Hola!

Where even small children can eat burritos by themselves.

Ok, so maybe we aren't really in Mexico. But come on, you know you're impressed. I was.

(Might have to click on the image to really enjoy it.)

Maggie

We've befriended a magpie. We named her Maggie. Maggie lives in the pine tree in front of our house. She is a very busy bird. She spends hours combing the ground for food and sticks. Unfortunately she has a broken wing so she can't fly but somehow she still manages to like hop/fly/climb the tree and even fight off a few other pigeons or Robin Red-Breasts to defend her sanctuary. I never thought I'd love a magpie. Maybe it is her determination to triumph even though she is completely broken or maybe it is because Tati loves her so much and when you see a bird through a child's eyes, your perspective can't help but be different. Or maybe it is because she never squawks. In any case, Maggie is now like a member of our family. Each morning we eagerly open the shades in the living room to see what she is up to.

To help make her life a little easier, we decided that we'd buy a bird feeder and put it by the window so that our little baby bird watcher would have a better view. Here's the one we got:

I poured some seeds out and even made a trail over to the pine tree. But Maggie hasn't even come over. Nobody has for that matter. It has been a MAJOR disappointment. No robins, no chickadees, not even a pigeon or a crow. NADA! It was pointed out to me by my friend that our bird feeder wasn't really intended for such a large bird such as a magpie and also pointed out to me that people don't really try to lure magpies to their bird feeders--kind of like we're trying to have a seagull for a pet-- and that my bird feeder might be on a wimpy branch. I assured her it was fine because I tied some yarn around the branch to secure it. It was then I realized just how silly I sounded. We might have to break down and move the stupid house into the backyard which would totally defeat the purpose of us even buying this dumb frog feeder. Do you think birds are afraid of frogs?

Here's Maggie. You can see her gimpy wing:

And here is Tati looking for Maggie:

And here are both the girls mesmorized by the outside. Or maybe they just can't help wondering where all the snow is.
Any tips on luring birds? I mean I thought the seed trail was a stroke of cartoon genius already.

Do the Jive, Chloe is Five!!!

Isn't this an awesome picture? This is pretty much what Chloe thought of her whole day. She told me before bed that it was the best day of her life. How can you top a comment like that? :-) She even invented a new word today to describe her birthday, "fabu-awesome-lous". Is this my child, or what? Just for the record I thought it was a fun day too. Chloe had a family birthday this year and will have a friend party next year. We just don't want her to get so caught up in the present part of having a friend party.

We had a fun morning and even had an orientation meeting at her soon to be kindergarten in September. She was pumped to see everything and then when we got there I thought she was going to break my hand she was squeezing it so hard. She didn't have to do any chores today or have a hair-do either which she told me was her favorite part of the whole day. I mean clearing dishes and making your bed are tough!

This is Chloe's room that the "Birthday Fairy" decorated for her. Luckily Chloe's Aunt Carlie in Arizona was able to leave a note for her after Dylan's birthday in February asking her to put us on her birthday routes. It is a tough list to get on seeing as you can't contact her directly. The "Birthday Fairy" comes to your room while you're sleeping and decorates for you on your special day. Lucky that my sister also told the fairy to be careful not to have the same dollar store decorations upstairs as the family had downstairs. Close one.
This is Chloe's "silly" lunch. Let me tell you from many silly lunches, you'd be surprised at how well kids eat when their food looks like something. That is a cake hat with candles that is wearing (got to love Ikea). You wear the hat at each meal of the day.

This is Chloe's awesome cake. I got the idea from familyfun.com. If you don't know about this website, what rock have you been living under? Those were new tassles for her bike but they had to be the mane first. They barely got any frosting on them and easily washed off. I'm sorry but I think this cake looks awesome! I don't have a very good track record with my cakes though. Remember when Greg thought his b-day cake was a tooth? Chloe told me that it looked like a rabbit before it was all fully decorated. Greg thought it was a rabbit for a sec too. Um, hello.
Chloe's favorite present was surprisingly a jump rope. She wants to be a big kid so badly. She was really bummed when she couldn't automatically jump. So we're training her. I did get quite a thrill a few days later when I was able to show off my jumping moves. Texico, Texico, over the hills to Mexico...(we had some extra hands over to turn)I could still even turn around, touch the ground and of course get out of town. Chloe's face was like totally amazed afterward. This concept still trips me out because I just assume she knows me but she only knows me as her mom. When I ask her what my talents are, she just starts listing off cooking and cleaning things. I need to let more of my cool talents out to show her. (insert tear here)

The dinner she requested was: shrimp, rice with soy sauce, and cucumbers with ranch. I thought it sounded like a random combo but it ended up delicious! It was sort of a deconstructed CA roll. Oh and p.s. Here's what Tati thinks of ranch.

