I’ll admit, I’ve never been head-over-heels for CPK.  It’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s just that I’m super boring when it comes to the pizza I like.  The more meat and the less veggies – the better!  And I like tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.  So I just really had no need for Jamaican Jerk Chicken Pizza or Vegetarian with Japanese Eggplant Pizza.  But then I discovered how friendly they are to kids, and now I love CPK!

Our homeschool group took a tour of one close by and it was a hit with everyone.  Not only was it FREE and open to even little kids (lots of 3 & 4 yr olds), but it seemed like they just couldn’t stop giving us stuff.

We all took a behind the scenes tour, then the kids each made their own pizza and got a free drink and brownie.  As we were leaving, they gave us a gift certificate for a free personal pan pizza and some other chotsky.  I was seriously impressed.  Being that pizza is Kade’s “favorite”, he loved every minute.

Afterwards, a few families went to a nearby park to burn off the brownie sugar.  I gotta say, I grow more and more in love with the pig tails every day.

This last pic is her “pose”.  She climbed all the stairs to the top of the slide herself, not to go down…just to put ONE foot on the top step and stand proudly.  The End – “Mom, take the picture.  I’ve done it!”  It was all I could do to convince her to put the other foot up and go down the slide…

Last summer, Kyle and I found a little race car kit at a garage sale that you could put together and then paint.  The paints were missing, but for a buck, who cares?  The rest was intact and we gave it to Kade for Christmas.  Back in February, Kade and his dad spent a Saturday afternoon assembling it.  It was great and provided a lot of entertainment, but who wouldn’t want to add a little personal touch with paint, right?  I finally got around to getting the paints out the other day and Kade went to work.

It was very serious business…at the beginning.

This then gave way to song.  I wasn’t able to capture the entire concert, this is more like the final encore.  He was singing about doing what is “good and right” because I had told him not to mix the paint colors and brushes, and he was obeying that instruction.  On a side note, we may watch a bit too much American Idol / X Factor, as he has learned how to “perform”.

Although we do have a love for Dr. Seuss books, this isn’t so much about that…

It’s more about our love of Little Things, people things to be precise.  And despite the fact that they sometimes

run about with big bumps, jumps and kicks

and with hops and big thumps and all kinds of bad tricks

we’ve decided we need more!  We are so very very excited to announce that a new Little Thing will be joining us around the first part of November.

I’m only 14 weeks along at this point, so we don’t know yet if this Thing will be a boy or girl.  But we definitely want to find out as soon as we can (again, I have no will power) and will pass the news along when we know.  I’ve been feeling pretty good, no nausea or anything like that.  After a little scare at the beginning, things have been going smoothly the last few weeks.  The doctor told me to make take it easy and I have had no trouble deciding I like that advice, there’s just nothing quite like an afternoon power nap, in my opinion.  :)

We could not be more thrilled about this.  God is so good and we feel so blessed!

We did our April Foodie Night while Mom was here last week.  I decided to take full advantage of having even more help with kids and dinner prep and it definitely made things easier.  We laughed because when it came time to rate the meal, she was not willing to be nearly as ruthless as Kyle and I.  Everything was wonderful and everything was delicious – she’s just entirely too complimentary.  :)  It was ridiculous…but her help was indispensable!

The menu consisted of Cornish Game Hens with Wild Rice and Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus and then for dessert, Mocha Ice Cream served in White Chocolate Bowls.

The meal prep began with the chocolate bowls, a beautiful Pinterest idea that I was apparently incapable of replicating.  The idea was to melt chocolate candies (almond bark or candy melts), let that cool slightly and then dip balloons into the chocolate, thus forming the bowls once the balloon was popped.  I did succeed in popping the balloons, unfortunately before any bowls were actually formed.  All I had to use were the left over water balloons from my Easter egg project but by the time they were blown up, they were so taunt that they popped once they touched the warm chocolate (of course, they managed not to pop until after I attempted to coat them, thereby splattering chocolate all over me and the kitchen!)  So it was on to Plan B.

We made foil molds of a small bowl and coated the foil with the almond bark instead.  This seemed to work better but the bowls clearly lacked the delicate shape and elegant nature of the ones I’d seen on Pinterest.

Next it was time for the Cornish Game Hens.  Although the recipe said this would serve 4, I had evidently purchased a rare breed of GIGANTIC Cornish Hens and we ended up having more food than we knew what to do with.  This would easily have fed 8!

