Happy Birthday Old Man

Happy "more than 1/3 of a century old" birthday! Luckily, you get to ACT as old as you want. We all love you so much. You keep reminding us (especially Mommy) that it's not about what you get accomplished, but how much FUN you have doing it. We love you very much~

Snapshots in My Brain

I'm not sure what it was, either a movie or some television show I saw recently, but there was the best dialog about how these two people (a man and wife) took 'snapshots in their brains' of things that they saw and wanted to remember forever. It really captured that feeling I've been having for the last, oh, 8 years or so. I will see something and want to take a picture of it so that I can carry it with me forever but either I don't have my camera or didn't get it quite how I wanted to remember it. Luckily, sometimes it turns out that I DO get the picture on film (or jpg) so that my now-failing brain can look back in my scrapbook (assuming I get them updated) and fill in those blanks that may be missing from my brain and I can share the shots with our friends. I got one of those good ones on jpg recently. We went down to the beach in Santa Monica while on a business trip in LA. We had stopped to get the kids their very first ever corn dogs and walk in the sand. While down there, the sun was perfect, the ocean was glistening, there were seagulls gliding along the crests of the waves, there were even a few select sailboats far out in the water to add atmosphere. We had a wonderful afternoon together and there's a couple of the snapshots from my brain that I can now share with all of you.

Happy Kiss-Your-Honey Day!

I got a great gift from my valentines this morning. I got time all to myself to go to the gym - no kids in tow, no time schedule to be home. Then I went to church and got all heart-happy only to have it increased exponentially when I got home.

I walked onto the deck when I arrived home and could smell the yummy ribs my honey was cooking for us for lunch and my 3-year-old gave me a little suspicious grin that turned into shock when her brother came running from the house with a GIGANTIC heart that they had decorated for me. His sister quickly burst out "NO! That was supposed to be a SURPRISE!" and daddy added in "Buddy, you were supposed to leave it hidden and we were going to play 'hotter/colder' with Mommy until she found it". My little guy promptly returned to the house with it and re-hid it.

It was not to last however because as I wandered into the house with the other two, he ran and took it from it's hiding place (thus, revealing it to me) and ran to me to give it to me again. He was just so proud and excited for it that keeping it hidden simply wasn't an option. I thanked him (and his sister) profusely and closely inspected all of their beautiful artwork. My toddlers are awesome valentines (and so is their Daddy).

My Three Kids

"Wait one gosh darn moment!" I hear you thinking..."you only have TWO kids"...well, you wouldn't have known it by the show they put on at Chuck E Cheese's recently. Of course, the place is designed to draw kids into their party & game atmosphere, but apparently it works on Dads too. Every spare moment that we waited for our pizza, my sweet husband spent playing games with the kids. Then he found a few that he insisted that he be able to play alone (in order to brush up on his Mickey Thompson off-road prowess, apparently). As usual, skeeball was a big hit, even though the two REAL kids have yet to make a single point and I believe that their goal is to just get them up the ramp into the gutter. Daddy was a bit frustrated at this fact and couldn't help himself from throwing a few balls to prove that he could get one in the 100 point pocket. By the time the pizza came, they had burnt through 1/2 of the coins and quickly devoured what they could in an effort to get back to the games. It didn't take long to finish off the remainder of the tokens. Ultimately, the grand prize for all of their work was a plastic 2" lizard, a pink sparkle flower ring, and two mini-tootsie roll pops. Job well done kids - all three of you.

My Super Kids

We recently went to a friend's house for his 4th birthday party with a superhero theme. It was a fun afternoon for all of us. It is so great to see my little ones grow into mini-people who are learning the ins and outs of the finer things in life - like birthday cake and pinatas. One of their prizes for their games at the party was a superhero cape for each of them. As it turns out, my kids are pretty super already. The did a super job of sharing their toys with the birthday boy's grandpa. They did a super job of whacking the pinata, and of course, they both at their birthday cake with superhuman speed! It certainly was a SUPER day~

What to Make

Parsnips.

Have you tried them?

I hadn't until a couple of days ago and don't know why I ever waited so long. I can thank Alton Brown for opening my eyes to this delicious vegi. I did two things: I made parsnip muffins and made parsnip chips. The chips are ridiculously easy and addicting and - get this - moderately GOOD for you. A cup of parsnips has almost 5 grams of fiber and are good sources of folic acid, calcium, and potassium. They kind of taste like carrots. Kinda sweet but not too much so.

Here's what you do: Slice the outside of the parsnip in thin strips (with the single blade side of the cheese grater). Don't slice the inside core because it's woody and not as good. Heat up some oil (I used canola) and toss in the parsnip slices. Let them brown and then transfer them to a paper towel-covered plate to drain. If you want you can sprinkle them with salt and pepper but they're good plain too. That's it. EASY.

Here's a link to AB's recipe for the muffins. They're awesome too.

