IT'S TAX DAY!

Everyone else dreads this day every year except people in my profession, who breathe a heavy sigh of relief. Let the summer begin.

What to Make

I was feeling my sweet-tooth recently so I decided to dig into my recipe book written by my good friends Ben & Jerry. My little princess requested banana and my mini-prince requested "choca chippppp" so I compromised and made a batch with BOTH. It turned out so yummy that it didn't last long. We were eating it soft-serve style out of the machine before it was even done being churned.

All you need for the base is 2 eggs, 2 cups cream, a cup of milk & 3/4 cup sugar. Wisk the eggs until light & fluffy then add the sugar slowly, add the cream and milk then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the instructions. While you're watching it churn, mash 2 bananas with 2 Tbsp of lemon juice. When the base is almost done (a couple minutes left), add the bananas and a couple handfulls of chocolate chips. If any of it lasts long enough to get to the freezer then freeze it until firm and enjoy. I suggest smashing some graham crackers into small bowls and freezing it into those, but that's just me...

Lovin' the sun

We love the fact that where we live there is either snow or sun and not much else. Right now, it's mostly sun so last week we went to the park for a picnic for lunch just so we could enjoy the beautiful day. There's not much that makes a meal better than eating it on a blanket on the grass with your family.

Happy Easter Daddy

We got to do our first at home Easter egg hunt this morning. The weather was perfect. The kids didn't fight. Each one found lots of eggs and it all went great. There was only one thing missing that would have made it perfect....

Family Easter

Yesterday we went down to Desert Hot Springs to visit Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa for Easter. We were also joined by Nana, Grandpa, an aunt, uncle & cousin too. The one thing missing was Daddy, who is having fun at the Masters this year. It was a beautiful (albeit windy) day and we got to have a fun egg hunt outside among all the other fun and visiting. The kids had such a good time that they slept in until 7:30 this morning, which, for them, is over an hour longer than normal - so Happy Easter Mommy, huh?!

Tutu Cute

Every little girl loves a big twirly skirt and what better way to give her that than with a tutu? So while Grandma & Aunti were visiting, we made three of them (pink, lt green & orange) for my little ballerina. I still have the materials for 3 more but we'll see how long it takes to finish them. Not only are they fun on their own as skirts, but they also give lift to every dress she owns so now she wears them virtually every day. What follows here is how to make them - no pattern and minimal cutting necessary.Measure your child's waist (mine's was 20"). You will need some fake flower petals, thread and 1.5 times the waist length (so I used about a yard) of each of the following: - toole (double this) - sheer - ribbon - soft flannel - 1" non-roll elastic (only waist length necessary, not 1.5X, so I used 20")

1) put a finished edge on 3 sides of the flannel (I used my serger on a regular stitch).
2) put a finished edge on opposite sides of the sheer (I used my serger and did a rolled hem).
3) layer the salvage edges of the folded over toole on top of the flannel, leaving about 2" of flannel for the waist. You should now have 5 layers (4 toole + 1 flannel) of salvage edges together.
4) layer the sheer on top of the toole, again with one of the two salvage edges at the waist.
5) fold over the flannel to make a waistband including all 4 layers of toole and the layer of sheer.
NOTE: We didn't really use a yard of the flannel, it was a straight skirt (20") so we had to gather the sheer & toole separately. This does two things, makes the waistband less bulky but it also adds difficulty and time to the process.

6) pin & sew the flannel to the toole & sheer into the flannel waistband.
7) insert the elastic into the waistband (thus gathering the layers) and sew shut.
NOTE: if you sew shut the back seam then the skirt won't twirl out/up as well. Since you've roll hemmed the sheer it will still look finished. I sewed shut the flannel at this point so she could wear it on it's own without shorts under it, but you don't have to.

8) fold up the sheer and sew it to itself using the ribbon to hide the hem (mine were about 4").
NOTE: you want the sheer to be the longest of the layers.

9) fill the sheer hem with the fake flower petals, making sure the spread them out evenly then sew shut.
10) give it to your little ballerina and watch her test out it's twirl-ability.

Here's a diagram of the layers for your reference. Blue is flannel, red is sheer, black is toole, purple is ribbon, green is where to sew layers together and yellow is elastic.

