over the insignificant things I remember and has issued a statement that all my mental files I keep on him should be cleared out and burned at regular six month intervals.  (I am trying to decide if I should comply with that request...or only comply with that request for six months...and then burn it?!)

There is a quote floating around out there in the universe that says "Adversity doesn't build your character. Adversity reveals your character." I really believe this to be true and that is why I agree with many sociologists and relationship "experts" who claim that adversity is good for our relationships. Times of adversity provide us an opportunity to venture beyond the pretty mask of a happy relationship and truly discover whether or not we have solid footing underneath. I would imagine many couples can easily recount the first challenge they overcame together, whether big or small, and what that experience revealed to them about their partner and their ability to work together. I know I definitely remember the first real challenge the universe threw our way one night about nine years ago, but I wouldn't really have expected my husband to have an equally vivid recollection (after all, nine years is WAY past his six month expiration!) So I was quite surprised to hear him recount the story to our children with exquisite detail this evening as we were eating dinner.

"One night before your mom and I were married, it was so cold the shampoo in people's showers froze! I was giving your mom a ride home and there was lots of snow and slush, and ice on the roads - so they were very slippery! As I was driving up the hill to mom's house, I pushed on the gas and the car went up the hill...and then slid back down.  So I tried again - up the hill....and it slid back down!  Up the hill....and it slid back down...and it was stuck!  I tried pressing the gas again and the wheels just spun around and around, but the car wouldn't move!"  

At this point in his story there were many enthusiastic gasps from his wrapped audience and everyone had to take a turn recreating the sound they imagined tires would make as they squealed across and icy winter road.

"So I asked your mom to get out of the car and push it while I tried to steer it out of the ice and slush..."

Yes folks, this is true.  My prince charming sent ME out into the freezing night to the back end of his car to push!

"And now, your mom did a good job trying to push the car - but it still wouldn't budge!  So I came up with the idea to grab a piece of cardboard and place it under the tire.  That way the tire would be turning on the cardboard and not the slippery ice..."

This suggestion is met with many nods of approval from many child-sized heads

"So I put the cardboard under the tire and I pushed down on the gas pedal and *ZOOM!*  the piece of cardboard shot out from under the tire and flew all the way across to the other side of the street!"

Here there was more gasping

"So that didn't work, but then I thought - hey! The floor mats of the car!  They would have more traction because they are rubber and they would kind of stick to the ice."

Dad you're such a genius, the boys are all thinking

"So I grab the mat right out of the car and I stick it under the tire.  I push down on the gas pedal and *ZOOM!* the floor mat goes flying out from under the tire and shoots all the way across the street!"

At this point the audience is on the edge of their seats, myself included!  Unlike the rest of the pint sized crew however, I wasn't anxious to discover whether or not Dad shot any other random items across a snowy street via car tire.  Instead, I was waiting to find out if my husband also remembered who finally came up with a working solution to the stuck car problem!  And if he did remember - would he willingly tell his sons, or would he sort of gloss over that particular detail of the story ;-) You see - my husband and I are both a bit prideful and we both like to think of ourselves as the dominant personality in our relationship, so it isn't very often that we are enthusiastic about admitting the other has a superior idea.

"Do you know how we finally got the car unstuck?  It turned out your MOM knew a magical trick for helping the car!"

I am simultaneously shocked and impressed that he not only remembers, but is really playing up the significance of my contribution all those years ago! The kids meanwhile sit google-eyed, waiting for the juicy details.

"You see, your mom knew this magical thing about salt and ice! And she poured the salt out onto the ice.............and the ice just MELTED AWAY and I drove the car right back off the slippery ice!"

Wow! Amazing! Cool! comes tumbling out the kids mouths as they stare at me with wonder on their little faces...

"And that's when I knew kids...."

My husband looks lovingly into my eyes from across the table and smiles and I am instantly touched.  In all these years I never realized the he also looked back at that night as such a significant moment in our relationship! But then he continues...

"Yes, THAT is when I knew kids...that your mom...is a WITCH!"

Yep.

He definitely got me good this evening!  But in all truthfulness, that icy night nine years ago WAS the night our relationship was tested for the very first time.  That night we handled a very obnoxious, cold, and potentially stressful experience with fantastic humor.  We laughed at my failed attempts to muscle the car back off the shoulder of the road.  We laughed as big pieces of cardboard and car floor mats were flying through the air, and we laughed when my suggestion to use table salt on the ice (which was the first idea suggested!) ended up taking care of the problem in a matter of seconds. With the car freshly un-stuck, we went in to my apartment and warmed up with some hot chocolate and I thought to myself, "Man, we made a great team out there!"

Since that day we have faced down many more moments of adversity (though thankfully we have been very blessed over all.) Some times we are that same great team that laughed together on a frozen street, other times we have to remind ourselves we are on the same side. But in the end, we always have come out laughing, and really -what more could this witch ask for!

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a happy, fun filled Easter weekend! I know we sure did :)  Our celebration started on Friday afternoon with an egg hunt at a local park that was organized by our awesome playgroup! There were 38 kids in attendance with their parents this year and over 450 stuffed eggs!! (WOW!)  Having read so many news stories recently about bad behavior (primarily by parents!) resulting in community egg hunts being cancelled, I was extra-appreciative of our well-mannered, friendly group of families this year.  The kids were divided into age groups to hunt (with the youngest starting first) and each child hunted until they had 12 eggs and then sat down to examine their goodies.  There was no pushing, shoving or bad sportsmanship in sight (that I saw anyway!) ;-)  We had a great time!