My Little Girl's World

I recently downloaded all of the pictures from my little girl's camera. It had been about 4 months since I downloaded them so they were as old as last October. It's interesting to see things from her perspective sometimes. What she finds picture-worthy is very telling. Here's some highlights~

And Since We've No Place to Go....

Luckily, I got home from the gym this morning just in time. It's been snowing ever since and we got about 2-3" so far. No worries though. I stocked up on groceries yesterday and since we replaced the weatherproofing strips on all of our exterior doors last week, we're all nice and cozy inside. I hope you all are keeping warm in this winter weather too.

A First Time for Everything

Last weekend we went up to visit Aunt Lyss & Uncle Chris. We had a fun time playing with them but the big highlight of the weekend for our little girl was her first time on roller skates. She was a little wobbly at first, which is to be expected, but was soon moving along easily on her own. She made it all the way to the end of their block and back without help. What a big girl!
Meanwhile, her little brother tested out his new Lightning Mcqueen helmet while riding his radio flyer tricycle. He's not quite the daredevil yet that she is - but I can see it coming.

What to Make

Okay, this recipe is not so good for you - but better than doughnuts! Mix a 2c can of pumpkin with 1/2 cup each of flour & eggbeaters. Then add about 1t of any combination of cinnamon/nutmeg/pumpkin pie spice. Voila - the batter is done. Put it in a plastic bag.

Heat oil (I used canola) in a skillet until it is very very hot. Cut a small hole in a corner of the batter bag and drizzle it into the hot oil. Let it fry until it floats and it's dark brown on both sides. Remove and roll in cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar. Set on paper towels to cool and collect excess oil.

These are REALLY good, easy and also a great way to use left-over sweet potatoes (trade 1/1 for the pumpkin) after the holidays.

Cabo Day #2

Somehow I forgot to do all of Friday. We had such a good time that my days began to blend together I guess. This was the day that the other adults when on a hike while Heidi and I took the kiddos to the pool. Very relaxing and unscheduled - GREAT.

The Last Cabo Day

Finally! As it turns out - I skipped the "real" day #2 in there (excluding travel days) so actually there's still one more day to go. Either way, this was the last day we spent in Cabo. Chris & Kristin went on a little trip in the car and did exploring on their own. Daddy & Gary went on a hike and Heidi & I took the kids down to the beach. A nice relaxing close to a great week.

Cabo Day #5

We headed back up to the shell beach again and this time took the kayak and more snorkeling gear (that had been fixed). After a morning at the beach we went out to some GREAT shrimp tacos for lunch and then hung around the house (and pool) that afternoon.

Sunday in Cabo

On day #4 we took the quads out and enj0yed playing on the beach on them then drove them up a wash to a waterfall where we had a picnic and played in the pools.

Day #3 in Cabo

We woke up and went for a walk on the beach then headed to a beach down the coast that has loads of shells. That evening we went for a ride on the quads. The third of MANY fun days.

The first day of the trip

Here's a small slideshow of our first two days in Cabo. Really, this is a travel day and then our first REAL day in Cabo. We actually had over 1500 pictures (NO KIDDING) for the trip since there were five of us with cameras but I've grossly abbreviated the list and this is only the first two of eight days so here goes:

We're OFF!

We leave today for Cabo until January 6th so don't expect updates before then. I'll be sure to post soon after we get back though so maybe you will all want to come with us next time!

Kids' Stories

Thank you to all of you who did a recording of yourselves reading books for the kids. So far we've gotten them from Aunts, Uncles, Great-Aunts, Great-Uncles, Cousins, Great-Grandparents and Friends. There is still time to get a recording done and included in the final copy. If any of the rest of you would like, I can visit with my video recorder and get the copy digitally too. We've still got some promised to be coming from other Aunts, Uncles, Cousins (and HOPEFULLY GRANDPARENTS, ahem) so this should be a great gift for them to keep forever. I will try to post some highlights when I receive the entire set. Thanks again to those of you who've already done it and keep 'em coming!

San Diego Zoo Lights

On Saturday we too the trek down to San Diego in the afternoon to see the lights at the zoo. There were all sorts of neat Christmas light displays and we got to ride the tour bus and skytram, had dinner, saw a bell choir, watched ice sculpting, and saw LOADS of animals. It was neat to be there that time of night because several animals (like the big cats) who are normally docile during the day were up and about in the evening. The tiger in particular was very vocal and the hippos were swimming laps around their pool. We renewed our membership so whenever you all come to visit, be sure to take the trip down there with us. It's a great way to spend the day (or night!).

Christmas with Nana

At some point on Christmas morning we headed over to Nana's house to visit with her, Grandpa, Great-grandma Tanyon, Great-grandpa Tanyon, Uncle Brian, Uncle Dennis, Aunt Nancy, Cousins Kyle, Jessica & Catie. Although I didn't get any shots of gift-opening (those were all taken with Grandpa's camera) here's some highlights of the rest of our day: