Home. Kids. Life.

First Mountain Bike Race of the Season

2013-05-14T12:06:00.000-06:00

Six days. Six days of school left. Crazy.

My family participated in a mountain bike race over the weekend. They all did wonderful. Biker Boy raced in Cat 2 and ended up 14th out of 59. Not bad, especially since he said he didn't feel at the top of his game and felt out of shape. Scooter raced in the big kids race (non-competitive), but he went fast and did end up coming in second after one lap (out of a lot of kids). But he continued on to do 2 more laps, cause he likes to bike. Chewy did the little kids ride and being the bigger kid of the little kids, she of course came out blazing fast. And did more laps too.

And here's the photo dump of it!

Yes, the kids got cookies "the size of their heads" and loved it! (And that one above is nearly half eaten!) Plus the kids got medals. I got a pot of tulips! And the joy of watching my family being happy while biking.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

My Kids and I

2013-05-08T08:55:00.000-06:00

Hey Family?!

Yes, you...our loved ones.

There are photos of the kids and I up at my photography blog here. Biker Boy wielded the camera and took some shots of us. If you want any of the high resolution ones (mom? dad?), let me know and I'll send them to you. My favorite is when the dog photobombed us.

Have a great day!

Indoor Climbing

2013-05-07T20:03:00.000-06:00

We went climbing. At an indoor climbing gym. And it was lots of fun.

Biker Boy and I learned how to belay each other and the kids. I had visions of me flying to the ceiling as I belayed Biker Boy down, but that didn't happen. There is so much friction on the ropes that I was easily able to let him down while standing on the ground. It was a lot harder letting down a 37 pound girl and a 44 pound boy. I think she's 37 pounds, she might be lighter than that. We have light weight children. There was also an auto belay system that you could hook yourself up to on certain parts of the climbing wall. You had to be at least 40 pounds to do that. The boy loved it. I think the auto belay system actually helped him climb the wall, cause he got a lot higher than Biker Boy and I could. It was slightly scary the first time on the auto belay when you let go and hoped it didn't drop you fast to the ground.

So..I'll post a whole lot of photos that probably only the grandparents will get through. You can see us in our lovely harnesses.

Overall, we made it nearly 3 and a half hours climbing and bouldering (I prefer the climbing and being attached to a rope). The little girl was getting tired by the end and all of us were tired the next day. And sore.

Who else has been indoor climbing or bouldering?

Stenciling A Wall With Two Colors

2013-05-01T10:22:00.000-06:00

I don't recommend it. Yep, don't stencil with two colors unless you have lots of time or 2 separate stencils.

But thankfully, all that hard work paid off, my little girl loves her stenciled wall.

This whole affair started when I decided to paint my little girl's room when Biker Boy left for his trip to China. I've already chronicled the magnetic paint use and how this became a family affair.

I ordered the Cashab Trellis Moroccan Stencil from Royal Design Studio when they had their Black Friday after Thanksgiving sale. (I'm not quick posting this stuff). Chewy picked out the stencil and the colors. Yellow for the walls with an accent of pink and gray. I may have pushed for the gray, since I'm eventually transitioning to some gray for most of the house. So far I only have the boy's room done and part of a hallway.

I started off great with the stenciling and then it started taking forever. I started with spraying the stencil with adhesive, but it got a pain to clean. Just cleaning paint off the edges was a time consuming job. I eventually would let paint build up on the edges of the stencil and pull it off since it was latex paint. You can see I started using painter's tape to put the stencil up. I was so precise using a level and everything to get the stencil straight, but my walls are not level or straight. So after halfway the stencil started not lining up correctly. Look close enough at the photos and you'll notice.

I have to stay that the stencil was well constructed and the Royal Design Studio website has great information. My suggestion is to just stick with one color if you're going to use this design and want to be quick about it. You could just roller on the color then. We had to use little sponges and sponge on each color. Sometimes I would do one color and Chewy would do the other. If the stencil was made into two parts, that would be easier to put on two colors. Except it would probably cost more and lining everything up would take more time.

We did this way back in December of 2012. So Chewy's room no longer looks this neat. These photos were before we brought all her stuff back in. But she still loves her wall and that makes me happy! I just won't be stenciling again for a long time.

But now the cream trim is bothering me. It doesn't go with her white stuff or with her paint. Ugh. Biker Boy doesn't care, so it probably won't get painted. Cause I'm pretty sure he'll think I'm crazy if I try to paint her closet doors. And I still have the rest of the house to paint!

Kid in the Car Wash

2013-04-25T15:40:00.000-06:00

Yes, my kid isn't the only one who doesn't like car washes. Actually, she doesn't mind them know, but as a toddler she did not like them. And to join the bazillion videos of kids who don't like car washes....here's mine:

Awww, that poor baby....I just want to hold her and kiss those squishy cheeks. Love that girl. I had forgotten about this video until the kids were sick and watching home movies. What little kids they were! Do you like car washes?

Surprise Trip to Florida

2013-04-23T08:49:00.002-06:00

Some of you knew that I was planning a surprise trip to Florida. Biker Boy had to go there on business, so I thought the kids and I would take advantage of it and go along with him. Except I didn't tell the kids. And I almost blew the surprise a number of times. I packed up all their stuff without them knowing while they were at school on Friday.

Then Saturday morning, the boy woke up puking. Great. Thankfully he didn't have a fever and after a trip to urgent care (a few hours knocked out my day there) and a dose of anti-nausea medication....the kid was good to go. Scooter came into "big" church with Biker Boy and I on Sunday and if you know him...he's like me....a shy kid. But he asked me to go up front with him during prayer time so he could get prayer for all his sicknesses. Poor kid...he was puking just 3 weeks prior to this time. But fortunately he was all better and doing well by the time we left church to take Daddy to the airport. Somehow the kids asked if we could take Daddy into the airport, which helped with the whole parking thing. As we headed into the parking area, Biker Boy told me to tell the kids. I quickly got out the camera and turned it on. But I was too excited and didn't focus it, so my movie of telling the kids is blurry. I asked them if they wanted to go to Florida and they both said yes. They thought I was just asking and were shocked when it started to dawn on them that we were going to Florida. It was a great moment.

