With Four You Get Eggroll

Something to Cheer About

2011-05-11T02:03:00.003-05:00

Carys has been cheering since October of last year. The first cheer outfit we signed up with was mediocre at best and quickly went downhill from there. So several enterprising Moms formed our own cheer team and hired a new coach who is AWESOME! The girls have cheered in public three times this Spring, which is very exciting for the girls and parents as well.

Our Christmas Wish

2010-12-18T17:49:00.003-06:00

We are trying something new this year--no Christmas cards in the mail! I actually did create several cupcake-themed Christmas card designs for us to send out, but December was just too short and the list of holiday things-to-do was too long. These are the actual cards we planned to print and mail, so please enjoy our digital holiday greetings instead:

Please click on digital card for larger view!

Joy to the World and Cupcakes for All!
Love,
Dylan, Melissa, Thalia & Carys

Presenting . . . The Thalia Times

2010-11-06T21:05:00.003-05:00

Well, the kiddos really like having their own spot on the Internets, and wouldn't you know it, are already fighting over the space! So now we've added a new page to our family blog to debut Thalia's newest creation:
The Thalia Times, an entirely homegrown newspaper created and written by her.

You can read the first issue of The Thalia Times here! Perhaps she'll take after her "Aunt Tyra" and become a writer?! Time will tell.

Generations

2010-11-04T23:44:00.004-05:00

About five years ago, I created a photo collage of all of our 1st birthday pictures for a cool sliding frame my friend gave me. During my recent redecorating blitz, I retired the frame and decided to do a layout with these four fun photos:

I love the continuity across two generations that these photos represent. Each birthday child celebrating with cake! I think I may be doing several more layouts like this one and the previous Serendipity one. It's cool to see how some things change over time . . . and how some things stay the same.

Digital scrapbooking layouts forthcoming

Serendipity

2010-10-28T01:19:00.003-05:00

I decided to get rid of some old photo frames that were perfectly fine but the frames were tired-looking, and we were all tired of looking at them! One of these frames had these two wonderful photos of Dylan and Carys, 34 years apart, at bathtime. Since the pics aren't on display anymore in our home, I decided to digi-scrap them for fun:

Digital scrapbooking layout credits forthcoming

New Rooms Added!

2010-10-27T01:59:00.005-05:00

So this family blog is kind of like our family's home, kind of haphazard but filled with good intentions! In order to offer everyone more to chew on, we've added some new PAGES, or as I like to think of them, ROOMS, to the blog for you to enjoy! Click on the links on the menu on the right sidebar to visit them.

FoodieLicious is simply a compilation of various recipes that have appeared in previous blog posts, in case you actually wanted to try one and forgot when you had seen it!

Stuff We Like is just exactly that--stuff we like! Or more specifically, our retail loves, because after all, we do live in a Material World.

Man Cave is Dylan's page. It's currently blank. Draw from that what you will.

And last, but not least, there is the Kidlets page! It will have content written by the girls themselves or whatever else they pester me to post.

I'm not promising that we'll be updating these new "Rooms" frequently, but we'll give it a try! Thalia took a web design class over the summer, so who knows, she may even take over the Kidlets page. Stay tuned.

Image from Google Images

Did You Take Your Vitamins?

2010-10-20T23:10:00.006-05:00

Dylan and I are halfway into week 2 of our Clean eating program, and it has more or less become a routine now. I felt hungry constantly for the first 3 days, but now have a hard time finishing my lunch some days. It's a testament to how quickly my stomach "shrunk" or got used to the new eating plan. Dylan, on the other hand, still feels hungry all the time! But he's committed to the program and working through caffeine withdrawal and hunger pangs with good humor.

We've even eaten out with our new plan! That was a challenge. We had plans to go to Rainforest Cafe last weekend with friends, and I almost wanted to cancel last minute, but after carefully perusing the online menu decided we could make it work. And we did! Roast chicken, skin off, and grilled veggies for me and a Salad with grilled chicken for Dylan. (Dylan did cheat by eating the focaccia bread that came with his meal.) Our friends teased us about our ascetic eating while drinking fruity alcohol concoctions and eating everything we couldn't, but resisting temptation is good for us! The next day, we were feeling pretty confident about our eating out skills and went to brunch at a Mexican restaurant with a visiting friend. Chicken salad for me and grilled salmon for Dylan. We made up for our 'wild weekend' by having just smoothies for the rest of Sunday.