They were seasoned with lemon, garlic and rosemary and turned out exceptionally delicious.  We all loved them – so moist and flavorful.  And also, incredibly easy!  If I had known Cornish game hens were this easy, I might have tried them a long time ago.  The only hiccup we ran into is that it took longer to roast than what the recipe said, but I think that had more to do with their enormous size than anything else.  Definitely a repeatable recipe!

Alongside the hens, I served a rice dish.  A mix of long grain and wild rice that we jazzed up with golden raisins and slivered almonds.  Although, completely on its own the rice was nothing phenomenal, it was absolutely the perfect compliment to the hens.  The raisins were just a hint of sweet and the almonds added a bit of crunch, SCRUMPTIOUS!

But the side that won the night, in my opinion, was the asparagus.  Possibly because every ingredient was ‘my favorite’.  Kyle and I both love asparagus anyway, but lets just say after you saute it, wrap it in prosciutto, top it with crumbled goat cheese and dates and then drizzle the whole thing with honey – you might think you’ve died and gone to heaven!  I always hate it when bloggers tell me what to do, but…YOU. MUST. TRY. THIS. TONIGHT!  :)

What I thought would be the crowning jewel on this meal, turned out to be my least favorite part – the mocha ice cream in the chocolate bowls.  Kyle and Mom both liked it, but I thought the ice cream was entirely too icey.  The flavor was good, but instead of luscious creaminess melting in your mouth with every bite, I felt like I was crunching ice crystals.  And I was so frustrated with the bowls…they were just too thick the way I had made them and so the almond bark almost overwhelmed the ice cream flavor.

But honestly, whose going to complain about ice cream REALLY.  It’s not like I pushed mine away or threw it out.  I consumed every last spoonful with the same lack of willpower that I display each and every day.  Overall, we rated the night a 9 (Mom, of course, gave it an 11…but we had to disqualify her based on the fact that she was drunk with grandkid love).  We’ll be having this meal again, for sure.  And I haven’t completely given up on the chocolate bowls, I just need to spend some time cleaning the chocolate from my kitchen ceiling before I try them again.

This last weekend was the CHEA conference, a homeschool conference here in the Bay Area.  Since I’m still new to this whole homeschooling thing, I really wanted to check it out.  Especially when I discovered I could go for free!  But…I needed a babysitter.  So I called in the big guns – Mom!

It was such a treat to have her here.  The kids love her to death and were pretty much ready for Kyle and I to permanently hit the road.  Not only did she help me sort through all the homeschooling info, but we started planning the new play room, played with the Silhouette, and started a book discussion on One Thousand Gifts too.

She and the kids took walks and played hide-and-seek (Kade is hiding below…yes, in the exact same place as he was counting 2 minutes earlier).

Marmie – thanks for coming and giving us all such a great week!  Grandpa Dan – thanks for letting us borrow her.  I know you missed her, but we needed the visit.

No illusions here – this time it’s for real.  Baby Girl Pigtails!  Possibly the cutest thing on earth…

As you read this post, you might ask yourself…”Is this really just a mother shamelessly posting picture after adorable picture of her daughter in pigtails?”  The answer to that question is obviously YES!  I can’t help myself.  Can you blame me?

I think it’s important to record “firsts”.  And in my book, pigtails are practically just as important as first steps.  Doubly so because I did not force Kade to wear them, so this is a first for me too.  Kade says she doesn’t look like Berlin with pigtails, she looks like a Chef.  Not sure why exactly…I just say OK and go with it.

I can’t believe my baby is 18 months now.  She’s such a big girl in her mind and of course, tries to do everything Kade does.  You can tell she understands 90% of what anyone says to her and her vocabulary is growing every day (this has thankfully reduced – but not eliminated – the screaming!).  She is completely and entirely a girly-girl, which is why I think she leaves the pigtails alone.  She puts on makeup (rubs a q-tip on her chin), sports multitudes of necklaces and bracelets daily, loves sunglasses and doesn’t think an outfit is complete without “shoooz”.  She is such a joy and blessing to us – what an amazing gift from God!

When Kyle’s family visited, we took a trip up to the Exploratorium in San Francisco.  None of us had been before and we didn’t really know what to expect, especially with kids so young.  But I was SO impressed!  The hands on experience is absolutely amazing and I loved that I didn’t have to spend the entire trip saying “Don’t touch!”

Prior to this, I thought all museums meant wandering through very wide white hallways, staring at objects behind glass and reading very small plaques.  Not here!  Instead, we got to build with tangrams, dance in steam tornadoes, watch termites chew, throw marbles and Kade’s favorite – poor sand.

