hula hoop

*A long time ago I tried making homemade pancake syrup. Two batches later I ended with hard, crystallized sugar. I decided to try again and used the recipe my sister suggested. It is SOO easy and SOO good. I don't think I'll ever buy syrup again. :)

*We went to a birthday party the other day and I attempted the hula hoop. I lasted about 10 seconds. How on earth did we do that as kids for extended periods of time?? Here is the unflattering picture my friend captured. :)

*Last night my family got together for dinner. During dinner, the kids asked my dad questions about his trip to Ethiopia (he leaves tonight). We also had a prayer time where the kids said the sweetest prayers. 

*A while back a friend of Chris' posted a pic of some new food at Disneyland. It's a bread cone stuffed with macaroni and cheese, topped with bacon. Can you imagine?? :) Wow.

*A couple years ago we joined the CA Edison energy saving program. Basically on hot days when there is a lot of use, they can shut our air off. It used to just be 2-3 hours. It's now stretched to over four hours and we are rethinking the whole thing. We were supposed to have my family over last night but had to cancel because we knew it would most likely shut off (which it did) and would be miserable.  Ugh.

phish food

*I'm amazed at how quickly I run out of things to pack for the kids' school snack each day. Cam requested a break from my oat balls (oats + banana + peanut butter), so I wanted to find something new. I had some quinoa stashed in the freezer and found a recipe for some banana bread that used quinoa. It's really good! It's much more dense than regular banana bread, but the kids gobbled it up today at school. :) Here is the recipe (I swapped choc chips for the coconut).

*The kids' school offers electives. Kendall will be taking dance starting next week and I'm SOOO excited!! She is cautiously excited. :)

*Yesterday we let the kids pick out some ice cream as a treat for a movie we rented. They chose Ben & Jerry's Phish Food. I only allowed myself a couple bites as that stuff is like drinking straight cream. :) But those two bites were amazing! Wow.

*Occasionally I'll put together a mailer for my dad. Kendall actually loves helping by peeling and handing me the stamps, labels, etc.  It really does make the job go faster!

christmas time at costco

*Yesterday after school the kids and I went to Barnes and Noble. We had Cam's birthday coupon for a free treat from the cafe.

*I think stores and restaurants do themselves a disservice when they offer only amounts of $25+ with their giftcards in grocery stores. Today I went to Staters and my budget for a gift was $15. I was so limited in what I could buy and wondered why they don't do smaller amounts.

*This morning we went to a lofthouse build at our church. The houses are assembled to a certain point, then will later be driven down to Mexico and completed. The kids really enjoyed hammering.

*Later we took a trip out to the desert as it had been several weeks. Costco is all the more fun now with the addition of the Christmas toy section. The samples were quite impressive as well. :)

*Chris and I have been watching The Manhattan Project on Hulu. It's pretty good and makes me want to read more about the actual events surrounding it.

taquitos

*13 hours of hard work and Cam is done with the Lego Parisian Restaurant! Holy cow is this thing cool. Even as an adult I am in awe of all the amazing details. :)

*It's always been fun to read up on the new shows that come out each fall. However now that we don't have cable, it's really not that big of a deal. We do have the basic channels (CBS, NBC, etc.), however to watch something on them would involve watching it live each week. And who watches things live anymore??? Ha!! :)

*Our earthquake two nights ago (3.4, centered about 20 minutes away) gave our kids quite a jolt. It was the first one they had ever felt. Last night Kendall asked, "Mom, do earthquakes come every minute or every night?"

*Chris teaching Kendall how to spray weeds:

*When we were gone over the weekend, our neighbor took care of Cam's fish, Eric. How thoughtful was it when she took a pic of Eric and texted it to Chris on Cam's birthday??? And what a cute App she found to put that hat on him!

*I made this recipe for homemade taquitos last night. They were okay. I tried to be a tad healthier with the corn tortillas, but they were much harder to roll up than the recipe stated (corn breaks so easily). And let's be honest, flour tortillas just taste better. But I'm determined to find another recipe because they are much less messy for the kids than burritos.

birthday weekend

Yesterday afternoon we got back from a weekend visit with Chris' family. We had lots and lots of fun. :)

Lego time.

They put in a new swing which was perfect for two. 

Chris and his brother and niece "challenged" Cam to a Monopoly game. Challenged is in quotes because Cam cleaned house and played the best game ever. For Monopoly enthusiasts, he ended the game owning every single property except Boardwalk and Park Place!!

A highlight of the weekend for all the kids was a trip to a huge waterpark on Saturday. They had been looking forward to this for a looong time. Kendall wasn't tall enough to do any of the main slides. However this didn't bother her a bit as she was quite content on all the little ones. :)

The biggest highlight for Cam was his birthday gift. The whole family went in on his new Lego set, The Parisian Restaurant. He had to wait until we got home yesterday to start and boy was he ready! He spent 4 1/2 hours yesterday working on it and he is not even half way done!

A few more highlights not pictured:

*My MIL treating my SIL and I to pedicures

*Relaxing in the evening watching a Hallmark movie with a brownie sundae two nights in a row

*Watching the cousins enjoy one another

*Getting to see my good friend, Jana, at the waterpark

*My MIL's homemade rolls and potato salad

maple chick peas

*A couple weeks ago we had a HUGE rain. It was quite interesting for the kiddos to watched the streets get so flooded...

*The other night I made homemade mac and cheese (I typically make this once a week for the kids). Somehow I curdled the milk in the process, making it nasty looking. Not having the energy to make something else, we attempted Chinese food for the first time with the kids. They LOVED the orange chicken, but not so much the chow mein. How on earth could one not like buttery tasting noodles!!?? Oh, well.

*Today was our first day of homework. It went pretty well. Cam isn't the biggest fan, but it helps that he gets paid, "class cash" from his teacher for completing it. Kendall was really into it and I hope that enthusiasm lasts a while. :)

*Dinner tonight: 

Kids and I: Salmon burgers

Chris: Turkey burger

*I made some yummy maple glazed chick peas today. I thought they were a great snack, but I didn't even attempt them with the kids. I know they would have been a no-go. I will surely make them again for myself, though. :)

pre-birthday party

Next weekend Cam turns 8. Since we'll be up north, we celebrated with my side of the family today. Chris started out by taking the kids to "breakfast #2". But today's breakfast #2 was special because it came in the form of an ENORMOUS donut for Cam.

Yes, it was THAT big. No, he didn't eat the whole thing. :)

While they were gone I got to work on our present for Cam, new room decor.  Numbers and Cameron are good friends. He loves math, time, statistics, etc. I could not pass up this bedspread recently at IKEA. It's full of clocks and compasses. :) He loved it!! :)

Later my family arrived and we hung out for a while before eating lunch.

After lunch and presents, we had Cam's birthday cake.

I think he had a great day. Each time I told him what a fun day we had he would say, "Yep! But it's only the beginning!" (since we will also celebrate up north next weekend). :)