low key saturday

This morning Chris had to get up on our back wall to cut a tree branch down.  Cam had some fun giving him some leg exercises. :)

Later we packed a lunch and headed to a park in Oak Glen.

Afterward we went down the street to a cute little gift shop/bakery.  This cookie looks amazing, doesn't it?  We decided to all split it, seeing as it was literally the size of my hand.  The kids loved their share.  Us?  Not so much.  It was tasteless and dry.  Then I saw the sticker date which read June 23.  I was irritated that they were selling 6 day old cookies.  :(

Here is Chris researching movies for us to rent.  We couldn't find anything so we are going to try out the first episode of "The Newsroom" on Hulu (normally it's on HBO, which we don't get).  HBO can have some pretty dirty shows so hopefully this isn't on par with those. :)

*Today during Kendall's nap I told Cam that I was going to do a workout DVD for 20 minutes and I gave him some activity sheets I had printed out to work on.  He was very intrigued by this exercise his mom was doing and decided to move his work station into the room I was in so he could watch me.  Exercising, turns out, is quite amusing for him to watch. :)

*Tomorrow is our last day for Camp TLC.  I have SO enjoyed my time teaching and the kids have been in heaven each day in their class.  I don't think I could ever truly get into cupcake decorating simply because it would be too stressful for me to do them for adults.  Kids are MUCH less particular about their horse that is supposed to be brown and white, but ends up with an orange neck/head. :)

*Dinner tonight was a mesh of leftovers:
Kids: Cheese pancakes, chicken, veggies
Kelly: Cheese pancakes, veggies mixed with pinto beans
Chris:  Costco Orange Chicken (a favorite of ours)

*I wish there was a yogurt that had less sugar than the regular kind, tasted good, but also didn't have artificial sweetners (for some reason I can taste that aftertaste in yogurt especially).

it's a 10!!!

I recently saw a segment on the news about healthy kids' snacks.  One of them was popcorn that you make in a brown lunch sack.  We tried it today and the kids enjoyed the prep as well as the final product. :)

Tonight's dinner included chicken sausage, salad, and the YUMMIEST Cottage Cheese Pancakes!!!  The recipe actually has sweet toppings (syrup, fruit...as you can see in the pic), but I changed it up and sprinkled a little cheese on top so I could serve them as a side.  I altered it a tad by cutting the butter down to 2 tbls. and using half whole wheat flour.  I thought they were so gooey and yummy and felt they deserved a 10.  The kids devoured them!!

*It was such fun to get back to the kids this past weekend.  We drove up Friday and spent the night before heading home Saturday.  To say they had a good time is an understatement.  They had a BLAST and we are sooo grateful to my in-laws for making their stay so special.

*Today was the first day of Camp TLC at our church (kind of like VBS).  I'm teaching a cupcake decorating class and had a really fun time doing it.  While I love to bake, I've never really gotten into the decorating aspect of it.  However it's fun to realize how simple a lot of these designs really are once you just try them. :)  Today we made these hamburger cupcakes, which turned out soooo cute!

*Tonight's dinner:  Stir fry (brown rice, broccoli slaw, chicken, almonds, broccoli, teryiaki sauce)

*Cameron's questions REALLY stump me sometimes:

-What happens if the world is upside down?
-Is lava bad?
-Why is fire hot?
-What if a hole never ended?

Hmmm....  :)

*Reading American Wife right now.  I think it's going to be pretty good.

*Looking forward to tonight's Bachelorette.  So glad she dumped Ryan last week!!  Can't quite figure out if I like Doug or not.  Sean is still #1 for me and Aire is #2.  Jef seems a tad immature for her and not ready to be a dad.

super fun 24 hours

Last night Chris and I got back from a night in Palm Springs.  My in-laws have the kids for a week and we decided to get away for one night.  We discovered some rewards points we had from an old credit card and were able to stay for free at my favorite hotel, the JW Marriott.  Since high school my girlfriends and I have stayed here overnight or simply snuck into the pool for an afternoon. :)  It's the most relaxing, beautiful place.

We spent some time at the pool the first afternoon then went out to dinner and got some frozen yogurt to bring back to the room.  The next morning was sooo perfect.  Chris had woken early to go golf so I slept in, went running, and then came back to spend a long time lounging in the lobby with some Starbucks and magazines.  That's my idea of relaxing to a tee. :)

When Chris returned we played some tennis.  Neither of us had played in 10 years!

Overall it was one of the most fun vacations Chris and I have taken together, yet it was only about 24 hours.  We both agreed that one of the reasons was the outside stuff we did (golf, tennis, running)...mainly the tennis. We've talked in the past about how we wish we had an activity to do together.  Playing tennis was such a great thing for this.