After my previous blog post, we added vitamins and nutritional supplements to the mix. There are quite a few pills to take each day! This is a big deal for me because I HATE taking pills of any kind. They make me want to gag. But take them I do, because it's an integral part of the plan. Dylan has no problems with pills of any kind, and can swallow a handful at a time. Ugh.

So in addition to the 2 raw, mostly liquid meals and the 1 cooked meal per day, we're taking, in no particular order:

Rice Protein Powder
Superfood/Greens Powder with Probiotics
Milk Thistle Extract (3X day)
Oil of Oregano
Garlic (2X day)
Calcium (2X day)

The worst one of them is the Greens Powder, which I elected to take instead of the Probiotic pills--big mistake. The powder has a fishy, seaweed kind of taste that can't be totally masked by the addition of fruit, sweetener, cacao powder and cinnamon. Had we not already opened this jumbo container of the powder, I would have gone for the more expensive Probiotic pills

Oil of Oregano pills have a lovely aftertaste but for me, have an unpleasant side effect later. It feels like heartburn. Garlic pills, on the other hand, have a very strong, unpleasant aftertaste! Of course, the other option, chewing and swallowing a couple cloves of garlic, is also not in the cards.

Are we seeing some benefits of this new diet? YES! I was able to put on a pair of favorite old jeans that have been a bit snug of late, only 7 days into the diet. Dylan did the same with some clothes in his closet. So we're both a bit leaner.

Of Cakes and Kale: Dieting for the Almost-40 Set

2010-10-11T01:44:00.011-05:00

Ah, I'm back from my "summer vacation" away from blogging! So what if my vacation went almost two months past the end of summer break itself?! At first, I told myself that I should take a break from the blogs (like I really did any serious blogging anyway!) and then I just didn't feel like coming back. But here we are again and with a recipe to share to boot.

First and foremost in our happy little household is the new DIET that Dylan and I started on Friday. Starting at the beginning of a long weekend seemed less daunting than starting on manic Monday, so we officially started on Friday afternoon. We are doing CLEAN by Dr. Junger, which is not so much a diet as it is a lifestyle change. I first found out about it during the summer, from Gwneth Paltrow's website of all places. (Actually, I ended up at her website after first reading an article about various celebrity diets in a fashion magazine.) So I bought the book and really loved the whole philosophy behind the program. But I am very good at starting stuff that never gets finished, so I knew my own weaknesses before I even read the whole book, and I vowed to get over them so I could go on the Clean program.

My reasons for wanting to do any kind of diet: 1) Lose this middle-aged spread that has been creeping up on me, a few pounds a year over the last six years post-partum; 2) Feel less tired; 3) Eat healthier overall because I'm not 19 anymore! Dylan was willing to try it out with me after I excitedly told him all about the program and read him excerpts from the book on a road trip to Houston. Don't I have a great hubby?!

To prepare for the 21-day diet, I had to get off caffeine, get it out of my system and not crave it day and night like I usually do. Specifically, my love affair with Coca-Cola. I've had as many as 3 Cokes a day in my pre-diet days. I love it so. I weaned myself off my favorite elixir by switching to weak homemade iced tea, brewed from organic loose earl gray tea leaves, flavored with mango juice. After about two weeks or so of iced tea, I was off caffeine completely. Not that I didn't have some serious cravings or headaches, but I survived. I also enjoyed seltzer water with a splash of raspberry lemonade as well as the yummy Izze natural sodas, post-caffeine.

Second thing I did to prepare, and which is in the book, was to start eating some of the foods that are allowed on the program and to start eliminating those that aren't from my diet. This was actually harder to do than ditch the caffeine. Bread, dairy, sugar, alcohol and all the other obvious foods to avoid. My kids aren't on the diet, so I had little incentive during this phase to cook two sets of meals. I went out of town three weekends in a row, making it hard to eat healthy and purposefully. And then I started having second thoughts about doing the Clean program at all.

But sometimes you just have to jump in and grab hold with both hands! So I made the snap decision on Thursday that Friday would be Day 1 of the diet. I bought about half of the different foods we would need (there is no eating out on this diet) to get started and researched some necessary supplements at the Vitamin Shoppe. And we were off! I didn't even tell Dylan the diet was on until Friday afternoon!

I have to say, I thought it was going to be much harder to begin Clean than it was. This past weekend was a primer in avoiding temptation! Day 1 began with me doing two custom cake orders. Staring at cake and frosting for seven hours. Then there was a kiddie birthday party on Day 2, where the hostess offered all the Moms and Dads wine and beer and lovely little croissant sandwiches were served. I drank bottled water and ate nothing. Day 3 was partially spent trying to figure out how to leave the house for an outing or errands without missing lunch, which is the primary meal of the day and must be home-cooked only with the assigned ingredients. (We figured it out.) At the end of the day, Dylan and I were are both a few pounds lighter and very proud of ourselves!