My Brave Little Man

This Sunday was my little man's first Easter egg hunt. His sister was gone with Nana & Grandpa to Disney on Ice for her birthday and Daddy doesn't "do" Easter egg hunts he says, so it was just the two of us. A friend of ours invited us to join her and her daughter to the event that was hosted by her church. There was a volleyball game, tug-o-war, face painting, a bounce house, and the ever popular egg hunt. The hunt was definitely the highlight of his day. It didn't take long to figure out that there was candy in them-there eggs and has since spent every day disassembling the plastic decorative eggs laid out around our house in the hopes of finding more candy. He sure is a persistent little one.
The highlight of the day for me was not the hunt however, but the introduction of the Easter Bunny himself. At first, this 7 foot animal was quite daunting to my 1.75-year-old. He was inquisitive though and was soon following Mr. Bunny everywhere (keeping a safe distance). Eventually, with some coaxing from mom, the two became acquainted long enough for me to snap a quick photo. You'll note however, that the trust was not entirely there as my brave little man was NOT willing to take his eyes off of the suspicious rabbit.

The Derby

We spent last Saturday at the Santa Anita Derby. The weather was beautiful and my hubby was lucky so both those things combined make for a pretty great day. The four of us set up chairs in front of the jumbotron, right by the finish line. Early on, my lucky other half hit a $1 bet to win $120 and the day pretty much followed suit. I lost about $20 but he more than made up for it with his winnings. There aren't many activities where you can go have so much fun and wind up making money on the deal are there?

I was not born for DDR

There are two kinds of people in this world:
-Those born to win at "Dance Dance Revolution"
-Those who are not
I learned recently when the hurdlers joined us for pizza and introduced me to the game that I fall into the latter category. Not only were they all much more agile than I was at this endeavor, but they made it look easy. Whereas each athlete could last for several minutes and in many cases, several rounds, I only lasted several steps. All this time I thought I had some kind of rhythmic abilities and yet now I picture myself more on the same level as Elaine from Seinfeld (a show which most of my hurdlers probably have never seen - sigh). Oh well, I am consoling myself in the assumption that they have nothing better to do with their time than go home and practice this game until their feet are calloused and have sweated through their shirts. Sour grapes maybe, but it's all I've got.

A WILD Birthday

Our little girl recently turned 3 (I am still in denial) and she requested a wild animal birthday party, probably because of our recent annual zoo membership. So we loaded up on the jungle animals, ordered a giraffe bounce-house and bought a monkey pinata. The day was beautiful and everyone seemed to have a good time. In contrast to our past 75 person "all family & friends" parties, this one was just for immediate family and a few friends. Both party types have their benefits, but this one turned out very nicely.

Finally, a WEEK Later

My two kids had become accustomed to getting served extra helpings of attention all week last week while our family was staying with us. We went shopping, made birthday party decorations, sewed tu-tus (more on that later), went to Disneyland, had a birthday party, went to track practices, a track meet, out to eat, spent lots of time playing on the playground in the back yard, and had about 10 days of general mayhem. The LOVED it. So on Sunday night, when the house was quiet again, you could almost hear the crickets chirp as they wondered how to occupy their time. All week long they have struggled with entertaining each other until finally, today, they seem to have recuperated from the overdose. Did I mention it's 2 weeks till tax day? {insert mommy's sigh of relief here}

What a lucky couple of kids to have so much wonderful family and friends to love them.

What a Happy Place

We had a fantastic time with Aunti, Grandma and three cousins visiting us last week. One of the highlights was our trip to Disneyland on Wednesday. The day was perfect. It was hot enough for the girls to want to go on Splash Mountain several times but not hot enough to get sunburned or be miserable. We got to enjoy most of the rides (except notably Alice in Wonderland and the train) and only had one long wait, for Peter Pan.

For a little while Aunti took the older girls on bigger rides and Grandma and I took my sweetheart on the stearnwheeler to eat lunch and then on some rides in Fantasyland. I couldn't have asked for a better day. We were there from opening until closing and enjoyed every minute of it.

Coach Knows Best

For the last five years or so I've been volunteering my time with the local track & field team, coaching the hurdlers. Every year is different, but I have yet to have a year that was not extremely enjoyable. My kids get to go outside and play during practice, I get some exercise, and prior to me volunteering there was no coach for hurdles so I figure my advice is better than nothing, right?

Interacting with the hurdling team this year in particular has thus far been a real joy. I have about 12-14 hurdlers (a few not pictured here) and from what I can tell, they all get along well. There are a several seniors, a few freshmen and a good mix of gals & guys. We've only had one meet so far and swept the guy's races and did well in the gals races considering we were missing two returning varsity and it was the first real meet for most of the gals.

I'm really looking forward to seeing all of these athletes develop through the season and hope by the end of the season that they are all fast enough to kick my butt in practice (I'm trying my hardest to stay ahead of them!).