Then we found out our plane was delayed due to weather in Florida. When we did get on the plane, it was a ride more exciting than any ride we did at Universal Studios. I have never felt so much turbulance, plane shaking, and violent dips before. People were making lots of noise. The kids did pretty well. Scooter didn't seem too worried and was sitting next to me (I was worried!). And Chewy was holding on very tightly to her Daddy's hand. Our plane had to be diverted to Tampa to refuel and wait before we could continue on to Orlando. People actually clapped when we landed. I have to say I was beginning to think if going on this trip was a bad idea between a puking kid the day before and a shaky plane ride. But all turned out well. We didn't get to our hotel until after 1am. We were tired! Biker Boy had to be up at 7am to head to class and the kids slept well past 9am. We relaxed that day and the kids got another surprise when their Grandma showed up at the hotel! Chewy's reaction was priceless, love that girl's facial expressions. We had a fun day playing in the pool. Oh, and the kids did homework every morning too.

The next day we spent at Universal's Islands of Adventure. Why Universal and not Disney? Cause it was across the street from our hotel. Biker Boy met us there in the evening. Our first ride we did was one where we got wet....who knew?! We talked with an employee in the "If I Ran the Zoo" area while the kids were playing and getting wet again. When he left for another shift, he took us with him and got us on the "Cat In The Hat" ride ahead of the line! Thank you!! It was a lovely surprise and that ride was one of Chewy's favorites after that. And we totally recommend eating at the Three Broomsticks in Harry Potter area. We actually ate there twice. Good food, great prices on kids meals, and it's entertaining. There are shadows of things that pop up at different times on different walls, Scooter was getting really good at finding them. And we did try the Butterbeer (yum...like a buttery cream soda) and the pumpkin juice (like apple cider with pumpkin pie spices). Skip the Butterbeer lines out on the street and head into the Three Broomsticks to get it.

The next day we went to Universal Studios. Chewy did not like the ET ride, but Scooter loved it. They both loved the water slide and the foam ball area in Curious George. I wised up and dressed the kids in their swim shorts and shirts for the last two days. I also wore my running gear because it dried faster than the cotton shorts I had planned on wearing. Chewy was brave and outgoing and got her photo with the girls from Despicable Me. She also went up and talked to Donkey and Shrek and got her photo with them. She was the last one to be able to talk to Donkey when we went up and it was super cute. Scooter is the more bashful one and stood back and watched. Biker Boy met us there later so we could take Scooter on the rides that Chewy didn't want to do, such as Men In Black Alien Blasters. We discovered Chewy didn't like any ride in the dark and especially ones in the dark that had fire, heat, or water squirting at you. She was not acting in the "Disaster" ride when we were suppose to act scared. They should have filmed her.

Our third day at Universal we went to Islands of Adventure (we got the buy 2 days get a third day free deal). We started with Spider Man and of course Chewy did not like that one. We then went to one of her favorites, the Pterandon Flyers in Jurassic Park. We then went into the Dinosaur Discovery Center and Chewy got the honor of naming a newborn baby raptor. She named it Emma and even got a souvenir birth certificate. Scooter, Biker Boy, and I went to hit some "big kid" rides while Chewy stayed with Grandma in her favorite Suess Land. Biker Boy, Scooter, and I got thoroughly soaked on the white water rafting ride and enjoyed the Jurassic River Adventure, which was a favorite of ours. We did the Harry Potter ride through the castle and I was most impressed by the free lockers we got to use....because they used a fingerprint sensor that Biker Boy helped design. Unfortunately the fingerprint sensors to get into the park aren't from the company Biker Boy works for....and they didn't want to take his fingerprint on his first day. They were rebeling since he works for a competitor! Oh, and Chewy did not like Poseidon's Fury. Dark and fire again.

We then got to venture to Grandma and Grandpa's lovely new place in Florida. It's so nice! We spent a windy day the beach. Scooter loved playing in the water and Chewy loved playing in the sand. We didn't find many seashells, but that's okay. We all did get a little sand blasted.

It was a lovely trip. Fun to get away, but nice to get home. I hope your week went well too!

Lemi Shine Shines On

2013-04-11T13:21:00.001-06:00

Hard water. It's our life in this neighborhood. Seriously, our neighborhood is known in the "water circles" for some of the worst water in the nation. I'm not kidding. True story....or so I've been told by "water experts." I'm not going to bore you with the many times I have written about our hard water woes and what it does to things. Just search hard water in my search box if you happen to have spare time. Or your favorite show is a rerun...no wait, I'd probably watch the rerun.

About three years ago I wrote about my lucky find of Lemi-Shine. Love that stuff. It's a glorious, glorious thing if you have hard water. I even got my neighbor using it recently! No commission or anything.

But I was fortunate enough to have Lemi-Shine contact me again and ask me to try out their new product. I didn't even have to write this post or anything, but since I only write what I think...and I think I love this stuff...I'm going to write about it. Okay, I love it. And I'm going to write about it. Lemi-Shine Pacs! They're kinda like a super hero of hard water cleaners. I should have put a little cape on that bag when I took the photo.

It's like Lemi-Shine out of the bottle packaged up pretty and put under the Christmas tree. It's the original Lemi-Shine packaged up in those little convenient packages that are all the rage today. Pacs. I just pop one of those little babies in my compartment of my new dishwasher (seriously, love that thing too) and then I put the dishwasher detergent in the bottom of the dishwasher.

