Sushi Mama

First day of school!

2009-09-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

First day of school! Both of them were very excited. First picture, little man, so ready to go!.

Second picture, well, little girl ready too! Although hers started in the afternoon.

Third picture, so proud of my little man, waited exactly where I asked him to, and he was so happy to see us!

2009-08-18T22:47:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a bit. Nothing much new. Starting to gear up for the school year. So many transitions will have to be done. This will definitely be busy. Minor news, haven't had new glasses in.... oh 7 years or so. I really only needed them for driving, but lately, my eyes started to hurt if I drove for too long. Finally went to get them checked. My prescription went up a tiny bit and I decided on funkier frames for a newer look and here it is!

Con Familia

2009-08-09T20:38:00.001-07:00

My uncle and aunt passed through this area last week. Haven't seen them in years, so we went to meet up with them in down town Seattle for dinner. Auntie Beth and Uncle Melvin John don't have grandkids yet so they were trying to lure our kids back to California with them. My son was getting bribed with promises of attending football and baseball games by my aunt. We had a blast, talked about growing up on the island and memories. My uncle was basically a teenager while I (and a lot of my cousins) were elementary school age. We laughed about all the stuff he and his age group made us do. Funny to talk about and remember, but thinking about it, kind of surprised I survived my childhood. I remember once him and my other uncle put me in a large towel and them holding both ends, swung me around and upside down using centripetal force to keep me in the towel. They got beat for that particular one.....

Heat wave break through

2009-08-09T20:31:00.001-07:00

Last week had a heat wave. So, since Hubby was off of work, we all went to the beach together. Very rare that we would CHOOSE to go into the water in this area! Considering though the temperature got up to the lower 100's it was definitely time to do so.

Sequim Trip to Lavender Fields

2009-07-29T23:42:00.000-07:00

Went on a little Ferry boat ride to Sequim to look at lavender fields. And we saw plenty. Kids had fun on the boat ride. They ate white chocolate lavender ice cream and lunch was a great Mexican restaurant.

It was very warm though, got up to 100 degrees. So, towards the end, we had the kids run through the sprinklers at the last farm we visited.

Tooth time

2009-07-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

Girlie pants turn. She just lost her second tooth yesterday morning.

Quicky update

2009-07-08T22:42:00.001-07:00

RAH! Little man lost a tooth. He kept saying that he didn't want me to pull it out because it would hurt. I told him it wouldn't. While he was grimacing, I grabbed it with a napkin and yanked. He was surprised and happy that it didn't hurt at all. Forget the fact that I pulled his first 4 wiggly teeth out the same way.

July 4th, MORE photos.

2009-07-04T23:40:00.001-07:00

Just in case you couldn't get enough of our kids.... here they are again.

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T23:26:00.000-07:00

Late at night, and of course, kids can't sleep from the noise. Hubby and little man just got back from watching fireworks near where we live. Girly and I stayed home and did hand sparklers. Kids got fed a late snack of angel food cake, homemade whipped cream and strawberries. Plus, went back outside for more sparklers.

Monster Zucchini!

2009-07-04T23:24:00.000-07:00

So, already had first crop of 5 zukes for stirfry a week ago. And already I can pick more. Aren't they cute? And yes, they are yellow ones.

Garden Update

2009-06-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

I decided to post a bit of an updated image from the garden. This was taken a few days ago. It's pretty much crowded now. I have a tomato forest and I think the zucchini are looking monstrous. This was pretty much my, "How much can I squish into this small corner" project. In case you forgot what it looked like when I started, see below.

Hubby's Birthday... continued.

2009-06-22T20:10:00.001-07:00

For his birthday dinner, we had grilled short ribs and rice. For dessert, I made a pineapple upside down cake with coconut glaze paired with home made coconut ice cream.

Shhhh... Hubby's Birthday....

2009-06-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

The kids are coloring a banner for Daddy. This, of course, will stay up for days, maybe even a couple of weeks from today. Every time I have to wheedle them to take stuff like this down, BUT it is all in fun. Girlie pants has been repeating over and over.... "Daddy's birthday? Going to Applebee's!!!" Since hubby mentioned it last week. I guess we are going for dinner with another get together this Sunday evening for grilling with extended family. Yipee, no cooking for Mommy tonight!

Beach

2009-05-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

So, we went to the beach. No wind, so, no kites. But, Daddy and little man went for a round of rock skipping lessons. Girlie and I looked for shells. Ran around a bit. A few pictures. As you can see, girl didn't really want to pose...at ALL.

