first snow

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents. We had a nice lunch, followed by sharing what we were each thankful for. My mom and I are starting a notebook where we will have everyone write down their contribution. Each year, we'll pull it out and I think it will be fun to see what we wrote the previous years.



This evening after giving Kendall a bath, I walked outside to see Chris, Cam, and our neighbors having a snow fight. Our neighbors had brought some down from the mountains. This was Cam's first exposure to it. He took a little time to warm up to it, but he quickly became a fan.

thanksgiving

Laundry done. Car unpacked. We are home. We had a wonderful time up at Chris's parents' house for Thanksgiving. Here are a few shots:

Watching a movie on grandma and grandpa's bed.


Seeing "the girls" is always a highlight for Cam. He spends more time running around outside than he does inside. Us adults tend to rotate out there as it can get pretty cold. :)


Cam has really taken a liking to baking (especially when he can eat as he goes along). Here he is helping grandma make some chocolate chip cookies.


I wanted a good family picture for our Christmas letter (or New Year's if we don't get going on it!). This was the best one.


Kendall was great. We were a little surprised that she wasn't quite as smiley as she typically is at home. But we figure there were lots of people right in her face ooh'ing and ahh'ing. Might have been a little overwhelming at times. She still was a champ and even slept pretty well.

two final thoughts

I have two thoughts before I take a break for a few days. We are headed up north to my in-laws for Thanksgiving and won't return until Saturday.

1. Tonight I was inspired by a great pizza we have had at Gourmet Pizza Shoppe. I remembered they put cashews on one of their pizzas and it was so good. We made BBQ chicken pizza and I tried the cashews. SO TASTY! Next time you make pizza, try them.



2. I watched the final episode of Jon and Kate + 8 tonight. I'll admit I got a little teary, not that the show is ending, but that their marriage did. I have loads of opinions on it all, but I'll keep them to myself. :) It really is sad to think what those little kids have gone and will continue to go through.



Ok, time for bed then we are off first thing in the morning. I'm trying to look forward to being there, rather than the actual drive. We had a glimmer of what Kendall crying looked like today for Cameron (on our way back from Costco), and it wasn't pretty. Poor guy.

wind

Wind. A lot of it. Annoying. Don't even want to go outside. What to do? Keep Daddy company in his office by snuggling up to watch the Polar Express.

maybe we should just move there

So today marked our third trip out to Palm Springs this week. I don't know what it is, but we just love it there. We first went to our favorite park for a picnic lunch. After Cam played around a while, I loaded him up in the stroller and off we went to downtown for some ice cream. Chris took Kendall in the car with him to walk around a golf store. When they were done, they came and picked us up.



The walk to downtown was so nice. It was a good change of scenery for me as our walks around here usually follow the same route. It was fun pretending we were actually on vacation, like probably most of the people we passed.

Upon entering the ice cream shop, I told Cam he could pick whatever flavor (or color, as I put it) he wanted. What did he zero in on, making the ice cream take a back seat? The waffle cone they dip in chocolate and rainbow sprinkles, of course! I tried to tell him he could have the ice cream IN the colorful cone, but he just wanted that cone. Fine with me since then I just had to purchase a cone!

so stylish

Normally I'm not one for crafts (making or buying), but this morning as I was on a walk with Kendall (Chris took Cam out for a few hours), we went by a craft fair taking place at a church down the street. I couldn't help but make these two purchases. Kendall has lost quite a bit of hair and clips don't stay in like they used to. I thought these were the perfect solution. :)

costco

Costco purchases yesterday:

Lunch
Chris: Chicken Bake, soda
Me/Cam: split cheese pizza
Me: Mocha Freeze-just as good as a frappuchino and half the price!

Groceries
Eggs
Bananas-always!
Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter- never creamy
Wheat Thins
Slippers-will return because they didn't fit, but boy do I need some!
Toilet Paper

Samples and Ratings
Marie Calenders Corn Bread: 7-kind of dry
Soup: Didn't try
Fish spread on crackers: Never in a million years
Biscuit: 7
Cheesecake: 7-not near rich enough like the actual Cheesecake Factory brand
Taquitos: 7
Corn Bread Stuffing: 9.5-had apples and cranberries, yum!
Cheese Souffle: 8
Cheese Tortellini: 7
Chips: 6

Overall the ratings weren't too high, but I give Costco a 9.5 for variety and quantity of samples. :)

some things that make me happy

*Friday Night Lights is back: I love this show, mainly because it is interesting to see life in a small town and I LOVE the relationship between the coach and his wife.