After the egg hunt we drove up to the church for Good Friday Mass.  The boys were really interested in the Easter Triduum this year, which was neat and they were particularly excited about Good Friday.  As we came closer to the veneration of the cross Big-Bug kept whispering to me "I can't believe I get to kneel to the cross!" :)  After we waiting in the (long!) line of parishioners and had our turn to pray we were walking back to our seats and Big-Bug exclaimed "THAT WAS AWESOME!" hahaha

Saturday we spent most of our time working around the house, catching up on the laundry and the floors, mowing the lawn, etc.  I ran up to grab Chinese take out for dinner that night and hesitated as I placed my order.  My husband always gives me a hard time for over-ordering when I get take out (I will admit that I do!) but I really felt like I should order TWO dinner combos instead of just one.  The bugs are unpredictable eaters and can range anywhere from one ity bity bite at dinner to out eating my husband and myself combined.  I went with my gut and ordered TWO dinner for two combinations and I was SO glad I did!  Because every single last speck of food was consumed, with the bugs doing more than their share of the eating :)  After dinner we colored our Easter Eggs! This year we used sharpies and stickers instead of traditional egg dye and it was a lot of fun!  We were able to be a lot more creative with our decorations AND it was way less messy ;-) 

On Easter morning we woke up to an indoor egg hunt and basket surprises!  There were new sunglasses, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, stuffed lambs, cadbury eggs and chocolate bunnies for the bugs and even travel mugs and chocolate bunnies for mom and dad! (What a nice bunny)  ;-)  We had a perfect breakfast of whole grain pancakes, hard boiled eggs, organic sausage and fresh berries and then got ready to head to mass.   We arrived half an hour early and were SO glad we did - the place was PACKED!  After mass we came back home and spent the day playing in the yard, drawing with sidewalk chalk, swinging on the swing set and riding wheely things! 

I also spent a fair portion of my day in the kitchen prepping dinner of course ;-)  This year I did a spiral ham in my crock pot with a honey spice glaze and fresh pineapple rings.  On the side I served scalloped potatoes, steamed green beans with Parmesan and homemade challah bread (which was my favorite part of the meal!)  For dessert we had old fashioned vanilla Tillamook ice cream with fresh sliced strawberries - it was delicious!

A little updating

I was browsing around for craft inspiration the other day when I stumbled upon this cute mother's day gift idea from two years ago over on the blog brown paper packages 

It just so happens that we have a black step stool in our bathroom that the bugs use to reach the sink for hand washing and teeth brushing (and other activities that are slightly more irritating to mom.)  So when I saw this footprint step stool I could instantly envision my own stool transformed.  I tested Big-Bug's foot against the top step of the stool and found it just barely fit, he is getting so big! So I decided the time to act was now!

Before their bath that night, I painted the bottom of the bugs's feet with white acrylic paint and had them each step both of their feet onto the top step of the stool.  Then I penned their names along with the month and the year on a strip of star paper (that happens to coordinate with the green paint in my bathroom) and set the stool to dry in the garage.  Because I sort of acted on a whim, I found myself without modge podge AND acrylic clear coat, so after the kids were settled into bed I waved goodbye to my husband (who was happily installing a new graphics card into the computer) and ran out to pick up my supplies!

I took the advice of the original blogger and applied modge podge to the entire top step of the stool and let it dry over night.  The next morning I sprayed on a finishing coat of clear acrylic and it was complete!  I am so in love with this idea :)  I can already picture myself gazing at the stool remembering my boys when they were too short to reach the sink!  And when they outgrow the stool, I believe the lower step would make an excellent stand for a house plant so I can continue to enjoy my little guys' footprints!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

It's Mardi Gras! :)  We won't be doing a lot of partying tonight (with the kids and all) but that doesn't mean we won't be having a good time today! We put our party colors on display this afternoon by making some paper bunting and a festive paper "wreath" for the front door.  And of course, no Mardi Gras celebration is complete without a king's cake!  I actually made two cakes this year; one for the family and one for my girlfriends who are coming over later tonight to make homemade laundry detergent and vanilla extract.  Yep - we are party animals! ;-)

Greta's King Cake

Dough

1 cup milk

2/3 cup warm water

2 eggs

4 1/2 tsp yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

5 cups of flour

1.2 tsp salt

Filling

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp molasses

cinnamon

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

Icing

2 cups powdered sugar

milk

green and purple sanding sugars

1.Add these ingredients to your bread machine in the following order: milk, water, butter, yeast, eggs, sugar, flour, salt.  Start the bread machine and run the dough cycle.

2. While the dough is processing, mix together the white sugar and molasses in a small bowl.  When they are well combined, add the flour and stir until mixed.  Melt the 1/2 cup butter in a microwave safe dish.

3. When the dough cycle ends, turn the dough out onto a cutting board and slice the dough into two equal portions.  Set one portion aside and roll the other portion into a large rectangle. 

4. Sprinkle half of the molasses mixture over the rolled dough, then sprinkle generously with cinnamon.  Drizzle half of the melted butter over the sugar and cinnamon. 

5. Starting on the long side of the dough rectangle furthest from yourself, roll the dough up like a jelly roll/cinnamon roll. 

6. Next transfer the rolled dough to a baking sheet.  Bring the two ends of the roll together to form a circular ring of dough.  Pinch the dough together at the seam to seal it closed.

7. Using kitchen sheers, snip the dough ring in one inch intervals, cutting about one third of the way down.

8. Next roll, fill, shape and snip the second dough portion as described above.

9. Cover the two cakes lightly with a kitchen towel and leave them in a warm place to rise for 30-40 minutes.

10. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

11. Bake the cakes for 25-30 minutes and then ttransfer the cakes to a cooling rack for about 10 minutes.

12. While the cakes are cooling, mix 2 cups of powdered sugar with a few tablespoons of milk.  Add one tablespoon of milk at a time until a thick glaze forms (should not take more than 3-4 tablespoons of milk)

13. Drizzle the glaze over the tops of the cakes, coating liberally.  Then sprinkle the cakes with the green and purple sanding sugars. 