Then the Lemi-Shine works its magic while the dishwasher is running. This stuff is like magic, like where the magician cuts the pretty lady in half and put her back together. This stuff gets rid of the hard water stains. Honestly, it's amazing.

Watch...

Here's my hard water stained glass before being put in the dishwasher.

And here it is after a washing with a Lemi-Shine pack. I didn't scrub it or anything.

Amazing. Am I just the strange one to get excited about household products? Really, this stuff is amazing. And it smells good. I love citrus.

So...if you have hard water stains, try this. You can even clean your dishwasher with it. I find mine at Target, but I'm sure it's carried at other places like grocery stores and Wal-Mart.

What do you do for hard water stains?

*Just cause I like to be honest with you...I was given a bag of Lemi-Shine packets to try for free. I was not required to write a post or give my opinions. But all opinions are 100% my own.*

Catching Up

2013-04-10T09:03:00.000-06:00

Time is flying! Especially when I've had sick kids, course work to do to keep up my teaching license (just finished!), regular life stuff, and I've photographed a couple of babies lately. I always tell Biker Boy that I'm "shooting a baby today." He gives me a funny face when I say that. I guess "photographing" is more appropriate. Any hoo, I shot a couple of newborn babies lately. Getting my baby fix...cause we have no plans for any more (sorry grandparents). You can check out my photography page for some previews of that and hopefully some blog posts of the babies soon. Or my FB page has more photos. Just saying...that's what I've been up to. I have lots of posts I want to do here....but alas...I either haven't gotten my camera out to do it or I just haven't taken the time.

But...it's time to catch up with what our wacky household has been up to. Did you know it's snowing here? Snowing! The kiddos and I got out to the bus a minute late today (crazy, hurried mama!) and we waited forever for the bus. I wasn't sure if we missed it or if it was late. So we headed back to the house and I was getting stuff to drive the kids when we heard the bus coming up the hill. We were booking it back to the bus stop. Luckily the bus driver saw us before he took off again. Apparently they closed the freeway due to an accident and the bus couldn't get over one of the overpasses and had to take the long way around to get over the freeway. But the kids made it on the bus. And I got to finish my homework.

Okay, let's see. I've got collages of photos. In the one below...we have Scooter reading. He loves the books his aunt gets him. There's Chewy with her birthday cake....her favorite colors of yellow and pink. It had princesses and roses on it. There's the kids playing with legos...while home sick. There's Biker Boy and his kids (dog included) soaking up the sun. This was just before Chewy and Daddy went on their "date." She was so excited about it and dressed up for it. I got to stay home with a sick kid. And there's Scooter with his camouflage Easter egg. Those eggs are another story....I tried the hard-boiled egg directions on the container (get to boiling and shut off heat and leave for 10 minutes with top on and then stick in cold water). Um....when we went to eat the eggs...they weren't cooked at all. I mean, not at all....they were completely runny. It was an Epic Fail. 18 eggs in the trash. I'll stick with over boiling my eggs from now on.....thank you.

And another collage. The kids moved up in bike sizes. They look so tiny on their new bikes. Chewy moved up to the 20" GT that Scooter use to ride. Biker Boy put different brakes on it so she can reach the brakes easier. Biker Boy is helping her out on it for the first time. Scooter got a 24" Novara Ponderosa. (Thanks to our REI dividend and 20% off coupon!) Doesn't he look tiny on it? But the kid is rocking it! He's already done an 18 mile road ride on it and rode it off-road a couple of times. Both kids and Biker Boy are doing a mountain bike race in May. I'll get to trail run along side of Chewy. Both kids got sick...not at the same time of course. And the dog kept watch over both of them. It was so cute! And there's those epic fail eggs. At least the kids and their cousin colored them pretty! And apparently the kids were very careful coloring the eggs, because they didn't break them. Maybe next time I don't have to hard boil the eggs for the kids to color them.

And that is what we have been up to the last couple of weeks. What about you?
Oh...and our house is now under video surveillance when we leave. I'll have to write about that sometime. Good times.

Cooking With Kids: Lemony Scones

2013-03-26T11:49:00.001-06:00

My babies are back in school today. They're feeling better. Yea! Makes a mommy happy!

I haven't done a Cooking With Kids post in a long, long time. Time for another one. Before the kids got sick, we made some scones. Chewy's request.

Here's what we've made in the past:
Savory Elephant Ears
Strawberry Lemonade
Sticky Buns
Caramel Chocolate Pretzel Sticks
Homemade Dog Biscuits
Cream Cheese & Jam French Toast
Roasted Applesauce

All of these recipes (minus the roasted applesauce) have come from Southern Living: Kids Cookbook: 124 Recipes Kids Will Love to Make and Love to Eat.

We're slowly making our way through the recipes the kids have picked out. This last time we whipped out one of Chewy's choices: Lemon-Raisin Drop Scones on Page 40. But like usual, we didn't follow the directions to the tee. We change things and leave things out. So, we present our Lemony Scones.

Here's what we used:

2 cups white wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar (we used just a little less cause of high altitude)
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1/2 cup butter (no salt added)
2/3 cup skim milk mixed with 2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp water (optional...only if you live at high altitude)

Here's what we did:

1) Preheat oven to 450F.

2) Stir together flour, sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and lemon.

3) Cut in butter with pastry knife until crumbly.

4) Add lemony milk and stir until dry ingredients are wet.

5) Drop dough into 12 mounds onto an ungreased baking sheet.

6) Bake for 10 minutes or until golden.

And just got a call from the school nurse. Gotta go get my boy from school. See ya.

Spring Break 2013: Grand Canyon

2013-03-25T09:38:00.002-06:00

I know, I know....you've been on pins and needles waiting for the Grand Canyon recap. Well, it was grand.