Kite Flying Gas Works Park.... Attempted

2009-05-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

So, today is Memorial Day, and daddy is off. We think it would be a great day to venture into the city. We load up on snacks like apples and kettle corn and go to a park called "Gas Works Park in an attempt to fly kites. We have flown kites before, with success. We even got a bigger one for little man so that it will catch more wind. Of course, it had Optimus Prime on it. Transformers all the way, Baby. Esther's is a more generic ladybug, however it can and does get some height on it. Problem. Today there wasn't much wind. After both Daddy and Mommy attempt to get them skyborn, they fell. They stayed up for all of five minutes after we fought to get them up there, then the wind died. It was still a great day though to hang out, got a lot of sun. Both little man and girlie pants are starting to look a little tan. Thankfully, we passed on some genes that allow them to resist sunburn. Here is Daddy trying to get the ladybug kite airborne.
Some more photos. Daddy took the one with little man sitting on a hill. I think it's a great shot. Here is us, little man took the photo as well as a picture of why it is called "GAS WORK" Park. In the distance, you can see the smoke stack. This is a great park. Hubby likes it too because of all the yachts we can see from the hill. There was one that passed by that apparently had a party on board because we could hear the music from where we were up on the hill. There were quite a few people, lots of dogs, runners, a few younger people playing football, and many others attempting kite flying as well. All in all, a good morning.

Shaping up

2009-05-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

Finally decided to warm up here. We are starting to have blooming stuff in our yard. Here are some iris. Funny story. The first time we got blooms off of the iris (which I got from my sister in law), I only had dark purple flowers. Second time around, a renegade yellow one appeared. This year, there is one that is two-toned. Purple and white. I wish you could see the colors up close. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of fancy camera. Some other flowers that are blooming include a columbine, also known as a granny's bonnet. I didn't have any forethought. It's smooshed between iris. Going to have to move it later. The lilac bush, which I whacked the dickens out of this past fall, is blooming too. There is also a weirdly placed wisteria. It's next to the power pole and always climbs up it. Which is, in my opinion, a fire hazard as well as inconvenient for maintenance people. I wish it was transplant able. It's too big and old though, so I just whack what climbs up the pole.

The part that was really a lot of work is the vegetable and herb corner. NOW there was some major work. I mentioned it before, but here is a rundown of what I have. Herbs: 2 types of basil (green and purple), 2 types of mint (pineapple and apple), chives, cilantro, lemon balm. Vegetables: Corn, pumpkins, 3 kinds of green beans, zucchini, heriloom tomatoes, onions. There is also some sunflowers that my sister in law gave me as well. Hopefully, they thrive and I will have veggies in a few months.

Planting

2009-04-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

So, the big plan is to grow vegetables. Cleaned out corner of the yard. Took a bit of digging, mostly by hubby. I weeded and degrassed and worked in I think 50 lbs of steer manure. If all goes well, in a few months I will have corn, zucchini, tomatoes, beans, sweet pumpkin as well as a few herbs. Here is hoping my thumb is green enough to plant from seeds rather than seedlings like what I did in prior year.

Easter photo...

2009-04-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

Just a quick photo of the kids taken yesterday, since I haven't posted in awhile and people haven't seen recent photo of little man.

Long time no post, first day school!

2009-04-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

So, as most of you know, I have been home schooling our son for the past 2 years. Well, it came to light that our girlie pants needs a little help. Physically, she is 5 and a half, cognitively, 3. She is also needing a bit of speech therapy. So today, was her first day of school. *sob* Since we needed to do this, decided to start little man (who is 7) this coming fall too. Funny thing is, it's a bit backwards, we thought we would be sticking our son in school first. He was a bit confused to why his isn't starting until September. Here she is, first day. No, no separation problem. Told her time to go with the teacher, she barely looks at me, grabs the teacher's hand, waves and says, "Bye, bye, Mommy!".

Birthday Boy and Dirt

2009-01-21T17:52:00.001-08:00

My little man recently turned seven years old. SEVEN! So, we asked a few boys from our neighborhood as well as a friend from church to have some fun at an arcade/pizza place for a get together. After exhausting quarters we had pizza and soda and dessert, opened presents and then capped it off with a round of bumper cars with the parents included. I think the parents screamed louder than the kids.

I was not really in the mood to actually bake a big ole fancy cake for our son's birthday. So, what do I do? Throw some oreos and other shudderingly sweet ingredients together for TA-DA! Dirt cake. It was a big hit with the kids and the parents as well. Who says kids are the only ones who can enjoy a sugar high? When I was making it, got comments like, "Why are you putting coffee (he meant it looked like coffee grounds) in my cake?" And also the, "Why are you putting it in the fridge and not the oven?" He got kicked out of the kitchen after a whole bunch more questions so I could finish in peace.

Next....

2009-01-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

Well, this month is just chock full of birthdays. Recently, our former babysitter, girl on far left, just turned 19. She used to watch our kids, the boy in the red coat and girl in turquoise top. Now that she is older and has a steady job, watching our kids has passed to her sister, girl on far right. The big young man in the center just had his birthday in January turned 15, and his brother next to him also just recently had a birthday this February. Time just flies.

Happy New Year and Stuff

2009-01-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

We got both kids scooters for Christmas, among other things, but yesterday was the first time we could take them out due to the snow. We had them in the front of our house for a little bit, but it was a bit sloped in areas, making it difficult for the little man to get the hang of it. Girlie has 3 wheels, so it wasn't that big of a deal in terms of balancing, if she would only learn how to steer it would be all good.