*Teething feeder: I don't know why I didn't know about this thing with Cam. Kendall adores this and makes quite a cute mess of herself. I've only tried bananas so far, but I'm excited to have this in my ammunition bag for our trip up to Chris's parents for Thanksgiving!



*Disneyland day with dad: Chris took Cam to Disneyland today without the girls. Chris updates me with texts throughout the day and I love hearing how much fun they are having.

*Skinny Cow: We discovered these great low fat ice cream sandwiches at Costco. To doll them up a bit, I break them up in a bowl, crush a graham cracker on top (I love crunchy textures in my ice cream), and add a dollop of whipped cream on them. Yum!



*Emails from my sister and Karen: My sister introduced me to a friend of her's back when Cam was a baby. Since then, we have emailed one another on almost a daily basis. Our emails aren't quite as frequent now, but I still get excited whenever I see one in my in box. We talk about everything and I love our conversations. :)

friends and fries

Yesterday Jeremy and Ana and their daughter Mia came over for the day. Jeremy and Chris played golf, while the girls/kids hung out at our house for the afternoon. The guys had a great time (perfect weather) and we actually got a lot of talking done considering we were maintaining three little ones. This has become somewhat of a regular thing since Chris and Jeremy are great friends and love to golf, and Ana and I love to talk and I consider her one of my closest friends (despite their living in OC...boohoo).

Another thing that has become somewhat of a regular event is our dinner when we get together. A while ago we introduced them to our favorite meal from a Mexican restaurant around the corner, Carne Asada Fries. Sound healthy? I don't think you could get a more un-healthy, artery clogging meal. We don't get it very often, but boy is it good. Anyway, here is a picture at dinner time (sorry it is so blurry, but I'd rather see a blurry picture than none at all ).



Carne Asada Fries: meat, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, fries...lots and lots

all better

This morning was a little rough. Kendall's first nap was 25 minutes and she was refusing to take a 2nd one. Cam was a being somewhat of a pain and I quickly delved into a bad mood. Chris took Cam to the park and texted me. As soon as I read his text, my bad mood completely went away. Here was the text:

"Just saw a little boy and said, "Hi, how ya doing friend? Want to follow me?"

Now, for most of you this doesn't seem like a big deal at all. But for us, this is huge. Hearing about him engaging another child puts me on cloud nine and melts my heart. :)

p.s. Kendall just woke up from her second nap after only 30 minutes. That's ok...nothing can ruin my mood!

Jesus loves me this I know

We did a toy swap with a friend of mine yesterday. Cam was adamant about having this be one of the toys swapped. Here he is serenading us. He is a little distracted by our yard guys (you'll see him glance to his right), but he still finished strong. :)

Take a look...

let down

I've learned several times that it never is wise to get your hopes up too much that your child will like/love a certain thing. I've gotten really excited about Cameron trying a certain activity, only to find out he could really care less about it. Case in point was with my Cheerio activity poster.

Cameron loves the Cheerio book (I bet most of you have it) where you put the Cheerios in the different circles on the page. Because he has been so into the book, I decided to make my own version. I went through his other books and found pictures I knew he would like. I drew them on a big poster board, with circles he could fill with the cereal.

I was so excited for him to try it. Yes, he participated and seemed to enjoy it a little. But after a few minutes, he was done and preferred his book. Oh well. I'll keep it around and maybe Kendall will like it. :)

coffee

One of the many things I look forward to about my mom's group is the coffee. I don't like coffee AT ALL unless it is with flavored creamer (and a lot of it). In general, when coffee is offered at church or any public function, it is usually just accompanied by plain creamer or the yucky powdered stuff. I'm not complaining because the flavored stuff is pricey. So I've always loved the fact that our group splurges and provides several yummy choices each time we get together. I'm not into the REALLY unique flavors (like pumpkin spice or eggnog). I love anything with vanilla, toffee, or hazelnut.

