Brianna, Dusty and family!

Snow! Or maybe not.

2012-01-17T16:08:00.001-08:00

In their annual attempt to actually get people to watch their broadcasts, the news stations are going on and on about snow. The kids are convinced that they will get 2 weeks off school for a blizzard. Dusty, who seems to regard the possibility of snow 'round here like a 7 year old regards Santa (ping-ponging between optimism and reality), keeps telling me it is "supposed to get pretty bad tonight". I am prepared to work tomorrow*.

*I'll be complaining about not having a snow day, but I'll be there.

We DID get a little, tiny, itty bitty bit of snow on Sunday morning. Here is Alex enjoying the snow (Sky was at his Dad's, where snow was elusive):

Alex yelled "Happy Holidays!" every time he threw a snowball at the window. Not sure why, but it was so cute that I couldn't bring myself to burst his bubble by telling him that Christmas is over. And, yeah, his scarf is pink- he likes it.

Sky is hard for me to get pictures of because he isn't the type to make picture taking easy and he just isn't around the house as much as Alex. I'll try to get some soon, so that I can keep it even.

The boys have recently started music lessons- Alex is excited about learning to play the piano, and Skyler is trying his hand at guitar. I love it when the boys open new doors, especially when they do it with enthusiasm!

And now...better go make dinner. Because if I don't do it soon, the stupid weather report may actually turn out to be right and the power will go out or something.

Hello, Santa!

2011-12-23T21:18:00.001-08:00

Hi there! I realize it's been awhile. Since my mom is probably my only reader (Hi, Mom!) and I pretty much tell her everything in person, I figure this isn't too big a deal. But just in case there IS another person out there who is reading (Hi, Dad!), I figured I'd give an update.

Christmas is here! Well, almost. Sure it's still *only* the 23rd. But I'm already half crazed and have gained 3 pounds which, in my opinion, makes this a holiday. Skyler is about to get a Christmas wish he has wanted since last year- a Harry Potter Lego Hogwarts Castle. I (Santa) am GIDDY over this. I can't wait to see his face...at 5am on Christmas morning (On second thought, I COULD wait...but it won't happen). Alex is anxiously awaiting Santa tomorrow night. Aunt Ashley had "Santa" call Alex last weekend, and Al-B. did a fantastic impersonation of Buddy the Elf (think "SANTA!!!!", and if you don't know what I am talking about you need to go watch Elf. Right NOW).

This year Dusty's family is doing a homemade Christmas. This presents a challenge for me, because for some reason people assume I am crafty. In reality, I am NOT crafty. I am OCD and as a result appear crafty after spending 5 hours on something that would take an *actual* crafty person 20 minutes. Still, regardless of how it happened, I am anxious to share some of the loot I made (and Dusty helped with). Until gifts are unwrapped I can only show one thing, since said gift is for children and I'll assume they aren't reading my blog. The rest, I'll post later. Unless I get distracted- which, unfortunately, could happen.

Here is my idea: Paper Airplane Kits. Sky and Alex are obsessed with paper airplanes. If I take them to work with me, I give it 5 minutes before the recylcling bin is empty and my head is being pelted with flying objects. So I decided to make this worse by giving them tools to make even MORE flying disturbances.

The boxes came from Costco. At less than $20 for 14 boxes, I can afford to make many kits AND organize my cupboards:

To the boxes, I added names and a quote from a B.O.B. song that the kids will probably do an eyeroll at, but I love.

Into the boxes went airplane materials- colorful paper, graph paper, crayons, tape, paper clips, a mini stapler and stickers.

If the kids who get these kids run out of the room yelling "I HATE THIS!", I'll probably retire the idea (and buy them a book on manners instead). But assuming this kit goes over well, I'm thinking perhaps I have an idea for future birthday parties!

Alex the school superstar!

2011-09-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Since I never did get around to updating, I should say that after a few worried nights and lots of little prayers- Alex got in to the same school that Skyler goes to. Which is the school that Grandma Val works it. Which is really cool.

Alex began school just over 2 weeks ago, because Kindergarten kids work on a gradual entry system. Kindergarten is 1/2 day here, with the exception of every other Wednesday. On Wednesday, one group of kids goes all day and the other stays home. Then it rotates. Bad for scheduling childcare, great for the kid excited to eat lunch at school.

Alex woke up early today, bright eyed (Well, he's Alex so I guess he is ALWAYS "bright eyed") and ready to go. He had his bookbag packed. His outfit laid out. His lunchpail on the counter.

The lunchpail was a big deal to Mr. Al B. On his very first day of school, he walked out of the school- stormed out, to be exact- and said "Mommy, I only bwing my lunch pail on Wednesdays. Not evewy day. And all I got fow snack was TWO cookies and one dwink of watew. TWO COOKIES, MOMMY. I am STAWVING."
*Note: I am not really thinking the child was at risk for starvation. He was in class for 2 1/2 hours. And ate right before he went. And as soon as he got home. Against all odds, he survived.

The best part about this lunch obsession was that when I put his backpack on him to go to the bus stop, he was really not loving the fact that it made the backpack weight about as much as he does. Kids. Can't starve 'em, can't make 'em in to pack mules. Sheesh.

Aside from the snack obsession, school has been going great for Alex (and Sky too!). So I knew today was going to be a good day, and it was. He came out of school happy and exhausted- just the way I like him. On the way to school Skyler sat at the front of the bus with his little brother, and as they drove away in a giant Twinkie-On-Wheels together for the first time...I stood on the sidewalk and resisted the urge to break into cheer.

Kids are adorable. So is quiet.

Giant Cupcakes for dinner! (Or not)

2011-09-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

First of all, here is my word to all websites/computer systems/people who control such things: Can y'all stop updating ALL AT ONCE? In one day, I went from being fairly computer literate to barely knowing how to turn the dumb thing on! Facebook, Internet Explorer, Pandora...and now I sign on to blog and I find out that Blogger updated, too? AHH! I am not this good at change. Stop now, or at least get a calendar and schedule once big adjustment at a time, please.

And now, on to the meat of the matter.

Tonight, we had giant cupcakes for dinner. Mmm...I love me some red velvet or strawberries & champagne cupcakes. But tonight, we went a little less traditional. We went with meatloaf.

Yep. You read right.

I have been in a cooking funk lately. Except for learning how to can, which I'll post about this weekend because as it turns out, sealing stuff in mason jars is really super cool. Between school starting and work being a bit draining and fibro attempting to be a royal pain in my, well, everything (for the record, I am winning in THAT particular battle of the wills, thankyouverymuch)- lavish dinners have kind of turned in to crock pot faithfuls and sandwiches. I hate when this happens because when it comes down to it- I love to cook.

I needed inspiration. And I needed dinner made in one hour and twenty minutes in order to get to the school's open house. And I miss my mom. So I thought- what do I love that mom makes? Tacos. I'll make tacos.

Wait. All I have for tacos is ground turkey and beans. Ok, scratch the tacos. Burritos? Oh, yeah...you need tortillas (obviously Mexican food isn't my forte, because I actually got excited for a minute before remembering this key ingredient). No burritos. Hmm...Well...I DO have ground turkey...MEATLOAF!

By this time I had approximately 40 minutes left. Not much time for making meatloaf. But I DO have a really great giant cupcake pan that I bought to make meatloaf cupcakes in for April Fools Day! Alright. Plan Q. I will make mini meatloafs in the giant cupcake tin.

But it is such a shame to HAVE a giant cupcake tin specifically for tricking your children, and not USE it. Lucky for me, I also had leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge.

35 minutes...

So I throw some parmesean,carrots, cabbage, gluten free bread crumbs, eggs, italian seasoning and ground turkey in the food processor, get it to the icky mixed together stage and stuff it in muffin pans. This is about the time that the boys come in to the kitchen and ask what I'm making. I tell them "We are having meatloaf cupcakes for dinner". And I get the following responses:

Alex: "YAY! CUPCAKES FOR DINNEW!" (I'm thinking Alex missed a key part of my statement.)

Skyler: "Uh...ok" (And then he gives me that look that tells me he thinks I'm crazy, but I've done my job as a parent so he is afraid to say anything to that effect.)

While the meatloaf was cooking I reheated the mashed potatoes and mixed in some all natural blue and green food coloring. In retrospect, blue and green was probably a bad choice, since NOTHING green looks yummy. And "natural" food coloring works just fine...if you are color blind. But, somehow, after the mashed potatoes were applied to the tops of the meatloafs as you'd apply frosting to a cupcake- it fooled the boys.

I set the "cupcakes" down on the dinner table. Reactions:

Alex: "CUPCAKES!"

Skyler: "Uh..." (Skyler had heard the part about them being meatloaf, but really believed that the mashed potatoes were frosting. Which just took me higher on the "crazy mom" scale, I'm sure.)

Dusty was much more quiet than usual, and Skyler was understandably hesitant, so Alex took a hint and waited for someone ELSE to try the cupcakes first. He was disappointed when Skyler bit in to it and said "This is...is? Is this potato?". His little sugar filled hopes came crashing down. But he tried it anyhow and decided that it wasn't so bad. And ate all of his kale. And mine, too. So I suppose that means that dinner was a success*?

After a really awesome open house- Skyler showed me his classroom with an enthusiasm that I've never seen from him before, and Alex got to show Daddy the library- they BOTH asked for another "meatloaf cupcake"!

Which means, ladies and gentlemen, that I have my (cooking) groove back!

*Just a note on the cupcakes: If you do this, don't use paper cupcake linings. Trust me.
Also, the coloring looks funny because I really AM a mean mom. Not ONLY do I lie to my kids about eating cake when they are REALLY eating meatloaf- I fill said meatloaf with veggies until it is really "meat-and-whatever-mom-has-in-her-veggie-compartment loaf".

We HAVE a SHOPPER!

2011-09-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

I may have died and gone to heaven.

Before I had two boys, I had visions of tutus. Cheerleading. Pink. Bows.

(Seriously- isn't that adorable?!?!? You can find it at Made By Meade on Etsy!)

I remember a sense of shock when I found out that Skyler wasn't going to be of the pink variety. What on earth would I DO with a boy?

And then came Alex. Again?!?!? Where am I going to fit the bows in?

Over the years I have adapted. Adaptation, in this case, has taken the form of learning to distinguish 10,000 shades of blue from 20,000 shades of green and holding out hope that someday I can get a pedicure with with my neice. I suppose I should also admit that Georgia, the only other female in this household, wears pink collars. REALLY pink collars. (Dusty shot down the tutu.)

But today, a miracle happened. Perhaps I am being rewarded for being a trooper about this whole girly-girl-gets-2-boys bit.

Skyler likes to shop. He loves football and baseball and golf and wrestling, but he also enjoys an afternoon at the mall with Mom.

Today Skyler and I went school shopping. Since school starts in the morning, I realize this was a bit of a last minute deal. But since I've been in this rodeo before and know how fast kids grow, I put it off until the last minute.

This afternoon Skyler and I started off with lunch at the Spaghetti Factory (did you know that they are awesomely gluten-free friendly?). The Spaghetti Factory is "our special place". I know that it is a chain restaurant, and that it isn't THAT good of food, but I really hope that when Skyler is older and drives past the OSF, he'll think of me and our Mommy/Son dates.

Then we hit the mall- looking, by the way- like mother and son (thanks to hair dye and Converse).

Skyler didn't just want clothes. He wanted the EXPERIENCE. We tried jeans on (and decided on bootcut- YAY!). We looked in mirrors while holding up multiple shirts and deciding which was worth a trip to the dressing room. We got sodas. We got samples at See's (and potentially a Scotchmallow or 3). We people watched. It. Was. Great.

This is what Skyler ended up with after who knows HOW many stores:

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the crown jewel of Sky's Back To School Shopping Adventure:

Yep. My son is in there. I promise.

Tomorrow my "big little" starts the 3rd grade. When I tucked him in tonight, he said "Well, it's back to the real world tomorrow". I am so lucky and so thankful for the beautiful little boys they are. And truthfully- if they hated shopping with a passion and worshipped NASCAR, I'd still think they were adorable. Which makes the fact that Alex secretly loves pink and Skyler loves the mall kind of like the cherry on top, right?

Alex begins kindergarten next week. We don't know where yet. Which means that this post is to be continued...

Our trip through the Columbia River Gorge.

2011-08-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

About once a year (usually for our Anniversary), Dusty and I find our happy place at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washinton. Although it is much different than our honeymoon location in Mexico, we feel as if we are reliving those days anytime we take one of these getaways. It's good for the soul, right?

Since I've been loving following Groupon lately, we got to take a ride on the Columbia River Sternwheeler. The sternwheeler is one of those things I've always wanted to try, but have never done. Here was my chance. I was a little nervous, due to a habit of feeling as if I'm going to lose my lunch when on boats. When I booked the trip I honestly never considered the fact that I'd be ON the boat. Days later, when telling someone about it, I had one of those "oh cr*p" moments that clue you in to the fact that you may have done something really stupid.

A few short tips about the Sternwheeler: If you wear a dress, try for something tighter fitting than an A-line. As famous as that picture of Marilyn Monroe is, I personally find that having your dress fly up around you in public is just NOT that glamorous. Also, if you DO get seasick, stay on the top deck. Unless you get blisters from the sun, in which case you're up a creek. Should THAT happen, stay outside on the lower decks and find a spot of paint to stare at with all your might, as if that blue paint drop is heaven and you are on your deathbed. Another tip: look for the smiley face. It's on the wheel of the stern wheeler, and it smiles when it's out of the water. Then it turns to a frown face right before plunging into the depths again. Honestly, it didn't matter how many times I saw it, I laughed every. single. time.

Dusty assumed this position about thirty seconds into the ride:

My haircut is not meant for windy areas. Within 5 minutes of this picture, my shaggy 'do had transformed into something resembling a bird's nest in a hurricane.

This is the wheel, though I was unable to get a shot of the smiley. You'll have to find it on your own! Standing by the wheel got you sprayed in a mist that was lovely on a hot day.

This is a shot of the bridge used in one of the first scenes in Twilight. Probably I would have realized LONG ago that it was actually the Bridge Of The Gods, if I didn't have a habit of squeezing my eyes shut and focusing on breathing any time I go over a bridge. I've never really LOOKED at it before.

After the Sternwheeler, Dusty and I crossed over to the Washington side and checked in to heaven on earth. This is the view from our room's window. I offer it as proof of the property's magnificence.

Within 15 minutes we were golfing. We have decided that golfing together is great for our marriage. This is how we golf together.

(What you can't see in this picture is a beer in my left hand and a good book in the right, but I assure you they are there.)

After golfing we headed to dinner, where Dusty had set up a special anniversary dessert- ice cream, caramel sauce, berries and hardened chocolate that spelled out "Happy Anniversary!" and tasted fantastic. After dinner, we hit the hot tub where a very drunk guy insisted that the whale in Free Willy wasn't real (which was funny, considering I actually saw Keiko with my own eyes- and who on earth didn't know the whale was real?).

I woke up at 5:30 the next morning, which ONLY happens (without me cursing it) at Skamania Lodge. I was so excited to see the sunrise. The sky out our window began to turn pink, no children were around to say "Mommy? I had a leak.", and it generally seemed that the morning couldn't get better. Until I noticed a flashing on the glass of a picture in our room, and realized that lightening was lighting up the sky above the ridge of the gorge on the Oregon side. It was an amazing sight- to see a pink sky on one side of the window with dark clouds and white-hot streaks on the right. Once this excitement was over I settled in for breakfast and reading in bed.

After Dusty golfed again (an activity I didn't join him at, because reading about Jamie and Claire Fraser's adventures sounded WAY better than being anywhere but bed at 7am) we set off to explore the area. And by that, I mean find the field where the baseball scene in Twilight was filmed. I mean, we were RIGHT THERE- it is only 15-20 minutes away from Stevenson.

On our search for the baseball field, I realized three things:
1) Dusty is a really good sport when it comes to vampires.
2) I am not cut out for criminal activity.
3) We don't have very good luck.

The field is on private property. It isn't a house, and seems to rarely be used- so basically we decided against our better judgement to check it out anyway and hope for the best. By the time we were at the edge of the field I was both excited to see it and on the verge of a panic attack. We stood there, about to see IT, when we spotted a truck. Then Dusty looked at the grass pattern at realized that the field was being mowed. Right at that moment. I have never been so scared in my whole life. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but still. This foray into the world of trespassing officially ends my criminal career. I'm out.

So, feeling a bit bummed that we came so close and didn't actually see the field (at this point even Dusty was bummed), we headed back over the Bridge Of The Gods and into Oregon.

While we were pretending to be tourists in a place where we aren't really tourists, we decided to check out the Bonneville Dam and fish hatchery. I find Dusty's fascination with fish to be a bit morbid, seeing as it stems from his love of pulling them out of the water on a string and eating them- but whatever. He lets me seach out movie spots, so fish watching is the least I can do.

After Bonneville Dam, I needed nourishment STAT. We had been so busy exploring that I didn't think about food until my stomach threatened to eat itself. We hopped on the scenic highway and stopped at Multnomah Falls. While we were enjoying a mediocre lunch at tourist trap prices (though the setting WAS lovely), Dusty mentioned he hadn't ever BEEN to Multnomah Falls. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I devised a plan to get him to the top of the falls. It began with "Well, you HAVE to see the bridge", then continued to "Well we're already at the bridge, may as well go to the top"...How many times during my childhood did my parents play this trick on me? Now I know why- it works perfectly.

Sometimes things just work out. As we paused on the trail at a lookout point, I realized something: we were looking across the river at the field. We may not have seen it up close, but we DID get to see it from afar (and didn't even have to worry about being arrested in the process). This made me unreasonably happy.

Hlaf way up my trickery backfired. Dusty was ambling along, determined to reach the top, and I was positive that either my legs would fall off or my lungs would burst. But Dusty, realizing he'd been tricked into a hike, was determined to pay me back and drug my little butt up the trail. Finally we made it- right before I faced certain death due to dehydration, I'm sure.

Dusty, feeling triumphant at having reached the top:

Me, feeling thankful that I didn't pass out along the way because that required much more effort than I remembered:

On the way home, we learned an important lesson: if you are almost out of gas, take I-84, not the scenic highway. We DIDN'T run out of gas, but we both let out a long sigh of relief when we hit a gas station 20 miles and many hills after were seemed to be on empty.

So here we are- back home and resuming normal life. My vacation is over- starting today, it's back to cooking and laundry and preparing for the work week. It was fun while it lasted, though!

Our day as movie geeks!

2011-08-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

Ahh, vacation- a time to kick back, relax...and be bored?

I am super happy I chose to take vacation before the kids go back to school. I needed some time with the family. That said, I'm not too good at sitting around. It just isn't in me, unless I am child free and have a good book (which, I admit, I've managed to accomplish a bit on this vacation). So when Wednesday looked to be a day with nothing on the schedule I thought- why not drive to the coast?

When I first roped my sister in to a day trip with 2 kids in a Honda Civic, I promised her salt water taffy and Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach. Then I remembered that we were at Cannon Beach in July, and though I love it with all my heart- I get bored easily. So I decided to head to Astoria, because we've never been there and I felt that I could turn in into the kind of educational experience that I rolled my eyes at as a kid but feel compelled to share as an adult. Plus, we've recently been introducing the kids to movies from the 80's (you know, BEFORE children's movies started to suck?), and I thought they'd enjoy checking out some of the sights related to Short Circuit, The Goonies and Free Willy. Well, ok- technically the Free Willy stuff was for Ashley and I. We LOVED that movie!

