Snapshots in My Brain

I am trying to capture ievery little thing about these moments. The feeling of them gripping my finger to "hold hands", the sound of their giggles and belly laughs, the smell of their hair, the feel of their butterfly kisses, the way their noses wrinkle when they smile, all of those little everyday things that make them so extraordinary. I know it is all so fleeting (everyone tells me this, especially random strangers on the street).
After an evening church service recently, I was carrying my sleepy daughter after passing off her already asleep brother to his daddy. An older gentleman came up and set his hand on my shoulder. The man told me that he remembered holding his daughter the same way, sighed and confessed that she is now a grandmother herself. It brought tears to his and my eyes at the time (and even now thinking how lucky I am to get to experience these beautiful children). I am so very truly blessed.

Easter in the Desert

Grandma Tanyon is a seasoned professional when it comes to hosting Easter at her house in the desert. Here's some Grandma T tips if you are planning a candy hunt in the desert:
1) Milk chocolate melts in the sun. Grandma Tanyon uses only hard candies.
2) Don't bother with plastic eggs. They just take up space and make finding the candy easier.3) Keep control of the dogs because they like to eat candy in low places.4) Buy lots of candy because the adults will take part in the candy hunt too.5) Have everyone count their candy at the end for prizes, it's a great counting exercise kids.
Thanks Grandma, for another great Easter. We love you a bushel~

Aiming for a good time

When you think of Easter you may think of cute little bunnies, egg hunts and baskets, but when we go down to Grandma Tanyon's house, another fun activity comes to mind. Often times, when the extended family gets together out by the desert, we pack up the guns, ammo and targets to go shooting. This Easter was no exception. I got to shoot my new 220 bolt action rifle. Fun times.What? This isn't what EVERYONE uses the back of their "soccer mom" minivan for? Well, my kids don't play soccer, so there.

Easter Egg Playdate

We had such a fun time visiting with friends at Aiden & Ethan's house this week. The kids played on the trampoline, played in the sand box, played on the teeter totter, played in the yard, had treats, and oh yeah, decorated Easter eggs too. It was great to see lots of friends get together and spend time in the sunshine. Thank you to our hosts and all the friends who came to play.

A 5-Year Old's Cupcakes

One of my favorite parts of my daughter's fifth birthday was getting to watch my sweet little fairy princess decorate cupcakes. She may have overdone it with the edible confetti and sprinkles on the top of her flower cupcakes, but was so proud of herself for doing it by herself. She loves to help cook and I am so proud of the big girl she is becoming.

My Little Tinkerbell

Happy Birthday to the cutest little 5 year old Tinkerbell ever.PS~ Thanks Aunti, for the adorable Tinkerbell skirt for her party. She looked so cute!

It's All Greek To Me

Back in early March (I know, it's been a long time since I posted), we went to a Greek festival in Palm Springs. They had all sorts of neat crafts and exhibits to look at. It brought back some great memories of our trip to Greece when we were first married. We had two favorite features of the day in Palm Springs though. The first was the amazing food. We had flame broiled cheese with pita bread, some gyros, domatas, Greek salad, Greek skewers, a few Greek pastries and BAKLAVA! The other favorite part was getting to see the Greek dancers in full costumes. Once they were done, the band played some Greek music and folks jumped in try do a little "ethnic" dancing (much like belly dancing, but with more wrist turning). Surprisingly, my little ballerina had some stage fright and would not get out on the dance floor. After a little coaxing (and, okay, yes, a mom guilt trip), she got out there with me to try out our moves. While we weren't the best at it, we had a lot of fun and I am glad for two things: 1) I showed her that I didn't care what everyone thought of us, but just wanted to have fun and 2) That in the end, we DID have fun dancing and were able to tell everyone how fun it was instead of regretting that we didn't do it. I love having kids. I may have never danced on my own :)

Camping in February?!?!

Yep, you read that right. My crazy hubby and crazy daughter went camping here a couple weeks ago. They loaded up the ATV and drove down to the river to tent camp. Yes - TENT camp. My much more rational son and I went to a friend's house to play arts & crafts and not freeze our butts off. Turns out that the other two had a great time and bragged about what a fun experience we missed. Uh, hmmm, I'll wait till summer to camp thank you very much. I'm glad they had a good time though. It was a good chance for some father-daughter bonding.

Lesson Learned

When we went to Mexico last January (2010), Uncle Chris got caught on camera doing the can opener (a dance move) to "All the Single Ladies". Well, my little man learned his lesson from Uncle Chris and was NOT going to let daddy get blackmail of him too.