There are lots of recipes available for Clean dieters, and many of them use ingredients that weren't in my pantry or fridge before, so eating has actually been really interesting and adventurous! Agave syrup, cacao powder, kale, chia, tamari. Just a few new staples at our house. The recipes themselves are really delicious too, although Dylan pointed out that a dish's yum factor has a direct correlation to how hungry you are! (You can get kind of hungry on this diet.) Of the seven new recipes we tried this weekend, all were keepers except for one: Mango & Kale Smoothie. Yes, dark green, leafy vegetable mixed with mango. While I didn't hate it, it wasn't exactly the best thing I've ever had, and Dylan disliked it more than I did. But we did love kale steamed with garlic!

We'll be blogging more about our diet as the weeks go on, and tomorrow we're introducing the supplements (probiotics, fiber, antimicrobial herbs, etc.) I have no idea how we'll feel after adding the vitamins. Stay tuned.

Ironically, in the midst of buying all this exotic healthy food on Thursday, I concocted a great new cake recipe! I have been testing new cake recipes lately, and this one was the best. It combines a couple of favorite recipes together, which I also did on the other ones, but the others were merely so-so or just not good. I used this recipe for one of my weekend cake orders for a toddler's birthday.

So since I can't eat cake right now, here is a recipe to share with everyone else who can:

My New Strawberry Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup non-fat dry milk
1 1/2 cup mashed strawberries, with their juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
3 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs

**Optional-- 1 tbsp. strawberry gelatin mix (If you want your cake to be a pretty pink color. This will add a little more strawberry flavor to the cake too. I really hate using food coloring if I can just use Jello!)

**Note-- I use powdered dry milk and regular milk, but you could also just use water in place of the regular milk. Milk is just a bit richer.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour cake pan(s); can use two 8-inch or 9-inch round pans or a sheet cake pan.
2. Sift all dry ingredients together. Add remaining ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Mix at medium speed for 2 minutes longer.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and bake until cakes spring back when lightly touched (sorry, have no idea how long I baked it!). Cool cake pans on wire cooling rack before inverting cakes onto another rack for further cooling.
5. Frost layers with buttercream frosting or any other frosting that you like.

Serves about 18.

Image from www.cleanprogram.com

FoodieLicious Summer

2010-07-08T07:29:00.003-05:00

One cool aspect of raising kids is introducing them to the tastes of your own childhood as well as your own favorite foods that you love. This can be both an exciting and frustrating experience! How can your kid not love what you love?! And how gratifying when your little one becomes your Mini-Me by adoring your favorites.

Also, (some) parents feel obligated to introduce more 'exotic' foods to their children, bit by it, to expand their eating repertoire. Let's face it, only eating out at places like Luby's gets old really quick. It was a grand day in our family when we realized we could finally take our kids to an Italian, Mexican, Greek, any Asian (Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese so far) or all-seafood restaurant and they would eat at least one item from the menu and love it! (Next to try--French and German fare!) I had a friend in Austin who used to pack PB & J sandwiches in her purse for her super-picky kids when they ate out at restaurants, even ones with kid-friendly menus. This was before I had kids myself, and I fervently hoped that I would never have to do the same. And I haven't, because we quickly learned that although it can take some time to acquire new tastes, kids will do so with some encouragement.

Here we present a visual tour of some fun culinary tastes we and our kids have experienced from the past few months:

Dylan's Candy Bar, Houston, Texas, May 2010: Candy Bars sampled included Lemon & Ginger White Belgian Chocolate (Carys), Cookies & Cream Belgian Chocolate (Thalia), Dark Raspberry Belgian Chocolate (Melissa), Caramel Belgian Chocolate (Dylan)

Flaming Saganaki Cheese at Yia-Yia Mary's Greek Kitchen, Houston, Texas, May 2010: This is not my actual pic, although this is indeed what the halloumi looks like; I wasn't fast enough with the camera to capture the dramatic flame tableside! I wish I had also captured the look of shock (and momentary fear) on the girls' faces! However, they each tasted the cheese and liked it.

I just had to post this pic! The most adorable Dog Cupcakes homemade by our friend Monica for her daughter's dog-themed birthday party in June! Guests had their choice of chocolate or vanilla pups.

Sandella's Flatbread Cafe, Round Rock, Texas, June 2010: Aloha Pizza
Flatbread pizza, when grilled, was kind of like the matzoh pizza the girls made in pre-school! Definitely going back to try the flatbread wraps.