Wednesday morning came, and off we headed to the mouth of the Columbia River via Highway 30. In St. Helen's we had a hankering for ice cream. Stopping to grab some high calorie heaven gave me time to goof around on my phone, which gave me a chance to realize that we weren't that far from Twilight filming sights. Naturally with my less than stellar sense of navigation, this meant going the wrong way and misreading addresses and generally driving around for WAY too long. But we saw it. We saw the house used as Bella Swan's house in Twilight. I get that being excited about this (and even doing it in the first place) makes me a nerd. At least I own it.

By the time we found Bella's house, the kids were about to come to blows in the back seat over which Adele song we should listen to (Skyler likes "Rollin' In The Deep" and Alex likes "Someone Like You", and they have both decided that they must hate the song the other likes, just to make life fun). Since leaving them on the roadside would most likely be frowned upon, we decided to distract them by moving on.

The drive to Astoria was beautiful. I found that I MUCH prefer it to driving over the huge mountains with sharp curves, cliffs and steep enough hills to make my car whine for an hour straight. The drive in itself was worth the trip! When we pulled in to Astoria, we found a public restroom and made what we thought would be a quick pitstop. We could hear seal-like barking in the distance, but didn't think much of it until a family came by and asked if we'd seen the seals (or sea lions? I'm still not sure what they were). So off we went, Alex jumping with excitment to see his first ever non-zoo seals (or sea lions).

I told Alex when we were camping that this shirt is my favorite shirt of his. That was one week ago. Alex has worn it four days since camping.

Skyler has a 'fro. He is very proud of his hair. I figure an afro is better than tattoos and facial piercings in terms of self expression.

The family who had brought our attention to the sea creatures was also kind enough to point out the Goonies house. This was a REALLY cool thing, because it was about the one time during the whole trip that we wouldn't get lost. The Goonies house was super cool. Though they have a sign asking people not to drive up the private drive, they welcome visitors on foot. When a young man (I say young, but he was likely a year or three younger than me...the kids just have me feeling old) saw us looking, he asked if we'd like to come inside. He gave us a tour and showed us the window that the zipline to the front foor was attached to, explaining that the scene actually ruined the door frame. He showed us the changes to the house since the movie. And THEN, he let us climb up into the attic that is a central part of the movie. As we looked out the skylight to an amazing view, it became clear why this beautiful house was chosen as a filming location. The family does ask for donations towards upkeep on the house via sign, and I felt that throwing a few bucks in was the least we could do to repay them for the excitement on Sky's face.

After the Goonies house we were off to find lunch. We went to Charlie's Chowder House- a bright blue, eclectic and thankfully inexpensive but delicious little establishment in what appears to be an old auto garage. Ashley and I had great chowder, Skyler got a Bison burger (can I just say THANK YOU to Udi's for making gluten free hamburger buns? We travel with them.) and Alex got a bowl of steamer clams. Alex loves seafood.

After lunch we set out to find the Free Willy house (where Jesse lives- remember, fellow 80's/90's children?). Ashley and I were determined, and if you know the women in my family, you know that determination turns to complete and utter stubornness really quick. Which is why I am kind of shocked that despite who knows how long of driving around Astoria, we were unable to find the house. We have an idea where it may be- on a recessed drive at the end of a dead end- but we didn't actually see it. Bummer. Big Bummer.

In an effort to make this educational as well as nerdy and slightly insane, we made our way to the Astoria Column. It provided an amazing view, a sense of Oregon's history, and a chance to test wether or not we were really claustrphoic and/or scared of heights. The answer? Yes, we are. But it was worth it in terms of experience and beauty. Just a note: To walk up the column will cost you no more than a pair of really sore legs the next day, but you do have to pay $1 to park.

With legs shaking so bad it was hard to press the gas pedal, we set off again towards movie locations. At this point we realized that the film obsession would cost us a chance to head to any actual beach, but we were determined/stubborn/whatever you call it. Here are the results of that search:

The house used in Short Circuit:

This school used in Kindergarten Cop. The kids have never seen Kindergarten Cop, and probably never will. But we came across the school while searching (again) for the Free Willy house (nope...still no luck), so I figured it was worth a snap shot.

By the time we found these last few places, we thought it best to leave. We came to this decision with 2 primary motives: Get back to St. Helen's in time to search out more Twilight spots, and get out of Astoria before a neighborhood watch was issued for a white Honda Civic Hybrid seen roaming the neighborhoods for hours. And so we said a temorary goodbye to Astoria (we'll be back to vacation if we can't convince Dusty to move there!) and headed East. Or South. Or both? (Whatever. I'm not too great at geography.)

By the time we were back in St. Helen's, the boys were fully into finding Twilight locations because they had begun to get the concept of "this place was in that movie". So we had less arguing- assuming we played a constant rotation of Adele songs.

Here is the alley where Bella is followed/approached by the creepy guys in Twilight. I have to say that it looked eerily familiar- of all the places we saw, this was the most movie-feeling site for me.

And the parking lot where a beautiful mythical character whips his gorgeous car around to save Bella Swan:

And the restaurant Bella and Edward go to after the encounter with the creepy dudes.

We didn't get a picture of Bella's house because it was our first stop and, truthfully? I hadn't thought to take pictures at that point. And while we did see the dress shop Bella, Jessica and Angela went to, I didn't really bother with a picture of that either. Also, we found the bookstore used in the movie...but didn't realize that was IT until we drove away. Oops!

All in all, it was a really fun day. The boys had fun, Ashley and I had fun, and we all hit our pillows as if reuniting with a long lost friend.

If you have any questions about how to find these places, you can ask! Also, here are the primary websites we used to find 'em all. And for the love of pete, if anyone figures out how to see Jesse's house, PLEASE tell!

http://www.el.com/to/astoria/lights/
http://www.twifans.com/profiles/blogs/google-map-of-all-filming

Now Dusty and I are off for some grown up time at our happy place- Skamania Lodge. Sweet!

Well, at least he has priorities!

2011-08-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

Alex and I had a Big Exciting Trip To Target For A Bookbag today while Skyler is staying a couple days with his dad. On the way home, Alex was in good spirits. But he was wishing he could show off his new bag to his brother. The feeling of missing his best friend brought on this conversation, that I just had to get out!

Alex: Brother gets to go to his dad's house ALL THE TIME, and I hardly get to go there ever.

Me: Well, you live with your Dad and brother doesn't get that.

Alex: Well YEAH, but brother gets to live with a X-Box.

Me: I suppose an X-Box is pretty cool.

Alex: Yeah, but I guess it's more expensive.

Me: Oh I don't know. Daddies are pretty expensive, too.

Alex: But you don't have to BUY a Daddy. You just marry one.

Me: Uh huh. Good point. Someday you'll get married.

Alex: Yeah. I don't really know what that is yet. Will I know when I'm 13?

Me: I suppose you will know what it means to be married by 13.

Alex: Good, because some people get married at 13.

Me: No, honey. Not really.

Alex: Yes they do.

Me: Maybe a really long time ago.

Alex: Yeah. Maybe like in the 80's.

Oh my gosh. When they aren't driving me crazy, my kids sure crack me up!

Well, Harry, it's been a great ride.

2011-07-14T06:27:00.000-07:00

Endings are sad, aren't they?

Tomorrow we head to the theater to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. This is big. HUGE. Exciting. And sad. While I can't wait to see such a fantastic part of the book brought to life on screen, I can't help feeling- this is it. It's over. There will be no more movies, no more books...no more Hogwarts.

See? There I go, getting all emotional. Skyler is emotional in a different way: Skyler is bouncing off the walls with excitement. By tomorrow noon, I'll probably need to repair some holes in the ceiling. My little wizard can't wait!

In an effort to make this even more special for Skyler (and to indulge my geeky side while blaming it on my child), I decided to make more cake pops. Cake pops are like a bad boyfriend. They make you angry, cause weight gain and emotional outbursts and generally drive you insane. But at the end of the day, you just can't help giving them another try because maybe THIS TIME will be easier. And if it really goes how you want it to, all the hassle will be worth it...

So here there are, folks. My Mad Eye Moody Cake Pops:

Goodbye, Harry. I'll miss you. Hello, sugar high. You're a poor replacement, but I suppose you'll do!

No person should eat that much in a week. Let alone 2 days.

2011-07-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well, HELLO 29!

This weekend, I celebrated the start of my last year as a 20-something by stuffing my face. And complaining about the resulting stomach ache. Then repeating the process. I would be terrified to calculate Weight Watcher points, and probably I should just skip sleeping tonight and spend 8 hours running as if a T-Rex were chasing me. But, dang, it was a great weekend.

I had crab ravioli. In cream sauce. With wine. And more chocolates than I care to admit.

Next up came eggs benedict florentine with a mimosa.

In the interest of not exploding, I skipped a meal after the eggs.

The skipping meals thing didn't last long. For dinner, Mom took me to get more pasta- three cheese tortellini with asparagus and chicken. Since at this point I was seriously thinking I needed to attend a WW meeting STAT, I did what any logical person would do. I followed the pasta with cheesecake and wine.

Today, I vowed to get back on the bandwagon. Until Ashley, Alex and I walked in to a restaurant which offered panko coated fish and chips. Really, now- not getting those would have been a tragedy, right? How could I have passed them up? I couldn't have. It just wouldn't have been right.

After an amazing lunch of deep fried goodness, we worked up an appetite by strolling the streets of Hood River. Turns out there was a kiteboarding competition in Hood River today. Since we didn't have a timeline and didn't think we'd get kicked out, the three of us headed to the waterfront to have a look. Because at this point I was feeling very much like a stuffed goose, I think that I may have been trying to guilt myself into not eating more. Which is why I had a beer by the water before stopping for ice cream in Cascade Locks, of course. (Since any sane person MUST get ice cream in Cascade Locks, I just can't count those calories. Those cones aren't fat- they are an Oregon tradition.)

Ash and I had a great laugh today when Alex tried to assert his authority while using a Port A Potty. I kept the door open just a little, and wouldn't let the little dude lock it. I realize that he is 5 and he has (mostly) figured out the basics of taking a pee at this point. However, here is a little known Brianna fact: I have completely unfounded, strange and illogical fears about my children falling in to portable toilets. I know you think I am crazy for this. Chances are, you're right. The beauty of being a parent is that I am allowed to be a bit crazy regarding highly improbable events (and the need to avoid said events).

Anyhow, since Alex is "a big boy" now, he decided to take a stand for his privacy. When I wouldn't let him lock the door from the inside, he marched right out to move me and see if there was a way to lock the door from the outside. Alex was GOING to find a way to keep his toosh behind a closed door. There was, unfortunately for Alex, one small problem with this: LittleHam forgot to pull his pants up before storming the parking lot. Bad news is, Alex didn't ever figure out a way to rid the Port A Potty door of Mommy's control. Good news is that Ashley and I had a fantastic laugh.

When I came home after dinner at my Mom's (where, again, I overate), the house smelled like the beautiful roses Dusty got me for my birthday. The clams he got on the coast this weekend are taunting me. They want to be made into chowder, or just steamed and eaten right away. But I will not give in. Instead, I will be hiding from the clams. I will also hide from the roses, because they are sitting right over a box of chocolates. I feel lucky, loved, and ready to make this a great year. And I have a massive tummy ache.

Tomorrow, I get back on plan. I only hope that my motivation will make the same choice.

The party is over! And apparently a giant tornado of toy packaging went through...

2011-06-25T19:39:00.001-07:00

I apologize in advance for any misspellings, gramatical errors or sentences that just don't make sense. I am currently typing this while listening to Kidz Bop 19, a remote control car and Hot Wheels. Guess nobody ever said that having children was a quiet affair, right?

Today we descended upon the local park with a folding table, many chairs (two of which broke when guests tried to sit down...Oops!), bikes, scooters, balls (both cake and rubber), food and lots of children. We were celebrating Alex's 5th birthday and Shad's 6th birthday. It was super fun and completely exhausting.

Thanks to 19 kids, 46 cake pops and who knows how many battery-required toys strewn all over my house, I am just too pooped to write much. So please, just enjoy a few pictures:

This is how Alex prefers to ride his bike (Yes, really):

We put ice cream in these little heart shaped chocolate cups that Tricia found at New Seasons. She went searching after I attempted to make chocolate cups at home. (Note: if you attempt this, make sure the melted chocolate has cooled down. A LOT. Trust me.) Honestly, the ones she found were way cuter than I could have made, so perhaps it all worked out.*

*Grandma Marcia, who cleaned the chocolate off the walls, may disagree.

This pinata turned out to be styled after a tank. The good news is that every party-goer got to whack at it. The bad news is that it took Dusty beating it to actually get the thing open.

And finally, here is little Alex trying SO hard to break open the candy box that he came VERY close to falling over backwards...many times!

I really appreciate everyone who came out today. My little babies are growing up, and growing up well. It means so much to me to see how many people love and support them!

Food, Party, Food & a FIVE year old! Oh- and food!

2011-06-24T22:59:00.000-07:00

Probably if I spend too much time awake without purpose tonight, I'll cry. Why will I cry? Because Alex will wake up tomorrow a 5 year old. FIVE?!?! What? I am not ready. I am not ready for Alex to be a Kindergartener. I am not ready for training wheel free bikes or "r" sounds that sound like "r". (I AM ready for accident free nights, but that is a whole other post...) And yet, here we are- 5 years old. Alex has gone from this:

To this:

This transformation has me thinking all kinds of sappy things- including, but not limited to, Trace Atkin's "You're Gonna Miss This" and the words of a poem on the wall in my Mom's kitchen (Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'till tomorrow, for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.). In short, I'm an emotional wreck. I'm happy that Alex has made it here, and I'm excited for all the new and exciting things to come in his world. But I'm not quite ready to start viewing him as anything but the Barney obsessed toddler in my memory.

Speaking of all this emotional overload, let's talk food. That IS how it works, right? Emotions=food? If you disagree, you've probably never needed to attend a Weight Watchers meeting. Which, by the way, I should probably attend next week- thanks to the food I'm going to blog about.

First up: Cake Pops!!!
I know everyone in the world (mine, at least) is sick of hearing about cake pops. I fully accept it- I get obsessed. I have been thinking about cake pops to the point of insanity for two weeks now. And it paid off:

I may never have the nerve to even LOOK at a cake pop EVER again- but there they are. Al B.'s beloved, requested cake pops with sprinkles. Party ready. A few things, for those of you crazy enough to consider making these little headaches-on-sticks:

-When dipping cake pops into chocolate, use a small crock pot. Someone told me this might work better, and I swear I owe that woman a lifetime's supply of cake pops (alas, I'm swearing them off, so that isn't possible).

-Use melting chocolate. Even if it is a pain in the butt to find some that fits your needs (in my case, gluten and peanut free)- find it. It is SOOOO much better than chocolate chips with oil.

-Pony up and buy a stryofoam block. There is really no way around this. The End.

Ok. That is the end of the cake pops. I think. For now.

Now I move on to tonight's dinner:

(Gluten free) Penne with Smoked Salmon Vodka Sauce

If you like low fat meals, you should stop here. This is NOT Weight Watchers friendly. And yet, it is SOOOOO good!

1 small white onion, sliced
1/2 lb. smoked salmon (I made my own, but Trader Joe's sells it too!)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
zest from 1 lemon
1 tsp. dried basil (but fresh would taste better probably!)
1 1/2 shots citrus vodka (I used Smirnoff Citrus Twist)

1 package penne noodles- cook as directed

Sautee the onion in a small amount of olive oil on medium high heat. When onions are transparent, add lemon zest, salmon, cream and basil. Stir constantly and keep at medium high heat until sauce begins to boil. Reduce heat to medium/medium low, add vodka, and simmer (stirring frequently) for 5-10 minutes. Add to pasta, and toss in some steamed veggies if desired.

This was one of those I-know-this-will-increase-my-waistline-but-I-don't-care-it-tastes-so-good type dishes. I got the original recipe from a class at Hipcooks (which you really should try, by the way!). The hipcooks recipe was an amazing blend of fresh herbs, hand made pasta and incredible enthusiasm. When I made this dish, I was tired from my battle with cake pops, had no fresh herbs but an abundance of smoked salmon and abslutely zero enthusiasm for making my own pasta. So I made do. Either way was great, though I'll give it to Hipcooks- mine was yummy. Theirs was to die for.

And since I'm all about food tonight, I have to show off a meal that Dusty and I really made together. But his part was better.

Broiled Rockfish and Moroccan Lentils with grilled sweet peppers and asparagus.

If you haven't had a chance to check out Crockpot 365 , you need to. Besides just being a genius with the crock pot- which is a great thing to be, since life gets so busy- the author of this blog is also a gluten free cook. To me, this combination is perfect.

When Dusty called me at work and offered to make dinner if only I'd give him a hint on where to begin, I sent him a link to Crockpot 365's Moroccan Lentils. As it turned out, we only had about half the requested ingredients. We DID have fresh basil and sweet peppers, though, and those went in the pot. So technically, we don't know what the original recipe tastes like. We DO know that what Dusty did was pure lentil genius.

On top of the lentils came rock fish, which was supposed to have been baked in white wine with garlic and peppers. Since I didn't have the patience to wait for baked fish, it quickly became broiled rock fish. This was my fist time cooking such a fish and I was impressed! It will now be added to my list of things to make.

The peppers and asparagus were cooked together at high heat with a very small amount of olive oil. Why were they cooked together? Because I was lazy and didn't want to dirty another pan. There really is no better reason. Whatever the reason, though- it was great. Dusty says it was the best aspargaus he's ever had. To be fair, Dusty could have been saying that because he wanted to make me feel better. In this meal, Dusty was the star. Those lentils were awesome. And the leftovers made a fabulous bean dip for chips, which means one less thing for me to make tomorrow for Alex's 5th birthday party.

Goodnight, world. Goodnight, 4. Five...I'll see you tomorrow.

I see your true colors shining through...

2011-06-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

And there you have it, folks. Alex is a Kindergartener! Where has the time gone?

Last night was Alex's graduation ceremony/Mommy's cryfest. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever. The kids sang and danced and posed for pictures, before a slideshow was put on to make all of us overly-emotional moms (well- myself, at least) cry like babies.

I will miss Gymstars. It is such a true blessing when a person/school/organization can inspire confindence in parents that their child will be well loved and cared for while in the care of others. Gymstars has been that for us for two years, and now we are on the next big exciting phase with Alex. Thank you so much, Teacher Janelle, Correnna, and everyone else who has loved and cared for our Al B. during his preschool years!

I don't know if I'm ready for Alex to be a Kindergartener- but I assume that after a summer of the kids being home all day, I'll get there.

Sky's first ever golf tournament!

2011-06-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, first lets get two things out of the way right off the bat:

-These cake pops are good. Like, really good. Like, Ashley-you-better-get-them-quick-'cause-they-may-just-disappear good. This has renewed my determination. I WILL make Alex perfect birthday cake pops. Alex will be thrilled. The scale at Weight Watchers will not.