And I'm hanging on to a thread here. First the break-in, problems with one of my teaching courses I'm taking to renew my teaching license (nothing like it getting here late and only having 2 weeks to finish it to get me to do it!), and now my babies are sick. This weekend we laid low with fevers and bodily fluids exiting places they really shouldn't. Both kids are home from school today and I think we're on the mend. They both managed to eat some breakfast. That's an improvement. Scooter has been hit harder than Chewy. He's been sick since Saturday and Chewy only since yesterday. She did get to enjoy a Daddy/Daughter date on Saturday and was so excited for it. She dressed up pretty for her Daddy! It was so cute to see her excitement.

I quickly put together some collages of our Grand Canyon photos. Mostly people photos. There are some landscape photos over at my photography blog. And I'll hopefully get some more up later.

Alrighty....we drove to the Grand Canyon in one day. We had dinner at the Flinestone's place and then headed to our campground just outside of the National Park. Grand Canyon Camper Village, I think. It was nice enough. We mostly chose to stay there because we could plug into the electric and then run our space heater in the trailer. We stayed cozy and warm when it got below freezing at night. The dog liked it. As we were driving into the national park the next day we saw an elk on the side of the road.

Our first day we visited the visitor center and hit the highlights and view points around there. Then we drove over to near the Bright Angel Trail. We hiked the rim trail for quite a ways. We took the dog with us, so we had to walk and avoid the shuttle buses. The kids mostly liked hopping on the rocks lining the path. They were pretty good about paying attention and watching out for the edge. There were fences in the big look-out areas where the buses stop, but along the trail there are quite a few places where you can stand right on the edge (though that isn't recommended). We were very careful. We also saw a big horn sheep (I didn't put a picture of it in, though I did get a couple) and squirrels that WILL bite. (We kept joking about the brochure that said squirrels "will" bite, not that they "may" bite.)

After lunch at our car, we left the dog. It was a cooler, cloudy day...so he was fine for a little bit. We hiked a little ways down the Bright Angel Trail. That's the popular one that goes all the way down in. As in....it can take all day to get down to the bottom. It was covered with snow in some spots and slippery. Plus it had loads of mule manure from the mule train going down. Yuck. It was pretty and we got to walk through a tunnel in the rock. Biker Boy took one spill on that trail and took Chewy out with him. They were both fine. Another time Chewy slipped in the snow and landed in mule manure. We told her that would make a great story someday...she's still not thrilled about it. Someday it will be funny again! In total we hiked just over 7 miles the first day. The kids did just awesome!

We hit up the IMAX theatre across the street from our campground and watched the IMAX movie about the Grand Canyon. That was the highlight for Chewy. The kids also enjoyed biking around the campground and the second day we let them bike the greenway trails at the National Park. We did about 3 miles of that.

Our second day involved driving the Desert View Rd. and stopping at viewpoints until we got to the Watch Tower. It was a much prettier day. Sunny with some clouds and I think the views were better. It's pretty impressive each day as you view the canyon for the first time. But then after going to more points....it all starts to look the same. Beautiful, but the same. I can only imagine what some of the first people trying to cross the country thought when they came upon this....First: "Wow, that is beautiful and impressive!" Second: "Oh, S*&%! How are we going to get across that?"

We saw elk again the second day. Mostly I was just amazed at the masses of people getting close to the elk to get a photo. (We only used our zoom). It's not recommended to get close to the elk. And the people who put their small child in front of the elk to get a photo with it.....crazy. As much as I like getting photographs, I didn't do that. I just placed my children at the edge of the canyon. Much safer, don't you think? (You're getting the funny stuff here, right?)

And we didn't see any mountain lions. Thank goodness. Although, if we did see one from the safety of our vehicle I would have taken its photo. Oh, Scooter's highlight was the Mexican restaurant we went to after our second day of exploring. And climbing and jumping on rocks. The kids did a lot of that. Overall, it was a lovely trip!

What's lovely for you this week? I'm hoping for healthy children tomorrow!

Enchanted Birthdays

2013-03-18T14:00:00.000-06:00

Goodness, my little girl has quite the memorable birthdays!

For her third birthday she got an enchanted princess call from Princess Tiana. You may remember that was not so enchanting from this post. Here's the video proof, there are 2 parts to it. Poor thing. Thankfully 3 years later she's recovered from the devastation.

For her fourth birthday she got an awesome Ariel birthday cake.

For her fifth birthday we traveled to Carlsbad Caverns.

And for her sixth birthday our house got broken into through her window and we had stuff stolen. Oh...and we went to the Grand Canyon. Plus the little girl lost her first tooth and thankfully the robbers didn't take her tooth fairy money or her Princess Rapunzel doll. Sense a princess theme?

So how do we celebrate a 7th birthday next year? Here's hoping you have grand memorable birthdays!

Spring Break Fever

2013-03-13T07:27:00.003-06:00

It's spring break here. Lots of fun with the kids! Holidays, birthdays, celebrations coming up.

We spent the past weekend at Wolf Creek skiing and boarding. They got about 16 inches the day we drove up and it snowed another 16 inches the Saturday we were there. It was a total powder day! The kids didn't enjoy the powder as much as mom and dad. They were a little too lite weight and had too small of skis for the powder, so they didn't move as well as they are use to. The next day was sunny and clear, so it was a better day for them. Ask Chewy about getting "lost." She'll say she wasn't lost, but for over 5 minutes (an eternity to a mom who can't find her kid) I couldn't locate her because she wasn't in our meeting spot. I had even started to get the ski patrol when someone pushed her up to us. She apparently went fast past our meeting area and couldn't get back up to it. Here's the photo dump of that adventure weekend:

And we took a few photos yesterday (and a couple of week ago) for Chewy's 6th birthday and for St. Patrick's Day. As you can see above. But the big news is that Biker Boy pulled Chewy's loose tooth out last night. She's missing her first tooth! My big baby! She was very excited to get up this morning and see that the tooth fairy remembered to visit! So here's a few photos of the kiddos and Gandalf the Egg (a homework project that Scooter did and is very proud of). I'll try and remember to email family a link to a file of photos sometime. Maybe after spring break.