Since it was hard for them to get a handle on balancing on sloped pavement, we took them to our church parking lot. Which, you can see, still has piles of snow left over. Scootering took a back seat to climbing the last vestiges of the previous snow storm. This is all that was left of THAT. This was our little path from the front door to our cars from last week. Yes, more than a foot.

Sledding

2008-12-22T14:39:00.000-08:00

It's still snowy. Snowed last night, yet again. Hubby supposedly was going to work today, he could not even make it out of the driveway. So, instead, we sledded down a street in our area.

Let it snow, let it snow... okay, you can stop now....

2008-12-18T12:01:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been snowing the past few days. And I do mean snowing. Thankfully, hubby has this week off, so we kick the kids outside to play. Snow in this area is a tad bit unusual, only a few days out of the year, actually. We are at the end of a little culdesac, so there is quite a bit of space for the kids to run around in without threat of cars from the main road. One of our neighbors even has a tiny hill to slide down. Our kids are experiencing quite a different climate than where their parents grew up in tropical weather.

Sugared out

2008-12-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

You see all those cute cookies that are passed around, so pretty, so put together, consumed in one or two bites. What you DON'T see is the work that goes into it.

Just to show you the process, here are a few photos. Here are Girlie pants and little man mixing the batter to "help". Do you realize how hard it is to keep track of how many cups or teaspoons that have gone in when you have 2 little chirpers in the background squealing, "I wanna heeeellllpppp!!" I think I used over 3 pounds of butter in one week. I still want to make a FEW more things for this Sunday for the kids we teach. Then comes the cutting out and rolling out. Flour flour every where for these sugar cookies.

Then of course the cooling and drying of the cookies as well trying to make them all fit on the cookie rack. And finally, after I let girlie pants and little man decorate a few of them, I decorate the rest to give away to neighbors.

Butter is our Fiend, I mean FRIEND.

2008-12-09T20:24:00.000-08:00

Been baking for the holiday season. Started yesterday with more pumpkin apple raisin mini loaves since it was a hit with Hubby and son. Girlie pants wouldn't touch it, but then I called it cake and then all of a sudden it became okay. So, I said to husband that he now has more competition. We are down to 6 loaves from 8. I am hoping some make it to the neighbors before it is gone. Just now finished a triple batch of shortbread. Oh baby, over a pound of butter later.... Tomorrow, if I don't get totally sugar high, next on the agenda is sugar cookies and then after that rice crispies treats. Gee, I can tell already what one of my new year resolutions is going to be.

Pumpkin Mania

2008-11-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

What does one do with pumpkin? Well, lots of things. My wonderful sister in law gave me fresh pre baked and mashed pumpkin puree in convenient little baggies. I already made a batch of pumpkin ice cream and tonight found a lovely pumpkin apple raisin bread recipe (If I had them, I would had added pecans). So, since hubby was out for the evening, I got to baking. The recipe called for one cup of pumpkin puree, no sweat, except, the baggie had 2 cups worth in it. I could either get messy and try to separate out 1 cup, or just double the batch. *Grimace* I doubled the batch. What DOES one do with EIGHT mini (although they really ain't that mini) loaves?!!!! Thankfully, my son likes it. Girlie pants will take some convincing to try anything that isn't a chocolate chip cookie or an oreo. It's really good warm, I am looking forward to eating it with coffee. 2 pumpkin baggies down.... uhhh.... at least 3 more to go. =)

Harvest Party!

2008-11-01T22:39:00.001-07:00

So, we did a Harvest Party at our Church yesterday. My son went Army Ranger (he refused for me to paint his face) and my girl went as a butterfly princess as she liked to call herself (*mutters she still wore it today too) It's all indoors with tons of games and tons of prizes and candies. There was also pizza, corndogs, popcorn, soda and chips for cheap so that weary parents and grandparents didn't have to concern themselves too much with dinner. Considering it gets pretty cold and rainy this time of year, I way prefer trick or treating this way. Here are me and the kiddies. Oddly enough, while walking around waiting for kids to be done with the inflatable slides, had about 3 little kids come up randomly and ask me to "meow" for them. 0_o

Autumn

2008-11-01T22:28:00.000-07:00

Last week went with a group of ladies from my Church to go visit an orchard in Cashmere, Washington. My sweet sister-in-law thought that in recent happenings of stress in my life I needed a bit of a girlie get away so she signed me up. Had a tour of a pear orchard, hay ride, apple tasting, and an outdoor lunch underneath beautiful turning leaves with the smell of ripe fruit dancing in the air. Lunch consisting of apple salad, apple chicken spread, apple pie and apple cider was served buffet style. After that we had a one hour jaunt in the next town of Leavenworth which is Bavarian themed. Fun times. Here are a few tiny pears in the hand of one of the owners. And here is a picture of me and my sister-in-law on the hay ride. We may share the same last name, but appearance wise we are pretty gosh darn different.