What to Make

Last night we made an AWESOME fish dish that, even for those who don't like fish, is sure to be a hit. It tastes amazing, looks fancy, but is easy to make. As you may remember, we went to Mexico recently and came back with a sizeable amount of Dorado...also known as Mahi Mahi, so we had some last night and this is how we made it (I figure you could use the recipe on almost any fish though):

Combine crushed macademia nuts with a little flour, some bread crumbs and butter so that it's a dry, crumbly mix. Lay out the fish on a foiled, oiled pan and cook it at 425 for 5 minutes. Brush the fish with coconut milk then top with the nut mixture and cook again for about 10 more minutes until the topping is golden brown. Allow the fish to sit for about 10 minutes so that the topping sets up nicely and enjoy.

The topping on this was so good I almost could have eaten it without the fish at all but then I'm sure my system would have hated me today. We served it with peas & carrots that, since they're kind of sweet, paired nicely with the topping. Both our kids cleaned their plates and the littlest one ate TWO extra helpings, which, since it's fish, I was just fine with. If you like fish AT ALL I wholeheartedly recommend this recipe that I got from my good friend Alton Brown.

Coming Soon

Alright, I hear you...I HEAR you! I know it's been a long time since I've posted, but I have had family visiting and track to be coaching and a 3rd birthday party to be throwing so get off my back already! I am sorry to say I don't have time for a good post right now but coming soon:

-Our little princess's 3rd birthday party
-The first trip to Disneyland for our little girl
-My awesome hurdlers
-My week full of family
etc,etc, etc...

I've just got to find my head and I'll get right on it...

Let the Games Begin

Since high school I have been a North Carolina fan. As it always turns out, I DON'T join the usual competition brackets when the Tar Heels win however. So in an effort to help the NC karma, I have not paid to be part of the gambling group this year. I could not, however, keep myself from completing a bracket, just out of curiosity for how I would have done. My final score is 86-79 just in case you think you can beat me. Go powder blue!UPDATE: I'm 12 for 13, darn Texas anyways....
UPDATE: Okay, now I'm only 38 of 48 but 7 of my great 8 are still in it...getting bleaker.
UPDATE: Well, I'm only 43 of 60 now, but my two final teams are still in the running...Go NC!

Spring is springing

***********Insert deep, content sigh here******************

We are pretty lucky to live in such a beautiful area. A few weeks ago we had so much snow that my minivan was buried to above the window line. Today there is not a speck of snow on our property (nor to be seen from it except the beautiful mountain line in the distance). The great part about our location is that we get the cold winters and change of seasons but not so much rain that you spend 2 of the seasons (spring & fall) indoors trying to stay dry.

Today is a complete 180 from the weather a few weeks ago. Today we have sunshine over sunshine with an extra dose of sunshine. It's about 80+ degrees and all my flowers are peeking up out of the ground. We spent the last weekend doing some yard work and planting of seeds and general spring clean-up activities.N ow I am loving the feeling content, happy feeling. These pictures were both taken at our house this morning. Don't you just LOVE changing seasons?

What to Make

Steak, steak & more steak...

I'm always looking for a new way to make it and here's my latest find:

Mix together black pepper, chile powder, worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, salt, cumin, cloves & cayenne pepper. Rub it all over your steak and let it get happy for 10 minutes or so. Grill over indirect heat for about 5 minutes per side then transfer to a plate, cover with foil and let sit for another 5 minutes. Easy cheesy and yummy to your tummy.

Oh, if you're squeemish about heat/spicy foods, then cut back on the pepper and chile/cayenne and it will be much more mild. I didn't though. We're into spicy.

Mexico

Sure, we probably didn't have the money to go and yes, we probably shouldn't have taken so much time off work, but when you take priorities into account, how could we NOT go?

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
It's always ourselves we find in the sea" - E.E.Cummings

As a warning: There are over 90 pictures here (about 1/4 of those taken) so it's kind of a big file

What to Make

I'll be the first to admit that these are the most stereotypical "icky vegetable" that there is on the planet. HOWEVER, I made this recipe two nights ago and all three of my picky eaters gobbled them up. First, quarter and trim your brussels sprouts (yep, I said it, I saw you cringe, trust me, their going to be good). Toss them with olive oil that has a little salt & sugar dissolved into it. Then lay them out on a lightly oiled, rimmed baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Mix together a little parsley, butter, pepper and lemon zest then toss with the brussels sprouts. Top it off with some parmesan cheese and voila - yummy taste and good-for-you too!