What to Make

This morning I was feeling like heating the house with the oven so I let my little boy put together some ingredients for granola and we made the whole house smell wonderful. Here's what we did:

1) 4c rolled oats
2) 1c slivered almonds
3) 1c wheat germ
4) 1/2c brown sugar
5) 1/4t salt
6) 1/3c each of oil, honey and water

It's easy, just mix #1-5, add #6 and bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes (stirring every so often to prevent burning. Then when it's all done and cooled on the counter, sprinkle in some dried cranberries to make it extra delicious. To celebrate our marvelous creation, we sprinkled it on yogurt and shared a tasty snack. His first comment? "What can we cook next Mommy?" Maybe my little man is taking after uncle Wally and will some day be a cook!

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful time up in Oregon with family and friends over the holidays. Thank you everyone for your hospitality and generosity. We are very blessed to have such a loving family and great friends.

It was particularly nice to get to see the Nielsen side of the family on Christmas Eve since it has been a couple years since we've seen them. Here's a shot of the whole crew sitting around the Christmas tree at the end of the evening.

The Polar Express

We were delighted last May when Nana suggested that we go on the Polar Express this winter to see Santa before Christmas. It was a great idea for a Christmas gift. We got to look forward to the event all year and when the day finally arrived we were filled with anticipation...
Thank you Nana and Grandpa for the fun time and wonderful memories.

Playgroup Party

Last week we had our Christmas party for the playgroup where we live. We were supposed to wear pajamas but we were headed straight from there to the zoo for the zoo lights so we wore holiday outfits instead. Everyone brought a potluck dish, we decorated sugar cookies, sang carols, played games, did crafts and had a nice morning with our friends. Here's some highlights:

Thankful

During the Thanksgiving season, I am continually reminded on our beautiful mountain, how grateful I am to be able to live in such a beautiful place. Here's some shots from my car as I was driving along the rim today to go visit my friend Jill.

Turkey Day

We had a very nice day last Thursday, when we went to visit family for Thanksgiving. There were about 13 of us there and the day was a blur of good company and good food.

A Surprise Trip North

We spent a few days up in Oregon visiting friends and family on a surprise trip last week. One of the highlights for me was getting to see my niece, Meg, play basketball the night we got there. Even though she is one of the taller ones on the team, she is point guard and has developed some pretty reasonable ball handling skills.
I also spent some time with my BFF, Heidi, making a dress for my little darling daughter for the holiday season. Heidi is more of a seamstress than I am, but I think the dress turned out pretty nice, nonetheless.And finally, the highlight for my husband, was seeing that all of the world is not as crazy as California. There are places, like Oregon, where, if you want to do something, you are allowed to do it. For example, at our house in California, if we want to have a campfire, we have to go to a federal campsite and pay to have a fire but it must be only as big as the ring allows. We are not even permitted here to have a controlled fire in a barrel to burn trash. In OREGON, however, someone still agrees that men should be allowed to be men and that includes playing with fire:

Spoiled

Do I try to uphold any pretense that I do not spoil my daughter? Hmmm....

Nope.

Case in point, here's a couple pics of "girls day" last Saturday when we took her out shopping, then to sushi, then to get pedicures. Let's leave the stereotype comments to your own imagination.Hey, don't judge me. She's an amazingly good kid and I only get to do this once.

"...lest ye be judged" my friends. "...lest ye be judged."

Halloween

Here's a shot of them with a couple of superhero friends, for those of you who didn't get to see my little ballerina and my little bat:

Our New Buddy, Webster

Spider Craft

We made a cute little craft with the kiddos yesterday. First, we took a black paper plate and punched holes around the outside. Then we took white yarn and strung it through the holes back and forth to look like spider webs and to finish it off we glued on some puff ball and pipe cleaner spiders. Here's the finished product for each kid:

Chukar

We went camping last weekend in the desert, looking for Chukar (kind of like a partridge). We had such fun riding around on our ATVs and 4-wheel drives that the pictures just can't do it justice. Here they are anyway...