-I saw a peacock tonight up the road from my house. A peacock. Uh...I don't even have anything to add to this. Who the heck sees a peacock in their neighbor's driveway (in Oregon)?

And now, the moment you all have been waiting for. Or, the one I'VE been waiting for at least. Skyler's first golf tournament. EVER!

I need to fess up to something: this made me a big old mess. From the moment I woke up this morning until the moment Sky stepped up to the first tee, I was unreasonably emotional. Twenty minutes before the start of the tournament, Skyler was on the putting green in his zone. I was pacing back and fourth, fighting the urge to puke, burst into tears, or do the hysterical laugh I do when I'm nervous that makes people think I'm crazy. I was also sucking down Diet Coke to calm my nerves like I was a chain smoker and the soda was a Marlboro. Did I mention that Sky was calm, cool and collected?

Skyler's tournament was at Kah-Nee-Ta resort near Warm Springs, Oregon. Thanks to Grandma Val for loaning us her wheels, Skyler, Alex, Dusty, Tyson (Sky's dad), Pappi (my dad) and I were able to make the trek over the mountain in one vehicle. It was awesome that Skyler had so many people there for his big day!

He was great. He was really, really great. His score was that of an 8 year old who plays golf in his first tournament- not as low as the older kids he was paired with, but good enough that he obviously knows what he's doing. But his attitude, his etiquette and a shot out of the bunker made my heart pump up with Mommy pride. I don't often see Sky play golf- it is definately his special thing with his dad. But all day, I was amazed at what my little boy can do.

Actually, I was amazed by what ALL those kids could do. Since we were in the Pee-Wee division, the kids were 8-11 years old. Sky was the youngest in his group, and one of (if not the) youngest I saw at the tournament- but all the Pee-Wee division kids were just, well, kids. At one point while walking up to the putting green, the three boys had to be reminded that they can talk about Pokemon later. And yet, from a distance, they just looked like short golfers. It was amazing. These kids really know how to play, behave, interact on the course...I come away from today a much bigger fan of golf and a huge believer that children are incredible.

Skyler came away from today exhausted, excited for his next tournament, and happy. Oh- and starving. Can't blame him- he'd just walked nine holes with a golf bag on his back, while making all club choices and other game-related decisions alone (parents and spectators were not allowed to give advice, and caddys were prohibited). He was probably also exhausted from the Benedryl I'd had to give him, but that's just life for an allergy kid who loves outdoor sports.

We celebrated his accomplishments with a good lunch and then swimming. By this point we were so tired that I think 5 of us would have been happy to go home. I'd been using the "but we'll go swimming later" carrot with Alex all day. Alex walked (and was carried a little) the nine holes. He watched his brother. He was quiet. Way quieter than I'd expected a kid his age to be. Alex was patient. Alex wore a "golf shirt" and understood when we told him that he couldn't use the putting green just now. And Alex, never one to turn down a good-behavior carrot, was NOT getting back on the road without swimming.

The pool was fun! It was strange to be in a warm pool. I kept thinking "EEEWWW! A pee spot!" and moving away, only to remember that the whole pool was warm. I know it is the result of warm springs. I'm still not positive that the pool was pee-free. Thank God for chlorine. We only stayed an hour to swim (much to Alex's dismay), because this IS Sunday night, the kids DO have school tomorrow, Tyson, Dusty and I DO have to work tomorrow...and because we were all exhausted. Even Alex, who saw his exhaustion as even more reason to stay, and began to turn into the scary monster that I (thankfully) don't often see as he was unfairly ripped from the pool. For a good 15 minutes, I'd reclaimed my "meanest Mom ever" status. After that, he fell asleep. Since he pretty much slept until we were home and he knew there were cake pops waiting for him, everything turned out just fine.

Here are some pictures from our awesome day. Enjoy!

Sky and Tyson, on the way to the first tee.

And, he's off!

Pappi, Alex and Dusty:

I believe this was on the 4th hole- that's a long way for little legs!

And, here come the crazy emotions again. *sniffle* I am so proud of him!

And, it's over. Do the kids' scores match the parents'?

Uh, why didn't WE bring clubs again?

Dad, will you teach me how to drive this?

No, Sky, we can't golf again. Now smile for the camera:

Pappi and the boys. Dusty, Tyson and I are way less cool when Pappi is in town.

I know there is a story to this, but I was too tired to really catch it:

Alex may be mad about leaving, but he'll always smile for a picture.

I think this was about 30 seconds before Sky fell asleep and I entered a zombie like state.

Today was a day of "Well, now I know".

2011-06-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

Today, I tried something new. Lots of new somethings, actually. I gave in to Alex's pleading and tried my hand at cake pops. I borrowed my mother in law's smoker and smoked the salmon my Dad bought me. I made a pot roast. I woke up at 6am. On a Saturday.

Most people would think this is too much "new" in one day. Most people, however, are more or less sane. I don't think I've ever made that claim.

We were up early because Dusty had to get to his test- which he passed with flying colors by the way! (I knew he would- my dream said so.) This left Alex and I in a strange state of mind. By 7:30am, we felt like we should do something. But it was too early to play outside and, frankly, too early to do much of anything. So I cleaned the fish tank while Alex yelled at the Wii about how "UNFAAAAIIIIIRRRRR" that last play was. At this point, the fish was the only member of our household grateful for the early rising.

Finally we got dressed and headed for the farmer's market and the library. We decided to do the library first, because Alex said so. You should have seen the look on Alex's face and mine when we realized that the library wasn't open yet. WE made it to the library BEFORE it opened? On a SATURDAY? Clearly, the stars were not aligned.

To kill some time- because Alex was determined to go to the library before the market, even though the market was in full swing just 1/2 block away- we went in search of cake pop sticks. We went to the fabric store and the craft store. If you've ever been in one of these stores, you probably know the general attitude that seems to be required of craft store employees: screw you. At least in my experience, "Hi! Can I help you?" is out of the question. Probably eye contact is as well. And if you have the nerve to walk up to an employee and politely inquire about the location of whatever you're looking for, you will likely get a look that says "If you have to ask, clearly you aren't crafty enough to know", accompanied by a finger pointing vaguely at the other end of the store. Needless to say, we didn't find the Wilton brand paper pop sticks that I wanted. I settled for some wooden dowels, assumed Dusty would cut them, and hoped for the best.

After a morning that passed by v e r y s l o w l y, we were back at home and ready to tackle projects. Isn't "projects" just the general term for "stuff that will make you wonder what you're thinking"? Here are some very important things I learned today:

-Too much frosting when making cake balls is bad. It makes them mushy. If they are mushy, they don't hold up on the stick, which means they will become "cake balls speared with a wooden dowel". Not cute "cake pops".

-For smoking salmon, you need a meat thermometer. I won't mention why I don't own a functioning meat thermometer anymore. *cough* (Dusty) *cough*

-Wood chips only last for about an hour. I learned this approximately 3 hours into the smoking process.

-Those cute, perfectly rounded cake pops on Bakerella's blog? Yeah...they aren't easy. I started out intending to make cute globe-shaped cakes on paper sticks. What did I end up with? Haystack shaped lumps on wooden dowels. That could sink to the bottom of the dowel at any moment, just to keep you on your toes.

-I also learned that the above lesson bugs the crap out of me, to the point where I may need to reevaluate my life's priorities. Somehow it seems that over the course of one day, "Perfect Cake Pops" has become Priority #1. I understand this isn't logical. I'm working on it.

-Pot roast needs way more spices than I put in it. And even then, it'll probably never taste as good as my Mom's. Probably I should shelf that dish and invite myself over to dinner at her place more often. (For the record, she'll tell you I'm a better cook than she is. She lies.)

-My Dad is way too nice to just come out and say "Your pot roast sucks, Brianna".

-Alex is way too nice to say "the cake pops aren't working, Mommy." He waited all day (because they were so screwed up that they took about 9 HOURS!) with an optimism that could literally insipre a nation to end hunger.

-When it comes down to optimism vs. exhaustion, sometimes you fall asleep. See pictures for proof.

So, the good news is I learned a lot today. I may have made haystack shaped, falling down and generally not Birthday Party Quality cake pops- but I think I know how to fix them next time. And I made a crappy pot roast, but...well, forget that one. I wasn't kidding about just going to Mom's next time. And the salmon may have taken hours and left me only *mostly* sure that it's edible, but now I know to buy a meat thermometer and change the wood chips.

After all, knowing is half the battle.

I'm trying to write more. So...

2011-06-10T21:05:00.001-07:00

...here goes.

At this point in the post, I can't be sure WHAT I'll write about. Lots of things are buzzing through my mind like chickadees on crack in the middle of a windstorm.

I'm thinking about work- and about the professionalism that is annoyingly instilled in me that keeps me from blogging much about it. I am thinking about the fact that Skyler seems to go from super sweet momma's boy to holy-cow-that-attitude-is-enormous in the drop of a hat. I am thinking about my Mom, who is currently out of town...and how much her being IN town helps me. I'm thinking about the mess that I *should* be cleaning, but I'm almost too tired to type at this point and am only exerting the energy to be out of bed because a not-yet-asleep almost 5 year old is snuggled up on Dusty's side. I'm also thinking about Dusty, who is working late tonight and then has a huge test to take in the morning. But I know it'll be ok, because I had a dream about how ok it would be, and I'm just crazy enough to take such dreams as absolute fact.

I just finished reading Poser: My Life In Twenty-Three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer, and I loved it. I don't do yoga, and yet the book has me wanting to do the splits while pondering life and adoring my children. When I say I just finished reading it, there is an emphasis on the word JUST. So we'll see how long this feeling lasts.

Ok- on to my Mom. I hope that some day my children treasure me the way I treasure my Mom. I hope that they know that I'm not perfect, but still love me and miss me when I'm out of town. I hope I can always be what they need. Cause that's what my mom is- she is what I need, when I need it. She's a feminist when I'm angry, she is sympathic when I'm whiney, she is endlessly encouraging (in fact, if I removed the names on every comment on this blog, I can guarantee you that you'd know which ones were from my Mom) and she is a queen of laundry when I'm so overwhelmed with work that washing my family's clothes is just too much. Thanks, Mom.

Speaking of Moms, holy grasshoppers does Skyler have me confused sometimes. I don't understand this age. Why is he so happy? Why is he so upset? Why are Pokemon cards cool? And yet, just when I'm thinking that ripping all my hair out is the ONLY possible solution, he pops off with "Mommy, you're the best Mom ever. I really love you." I love him, too. I do. And I am proud of him. The same goes for Alex. At the same time- when adults experience these kind of mood changes, they wind up in straight jackets. Just sayin'.

Dusty just wrapped up the EMT basic courses and tests with the state of OR tomorrow for his license. I am so excited for him! I was nervous, until I had the dream. I wasn't kidding about being one of "those" crackpots that believes dreams are sometimes messages. That's what this was. I believe that Dusty will rock the test. And then I believe we'll all have an awesome time in Kah-Nee-Ta on Sunday to celebrate Dusty's new life and Skyler's first golf tournament. Me? I'm just along for the ride, the food, and the swimming- provided I can find a place out of the sun to swim at.

And, that's about it. Alex should be passed out by now- he hasn't yet figured out that "Friday night watch TV in Mommy's bed" is code for "Mommy is too tired to mess with bedtime, so fall asleep to Sprout, Darling". Georgia is acting like the dino dog in the Flintstones' opening sequence (even though she JUST went out a few minutes ago, try telling HER that- clearly she shouldn't have to be outside a second longer than she wants to. It isn't like she's an animal or anything.) The coffee pot is begging to be set for tomorrow...or is that reality, reminding me that in my world, a day without brewed coffee when my eyes open is going to suck by default? And Dillon has attained a level of relaxation that I am more than a little jealous of.

Goodnight, all you readers (Mom). :-)

The anatomy of a tantrum.

2011-06-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

I am writing this post primarily so that when Alex is a parent I have proof that he did, in fact, freak out a little every now and then.

I'll start by saying that little Alex- with the exception of a few months surrounding his 3rd birthday- is NOT an argumentative child. He is happy. Things don't bug my Al B. The world can be crashing down around Alex- give him a banana, a good haircut, a Wii and some pretzels and he is on top of the world. But not today. No sir.

Today, Alex's shoes were left at Grandma's house. His favorite shoes. And this is just NOT acceptable to little BigHam.

It all started when I asked the boys to please, for the love of all that is sane, BE QUIETER while playing the Wii. After repeated requests, I sent the boys to time out. Skyler quickly headed to time out and sat silently. (Recently Skyler could be heard telling Alex "It's ok to get in trouble sometimes, dude. I get in trouble all the time!") Sky knows the drill.

For Alex, getting in trouble is a personal insult. Naturally, this led to sobbing and tears of frustration and general screams of "this isn't FAIR!!!". That happens to everyone, right? Oh...no? Huh. Perhaps it's just Alex and I. Darn cancers.

With all this carrying on, I realized quickly that productivity was no longer a possibility. At this realization, Skyler was instructed to put away the Wii while Alex, still in the throes of desperation, was given two choices: put his shoes on to go, or be carried out shoeless.

As any reasonable person would do, Alex opted to continue laying on the floor and carrying on like a maniac. Two minutes later, Grandma Val's neighborhood was treated to a jarring rendition of "MY MOMMY IS THE MEANEST MOM EVER!" while I carried a shoeless and screaming almost 5 year old to the car. In the car, Alex did a fabulous impression of a caged raccoon and I found myself thinking fondly of the days when Alex's carseat resembled a straightjacket.

A child unbuckling and scrambling to exit the vehicle is not conducive to safe driving conditions. As a result, we sat for about 15 minutes on the side of the road, showing the whole neighborhood just how dysfunctional a family could really be. Good times.

After a drive home that was longer than a cross country trip in a Geo Metro, my eyes were closing and Alex was completely certain that he is literally the most unfortuante person in the whole entire world. He proceeded to spend the next thirty minutes hiding in various spots around his room (which, by the way, is not very large) while stewing over the fact that no reasonable parent would EVER make a child leave Grandma's house shoeless. Finally, at 5pm, Alex fell asleep. Thank heaven for not-so-small miracles.

Alex woke up an hour later and left a defeated message for Grandma pleading for the return of his shoes. Slowly, he began to consider that while I may be the meanest parent ever, I was also the holder of the mac n' cheese that he wanted to eat for dinner. As happens with children, his stomach eventually won out. By 8pm, I had my little Al B. back. And a glass of wine in my hand.

They are so cute when they sleep. And for the record, I WILL save this blog post for 30 years down the road when Alex calls me to tell me how frustrating my grandchildren are.

Apple-y Pork Fried Rice

2011-05-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

In keeping with my theme of "I don't know what kind of blog I want to have, so I'll just put anything on it", here is another new family favorite recipe.

Apple-y Pork Fried Rice

You'll need:

Brown rice

Vegetable broth

1 bottle of hard apple cider

1 tsp. olive oil

2 servings pork tenderloin
1/2 white onion
3 garlic cloves

whatever veggies you have around- I had frozen green beans and leftover sauteed kale

1 Tbsp. coconut oil

In rice cooker, combine:

1 cups brown rice

1 1/2 cup vegetable broth

1/2 cup hard apple cider

In cast iron skillet or other oven safe skillet:

Combine remaining hard cider, onion, garlic and olive oil. Simmer at medium high heat until cider is reduced by half. Once cider is reduced, add pork. Cook 2-3 minutes on each side. Put skillet in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, pull skillet out. Remove pork, cut into squares and set aside. Add veggies and coconut oil to skillet, cover and let warm at medium-low heat. Now all you have to do is stir every few minutes until the rice is done.

Once the rice cooker finishes, add rice and pork to skillet to fluff and heat through. And...that's it!

The resulting dinner is super tasty- a fresh, nutty and fruity version of fried rice. And my favorite part is that this literally came from that pre-payday "dang it, what on earth do I have to eat?" dilemma.

2011-05-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, my children are no longer at the baby/preschooler stage that the original blog pictures show them to be. They are now *almost* to the both-in-elementary-school stage, with Alex's preschool graduation less than a month away. Here is a more recent picture- aren't they cute (most of the time)?

Just once, I want to...

2011-05-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Someday, when someone I don't want to deal with comes in to my office, I want to (with a totally serious face) crawl under my desk and scream "Brianna isn't in right now!". And then stay there until they leave. Just to see what would happen.

Actually, along those lines, I'd like to try this method when my children need me to solve an argument. In this case, though, I'd need to actually become invisible for a bit since those minature people are pretty darn persistent.

Due to pesky things such as professionalism and lack of human ability to become invisible, these scenarios will never happen. Oh, well. A girl can dream, right?

My note to Stephenie Meyer:

2011-05-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

I love Twilight, Mrs. Meyer, but you got it wrong.

Those weren't immortals you were seeing in your dreams. They were just born and bred Pacific Northwesterners. So here I am, a born and raised Oregonian, to clear up the confusion:

-We aren't vampires, we're just pale. Not "I need a tan" pale, but "gee, is the fair colored foundation too dark for me?" pale. This is because we have no sun for most of the year. When we do, we get so excited that we go to Target and buy SPF300, huge sunglasses and sun hats in order to make us feel all summer-like.

-We aren't vampires, we just run fast. You'd run fast, too, if you had to face torrential downpours anytime you got out of the car.

-We aren't vampires, we just have dark circles under our eyes. This is attributed to the fact that children in rainy climates stay inside often. Children who stay indoors often are kind of nuts. Parents of children who are kind of nuts are freaking exhausted.

-We aren't vampires, we just talk funny. But we won't admit it because, obviously, it is actually the rest of the country who sounds strange.

-We aren't vampires, we are just moody. You try living in an overcast climate 9 months out of the year, then act all Little Miss Sunshine.

-We aren't vampires, we just sparkle. This is caused by the makeup we wear in an attempt to distract you from the fact that if you look too closely, you'll see our veins through our deathly pale skin.

-And finally, we aren't vampires...we are just cold. This isn't because our skin is made of marble. It's because we spend most of our time as wet as a drowned rat, wondering if the sun exists and fighting wind- with no umbrella or coat (of course) because only tourists use that crap.

Sooo...while I am admittedly a Twilight girl, I have to disappoint. There are no immortal beings in the Pacific NW. There are only people who actually live in the PNW, and you can see how that gets confusing.

Brianna, Dusty and family!: Our family's quiche. Gluten free and WW friendly!

2011-03-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

Brianna, Dusty and family!: Our family's quiche. Gluten free and WW friendly!

Our family's quiche. Gluten free and WW friendly!

2011-03-20T10:24:00.001-07:00

So, here is a recipe that began as something from The Gluten Free Gourmet cookbook (by Bette Hagman, a gluten free genius). Then on top of gluten free considerations, we added my Weight Watchers needs. And my family's preferences. Here is the super yummy, gluten free, 7 Points Plus per serving quiche:

Crust:

Potaotes, 3 cups (sliced very thin- I use a food king with a madolin setting)
1-2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Slice the potatoes very thin and line a large pie pan with them. Then I drizzle the olive oil over the potatoes, and stick in the oven at 425 to bake for 30 minutes.