Guam Visit

2008-09-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

Went to Guam for about 8 days for my Nanay's, Grandma's funeral. It was a sad time, but she lived a pretty long and full life. That was why I flew back. It was pretty amazing seeing all the relatives there that either have been there or flew back specifically for this occasion. When I think about it, I left the island over 12 years ago. Some things haven't changed, like the weather. Man, it was hot and humid and rainy. But, that is what sustains plants like these orchids that practically grow by themselves. These (which is just one of several varieties) for example were in my Uncle's yard. His wife was the one who raised them but she passed away years ago and they still flourish without any care other than the occasional pruning of dead leaves. It was the rainy season too. Funny, everyone kept telling me not to get wet and to take a shower after getting wet in the rain 0_o. I kept saying, "It's WARM rain for goodness sakes, not cold like where I live now, it really won't hurt me." The flea market hasn't changed either. The place where it is held has been moved, but still the same atmosphere of vegetables, fresh seafood (you know the fish and shrimp is fresh if it is still twitching in the boxes)various clothing, food stalls and people. Plus, the bonus of having to get up at 5:30am to be at the beginning of it.

For all that things have not changed, a lot has changed. For example, some waterfalls that we had to hack through with a machete to get to are now all paved with amusement parks and tourist stalls. What was once free to just walk or hike to now costs money to pass through the gates. *shakes head* My relatives have changed too. Those who teased and tormented me and my cousins growing up now have families of their own and we are the ones doing the teasing to their kids. Regretful that it had to be a funeral to get the majority of us to fly in from various parts of the world, but I am glad I got to spend time with my family. Especially my mom who was the one who took care of "Nanay". Although she is already making plans to visit my sister in Hawaii this December and next year plans to spend weeks visiting me and her "apos" (grandkids) here in Washington as well as visiting some other relatives in California. Looking forward to seeing her soon.

Sunny Days

2008-08-24T20:38:00.001-07:00

My son is really into Trans formers. I mean, very very very into it. So into it that he studies the info and stat sheets that come with the toys. Daddy, who also liked them as a child, feeds this interest. I have learned not to even touch them. Not because my son would get upset, but then he would start to get the idea that Mommy will transform them as well. Yeahhhh I say no. I'll read to you, play games with you, teach you, but don't ask me to mess with the Transformers, you got Daddy for that. Both uncles have also gotten you Transformers, so you don't need Mommy for this part of your interests. Really, you don't. :)

Today, it is pouring. I was actually trying to prune some of my garden and it started to dump. This picture was taken just two days ago. My kids wanted to fill small vases with flowers....like Mommy, so I got them to pull up the dandelions. Too bad they wilted so quick. Hopefully, it stops raining long enough to gather all the clippings together for pickup tomorrow. Soggy leaves, oh joy.

Yes, MORE Lavender

2008-08-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

I still have more lavender. I suppose when one clips it one stalk at a time (pretty tedious but worth it) it encourages new growth. I decided to try my hand at lavender wands. The problem is the variety I have in my yard is more culinary than decorative, hence it seems that the stalks are not that long and the flowers are spread out farther down. So, when I am done weaving (which is taking longer than I thought it would) there is twice as much head length as the supposed "handle" portion. At least this usage of my lavender won't go to my waist.

Of course, got to stick in a recent photo of the kids for all the family and friends who read this. I suppose this replaces mailing everyone individual photos, right?

Family Times

2008-08-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Here are all of our nephews. We had family come to visit, and the one on the left is from Guam, he came with Grandma. To celebrate Grandpa's birthday (he flew in the opposite direction from business in Oklahoma) we went to a local Chinese restaurant for dinner. The three boys thought it would be fun to treat the shanghai rolls as cigars for this photo. It was a very busy dinner. There were 13 of us around the table. Noisy affair with all of us talking over each other and trying to get the younger ones to do what we want. Still, it was delicious.

Also, during the family visits, my brother-in-law had a retirement party and it was pot-luck. I was so excited, I haven't had to cook such a big portion since we left the island. I decided to make "pancit bihon". I made so much that even before the party I gave some away to neighbors. There was so much food and our father and mother-in-law got into providing some islander food as well with "red rice" and "tanak tak" *forgive me if the spelling is off* and coconut cream pie. I kept eating and eating and eating. I really hurt after everything was said and done, but it really tasted good.

Uncle (second oldest on the left) also flew in from New York. Here he is with my kids and my hubby (who is the third oldest). The kids had a blast with him and was asking about him for a week after he had already left. I think my sister-in-law and I influenced him to perhaps get an ice cream maker. We made everything from lavender lemon and rhubarb sorbet. Share the calories, I mean, share the love. :)

Summer

2008-08-07T22:08:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, summer. Well, it hasn't been as hot as it was last summer. Last summer, the inflatable pool came in more handy than not. This time around sprinklers suffice for the hotter days. My girlie pants got a bikini this year. Too funny, she hates to get it wet, so she just played in the fringes of the sprinklers. In other news, my sister and brother in law got me an ice cream maker for my birthday. Maybe because we got them one for Christmas and they wanted to share the goodness of adding 10 more minutes to a personal work out routine? Just a guess. :) Been using it a lot. Let's see here are some examples, made coffee flavored, raspberry/blueberry, and lavendar/lemon twice (the lavendar was even from my garden).