Happy Valentines Day

Girls Rule

This has become a hallmark phrase in our house. You cannot utter those two words without hearing a quick retort of either "and BOYS DROOL!" or "Nuh-uh. BOYS RULE!" Well, I can't say I'm discouraging it. The earlier they learn about cooties the longer I get to keep my innocent little babies to myself :)....now, maybe if my son turns 24 and is still living in my house then we may have a little talk. But for now, the Girls Rule - Boys Drool game is in effect and we partake daily of it's entertainment. Last weekend when we had family pictures it even came into play. I have to say though, the boys clean up pretty good when the drool gets wiped away for a moment.

Superstar!

My little girl is practicing to be a SUPERSTAR...well, maybe Mary Katherine Gallagher style, but a SUPERSTAR nonetheless. Warning: ~This may take a while to load~

What to Make

My hubby is working down off the mountain quite a bit these days, which means he is in the middle of 80 degree weather in February, which, for Southern California means the oranges are in full bloom (er, blossom? uh, ripe?..or well, whatever) What this means is that he is bringing home bag upon bag of freshly picked citrus for us. Although I am happy to squeeze oranges into juice and the kids love to eat them fresh, we are left with LOADS of left over peel. So in an effort to use them to my best advantage, I did what any sane person would do with them:

Slice the peels into 1/4" strips
Blanch three times (this means bring to a boil in a pot of water then drain) to remove bitterness
Add 2 cups water and 6 cups sugar (yes, you read that right, it's candy for goodness sakes)
Allow to come to a boil then simmer until it reaches 230 degrees (this takes a long time)
Remove from syrup and put in the dehydrator (or lay on the counter) until firm.

YUM!

Scoot-scoot-scootin' Along

On our way to a friends' house for their superbowl party last weekend, the kids stopped with Daddy to ride their new scooters that cousin Jess gave them for Christmas. My little girl is getting pretty good at hers but I guess at 3 years old my son is not ambitious enough to do it without Daddy. Luckily Daddy's just as big a kid as they are so he loves to help his little man out.

Did I mention that this is February weather here? Yes, you saw that tank top correctly. It was mid-80s that day. In the middle of winter. That's just plain weird.

Hindsight

In retrospect, I probably should have left the truckload of construction materials on our front yard for two months while we slowly dwindled them into the trash bins week by week, but how was I to know my husband would try to take it to the dump himself and in a huffing fit, pull a bungee cord too hard and snap it through the back window? I suppose that was kharma kicking me in the butt for not doing it myself.

Caramel Coconut Ooey-Gooey Goodness

I cannot prove it but have significant doubt in my mind about whether Samoans actually eat caramel, let alone make cookies out of it. I imagine them eating things like mangos and roasted pigs and pineapples and rum...lots of rum. In fact, in my obscure sections of my brain, where I contemplate such things, I believe that if a Samoan tribe were to come upon a young blond girl in braids and a green uniform that she may just find herself being thrown into a volcano...where was I? Oh yes, caramel cookies...

First, make the cookie dough, just like I told you to on Monday for the peanut butter cookies. Except this time, once they have frozen for half an hour, take them out and cut them into 1" sections. Lay them out on a baking sheet and use a large straw to cut out small holes from the center so that all of the calories can fall out of them while cooking. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes, just like the peanut butter version. Take them out and let them cool. Okay, that's the easy part.

Here's where it gets a little dicey. I did not like the recipe for caramel that came with my original version. It turned out too grainy, thick and although it tasted fine, was definitely not in danger of being mistaken for a scout caramel topping. So here's what my sister suggests (she's a WAAAY better cook than I am), although I have yet to try out this version:

Mix 1c brown sugar, 1/2c corn syrup, 1/2c butter and 1/2t salt in a heavy 2-qt saucepan, stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat. Stir in 1/2t baking soda and 1t vanilla; mix well. Stir in 1c shredded coconut. Dip the cookies in the caramel mix and lay out on parchment paper to dry (I sprinkled on some extra coconut at this point but I'm wacky that way). Then melt some chocolate chips, add a little oil to give it a thinner consistency and drizzle the chocolate over the cookies. Once the chocolate is set/dry then they're done. You can put them in the fridge to set up faster if you really want.

Then again, if you're one of those rich folks who don't enjoy cooking and like something to look forward to in the spring besides Easter then maybe the $5 a box is better for you. For me however, I shall make these in September, January, July, whenever the urge strikes me and not feel any remorse for taking business from those little green girls whatsoever.

