Suburban Hiking

On Wednesday we went for a family hike at Mt. Talbert very close to where we lived. It wasn't planned, but turned out to be a great bonding experience for our family. We've been stuck in our "responsibility rut" as I like to call it. We hiked a couple of miles and the boys loved it. Samuel has decided he wants to live in the forest.
The boys before the hike. Samuel crammed his backpack full of snacks and water.

Colin toted Juliet in the backpack for the first half of the trip.

The photo begged to be converted to b&w.

Snack time. We had two rest times in the span of 1/2 hour.

I took Juliet for the second half of the hike and she took her morning nap.

Jude rested on Colin's shoulders.

Samuel ran down the trails "slaying dragons" with this stick.

Just cute.

Jude after the hike.

Scrapbook Layout

It was fun to memorialize Juliet's first birthday in this scrapbook layout. Have I mentioned how many times a day she scoots over to these movies and tears them apart? You'd think I'd move them, but I just keep cleaning them up.

Juliet Loves Starbucks

Isn't this picture just perfect?! She definitely has my genetic makeup. Juliet is officially adjusted one year tomorrow. She currently loves to dance to anything with a beat (very cute to see her scooting her little bottom with her arms up in the air as though she was in a club) and cruises, but no walking yet.

The boys are off to a birthday party in Salem today, so Juliet and I are spending the day watching reruns of "Felicity" (shall I add that to my "Confessions of a Nerd" post?) and playing jungle gym. This is such a fun age.

Yay for Romance!!

I can't wait to see this movie - it will be released on January 26th and is reviewed as "one of the most deeply moving romantic films in memory". Need I say more??

Bath Time

My boys are getting so big. They chose to take a shower together this morning, instead of having a bath. Samuel promised to wash Jude. As I was walking out of the bathroom I heard "Jude, do you want to wash your hair first?" "No." "Ok. We'll start with your wiener and stuff." LOL. I checked on them a few minutes later and Samuel had washed everything for Jude - ears and all! What an angel. Samuel will be a great babysitters for his siblings someday.

This is Jude saying, "This is my shirt, Mama." Samuel's reply? "It's a little small Jude."

Oh, these moments are what it's all about.

Carrot Cake

Yesterday I baked the carrot cake from the Mother's Bistro cookbook. Personally, I would not have included so much pineapple (it called for an entire 20 ounce can, drained) and Colin suggested I add raisins next time, but other than that, it was really good. Of course I took pictures. Samuel and Jude dipped their carrots in the cream cheese frosting remnants: Colin insisted on cutting into the cake and trying a piece even before our company arrived for dinner.

And here is how the inside turned out. Pretty good consistency which I can attribute to steaming and pureeing the carrots as part of the batter. Very moist.

Yes, that is a dinosaur plate. It's all that was clean.

Confessions of a Nerdy Girl

I am a nerd at heart. I try to hide it, but I figure it's going to come out sometime so it might as well be now.

1) I watch "Titanic" early and often.

2) I love the "Twilight" series and am starting to go public with it. I also own a shirt that has "Twilight" in rhinestones. Special order. I will purchase New Moon the moment it hits Target, because I can't wait for Amazon to ship it to me.

3) Up until this morning, I signed up for and am attending a scrapbooking class at the scrapbooking convention coming to P-Town early February. By myself. At 6:15 this morning via text, I roped another unassuming scrapbooker in with me to the class (you know who you are).

4) I attended Bunco last night. In my pajamas.

There. I hope I still have some friends after this post.

Anyone else want to confess their inner nerdiness?

Food. And More Food.

Sometimes I just gush with my excitement over food. I'm chewing on mostly raw garlic right now (I baked broccoli with garlic, bread crumbs, freshly grated parm, olive oil and salt and pepper). I can't stop thinking about the smell of my house when blueberry scones are baking in the oven. Meat shredded to perfection gives me a bit of a high. These kind of posts are more for encouraging someone out of a cooking rut than to brag about what my family is eating. I really don't like bragging. So, here's my meal plan currently:

Spicy shredded pork - as as seen in my picture below, before it was shredded. I love the recipe. I didn't have the white wine vinegar, so I substituted Mirin, a sweet rice cooking wine. It added a wonderful depth of flavor. I pair this with brown rice, lime wedges and tortillas. Hands on time is minutes. P.S. I love my Le Crueset dutch oven. The world is a better place with these bad boys in it. We also tried a new meatloaf recipe from Real Simple - paired it with yellow potatoes (I actually purchase them at WinCo in the bag and love them - so buttery).

Pasta/parm/veggies. A good standby - no recipe needed and it's quick.

Bean chicken and sausage stew - known as "hot dog soup" around these parts. I purchase the chicken sausage at Trader Joe's and the soup involves kale, so I don't feel so bad.

This morning I made these blueberry scones. It's the perfect recipe and they remind me almost exactly of the ones I get at Starbucks when I'm starving (which is almost always).


I have a confession. Up until this point in my life, I wouldn't touch an entire raw chicken with a ten foot pole. Well, I briefly saw the Neeley's on the Food Network get all up in a chicken (including under the skin with butter and herbs). I realized I was missing out on this entire corner of the culinary world that involved beautiful golden birds filled with garlic and lemon slices and I could resist no longer. I put my bacteria neuroses on the back burner and cooked a bird. What a success! The meat was fragrant and moist (but no where near as salty as those delicious rotisserie chickens you get at Costco - what do they put in those?!) and I will definitely do it again.