We’ll definitely be making more trips back, although I did tell Kyle I felt like I should go without the kids at least once to learn about science myself.  I mean, if I’m supposed to be teaching my children this stuff, perhaps I should move beyond the “thunder is the angels moving furniture in heaven” explanation.  Sadly, I know nothing about science.  I mean, I remember some things.  Like molecules are made up of protons, electrons and maybe wontons?  But seriously, my understanding of electricity doesn’t go beyond “flip the switch” or “plug it in”.  Don’t worry too much about the kids, Kyle and I have had the discussion that to cover our bases I’ll teach phonics and math and he can take charge of all things science.  :)

Such a fun day!  We even topped it off with a lovely little picnic at Crissy Field and FREE parking.  WHAT! I know, amazing…

As you know, we’re trying to have a Family Night once a month, where we set aside the night to do “kid stuff”.  Well, this month has been busy, especially on the weekends, and we just were struggling to fit it in.  I had the food already, so one night Kyle got home at a reasonable time and we just sort of spontaneously decided this would be the night.  What a poor poor choice we made….

For dinner, I made hot dogs and mac’n'cheese – what kids wouldn’t love that combo?  MINE!  Berlin wanted nothing to do with the hot dogs and Kade wasn’t too sure about any of it.  I had made these super deluxe chocolate peanut butter cookies for dessert, but the rule is, if you don’t eat your dinner you can’t have dessert.  Well, we never did make it to dessert.  In between trying to convince them to take bites, Kyle and I were spelling back and forth what the entertainment for the evening could be.

“How about the new V-I-D-E-O-G-A-M-E?”

“You mean the one with S-A-M the B-E-A-R?”

Meanwhile, Kade chimes in with “Q-B-E-A-A-V-D-O-P – what does that spell, Mom?”

I felt like I was living the SNL Will Forte Spelling Bee skit.

The evening went from bad to worse, by the end of dinner both kids were in tears and covered in ketchup.  We gave them approximately a 20 second bath and put them both to bed an hour earlier than normal.  No dessert was eaten, no video games were played.  I think we were all just wiped out at the end of a long week and my check-box-personality tried to squeeze in something that had no business being there.  Sometimes you just have to let things go, one day I will learn that…I hope.

I’m thankful to say that the next morning, the kids awoke bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with no seeming damage or scarring memories of the night before.  Maybe it was a success after all.

I admit it…I’m a Pinterest addict.  The first thing I did after I got hooked was to convince as many other people to join as I could, in order to justify the insane amount of time I spend pinning.  I feel better knowing I’m not alone.  :)

Sure, Pinterest is infamous for somehow convincing people to endlessly pin great ideas they will never do, BUT I have proof that it doesn’t have to be that way!  Right now I have just under 1000 pins and I’m going to estimate that I may have done maybe 50 of them.  Am I really trying to brag about a 5% success rate?  OK, not really, that’s pathetic.  But I did succeed in making some darn cute Easter eggs that I wouldn’t have done otherwise.  Pinterest is still justified in my book!  :)

One of the best things about this project is that the total cost was $1 (for water balloons).  Everything else I had on hand.  Including the starch, which is just kind of funny that I own.  It’s been in the cupboard forever and I’m not sure what project I bought it for originally…but I can assure you it wasn’t for ironing clothes.

After I blew up the balloons (with the air compressor because I apparently have zero lung capacity), I made a very watery glue solution.  I can’t tell you the exact ratio because I just filled up the glue bottle with water and sloshed it around.  It’s a very technical project, you can tell.   Then I untangled my mess of embroidery floss and soaked it in the solution.  I wrapped each balloon with approximately one skein of embroidery floss, but some of them were short because, as I said, this was all just stuff from the closet.  After each balloon was wrapped, I sprayed the heck out of it with the starch.  Basically, I knew my glue solution wasn’t strong enough to make them hold their shape, so the starch was for structural purposes.

I let them dry overnight and then strung them on jute to hang over my dining room window and on my vinyl forest.

We’ve been reading Beatrix Potter – The Complete Tales and her illustrations are extraordinary.  They’ve inspired me, so we’re going to try to do a woodsy rabbity feel for our Easter decorations this year.  More on that attempt later.

I hope you like the eggs.  Head on over to Pinterest and search for some Easter inspiration, if you haven’t already.  Or maybe some new shoes, or a great new hairstyle, or places for your  next vacation, or wedding dresses (despite the fact that you’re already married).  So many pins…so little time.