The Minty Goodness

Okay, for version #2, you shall do as follows and not deviate in the slightest lest you find yourself standing in the kitchen with some second rate, not good enough version of what you wish was a mint scout cookie:

Mix together 3T butter, an egg, 1/4c brown sugar, 1/8t baking soda, 1/2t salt, 1/4c cocoa powder, 1/2c flour and 1/8t peppermint oil in a bowl until the dough is consistent and moist. Add enough extra flour so that the dough still moist but no longer sticky. Lay out some parchment paper, roll out the dough uber-thin on the parchment paper then cut out anything but circle shapes because really, the circle shapes are so 1985. Cook your non-circle cookies at 325 for about 6 minutes but for sure no more than 7 (they are thin after all and cook quickly). Re-roll any unused dough and repeat as long as it can hold your attention. Eat the rest of the dough, keeping in mind that the salmonella poisoning risk is a small price to pay when you get to eat cookie dough. Allow cookies to cool completely.

Now mix together 2c of powdered sugar, 8T of melted butter, 1/8t of peppermint oil and 1T of heavy whipping cream. If the mix is not consistent enough to roll out then add a little more cream until it is thick enough to roll out. Then, surprise surprise, roll it out. About 1/4" is about right thickness. Now cut out a slightly smaller version of your non-circle shaped cookies and lay them on top of your cooled cookies. Dip the whole thing in melted chocolate chips and lay on parchment paper to cool (refrigeration speeds this process).

I have an inkling that these will freeze well (since the scout versions do) but really, mine barely lasted long enough to set up in the fridge before they were all gone so I didn't test this theory. Okay, 2 down, 1 more to go.

Puttin' Little Girls Outta Business

Admit it, at some point in your life you ate one, well, probably many, TOO many scout cookies. The little rascals know they have the goods and hold it over your head once a year, like a carrot for you, the donkey. I should know. I spent many a spring of my youth peddling those cookies and three times as long as an adult chasing that carrot. Well, my friend, you shall be that ass no more. I have found the mother load! The recipes to fill that cookie urge any time of year, without having to pay $5 per box! Listen and learn grasshoppers....

Peanut Butter Addiction
Put 2.5 sticks of butter and a cup of sugar in a bowl and mix until creamy. Add 2 eggs and beat until mixed through, scraping the bowl as you go. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat again. Turn mixer on low and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 3 cups of flour. Now beat that batter like a red-headed step-child. The dough will be crumbly but moist when it's done. Pack the dough onto some plastic wrap and roll into a 2 inch diameter cylinder. Trust me, don't make it any thicker or your cookies will be too big. Wrap the whole thing (probably a couple cylinders) into parchment paper and freeze for about half an hour.

When the dough has sufficiently hardened, take it out and slice it into 1/8" discs and place them on a baking sheet about an inch apart (they won't spread while cooking). Bake at them 350 degrees for 8 minutes, not nine, not seven, and take them out to cool on a cooling rack completely. They should not have browned in the oven at all.

Mix together equal parts of peanut butter and powdered sugar (about 1/2 cup each). Form little balls and flatten them then lay them on the cooled cookies. Dip each cookie in melted chocolate chips and lay on parchment paper to cool (refrigerating speeds this process).

Thus ends part 1 of 3 of how to free yourselves from the ties of the communist regime that call themselves scouts. Stay tuned for the mint and caramel recipes.

This is SnOw fun!

The snow yesterday was another excuse to stay home and enjoy a day with the family.

Snowplay

The mountains around here got a load of snow delivered last week so we got to go play in it recently on the ATV. If the kids could be any different from each other I don't know how. She sat in front, whooping and squealing with delight for Daddy to go faster. He sat in the middle and held tight to me while falling asleep in my chest. I have to say, I didn't mind it at ALL :) PS-Thanks Mom and Dad for the ski mask for Christmas. It kept my nose nice and toasty!

What were YOU doing on New Years Eve?

Here's a couple shots of what each of us were doing as the new year rang in on 2011. We spent the evening with friends and family in Moorpark, CA. Here's my little girl. She had fallen asleep at about 10:30, while lying in bed with some snacks, a piece of birthday
cake and watching Toy Story 3.Here's her brother. He didn't even last as long as she did. He was out, lying in my arms, around 9PM. Hey, he's THREE, and his bedtime is 8PM cut him some slack already...
Daddy and I, on the other hand, stayed up well past midnight and rang in the new year as the new, reigning royalty. Thanks Jarrod, for the crowns. Better luck next year to all of you other competitors...

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.