My last recipe is one found in the Mother's cookbook. I am attempting the carrot cake recipe, although I don't really have the crowd to cook it for.

Waterproof Puppet Theater

I'll be honest. It's been a tough week parenting-wise. I'm in complete burnout (or was, before I got out alone with my husband today), I've received some criticism that was not solicited, but when my kids have gotten craft time, somehow all feels right with the world. I admit that I've been holding onto this magazine since October when Samuel picked out this craft. We finally made time for it today when Grandma came over to help with the kiddos. Samuel had so much fun making these waterproof bath puppets! It's a quick and easy craft and they loved playing with these in the bath tonight. Samuel starts with a whole rubber glove.

They read the magazine for the directions.

Grandma B. starts cutting the fingers off. The baby is utterly fascinated.

Samuel tries it on before he colors the face on. And that's the last picture I took of the craft time because inevitably something else diverted my attention. But it was a worthwhile craft, I promise.

Picture Dump

Here are some random pictures from this month that I just took the opportunity post.

Samuel playing outside making a really weird face. Same with Jude. Look how dirty he gets!

We had pizza night at our house a couple of weeks ago. I made the dough, rolled it out on baking sheets (I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe) and put a bunch of toppings out for the kids to choose for their pizza. They had so much fun and couldn't wait to eat their own creation!

Of course they chose lots of meat and pineapple.

This Pack N Play has been my lifesaver lately. I have never had a baby this busy, so sometimes Juliet has to play in here so she doesn't climb up my leg while I'm working with the hot oven or if I have to run out to get wood for the fire.

Jude likes to play in there as well, or just climb in and rest for a few minutes with his blanket.

Samuel took this picture of us. FLASH photography. Got to love it. I swear I didn't give Juliet that many teething tablets before this pictures was taken - I'm not sure why she looks so drugged (wink, wink).

The other morning I had some quality time with the kids which turned into chaos quickly. They wanted to color and the baby usually ruins the fun my eating/stealing/scooting over the coloring materials.

Jude looking a bit mangy while he colors.

Juliet has a new fascination with the TV and continues her obsession with the remote.

Juliet eating breakfast - usually includes a banana and some rice milk. She doesn't know any different, so rice milk doesn't taste gross to her yet.

Juliet found some candy again - this time a huge Lifesaver. The boys left their candy bag within her reach.

She actually didn't cry when I took it from her. Do you like the lipstick marks on her head? I can't stop kissing that girl!!

A few random tidbits.

Books: I am currently reading Atlas Shrugged . It's a huge book but an interesting commentary on capitalism vs. socialism. I just received "The Historian" from the library on both CD (22 discs!!) and the hardcover version. I can't wait to listen to it - fascinating story so far. Entertainment Weekly called it a "Twilight for smarty pants".

Jewelry: Since having children, it's been increasingly hard to wear jewelry, what with all the tugging and such. The only thing I wear on a consistent basis is my rings. A year ago my engagement ring banged up against the fridge and the huge sapphire (the main stone) popped out of it. I took it to Fred Meyer Jeweler last week to be fixed and they quoted $280. I then took it to Ben Bridge. They quoted $190. Colin would like to find some independent jeweler who will do it for a bit less. Anyone have a jeweler they love?

Etsy: I am toying with the idea of turning my fabric stash and passion for sewing into an Etsy shop. I don't want to take time away from my kiddos, but I would love to have a small business venture of my own. I also get overwhelmed at the idea of marketing (taking the perfect picture, getting personalized fabric tags made for my product) and building up the inventory necessary to open the shop), but Colin supports it, so we'll see if I can make that happen.

A Wild Hair

I seem to always reason away craft time for something more exciting. Like laundry. Or taking out the garbage. But today I put all reasonableness aside, stepped over the piles of toys and used nap time to create this quickie scrapbook page about Juliet at 9 months. Done in about one hour. I have to say that I used two transparencies here and that is one finicky product.

The Boys This Morning

Ok, so I watched "My Sister's Keeper" last night. That is officially the most depressing movie ever made and I think could have been on the Lifetime channel, but that's just my humble opinion. That being said, after it was over, I wanted to get every one of my kids out of bed and squeeze them. I didn't, because that would just be lunacy to wake a sleeping child (at least in my house), so I opted to spend extra special time with the kiddos today. When they stumbled into the bathroom this morning, I took my iPod out of my ears and gave them a listen. I was listening to Coffey, which they love as well.

Here's to a day where I get nothing checked off my to-do list, but fill up my kiddos love tank!

What I Wake Up To

There is no transition time in the morning. Juliet goes from dead asleep to on her feet in seconds. And not only on her feet, but yelling at the door until I come get her. At 6 a.m..

Barn Clothes

Juliet was left with Colin and his dad while they were working on Colin's garage (or barn or shop, whatever you want to call it - because let's be honest - we will never park a car in there) while I ran to Costco. I came back and had to giggle at what she was wearing. I think they covered all the colors of the rainbow in her outfit. Did I mention that she was out there playing in a cardboard box and loving it? Ugh! I need a pocket camera for times like that...