What to Make

This couldn't be easier. Well, maybe a LITTLE easier, but not much. This morning I realized our apples were about at ripe as they could be without going bad so I made the most simple applesauce recipe ever. First, peel and dice your apples and put them in a pot. Next, add a little water to cover the bottom of the pot. Cook this on medium heat until they are soft and easily mushed. Mush them and add some cinnamon sugar. That's IT! Easy, moderately good for you (depending on how much sugar you add) and a delicious breakfast for the kiddos on a crisp autumn morning.

Legoland

For his third birthday, our little prince was treated by Nana and Grandpa to a day at Legoland. It was just the three of them, which is a neat treat since he usually plays understudy to his big sister. Here's a few of the highlights:Riding a lego train with Nana.Riding a lego helicopter with GrandpaShooting alligators and frogs with a water cannon.
And flying with Nana in a Lego airplane. The boy had a great time and was so excited to bring his sister back with him "next time".

A Night for Racing

We had never been to Irwindale Speedway so when some free tickets landed in our laps we took the opportunity to bring the kiddos to a night of racing. It was a fun evening and the kids were relatively well behaved. Mostly they enjoyed wearing the earmuffs and eating treats. It wasn't until the last race that they really came alive (especially our little guy). Can you guess why? Here he is, all aflutter...
There he is, pointing out the object of his affection (he screamed his little throat out)...
Yep, that's right, the machine, the myth the legend - LIGHTNING McQUEEN!! It was the stroke of pure genius that reawakened the kids' excitement for racing. What a fitting end to an evening of racing under the stars.

Grandma Tanyon's Pool

About a week ago we went down and visited Grandma and Grandpa Tanyon for the night.
The kids were excited to see them and after working in the hot sun all day, Daddy was excited for a little time in their pool. Here he is playing with both kids in the water. Is it that obvious which of the kids is the daredevil? Well then it should be no surprise to you that she swam all on her own for the first time that day. What a big, brave girl.

Thank You Cousin Jess

The kids got these two awesome kites in the mail a couple weeks ago from their cousin Jessica who was on vacation in Bali. Then last weekend when we went camping, their uncle Dennis brought them each a donkey puppet (newly named "Daddy" and "Tulip") from her as well. Thank you cousin Jessica for the gifts. The kids really enjoy playing with them (and luckily mommy's good at untangling them!) They're adorable.

Here's a 2 minute clip of Uncle Dennis's puppet show during camping. It was night so the vision is limited, but my favorite part of the show is hearing the kids giggling in the background. This video features narration by Uncle Dennis, lighting by Nana, and video recording by mommy. The actors are Tulip & Daddy (puppets), Nathan, Daddy, Great-grandma Tanyon and cousin Catie....

A Lost Art

There must have been a time when it was one of the rights of passage for a young man to learn from his father how to clean a fish. Our little man certainly was pleased to get to experience it with his daddy. I'm pretty sure that a large percentage of grown men these days haven't ever even seen it done. Cheers to tradition~

Saddlebag Lake

While on vacation up in Mammoth last weekend we went on a 5 mile hike near Saddlebag Lake. The weather was crisp but beautiful up there at over 10,000 feet. I'm not sure there were really 25 lakes we saw, as the locals claim, but there sure were a lot of them. I was very proud of our little hikers. My little girl hiked almost the whole way with only a few bouts of complaining and her brother hiked about 1/2 of the way, which is awesome for a 3 year old considering he takes 3 steps for one of ours. What a great way to spend time in the great outdoors.

Why He's Insufferable

From time to time I have had people (okay maybe more than "from time to time") tell me that my husband thinks he's so great that he walks on water. In fact once or twice (okay, maybe just once) I've had someone tell me that they think he is so great that he MUST actually walk on water. I have to admit, when it comes to life, he got the lion's share of luck. Well, here's our latest camping trip where he caught upwards of 30 fish in two days. You know that parable where Jesus says "If you give a man a fish he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish he eats forever"? Well, apparently fishing wasn't all Jesus taught him.