And that is a quick recap. Off to play with the kiddos and celebrate a little girl's birthday! Have a fun week everyone!

What's Happening?

2013-03-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

Seriously, where does time go? It's March!

We've been up to the usual stuff. School, skiing, cleaning cat barf.

Photo collages to catch you up. And remind me what we did. Below is mostly Chewy. The upper left corner is us skiing at Santa Fe. It was raining, thus the frowny face. It's not right to snowboard in rain. Snow is better. There's the dog in his Super Dog cape. Go Ranger! And Chewy with her favorite bear. Plus Daddy has been teaching her guitar every now and then. She likes it.

These are mostly Scooter. He loves reading "Choose Your Own Adventure" books lately. He's quite the little mountain biker. We took a hike/bike in the foothills a couple of weeks ago. Scooter is on the bike, Chewy is trail running. Oh, and we went roller skating for the first time. And by "we" I mean Biker Boy, Chewy, and Scooter. There was no way I was going to put skates on and go on a hard surface with my coordination. Snow is much softer to fall on. And Chewy is still sporting a huge bruise on her bottom from falling on the floor a couple of times. The kids are still trying to master skating (it was their first time) but they had a blast at this birthday party for a dear friend! Chewy has requested a skating party for her 12th birthday! Guess I have 6 years to decide on that one!

Here's our last weekend of fun. Ski season is drawing to a close. We have to travel far to find snow. Some of you keep getting hit with it, would you mind sending it this way? A little more to the south please? We venture to Sipapu late in the ski season every year to see their snow castle. And play on it. Two points if you can spot the kids. Plus we also enjoy the skiing. My kids now have to wait for me at the bottom of the slope.

Spring break is coming up. Next week. Goodness. And today I had both of my arms poked for blood (just a check-up) and nada...nothing...couldn't find any blood. So now I'm sporting multiple pokes in my arms and band-aids. And guess what I get to do? Fast again and have them poke me again tomorrow. But tomorrow I'm going to the lab where all they do is draw blood all day. I'm use to people not being able to get blood from me, but I'm hopeful they'll get it from me tomorrow. I'll drink a gallon of water tomorrow morning instead of half a gallon. Hopefully that will help. Anyone else have trouble with people getting your blood?

Homemade Granola & Swamp Juice

2013-02-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

My wee ones have been helping me in the kitchen a lot lately. And eating what we make. I guess you reap what you sow.

We made homemade granola this past week and the kids have been having it for breakfast everyday. Every. Single. Day.

I've been having it every day too. With greek yogurt and blueberries. Yum.

We modified a recipe for Pumpkin Granola from here. We put in less brown sugar and added some milled flax seed. And in addition to roasted pumpkin seeds we also added sunflower seeds, coconut, and slivered almonds. Triple Yum!

Chewy has requested that next time we make granola we try a "Peanut Granola." I think homemade granola is a great way to let the kids experiment in the kitchen.

I also let them experiment with smoothies. We have smoothies a lot. And we always vary what we put in them.

This week we had "swamp juice." We have swamp juice quite a bit. It's just a smoothie with spinach added to it. The kids are getting tired of me calling our green smoothies, "swamp juice." I just find it funny.

Our smoothies this week included almond milk, spinach, orange juice, frozen tropical fruit, frozen bananas, and milled flax seed. The kids thought they tasted different than normal. Probably because I used plain almond milk this time and they are used to greek yogurt or vanilla almond milk. Maybe next time I'll have to add some vanilla.

I bookmarked the pumpkin granola and some other yummy foods that I've actually made onto Pinterest. If you're interested you can check it out by clicking on link below:

Chrissy Martin Photography

I'm off to play with my kiddos. We've also got to go pick up supplies for Chewy's birthday snack at school! What are you up to?

The Fairy Queen

2013-02-27T16:32:00.001-07:00

Here's a preview of the nearly 6-year-old's birthday photo.

She's a fairy queen. In case you couldn't tell. She helped me edit the photo. That girl knows what she likes. You can find out more about that here at my photography site.

The kiddos have school off tomorrow and Friday for conferences. It's sure to be a fun time playing around here! What have you got going on?

Recent IKEA Finds

2013-02-19T08:17:00.001-07:00

You either love IKEA or you don't. Or you just don't care. So I'm forewarning ya....IKEA loving up ahead.

You know I love me some IKEA. If I'm lucky, I make it there once a year. And once again I got to have my trip there when we went away for Christmas. But I could only bring home what we could fit in our already packed vehicle and drive home.

You may know that I love my Ektorp couches. Most people find this rambling blog of mine because of my love of those Ektorps. And I'm pretty pleased with the items we came away with this time. I've already talked about my love of the $2.99 milk frother. If I ever get to an IKEA again, I'm going to pick up a bunch of those babies. Some to give away as gifts and one or two more to keep!

Here's what else I came away with and my reasoning behind the purchase:

Recent IKEA Finds by chrissymartinphotography on Polyvore

IKEA Gislev / IKEA Tejn / IKEA Ofelia / IKEA Upphetta / IKEA Tindra / IKEA Idealisk / IKEA Elvilda / IKEA Gurli / IKEA Gurli / IKEA Produkt

1) My favorite little blender. $2.99. Love it. IKEA Produkt

2) Biker Boy picked out this french press. $12.99. And honestly, I use it everyday. I haven't yet used it for coffee, but I will try sometime. I put loose green tea leaves in it and have myself a couple cups of tea. IKEA Upphetta

3) Tea infuser. $1.99. I drink lots of tea. Biker Boy stocks up on green tea when he travels to China for work. So we need lots of tea infusers to drink that tea. I believe Biker Boy threw this on in our cart too. I love that man! IKEA Idealisk