"You Americans and your ranch!"

I can't believe she is five. Here are some fun things about our favorite birthday girl.

1. She is very sensitive. We were watching this movie called, “Nim’s Island” about a lost Daddy and when he comes home at the end she cried "happy tears". Then she told me that she missed her Daddy and wanted to call him. It was so cute. She's very empathetic.
   
2. Chloe is an awesome dancer. The coffee table is her stage and she jumps, turns, kicks, poses, etc. We love to watch her in action.
3. Chloe still pretty much names every character (girl) that she draws a mermaid name. It is usually “Aquamarine”, “Ariel”, or “Cleo”.
4. Chloe comes up with the most amazing outfits. Her new thing now is layering. My fave was when she layered, leggings, capris and then sweat pants.
5. Chloe loves to decorate! Whether it is hanging a new picture or getting things out for the holidays. She goes crazy with decorating.
6. Chloe is so thoughtful. She will leave presents hiding for you either when you come home after a meeting or a long day or if you’re having a rough day she’ll leave a special pony on your bed or anything to make you feel happy.
7. Chloe loves to role play. Nearly every day she is somebody new. Her favorites are to be Ariel, Gabriella, Darby (from My Friends Tigger and Pooh), June (Little Einsteins--P.S. for Penny, Chloe said in June she will be June for the whole month)and Sophie (from Mamma Mia).
8. Chloe can now sound words out. We have some magnetic ABC’s and everyday we put up a small word of the day. She hardly needs any help anymore.
9. Chloe loves to sing! Especially she loves to sing to ABBA and even more specifically she loves to sing to the Mamma Mia album. Her favorite song is “Honey Honey”. The booty shaking combined with the singing is priceless!
   
10. Chloe is an amazing big sister. She shares her toys (even new or special ones) with Tati and doesn’t get mad at her sister ever (ok hardly ever). She is patient and loving with her. Chloe said the other day in the bathtub that Tati was her best friend.
11. Her favorite movie is High School Musical (all of them)!
12. Her favorite t.v. show is Zaboomafoo.
13. Her favorite thing to do with Daddy is play play-doh and another is she likes to climb on him.
14. Her favorite thing to do with Mommy is cooking.
15. Her favorite food is pizza and hot dogs.
16. Her favorite dessert is ice cream with whipped cream on top and then cherries, raspberries, and black berries on top (I don’t think we’ve ever eaten this). Oh she informs me that this is what she thinks of every time I say "dessert" but we've never had it before. Geez, already concocting recipes.
    
17. Something she’s excited to do when she’s five is go to school.
18. Her favorite outfit is: “my high school musical shirt and whatever pants I would like".
19. Her favorite thing to do outside is play in the dirt and spray water and everything else outside that is “Playish” or “playable”.
20. Chloe is an awesome artist. If you haven't already, you should check out her blog and leave her a comment--except maybe check it out tomorrow as I need to do some scanning and posting there as well.
    

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOE! WE LOVE YOU!

4/19/06

Do the Bunny Hop, hop, hop, hop!

(This is Violet, the bunny)

Happy Belated Easter. Here is an Easter run down.

Fun Traditions:
1. I always make something with eggs for breakfast. I figure if we can get some protein in our bodies, the candy won't hit our systems quite so hard. So I use this recipe from my sister. It is really called, "Breakfast Quiche" but that doesn't sound too festive, does it? So we call it, "Egg Pie" although my brother said we should change it to "Eggy Pie". Anyway, I don't like eggs really. I'll eat them b/c they are easy and cheap or when I'm pregnant to help get some extra protein but otherwise, blehk. Did you all know that some people put hard-boiled eggs on pizza in Argentina? Talk about gross.