Filling:

4 oz. Pancetta
2 eggs
4 egg whites
1 leek, chopped
1/2 cup chopped, fresh basil
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/8 cup gouda, shredded (if you don't have gouda, you can sub more parmesean here)
1/8 cup parmesean, grated
3/4 cup fat free milk
Sea Salt to taste
Freshly cracked pepper to taste

Brown pancetta with leek in a pan sprayed with olive oil spray. Mix all ingredients in large bowl (I use my KitchenAid mixer, because I'm too lazy to stir it myself :-). Pour in the crust once it's done the 30 minutes in the oven. Put the whole thing back in the oven at 350 for 40-45 minutes. I'd suggest wrapping the edges in aluminum foil for the first 30 minutes, so the outer rim of the potaoes don't burn!

This is a super yummy, make everyone happy, breakfast-for-dinner dish. Served with a green veggie side, it has all you need!

Serves 6.

Wow, it's been a long time!

2011-03-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd pop in and share some updates.

Dusty just finished up his first term in the EMT program at a local community college. He seriously ROCKED it! I am majorly impressed with his dedication, his grades, and the way that his brain works when it comes to math. Dusty going back to school has meant some serious changes in our family's life, but I think that those changes are great!

Skyler is about to begin football, which he is super excited about! He is loving Harry Potter, Star Wars and Beyblade Metal Fusion (which, ironically, is mostly made of plastic. Go Figure.). School has been a bit rough this year, but he is sticking it out and trying his best. Skyler has so many people in his life trying to help him through this rough patch that just thinking about them makes me tear up in a happy cry. This summer, Skyler will begin competing in golf tournaments- something he has been anxiously awaiting for years!

Alex is loving preschool and cannot wait for Kindergarten. He is about to begin a second season of indoor soccer, which has been his favorite sport of all. He has also played t-ball and basketball. Alex's favorite things at the moment include Christmas movies/characters (yep...in the springtime...), sports, homework (yeah- really), and Beyblade. Alex had an awesome time on St. Patrick'sDay! Leprechauns visited both his school and his house, making messes and leaving chocolate coins! At home, they also left glittery footprints...which Dusty is still unhappy with "them" about. Oops.

I am busy at work, but absolutely loving what I do! I feel so lucky to have an awesome job! Outside of work, the fam keeps me busy and content, and when they are all asleep books and HBO/Showtime series via Netflix keep me happy! I began Weight Watchers in September and lost 28 pounds! Now I am just working to maintain that loss and feeling seriously awesome about it.

Spring has sprung and life is good!

Buzz Lightyear and the Comcast man.

2010-08-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

Whew, am I glad that the Comcast repair guy has young kids of his own! Otherwise, I'm pretty sure he'd have run screaming out the door.

Imagine being a guy going to a house to fix a faulty cable box. The door opens slowly and...Buzz Lightyear (a.k.a. 4 year old Alex) answers the door. In August.

Yep, that's how we greeted the cable guy. He took it in stride, said "Hello Buzz" and got to work on the cable box. No sooner had he said up shop, the questions from Sky began.

"What are you doing?"
"What is that screen?"
"Why doesn't it work?"
"Can you fix it?"

The great part was that the repair man was very quick on his feet and had awesome, sarcastic answers to all these questions. He told the kids that the box had a sensor that notified Comcast when kids hadn't brushed their teeth, and then Comcast called parents. Sky laughed, undetterred, and kept up the constant interrogations. Alex got nervous and asked every few minutes how they knew if his teeth weren't brushed, for the duration of the visit.

It REALLY got exciting when, because of his good mood and willingness to banter, the kids decided the cable guy was awesome. This meant that they MUST show off. So Skyler starts jumping up and down and spouting random knowledge. At this point, I'm heading back in to the living room to shoo the kids off (of course he came right in the middle of my dish-doing), and I hear Alex say "WATCH THIS!". Note: In the case of children, this typically means some rule is about to be broken.

Apparently, Buzz Lightyear can fly. As I round the corner I see Alex, all coiled up like a tiger about to pounce on the coffee table. At the same time, my ears are registering "TO INFINITY AND BEYOND", and Alex is leaping off the coffee table....and straight in to the tv screen.

Holy cow. Thank the good Lord that Comcast hires people who had a good sense of humor, a "kids will be kids" attitude, and the ability to at least mask their judgements of moms with crazy kids until they get in the van.

Someday they will be old and grown and I'll miss the Buzz Lightyear/20 questions phase. Until then, can I have a glass of wine?

How children are like dogs.

2010-04-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

It's all in good fun, people. All in good fun.

How are children like dogs?

-They often smell funny, and you can't usually figure out where the smell is coming from.

-Children whine a lot.

-Children pee on carpets.

-The best way to get a child to stop peeing on carpets is to give them food treats.

-Either you have a leash for your child, or it has crossed your mind in at least one desperate moment that it sure would be nice.

-Children will eat the strangest s***.

-Children often greet eachother in ways that make you wonder what planet they are from.

-Children know how to make you SOOOO mad...then give you that face that says "but I'm so cuddly and cute, you know you love me".

-A child's best command is usually "ignore me".

-Go ahead and try to get your kid to clean his room. Then ask your dog to clean it. See which one gets done first. (Note: if you try this, you'll probably eventually wind up giving up on both of them and doing it yourself)

It's been a while!

2010-02-21T08:18:00.001-08:00

But here I am!

These last few weeks have been rewarding but challenging. We are really trying to stay healthy 'round here, which is sometimes easier said than done!

So here are some basic updates:

-Both boys are signed up for baseball/t-ball. Alex is so excited! He just wants to be on a team- any team! Games and pratices won't start until April, and I'm not 100% sure that the Y won't call and say Alex is too young, but I sure hope they don't! He is so ready to play ball!

- Both Nemo and Franklin have adjusted to life in our house and are loving it. Franklin got a new cage which makes it much easier for him to avoid being eaten by Dillon. Dillon seems to have gotten the idea that he isn't supposed to threaten to eat the guinea pig. Georgia still rules the pet roost 'round here, especially if you ask her.

-Dusty and I are feeling good about life, and are adjusting to our new schedules, especially with help from Mom, who is around to make life less crazy!

-I have given up Starbucks and fountain drinks for Lent, and am putting the money I would have spent on those things towards a project that is building wells and taps for clean drinking water in Haiti. Today I'm donating $20 to the fund, and aside from a massive mocha craving, I am thrilled about it!

I am so sorry I've been a bit non-existant lately in life outside of work and my house. I am really trying to catch up! I'm sure some day this whole working mom thing will feel like the norm. I'm just not there yet.

My day in 10.

2010-01-26T23:10:00.000-08:00

1) I really am clumsy. Ugh! I managed to knock over a display on the Starbucks' drive through counter with my rear view mirror. It was so embarrassing- coffee all over the drive!

2) Tuna fish smells gross. Nope. Not kidding. Like, gag me gross. But I'm a trooper. I made it through a whole day of smelling tuna casserole and only had to run out of the kitchen 2 times for water so as not to vomit.

3) Some people just like to yell.

4) Today I was the person that "some people" like to yell at.

5) But it's ok, I still love my job!

6) Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakwel is not a good movie...if you ask Dusty or I.

7) Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakwel is AWESOME...if you ask Sky or Alex.

8) A pedestrian was hit and killed in our area today. We drove by as 911 was being called. Life is so delicate sometimes it scares me. Enough people were stopped that we didn't feel we could do anything but pray, which we did. We ask that you all pray for everyone involved as well, please.

9) Should you trip and fall, then manage to regain your balance, look where you're going. Otherwise all that effort spent trying to not fall on your face will be for nothing when you slam your face into the wall that seems to have come out of nowhere. Anyone care to guess how I learned this?

10) MEASURES 66 & 67 PASSED!!! Schools in Oregon still aren't sitting pretty, but at least we aren't looking at more devastating cuts to our children's futures. THANK YOU, OREGON!

Yummy dinner tonight!!!

2010-01-23T19:57:00.001-08:00

Pappi joined us for dinner tonight. He leaves Monday and will be up at the mountain tomorrow, so tonight was our last dinner with my dad for awhile. We are going to miss him!

Pappi brought tilapia, which is my new favorite fish. I LOVE it. It cooks easily, has a mild flavor that takes on other flavors well, is low mercury, and is super fast. Oh, and did I mention it isn't that expensive? Love it.

I walked past fresh basil at New Seasons today. A woman was stocking them and I just happened to walk by as she threw some on the display, which sent the smell of fresh basil my way and made my mouth water. Suddenly basil was added to my menu. So here it is, the dish I wound up with:

Broiled Tilapia On Citrus Basil Greens

1 onion, chopped and divided
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
2 lemons
1 lime
pepper
2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar (or white wine- I just didn't have any)
1/2 bunch fresh basil
1 bunch kale
2 baby bok choy
4-5 tilapia filets

(You could easily substitute whatever greens you have- spinach, kale, bok choy...it's all good!)

Turn oven on to broil. Set up broiling pan- on bottom, put 1/4 of the chopped onions and pour some olive oil over it. Spray broiling rack with cooking spray and lay the fish on it. Squeeze 1/2 of a lemon and 1/2 of a lime on the tilapia, sprinkle with pepper and repeat on the other side. Set aside.

Sautee 3/4 of the onion and garlic in 1/2 the olive oil, juice from 1 lemon and the white wine vinegar 5-10 minutes. Add greens mix and basil with remaining olive oil, sautee 5 minutes at medium high heat. After 5 minutes, turn heat to low, cover and let cook 5-10 more minutes.

Put fish in the oven and broil 3-4 minutes on each side.

Make a bed of greens on the plate, top with fish and ENJOY!

Today was a beautiful, sunny day here. I wore sunglasses, rolled down my window (for 2 minutes until I realized it was still REALLY cold!) and enjoyed myself. This dish was the PERFECT way to end a day like today- fresh and light with basil and citrus to remind me of beautiful summer days.

Bike rides and chocolate!

2010-01-22T18:27:00.001-08:00

Another week has passed, and I'm ready to rest. (You know, rest? The stuff that includes laundry and dishes and cooking and childcare? Oh...wait. That isn't rest? Guess I'm out of luck.)

Work was awesome again this week, and totally reassured me that I am meant to do this. If we can only get the morning struggles and laundry worked out, I think things will be awesome! Oh, and sleep. Sleep would be a nice bonus, too.

Sky's school had a fundraiser at Papa's Pizza on Thursday. It was fun! I can't wait to hear the amount made for the school, but I think it will be pretty successful, just judging by the amount of fundraising flyers I saw up behind the register. We now begin with Mission: Valentine's Candy. Skyler is selling See's Candies chocolates until Wednesday, January 27th. If you've got a sweet tooth, let us know!

Skyler had his first basketball practice was this week. He is ready for a new season of slam dunks and showing off. I will announce game times and such later on, but games will be on Saturday mornings and we'd love to have family and friends come out!

Alex was in heaven this week as he had Pappi around to babysit him. He got to ride his new "big boy bike" for the first time out of the garage, go to Costco, and just in general hang with Grandpa. Alex is still adjusting to having to get going in the mornings. He seems to have my appreciation for the afternoon and evening, and distaste for the morning hours. This worked brilliantly when we didn't have to go out and about, but is proving to be troublesome nowdays. I think that within a few weeks he'll be adjusted to our new family schedule!

Franklin went to the vet today to have his nails trimmed, and was given a clean bill of health by the doctor. Nemo hasn't died yet, which I think in goldfish terms means he is healthy, so we're good on the fish front. And aside from smelling like dogs who go out in the rain a few times a day, Georgia and Dillon are doing very well. I am happy that Dillon is here now that I am working out of the home full time. I think it would be very hard on Princess Georgia to be home alone that often!

Hope everyone is happy and healthy!

I'm loving rotisserie chickens!

2010-01-16T13:17:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, an exhausted me asked Dusty to pick something up for dinner. He stopped by Safeway, where rotisserie chickens are sold for $5 on Fridays. He also picked up french bread since Skyler was with his dad and gluten containing bread is the thing I miss most since Sky went gluten free.

We made open face chicken sandwhiches. To die for. Seriously. Not the healthiest thing I've eaten, but I've been craving them ever since. The best part? They took me about 5 minutes to assemble. Then we got to throw the rest of the chicken in salads and just eat it plain for the rest of the weekend.

For this mouth watering don't-feel-like-cooking dinner, you need:

1 rotisserie chicken
Gruyere cheese
French bread (or other bread, if you're going for nutritional value- I threw that out the window for this meal)
Olive oil
Freshly ground pepper
Spinach or dark lettuce

Heat the oven to 350. Slice the french bread (2 pieces per adult, 1 per kid) and place on a very lightly oiled cookie sheet. Top with chicken and enough thinly sliced cheese to cover the chicken. Sprinkle wth freshly fround pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Put it in the over for 5 minutes or so, until the cheese is melted. Pull out and top with lettuce.

This is my new "Quick! Sky isn't here- bring in the gluten!" treat!

My awesome job!

2010-01-16T11:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, I've been intending to write an update all week, but as it turns out- adjusting to a new job and routine is exhausting! So here it is, Saturday. First week of my new job is officially over. I got lots of rest last night, and I'm not really prepared to start on the mountain of laundry just yet. What better time to update, right?

I LOVE my job. It is amazing to go to work and feel really, really good about what you do. Every single day this week, I left feeling like "WOW, I just helped so many people- AND I got paid for it!". Loaves and Fishes is such a great organization, and I am so happy to get to know first hand just how much good they do in our community.

Every day, hundreds of meals are served to the seniors in our community through the meals on wheels program and the in center dining. I think what amazes me most is that I am one of only 3 employees at that center- the rest of the needed help comes from so many volunteers that it just blows my mind. It is just astounding to realize how many people there are in our community who give up their time on a daily basis in order to help others. Talk about boosting my faith in humanity!

The biggest challenge this week is in getting the boys on a routine (Skyler, you REALLY have to get dressed for school...Alex, we PROMISE to pick you up from daycare...) and getting my body used to shifting from mommy mode to work out of the home mode. The job itself is so well suited to me that I felt used to it the minute I walked in. Hopefully by the end of next week, the dust will settle here at home!

I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

P.S. Please, please, please vote YES on measures 66 & 67- without these measures, Sky's school district alone faces cuts of 17 school days OR 72 (out of less than 450) teaching positions. And our school district has fared better than many others in the state. We aren't voting on "extras" in education anymore- those are gone. Skyler has a 1/2 time principal, PE only 1/2 the year, music only 1/2 the year, a part time school counselor...in middle school he gets to look forward to the only extra curricular activity being track, large class sizes and probably no outdoor school. Schools are already in shambles. But the basics of education- time in the classroom and teachers to teach, are now at risk. We can't possibly lose more and expect our children to learn.

A yummy cooking accident!

2010-01-16T11:03:00.001-08:00

You know those nights when you haven't been shopping in awhile and don't have your stand by ingredients- leaving you feel perplexed and uninspired? Well, I had one of those!

I came home from work tired, with hungry kids, and thought "hey- spaghetti is fast and easy". So I got the ground turkey out, chopped up some leeks and garlic, threw it all in a pan and got the turkey browning. Then I proceeded to the cupboard only to realize we were all out of noodles.

So I thought- AHA! I have a yummy curry sauce- I'll cook some rice, toss the sauce in with the turkey and call it good. Got the jasmine rice started, grabbed the sauce...and realized I should have frozen the sauce so as not to allow mold growth. (EEEEWWWWW!)

Now I'm down 2 ideas. Number 3 was to make a casserole and use the rice as left overs- until I realized that the cream of mushroom soup in the back of the cupboard isn't gluten free (DUH. How did I not know that?).

At this point I have rice over 1/2 way cooked, turkey with leeks and garlic all browned...and that's it. Here is what I wound up with:

Faux Thai Turkey
1 lb. ground turkey, browned with garlic and leek or onions
2 cups water
1/2 can pineapple in juice
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2-1 tsp. curry powder
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3-4 Tbsp. flour or gluten free baking mix (to taste)
1 1/2 tsp. Xanthan gum
1/4-1/2 package lowfat cream cheese (I used 1/2 package, but in the interest of a slim waistline, I probably shouldn't have)

Mix the sugar, curry, GF baking mix, xanthan gum, cinnamon & nutmeg together- set aside. Pour the water and pineapple into the ground beef. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer. Add dry mix, stir well. Let simmer until sauce is reduced by 1/2, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cream cheese. Serve over rice.

This was a total accident, but there is no question that the family wants it again. I was pleasantly surprised with how a dinner plaugued with roadblocks turned out!

Yes, Georgia- we KNOW there is a rodent in the house!

2010-01-05T21:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, the time has come where I ban anything else with a heartbeat from entering these walls...well, except the ants for the ant farm the boys got for Christmas (ironically, it came from the Grandparents who own a pest control company!).

Here is the household tally now:

2 adults
2 kids
2 dogs
1 goldfish
1 guinea pig

T-Rex/Nemo (Alex changes his name daily), the goldfish, came to us via Ashley...sort of. He came our way when I made the mistake of asking Ashley to take her 3YO nephew to the look at the fish while I checked out at PetSmart. Next thing I know, Alex comes running up to me "MOMMY! MOMMY! I have enough monies to buy a fishie!!!", while holding up a handful of change...so we left the pet store with dog food AND a goldfish.

After T-Rex/Nemo lived throughout the entire winter break (to my surprise), I decided he probably needed to get out of a pickle jar. So after finding a 10 gallon tank of Craigslist and spending a whole day setting the thing up (apparently they are more work than I thought!), Alex has a fish tank on his dresser and a new best buddy.

Skyler has had his heart set on a hamster for over a year. We kept hoping that he'd forget about it, but we started thinking perhaps the desire wasn't going away. Still, I held out. Hamsters run on hamster wheels. All night. And they are squashable, and the die soon, and in my experience, they kinda smell like peanut butter (gag).

My cousin Laura had adopted Franklin, a black and white guinea pig. Turns out, she's allergic to Franklin. So after the really hard realization that Franklin and Laura couldn't co-habitate, she posted on Facebook that she had to find him a new home and I decided that a guinea pig would be WAY cooler than a hamster! Skyler quickly agreed with me, and after telling everyone he came in contact with that he was getting a guniea pig until the thing got here (and telling everyone he HAS one ever since), Skyler has a new friend now also.

Bringing a rodent in to a house with 2 large dogs was a bit unnerving. So far, though, it seems to be going well. Dillion could care less. He's Dillion- he pretty much only cares about tummy rubs and dog bones. Georgia, on the other hand, is obsessed. But judging by her body language, I think she is more curious than anything. She seems to want to know about him rather than eat him (much to my relief!). I don't think we'll ever leave them in a room alone, just in case...but overall it seems to be much better than I had worried about!

So there you have it- we are now a household of 8! And we're done! We are happy, but we're done!

Really, really easy (and yummy!) clams.

2010-01-02T07:01:00.000-08:00

When I brought these to our New Year's gathering, I'm not certain that the hostess believed me when I said I made them because they were SUPER easy. But, really- they ARE!

Steamed Clams in Garlic and Wine

2-3 pounds clams (weight will depend on the size of the clams)
1 cup white wine
4-5 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
1/2 stick butter, cubed
Freshly ground black pepper

Rinse the clams well. Place clams in a large crock pot. On the stove, heat wine, butter, garlic and pepper in a skillet until boiling. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes. Pour wine and butter mixture over the clams in the crock pot.

Turn crock pot on high, leave for 45 minutes-1 hour and done. That's it. (I promise!)