4) A cream blanket. $12.99. It matches our decor and my primary reason for throwing it in the cart was so I could use it as a backdrop for newborn photos with my photography. I'm all for double uses of things. Oh...the gray one (that doesn't have a number) is the same blanket, just in gray. I love gray. This one will be used for photography also, but it also resides on the master bed and soaks up the afternoon sun. Seriously...more than once I may have snuggled up in this warm blanket and dreamed of warm things and places. Oh the joy of a sunny warm blanket! IKEA Gurli / IKEA Gurli

5) Another blanket. Pretty blanket. Interesting blanket and texture. $19.99. This isn't a keep-you-warm blanket. It's light and pretty. Again, I got this with newborn photos in mind. I actually just used it as a backdrop in a 5-year-old girl's session (not my own girl). It resides on an IKEA Tullsta chair in the master bedroom when not in use for photography. I like it. IKEA Ofelia

6) Biker Boy picked out this rug. $19.99. Great price! My man knows me so well and has great style...probably better than me. Our back patio door was hosting a Home Depot car mat (you know...the ones kids drive cars on) as a rug when you stepped into the house. We're kid classy. But the car rug got the boot when Biker Boy saw this one. It fits perfectly across our french patio doors and it's gray. I love gray. And the light cream flower design is perfect. It looks awesome near our Ektorp couches. It's also thin and fits under the doors and it's easy to vacuum. Gotta love it! IKEA Gislev

7) Light scented candles. $1.99 for small and $3.99 for large. I had the kids pick out a bunch of these. They're easy hostess gifts. Or easy Valentine's gifts. The kids teachers (all lovely ladies) got one of these as their Valentine's gift. IKEA Tindra

8) Fake sheepskin. $9.99. I lie. Well, not really. I couldn't find a photo of what I got and this is the closest thing. Actually, I'm now wishing I would have picked up a fake sheepskin. Oh well. I actually got a flokati rug made with 100% wool (not sheepskin). It was a special for $19.99. It's lovely and beautiful and I got it with photography in mind. Finding a trend here? I used it in the little girl's shots and I plan to use it with some newborn shots I have coming up. It resides on the back of bench in our house, I don't use it as a rug since it will be used for photos. Here's a photo of it that I took to show some props on my photography FB site. You can also see the white blanket. (If you're local to me....like my FB page and I have casting calls for free sessions and photos!) IKEA Tejn

9) Again, I lie. This isn't actually what I got. I think they were clearing out what I got. But I did get 2 striped pillow cases. They are....surprise, surprise....gray and cream. $5 each. Not too shabby for pillow cases with zippers. IKEA Elvilda

Yep, quite a few photography related purchases. I'm wishing I would have actually gotten one of those fake sheepskins. Bummer. Oh well. There's always next time. And I already have a fake one in gray that I picked up at Target on clearance. Oh....I love me some IKEA and orange stickers at Target.

We also picked up some cute napkins, colorful straws, a few kitchen towels, and lots of food stuff. Biker Boy can fill a cart with food stuff quicker than I can turn around. I don't take that man shopping enough, he needs to make up for lost time. Plus he puts good things in our cart!

And that, my dear people, is my most recent IKEA finds. I'm happy with each and every one of them. And so very thankful. What are your favorite finds?

Singing "Gloria"

2013-02-08T15:39:00.002-07:00

Just a stroll down memory lane! I'm sure some family members remember this. The kids and I were watching a few old movies yesterday and saw this.

Happy Weekend!

Some Favorite Things & The Best $2.99 at IKEA

2013-02-07T14:40:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted here in a bit. Time flies. I do too much to keep up. And I don't even have a paying job.

But at least I'm paid in hugs and kisses from two of my favorite little people!

I love those kids. They both wore their hats that I crocheted them to the bus stop today. Chewy has an owl. Scooter requested an angry bird. I tried. That's all I can say in my defense. I didn't have a pattern for that one.

I get to love on my little ones this weekend! We're having a Mommy & Kid weekend! Daddy is off for a big boy's weekend. Scooter can't wait until he's big enough to join him.

And here's my little girl with her bear. I was trying to get some photos of her loving on her bear, but it didn't work out. Oh well. I probably already have tons of photos of her with her beloved bear. And for those in the know....she's still got her first loose tooth stuck in her mouth. The tooth fairy is coming shortly....hopefully.

And I needed a pick-me up today. Pumpkin Spice coffee made with half and half, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a sprinkle of nutmeg, Dunkin Donuts ground coffee, and my favorite $2.99 blender from IKEA. And yes, that's my favorite little orange sticker on the coffee.

Seriously, this $2.99 tool really works. It's awesome. I put in some half and half and warm it up for 30 seconds in the microwave. Then I sprinkle on cinnamon and nutmeg.

Then I give that baby a whirl for about 15 seconds.

It really frothes the milk. I also use it in the kids' hot cocoa on our Hot Cocoa Friday Mornings. It makes frothy cocoa!

Then I make the coffee in my Keurig brewer. I have one of those contraptions to use your own ground coffee.

And then I have my afternoon pick-me up. I usually have coffee in the morning, but about once a week I have a cup in the afternoon. Especially after dealing with allergies, swimming 3000 yards, doing my once every 2 weeks grocery shopping, and running errands for my neighbor all in one day. Not to mention laundry, dishes, and a bazillion other things. I'm pooped. Pumpkin Spice to the rescue. Now I just need my little ones to come home and bring another smile to my face!

Do you have a favorite coffee? Or some other favorite thing to pick up up!

Valentine Sneak Peek

2013-01-31T14:27:00.001-07:00

Here's a peek at the Valentine's the kids will be giving out to their classmates. Well, Chewy's still hasn't been approved yet. But hopefully she'll approve it when she gets home.

And the usual box of chocolates Valentine? It's still coming. But not until Valentine's Day!

What do you think? What are you doing for Valentine's?

