weekend

Saturday we had a picnic with Chris' brothers' family and his parents (who were visiting them). I've said before that while we love where we live, I am jealous of the plethora of great parks out in OC. This was one of them. :)

Rousing game of football.



Since we've been having a few acting up issues at school (being silly, not sitting on his bottom, laughing during carpet time, etc.) with Cam, we decided to reward him if he went one straight week without "getting on red." He did and was very excited to find his reward to be a trip to Pharaoh's with mom today. Kendall is still a little young for the bounce houses (they are enormous), so she and dad braved Costco, which Chris said was a mistake as it proved to be the busiest day he has ever been. :)



Thought this was cute as we drove to Pharaoh's (he learned about Noah today at church):

Me: Why did God send the flood?
Cam: The people were very bad so God sent rain to died them to heaven.
Me: Why did God send the rainbow?
Cam: Noah listened and obeyed'ed what God commanded'ed. God sent a rainbow for his promise and if you sat on your bottom you got a stamp...and I sat on my bottom!! (I love how he flowed right into the stamp thing in the same sentence)

if you like butterscotch...

We are getting together with Chris' family today for a picnic and I'm bringing some cookies. My favorite dessert combo is peanut butter and chocolate, but a very close second is butterscotch and chocolate. These Disappearing Marshmallow Brownies are very chewy and yummy. They are sweet (I think that is the complaint of some regarding butterscotch), but I just cut them into small bars so it wouldn't be overwhelming for people. Personally I think they are perfect and don't get overwhelmed in the least. :)

*I took the kids to the mall play area yesterday after school. I wonder if that alone is why Cam slept in until 7 this morning, or 7:01 to be exact...Cam always tells us the exact minute he wakes up each morning :) Both he and Kendall played very hard! Afterward we met my parents and Chris at Pat and Oscar's for a belated b-day celebration for Chris. After dinner we had our cake picnic outside by the ducks. At one point Cam sat his plate down on the bench and a duck went after it big time. I really think that was the highlight of Cam's day. He died laughing and wouldn't stop.


*Cam will start a new speech class through the school district next week. It will be twice a week for 90 minutes. I hope Kendall doesn't get tired of parks, because we'll be making our rounds to any and all I can find since we need to stay in the area to pick him up afterward for school.

*My mom, who is a VERY healthy eater, also didn't like my veggie burgers I posted about a few days ago. Sigh. Oh well, I think I'll start buying some just for myself, since my homemade attempt was such a botch.

*Cam is VERY into the states right now. He has three U.S. puzzles that he sometimes does up to 6 times a day. I'm sad to admit that he knows far more than I as to the location of each one. He is working on the capitals now...which I'm also very bad at naming.

*Dinner tonight: Spaghetti

*I've started sneaking flax seed into Kendall's oatmeal each morning. I also do half cream of wheat for the extra iron. I'm so glad she likes this combo. I feel like this is her only really good solid meal of the day. She barely eats at the other meals. I try to make her snacks healthy, but I know she is snacking too much...lending to not much appetite at meals.

*I don't like cold weather.

my pinterests

So if I were to have a Pinterest account, these would be among my to-do's:

Pumpkin Crunch Cake- I LOVE desserts with different textures, so the crunchies on the outside of this caught my attention.



Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Vanilla Sheet Cake



Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cookies: These are SUPER healthy and I'd love to sell the kids on them as an after dinner dessert.



This is a super yummy looking oatmeal bowl. Oatmeal is sooo healthy and not one of Chris' favorite breakfasts. I normally put a little brown sugar and raisins on his, which is a tad blah. I think he would be open to eating it more often if I could find a good recipe or yummy combo of toppings.

saturday tidbits

*Our library had a pumpkin party this morning. I thought the kids would enjoy putting their costumes on early for breakfast out with dad. They did. :)

*They had a wonderful time making crafts, listening to a Halloween story, and playing games. Despite it being Halloween themed, they were the only ones in costume. They didn't seem to mind. :)



*Later I took Cam to a birthday party for a girl in his class. He was in bounce house HEAVEN. It was at Pump It Up, which we had never been to. At one point, all the the kids were ushered into a dark room, with loud techno music, black lights, and laser lights flashing all around. It was sensory overload, if you ask me, so I marvaled at how much my little guy adored it. Ahh...happy mama.