My version of Mike's yummy roast beef rolls.

2010-01-02T06:48:00.000-08:00

So my awesome father in law makes these simple but delicious appetizers: a pickle, slathered with cream cheese and rolled in roast beef or pastrami. Sounds simple, right? They are SO good!

Well, for New Year's I made my own version (partly to experiment, and partly because I couldn't get the deli lady to come help me for the life of me). I certainly wouldn't say they were better than Mike's- just different. Mike's version is perfect for an afternoon football party, but mine dresses them up a bit for an evening cocktail party or the like.

My appetizer rolls:

-Proscuitto, baked flat at 350 for 5-6 minutes.
-1/2 pickle slice (I bought the quartered pickles to begin with and it was easy)
-Cheese mix (6 oz. cream cheese, 4 oz. goat cheese, 2-3 oz. mascarpone, fresh grated pepper, basil all mixed in my KitchenAid)

Don't put too much cheese mix in. I found that the ones I really loaded up were a bit much. This recipe made a HUGE batch- perfect for a party. Enjoy!

The holidays are over!!! (May I please nap now?)

2010-01-01T15:07:00.000-08:00

Whew! That was the usual whilwind, wasn't it? I'll just give you the basics so that I don't bore you or make you as tired as I am.

Christmas was fun! We did the usual Christmas Eve carols and great grandma and grandpa's house, followed by gifts with Grandma Val. This year was a bit different because Skyler wasn't with us for Christmas Eve festivities, but he had so much fun with his dad's family that it was hard to be upset about him not being with me. In a last minute stroke of awesomeness, Skyler came home on Christmas Eve and I got to wake up in the morning to both my children in the house!

Santa brought Alex a bicycle, although it took Alex at least 5-10 minutes to realize that the bike was a gift for him and not just a holder for his stocking (which was emptied out in no time!). Once I pointed out that perhaps the bike was meant for him, Alex began riding around the living room and kitchen with glee. Skyler slept in until 8:30- what is that, by the way? Of ALL the days to sleep in?!?!? When Skyler woke up, he was thrilled to see some Bakkugan stuff (apparently he "gets" Bakkugan- I do not) and a 3D writing notepad...and chocolate, of course!

Christmas day at Grandpa Mike's house was fun as usual, and pretty relaxing once we wrestled the boys into the car loaded with food, gifts and excitement. I was thrilled that Mike let me do a bit of the cooking this year. I did NOT stick to the usual health minded ingredients. What's a New Years resolution for if you didn't just pig out for the last week of December? Mike gave me recipes to make my first ever green bean casserole, and a yummy spinach and artichoke casserole, as well. Both were so loaded with cheese and creme fraiche that it probably would have been healthier to skip the veggies. But the taste made them worth it!

Pappi has been in town and we've had a great time having him around. Alex and Skyler LOVE having grandparents around! Alex has become enamoured with the carosel that Pappi takes him to, and Sky will just always be a Pappi kid. The holidays didn't feel totally complete without Grandma Marcia, but we hear she's been busy feeding horses and probably spoiling them as much as Dillion and Georgia gets spoiled when she is here!

Dusty and I got to have an awesome date. Well, two actually! One was supposed to be a dinner at Ruth's Chris and a showing of Rain, the Beatles tribute. When a snow storm hit, freeways closed and we couldn't even make it out to Mike's to drop the kids off, we got steaks at Roadhouse and played Sorry Sliders before family bedtime stories. Not the night we'd planned, but awesome anyhow. The next day we unexpectedly came accross Blazers tickets (Thanks, Val & Bruce) and Dusty and I got a wonderful alone date after all. We had appitizers at Southpark Seafood after the game. Wow. Seriously- I love crab cakes. I REALLY love very, very, very good crab cakes. That place has taken food to a whole different level!

New Year's eve was awesome! We went to a small kid friendly gathering and had more whole family fun than I can remember in a while. The kids all kept each other wound up and even Alex was awake to ring in 2010. We are tired today- what a perfect day to watch the Rose Bowl and recover from all the holiday fun.

I've posted a few pictures from the holiday, including a cake I make for Aunt Pat. I do have a few recipes to share but this post is already entirely too long already, so those will follow soon!

Big News!!!

2009-12-21T22:54:00.000-08:00

I got the job that I have been just sure was perfect for me! I won't start until around the first of the year, but it is mine.

I feel this job is the perfect fit! It is for a nonprofit, part time (but a good amount of hours), provides benefits, is right by the boys' schools, and just makes me really happy. I applied for this job a long time ago and eventually decided that if I didn't get it, I'd keep goin' along as a mostly stay at home mom. I am certainly busy enough as is! But I knew this was the RIGHT job, at the RIGHT time. I did my best, prayed about it, and decided that if it were meant to be I'd get it.

I'm happy now!

Do NOT make these!

2009-12-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

Unless, of course, you have:

a) Superhuman will power abilities

b) An ability to eat WAY too much

c) A party or some event where you can shove some of them off on others and not feel so guilty. Unless you elbow someone in the rib in an attempt to get them to drop the last one. Then you should feel guilty. Sort of.

Sweets & Beets chips

4 sweet potatoes

4 beets

3/4 liter olive oil

salt, cinnamon or ginger if desired as seasoning

Use a mandolin slicer to slice the sweets and beets very thin. Keep the veggies separate.

Heat olive oil in large pot on stove (I had it set to number 7 of 10). Once bubbling, drop in 1/3 of the sweet potato slices. Leave in oil for 4-6 minutes, until the bubbling subsides and well...until they look like chips! Remove from oil with slotted spoon and place on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with seasoning as desired (I actually preferred the unseasoned kind, but I may be a rare breed). Repeat with the sweet potatoes until all are done.

Once all sweet potatoes are done, repeat with the beets (since they are smaller you can do them in just 2 batches). Beets will need a little less cooking time, probably 3-5 minutes. Remove to a separate paper towel lined cookie sheet, season if desired.

Once chips are cooled (if you haven't eaten them all yet), toss them into a large bowl together. The purpose of keeping them separate this long and doing the sweets first is that done this way, the colors make a very pretty mix of bright orange and purple.

Enjoy! (And don't say I didn't warn you!)

Defend the institution of marriage!

2009-12-06T17:58:00.001-08:00

Be a good spouse, no matter what your sexual preference is.

From leftovers to "none will be leftover!".

2009-11-23T19:13:00.000-08:00

Here come the time of year where we have so many huge meals that we often wonder how we'll eat all the leftovers. Well, here is a way to eat leftover ham: make fake (and easy) chicken cordon blue!

Here we go:

Kid friendly, fairly healthy, fake Chicken Cordon Bleu

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut to have a pocket in the center

1/2 bulb fennel (you could use onion if you didn't have fresh fennel handy)

2 garlic cloves

2-3 slices leftover ham

2 sprigs fresh thyme

pepper

2-4 ounces lowfat ricotta cheese

1 egg, 1 egg white- whipped

3/4 cup breadcrumbs (our favorite are EnerG's gluten free bread crumbs)

1/4 cup ground flax (you can sub this for more breadcrumbs if you don't have it, but hopefully if you read my blog I've convinced you to keep them in your fridge by now!)

Preheat oven to 375. Chop fennel and garlic, sautee in olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes. Cube leftover ham, add to bowl with ricotta. Sprinkle with pepper and thyme. Add fennel mixture.

Stuff chicken with ricotta mixture, roll in egg, and then bread with breading mix. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Enjoy!

The veggie that ALWAYS requires seconds!

2009-11-21T19:55:00.001-08:00

I have found the key. The key to yumminess, that is! Dusty, Skyler and I always want seconds of this dish. There is no such thing as "leftover" kale and pancetta. Alex...well, he's been in a not eating phase since I started making it, so no word on his opinion.

Kale & Pancetta

1 bunch fresh cale, chopped in 1" pieces

1 package cubed pancetta

1 leek or onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, slivered

olive oil

freshly grated pepper

Sautee garlic, pepper and leek in olive oil at medium heat for 2 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic! Add pancetta and cook 3-5 more minutes.

Add kale, sprinkle with more olive oil and cover for 5-10 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes.

Remove lid and cook for 2-3 more minutes while stirring frequently.

Skyler just called to me from bed and said "MOOOOOM, I'm still hungry even after dinner. Thinking he was trying to scam some ice cream (which he had on the way down the mountain after a day of snowboarding), I asked what he wanted. Imagine my delight when he asked if we had any kale left!

My Christmas goal: $100 for the boys!

2009-11-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

So here is my Christmas goal this year: Spend $100 on the boys, for presents from Dusty and I. Both of them- so, $50 each. This doesn't include "Santa gifts", which will vary depending on what they need and how work goes.

I've gotta say...I am kicking butt! Here is the breakdown:

$100 total

-$30 for Crocs. Each boy got 1 pair of Crocs that came with 3 decorative charms, from KidSteals.

-$20 for Wii games. They were buy 2, get 1 free at Target. When Sky saved up his money to buy a game, I offered to pay while he played. Then I picked up 2 games, each $20, got one free- and scored 2 for $20. Sky wasn't any the wiser, as the salesman packaged them separately and Sky didn't check the receipt.

-$13 for PJ's. The Disney Store online today is selling kid's pajama's for $5 each, with $2.95 shipping. Both of the boys get Power Ranger PJs, and I only spent $13!

So there we have it! I've got $37 left and the boys each have 3 awesome presents. Woo hoo! This Christmas, I'm bargain shopping and getting creative.

So much fun!

2009-11-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

Dusty and I had such a great time last night. I threw him what SHOULD have been a surprise party. When the day before, he was getting mad because he knew I was hiding something, I wound up spilling the beans in the interest of having my husband speak to me. As it turned out, that was just fine. Surprise or not, it was amazing seeing so many friends and just getting to let loose!

I made an appetizer which is now going on my list of sure-fire things to make. It doesn't have a name...maybe I'll call them parmesan stacks? Yeah, that sounds good. So here goes:

Parmesan Stacks

1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan

salt

freshly ground pepper

paprika

2-3 tomatoes

olive oil

1/4 cup chopped, fresh parsley

1 package prosciutto

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On an oiled baking pan, place 1/4 inch thick tomato slices. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with freshly grated pepper.

On a broiling rack, lay prosciutto out after spraying the pan with cooking spray. Put in the oven for 7--9 minutes, until prosciutto is crisp.

Reduce heat to 400 degrees. On an oiled cookie sheet, make little piles of freshly grated parmesan (about the size of a silver dollar). Sprinkles the piles with a little salt, pepper and paprika. Bake for 3-5 minutes- until melted and browned. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from the cookie sheet.

After tomatoes have cooled, cut into quarters and lay on a plate lined with paper towels. Pat the excess oil and moisture from the tomatoes.

Put cooled parmesan crisps on serving platter. Stack with tomatoes, then chopped fresh parley, and finally the crisp prosciutto. Yum-O!

This got great reviews at my party last night and is now a staple on my go-to list!

Best. Chili. Ever!

2009-11-04T19:59:00.001-08:00

I can't take credit for this recipe. It came my way via Ashley, who's new in-laws make some great chili. When I decided to make it for Dusty's birthday, though (27! We're both in our "late 20's"- AHH!), I decided to change up a few things. So this is what I wound up with:

1 lb. low sodium bacon, baked and chopped

2 Tbsp. bacon grease

1 leek, chopped

4 cloves garlic

1 lb. stew beef (or chicken), cubed

2 lb. ground turkey

salt, pepper or Lowry's seasoning salt to taste

2 cans chili beans in chili sauce

2 cans low sodium, fat free black beans

1 can red kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

5 cans italian stewed tomatoes- 3 pureed, 2 as is

1 tsp. sugar

1-2 tsp. chili powder

1-2 tsp. ground cumin

1 cup beef broth

1 cup hot water

hot sauce, to taste (I only used 4-5 drops)

Serving suggestion:

1/2 cup cheddar, shredded

2 oz. gruyere cheese, shredded

Creme fraiche

Sear stew meat at high heat in skillet for 2-3 minutes per side with a small amount of olive oil; set aside. Brown ground beef in stew pot with a small portion of the leek and 1 clove garlic. Drain fat. Add in remaining garlic an leek, cook 2-3 minutes at medium high heat. Add in stew meat, salt, pepper, and seasoning salt. Cook until stew meat it cooked through.

Drain all beans except chili beans. Pour chili beans, sauce included, into ground turkey mixture. Add tomatoes, bacon, bacon grease, sugar, chili powder, cumin, beef broth, water and hot sauce. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn down heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 hours.

Top with a mix of cheddar and gruyere cheese and a spoonful of creme fraiche.

Yummy, yummy, yummy! Not exactly healthy, but this stuff tastes fantastic!

Just a note: This makes a LOT of chili! It is great for a big group or party, or to freeze part of it. If you're making it with the intent of a small family dinner only, you can get away with halving the recipe!

Yummy gluten free pumpkin brownies!

2009-11-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

Have you tried Trader Joe's gluten free brownie mix? It is YUMMY! But it tends to fall apart and be really hard to cut, so I doctored it up a bit. I added a 16 oz. can of pumpkin (I could have roasted and pureed an actual pumpkin, but I was in a hurry!), cut the water called for down to just under 1/4 cup. Threw in some nutmeg, cinnamon and about 1/4 cup of baker's sugar and used 2 eggs instead of one. The other ingredients (mix, oil, etc.), I used according to the package.

Then I baked them at the heat recommended for about 35-40 minutes, and wound up with amazing cake-like pumpkin brownies. A yummy gluten free treat- that you'd NEVER know was gluten free!

Honestly- you HAVE to try this if you're lucky enough to have a TJ's near you!

Alex's world came crashing down!

2009-11-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

This morning at 6:30, Alex came in to our room crying. Literally, sobbing uncontrollably. After a few minutes (and the abrupt awakening of Dusty and I), we managed to calm him down enough for him to squeeze a few words out. Those words?

"My....(sniffle)....candy....(sob)...is...(sniffle)...gone!...(back to uncontrollable sobbing)"

Haha. Well, at least I know he is my kid!

Rules of the kitchen (according to me).

2009-11-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

I posted these on a message board, but then I figured they'd do well on here, too. So here they are- the rules of good eatin' according to yours truly:

Thou shalt not eat fried food for dinner more than once a week. (And when you do, it should be pan fried in olive oil)

Thou shalt eat fish at least once a week (preferably non-farmed, high in Omega 3s and low in mercury)

Thou shall eat beef only once a week (and should consider pork a red meat also, so eat that sparingly as well)

Thou shall limit pasta based meals to twice a week (because believe me, without this rule I'd eat it every day!)

Though shalt eat plenty of veggies! (Ok, the rule for ME is to use up my veggie bin every week before a new one arrives)

This is what I attempt to stick to, in order to keep us healthy and happy and all that good stuff!

Buzz Lighyear and Optimus Prime score some candy!

2009-11-01T07:36:00.000-08:00

And another Halloween has come and gone. The sugar highs, however, remain. What sugar high, you ask? Well, the one brought on by a 3 year old who discovered the magic of Fun Dip at 6:30AM and a 6 year old who was generously given a normal sized bag of M&Ms.

Yes- I let them eat all the candy they want until it is gone. My hope is that they'll eat it all by 10AM on Nov. 1st, leaving them so sick from sugar consumption that they swear the stuff off for awhile. Or at the very least, I hope they will crash from massive sugar highs and take a nap by mid afternoon.

Alex was Buzz Lightyear, complete with inflatable wings. He was so cute! It amazed me how much his costume actually looked like the cartoon. The wings were a hit! His wing span was about as wide as he is tall, which provided a few obvious complications while trying to walk to and from doors with large groups of children. However, they DID provide a major bonus- If Alex got in front of Skyler, he couldn't get around the wings to ring the doorbell or get the first candy pic. He figured this out quickly and used it for the rest of the night! We all laughed hard when a little boy, convinced Alex really was Buzz (apparently the boy wasn't bothered by the mere fact that "Buzz" was only 3 feet tall), poked the button on Alex's chest, expecting him to do a trick!

Skyler was Optimus Prime. He is still Optimus Prime, actually- the costume went back on at 7AM this morning. Skyler was so excited to walk in and see BumbleBee at our church's party. They played together, saving the world! After trick or treating, Skyler kindly offered me 1/2 of every tootsie roll and a bite of any candy he deemed yummy. What a sweet guy!

So there it is. The Halloween 2009 wrap up. It was a great night! Skyler already has plans for next year's costumes. He wan't to be ObiWan, Alex can be Anakin, Georgia was chosen to be Yoda, and Dillon was assigned Darth Vader. No word yet on who gets to be Jabba The Hutt. :-)

I may be a bit biased...

2009-10-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

...but I think my children are too cute for words. Oh. My. Gosh!

We are having so much fun listening to Alex's preschool songs. He is so proud to sing them and teach us all that he is learning. I am so happy about our decision to enroll him in preschool. He just loves having "his school". He is thriving!

Skyler is getting so creative I am amazed. Since I announced to the kids that I plan to open a restaurant in a few years, Skyler has opened a restaurant in my kitchen. Well, actually the grand opening is planned for tomorrow- today he made the menus and signs and got all prepared.

Even though I often wonder how I long I have until they drive me crazy, I also wonder all the time how I got so freakin' lucky. How do they DO that? I'm so proud of Skyler and Alex.

My 3 year plan.

2009-10-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

Here's the plan: I'm opening a cafe. Gresham needs a healthy AND allergy sensitive restaurant. Moms need a place where they can go chat with girlfriends while the kids play, without having to load the children up on saturated fats and chemicals. Families need to be able to go out to eat without having to worry that their gluten free child will get tablescraps in order to stick to the diet. People who have a peanut allergy need to be able to get a birthday cake.

So here's the timeline. Alex is in his first year of pre-school now. Through pre-school (this year and next), I will be researching, cooking and learning what I should cook and what people want. When Alex is in half-day kindergarten, I'll take classes at the college about owning a business and I'll make an "official" business plan. When both kids are in school full time, I am taking some mommy time and starting up a restaurant.

Dad will help me cook. Tricia will be a valuable resource for the "how to's" of allergy sensitive cooking, and I will get to be creative with recipes and enjoy the ride. I am really, really excited about this!

Pumpkins and fevers and sisters, oh my!

2009-10-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

This has been quite the weekend! Skyler came down with a fever on Thursday night, and has been off and on with it ever since. He missed school on Friday and his Harvest Night dance (which he is still convinced was magically moved to next Friday...no matter how many times I try to break the bad news). As of this morning (Sunday, Sunday...what song is that?) his fever has come down, but is slowly creeping up as the morning and activity level gets going.

Ashley was SuperAuntie yesterday! I called in a panic when I realized that Sky's temp was over 102 and I was out of all children's fever reducers. On top of that, water wasn't cutting it for the little guy and he was getting dehydrated. So I called on SuperAuntie, who quickly showed up with Tylenol, Motrin, Cherry 7Up, Sprite and Gatorade. To top it off, she brought over some amazing chili for dinner- making my life as the mom of little germ balls MUCH easier!

Alex has been toying with a fever, but has yet to get nearly as sick as Skyler has been. I'm hoping he'll pass on this round...