You can make the cake ahead of time, but it is the most amazing when it is still warm from the oven!

Silly-Face Applesauce Cups

Big-Bug is turning six this week (how did that happen?!) and so I have been spending a fair amount of time trying to think up an appropriate snack time treat to bring to his classroom on Friday.  His teacher has specifically requested NO cupcakes and no cakes.  She says anything with frosting is super messy in a room full of kindergartners (and lets not forget the sugar coma that usually follows!)  Additionally, the school district now requires ALL snacks to be store bought and packaged.  I can understand the reasoning here, but it definitely puts additional limitations on snack ideas! When I asked Big-Bug for birthday snack suggestions, he asked to take yogurt cups for all his friends. I was hesitant to go the yogurt route since it needs to be kept in a refrigerator, so I suggested applesauce cups instead.  Applesauce cups are a big deal around here because I usually just buy the big tub or make it myself in the crock pot and serve it in bowls. Big-Bug thought this was a great snack idea, so I set to work trying to make the snack presentation "fun!" 

A friend of mine had shared a cute snack idea with me that she found on pinterest where a woman had created a robot using applesauce cups, juice boxes, raisins and pretzel rods. The robot were super cute, but a little too elaborate for our needs.  I know snack time in Big-Bug's class is limited, and his teacher has told us that snack items need to be easy for the kids to manage on their own, so deconstructing a robot and opening multiple boxes/packages/straws seemed like a little much :) 

Instead I took the idea of an applesauce cup head and adapted it to make silly-face applesauce cups.  All it took was a permanent marker, wiggly eyes and a hot glue gun!   Once I decorated all 24 applesauce cups, I glued a clear plastic casserole lid to a cake board and then stacked the applesauce cups inside.  I decorated the tray with some curled ribbon to make it festive and cut six candles out of paper to glue to the back of the tray.  I attached a small paper sign to a box of plastic spoons and then topped the box with more ribbon.  Overall, I am pretty happy with the end result, and I can't wait to surprise my birthday boy in class this week!

A Valentine for the Husband!

This Valentine's Day I tried to come up with something creative to give my husband.  He normally one-ups me in the creativity department - so I was feeling pretty determined!

In the end this is what I came up with.  A homemade "classic" valentine heart with a few plays on words and accompanying gift items ;-)

The card includes phrases like "I'm nuts about you" "We're a perfect pear" "I'm lucky to have you" and "I love you a latte"  I included a soy latte from Starbucks, a bag of roasted almonds, a pear and three lottery tickets.  We have a running joke between us about Scottish oatcakes. These are something my husband absolutely loves, and I think they taste like a carboard box.  We like to tease each other about them from time to time. So, at the bottom of his card I added "now go eat some oatcakes!" and I included a take out box filled with heart-shaped oatcakes that I baked up for him.  I think it turned out pretty well :)

End of street bonus

Our house is located at the end of our dead-end street. Because of our location, we only have a neighbor on one side of our house - to the left is our one lonely neighbor, to the rear is a creek, to the right is a vacant lot/rec vehicle parking area and across the street from us is a baseball field.  One would imagine this positioning comes with the bonus of a super quite, private setting - unfortunately the neighbors two houses down are so insanely loud we had to move our boys to the bedrooms on the far side of the house so they could sleep at night during the summers (true story!)

You might think the bonus of living on the end of the street is the lack of through-traffic.  While it is true that our boys can (for the most part) ride their bikes in front of the house without concern, our neighbors in our community DO have to drive past our house to deposit and retrieve their camp trailers, boats, spare cars, etc.  So when there is traffic in front of our house, it is noisy and ties up the street for quite a while as they line up and hitch up, etc.

So what is the end of street bonus?  The ability to see people doing ridiculous things out front your living room window because they don't think anyone can see them.  Seriously, this happens ALL the time.  We are the only house with a clear view of the baseball field, we also park in our garage, so a lot of the time it looks like no one is home.  I can't count the number of times I have looked up from folding my laundry to see someone glance around, pick up a big stick and perform an elaborate javelin throw before continuing on their way.  Or a "too cool" high school boy romping around with his dog before quickly stopping and playing it cool when a car comes up the street.  Of course we also see our fair share of gross and just plain irritating things as well - the ultimate in irritation being the inconsiderate dog-walker of course.  So, so, so many times I have been tempted to stick my head out the front door and holler "I guess you must have missed this - but your dog just left a giant pile in the middle of the ball field."  So if you happen to live in our neighborhood...and you happen to have a black lab....I see you!!  ;-)

Empty Cupboard Coffee Cake

We are a strange breakfast bunch around here.  Strange because we cook/bake breafast every morning and don't use cereals, poptarts or breakfast bars.  Perhaps that is a result of my husband's British heritage, or perhaps it is just my taste preferences - who knows! 

We are working hard to eliminate sugar from our diets, but once in a while I run into a situation where I can't quite figure out how to eliminate the sugar completely (*see last week's post on cinnamon rolls!* haha)  Today was one of those days.  I woke up this morning to the reality that I should have grocery shopped three days ago.  I have been putting it off for days and it finally came back to bite me! We were out of milk and we were out of eggs so the breakfast pickings were instantly slim.  Waffles? nope.  Pancakes? nope.  French toast? nope.  Coffee cake? maybe......  Since my choices were limited to 1) come up with a desperate variation on coffee cake or 2) go grocery shopping first thing in the morning, I opted to try my hand at coffee cake.  And that is how this coffee cake receipe came to be!  I thought I would share it here in case any of you find youselves in a poorly stocked kitchen at some time in your future ;-)

Empty Cupboard Coffee Cake

Topping

1/2 c brown sugar
1/4c flour
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsp butter
1/4c oats

Cake

1 1/2 c water
1/3 c dairy powder
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla
1 c vegetable oil
2 1/2 c flour
2/3c sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Directions

1- Preheat oven to 375 F
2- Mix the water, dairy powder and vinegar in a bowl and leave to curdle
3- Mix the brown sugar and flour in a small bowl, grate in about 1/3" cinnamon stick and then cut in butter until "crumbs" form.  Mix in oats.
4- Add oil and vanilla to milk mixture
5- Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to milk mixture
6- Mix batter well and pour into 9x13 baking dish
7- Sprinkle cinnamon sugar topping over batter
8- Bake for 35-40 minutes

It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself! And as an added bonus, when Big-Bug came to the kitchen to find out what we were having for breakfast and heard it was coffee cake he ran down the hall hollering "YAY!! We're having COFFEE CAKE!!"  Haha.

Flooding in the Valley

Yesterday morning we woke up to find this outside our window.

Yes, that is the creek that runs on the far side of the lot next to ours.  It overran its banks during the night and over took our street!  Since our house is on a hump, we luckily stayed dry, but we were a little worried there for a while.  I walked across the field to see the extent of the flooding and saw that the water level of the creek was about 4-5 feet higher than normal. 

Our neighbors who sit at a lower elevation than us have sandbagged their houses as you can see from the photo. 

I also walked around to the back of our lot to check the level of the second creek (the one that runs behind our fence) and saw that the water level was about twice as high as ususal, but it had not yet escaped its banks.  The nutria (an invasive water rodent that lives in the streams) were having a hay day and were swimming back and forth up the stream while I watched. 

We were able to get out of our street to take Big-Bug to school, but the district called families halfway through the day and asked everyone to come get their children due to the rising water levels (I had already picked Big-Bug up at that time since he is in the am kindergarten class.)  When I drove up to the school for pick up the school grounds were (relatively) dry, but the storm drains were erupting like fountains in the intersections! It was pretty crazy.

Around our town, other families have not been as lucky.  An entire town to the south east of us was evacuated yesterday as water levels rose.  A town to the east of us has a lot of water over their roadways (although I read it is receding today) and our downtown area has been expriencing a lot of flooding.  The city has been updating a google map documenting road closures and there were 35+ noted in town last night. All of this flooding has been the result of heavy rain, runoff and overfilled creek beds.  Today it is forecasted to rain another inch and the Willamette River is predicted to breach its banks and reach 100 year flood levels by 4pm today.  This will result in a lot more flooding throughout down town and the surrounding areas.  A 100 year flood map was published this morning in the newpaper and I was nervous to see a few close friends of mine live in areas that are expected to be impacted by the Willamette today. 

On a side note -something I have been seeing a lot of on the news sites is a misunderstanding of the term 100 year flood.  A lot of people seem to think it means a level of flooding that has not occured for 100 years.  This term actually refers to a flood with a water level that only has a 1% chance of being equalled or exceeded in a single year.  So if you are reading this, please give the police officers and the reporters a break - they actually DO know what they are talking about ;-)  (see, my natural resources degree DOES pay off every now and then! haha)

Three Words...

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls.

That is all :)

Been a While!

*whew*  where did the last month and a half go?! 

December turned into a super busy month for us (no big surprise there I suppose.)  The first week of December I coordinated a family game night at Big-Bug's elementary school.  This turned out to be a monumental task that involved countless hours of prep work, much coordination with other groups and a LOT of table assembly.  It was further complicated by my husband's out of town business trip that happened to overlap with the fun night, meaning I had all three bugs in tow the entire day!  In the end, I would say the event was a success.  Many families attended, people seemed to be enjoying themselves and there was a nice write up in the student news paper the following week as well.

The second week of December was Baby-Bug's two year birthday party.  We hosted at the house this year and went with a hungry caterpillar theme. I was trying hard to learn towards healthier food options, so a hungry caterpillar party with an emphasis on fruits was a winner! We put out a spread of food that had each of the food items mentioned in the story (minus the salami and the leaves) and it seemed to go over well.

We had apples, pears, plums, oranges, watermelon, strawberries, swiss cheese, summer sausage, miniature chocolate cake bites, mini cherry pies, mini cupcakes, lollipop sugar cookies and icecream cone cupcakes.  The kids made a few caterpillar crafts as well - clothespin butterflies, thumbprint caterpillar bookmarks and egg carton caterpillars.  We also had a basket of caterpillar antennas for each of the kids to wear at the party, it was a pretty fun day!

That same night we attended a holiday parade in town and were able to bring both sets of grandparents with us as well, which was an extra treat!

The third week of December was the annual holiday get together with my mom's side of the family.  This is always a great time, but it also a four hour drive away!  Because of the drive, the party turns into a weekend event, which is extra fun - but also adds a little chaos.  This year we decided to really pack the schedule and aside from attending the party we also met a friend for coffee, visited my Grandmother and delivered a Christmas gift to a friend...all in a 36 hour window.