Summer fun! Once it starts to cool down, going to have to start knitting again. REALLY suffering from "start-itis". I start a project then get distracted. I have 2 right now that are just lounging in bags started MONTHS ago. I NEED to finish those before starting on other things floating in my head.

Big Changes

2008-07-09T18:27:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I got the idea to donate my hair to Locks of Love. Of course, when I researched this I had to have it at least 10 inches, no damage... blah blah blah. Finally long enough to cut off. This is me right before my haircut. I mean, literally just 30 minutes before. My sister in law took the picture as I went out the door. Why my sister in law? Because she graciously responded to my last minute request to watch the munchkins since I made a last minute arrangement to cut off my hair. I tend to get an idea in my head and then chomp at the bit to get it done ASAP. Does this make me a tad bit obsessive? Anyway, being like this at times does have it's adavantages, like, no time for regret. Besides okay, it will only take 5 years to grow again, right?

I get home and little man runs down the stairs saying, "Cool hair, Mom." Girlie pants points to my head and says, "Where's my hair?" She gets her possesives mixed up still. Here is what it looks like now. Huge change, right? Thankfully, Hubby approves. I feel a bit light headed, haha.

Totally Random East meets West

2008-06-27T20:37:00.001-07:00

I took this picture for fun a couple of weeks ago and totally forgot about it. As I mentioned before, it's that time of the year where local fruits are in season. We got a bunch of strawberries (on the left durrrr), which is grown locally. A couple of days ago, we hit our local Asian type grocery store for, for, uhm, I forgot what for, BUT I saw some fresh lychees. Most people probably have tried them at Chinese and Japanese restaurants, but those are canned and soaked in syrup. Fresh, they have a rough, somewhat hard yet thin skin, which is easy to peel. The edible part of the fruit itself is white, and it has one pit, like a peach. It's very sweet and has a slippery texture and is a tiny bit firmer than the flesh of say, an apricot (who knew this would be difficult to describe). One interesting side note, if I eat a lot of these on a fairly empty stomach, I start to have the aftertaste of alcohol. I think my sense of smell and taste are a tiny bit above normal.

The ONLY early memory I have of this fruit from back in the Philippines is when I was 15. My dad bought a huge bag from the street market, maybe 3 lbs or so. This is my Grandpa's favorite fruit. Of course, my Grandma told him not to eat too many, he would get a stomach ache. He just kept right on eating and eating and finished almost all of it. He then... of course.... got a stomach ache. Grandma had no sympathy.

2008-06-20T19:36:00.000-07:00

So, for hubby's birthday earlier this month, I was supposed to make one of his favorite deserts, cheesecake. I did not have a spring form pan, so I kept delaying and delaying. Also had several busy weekends and what not. Finally gave up and just put it in a regular pie pan. The recipe was such that it took 2 pie pans rather than one springform. Not that I think hubby will complain about this much. Of course, little man and girlie pants helped prepare by putting the graham crackers in the food processor and little man helped "clean up" the bowl of the cheesecake filling.So here is the result, caramel topped cheesecake with graham cracker pecan crust. I took a picture of one of them. The other is already 3 slices empty.

Farmer's Market

2008-05-31T14:56:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again when fresh produce start coming up. Today we went to the farmer's market in our area and I saw some poppies, at least, I THINK they are poppies of a color I haven't seen before. So, I wanted to take a quick picture. My daughter's hand got caught in the shot and even though it was an accident, ended up looking pretty cute.

We got the usual kettle corn, caramel corn and something new.... shave ice, coconut flavored for the the kids, at least, it was supposed to be for the kids. Daddy and Mommy had some of it. Little girlie wasn't too keen on it, and little man liked it, but the coldness threw him off a bit.

Garden

2008-05-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

The weather is finally nice enough to get a little bit of yard work done. Unfortunately, I have kind of let it "go" for the past 3 years.

I planted a few things the past years, like iris and columbine, some lipstick plants, three types of lavender, gerber daisies and tulips. My upkeep has been sadly lacking. Thankfully, God is forgiving and still blessed me with a few splashes of color despite my neglect. Here are some pictures I took just this morning. I spent an hour and a half and maybe progressed 2 feet in weeding and removing invading grass. I haven't pruned the lilac bush in three years. There were a LOT of dead branches. This thing is flippin' tall, maybe 10-12 feet? Anyway, really tired so I stopped the weeding/ de-grassing of the bed for now. I still have 5 feet by 2 feet to do as well as the corner (roughly 4 feet by 2 feet) were I am removing gravel and MAYBE planning a herb patch.