On Friday I got my vegetable bin from Organics To You (best way to get produce, ever!). It included a recipe that I tried, loved and just had to share! I've made some adjustments to it, based on my aversion to running to the store just to pick up one or two things and my desire to make it a bit healthier. Here it is. Enjoy! (And thank you, Organics To You, for the yummy recipe!)

Tagholini con la zucca (Pumpkin Pasta):

1 lb. fresh pasta or 1 box dried pasta (I used quinoa pasta, my favorite!)
3 lb. pumpkin (roasted and pureed)
4 Tbsp. butter, halved
1 leek, well chopped
1-2 sticks celery, well chopped
1 can low sodium chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper)
grated nutmeg to taste (I used 1/2 tsp.)
ground cinnamon to taste (I used 1 tsp.)
2/3 cup lowfat milk
4 oz. lowfat cream cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Roast the pumpkin. (To roast the pumpkin, put in the microwave for 2-3 minutes to soften skin. Then cut in to quarters, removing stringy fibers and seeds. Place on baking sheet, season with a little sea salt and fresh pepper, drizzle small amount of olive oil on it. Place in a 350 degree oven for approx. 45 minutes, or until a fork easily pushes in to the meaty part of the pumpkin. Once pumpkin is cooled, cut off skin and puree in a food processor.)

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter on medium heat with leek and celery- about 5 minutes, or until celery is tender. Add pumpkin puree and enough chicken broth to keep mixture from drying out. Cover and simmer for approx. 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding broth if needed to keep moist. Add salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour mixture into food processor and puree. Put back in pan on low heat to keep warm.

Cook pasta according to directions. Add any unused chicken broth to water to flavor the pasta. Drain pasta and return to pan. Add remaining 2 Tbsp. butter to milk, melt in microwave. Pour milk/butter mixture, cream cheese and parmesan cheese in to hot pasta, allow to melt. Add pumpkin puree mixture, mix well.

Serve alone or topped with chicken!

Mom, it was good to see you!

2009-10-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

My mom just made a quick trip through town. It was so nice to see Grandma Marcia- even if it was only for 2 days.

Sunday we had a family dinner with Grandma Marcia, Pappi, Aunt Ashley and Uncle Brian. It was so fun! I'd made stew and pretty much used up all the veggies that I've been meaning to get to- roasted squash, sauteed spinach and kale with pine nuts and sauteed cabbage. YUM! My mom brought pumpkin cheesecake from Costco. Best. Thing. Ever! Seriously dangerous. Fattening and gluten containing foods should NOT be allowed to taste so good!

Monday was nice. Just a family dinner with the four of us, Grandma and Pappi. Pappi bought a salmon out in the gorge, so I experimented with cooking a fish that actually looks like a fish. I learned that it is best to take out the huge bones BEFORE cooking. Apparently you can just cut them out. Oops!

With the baked salmon, I made green beans with pine nuts (have I mentioned that I LOVE pine nuts?) and the best quinoa I've ever made. I'm putting the quinoa recipe up, partly so my mom can see it and partly so that when I forget it I have it written down somewhere. :-)

Balsamic and wine Quinoa

1 cup rinsed quinoa

2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 garlic cloves, smashed and roughly chopped

1/4 cup pine nuts

Combine all ingredients except pine nuts in a saucepan, bring to boil. Once boiling, cover and simmer until liquid is reduced (about 15-20 minutes). Meanwhile, toast pine nuts for 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Add toasted pine nuts to quinoa right before serving.

It was nice having Mom in town. I miss my mommy!

A pledge to fight poverty.

2009-10-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

I'm going all spiritual on y'all. Today's sermon at church was called "The church as a service industry". Our pastor reminded us to help others of all faiths, abilities, incomes, orientations, races...we are ALL people. As a church we said this pledge today, which really struck me:

We are standing now with millions around the world on this symbolic day to show our commitments to the fight against extreme poverty and inequality. We are standing because we refuse to accept more excuses in a world where 50,000 people die every day as a result of extreme poverty and the gap between the rich and poor is getting wider.

We are standing because we want our leaders to honor their promises to meet the Millennium Development Goals and we ask them to exceed these goals.

As a Jubilee people, we are standing because we believe that debt cancellation is essential to bringing economic justice and an end to global poverty. We stand today in the light of God's Jubilee vision of abundant life for all and right relationships between people and nations.

We join in solidarity with people from over 100 countries to say, to the leaders of the wealthy countries, we urge you to keep your promises on poverty- debt relief, more and better aid, trade justice and gender equality.

To the leaders of all countries, make it your first responsibility to save the lives of your most impoverished citizens. We ask you to tackle inequality, to be accountable to your people, to govern fairly and justly, to fight corruption and to uphold human rights.

Today, and every day, we will stand up and take action against poverty. We will continue to fight against poverty and inequality and to hold leaders in every part of the world, faithful to their promises. We are asking not for charity but for justice.

We are millions of voices standing in solidarity to say, no more excuses. End poverty now.

Laundry time!

2009-10-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

I love making laundry detergent because I feel all domestic and what not. I hate it because it means I really need to get a washin' my threads!

Here is the recipe I use for powdered laundry detergent, which I got at some point from some link on my internet mom's board. Isn't that how the best things work? The solutions just float your way and become ingrained in every day living?

1 bar Ivory soap

1 bar Fels Naptha Soap

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing Soda

Just grate up the soap in a food processor or blender, shake it all together in a Tupperware container and *poof*! Awesome, economical and low chemical laundry detergent. Use 2 Tbsp. (yep- ONLY 2 Tbsp.!) per load. Add 1/2 cup vinegar to the rinse water for softness and smell removal, and there you go- clean, fresh laundry and a happy wallet! Plus, no worries about skin irritation.

Just a tip- Fels Napha, borax and washing soda can all be found at Win-Co. Also, it is best to put the borax and washing soda in with the hard soaps when grating them- they don't need to be grated, but having them in there keeps the bar soaps from clumping in the food processor.

Thursday night rant.

2009-10-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

I have to get this off my chest...

It is really hard to believe that everything happens for a reason when there just doesn't seem like any reason to be had. I don't understand. And I've always believed that God has a plan, but how could this be a fair plan? This is not a good plan.

On a day when a family in our community suffered a truly devastating loss- the loss of their child...another family faked the potential loss of their child for publicity. Are you kidding? This isn't fair. You have one family so worried about getting on TV that they had the whole country worried about their little one, while a family is getting the kind of attention that no family wants and they just wish it were all a stunt that they could snap out of.

The entertainment industry has gotten out of control if these are the things we worry about when true, every day tragedies are affecting the lives of people we pass on the street every day.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of a 3rd grade student at Skyler's school, who passed away today. Please hug and kiss your children.

Thank you, cousin Laura!

2009-10-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight was Spaghetti Night with Ashley and Brian. I was so excited to use Laura's marinara recipe she shared with me, and I was not disappointed! Here it is:

Fresh Red Pepper Marinara Sauce- Created by somewhere on the net, perfected by Laura!

-2 (28oz) cans whole peeled tomatoes (Laura used one can of chopped tomatoes, drained - I'm not a big chunky tomato person, and it worked wonderfully)
-1 (6oz) can tomato paste (Laura used two small cans tomato sauce)
-1 1/2 teaspoons salt
-1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (Laura used a bit more, love spicy)
-1/2 tsp sugar
-1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (Laura used dried basil, a bit less than 1/4 c.)
-1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1/2 chopped onions
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-2 red bell peppers, seeded, diced into about 1/4" pieces

In mixing bowl, (if using whole tomatoes) crush with fingers to form a course puree. Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper flakes, sugar, basil, and parsley. Stir and set aside.

In large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onions. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until onions begin to soften. Add the garlic and sautee for two minutes (do not brown garlic). Add the tomato mixture, and simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occassionally. Add bell peppers, simmer until the peppers are tender. Taste and adjust seasoning.

This sauce was awesome. It was easy, and it made a LOT! Had we not had Ash & Brian over, I could have easily used 1/2 the noodles and frozen 1/2 the sauce for later.

The only modifications I made were: I used 2 28 oz. cans of chopped Italian flavored stewed tomatoes, doubled the fresh chopped basil, and added 1/2 cup of red wine. I threw everything but the onion and garlic into my food processor to make it nice and smooth before I added it to the pan.

To go with the spaghetti, I used Giada De Laurentis' Mini Turkey Meatballs recipe to add protein:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/mini-turkey-meatballs-recipe/index.html

I LOVE spaghetti night!

A super easy, really yummy way to eat tomatoes!

2009-09-28T16:02:00.000-07:00

Today my "best neighbor in the world world" neighbor lady shared something so yummy with me that I have to pass it on!

She takes tomatoes and slices them, skins on. Then she sprays a cooking sheet with olive oil spray, spreads the tomato slices out, and sprays them again. After that she puts them in the oven on 425 for around 40-45 minutes. That's it!

Out come the sweetest, most flavorful tomato slices in the world! Perfect for snacking on alone, or adding to pizza, crackers...you name it.

Tonight when I make lasagna, I'll substitute one sauce layer for the tomatoes that Marilyn so kindly shared with me. I can't wait! Thank you, Marilyn!

Apparently, 1/2 tsp. and 2 Tbsp. are VERY different!

2009-09-27T19:14:00.000-07:00

So this morning I decided to make stew. Sounds perfect for a Sunday, right? I went to one of my favorite blogs, A Year Of Slowcooking, and found a delicious looking recipe.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/11/crockpot-azorean-spiced-beef-stew.html

Wow, it looked good, and worth making. As I was getting it in the crock pot, Dusty was "watching" a game on the computer (I say that loosely, because watching it online is essentially watching a graph which, apparently, means something that I don't understand). As a result, I was really trying to remember the recipe and only make him flip to it when I really needed help.

By the way- that is not a good idea. After putting in 2 Tbsp. of red pepper flakes, I checked one more time...and realized that the recipe called for only a half teaspoon! I tried to get as much as I could out, and was maybe successful in getting a half a teaspoon removed.

All day I smelled this stew. It smells amazing! Seriously- I'd be so proud to have company right now, since the smell would make them think I'm domestic and what not. I was really excited to eat it. Even though after the first bite I knew it would be hot, I decided to push on through.

After a small bowl, I have come to a few conclusions:

1) That is a seriously great recipe.

2) I put A LOT of pepper flakes in.

3) I can't hang with the big boys on this one- Dusty, Ashley, Brian and any other people with flame resistant taste buds will just have to eat this.

4) I need to try it again...without the extra fire.

You know your kid knows that he doesn't have rich parents when...

2009-09-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

...he gives up on a handheld video game system being gifted to him and just decides to make his own!

Skyler has come up with the coolest thing! He takes a sheet of paper and on it he draws some hand held video game (PSP maybe? I forget) 9 times. Each time, the screen shows a different scene from his favorite video games or cartoons.

Tonight, with Alex's help (Alex suggested a few scenes to draw), Skyler made 2 sets of paper video games. Then Alex, Skyler and I took turns playing each other. "Playing" consists of holding the paper- folded to the right scene, of course- moving it like crazy and making the appropriate shooting/flying/running/jumping noises. The person with the "best" noises always wins. For the record, Skyler determines the winner.

Alex and I have yet to ever win a game.

Here's to creativity!

I'm giving up Diet Coke.

2009-09-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

For real this time, everyone.

If I call you and beg you to bring me one- tell me to stuff it. If you see me drinking one, please take it away!

In light of the fact that Dusty is quitting smoking, I'm really trying to feel healthy again, and I'm tired of paying for soda, I'm giving it up!

Just wanted to let everyone know, so that I can't go back on my word!

Back to school night and a crock pot success!

2009-09-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight was back to school night at Skyler's school. I felt that it was a success. First of all, the principal did an excellent job in addressing the concerns that parents have as a result of budget cuts. I was so impressed that she addressed it head on and acknowledged concerns!

Then we headed to Sky's classroom. Alex and Dusty had stayed home, and Tyson joined Skyler and I at the school. Tyson was so trilled to see Skyler's journal! We both went "Ahh" when we saw that Skyler had written "I am so excited for back to school night because my dad"....then we both cracked up when we realized that the rest of the sentence was "is bringing my bakkugan toys". Haha. So much for Dad being SOOOO cool! Skyler's teacher had good things to say about him, and West has a great sense of community. Tyson and I let Skyler play with all his buddies on the playground until the boredom of standing on a playground got the best of us, then we headed to my house for some dinner.

Now, dinner was cool. It was an experiment, to say the least- but it worked! At about 2 PM I realized that I hadn't planned dinner out too well. I hadn't thought of a vegetable! Since Dusty was staying home because he didn't feel well enough to go, I certainly didn't want him to cook. So I made corn on the cob and beets in the crock pot.

Corn on the Cob & beets- crockpot style:

1/4 cup chopped leeks

10 garlic cloves, smashed, divided

4 Tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 stick butter, divided

4 ears corn, broken in 1/2

4 beets, quartered and peeled

1 cup water

salt & pepper to taste

Spread 1/2 5 smashed garlic cloves and chopped leeks on the bottom of the crock pot. Pour in 2 Tbsp. olive oil. Put 1/4 stick of butter, broken in to pieces, in crock pot. Layer corn on the cobb into the crock pot, then add beets where space permits. Sprinkle with remaining butter, olive oil, garlic and salt & pepper. Pour water in before putting lid on.

Cook 4-5 hours on high or 8 hours on low.

Dinner went well. The men and Skyler loved the beets, and Alex at least gave them a try before giving up in favor of just the corn. And Skyler was just so happy to have his dad, mom, brother and step dad to hang out with at the same time!

Really, really good zucchini bread! (And it is gluten free!)

2009-09-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to post this, since they are not my recipes at all...but it is so good that I cannot help it.

I figure, seeing as how nobody really reads this and I certainly don't make money off of it, I'm ok, right?

So here is the zucchini bread recipe I used. I am in love!

From Better Homes and Garden's cook book (you know, the red checked one that takes you back to the days of high heels and aprons and apple pies made from scratch!).

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used a gluten free flour mix)

1 tsp. ground cinnamon (I probably used at least 2 tsp., I'm a cinnamon freak!)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 beaten egg

1 cup sugar (see my note on this!)

1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini

1/4 cup cooking oil (I used EVOO and it tastes great)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted (I skip the nuts, but that's just me)

(I shortened the directions- look in the book for the longer ones!)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease the sides and bottom of a bread pan- set aside.

In one medium bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and nutmeg. Set aside. In another medium bowl (or mixer) combine egg, sugar, zucchini and oil. Combine dry and wet mix, fold in nuts if desired. Pour in to bread pans.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Now here are MY notes:

About the sugar- I started using baker's sugar a few months back. At first I bought it because a recipe called for it and I didn't realize that it was just a finer version of regular sugar (LOL...I'm new to this cooking stuff!). But, wow! It makes a huge difference, if you ask me, in the texture of baked goods. It gives the food a much smoother texture. So if you're all about taste, use regular sugar. If you want the extra wow factor, get yourself some baker's sugar!

About the gluten free flour mix- At first I was using Pamela's baking mix as a flour substitute. Then a helpful New Seasons employee explained that they sell everything I'd need to make my own mix, and it is much less expensive. So Dusty googled a recipe for me and I am really happy with my savings AND the finished result. Here is the recipe:

http://www.landolakes.com/mealIdeas/ViewRecipe.cfm?RecipeID=13589

New Seasons had both brown rice flour and tapioca flour in the bulk section, and the other ingredients are made by Bob's Red Mill. *Just a reminder that we are gluten free for ADD management- if you were going to bake for a person with Celiac, you wouldn't want to get stuff out of the bulk section because of the possibility of cross-contamination!*

And lastly- The bread came out pretty crumbly. To avoid this, I could have added a little more xanthan gum. But I don't want to! The crumbly texture made it even better to my taste buds! But if you're going for cleanliness and making this gluten free, it is something to consider.

Go ahead and double the recipe- it's THAT good!

Dusty is on the road to recovery!

2009-09-21T19:09:00.001-07:00

Dusty had a check up today, a week after being in the hospital for pneumonia. Good news! His lungs are clearing up, he still hasn't smoked, and his pain has gotten a bit better. Right now his biggest challenge is exhaustion, which the Dr. says will be around for about another month to month and a half.

But at least he's better. We are so glad! He went and scared us all! He has been working 4-5 hours a day. He is not ready to step up to full time yet, but is working hard to get there.

For the moment, everyone in the house is healthy! Woo hoo! Even Georgia is over her cold.

Right now I am watching Georgia and Dillon have an argument...I think. It's what I gather from the fact that they are 2 feet away from each other, barking in turn. The kids think this is hilarious, and are encouraging it by coaxing Dillon to "speak". Not that my children would ever do ANYTHING to disrupt peace and quiet, right?

They have tried to get Georgia to speak, but she just looks at them like they are nuts. Georgia, like me, doesn't understand a boy's need for loudness!

I love the fall!

2009-09-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

It is so nice to sit and drink my coffee and stare out at the backyard these days! The leaves are changing colors, the air is crisp, and the wind makes everything feel fresh.

Soon I suppose I'll be frustrated with having to rake all those leaves and the wind will be bitterly cold...but at least now it is beautiful!

Turnip & Radish chips- the verdict!

2009-09-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, here is the good, bad, and ugly about my turnip and radish chip experiment-

The good: YUMMY!!!!

The bad: I didn't cook them at a high enough temp. and they didn't quite as crispy as I'd hoped

The ugly: I didn't stop eating until every one was gone. >:-O

I took turnips and radishes from my veggie bin this week and, after eating some awesome chips Ashley bought, decided to make chips out of them. I peeled the turnips but left the skins on the radish, and sliced them up with Mom's food king (seriously, Mom...best thing EVER!).

After I sliced them, I steamed them with really hot steam for 3 minutes. Then I threw them in a bowl and mixed them with olive oil, salt, pepper, ginger and cayenne pepper.

I put them on a baking sheet and baked them at 350 for about 35 minutes, turning them ever 7-8 minutes. I put them on 450 for the last 5 minutes and quickly discovered that I should have had it there the whole time.

Next time, I'll cook them on the top rack at 450, turning them every 7 minutes or so, and I'm guessing it'll take no more than 20 minutes. And I'll put a little less salt, since they are so addictive!

Great vegetable service and even better soup!

2009-09-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

I'm in love with Organics 2 You! I've probably told most of you all about it (haha...by that I mean my mom, since I'm pretty sure that mom is the only one who reads my blog!) by now. If I haven't, here is the scoop: every week (or at intervals that you want), they deliver a bin of produce to my door. These produce are all organic (and, for me, all veggies because it's what I wanted), and most are farm fresh and local. And the best part is that financially it makes sense! I'm afraid to tell them for fear that they'll change it...but they provide a really good value!

I did this for a few reasons: 1) to increase the amount of organic foods in our diet to help Sky's ADD and our general health; 2) to try new vegetables by just getting the box, seeing what it contains, and learning how to cook it; 3) because I'm lazy. Well, not lazy, per se, but I'd prefer to avoid the grocery store if at all possible.

So today my bin of vegetables contained italian kale. I've never actually made kale, though I've seen it used on the Food Network a lot. Woo hoo! The bin also contained a recipe for soup, which looks intriguing but wasn't totally my cup of soup. So with that recipe and another that someone online shared, I had some ideas and set out to make my own Kale-Bacon soup.