Before

Why do I get the feeling that this will someday be used as a "before" picture...

What to Make

This recipe is not for those of you watching your waistlines. Unless of course, you are watching them outgrow your belts.

First, take a pat of margarine and melt it in a skillet. Then saute an onion, chopped fine, until it's aromatic and tan in color. In a seperate bowl, mix together 1/3 c light mayonnaise, and 1/2 c each of cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. Add to the mix some garlic and a few splashes of hot sauce. Add the sauteed onion to the mix and heat through in the oven or microwave (depending on how much patience you have). This dip is good on bread or with crackers or chips. It's not great for you but it sure TASTES great.

I made some last night and shared it with my kids and hubby. I'd like to tell you I only ate 1/3 of it (with the other thirds equally between kids & hubby), but I'm pretty sure that'd be lying.

I Finally Got My Float Pictures

We had a great time on the float this year in Laughlin. Here's the girlies with our animal prints on. Goldie had hers under the tank top, you'll just have to take my word for it. As it turns out, most of the pictures (read: all but 2) are from the day before the float, when we were on lake Mojave. The only other shot from the day of the float was my ridiculous brother...
Oh well. We still got some great pictures on Friday:
The first one is my "little" brother, jumping from the cliff. We all took turns making the leap. Even Goldie showed her character by overcoming her fear and taking the plunge. I was SO proud of you Goldie.

We attached the raft to the boat so people had something to hang onto when they got into the water. Of course, this led to a little mayhem. Note the location of my hubby's foot...At over 100 degrees, we were happy to have the shade on the boat every now and then.
The boys in particular took advantage of the shade.
While we girlies spent more time in the water -By the end of the day, there were several antics going on. Yes, that's a squirt gun in his mouth.
There were two big highlights of the day. First was, like last year, feeding the wild donkeysand the other highlight was getting to skim board with some nice guys who offered to let us girls use their equipment. I got up on the first try. Yay for liquid courage!

Labor Day

I understand that Labor Day has it's foundations in the trade unions and labor forces in New York back in the late 1800s and, other than being related to the military involvement in the Pullman strike, it really has no military background. But Labor Day often reminds me of Memorial Day since both seem to be the bookends of summer. So today I am thinking along military gratitude lines and watched a film on Utube that a friend of mine sent me the link for recently.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:
Forgotten Star Spangled Banner Verse

I am grateful every day for many things. The military and our freedom provided by them is one of the many blessings we all should be grateful for.

For those of you interested, it's actually the FOURTH verse...here's the full lyrics by Francis Scott Key -

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Thanks Suzy Kaboozie

A friend of our family, Suzy Kaboozie, recently gave the kids some magnifying glasses with which to go exploring. They have been having such fun walking around the house (inside & out) looking at all of the little things there are to discover. Luckily my little man has yet to discover how to melt things with the magnifying glass but I figure it's only a matter of time.

And So It Begins...

September 1st is a marked calendar day at our house. It is the opening day for dove hunting season. Hubby's an avid upland bird hunter and love hunting season. This year is no different. It's 9:40 in the morning and the guys are already home with their limit on birds.My son was holding one and I asked him what it was and he said "A ground squirrel"...um, NO little buddy....but we DID catch one of those too today!
That'll teach those little demons to eat from my garden.

The Speed of Kids

I have often noticed that as fast as my camera could possibly close it's aperture, my kids seem to be able to move faster. Nowhere is this more obvious than when we are at the zoo. It's like they have little sensors in their brains that see my finger begin to move to take the picture and they wince, grimace or jerk so that the picture is ruined. I have figured out a way to catch them unawares however.....from BEHIND! I got some cute pics of both kids, sitting nicely with their friends who went to the zoo with us, and all of the clear ones were of the backs of their heads. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. Luckily, my friend M has a little baby M who isn't big enough to have learned the jerk & jive maneuver yet so I got some cute pictures of her.