Egg Pie
9 slices of bread, cubed (stale is fine)
2 ½ c. grated cheese (Colby Jack or cheddar)
1 c. chopped ham, 2 lbs. sausage, or already cooked bacon (use less salt if using bacon—like maybe just 1 tsp.)
6 eggs
3 tsp. dry mustard
3 c. milk
1 ½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. Italian seasoning
pinch of nutmeg (opt.)

In a 9x13 casserole dish, layer the bread, cheese, and meat. Combine eggs, spices, and milk together. Pour over layer in dish. Refrigerate overnight. In the morning, bake at 325 for 1 hr, uncovered. I decided this year that a 9x13 is really too much for our family. I mean it is good, but after a breakfast, lunch, then breakfast, breakfast, you really don't want to see the Egg Pie until next Easter.

2. Fun hair-do for Easter day. I had all sorts of obstacles this year (my short hair included) but I counted myself successful when Tati didn't notice the ribbon in her hair and then didn't pull any of it out for the entire duration of church. I wanted Chloe's hair-do to be more intensive but she was so over it. I think I need to prepare some sort of special hair ornament to lure them into committing to a more time intensive do. Here is Tati's AFTER her nap. So much for the hair-do.
3. Everybody wears pastels. Something small but just feels really festive. It would be fun to all have coordinating outfits (shout out to Rebecca and Cyndi) but until we get to that phase, this is fine for us.

4. Go on the Easter Egg Hunt. We wanted to do it outside this year but Tati is still crawling so we kept it all inside for her. Next year we'll venture out though (assuming there is no snow).
Tati thought Peeps sucked. She thought the whole looking for eggs things was lame. She just wanted to eat! After we gave her a bite, she was reaching for something else. We finally wised up and just gave her one of her "special" eggs full of cheerios and raisins. Then she transformed into this.
I had to include this one because sometimes Greg puts the eggs in the most random, non-reachable places but Chloe loves it.
5. 12 Days of Easter-I'm sure many of you have seen this but it was pretty fun. I think it will be better when our kids are older. You fill 12 plastic eggs with different scriptures and items, for example, a dice is in one and the scripture talks about how people cast lots for Jesus' clothes. The 12th egg is empty just like the tomb after the third day. It is pretty fun and it also helps you to feel like you're not forgetting the real meaning of Easter.

6. Eat something Middle Easterny. I stole this idea from this girl here. We actually did this a few days before Easter. She was going to re-enact the Passover and stuff and though that all Mormons did that. I kind of laughed remembering when I was 14 and my seminary teacher brought us Passover food. She made unleavened bread and bitter herbs (they were dandelions from her front yard). Obviously we were studying the Old Testament. I just remember feeling so sad for Jewish people for having to eat this crappy food. Then again that was just one white lady's attempt at re-creating it. But no, Mormons do not re-create the Passover as a whole. Whatever people want to do for their own family traditions, go ahead. But I did really like the idea of making something from the Middle East to eat just to expand our culinary minds. I got this recipe from a Mennonite cookbook. My kids LOVED it. I was surprised at how delicious they thought it was. I thought it was a fun experience and I thought it was good and easy and cheap to make but nothing extraordinary. I do like to say the name though. It says it is from Egypt. I say close enough.

Kusherie
(Egyptian Rice and Lentils)

Rice and Lentils:
Heat in heavy saucepan or covered skillet:
2 T. oil
Add:
1 1/4 c. lentils
Brown the lentils over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring often.
Add:
3 c. boiling water or stock 1 tsp. salt dash pepper
Cook uncovered 10 minutes over medium heat.

Stir in:
1 1/2 c. rice 1 c. boiling water or stock
Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 25 minutes without stirring.

Sauce:
In a suacepan, heat together:
3/4 c. tomato paste 3 c. tomato juice, sauce or pureed tomatoes 1 green pepper, chopped chopped celery leaves 1 T. sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cumin 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper or crushed chilis to taste
Bring sauce to boiling, reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes.

Browned Onions:
Heat in small skillet:
2 T. oil
Sauté over medium heat until brown:
3 onions, sliced 4 cloves garlic, minced
To serve, put rice-lentil mixture on top of platter. Pour tomato sauce over. Top with browned onions.
Option: Omit the sauce (but not the browned onions) and serve with plain yogurt.