Here goes:

Kale-Bacon soup

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

5 garlic cloves, sliced

6 potatoes, roughly chopped

1 quart water

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups white wine

3 bay leaves

1 Tbsp. italian seasoning

salt & pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups bacon (some fat removed)

1 bunch kale, chopped

In soup pot, saute onions and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes at medium heat- do not burn garlic!

Add potatoes and saute for 5 minutes more.

Add water, chicken broth, wine, bay leaves, italian seasoning, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring to low boil, cover and simmer 20 minutes.

In skillet, fry bacon until browned over medium high heat. Do not burn! Reduce heat to medium. Add kale, salt and pepper to skillet. Turn kale in skillet, allowing it to become tender and a more vibrant green, 5-8 minutes.

Add bacon and kale to potato mixture, let simmer 20 more minutes.

Enjoy!

School, swine flu and a new family member!

2009-09-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a week!

Skyler began 1st grade with a great attitude and a lot of excitement. Though the school was a madhouse, we were thrilled to walk Skyler in to school and see him off on his first day. His teacher seems very nice, some of his best friends are in his class, and I think everyone (himself included) is excited to see how well he'll do with the ADD under control. Skyler had to choose 3 things to present to the class this week in order to explain "who he is". He chose a golf ball, to represent his love of golf. And a small car, to represent the Hot Wheels collection which is always spilling over in his room. And the third item? Was it a picture of his mommy? Nope. He wanted a picture of Georgia, to talk about his wonderful dog.

Alex started Tuesday morning just thrilled to be going to school. Then I told him that kids may not play video games before school. It's amazing how quickly he reconsidered his enthusiasm! After awhile, though, he had forgotten his school boycott and became excited again. He was so excited, in fact, that he insisted on wearing his backpack in to Skyler's school- you know, just in case the principle decided to reconsider the age limits. I bet there were a lot of people thinking "I knew kindergarteners were small, but isn't that pushing it?". While Alex was at the park today, he got 3 bee stings. Poor guy! My mom said that he took it like a champ and was soon irritated that Grandma was bothering to check out his wounds. So, pretty much- the bees didn't change him one bit!

Fast forward to Wednesday- they day before Dusty was to return to work from vacation. Dusty had begun feeling under the weather Tuesday night. Figuring it was exhaustion, he went to bed at 5:30. On Wednesday, not only had he NOT improved, but he was worse. Grandma Marcia picked up the kids from school in order to help him rest. By Wednesday evening, it was downright scary. I took him to urgent care where he was very quickly diagnosed with H1N1. The swine flu. So...now work for Dusty. I'd say vacation was extended a week, but this is no vacation! No doubt he'd rather be working at the moment. Through some amazing family generosity, the kids have been gone since. While I miss them like crazy, this seems to be the best way to keep them healthy and give Dusty time to recover. I am on Tamiflu to prevent H1N1, so aside from boredom, I'm going just fine. But I sure can't wait to see Dusty happy again!

Today (Friday) my boredom got the best of me. I HAD to get out. So I grabbed a soda (which I'd sworn off 2 weeks ago- bad me) and started driving. Not the most economical thing to do, but considering my car gets good gas mileage, I thought it was a small price to pay for sanity. Well, on that drive I somehow found myself looking at dogs. This weekend is National Adopt A Pet weekend, and all the shelters are doing outreach programs at local pet stores. One such outreach that I happened upon had a dog named Dillon.

Dillon is 7-9 years old, male, and sweet as can be. Dillon pretty much looks like a thin but taller version of Georgia- with a bleached white hair do. Dillon stood out to me as "the dog". Now, we've seen dogs that we love in the past, but the problem has been Georgia. Georgia has what I like to call a princess syndrome. As in, any person or animal who doesn't treat her like a princess is immediately on the naughty list. For this reason, she has a real problem with dogs trying to assert their dominance, hit on her when she isn't interested, or act annoyingly energetic. Dusty, the kids and I watched not too long ago as she knocked a dog her size up in to the air (fortunately, a wall stopped him) for sniffing her butt. She thought he was moving too fast. So though I loved Dillon, I kind of assumed that Georgia would tell me, once again, that she didn't feel Dillon was her type.

The minute Georgia and Dillon saw each other, it was clear that he was not just "any other dog". She loves him. After seeing how happy they were together, I filled out the paperwork and paid $25 (it makes me sad that they have to practically give away an awesome dog because he is 7 years old) to make Dillon the newest Bigham. Dillon happily jumped into the back seat of my car, next to Georgia, and never looked back.

So here we are- Friday, September 11th (a day which always gives me pause...). The end of our first week of school. The kids love school, Dusty hates pigs, and Dusty and I (and the kids, once they meet him- it's a surprise!) love Dillon. And Georgia!

Fashion shows, seafood and family!

2009-09-07T20:49:00.001-07:00

Tonight was our 3rd annual "back to school dinner". Because we just got back from the coast, we had fresh clams and oysters to eat! Ashley, Brian and Grandma Marcia came over- Ashley brought an amazing dessert, by the way! Sure is nice to have Dusty around today. We love vacation time!

After dinner, the boys got to do their fashion show. Because I am a super mean mom who keeps all their new school clothes tucked away until school, this was huge. They got to show off their new goods and choose their 1st day outfits. Alex is thrilled- he gets to wear a t-shirt tomorrow with "TWO TARS" (a.k.a. guitars) and an orange sweater- his favorite color. Skyler, as always, is going a bit more formal- cords, a button up collared shirt and and argyle sweater vest. Both boys enjoyed the cheers and compliments that Ashley, Brian, Dusty and Grandma were happy to shower them with (I was the behind the scenes cheerleader).

I am so excited! They are so excited! We'll be out the door by 7:50 tomorrow morning, and hopefully it all goes as smooth as I envision it.

Here is the chowder recipe I used, a hybrid of this one: http://breakingupwithbread.blogspot.com/2009/06/gluten-free-clam-chowder.html, the recipe used by Pacific Coast Seafood, and the realities of not having all that was called for!

1/4 cup butter

6 oz. pancetta

4 cloves garlic

1/2 sweet onion

1/2 cup chopped fresh fennel

I sauteed these ingredients for about 5-10 minutes at medium heat.

When the fennel was cooked a bit, I added:

2 cups heavy cream

6 cups clam juice

7 diced potatoes (skins ON! Don't remove the nutrition)

5 sprigs thyme

3 lbs steamer clams, steamed in garlic and butter, shelled & chopped

1 Tbsp. kosher salt

freshly cracked pepper

4 Tbsp. corn starch dissolved in 4 Tbsp. cold water

I brought those ingredients to a boil, reduced heat to low, covered and let simmer for 25 minutes. YUMMY!

To go with the chowder, I made gluten free bread with Bob's Red Mill's gluten free bread mix, a salad with some amazing tomatoes from my neighbor's garden (and freshly ground parmesan, as always!) and oysters in wine sauce for an appetizer.

The best part of the evening was for sure when my mom did the clean-up! Thanks, Mom!

Happy school year, everyone!

A (crazy) weekend at the beach!

2009-09-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning at 9:30, we set out towards Lincoln City with plans of a grand Oregon Coast tour. Plans were to pick Skyler up from his dad's and hit the beach by noon. By the time we fell in love with Tyson's new puppy, had to stop 3 times for potty and forgotten item emergencies, and sat in holiday weekend beach traffic, we pulled in to Lincoln City by 2 or so.

After going out for a meal that reminded my why I don't like to eat out anymore (in a nutshell, I could make way better food and not pay for someone else's overpriced ****), we came out of the restaurant to find our tire flat. We figured it was a fluke, aired the tire up and headed for the outlet malls.

Did you know that the Saturday before school starts is the busiest day at the outlet mall, according to the employees? Huh. I didn't know that. One look at the place clued us in, though. After shopping as fast as humanly possible, we were all happy. Skyler got a really cool watch (he's been saving for one for a long time), Alex got a hat he adores, Dusty got some work clothes, and I got a good bottle of wine. Personally, I think I am the lucky one. :-) On the way out of the outlet mall, we saw a man on a really cool Harley Davidson just pulling in to the spot. When we apologized to him for the fact that Alex was staring at/stalking him, he offered to let Alex on the bike. Pretty much, Alex was in heaven. He got to sit on a "real motocycy" AND honk the horn!

Next up was our hotel. We were so excited to see that our $100 on a holiday weekend room was right across the ocean with an ocean view! We were a little less excited when we got in to the room and realized that $99 of that rate paid for the view, and roughly $1 of it paid for the atmosphere. Ah, well. It was inexpensive and still a treat. Luckily we got out of the room immediately to go play on the beach. I say luckily because after 15 minutes of beach play, the sky got dark, the wind picked up, and a storm quickly made itself known! At least we got our sand time! The boys were thrilled until Alex took a face plant in a stream right as the storm was really getting cold.

After dinner at a place that was super gluten free friendly but incredibly overpriced and tasteless, we were ready to go to bed. And that's when we walked out to find our tire flat. Again. Again, we aired it up, discovered a screw had recently declared our tire it's home, then looked up every tire shop around only to realize that they'd be closed through Monday due to the weekend and holiday. Dusty asked a gas station attendant where we'd get a tire fixed on a Sunday, and he responded with a hearty laugh before telling us "east".

This morning Dusty woke up and played SuperHusband by putting the spare tire on. This changed our plan, though, since we couldn't really drive too far on it. So rather than breakfast and sightseeing in Depot Bay before heading up to Seaside...we grabbed coffee by the hotel and drove up to the Tillamook Chesse Factory, after breaking the news to the kids that the Seaside arcade would have to wait. On the way to Tillamook, we decided to take a detour and show the kids Pacific City. The weather was stormy and we wanted to show them the beauty of the huge waves hitting the cliffs. Sounds great, right?

At Pacific City, you can drive your car on to the beach. Note: don't try this in a Civic on really wet sand. Not only did the car get stuck- it got stuck so close to the water that a wave broke really close, sending water rushing under the entire car and sinking our little hybrid even deeper. After frantically trying to dig, push and drive the car out, a guy with an SUV towed us out. Aside from some embarrassment and hurt pride, it turned out ok.

The cheese factory was great, though by the time we got there Dusty and I could have been happy fast forwarding to bedtime. Why does Tillamook Ice Cream taste so much better at the factory? It is just fabulous. Almost made up for the face that we almost lost our new car to the Pacific.

All in all, it was a good trip. Although we feel like perhaps we have had better luck on other vacations! We are looking forward to clam chowder and oysters in the next few days after stopping by a local seafood company.

And that's all, folks! Now if we can only get the tire fixed...

Ok, I give in. Camping isn't so bad!

2009-09-04T11:38:00.001-07:00

Now that I know I have your attention...we are home from camping! Dusty, Skyler, Alex, Georgia and I hit up Trillium Lake this week. We had a blast! The weather was ok. Actually, at night we froze, but we had so much fun during the day that we didn't care.

Alex "caught" a fish with a fishing pole fashioned out of a stick, fishing line and a sinker. A lady who was fishing next to us watched happily while Alex squealed "I GOT SOMETHING!" every time he pulled up a piece of seaweed. After awhile the lady pulled up a fish who was in shock from just recently being dumped in to the lake (the boys got to watch the lake being stocked with 4000 trout!), and decided to make good use of the fact that the little guy wasn't putting up a fight. She asked me to distract Alex, and while I did she slipped the fish onto his line. Alex is so proud of the fish that he caught! Ask him and he'll tell you all about it! Alex also really enjoyed bike riding. And marshmallows. He wasn't so thrilled about sleeping in a tent, but he had big brother to encourage him on that front.

Skyler is just a joy to watch fish. He rarely catches anything. I, personally, would be frustrated as heck. But his never ending enthusiasm is just contagious. It doesn't matter if he's been out there 3 hours and hasn't had a bite- who knows? In the next 5 minutes, he just may catch a trophy fish! He spent hours at the lake, just happy to be there. He enjoyed riding his bike until one of the pedals fell off, and says that sitting by the campfire is his favorite activity. When Alex had a hard time falling asleep because he was scared in the tent, we heard Skyler singing country songs to Alex until little brother was asleep. Skyler went with my on the 2 mile lake loop, and although we had to stop and rest more times than I can count, he really was a trooper.

Dusty, I think, could spend eternity standing in waist deep water with a fishing pole. He seems to really be enjoying his vacation, and we are so happy he is ours for the week!

I thought camping was fun! I pre-cooked all of our meals, so the only things required for cooking were a dutch oven and grill tools. Super easy to clean up, super easy to make! I'm still not thrilled about tent sleeping, but the air mattress we borrowed from Val and Bruce made it manageable. I loved sitting in a chair by the lake, watching all the boys fish. It was just perfect.

Georgia loves camping. Well...she actually likes anything her family is doing. She is not a fan of riding in a car. My goodness, I've never seen a dog shake so bad! But she made it, had a good time, and is now lounging about exhausted.

Next up is the Oregon Coast! We'll only be gone two days, but we are all excited!

Skyler

A heavenly salad. Yum!

2009-08-29T20:42:00.001-07:00

Organics 2 You delivered me some amazing fresh veggies yesterday. In the delivery came 5 beets. I've never eaten beets before- but the main point of using Organics 2 You, for me, is to try new stuff!

So I looked it up on the Food Network. Apparently you can roast beets. Seemed simple enough! I roasted them, cooled them...then thought "now what?".

So I made up this little concoction. I wish you all could taste it through the blog. YUM!

After roasting the beets, I toasted some pine nuts. As it turns out, I have some random greenery that needed to be eaten, so my dinner tonight became a salad. After throwing some green onion and all the above mentioned ingredients in a bowl, I added gruyere cheese and cinnamon. I tossed in some pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil and the heavens parted.

I'm in love. This is my new favorite salad ever!

Big day today!

2009-08-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

Today was so great!

Dusty and I took the kids to see Up at the Mt. Hood Theater. I LOVE that place. If that theater ever closes down, I don't know what I'll do. Who cares if most of the movies are a week away from being on DVD? It is comfy and inexpensive. Up was a great movie! The kids were entertained by the humor, and Dusty and I were both heartbroken and uplifted by the story. Both boys actually watched the whole thing! (No, that isn't a typo! They sat and watched the movie!)

After the movie, Skyler got to go have alone time with Grandma, Brian and Ashley. That is pretty much heaven for him! During this time, Dusty and I took Alex to his preschool orientation. Talk about an excited kiddo! He cannot wait to start school, and within five minutes had met friends, fallen in love with the toys, and showed off what a kid on a sugar high looks like.

Dusty and I have big plans for September 8th! We are going to wake up and enjoy a big family breakfast with the boys before helping them get all ready for their first day of school. Then we will drive Skyler to school, drive Alex to school...and then look at each other and scream "WOOOO-HOOOO!" as we drive off for a morning date.

One last thing- another recipe! Hope you all don't mind a little self promotion, but I made this last night and thought it was pretty spectacular myself (and so did Grandpa Mike, who flattered me by asking me to write up a recipe!).

Cheesy Pesto Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 Tbsp. Pesto sauce

2 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)

2 oz. goat cheese (room temperature- if you don't have goat cheese, you can use parmesan or extra cream cheese)

1 egg

1 cup plain bread crumbs

1/4 cup ground flax (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pesto and cheeses together in small bowl. In separate bowl, beat eggs- set aside. In a shallow bowl, pour bread crumbs (mix in flax if desired).

Cut pockets in the chicken breast and stuff with 1/4 of the cheese mixture. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken to taste. Dip chicken in egg, then roll in breadcrumbs. Set on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cranberry & Pine Nut Crusted Salmon

2009-08-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, mix:

1/4 cup Craisins

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 clove garlic

2 oz. gruyere cheese

salt & pepper to taste

Process until mix is fine and crumbly, dump into shallow bowl.

In another bowl, beat one egg. Add about 2 Tbsp. water.

Take 4 salmon thawed salmon fillets, dip in egg mixture, then in cranberry mixture.

Put filets in a baking pan sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle any remaining cranberry mixture onto the salmon. Bake for 20 minutes & enjoy!

This is the first recipe I ever came up with all by myself, and since Mom likes it I thought it was worth sharing!

And it's been 4 years!

2009-08-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

Dusty and I celebrated our 4th anniversary last night!

Here is a run-down:

The night began with me getting stuck in my dress. Seriously. I had used a gift card I'd saved to buy a special dress just for my anniversary. I was so excited! It was perfect.

I put it on right before Dusty walked in from work and couldn't get it to zip. So I asked Dusty to try it when he walked in. He did. The zipper pull broke off. So he ran out to get pliers to zip it the rest of the way (at this point I'm wondering how I'll get it off at the end of the night, but we were late so there wasn't time to worry about it). He got it to a seam on the dress where the zipper's teeth were bent, where it got stuck. So we spend about 10 minutes trying to get this dress zipped despite the fact that the zipper is clearly not in good condition. Keep in mind that I'm in 4 inch heels, we're all dressed up and ready to go, and our reservation is in 30 minutes.

Finally we look at the clock and realize we have to go. I give up my hopes of wearing this perfect dress, and decide I'll wear the back up "little black dress" that I have in my closet. So I go to take the not-going-to-happen dress off. But the zipper now won't go DOWN, either. Again, Dusty tries to come to my rescue...to no avail. After trying for a good ten minutes, we got desperate. Dusty had to actually CUT the brand new dress off of me.

Who has to be cut out of their dress on their anniversary? Haha. Me, apparently.

Luckily El Gaucho bumped our reservation back a half hour and we had a fabulous night. Now...anyone know how to replace zippers in dresses?

I have become obsessed with food.

2009-08-18T21:52:00.001-07:00

Really. It is absurd. I love to cook. I REALLY love to cook in the summer when I have fresh produce available and my mom is around to do dishes.

That's all.

Ok, I'm getting back on this blog thing!

2009-08-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

I know I have taken quite the break from blogging. But I'm ready to hop back on the horse (figuratively, of course- I'd probably fall off a real one)!

We are coming to a close of our summer. Skyler is preparing for 1st grade, Alex is hardly able to contain his excitement about pre-school (picture this: "I am going to go to SCHOOOOOOOW with my BACKPACK just like SKYYYYYYYER!"). Dusty and I are about to celebrate our fourth anniversary and have been pretty pleased with life lately.

Skyler is on a gluten free diet which has been a bit of a challenge to adjust to, but has been a great thing for us! The whole family is paying more attention to what we put in our body, and there is no question that Skyler's ADD symptoms seem to have improved since removing gluten and processed foods. Every once in awhile Skyler will tell me "I want gluten", which makes me laugh because he really doesn't even have a clue what it is!

Skyler has also started martial arts classes. He loves it! He has been busy this summer golfing, fishing, riding his bike, cooking and building things.

Alex is just aching to be on a sports team- any team- and just does not understand why he isn't considered big enough to play for the Atlanta Braves. He spends his days jumping off of things that I'd personally never see fit to jump off of, playing his guitar (that he bought with a gift card so that he could "be a ROCKSTAR!"), running around in the back yard and reciting theme songs to various preschool cartoons.

Both boys took swim lessons this summer and LOVED it! They also enjoyed camping and cannot wait for one last trip to Trillium Lake before school begins. I'm still not sure wether it is the camping or the marshmallows that have them hooked...

I'll be writing more often now, but that is all I've got for today!

Sky's last football game!