Quick Burn

2013-01-24T12:57:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I looked out my window to see this:

Fire! But it was a prescribed burn. They've been doing quite a few of them in the forests around here since we had some moisture and the weather has been decent to do it.

Except I thought it was a little windy yesterday. So it was a little smokey.

I could even see the flames from our house. Normally I've only been able to see smoke, but this burn was less than 3 miles away.

Wildfire is always a big concern around here. Here's hoping we don't ever have one. Thankfully we are able to get fire insurance because our neighborhood has fire hydrants.

You know what I learned from the Department of Homeland Security (they came to one of our mom's meetings and did their best to freak us out.....kidding about the freaking out....kinda)? The best place to keep your paper records is not in your fire proof safe in case of a fire. There's where we keep ours. The best place is in a ziploc bag in the back of your freezer. I've gotta get on getting my wildfire safety stuff together.

What would you grab if you had to evacuate due to a natural disaster? There have been so many of them lately. I'd be happy just to have my family and pets (I know...some of you are thinking...why not leave the cat?!). With our luck, we'd be away from our house at the time of an evacuation. But as long as we had each other, that would be enough. Not that I wouldn't be sad about losing some of my things. But that's it....they're things. But if I could grab a few things....my hard drive, my camera, and the safe. And I'd probably be taking photos of the house and stuff as I was evacuating.

With that being said....go and enjoy the things you have. And love on your family. I can't wait to hug mine when they get home.

Our Weekend

2013-01-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend at Wolf Creek skiing and boarding. Cause there isn't much snow near us. So we drove to find it. We stayed at a house with 2 other families and had a fun time. And because the first place we rented to stay at flooded due to a burst pipe...the place we stayed at ended up being a super good deal. Like super good. Like enough money saved to head back to Wolf Creek again. You gotta love it.

The kids are crazy good little skiers and boarders this year. Chewy lasts nearly all day and Scooter was out the second day with his Daddy until they closed the lifts. I am officially the slow one now. The kids are way faster than me.

We really didn't get many photos. Biker Boy did get more movies, but I haven't uploaded them to put here. There aren't many action shots either. I just didn't get the camera out until we were having lunch!

So here's a quick review of our 2 days of snow fun.

Lunch at the car. Oops, we left the back hatch open after lunch and when I came back to the car a few hours later I discovered it open. Thankfully the dog was still in the car. And all our stuff. Good dog.

I did get one of Scooter coming back to the lift on his snowboard.

Chewy making a snow angel. I think we were waiting for the boys.

We headed into Pagosa Springs to eat at the Mexican restaurant for supper after the first day. We first took a walk along the river path. It was funny to see people in their bathing suits in the hot springs while surrounded by snow.

We attempted a self family portrait by one of the springs. I'm walking towards the camera because I thought it wasn't working. That was the only attempt. Good dog.

While eating Chewy discovered that she has her first loose tooth! My baby! She cried because it hurt and it was bleeding. She bit too hard into her cheesy tortilla and discovered her tooth was loose. My baby!

Scooter reading to his sister before bedtime after skiing all day.

Aren't they cute sleeping? They look just the same. They were tuckered out!

Lunch the second day. I forgot to pack stuff for sandwiches, but we had enough other food to eat. Pumpkin muffins and applesauce. Yum.

We got home around 10pm that night and thankfully the kids didn't have school the next day. They both slept in! And ask Chewy about the guy in the swimsuit?! There were a few barely clad people out on the slopes. Crazy people. Attention seekers. Something. One guy was in a speedo (the small kind) with a swim cap and goggles on....all while on skis. Craaaaazy. I hope he didn't fall. Anyone else see anything crazy this past weekend?

Giveaway at Chrissy Martin Photography

2013-01-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

Shameless self plug....

www.chrissymartinphotography.com

But a chance for you to win a $20 gift card to Shutterfly.

Cause I love you all!

We had a 2 hour delay for school today.....because it snowed a couple of inches yesterday and was cold. I even got to pick up the kids from school early yesterday because it snowed (and then we drove to town, where it sunny!). All of you in the north and midwest can feel free to laugh that school is delayed because of a wee bit of snow and it's 10 degrees out. I laugh too, being from MI and MN, where it took feet of snow and temperatures around -40F to close school. But I'll take that 2 hour delay here with my kiddos! Except I almost forgot to pack their lunches! So....what's your weather like?

Freezing Our Bottoms Off

2013-01-14T08:40:00.002-07:00

It's snowing right now. Not much, but at least it's adding some white to our winter. We had wanted to go skiing and boarding this past weekend, but there is a lack of snow in our local area. So we went sledding. I know...go sledding instead of skiing because of a lack of snow. Yes...we're strange. But we did have to go almost to the top of the mountain to find some snow left.

It was also freezing cold this past weekend...so that meant we didn't mind if we only sledded for a bit. Especially since it's free. And skiing costs a lot. It was a balmy 7 degrees up on the mountain at our usual sledding spot. And there were actually other people there. (Yes, yes...7 is warm for some of you!)

We all bundled up more than usual. We had warmie packs for our mittens and boots. We had hot cider in insulated mugs. And we bundled the dog in his coat and booties (which he didn't like!). We also wore our ski goggles for the first time in awhile. We usually wear sunglasses, but only put the goggles on when it's really cold. We also got complimented by someone for wearing our helmets while sledding. Thank you! Plus...they're warm.

We took our favorite inner tube sleds (I got on clearance last year). We love those things because they cushion the bumps, they're pretty comfortable to ride in, and they go fast! But....they don't do so well in the cold. The vinyl got really brittle and we ended up with a 1 and a half inch gash in one of the tubes. It went into the garbage. The other one got a hole that we were able to patch. Bummer. But we had an hour and half of fun. The kids did so well! They never complained and they kept wanting to climb the hill to ride again.