We had to leave on Saturday night this year instead of staying the whole weekend because Big-Bug and Middle-Bug were in a Christmas program at church on Sunday night.  This was their first ever Christmas Pageant and they were absolutely adorable dressed up like angels, singing Christmas songs :) 

During that same week, we also attended our fantastic playgroup's annual Christmas Party. This year was special because we held it in a local coffee shop that is designed to be kid-friendly.  But this isn't just any kid-friendly coffee shop! It is a brand new shop that was opened by one of our very own playgroup mamas and her husband! They were so generous to open their place to us after hours, and they even provided drip coffee and herbal teas for the party. We really enjoyed our evening with wonderful friends - and the kids had an amazing time playing with their buddies and of course gorging themselves on holiday cookies, fudge, taffies, chocolates, etc.

The fourth week of December was Christmas of course, and we were lucky enough to be able to host my in-laws AND my sister in-law this year :)  We had a lazy Christmas morning opening presents, eating cinnamon rolls and bacon and testing out the new video game santa delivered - lego star wars III for the wii! Once the family arrived that afternoon the bugs headed out with their daddy, grandparents and auntie to test out their brand new Christmas bikes!  They had a blast riding up and down the street.  I started the dinner prep inside and kept it simple this year (I was so proud of myself for reining it in!!)  I made roast beef with oven roasted tomatoes, citrus mashed yams, bread stuffing, bacon wrapped green bean bundles, stuffed mushroom caps and roasted Brussels sprouts with pecans!  I also served shrimp cocktails for an appetizer and my mother in-law brought her signature English Trifle for dessert....we can't have Christmas in this family without it!



mushrooms didn't last long enough to make it into the photo! lol

The fifth weekend in December we headed to my parents' house where we celebrated Christmas with my parents and my sister. The boys had a great time seeing their Auntie and really enjoyed the time with their grandparents.  On new years eve my parents stayed with the boys while My husband and I escaped for a rare night out!  We went for dessert and martinis at a local brewery and had a nice time chatting without kiddie distractions :)  We made it back to my parents' before midnight and settled in to play a HILARIOUS game of "Quelf" with them before toasting each other into the new year.   I have never laughed at a game so hard in my life...I was honestly in pain from laughing.

On new years day we headed further north to spend some time with my husband's parents at their annual new years day gathering.  There was an amazing spread of food to be sampled and a house full of friends and holiday cheer.  The kiddos were in 7th heaven playing with their daddy's old legos and watching a marathon of disney films.  It was a great way to start the new year!

The first weekend of January....we were out of town AGAIN!  This time staying with my parents once more as well celebrated my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary!  They are such an amazing couple and have always been a touching example of the way devotion, tender love and a sense of humor can build an unshakable marriage. We have been so blessed to have them as role models in our lives.

While we were at the anniversary party, the Bugs had a chance to play a LOT with their second cousins. There was a great grassy area perfect for Star Wars reenactments and a big friendly, gentle horse on the other side of the fence who was eager to be pet and have carrots fed to him.

This week has been relatively calm considering the past couple of months, but we have still been running pretty solid.  Baby-Bug had his two-year check up, we have had a couple of fun play dates and my womens' bible study group has started back up after their holiday break.  Oh - and did I mention I am planning the second family fun night at Big-Bug's school? :)  Yeah...that one is a real energy drainer for sure! The event itself is going to be held next Friday night and I have three local science clubs and a local astronomy club coming to set up experiments for the students to watch and the astronomers are setting up telescopes and facilitating star gazing in the school field.  It's going to be amazingly fun for the kids, but boy am I exhausted!

There is only one more fun night on the school calendar this year and I am planning a family read-in in the gym.  Everyone will bring their own blankets/pillows/sleeping bags/bean bags/etc and all I will need to coordinate and supply will be cocoa and coffee and books to read :)  *whew*

So much fun and so little time!!

Disneyland!

So things have been absolutely crazy around here the past two weeks!  When Big-Bug's school break started two weeks ago, we packed up the car and took the boys for their first trip to Disneyland :)  We decided to drive so we would have more control about rest periods, meal times and potty breaks and we were really glad we went that route.  We made it to Sacramento our first day of driving and then were able to make it to Anaheim by about 3:30 in the afternoon the following day.  That first evening we explored downtown Disney (which was new to me!) and enjoyed dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  The boys declared it to be "the best restaurant in the world." After dinner we spent some time in the gigantic Lego store where the boys each made a custom mini, it was super fun!

Some of the highlights from the actual Disney park days were the Buzz Lightyear astro-blasters (which we had to ride twice,) star tours (which the big boys had to ride twice as well) and the pirate's lair on tom sawyer island!  I think the boys could have spent the entire three days running around the pirates lair and would have been perfectly contented :)  We also watched the Jedi training academy, which was a fantastic show and enjoyed some mandatory churros!  We had some amazing luck meeting the actual Disney characters themselves; time and time again we were in the right place at the right time.  We were able to get photos of the kids with Mickey and Minnie, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Rabbit, Tigger and Eeyor and Mr Incredible! We also saw one of tinkerbell's fairy friends (who Big-Bug informed me is named Vidia) and she waved to the boys - but the meet and greet line was 45 minutes long (!!!) so we decided to pass her by :)

The first night we came back to the park after dinner to watch the holiday firework show.  We had a great view of the fireworks going off above the castle (which was all decorated for Christmas) and when the show ended it suddenly started snowing all up and down the main street of Disneyland.  It was fake snow of course, but the kids didn't know the difference and it was so sweet to see the faces of all the little ones as they gazed up at the snowflakes and tried to catch them :)  That was definitely some tangible "Disney magic" and you could have heard a pin drop in the crowd, even the adults were swept up in the spirit of it all.