We just celebrated the Fourth of July with my godparents' family and an absolute cornucopia of Filipino delicacies. The smells and flavors immediately took me back to similar summer parties at their old house, indelibly stamped among my childhood memories. For only the second time ever, my kids ate Filipino barbecue on a stick and adored it! (Because I'm too lazy to make it at home of course.) Too bad we were too busy eating to take our own glamorous macro pics of the food, which included the BBQ pork, empanadas, suman, embutido, fruit salad, bistek tagalog, siopao and ube cake! Some of these I hadn't tasted in years.

We also enjoyed good, old-fashioned American breakfast-food-for-lunch at Ol' South Pancake House in Ft. Worth during the star-spangled weekend. It's a restaurant that is totally frozen in time, early 80s decor and all, and the menu is all comfort food. (Thalia took some excellent pics, but now she's lost her digital camera so we'll just have to use our imaginations about how large and fluffy the pancakes were.)

Of course, we're only half-way through summer, and our more exotic culinary challenges await during our upcoming vacation! We have quite a bit of beach time coming up, so perhaps some seaweed or fruits de mer in the near future?

Trash to Treasure: Altered CDs

2010-07-07T01:07:00.005-05:00

If you hate to throw anything away that could be useful later, like I do, then you might already have a stack of old CDs sitting around waiting to be reborn! Back in the day when AOL used to send me a CD every week, I would toss the whole shrink-wrapped envelope in the trash, never even opening it. But now, I know at least one thing you can do with old CDs--create some art! Altered art, to be exact.

Altered art, for those non-crafty types, is simply art created by altering something else you already have. Some people, those who don't have boxes of old stuff lying around, have to cheat and actually buy stuff to alter. Ha! We've got lots of stuff around the house, thanks in very large part to having kids who like to make stuff and from being a Girl Scout leader since 2000. There's no such thing as trash ! Only future art projects! Altered art is nothing new either, as crafty folks from years past have always done this. Altered art is frequently made using mixed-media techniques.

My project of the day was to use up some of the old CDs (some containing old software or old digital images or music or free ones sent in the mail) and create altered CDs. I took an 11 year old software CD and turned it into a photo collage altered CD to send as a thank you to Thalia's godparents. They recently invited her to spend a week at their home, where she had an awesome time! I used some of the pics I took when I dropped her off at the Purple Cow in Fort Worth for the CD:

I was so tickled by the results that I made another one, also a thank you for our friends who recently treated us to an afternoon of painting pottery and ice cream to celebrate Carys's birthday!

I just need to cover each CD with Mod Podge to protect the collage. I may also add more embellishments, like some old ribbon, buttons, etc. I am on a roll now! So if you've got some old CDs around your house, you might want to give altered art a try. Imagine the possibilities! Add a ribbon hanger and it's a tiny wall-hanging or Christmas ornament! Slap some magnet tape on the back and it's fridge decor! Create a mobile of family pics to hang in your office! You can even decorate both sides of the CD.

But if you're not so inclined, would you mind giving me your old CDs?!

Before and After

2010-06-24T02:10:00.006-05:00

The very first digital scrapbook I created was in 2007 as a gift to my parents chronicling our family's Thanksgiving week trip to Disneyland the year before. I used Creative Memories' free software and themes; it was a low-risk way to try out the then increasingly popular method of scrapping.

The free Storybook Creator software uses pre-designed themes and color schemes, and all you do is drag and drop the photos onto the pages and add journaling here and there. It was a good way to get my feet wet, but at the same time, kind of dull compared to traditional scrapbooking.

Here is one of the pages from the book:

I used the Basic Black theme, can you tell?! It's . . . boring.

Here is another I created using a different theme, Traditional Holiday. (I mixed and matched themes in the book to jazz things up. Not sure now if that was a good idea!)

The Holiday template was certainly more interesting to look at, but probably too stuffy and stiff for the pics I chose. A more whimsical "kid-friendly" theme would have worked better. And the font doesn't match the page's theme either.

Flash forward three years, and I have been playing around with Creative Memories' more full-featured Storybook Creator Plus software for a year and a half now. I've had much more practice creating pages, with or without a template, that grab the eye and are visually interesting. I also have much more to choose from in the way of digital content (ie. papers, embellishments, stickers, etc.) and themes!