*Hodgepodge dinner tonight for us. My meal? Homemade corn dog. Chris' mom buys them at her school carnival and freezes them for me. They are amazing. I heat them in the microwave and then put them into the George Foreman (to make them crispy). Yum.

*The World Series is on. Usually I'll email or occupy myself with something else while Chris watches sports. Tonight I felt like a movie, but it was slim pickings at Red Box. A little embarrassed to admit that I came home with Blue Crush 2. What was I thinking? We'll see... :)

well...i tried

I mentioned a few days ago that I had an AMAZING veggie burger at the Cheesecake Factory. I was determined to find a recipe and attempt them myself. My disclaimer up front is that I rarely, if ever serve things to Chris that I know he probably won't like. Tonight was the exception, but I was secretly hoping he would enjoy them (however knew that was unlikely). My gut was correct and he didn't like them at all. He forced down half of his burger, while Kendall refused and Cam gave up mid-way.

But I thought they were WONDERFUL and had such a unique and good flavor!!! So, if you like veggie burgers, health food, earthy/wholesome flavored things, these are definitely worth a try. They are quite a bit of work, but I'm just freezing the remaining patties so I can snack on them myself in the coming weeks. :) Here is the recipe (the pic above is from there as well).

I even tried to sweeten the deal by including barbeque sauce, sharp cheddar, a slice of bacon, and a white bun!! But his look says it all...huh? :)

disney afternoon...and loooong evening

We had a wonderful afternoon at Disneyland yesterday with my parents. Despite the crowds, we were able to get on a few rides and go to their favorite play area.



Chris and his brother's all time favorite movie is Dumb and Dumber. Despite many people dressed in costume last night, he was still pleasantly surprised to see his favorite duo. We had to snap a picture. :)


You can see Kendall's arm gently trying to pull Cam out into the dancing. She wouldn't go if he didn't, but he was a little too shy.



After Disneyland, we always debate which freeway to take. We HATE the 91, yet it's the fastest. Well, we made the wrong choice last night. After a few minutes on the road, we came to a standstill...for an hour and a half. There was an officer related shooting which took place, causing two freeways to be halted. It was rather surreal to be playing with the kids...ON THE FREEWAY. Everyone had turned off their engines, lights, and were walking around on their iphones trying to figure out what was going on. Finally they had the cars U-turn and drive backward to an exit. I really can't believe how amazing our kids were. For what the situation was, it couldn't have gone more smoothly for our little ones.

busy weekend

Normally our weekends are pretty uneventful and always begin with Chris and I asking each other, "What should we do?" Without kids this would be an easy question to answer...relax!

Friday I took the kids to meet my mom at the pumpkin patch. They spent the most time in the bounce house, but they did like other things, like climbing around the train, which wasn't running due to very few people there. :)



Saturday morning while Chris was off to his free birthday golf, I picked up my mom and we headed to the Halloween party at Victoria Gardens. They did a really cute job and the kids walked away with two mini pumpkins, some small toys, and a $5 gift card (each!) to a candy store. :)





Yesterday we actually celebrated Chris' birthday by getting to spend the entire afternoon just the two of us. My parents took the kids after church and we headed home to an empty house. We later drove out to the desert, saw a movie, shopped (granted it was at Walmart, but boy was it nice taking my time walking around!), and having dinner at Cheesecake Factory. :)

Conversation after I ordered a veggie burger (much to Chris' dismay):

Me: Wow! Chris, look at the size of this pattie!! It's huge!
Chris: Well, so is a tire but that doesn't mean you should eat it!!

The veggie pattie ended up being a 10+++. It was AWESOME!!!

*Costco for dinner tonight. Can't beat $4.96 (Chris gets a slice of pizza, the kids and I split one, and one soda)!!

*We had our weekly music class at the library yesterday. I'm so bummed it's only 5 weeks. Here is a cute 10 seconds. Kendall is off to the right.