2008-12-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

Today is the big day...Sky's last football game of the season! Woo-hoo!

Did I mention it is 40 degrees here with wind? Sweet.

So, not too much going on right now. Alex's obsession with Barney is slowly being replaced with Happy Feet. Kinda happy about his. As much as I loved "I love you, you love me"....thirty times a day, it was getting old. He hasn't completely decided that Barney doesn't rule the world, but we're working on it!

Alex is still obsessed with gum. If you're looking for a present that will put little Al over the moon, buy him a pack of gum. He'd choose it over a bag of gold! About 1/2 the time, it even makes it's way to the garbage can. Are there actually any reports of people having tummies full of childhood gum when they die of age after a long, long life? That is just a myth, right?

Skyler's school had a winter program this week. It was so cute! The kindergarten/1st grade choir was my favorite part, of course. ;-) Skyler sang along, and signed to "Silent Night", and was as well behaved as I've ever seen him. I was so proud! He was, too. He came home from school the next day, thrilled to tell me that his behavior had earned him extra free play time.

Alright...off to freeze my butt off!

Sky requests prayers for his dad.

2008-11-19T19:15:00.001-08:00

I request prayers for Sky, too.

Please send your well wishes to Sky's dad and his family!

Been There, Done That (and you will too)!

2008-11-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

I have a new project. Come check it out!

http://beentheredonethat-youwilltoo.blogspot.com/

Notice to all germs, viruses, allergic reactions and "yuckies":

2008-11-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

You are hereby banished from our family. You are not welcome. Ashley will have to wait and learn about you all some other time.

In related news- I am offering a reward to anyone who can actually figure out how to build me a bubble. One that I can put the whole family in, so as to keep germs out. The catch is that we do need to function normally, so this will need to be a 1 way bubble. Kids on the football field would think it odd if Skyler was in said bubble and the ball bounced off of it, seemingly from mid air.

Alex is over his fear of daycare, Skyler is on the mend!

2008-11-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

Today was daycare day for Alex. This used to be such a dreaded event. Today, Sky wasn't going to school or daycare because he needed one more day to recover from a bout of strep throat. So Dusty (who let me sleep in!) was planning on taking Alex to daycare around 10am. Well...8am rolls around and Dusty says to Alex: "You go to daycare today". Alex responded with "STACY???" (this is his favorite girl, and as a result, ANY childcare provider in Alex's world is now named Stacy). Dusty assured him that, yes, he'd see Stacy.

At this point, Alex starts jumping up and down and screaming "STACY!" at the top of his lungs. After a minute, he ran to his room and yelled for his dad to help him get dressed. Alex then came in and woke me up, excitedly sharing the news that he was off to daycare. He even brought his backpack in to show me he was all ready! So, Alex went to daycare 1 1/2 hours before he would have...and apparently loves it there!

Skyler will be going back to school tomorrow, and is very excited to get back! He had a good time going to work (a.k.a. Grandma's house) with me, but is ready to see his buddies again.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

A happy day, but a sad morning.

2008-11-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, I try not to get too political on here, but right now I can't help myself.

First of all, I am thrilled that Obama will be our next president! I honestly feel that he will be a great figure in our nation's politics. I did not vote Obama because he was a democrat, or because he won the party's nomination. I voted for him because I believe in Obama and what he stands for. So, I couldn't be happier with last night's results.

I also felt that McCain gave an amazing concession speech. I think we saw that man who was labeled a "maverick". I think he showed class, good will and genuine human spirit.

But...all my election night elation is on the back burner for the moment. I just checked in on CA's Prop. 8, and it put a damper on my mood. Prop. 8 was a measure writing the definition of marriage as one man, one woman in to the state's CONSTITUTION.

I am appalled that on the same day I get to explain to Skyler that our country has overcome racism enough to elect a black man as President, I have to explain to him that our country discriminates against people for their sexual orientation. It is just sickening.

I have heard all the arguments FOR Prop. 8, and I'm sorry- you CANNOT give a valid argument FOR DISCRIMINATION. It isn't possible. People tried- remember the civil rights movement? Slavery? Women not being allowed to vote? You can dress it up and call it "protecting marriage", or "protecting our children from being taught about gay marriage"- but it is still and always will be discrimination.

I am saying many, many prayers today. Today, I am praying for the safety and emotional well being of our new president-elect Barack Obama and his family (I can't imagine the emtional roller coaster of his grandmother passing during this time). I am praying that our country can come together to move forward, now that the vote has spoken. I am praying for every CA couple that wakes up today to find out that they are no longer married, that their family isn't seen as "valid" in the eyes of CA voters. And I am praying that some day, discrimination will not be something we can vote for.

I want my kids to live in a better world. Isn't that all we want for our little ones?

(OK, done with politics- on this blog. If you give me a glass of wine & invite me over, I'll discuss it all you want!)

Trick or Treat!!!

2008-11-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

And another Halloween has come and gone. Sugar highs and stomach aches are sure to follow!

SpiderMan and Peter Pan took to the streets in a quest to find some candy on a perfect night. Mild temperatures, no rain, and Dusty getting off work were a great backdrop.

The night began with a house down the street, where both the boys forgot to say "trick or treat", but the neighbor thought they were so cute that she gave them candy anyhow. This got Alex really excited- he finally understood what we meant by "going on a walk to get some candy". At the next house, they let the kids choose. This was a big choice for Alex, who was finally given one of everything when the owner of the house got tired of waiting after a good 4 or 5 minutes of Alex touching every single candy, then putting it back.

Skyler was a great big brother, pushing the doorbells that were too tall for Alex and letting Alex push the ones he could reach. The highlight for him was a neighbor who had an actual snake on their porch, along with numerous other decorations. This, to a 5 year old, is REALLY cool. After the older kids started coming out, we came home. This was mostly because Alex was nervous about the big kids in scary costumes, which presented some problems when they tried to accompany him to the door. After one last stop at our direct neighbor's house (she had saved some candy especially for them), we loaded up in the car and drove out to trick or treat at Grandpa Mike's house. This was a great way to end the night!

As of 6pm last night, Dusty is on vacation. We have a big week planned! Today we all went to Skyler's football game (they WON! Go Jets!), accompanied by Shane (who doesn't wake up that early but did it just for Sky). Alex is still sick, so he'll be sleeping the day away and trying to get better in time for church tomorrow. This week will be full of fishing, hunting (for Dusty), and birthday celebrations- as Dusty turns the big 26 on Wednesday!

Happy November!

Pumpkin Patch, continued.

2008-11-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

Family Day at Liepold Farms.

2008-11-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

What is that saying? Better late than never?

Well, here is the run down on our family day at the pumpkin patch. It was a marathon day! First, Skyler and Dusty got up way before Alex and I care to, and went fishing. They didn't catch anything, but it's more about the memories anyhow, right? Then, they got home. We ate lunch, dressed the kids in sweaters (after I wouldn't give up on that argument- I wanted them in sweaters for pics, Dusty thinks kids dressing up to go to a farm is nuts. In Dusty's defense, he was right- but I can be REALLY stubborn!), and took off to the pumpkin patch.

At the pumpkin patch, they have a little play area with a ball pit, and a carosel. This, of course, is heaven on earth to Alex. They also had 2 mazes- 1 dark maze and one light maze. Not only did Skyler rock the light maze, but he and I managed to get through the dark one. If you know Skyler or myself, this is a big deal! He earned a glow stick as a reward. I earned another grey hair.

Once we made it outside, Alex discovered a new love- stomping in mud puddles. As of about 1:30 pm that afternoon, if there is a mud puddle within 1 mile, Alex will find it. His new shoes (and his mom) are thrilled. Dusty and I discovered that one bag of kettle corn isn't necessarily the best idea, and that Skyler is allergic to hay. The boys learned how to fling pumpkins with a giant slingshot, and we spent a long time picking out the perfect pumpkins.

It was a very fun afternoon! Afterwards, Grandma Val watched the boys and took them on a bike ride. They slept well that night. Yay!

Things I learned today!

2008-10-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

So, another day in the life around here. Today I woke up and decided that the kids and I were going to church. I've been meaning to get around to it for awhile, and had planned on the "aroundtoit" to come next weekend. But today seemed right. So off we went, Alex insisting we were going to Target and Skyler wondering why we were suddenly going to church.

Here are some of the lessons learned:

1) There are people in the world who are very, very kind to strangers. Seriously. I think sometimes in the hustle and bustle we forget that some people are just good. I met many today.

2) You know you haven't taken your kid to church in awhile when he looks at the altar and says "Mommy, why is there a big "t" hanging on the wall?". Oops.

3) A 2 year old who has never been to church does NOT just know to be quiet and sit still.

4) People think it is adorable when a 5 year forgets his inhibition and starts singing, loudly, to a song he doesn't actually know. The 5 year old, however, thinks it is horribly humiliating.

5) Church wears kids out. They fall asleep on the way home. BONUS! (Y'all want to get religious now, don't you?!?)

6) When those kids wake up, they have WAY too much energy. Grr...

7) 2 year olds, hammers and 2 year old vehicles do NOT mix.

8) Yes, I learned #7 from experience.

9) If you stop a dishwasher, start it over, stop it, start it over...and let it fill up and never drain every time...it'll overflow on to the floor.

10) If #9 is repeated 30 seconds after the mess is cleaned up, it'll overflow again.

11) The 2 year old taught me this.

12) Kids will do anything for ice cream. It is possible for a 5 year old's room to be cleaned in 2 minutes. Just offer ice cream.

13) If you try lesson #12, don't look in the closet unless you've had a glass of wine, Xanax, or 3 extra strength Tylenol.

14) If a child is in need of getting clean, the floor of the bathroom will be soaked. It does not matter wether they shower or take a bath. It doesn't matter if they take 3 minutes or a half hour. The position of the shower curtain has no bearing. The bathroom will inevitably be soaked. There is no way to avoid it.

15) Desperate Housewives Rocks. What a good way to make my life seem not so hectic after a long (but good, minus the car meeting a hammer and floor being flooded) day!

I am very, very lucky.

2008-10-14T20:13:00.001-07:00

Tonight I sit here, kids tucked in with Dusty by my side, thinking that I am a very lucky woman.

I would like to take this chance to remind you all of something you probably already know- LISTEN to your body. If something feels off, look in to it. Please.

On Saturday I was diagnosed with Steven Johnson's Syndrome, a potentially fatal reaction to medication that I was taking. This syndrome is not caused by any particular medication. It is very rare, and is essentially a very severe allergic reaction. I thought I was going in simply because Dusty insisted on it. I was certain I had a cold and maybe a viral rah. As it turns out, SJS is really serious. And very scary. I am lucky that is was caught essentially as soon as the rash began. Really, as soon as it began to form I was being treated.

I am getting better. The rash has cleared up now and the headache has basically gone away. At this point, I think the biggest thing we're waiting for is for me to come off the medication. I need the medication- but it makes me feel crappy!

Anyhow, just wanted to tell you all that I am ok. And I am lucky. And I really, really appreciate all the love and support that has been sent my way!

Thank you,

Brianna

Trying this domestic thing out.

2008-10-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

This year I decided to give the whole "domestic decorator" thing a try. I figured that the kids are old enough to like decorations, so we should probably put some up. Here goes!

We have an amazing neighbor couple. I spoke with the wife and told her that we were trying to decorate this year. She is great! She has brought over a bunch of corn stalks, grown in her garden. She also dug out some decor that she isn't using and brought us a broom for the door, some little figures and a pumpkin that she grew in her yard. We are so lucky to have someone so wonderful around us. When she dropped of some of the decorations, I mentioned that Alex was sick. Later that day they brought over a book for him and a note wishing him well. Sure makes the world seem smaller and more cozy when you have good people around you!

Skyler and I drew a pumpkin family to add to our fall decorations. Can you guess who is who? I drew them, but Skyler cut and taped them under Dusty's supervision. I pulled in the driveway after work to find them up, and thought they were the perfect touch. Hopefully next week we'll go to the pumpkin patch and add a few real pumpkins to the mix.

Alex is getting better. Still a sniffle and a low fever, but nothing near the scary night of being up with 104 degrees. I think those nights are just made to break me in before the kids start getting sports injuries!

Skyler the football player!

2008-10-08T12:46:00.001-07:00

So after years of standing on the sidelines of football games, cringing at every tackle, it was time for me to let Skyler subject himself to getting bowled over by 15 boys trying to get the same ball. It isn't my thing, but hey- he loves it!

Skyler has been practicing for a week and a half. His first game is coming up this weekend! He is so excited! His team will be green (Skyler says "YEEEEESSSSS! We're the DUCKS!) and has a great coaching staff.

Here are a few pictures from from Skyler's practices. Most are of Alex because I usually spend practices chasing him and keeping him from running on the field. Alex LOVES "buball pa-tice"! Ah, the joys of boys.

If anyone will be in town on Saturday, please let me know! Skyler would love to have a fan club for his first game!

Video Overload!

2008-09-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Check out the videos I posted! Two are from our last family bike ride. The boys are really falling in love with bike riding!

One is Alex playing the piano. Skyler like to play, too, but was too shy to go on camera. If I can sneak a video of him, I'll put it up!

The other video is of the boys, dressed as a dog and a lion, jumping on the bed. Whats that, you say? It isn't halloween? Huh. Who knew?

A puppy and a lion play jumping bean.

2008-09-20T16:32:00.001-07:00

Alex the performer!

2008-09-20T16:31:00.001-07:00

Alex rides!

2008-09-20T16:30:00.001-07:00

Sky rides!

2008-09-20T16:29:00.001-07:00

More Pictures!

2008-09-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to Grandma Val, for giving us the inside view!

Breaking News! (In our world)

2008-09-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

Sky is home from his first day of school!!!

After deciding to calm down the obsessively protective mom thing, I walked Skyler to the bus stop at 7:25 this morning. He was super excited at the bus stop. Once he saw the bus, he got a little nervous, but he walked right on with no problem. Well, one little snag- I had told him to sit next to the bus driver, not realizing that those seats would have kids in them. Right as I was fighting the urge to rush on the bus and say "It's ok, honey, sit with that little girl", he figured it out on his own. And I was reminded that sometimes I just don't give my little guy enough credit. (At this moment, images of Finding Nemo are flashing in my head. I'm seriously comparing my parenting to that of an animated fish. Oh, boy. Motherhood has overtaken my brain!)

So he gets on the bus, I go inside and down a cup of (decaf) coffee and pace around the living room. Dusty reminds me that many kids go to school every day. And that Skyler will not magically disappear in the mile bus ride down the hill. So, after a call to the school to make sure he got there ok (I know you're rolling your eyes. But it was his first day!), I switched my energy from wondering if he got there to watching the clock and counting the minutes till he got home.

So, Alex and I went to get Skyler at the bus stop. As it turns out, the bus stop on the way home is outside our back gate. Sweet! And when the bus stopped Skyler emerged, backpack and all. He was in one piece and in pretty high spirits. Apparently this school thing (bus included) is his type of gig. He loved it!

I asked him to summarize his day. Here it is:

"I met lots of new friends!"

"Grandma kept snappin' up all different pictures of me!" (Thanks, Grandma Val!)

"It was good."

And...thats about all I could get out of an exhausted 5 year old.

While we were sitting and talking about his day, I noticed that Sky's tooth was sitting on it's side. I went over to him, looked at it, and sure enough it was hanging on by a string. So, not only did Skyler go to school, he lost a second tooth! There is already an envelope (sealed, so as to make sure the tooth fairy gets it) under his pillow. He is now zoning out on the couch, trying his best not to fall asleep.

On a related note, every sound Alex hears from the road is now a bus. Ever since we saw big bro get off the school bus, we get to hear Al every 30 seconds say "I want ride bus!" or "I hear bus!". He was just in heaven getting to be THAT close to a school bus!

Note: In the pictures of Sky waiting for the bus, I know he doesn't look excited. He was! Blame the sour look on nerves and the fact that it was 7:30 and mom forgot to grab him a jacket. Oops!

Shamelessly begging for donations...

2008-09-06T15:46:00.001-07:00

So, I just read that Skyler's school will be participating in Box Tops for Education. They accept Campbell's soup can labels and General Mills Cereal box tops, then turn them in for money that goes towards the parent teacher committee budget.

I totally understand if your labels go elsewhere, or if you don't buy overpriced cereals and soups when the stores provide similar products at store-brand prices. But if you do buy Campbells and/or General Mills, we'd appreciate the donations of these labels! If any are sent Sky's way, he can take them in to his school and contribute to the fundraiser.

Thanks everyone!

Our pretty much perfect day. (Sky can ride a bike!)

2008-09-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

In the interest of preserving memories, I think that our latest family adventure is worth writing out. I don't have any pictures, though- I decided to focus less of "capturing the moment" and more on being IN the moment!

So, after a long day of running errands the other day, Dusty and I needed a way to tire the boys out. We had promised the boys ice cream at the Costco deli (a.k.a. dispensary of incredible amounts of yummy tasting saturated fats), but wound up walking right past it in an effort to get a tired 2 year in the car before the entire warehouse realized he was, in fact, a toddler. Poor Skyler, in an usual act of patience, actually believed us when we said he had a treat coming to him later in the day. So...guess that meant we needed to figure out a treat!

It was a beautiful day. Since we're now in that season where you spend every sunny day wondering if it is the last, we thought we'd better get the kids outside. So we loaded up their bikes (or bi-chi-chles, if you ask Al) and took them down to the trail for an evening ride that we figured would mean a LOT of work on our part. After a small disagreement over wether or not Alex needed elbow pads and knee pads to ride a bike with training wheels (I won! Alex looked like a knight in all his body armor), we were off.

Here are the highlights:

-Both boys needed their seats raised. (sniffle) They are getting so big!

-Alex proved that you CAN go fast on a toddler bike with training wheels.

-Alex also proved that you CAN tip over on a bike with training wheels. (And mommy was right about the body armor!)

-Skyler showed that he could go forever on a bike ride.

-Skyler also proved that he can ride faster than I can run. But still insisted that I keep up with him.

-Skyler learned how to push off on his own!!! Everyone within a 2 block radius heard "I CAN RIDE MY BIKE MYSELF!!!"

-Alex is a trooper. At one point he was so tired, his eyes were closing. But those little legs kept spinning round and round!

-Dusty and I actually got to enjoy ourselves! The boys are big enough to ride ahead a bit and be just independent enough to enjoy themselves without us helping non-stop. But they are still young enough to not go TOO far!

After the bike ride, we went to Sunny Hans. We haven't attempted eating out with the boys for quite awhile. It was amazing! They sat and ate! I think we almost came off as a nice family eating dinner, as opposed to 2 stressed out parents and 2 unruly little ones. Woo-hoo!

So, that is it. My account of a perfect evening. I don't know if the boys will remember that day forever, but I sure will.

A plea to toy makers:

2008-09-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

PLEASE start making toys that don't frustrate my kids to the point of insanity. Or me, for that matter.

For example, if a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle is supposed to be a skateboarding reptile, PLEASE make sure the skateboard can stay on the ninja's feet for at least 30 seconds at a time. PLEASE?!?!?

If I hear "MOOOOOOMMM, the skaaaateboard won't stay oooonnnn!!!!" one more time today...

Edited to add: So I just googled it and apparently a turtle is a reptile? Who knew? Huh. I always thought they were amphibians.