Here's a page I created last week, using a layout template that I customized with my own Girl Scout-themed content:

And here is a post-card sized page I did a couple of months ago to send as thank you cards to Thalia's friends who attended her cupcake-themed birthday party:

My level of digital scrapbooking confidence is definitely higher than it was when I first got started! Even with seven years of traditional scrapping experience, learning how to 'go digital' had a learning curve that at first didn't seem quite worth it because of the boring, bland pages I turned out. Learning what you can do with the software really is the key. You go from not realizing what your options are to having too many options available for any given page!

Digital layout credits forthcoming

Summertime and the Livin' is Easy

2010-06-18T00:52:00.006-05:00

Ah, summer! The view from the Vancouver Island cabin we'll be staying in during our July trip!
(photo from www.reefpointcottages.com)

Well, we are almost through Week 2 of Summer Vacation and thus far, no broken bones! The girls transitioned easily to Summer Camp Mode, which is similar to School Year Mode for us anyway. Rise at either 6:30 or 7:30am, depending on which particular camp it is this week, and then get ready, get set, get dropped off!

The major differences between Summer and School Year for me is the amount of laundry and the amount of driving I do in the summer. Swimsuits, towels and other wet clothing and accessories pile up in my laundry room every single day when the girls are in camp. Thalia and Carys opted for different day camps for the first time ever, so I'm doing dual drop-offs and pick-ups at several different locations this summer. How glad am I that I have a new car with air-conditioned seats as I drive all over town under a blazing hot sun?! At least I don't have to also drive to extra-curricular activities this summer, as Thalia chose not to do tennis lessons this time.

Summer means copious amounts of sunscreen applied to each child, more than once a day. Already, one of the kids is sporting a good-sized sunburn, due to "forgetting" about sunscreen one day. There are, too, the mysterious "lost items"-- kids lose things easily, ridiculously so, at day camp, as there are so many opportunities to lose them. "Where do you think you left it at camp?" The answer could be any of the following: the pool, the playground, the bathroom, the locker room, the cabin, etc. So far, we've "found" a brand-new, worn-for-only-5-days bathing suit which we searched for that same evening on a return trip to the camp, but have "lost," possibly for good, a perfectly good cover-up somewhere else.

Carys is happily reunited this summer with her peeps from her pre-school at 'Camp Shalom' at the JCC. She'll be there for five weeks, taking daily swim lessons, and enjoying a traditional day camp (art, nature, games, Spirit Stick, etc.) with a Jewish twist (there's a good amount of Israeli culture thrown in, always very interesting). Thalia decided to branch out this summer and is doing a week each of Tennis camp, Camp Hogwarts & Half-Blood (a Harry Potter/Percy Jackson-themed camp), and Web Design camp before we leave for our annual trip to the Pacific Northwest next month. She is very, very interested in all things food-related right now, so a stint at Cooking Camp is a definite possibility in August to finish out the summer!

We plan to catch several movies this summer, both at the theater and on DVD, which we never seem to have time for during the school year. Thalia and I are hosting a "release party" for The Lightning Thief later this month; it will be very on-theme of course, with Greek Gods-related games, trivia, activities, food and of course, viewing the new video!

Summertime is also a bit of down time for me, so I've set a few goals for myself: Blog more at all my sites. Finish a few digital scrapbooks that I've prepaid. Reorganize the kitchen pantry (again). Wade through 9 months worth of "masterpieces" my kids brought home during the school year. Practice my fondant and gumpaste techniques. Yes, this is an entirely overambitious list, is it not?! My summer is full of blind ambition for an all-too-brief time that is not even 3 full months.

But that's also what's cool about summer--no promises, no expectations, just living in the moment and being thankful for whatever that moment is.

Happy Summer!

Tiny Dancer

2010-06-02T12:13:00.010-05:00

Carys's Little Gym gymnastics/dance class had their Spring Show this week. She had a new teacher this semester, who had not taught a full dance class yet. I think the results were a bit mixed. I liked the dance routines from the Winter Show more than I liked the ones from this week. Carys also seemed a little distracted during the show, but it was still cute to watch.

Keep in mind that her "recital" was very low key, as before, without fancy costumes and the teacher "helps" them through the steps!

Tap Dance Routine:

Ballet Routine:

A Family Scrapbook

2010-06-01T00:12:00.003-05:00

I created an entire digital scrapbook online using every single photo from our November 2009 family photo shoot at the Japanese Tea Garden! This is quite an accomplishment, as I have only created six finished digital scrapbooks in four years, and none have focused on any formal photo sessions.