We've also run together a couple times here at home since the kids are gone.  It's been fun to add an activity to "us" which now also gives us more things to do on vacation.

 Since we've been home I have been able to get some good deep cleaning done, which feels great!  :)  And while I really miss the kids and am anxious to see them, we've gotten some fun pics/videos from my in-laws and know they are having a blast!

*Did some finger painting the other day.  I was impressed that Cam actually semi-got into it considering he isn't the biggest fan of getting messy or wet. :)

*My little Kendall cannot get enough of her new bike.  A few days ago we road up to the salon where she got her hair cut.

*Speaking of Kendall, we are experiencing MAJOR potty training regression.  I don't know what happened.  She will not tell me when she needs to go and has had several accidents the past few days.  I have no clue what to do.  Anyone else experience this?  I need to start a chart or something because it's been frustrating and confusing. :(

*Chris and I have been enjoying Hatfields and McCoys on the History Channel.

*We road bikes up to the donut shop this morning.  I let the kids share a donut.  Whenever they share it's nice because Kendall can "think" she picks one out, but once it's in front of her she forgets what she picked.  This way Cameron gets to have his choice. :)  I know she'll wise up to this some day!

*Cameron finished his Barnes and Noble book club reading and was able to choose a free book.  He chose a book on the Titanic and both kids have been VERY interested in the whole topic since then.  They want to know about the actual sinking, the iceberg, the boat filling with water, etc.  I found a youtube clip of the Leonardo movie's sinking scene.  They comment and ask a lot of questions throughout.  Here they are very intent on it.

*Costco tonight for groceries and dinner:

--Skinny Cow
--Eggs
--Frozen Veggies
--Wheat Thins

Favorite sample for the family:  Zebra popcorn (caramel, white chocolate and chocolate drizzled)

"the best broccoli beef"

When I look for new recipe to try and there is an obscure ingredient I normally don't stock, sometimes I'll try it.  When there is more than one unique ingredient? I rarely ever try it.  I just don't like spending money on items when there is a possibility I will only use them once.

Two friends have told me about The Best Broccoli Beef recipe.  I was hesitant because sesame oil, oyster sauce and rice vinegar are not staples in my pantry.  But I bit the bullet and was I glad I did!!  This dish had the most amazing, rich, delicious flavor.  Chris actually gave it a 10.  And let's remember that it has BROCCOLI in it!!!  The kids liked it too.  I think it helped that the beef was very tender (sidenote:  Flank steak was $7.99 a pound so I used Flap Steak.  I would also make one and a half times the sauce).

So if you are in the mood for a dish that is pretty identical to that found in a Chinese food joint, this is it! :)

weekend

Friday was a nasty day for me.  I felt like poop and my sinuses were about to explode.  Chris was in OC for some meetings so the last (and worst) few hours of the day with the kids consisted of TV, "special upstairs time", and more TV while I lay on the couch.

Saturday I was feeling somewhat better and wanted to tag along to our Cherry Festival Parade.  It was a nice outing and the kids enjoyed it (despite being disappointed that no candy was thrown from the floats).

That afternoon Chris took the kids to meet his brother's family at Victoria Gardens.  I stayed back and relaxed on the couch.  I rented Gone (pretty good) snoozed, and browsed cooking blogs.  The kids had an awesome time with their cousins at the Bass Pro Shop and dinner at Red Robin.

They had a kids pond where they could catch real fish. :)

The highlight of Red Robin is always the balloons for our kids :)

Much of this morning was spent outside due Kendall's new big girl bike (thanks Craig and Rebekah for passing it along!).  She ADORES it and has such a big grin as she rides around.

Cam has discovered his love of snails and has a little box, which we MUST cover in plastic wrap (with poked holes) whenever we leave the house so they won't escape.

After church and nap we made a family trip to WinCo.  We needed lots of groceries and some restocking on our candy supply from their bulk bins. :)  Tonight is Chris' splurge meal for the week, which consists of fresh french bread from the store and Stove Top Mac-n-cheese I found online.

We have three more days of school and my little guy graduates from a transitional kindergarten boy to a regular kindergarten boy! :)

backfire

Yesterday was one of those days where you try and do something nice for your kids and it totally backfires, irritating you that you even tried in the first place.  :)

The kids and I had walked up to Staters and were on our way home.  Chris realized it was hot, I was carrying grocery bags, and we probably could use a lift home, so he drove up and asked if we wanted a ride.

We quickly realized that Cam's bike wouldn't fit into the car.  As we were discussing what to do, Kendall started throwing a little fit because her pie (pacifier) wasn't in the car.   Things were escalating with her (and Cam because of her) so I just told Chris to take Cam home and I would keep going with Kendall.