7. Take a Family Picture. Your picture's outcome can really get cramped by early morning church. Assuming all your hair-dos last you have hunger and tiredness to battle. Then of course there is the whole question of using the camera timer. Ugh. Next year we'll have to see if we can get another human to take our picture and preferably go outside.
I sort of lost it about half-way through the photo shoot and decided that instead of going crazy, I would just have to embrace the "real-life" photos that resulted. The lighting, the crowd, the cropping--it was all against me. Some would argue these pictures are better than the other kind anyway. Tati's reaction says it all.
Here's Chloe's best one. Too bad I cut off her head.
Here is Tati's best one. Too bad she is just being bad.

Here's the best one of the girls together. We were spraying water into Tati's mouth because she loves it and it usually gets a great smile but unfortunately the camera's timer and Daddy's hand were not in sync.

HAPPY EASTER!

You Have to See this Lady

I saw this story on the news this morning and it just blew me away. You have to check it out here.

Walk This Way!

So maybe she can't walk like the rest of us yet, but I'd say she definitely understands the concept. Tati does this all the time and we all think it is so cute. It is just a matter of time now before nothing is safe in our house (well, not that things are really that safe now either with this fool).

The Icecapades

I don't know what took us so long but we finally managed to go ice skating. We had heard about this idea last year but it never really occurred to us to go. Then when we went on our "Winter Picnic" a few weeks ago, we saw all these people ice skating and it just looked soooo fun! Here's something really cool about Canada:

• In each neighborhood (called community), there is an ice rink. This same ice rink becomes a soccer field in the other "half" of the year (yes, b/c Winter is endless).
• There are several ponds and "bodies" of water around town that freeze (duh, because it is so freezing) (like at parks) and you can ice skate there as well.
• All these skating places are free so if you can get yourself some ice skates (or for us some friends to loan to some), you can Winter Olympics it up!

The downside is that because you aren't on an indoor rink, you have to incur some of the effects of the elements, like cold (the major reason we haven't done it before with our wee baby), ice erosion, and bumps. Check out these photos to see what I'm talking about.
You'd be skating along just getting your groove on and then "boom" a bump and it would make you all wobbly.
There were tons of patches of like this snow ice (the white areas) which you end up sinking into a bit with your blades. Not the most secure feeling in the world.

Chloe and her friend got tired fast so they just sat down and had a "picnic" snack on the ice. You'd be surprised what 100 feet of "skating" can do to your appetite.

We had originally come with a baby backpack to throw Tats into but once we got her all loaded up we started thinking that maybe it wasn't the smartest idea we ever had. We took some hints from other people there and busted out the stroller. Those Canadians sure have some fun ideas sometimes. We saw a few people pulling their kids with sleds too. Maybe next year.



Then I've got some movies to show too. Greg divulged that he used to be quite the roller blader in high school. Somehow that wasn't very cool to mention to me before. Still, I was blown away when I saw that he was able to do these awesome twirly whirlies.


Greg spent most of his time like this:

But it was really more like this:


I feel like I had a bit of a reality shock watching myself. Kind of like when you hear your own voice on the answering machine. In my mind when I was skating, I might as well have been Kristi Yamaguchi. And when I lifted my leg, I thought I really was looking like a really thrilling trick. And when Greg says, "Triple Salchow",(The jump is named for Ulrich Salchow.) in my mind I thought, "I bet he's right. I bet I look awesome." Also when he was skating I thought, "He's doing so great! Wow, I didn't think he would be able to skate this good. Still, though, I hope he's not jealous that I can skate so much better and more awesome!" Here I am totally moded, corrroded, my bootie is exploding.


I grew up across the street from a tennis court. If you ever want to do some awesome skating, go there (not ice obviously). There is the occasional rock but overall it is smooth and awesome. We used to pretend we were Olympic skaters. Then since we weren't so great, we invented the best alternative: "Fancy Falling". We would compete to see who could do the most dramatic and artistic fake fall (which often would turn into a real one). You'd like twirl, twirl, jump, fall, pose. How I wish I had some movies of that.

We had a great time and are quite sad that we waited until pretty much the last weekend to try it. They stop cleaning the snow off and with our few days above freezing, the ice really takes a toll. We're planning on buying some used skates for next winter so maybe my glory days will arrive after all.

3/21/09