I used an online program, Scrapblog, that allows you create digital scrapbook pages using free and for-sale themes, backgrounds and embellishments. I found the program a little bit difficult to use, but loved the results. It's not your typical drag and drop program that has 20 coordinated pages of pre-designed templates for you to use. It's really great though if you like starting from a blank page and designing everything yourself, which I like to do. I also love all the content you can choose from, including some of my favorite digital scrapbook designers like House of Three, Rhonna Farrer and Peppermint Creative.

You can browse through our new family scrapbook by viewing the slide show below or clicking here. I'm so proud of it!

Layout credits:
All pages done on Scrapblog.com using Scrapblog Builder
Backgrounds and embellishments: Little Dreamer Designs, Moo Tree Designs, Disney D23, House of Three, Rhonna Designs, Amy Hutchinson, Scrapblog
Scrapblog Fonts: Shelley LT Andante Script, Mrs Eaves Small Caps, English, Apricot, Fine Hand, Cenizas-Alt

Structure is So Overrated

2010-05-31T23:33:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of the year, I lamented the sorry state of my four (yes, four) blogs. They suffered from benign neglect with a very few posts showing up now and again. I decided that my blogs needed some "structure." Hence, the five-days-a-week schedule of stuff I thought everyone needed to know about me and mine.

Okay, since I haven't blogged in over a month at pretty much all my blogsites, I'm throwing in the towel. Hell, I threw in the towel long, long ago. Structure is SO overrated.

I loved the idea of it. I still do. But with the exception of the couple of weeks spent on my couch while recovering from surgery, our family's lifestyle (that would be code for 'my personal laziness') is too busy to allow for regularly scheduled posts. I admire greatly blogs such as Heather Binkley's Did You Remember Your Pill Today that manage to entertain us each and every day with her very busy family's antics. And countless other Mom-blogs out there do the same, in spite of their collective busy-ness. But as for me and my blogs, it's just not gonna happen.

So the new blog schedule goes like this:

Photos when I have time to upload, sort, tag and date them.
Funny tidbits about our lives when I remember to tell you about them.
Scrapbook pages when I actually get around to doing some.
Recipes when we're feeling hungry!

So if you've been a loyal follower of our family blog, thanks for sticking around and don't give up on us yet! Our kids actually love the idea of our family blog too, and they're always telling me to post this or that. Sometimes I do. I'm just sorry I haven't had time to do more!

Watermelon Trumps Pizza, or Surviving Our 1st Pinewood Derby

2010-04-25T23:53:00.000-05:00

Our Girl Scout Service Unit hosted its very first Pinewood Derby this weekend. A Powder Puff Pinewood Derby, to be exact. (Yes, because girls are involved, it must be a Powder Puff event!) The event was a fundraiser for the S.H.A.R.E. Family Partnership Campaign, which supports the Girl Scout program in Southwest Texas.

For a mere $10 per girl, we got an official Derby kit--block of wood, axles and wheels. I pitched the event to both of my Girl Scout troops as a "great father-daughter activity"! After all, the Pinewood Derby is the classic Boy Scout event invented by a Boy Scout Dad who wanted another activity he could do with his young son. Furthermore, I had no desire to wield a saw or drill for this project and passed the ball to my loving husband and father of these kids.

For several weeks, the two blocks of wood remained two blocks of wood. I casually mentioned that there were websites chock-full of ideas and design plans (according to my friends who are Moms of Boy Scouts) for Dad and girls to peruse. I reminded Dylan that we would probably need to borrow some equipment (jigsaw anyone?) unless he planned to whittle the wood into a the shape of a car by hand. Two weeks before the Derby, the girls had not brainstormed ideas for their cars with their Dad, there were no designs drawn on paper, no additional materials had been purchased, no tools were borrowed, and the blocks of wood were still blocks of wood.

Dylan, who although was a Boy Scout once upon a time, could not remember ever making a Derby car in his youth. Fortunately, advice from Boy Scout Dad-friends, by phone and in person, got the ball rolling before I blew my top about this project! (I hate doing stuff last minute when it can be avoided.) Thank you, Geoffrey and Steve, for the nudges in the right direction and for slightly freaking Dylan out with the myriad of Derby car possibilities! Dylan, and the girls when appropriate, cut, drilled, stripped and polished over two weekends.

I decided I could speed things along by supervising the "decorating" aspect of the project. Thalia and Carys, by that point, had come up with 'themes' for their cars, so I pulled out the paint and paintbrushes so they could turn their now-wedge-shaped pieces of wood into the cars of their dreams.

Slice of Pizza, anyone? Thalia's Pepperoni Pizza Car!

Carys's Watermelon Racer: From Page to Reality!