The dog was happy just to sit on his blanket or hide in the bag we brought. He chased us a couple of times, but it was way colder than usual for our poor puppy.

We had a great time sledding and then enjoyed a movie night with the kids.

What else have I got...oh...quote of the week. I guess you have to know my kids to understand this one, but it made me laugh. Here's a little background...Chewy likes to play "puppy dog" with her brother sometimes. Scooter can't stand to eat anything that has been touched by someone else's mouth or by any part of his sister's body. He doesn't like to eat anything that she has even ripped in half.

Scooter: "Mama, I have to change my shirt!"
Me: "Why?"
Scooter: "Chewy licked it!"
I didn't let him change his shirt...he had just put it on and the kids were brushing their teeth while getting ready for school. It was at least clean spit (and I couldn't even see where she licked it)!

Busy, busy week. I've got to get it started! Dentist, school, errands, meetings, and lots of other stuff! I'll be having a giveaway later to celebrate the grand opening of my website. So you can check that out later and enter if you want to...www.chrissymartinphotography.com. Thanks!

What's up with your week?

Christmas Recap

2013-01-08T13:34:00.002-07:00

Back to the real life! Kids in school and things a happening here on the home front. (Psst....my website is now live...though it needs some work still. You can check it out at www.chrissymartinphotography.com So exciting!)

Alright...let me do a nonsensical recap of our holiday happenings.

It all started with my boy bringing home a tummy bug from school. The first Saturday night of Christma break I was up ALL NIGHT with my boy. He was vomiting every 15 minutes for nearly 6 hours. It was yucky. I was up all night caring for him, disinfecting every surface he touched, and bleaching out his puke bucket every 15 minutes. Not fun. But I love that kid. By morning he was all better!

Then my girl went and took scissors to her own hair. Yep, she got a haircut then. Nearly 6 inches off. But she likes it short with bangs. And it fits her personality. We think she looks like Ramona (and even acts like!).

Christmas Eve involved family fun, church, and opening gifts during the day. We have a tradition that we give the kids money to spend on each other. They get the amount of dollars equal to the age of Chewy. So this year it was a limit of $5 to spend on each other. But Scooter wanted to get his little sister a Lego set that cost $6. So he took a dollar out of his piggy bank and gave it to us. What a sweet boy! Chewy got Biker Boy a Spiderman that he loved!

Unfortunately after church on Christmas Eve I came down with the bug I had tried to avoid. I was sick all Christmas Eve. Fortunately I was only once every hour for 5 hours. Biker Boy did the Christmas Eve duties, tended to the kids on Christmas, and even made dinner. Fortunately no one else came down with the bug.

Biker Boy was in charge of getting photos on Christmas morning. The kids weren't too fond of it. (Totally kidding...Scooter accidentally bumped Chewy hard as he was sitting down.)

Christmas morning was lovely. Minus the fact that I was weak and tired from being up the night before sick.

After being free of barfing for 24 hours, we were able to set off on our trip to meet up with family. We would have gone a day later if anyone was still sick. Thankfully we only had a short living virus that caused throwing up and no fevers. (We've all had the flu shot!)

We went to Arizona. Biker Boy put up with me taking photos of the large cactus out the window.

We had a lovely time with extended family and stayed in a huge house that held our 4 families with room to spare!

We had a fire pit to roast marshmallows. But the only way to roast them was to stick them in the fire and burn them. Otherwise, the fire just wasn't hot!

There was a putting course that the kids enjoyed.

A pool that we didn't enjoy because it was too cold.

And lots of room in the house to play.

And the kids enjoyed their own room with their own queen sized beds. There's little Chewy sleeping in her Hello Kitty sleeping mask!

We visited the Phoenix Zoo. We all loved it. And my, they had some well-fed prairie dogs! And snow-tubing (minus the snow) was a high point for the kids!

We went to the Superstition mountains for lunch and hiking. Oh...a photo of me. I'm in the neon green fleece...see me?

And there was a trip to a ghost town. Plus some ice cream!

We also went to the circus. It was awesome. I loved watching the kids watch the circus. They were mesmerized by it. We saw the Zoppe Circus...we highly recommend it! We were highly entertained by it. It was a small family single ring circus and we were up close to the action, even though we were sitting in the last row! It was the kids' favorite thing of our vacation!

We had wonderful memories on our vacation with family. We visited places (I can't forget IKEA!), we played, we talked, and we ate! But the best thing was just spending time with family!

Oh, we got out skiing one more time after getting home. I didn't take many shots. They barely had enough snow to open where we went. Biker Boy beat up his board on the rocks pretty badly. But I did get a shot at the top, while we had lunch, and one of Chewy's snowman!

And now back to the daily life! And new adventures in a new year! Happy New Year! What are your plans for the year?

Back From China Again

2012-12-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

Biker Boy once again made a trip to China for business. Here's his trip last time in this post. This time was a quick, quick trip. And it'll get a quick, quick post. Biker Boy did take a couple of photos. The kids love to see the photos of some of the things their daddy eats. He was able to grab a few photos of some of the food, not all. But we love to hear the stories of what he eats and what his favorites are.

Lots of peppers in the food. I think Biker Boy liked this one.

The breakfast buffet at the hotel. Biker Boy got stopped trying to take a banana out. No food leaves that room. Of course my first comment was, "Look! Donuts!"

Biker Boy's favorite dish. Skewered shrimp in a bed of peppers.

The breakfast of Biker Boy's Chinese co-worker. Octopus.

Biker Boy's breakfast. He thinks it was chicken. They leave the bones in when they cook...so you know it's real.

Another favorite of Biker Boy's. I think this is dim sum.

Biker Boy got to stay at a nice resorty place. With lots of pools that were connected by pool streams. The kids and I would have so been on that if we were with Biker Boy. But alas...he said the pools were closed most of the time.

Anyone ever try octopus?