I don't make coffee at home, but I do enjoy the Cafe International stuff every now and then. It kind of shakes things up a bit between my cups of hot cocoa. :) This is my new favorite flavor. Yum!!

happy saturday!!

Today wasn't very happy. It started out with an early wake up from Cam (5:30) and a yucky night's sleep for both Chris and I. At 7:00, Chris and Cam dropped Kendall and I off at Urgent Care. My trouble with my sinuses had turned into an infection and I was told it wouldn't go away without antibiotics.

We had an event with Cam's school later that morning and I really wanted to go as a family. So I loaded up on Advil and off we went. The event actually went pretty well, however on the way home my Advil started wearing off. Luckily, or so I thought, both kids would go down for naps when we got home, enabling both of us to rest for a while. Not so much. Kendall took her usual 40 minute nap and Cam, despite almost falling asleep on the way there, refused to take a nap. Lovely.

The afternoon was one of those where both Chris and I looked at each other and said, "How on earth are we going to make it to bedtime?". Tonight I was supposed to go to a leadership meeting for my Mom's group. I was really excited about going and hanging out with the other girls, however it quickly became apparent that I wasn't in the condition to go. So I dropped off the dessert I had made and headed home.

Right now we are counting down the last 25 minutes until Cam goes to bed and then we will finally have some down time. Gosh, does it bite to be sick with kids. Gone are the days of lazing around watching movies when we don't feel good. So Saturday, we are NOT sad to see you go.

Sidenote: I must be honest and admit that prior to having my first sinus infection, I thought it was nothing more than a really bad cold. Wow, was I wrong. A sinus infection is one of the most painful things I've ever had. It is night and day different than just a cold.

that time of night

Every evening, typically about a half hour before Kendall goes down, I find myself walking around our loft, holding her and listening to country music. For some reason she is happy when I do this, which is the goal. At this point, she is BEYOND tired due to her bad, terrible, short, sporadic naps.



I usually listen to country because that is what I'm into right now. There are certain songs that, when they come on, put me in such a great mood. Right now I LOVE "Toes" by the Zac Brown Band. Whenever it comes on, I close my eyes and just picture myself on a beach somewhere, sipping a Pina Colada. Ahhh...

I started thinking about other songs that instantly put me in a good mood. Here are a few:

*Love is a Beautiful Thing: Phil Vassar
*Something Like That: Tim McGraw
*My Maria: Brooks and Dunn
*Tainted Love: Soft Cell (not country)

What are your songs?

heaven on a plate

Last night we had my parents and my mom's best friend (who is out visiting from Texas) over for dinner. I served BBQ chicken pizza and No-Bake Chocolate Truffle Pie for dessert. Chris's mom introduced me to it once when we were up for a visit. It is SOO fabulous and one of the richest pies you'll ever taste. I changed the recipe slightly, just using store bought caramel topping instead of making your own. Here is the recipe. It's pretty easy and is sure to wow anyone you serve it to.

*1/2 cup pecan (or any nut) pieces, coarsely chopped
*One pre-made Oreo crust
*1 cup caramel ice cream topping (any brand, but I like Mrs. Richardson's because it is thicker; also, 1 cup is an estimate...basically the more caramel the better)
*1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
*1 cup heavy whipping cream
*3 Tbsp butter

Spread nuts over crust. Pour caramel over nuts. Heat chocolate chips, cream and butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Pour over caramel layer and refrigerate about 4 hours until set.

on hold again

This past Friday I told Chris, "Tomorrow I'm going to make another go at sleep training. I'm determined". Well, Saturday rolled around and Kendall started running a fever. Now all four of us are sick. So how do you attempt sleep training when your little one is running a fever? You don't. I caved and am back to feeding her way too much at night. I know despite being sick, she doesn't need to eat EVERY 3 HOURS AT NIGHT!!! But I would feel too guilty making her cry for long periods of time when I know she isn't feeling well. It is somewhat discouraging to look back at the journal I kept for Cam and to see how much better of a sleeper he was at this age. But in the grand scheme of life, this is sooo not a big deal and will soon pass. I'm just thankful to have two healthy kids, even if one of them is a stinker during the night.