We were told that weights were needed to get the car's weight to 5 ounces, the maximum weight allowed. Cars that are far below this weight apparently don't stand a chance of winning. So weights were purchased, adhesives researched and weights attached with epoxy glue.

Now here is where Dylan's relative inexperience with craft projects really stood out-- he attached the weights with gobs and gobs of epoxy glue! As one who is rather familiar with craft supplies, I know that you apply glue of any kind rather sparingly. On the morning of the race, the weights were just swimming in glue, not at all dry or attached to the car. Some fell off when the car was picked up! Yikes! I removed the weights, wiped off a ton of glue, reattached the weights and prayed the glue would dry in time for the race.

Race time! Thalia and Carys were dressed in their Girl Scout uniforms and a bit confused about the whole race thing. So were we! Our "pit crew" consisted of me, Dylan, Lola and Lolo. Lola and Lolo were actually the "veterans" of our crew, having done Pinewood Derby over 25 years ago with my brother when he was a Scout.

The cars were weighed on the "official" race scale and race officials very generously offered us free weights and Krazy Glue if we needed them; we did. The post office scale we used to weigh our cars were not as precise! After registration check-in, the cars were "impounded" until the Daisy-Brownie heats started.

Cars at Check-In

Impound Area

It was really fun to see all the different styles and designs of cars in the race! There were only a handful of Daisies (Carys was one of six), but quite a few Brownies entered the race. You could tell right away which Dads had made these before! (Not ours!) Only one other girl from my two Girl Scout troops entered a car in the race, and hers was very creative and clever-- a Percy Jackson and the Olympians-themed 'Hermes' car!

Mia's Hermes Car!

Each car raced in four heats, in each of four lanes on the track borrowed from the Boy Scouts. Very clever. The times for each heat were averaged together by their sophisticated Pinewood Derby software. The only thing missing was an electronic Leader Board (unfortunately not loaned by the Boy Scouts)!

Before the Race: All Smiles

The Girl Scouts sat on the front row, right next to the track and could see how well their own cars did against the other three in their heats. There were oohs, aahs, squeals, claps and yes, tears.

Waiting, waiting, waiting and the agony of defeat

Carys's Watermelon Racer was the first of ours to race and came in 1st place in Heat #1! We were so tickled and proud! But then Thalia's Piece of Pizza Car entered the race--she would race against her sister in three of her four heats! And then it really got interesting!

Results after both cars' 4 heats:
Carys v. 3 others: Carys placed 1st

Carys v. Thalia and 2 others: Carys placed 1st, Thalia placed 4th

Carys v. Thalia and 2 others: Carys placed 1st, Thalia placed 2nd

Carys v. Thalia and 2 others: Carys placed 1st, Thalia placed 3rd

Thalia v. 3 others: Thalia placed 3rd

It was so exciting to watch their cars speed down the track! The Dad who pulled the lever for each race commented that Carys's Watermelon Racer was one of the fastest cars in it! We kind of wished Carys and Thalia's cars hadn't raced together, but it was a lesson in good sportsmanship between sisters. Thalia was gracious about it all, just as a Girl Scout should be, and grumbled only a tiny bit! Carys, for her part, wondered out loud "Why did I win alot?"

However, winning all of your heats doesn't guarantee that your car will place 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Overall speed determines the winners, and Carys's car came in 8th while Thalia's was 17th. They didn't win any of the medals either for special categories, such as "Pink and Sparkly" or "Best Design." But just being there with a car that didn't fall apart in the middle of the race was quite an accomplishment, Dylan and I thought!

So Proud of My Girl Scouts!

The girls are already looking forward to next year's Powder Puff Pinewood Derby. Carys has been strategizing since Saturday, pointing out that perhaps her next car should focus on one of the special medal categories.

We celebrated the girls' Pinewood Derby success at Mamacita's, which reminds one of the Mexico pavilion at Epcot. The girls loved the animatronics and Mexican village! What a day!

Bluebonnets 2010: A Slide Show

2010-04-17T00:41:00.000-05:00

Created with flickr slideshow.

I finally figured out how to fit all 85 of our bluebonnet pics onto a Flickr slide show without exceeding the allowed space! Enjoy!

This Week Last Year: April 17, 2009

2010-04-16T01:32:00.000-05:00

Scooby Dooby Doo and the Math Force
This week last year was very busy! It was the week after Easter and the start of Fiesta here in San Antonio. At Thalia's school, it was also their not-to-be-missed Second Grade Town Meeting. Town Meeting is basically each grade's school play, usually one per month until all the grades have performed, and is the subject of much excitement and rehearsal for all the kids. Thalia was giddy with anticipation!