Transitions

2008-05-22T18:11:00.001-07:00

So, a couple of weeks ago I noticed that little man's lower left front tooth was wiggling. Ah, it's that time to start getting big boy teeth. I told him it will come out and it might bleed and not to worry since it won't hurt. He still seemed concerned, so I told him that when it comes out, we can put it under his pillow and he will get a dollar from the tooth fairy. (When we were kids it was a quarter, inflation, eh?) As soon as I said "dollar", he immediately started tugging on it himself. Motivation, BABY!

Next, we have girlie pants. Thanks to Auntie (Momma Pajama) who got her a tent like net thingee to go over her bed (girlie calls it her "castle in the sky"), it motivated Daddy and me to start to think about how it was time to get our 4 and a half year old out of a toddler bed and into a big girl bed. Since Daddy has been off this week, it just took a tiny bit of his elbow grease to make it happen. So, a daybed frame from the classifieds, brand new mattress, and a trip to the store to get new sheets and comforter and ta-da! Big girl room. Next month, it's little mans turn to get a room update. I was seriously considering camouflage netting for over his bed, hmmmm. We'll see how it goes from there.

Bro and Sis

2008-05-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

So, I decided I haven't posted a couple of new photos of the kids in awhile. So here they are, fresh off the digital camera, taken today. All you parents out there, and those who regularly take photos of kids.... you KNOW how many shots it could take to get them actually looking, smiling AND with their eyes open. As cute as these photos are.... there are many others that didn't make the cut. Thank you God for digital cameras.

April Snow?

2008-04-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

It's supposed to be Spring, correct? Complete with Spring flowers and warmer weather, right? Apparently, the weather didn't get the memo. Even though last weekend was in the 80's, this weekend it is snowing. As I am typing this, snow is melting off my hair. I just had to dash outside to take a few pictures before the light faded. The few tulips that I planted are kind of buried right now. Here is also a picture of the view from my front porch. Yes, that is a holly bush. Although, from it's size it seems more like a holly tree.

Beaded Jewelry

2008-03-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

I WAS going to finish up random knitting and crochet projects stowed in various bags, then I got hold of a book from the library called "Bead Crochet" and had to try out a few of the projects. I have taken a basic class in jewelry making with wire and finding and such, but never thought to combine crochet with beads. This is the result. I am keeping the 2 on the right, I even wore the center one out already to dinner. The one on the left will go to my sister-in-law.

Easter egg gather!

2008-03-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

Last week, a couple of 12 year old girls in our neighborhood decided to organize an egg hunt. They went around asking parents of the neighborhood kids for plastic eggs they could borrow and candy if possible. We live in a culdesac so there isn't random traffic that comes through our driveway. Since all the kids involved were fairly young it wasn't much of a hunt more of an egg gather. Eggs strewn everywhere. I estimate over 200 eggs. Not exaggerating. My girl had the least (she was more interested in opening the ones she had than speeding through picking up more) and she had 22. The "winner" with the most had over 40 eggs. There were about 8 kids participating, so over 200 is decent number to guess with.

2008-03-08T19:34:00.001-08:00

So, well, our almost 10 year old television finally kicked the bucket. What does this have to do with the kids? Well, you see the kids play well together but when they start to irritate each other one or the other watches a show, but, they didn't this week, so their methods of entertaining themselves get a little kooky. This is chicky pie with not one, but BOTH tu-tus on. I was going a little kooky myself with all the refereeing I had to do when they started to annoy each other, finally got another TV. Ahhh a tiny bit of relief.

My not so little shark

2008-02-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

Daddy was big on swimming while he was growing up. Here, we can't exactly just jump in the ocean like back home, so we decided swimming lessons were a good idea for our son. Here is a picture of him in the pool. He's been in for a month and our intentions are too keep going for a few more levels until he can swim by himself confidently. Of course we will get girlie started eventually as well.

Birthday Party Fun!

2008-02-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a long while (sorry family and friends), but there is a good reason for this. The whole family came down with the cough. First Daddy, then little man, then girlie pants. I thought I escaped it, but I was the caboose of the cough train, but here we are 2 weeks later still trying to shake it off and it's getting better.

We had an actual birthday party for little man at a local arcade a week after his actual birthday. We invited a few boys from the neighborhood and church and one of the sisters of the boys came too. There were games and bumper cars and pizza and cupcakes. Hubby was just getting better with the cough, and son was sick and daughter was GETTING sick (see beginning of post) and we almost decided to call it off. But as soon as we told him about what we were planning to do the night before, he kept telling us and himself that he was feeling better. He toughed it out because he REALLY wanted to play with his friends. Positive self talk is a great thing.

Birthdayness!

2008-01-17T22:50:00.000-08:00

Today is our boy's sixth birthday. SIXTH. Goodness, time flies. We didn't really "celebrate" today, that will most likely happen next weekend with a few boys his age, oh so testosteroni! But, of course, I couldn't let the actual day pass without a cake. As you can see, I let them lick the utensils from frosting the cake. Oh joy, like they needed the sugar.

Overly Ambitious?

2008-01-15T20:23:00.001-08:00

Okay, well, I might have bitten off more than I can chew this time. I finished the second scarf, and finished the bandanna (the girl wore the bandanna for maybe 15 minutes and then she went back to the blue one, it was worth a shot). Soooo, hubby's cousin said she is due at the end of February and we found out only recently, so erm, I am hoping I can this done before this kid is born, or at least before his/her first birthday. It's going to be knitted *cries* and that means it will be slower going. Here's hoping.

Will versus Skill

2008-01-12T16:23:00.000-08:00

We have a former babysitter who just turned 18. They also just moved into a new house, so her room is pretty bare. She told me she wanted to get organized. So, to help along I decided to get her a magnet board, but of course, plain boring white just won't do.
Sometimes I get an idea to jazz something up, and it's a battle between my "will" and my actual "skill". This turned out okay. I took the board, covered it with some purple fabric that matches her bed spread and hot glue gunned it. Got fabric ribbon and did the same for the edges. There are one or two tiny spots that show the glue, but nothing major. I found some old buttons and glued those to some magnets (The two spots you see on the board. The back looks like a mess though since I left the edges of the fabric raw, so just going to paint over the loose threads with a sealant. If I was adept/more patient with sewing, I would have seemed the edges first. But, what's done is done.

Like Mother like Daughter?!!

2008-01-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

On days that Daddy is home, Mommy gets to sleep in a bit. Girlie got into bed with me and started saying "pancakes", but that is a different story. ANYWAY, we walk out into the living room (me missing a sock, I still haven't found it yet) hand in hand and hubby's eyes immediately went to our hair. Suffice to say, here our the backs of our heads, in all it's morning bird nest glory. Since you can't really tell from the back, girlie is on the right.

First post of 2008 and sidetracked

2008-01-03T00:46:00.001-08:00

It's only the beginning of 2008 and already became sidetracked. I said I was going to finish scarf and bandanna first, but.... got distracted. Saw some cute pins while surfing blogs and thought I could make one for me. So, I crocheted and felted and had sewn it onto a pin. And.... one become two, became three then four and finally five (The flowers with buttons are connected together). One large one is living on my hat (Think "Paddington Bear"), the one with buttons is living on my purse and the other three are on the way to friends. So, back to the scarf and bandanna....

Cold Weather Knitting

2007-12-30T22:19:00.001-08:00

Cold weather seems to encourage me to knit or to crochet, so I have been somewhat busy doing that. I just finished a scarf to give to my Hubby's friend. Hubby kept hinting, well, hinting is mild, he kept TELLING me how much he wanted it, even though he has 2 that I have already made for him. His rationale, "Well, those are DARK colors, I really like this LIGHT one." I couldn't argue since it was so accurate, so I am half way through an identical one. They will have matching scarves. Okay, together now, say "Awwwwwww". Not that you can see it very well, but I crocheted and felted the bag that my in progress projects are in. It's quite durable and can handle having my knitting needles stabbed into them. Although, in hindsight, bigger would have been better.

This really turned out well, not that you can tell the dimensions, but it is more than 5 feet long not including the fringe and if you stretch it out a bit (since it scrunches due to the ribbing) in terms of width roughly 7 and a half inches. I used 2 skeins Lions Brand Yarn Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in the color "wheat". If interested, here are the instructions:

Cast on 21 stitches on size 11 needles (Finished product will differ in size depending on how "loose" or "tight" you knit, adjust needle size to whatever you want your gauge to be).
Knit 3; Purl 3 all the way to the end of 2 skeins. BUT don't forget to reserve some yarn to make fringe. I cut off 42 pieces for the ends before I started my second skein so I wouldn't forget.
Enjoy the warmth. It's a pretty heavy scarf and it went really quick, about a week since it was such a thick yarn. It will easily wrap around neck twice, yet, if left dangling, goes past your waist, at least it did with me (Shorty alert).

As of now, going to finish off hubby's scarf, and working on a knit bandanna for girl. She keeps insisting on wearing a blue one that was from October's pirate costume, and the lack of girlyness is starting to bug me. It's in cotton, a lot tinier yarn than I am used to, and I plan to embellish it with crocheted flowers. Will it entice her? Who knows, but worth a shot, and if she won't wear it, maybe Mommy will..... inside the house of course.

Christmas

2007-12-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed, or may not, that is, not many people read this blog, yet (hooray for positive thinking that my family/friends will post eventually).... *rambling* I haven't posted for a bit. That is because we have been busy with all the holiday procrastina... I mean PREPERATIONS. *cough cough* Been eating, and decorating, and eating, and wrapping, and eating, and writing, and did I mention eating?