*Saturday is Chris' birthday. He gets a free round of golf at a really nice golf course, so I'm taking the kids to Victoria Gardens. They have a Halloween party and the kids are excited to wear their costumes. :)

*Researching dental insurance. I think having it will actually make us go the recommended every six months. As of now, I don't even want to say how long it's been for Chris and I. Paying cash is quite a deterrent. :(

*I like having our hot weather back.

*We LOVE, LOVE these chicken sausages from Costco. They are incredibly flavorful and only 110 calories per sausage. SOOO yummy.

TV

So the new fall season has kicked off. I like recording a few shows that seem interesting and seeing if they live up to the previews. It takes a lot for me to make a show a regular. I don't like un-realistic plots and cheesy humor. I find most sitcoms to be pretty dumb and not very funny (the only two real exceptions are The Office and Modern Family). I also have a VERY low tolerance for dirty humor. For some reason, I'd rather there be a whole scene I don't want to watch (that I can easily skip through) than crude jokes throughout the whole episode.

Here are a few good ones I like:

Downsized-- a reality show following a family who fell into rough times with the economy and how they are coping.

I Used To Be Fat-- I think this show is so interesting and neat to see the transformations in the teens.

Sister Wives-- While I COMPLETELY disagree with their polygomist lifestyle, I like how they raise their kids in a very moral, traditional manner (I know, kind of weird to use the word "traditional" in describing them) and I enjoy the relationship dynamics between the parents and kids.


Anyway, those are a few shows I like to watch. :)

weekend

Highlights from our trip up north:

*Getting to see our good friend perform in "Forever Plaid" on Friday night.

*Watching the parade on Saturday. Both kids really enjoyed it. Here is Cam eagerly awaiting it's start.



*Relaxing. Chris' mom always buys me lots of magazines when I go up because she knows how much I love them. She keeps lots of made for TV movies on her Tivo for me and stocks up on plenty of chocolate, like these, which I think are one of the best brands of dark chocolate.



*Going to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. This was the highlight for both the kids and I (and probably grandma too). We met some good friends there and the kids had a blast. The patch has trails, a treehouse, a train, and a little castle/house for the kids to climb around. Cam was in HEAVEN, as was Kendall.






*Having Chris get to golf with his dad. One of Chris' favorite things is to golf with his family. I always try to figure out our schedule and make it work so that there is time for this. He doesn't get to see his family near as much as I do, so I think it's SUPER important to always make times like this a priority. He and his dad had a great time.

*GREAT food, including German Choc cake, homemade donuts at the parade, french toast breakfast, and the list goes on. :)

*Heading to my in-laws tomorrow. Kids couldn't be more excited. Kendall is the MOST excited about seeing the "scary eyes"...a.k.a. the lights on my MIL's printer in her office. Go figure. :)

*Yesterday's rain? I'm good. Let's stay dry for another month and then I could do another day. :) What to do before school...what to do...?


*Ordered a pirate costume off Ebay for Cam. He is very excited.:)

*I heard somewhere that Starbucks now has a Salted Caramel Frappuchino. All of our road trips start with a Frappuchino for me. That combined with the $5 Starbucks card I recently won at a baby shower makes me think I'll give this one a go tomorrow.



*I had a fleeting thought of possibly (key word "possibly") starting to jog in the mornings before the kids get up. However Kendall has started giving us some 5:30 mornings...so out went that idea.

*Thank you, Live Oak Canyon Pumpkin Patch , for providing my kids with much joy EVERY time we pass your big pumpkins on the freeway advertising your location. :)

the last few days

Saturday we watched the son of some friends of ours for the morning. You would have thought our kids had never seen another child before they were so excited.

We started out with breakfast at Panera Bread.



Afterward we headed to the Home Depot. They were having their once a month craft for kids project as well as a Family Safety Fair.

Notice Cam is enjoying watching his dad work, rather than actually working. :)



Helicopter complete! He's actually standing outside the bounce house, which was a much bigger draw for all three kids than the craft. :)



Sunday was church and a trip to the desert, including play time at the mall and dinner at Costco. Cam didn't have school today and while I would have loved to take advantage and go to Disneyland, getting Cam's tooth pulled needed to be the priority. He did awesome. I was actually a little weak watching and was glad for it to be over. He winced only a few times at the pulling but has yet to complain about any pain. We got home and he was treated to some soft pudding and a viewing of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. :)