This ticked Kendall off so as I pushed Cam's bike and pulled her on her bike, she screamed and cried and would't let up.  After a few minutes Chris came back with our bigger car.  I plopped Kendall in the back, refused to give her her pie since she was being such a stinker, and we drove home.

Chris and I were both irritated that what was supposed to be a nice gesture on his part of rescuing the kids from a long ride home turned into a screaming Kendall in the car and a sweet Cameron who had locked himself in his room so as not to hear her when we got home.  But isn't that the story of parenthood?  Many things we do for little ones not only go without a "thank you", but end up backfiring and worse than before you tried to do something nice!!!  :)

My little munchkin pre-meltown...floating leaves down the gutter. :)

*Over the weekend Cam and I went to Johann's Fabrics.  I saw some little wooden birdhouses for a $1 and couldn't resist.  The kids enjoyed painting them yesterday.

*Dinner tonight:  French toast, eggs, bacon.

*Bachelorette favorites in order:  Sean, Doug, Aire.  Ryan can go jump off a cliff. :)

*Now that speech is over we can get back to library playtime each week.  The kids love it!

*After dinner tonight Chris took the kids to a nearby housing development which has a nice lake.  I packed a couple of cupcakes our neighbor had brought over for a litte treat break.

*I love how Kendall takes bits and pieces of conversations I've had with Cam  and makes them her own.  The other day she pointed to something in a book that had NOTHING to do with what she then said:

"This is Jesus!!  Jesus died.  In three days, he taught the kids about school!"

*When I last visited my in-laws, I was introduced to some SUPER yummy chips.  Chris came back this past weekend with 1/2 a bag left and I've already done some major damage.

holy garbonzo beans!!!!

One of the blogs I follow, Chocolate Covered Katie, is all about healthy desserts.  I've never actually tried any of them...until today.  Holy moly were these Chocolate Chip Blondies wonderful!!!  I was scraping the bowl to eat all the dough before I washed it. The kids loved them equally as well.  Please try!!!!  Sidenote:  I used oats instead of flaxseed and actually decreased the chocolate chips to 1/3 cup.

homemade bread

Earlier this afternoon Cam was watching a movie and I wanted to bake.   I decided to experiment with bread for sandwiches.  I found this recipe which has SUCH a great, nutty flavor.  It’s not your typical store bought light and fluffy texture, so I’ll need to use thinner slices for the kids' sandwiches as one piece is pretty dense/filling.  I love how healthy it is and feel like it’s worth forgoing the nice fluffy texture of store bought for that reason. :)

p.s. It may look time consuming because of the number of ingredients, but I put both loaves together in about 10 minutes.

Healthy Sandwich Bread (makes two loaves)

1 tbls. active dry yeast

1/2 tsp. white sugar

1/4 cup warm water

1 3/4 cups warm water

1/8 cup honey

1/8 cup molasses

1/4 cup olive oil

1 egg

1 tbls. lemon juice

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup flaxseed

1/8 cup sunflower seeds

1 tsp. salt

2 cups oats (measure, then grind in the food processor)

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in 1/4 cup warm water.  In a large bowl, mix remaining 1 3/4 cup warm water, honey, molasses, oil, egg, and lemon juice.  Mix well.  Add yeast mixture and stir.  Gradually add whole wheat flour and stir.  Add remainder of ingredients and mix with your hands until well combined (like two minutes).  Divide in half and put into two greased loaf pans.  Cover with a towel and let rise until about double in size.  Bake at 350 for approx 25 minutes.

p.s. To speed along the rising, I put my oven at 250 for 5 minutes, then shut it off.  I then put the pans inside and the not to warm oven really speeds them along.

day #1 and #2

Cam and I have had such a fun time together so far.  Yesterday I picked him up from school and we headed to the park.

Next we went to Barnes and Noble to do some reading.  We were able to log a couple books for their summer reading program.  Next, per Cam's request, we had dinner at Wienerschnitzel.

Today we went to a very fun birthday party with a bike theme.  There were streamers to decorate your bike with and all the kids road to a nearby park before coming back for cupcakes/presents.

After the party I took Cam and his friend Jack to Pharaoh's Lost Kingdom.  They were insanely happy running between the bounce houses and outside to the mini golf.  I had intended on taking Cam anyway, but the addition of his good friend just upped the "fun factor" a ton! :)

This evening Cam enjoyed a "choose your own dinner" of a tortilla, graham cracker with Caramel Almond Butter, and applesauce.

Fun, fun times with my little guy. :)