Sunshine and Summertime

We spent last weekend out at the river, relaxing and enjoying time with no telephones, no televisions, no tele...anything! The weather was perfect and you couldn't ask for better company.

We Meet Again

My daughter recently had her first track meet of the year up on our mountain. She is so psyched about her team this year, the "Fireflies" and their awesome coaches, Julia and Brooke. Her team is all Kindergarten so most are about a year or so older than she is but what she lacks in age, she makes up for in spunk. We finally got her to jump a couple of the hurdles rather than step over them, she's big enough to land on the high jump mat now (instead of climb onto it), and she ran anchor for the relay. We need to do a little work on the throwing events, but some of the implements weigh about a quarter of what she weighs, so we're going to cut her some slack on those for a while. Hey, how far could YOU throw a 35lb shot put? Her favorite event is the long jump but in my opinion, her best event is the 100m dash. She has really been working on her form and this year she is really competing with the other kids. Being the proud mom, I want to brag that she got second (I thought it was first but Daddy corrected me and he was closer) in her heat, but I won't :)

Stagecoach Part Deux

I have LOADS of pictures from Stagecoach. You can tell the time of day in each picture based on how sunburned we look and how wide our smiles are. We camped with seven other friends and had a very fun time. We got to see Chris Young, Josh Turner, Easton Corbin, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, and Carrie Underwood...did I mention Carrie Underwood?

Yeah, she was a big BIG hit. Yes, the weekend was a success. Such a success that I think of all of the sunburned, big smile pictures that we took, none of them will really do the weekend justice.
I can only summarize it with this photo:Okay, fine, and maybe this video. Dave W - YOU. ARE. THE. MAN!

Thank You

I'm not sure who to thank first. My brother-in-law for gifting my hubby the shirt, or Jill for the cammo beer can fanny pack. I think I'll hold off on the thank yous until I can decide...{sigh}

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.