On the second night we left Disneyland and took the kiddos to a surprise dinner at Medieval times! This turned out to be the favorite part of the whole trip for my husband and myself.  The acting and horsemanship was unbelievably amazing (and the "feast" was delicious as well!) I would 100% go back to Medieval times again (in fact, I can't wait to go again!)  The boys loved it too and were completely swept up in to the fantasy of it all - I genuinely think they believe they met real knights :)

On our third and final night in Disneyland we watched the holiday parade.  We ended up with great seats right in the front row and the parade was fantastic! Baby-Bug was hollering out and pointing to different characters as they passed by "mick mouse!" "buzz bybeer!" and Big-Bug and Middle-Bug were amazed by the marching toy soldiers and bouncing snowmen :)  We stayed late that third night finishing up some rides in California Adventure and said a fond farewell to the castle on our way back to the hotel.

After two more days on the road (and a lot of holiday traffic!) we arrived back home the night before Thanksgiving.  We spent a quiet holiday at home and enjoyed a traditional turkey dinner, just the five of us.  I made my first-ever batch of homemade dinner rolls and was very proud of them :)

That night I headed into work at 11pm to be ready for our store's midnight opening for the black Friday sales.  It was an interesting experience for me, having never worked or shopped black Friday before - but I don't need to do it again :)  Working a ten hour night shift when you are used to working days is a hard adjustment! (Especially hard when the break room is stocked with tang instead of coffee!!!  Tang?! Really?!)

So now we are trying to catch up from all the business of the past two weeks (lots of laundry waiting for me!) and we are settling back into the school routine.  My husband has a business trip this week, and I am putting on a Family Fun Night at Big-Bug's school on Friday, then it's Baby-Bug's second birthday and Christmas soon after...so December is going to be another fun, busy month!

Early Morning Games with Baby-Bug

This morning Baby-Bug managed to take down the baby gate that normally keeps him out of the main living area of the house during the night.  Since he is a pro at unlocking and opening the doors, we like to have some extra security insuring he is not doing any traveling while we are sleeping at night! I guess those peaceful nights have come to an end!

Luckily, after he removed his baby-gate, he just came in to say good morning to us and snuggle a little.  While we were lounging around, Baby-Bug started playing the silliest little game.  He would point to me and ask "what your name?" "My name is Mommy," I would respond "What's your name?"  He would grin really big and say "My name ummmm.....PIZZA!" We went through this exchange probably two dozen times and it was so hilarious!

Later this evening I was changing his diaper and he looked up at me and asked "What's your name?" "My name is Mommy," I told him "what's your name?"  "My name ummmm.....HOT DOG!" he said, then he started over again "My name ummmm.....PIZZA!" he said the second time, then started in again.  "My name ummmm....HAT!" he said the third time.  Then he pulled his ball cap over his face, peeked out and shouted "PEAK A BOO!"

It is so much fun to see more and more of his personality as he gets older. He has such a sense of humor! :)

Feed the Birds

Earlier this week one of the mommies in our play group hosted a bird feeder making play date for the kids.  We weren't able to attend, and I was so disappointed!  I asked my friend if she would share her directions with me so I could still do the craft at home with the boys and she showed up this morning with not only the directions (which were super cute!) but also an entire kit of supplies all the way down to pre-cut ribbon for hanging the finished feeders!  She is so thoughtful!

So this afternoon I set the card table up on our patio and the kiddos got to work making bird feeders and selecting which branches to hang them on (we only have one tree in our yard and one large lilac bush, so their options were limited haha!)  They really go into it and have been sitting in the yard ever since, waiting for the birds to come ;-)

It was a prefect fall day to play outside!  Chilly, but beautiful.

Halloween was a Blast!

This year we had the ultimate halloween experience (meaning it stretched for days and days! haha)  We started the festivities with an All Saints carnival at church, which was the boys' first "real" carnival experience.  They had so much fun fishing for prizes, tossing bean bags and participating in a "sucker walk." There was even a station to decorate your own sugar cookies, which the boys really got into.  Middle-Bug was a little intense about his frosting, he had to make sure it was perfectly smooth and completely covered his cookie, so he sat at the table for a long time working on his masterpiece!

After church the next morning we attended a traditional halloween party at a friend's home.  She invited a lot of the families from our play group, so the kids had a ton of fun with their buddies and the adults had a ton of fun visiting too!  There were some yummy snacks at the party (as always with our group!) A delicious cabbage salad, adorable jackolantern quesadillas, home made bat shaped tortilla chips and or course - my monster eyeball deviled eggs ;-)

Amidst all the celebration, we also found time to carve our pumpkins!  This year was a lot of fun because we let the older boys draw a face on their pumpkin and then we cut the face out for them like a stencil.  Their creations ended up super adorable!  Baby-bug got really into the fun and seriously enjoyed munching on the carving scraps....it must have been tasty!

On Halloween day Big-Bug went off to school while I took Middle-Bug and Baby-Bug to a play date in their costumes :)  It was so much fun to see all the other little ones all dressed up!  That night we took the boys for some mandatory trick-or-treating.  They had so much fun and Baby-Bug was hilarious.  Once he understood the concept (knock, say trick or treat, get candy) he was extremely enthusiastic!  He said "trick or treat" at every house and would holler "THANK YOU!" or "Happy Halloweeeeeeen!" as we walked away.  Adorable!

A nice, dark, foggy night for trick or treating!

We let the boys enjoy their candy for a few days and then we told them about the "switch fairy" who is building a castle out of candy and will trade kids a surprise for their halloween candy.  The boys thought that sounded fantastic (although Middle-Bug had a few reservations) and that night they left their candy buckets on the front porch for the fairy to the find.  In the morning they ran out to the porch to find their candy was gone and they each had a new transformer instead as well as a copy of "Rio" for the three of them to share.  It worked out really well, so well in fact we are going to try leaving the buckets out the night after halloween next year :)

What a Busy Day!

We had such a fun, busy day yesterday!  We took the boys to the pumpkin patch with some of our friends from playgroup in the morning.  It was a little cold when we first arrived, but it was actually pretty comfortable weather-wise while we were there :)  There were so many fun things for the kids to do, there was a big mesh cage filled with rubber balls and a sort of castle wall built out of hall bales for the kids to mock-battle (this was also fun for the grown-ups! hee hee)  There was also a huge hay slide with sleds for the kids to ride on the way down, a zip line, pumpkin tether balls, an awesome (LONG!) hay ride, a barrel train with a speed-demon driver and these long irrigation tubes the kids could roll balls down like a chute.  Aside from the kiddo activities, there was also a 10 acre corn maze that we did not venture into, we probably would have been there all day if we did!

After the pumpkin patch we headed to a friend's house for a birthday celebration! It was super fun with an amazing food-spread and yummy hot apple cider!  The boys had a ton of fun having balloon-lightsaber battles with their friends, running around in the sunny backyard, and watching a little star wars!  We always have a great time with our buddies!

We weren't able to stay for the whole party because we had over-lapping parties that day (what are the odds!) so we hopped back into the car and headed to another friend's house! We arrived about an hour late, but this was a "science party" and we showed up just in time for the experiments!  The big boys got to build baking soda volcanoes, make slime, create pudding masterpieces, and blow off soda bottle geysers!!  They had a blast!  They even each received their own lab coat, ID badge and clipboard to conduct their experiments, it was super cute :)

We made it back home in time for dinner and the kids couldn't stop talking about all the fun things they did that day.  I agree, it was an awesome fun day - but I am really glad we have a wide open schedule after church this morning!!

The sick germs have left the building!

So last weekend I came down with something nasty! This rarely happens to me, but I was laid out pretty flat on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately for me I had to work on Friday night!  I managed to make it through my little three hour shift, but there were a couple times I was kneeling down to pick up items off the floor and I honestly wondered if I was going to have the energy to get back up! haha  Saturday morning I woke up feeling worse! (imagine that) I had a bad feeling it was strep throat, so I drug myself to the Dr for a test and sure enough, it was strep!  I can't believe it still, something like 90% of strep throat cases occur in kids 15 and under - I thought I was well past my strep throat years!!  I came back home equipped with penicillin and locked myself up in the bedroom to wait out my 48 hours of contagious time so I didn't share the love with my husband or the kiddos.  That's the bad news.  Since I was contagious and super sick, I also had to miss my Grandmother's 90th birthday celebration that day as well as a fun night out with my girlfriends to celebrate two of their birthdays that same night.  That's the other bad news!!

The good news is - my self imposed quarantine WORKED and a week later, no one else in the family has come down with any sore throat or fever symptoms. Yay!!  The other good news is I am back to feeling like my fantastic self again ;-)  But the best news of all is I got super sick THIS month, instead of NEXT month when we will be in Disneyland *whew* The kids also all had a pretty yucky head cold last weekend and early this week, so we are hoping that will ensure their good health for the trip as well!  All we need to do now is get our flu shots and we should all be in business!! *fingers crossed*

Officially Enamored

When we moved to our town about four years ago, I went through the dreaded process of finding a new pediatrician for the kids.  I HATE moving to a new town and trying to find a person I feel I can trust with the health of my children. Moving to a place where we didn't know anyone else compounded the problem, because I couldn't even ask for reliable recommendations from friends or family.  In the end, we found the clinics that were in network with our insurance and took a wild stab in the dark.  I can actually remember calling the clinic to make the boys' new patient appointments.  The receptionist listed off four physicians who were accepting new patients at that time and asked me who we wanted to see.  I picked the doctor with the most interesting name :)

Over the years we have thanked our lucky stars on numerous occasions because our pediatrician has turned out to be the ideal doctor.  He is great with the kids and really pays attention to them when they have something to say, he relates to parents unbelievably well because he has three young children of his own and most importantly - he is willing to settle in and listen to your concerns and answer any questions you might have.  He never makes you feel rushed or unimportant.

Before today I would have described my feelings towards the kids' pediatrician as "appreciative," "grateful," "impressed," "relieved."  But today, I have officially become enamored.

And here's why:

Middle-Bug had his fourth birthday last week and today I was taking him in for his annual portrait.  We always go to a photo studio in the mall down town and have typically had a pretty good experience with them.  Today was unfortunately an exception, but that is a story for another day.  Towards the end of our photo session today, Middle-Bug went to sit down on a small stool in the waiting area.  When he sat on the stool it tipped over backwards and Middle-Bug cracked his head on a table top on his way to the ground.  He instantly started to cry and I went over to inspect the damage.  When I got close to him I could see that he had actually split his head open and was bleeding quite a bit!  The employees at the studio were swarming all around us, one called an ambulance (probably a bit of an over reaction) one brought paper towels, one brought an ice pack, one brought stickers for all the kids and started entertaining Big-Bug and Baby-Bug and one ran to the back to print our photos out at no charge.  In hind sight their response was so smooth, I wonder how many times they have been through this drill!

When the fire crew arrived they took a look at Middle-Bug's head, asked me a few questions about his mental status (which was fine) declared his injury safe enough for private transportation and then I signed some wavers so I could take him to be seen in my own vehicle. The EMT who did the exam recommended the urgent care facility at the local hospital rather than the ER because the wait time is shorter, so I packed everyone back up into the car, called my husband and told him what was going on and then headed to urgent care.  When we got there I unloaded all the kids (and Middle-Bug's ice pack!) and we headed across the loooong parking lot to the entrance.  Unfortunately when we got to the door there was an employee standing outside who asked me if we had an appointment.  WHAT?!  An appointment for urgent care?!  She said if we really wanted to we could come inside, but we most likely wouldn't be seen today.  I asked her where else we should go and she (very rudely!!) said "another urgent care I guess."  *sigh*  So I packed everyone BACK to the car again and called the boys' doctor to see if he could recommend another local urgent care.  They told us to come right in and the doctor could do any necessary stitches/staples himself.  By this point of course, I was pretty shaken up and was trying my best to keep from breaking down in tears while I was on the phone and it was such a comfort to finally feel like we had a solution.

We drove the short distance to the clinic, checked in at the reception desk and were immediately seen!  Their doctor checked Middle-Bug over from head to toe, decided his (extremely minor) head wound was already clotting and sealing up so well he didn't want to mess with stapling it and opening the wound back up, checked his ears and nose and throat for swelling and determined that Middle-Bug was in fact Wolverine.  (To Middle-Bug's unending delight)
This awesome doctor has seen us through an electrical shock, a knocked out tooth, a broken arm, infant hernia surgery, a super-sprained foot and now....a (minor) head wound, each time in a way that has made the experience feel comfortable and safe. I mean seriously, could there BE a greater pediatrician on the planet!!

Chicken Pot Pie and What a Day!!

My husband has been out of town the past two days on a business trip.  This is always a challenge for me because it means "Daddy" isn't here to distract the kids while I take care of certain tasks like brushing the kids' teeth at bedtime or cleaning up the kitchen after dinner.  Without that distraction, the kids are left to entertain themselves (something they are very good at doing) and I regularly find myself with twice the mess to clean!

Luckily, these past two days have actually been pretty smooth.  I was able to get Big-Bug to school on time both days, even with the littler bugs in tow.  We had a successful trip to the grocery store all together and I was even able to take care of some banking and finish picking up decorations for Middle-Bug's birthday party this weekend!  On the home front, I caught up on the laundry, cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom and managed to stay on top of the toy clutter (for the most part.)  I was feeling very accomplished and decided I was going to have the house in pristine condition by the time my husband came home this evening.  I had such a good head start on the cleaning I felt like I also had time to make something extra tasty for dinner!  Since I had leftover roast chicken in the fridge, it seemed obvious to do a chicken pot pie.

Lately the bugs have been turning their noses up at veggies, so inspiration struck this afternoon and I decided to make three miniature pot pies (one for each kiddo) as well as one regular pie for my husband and myself.  It took a little longer that way, but I let each child fill their own pot pie with a custom mix of peas, corn, carrots, celery and chicken in the hopes that it would encourage them to actually eat at dinner!  When the pies were stuffed, I added the gravy and then carved each of the bugs' initials onto the top of their pie before popping them into the oven. 

Personal Pot Pies!

I carved a tree into mine, but the kids told me it doesn't look like a tree! haha

I could leave it at that and have you all thinking I had a productive, blissful two days followed by a night of creative cooking and some quality bonding time with the bugs...but instead I will tell you the whole story.  The whole story being that while I was rolling out pie crusts this evening I asked the bugs to please clean up their toys in the living room.  The three of them went right to the living room and I could hear them having a good time together and smiled to myself, thinking they were doing such good work.  Unfortunately, when I peaked around the corner to check on their progress, I discovered they had not been cleaning at all.  Instead, they had been shredding a roll of toilet paper all over the living room.  Yep.  Since I was in the middle of pot pie prep, I couldn't do a whole lot about it aside from confiscating the remainder of the roll and telling the kids they needed to clean up the mess they made. 

A few minutes later, the bugs were chasing each other up and down the hall and into the bedrooms playing some form of pirate game.  At this point, my anxiety level had already been raised, but I could hear little snips of phrases like "which room should be the ship and which one should be the island?" "You take this map and I'll take this one" so everything seemed to be going alright again (with the exception of the shredded paper that was still littered all over the living room floor.)  Suddenly Middle-Bug let out a frantic holler and began to cry and call for help.  I dropped everything in a flash and raced down the hall to see what was wrong. I found Middle-Bug wedged between his closet door and the chest of drawers inside the closet "I'm stuck I'm stuck!" he cried.  I could see right away that all he had to do was turn his head to the side and he could fit right back out the way he went in, but Middle-Bug was so hysterical it took me a while to calm him down enough to understand my directing.  Once he finally emerged unharmed (thank goodness!) I realized Baby-Bug was no longer in the room observing the spectacle.  My mind instantly shot to the unmanned kitchen with it's pre-heating oven, unattended chopping knife and vulnerable pot pies!  I raced back down the hall just in time to see Baby-Bug snatch the open bottle of vegetable oil off of the counter top (what was I thinking!) and take a huge swig, pouring oil all over his shoulder, down his chest and back and onto the floor at the same time.

At that point Baby-Bug was sponged -off and buckled into his high chair for the remainder of dinner prep, and the older Bugs were sent to work cleaning up the mess they had made of the living room (and thankfully, they did clean up this time.)  A little while later the pies were ready and I pulled them out of the oven, carefully popped the Bugs' pies out of their tart pans and dinner was served!  The kids were pretty proud of their creations and spent a while congratulating themselves on being "master chefs."  Then they spent a little while fantasizing about all the things they plan to cook next "I'm going to bake the bread tomorrow morning" "I'm going to put the peanut butter on the sandwiches" "I'm going to do the jelly!" Next they fantasized about turning our house into a restaurant "We can call it pumpkin halloween house restaurant!" "We can invite our friends to eat at our restaurant!" "We'll need decorations!" Finally they picked at the crust on their pot pies...then they asked to be excused.  *sigh*