We finally got all the presents wrapped and under the tree last night. My girl cried a week in advance when we first started putting stuff under the tree because she wanted to open the "pwesents" right then and there. Our son kept asking, "whose this for and this one and which one is mine?" over and over. There is a shot of the presents before demolition, and a couple shots of old ornaments with our kid's pictures in them. Of course, there is also shots of the ACTUAL demolition of the gifts. It took the kids less than a minute to rip off all the paper, and it took 30 minutes for Daddy and Mommy to remove all the "stuff" that attached the gifts to their respective wrappers.

From Daddy and Mommy, Little man of course got his transformers and makes the sound effects for them, naturally. He has one figured out, and is having Daddy transform the other one until he gets the hang of it. Girlie pants got stuff for her dollhouse (the dollhouse was a past birthday gift from Auntie and Uncle, lovingly and neurotically painted by Auntie aka Momma Pajama http://momma-pajama.blogspot.com/) From Uncle and Auntie, our son got rubix cube toys, and girl got princess heels (with Daddy looking like he was going to cry when she put them on). From good friends, there was an Ariel book and nightlight and Spiderman school supplies and puzzle. My hubby surprised me with an ipod. Now, I just have to get used to it. They are so tiny, sometimes I feel like I might break it.

We went to a good friend's house for dinner and had a great time. Ate a lot, of course. The two teenage daughters have been baby sitting for us for years now and we have known this family for years, even years before our son was born. How time flies. So, in the group shots with just the "young'uns" it's our kids, our nephews (my husband's brother's two boys) and the two sisters.

Knitted Cowl

2007-12-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

Knitted a cowl, at least, that is what I think it is called. I am not an experienced knitter, I have more dexterity with crocheting. General instructions since I was just playing with this. This is just knit on front, purl on back on needle sizes 2 larger than recommended for yarn you would like to use. Whatever your gauge ends up being, it's roughly a little over a foot wide and I just kept knitting until it would wrap around my shoulders twice with the drape I thought looked good then just joined the edges. It also could go over my head like a hood and still wrap once around the neck, although hubby said to wear it like that I would need very large square sunglasses and a convertible to match. It's very warm and I used it today while giving out plates of cookies to the neighbors (yes, some finally DID make it out of the house).

Shortbread Sea

2007-12-15T09:30:00.001-08:00

Still attempting to put together plates for neighbors. This time, it's shortbread. A whole sea of it. 54 of them to be exact. I baked them yesterday afternoon. We are already 1 dozen less. This is even though the kids didn't touch them. I will put the recipe for them here as well. Traditionally, it calls for just white granulated sugar, but I substituted half of that for powdered. It makes for a slightly crunchier, less crumbly version which I prefer. You can always just use the regular sugar instead.

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
4 cups flour
1 tbsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream softened butter with sugars and vanilla. I find that you can use the mixer to mix first 2 cups of the flour in, after that it's better to add the rest and mix by hand. Roll out and use cookie cutters. Bake for 2o minutes or until light brown. If more than one tray in oven, half way through switch and rotate trays for more even baking. Cool on rack. This makes 54 (4 1/2 dozen) 2 inch diameter round cookies.

Hairy Escapades

2007-12-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

Growing up, my hair was pretty short and I got mistaken for a boy once in awhile. So, to compensate, my girl's hair is a bit long. It is completely straight, I don't think there is any wave or curl whatsoever. However, downside is that it get tangled at night. No, she won't keep ties in, also she burrows under her pillow resulting in, well, THIS. Takes me 15 minutes to brush out. The other picture was taken on the same day. I tied up her hair, and her brother thought it would be great to clip on every clip they could find at one time. They both got a giggle out of it.

Kids

2007-12-13T09:45:00.000-08:00

This is what my kids look like. Big man is going to be 6 in January, and Girlie pants just turned 4. I am going to see if this will work better for keeping my family and friends up to date in terms of updates instead of email. This was taken earlier this year in March after much coaxing and sweat by photographer, Daddy, and Mommy. Of course, you don't see that in the pictures.

Baking Season

2007-12-11T07:55:00.001-08:00

Tis the season to be baking, and I have been. I had these great plans of making these cookie platters for neighbors, make a different kind every few days and put them together at the end of the week. I started out with pecan crusted thumbprints (2 different flavors). I made about 4 dozen. Other than the dozen I gave my brother and sister in law's family, they never made it out of the house. Two days ago, I baked a quadruple batch of orange pecan biscotti, my 5 going on 6 year old son loved them (my 4 year old girl didn't care for them though so at least that slowed down them disappearing), so does my husband and so do I. A fourth of that is gone. In fact, I am wiping crumbs off the keyboard since I just had one with my early morning coffee. Yesterday afternoon, I made a tray of the ever easy, every popular rice crispies treats. A third of that is gone. Do you see a pattern here? Maybe if I just bake larger quantities I can follow through with the cookie platters......

On your mark. Get set. GO!

2007-12-09T14:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess I am going to start to try to catch up to the rest of the world and have a blog. I had one before, but I didn't do anything with it, didn't know how to use it, and basically lost all information to get access to it. My bad. So, I suppose this is a new start. Wish me luck in trying to figure this out. Who knows how it will go?