In April, it was the second graders' turn to show off their stuff. The theme was a Scooby Doo mystery, with Scooby Doo played by Thalia's teacher in full costume! The other second grade teachers were Velma, Daphne, Fred and Shaggy respectively and rode around in their cardboard Mystery Bus. Thalia's class performed a Star Wars-inspired number about using their Math Force. Not exactly Scooby related, I know, but it was cute. Each kid wore a Jedi math t-shirt and carried bubble wand 'light sabers' from Wal-mart. Sadly, Thalia's leaked before the show even started, thanks to a very annoying boy who cracked a hole in her saber. Stupid boys.

Carys and I had really bad seats for this show, which was moved from the spacious outdoor ampitheater to the unbelievably crowded, noisy gym at last minute due to unrelenting rain. It was almost impossible to see Thalia, much less take a good video or photos of their routine. But I did manage to capture some of the Scooby-licious action:

Carys, Thalia and second grade friends use the Math Force!

LAYOUT CREDITS:
All papers: 'Seventies Free Pea Kit' by Tia Bennett for Two Peas in a Bucket;Embellishments (some recolored): Creative Memories 'Sewing Room', 'Delight' and 'Discover' Digital Embellishments kits, Creative Memories Freebies and 'Cottage Garden' kit, 'Seventies Free Pea Kit' by Tia Bennett for Two Peas in a Bucket;Fonts: Croobie by Font-a-Licious Fonts, LMS Scooby Doo by London Stokes.

Photo of the Week: Bluebonnet Beauties

2010-04-15T16:13:00.000-05:00

Well I guess you never do get caught up, do you? I feel like my life has been ever-so-slightly out of control since I bounced back from my surgery and recovery. Too much going on all the time! And no time to blog. So my attempts at "catching up" with our blog will be feeble at best, but here we go!

It's been over a month since my last post here and almost as long on my other blogs. Fortunately, today is 'Photo of the Week' day, and I do have some stunningly lovely pics to share!

These are just a handful of the dozens and dozens of pics we took at San Antonio Ranch in Helotes. I discovered their amazing field of bluebonnets while driving further out on Highway 16 a few weeks ago, and couldn't get it out of my mind. It's probably the largest field we've been to. The girls had a blast jumping and skipping through bluebonnets. (Thalia consciously tried not to trample any, Carys not so much.)

We haven't taken any proper bluebonnet photos since 2007 due to the lack of good wildflowers on the highways and byways recently. But this year did not disappoint! It's been so nice to drink in patches of bluebonnets as we drive around town each day, some large, some small. I also love seeing the random single bluebonnet proudly growing in the oddest of places. It's the solitary ones that seem the bluest of blue.

Bluebonnet season always reminds me of one of my favorite Indigo Girls songs, Southland in the Springtime. I've quoted it before, but here it is again, with the hope that everyone reading it gets to enjoy their own moment among the bluebonnets as well:

Maybe we'll make Texas by the morning
Light the bayou with our tail lights in the night
800 miles to El Paso from the state line
And we never have the money for the flight
I'm in the back seat sleepy from the travel
Played our hearts out all night long in New Orleans
I'm dirty from the diesel fumes, drinking coffee black
When the first breath of Texas comes in clean
And there's something 'bout the Southland in the springtime
Where the waters flow with confidence and reason
Though I miss her when I'm gone it won't ever be too long
Till I'm home again to spend my favorite season
When God made me born a Yankee he was teasin'
There's no place like home and none more pleasin'
Than the Southland in the springtime

Happy Spring, Y'all!

LAYOUT CREDITS:
Thalia: Layout: Creative Memories 'Just White Gallery' #7; Background: Bluebonnet photo by Melissa Tarun; Embellishments (some recolored): Creative Memories 'Digital Variety' kit, 'Disney Hannah Montana' kit, 'Beautiful Day' Additions kit; Fonts: Geometric Slabserif 703 Light BT by Bitstream Inc.

Carys: Layout: Creative Memories 'Just White Gallery' #14; Background: Bluebonnet photo by Melissa Tarun; Embellishments (some recolored): Creative Memories 'Earthy Serenity Overlays'' kit, 'Disney Hannah Montana' kit; Fonts: Geometric Slabserif 703 Light BT by Bitstream Inc.

This Week Last Year: March 7, 2009

2010-03-08T01:24:00.000-06:00

I started this two nights ago, but was toooooo tired after creating an ice skating cake for a client, so now I'm catching up! In fact, blogging has been kind of scarce this week. Very busy with my regular life now that I'm no longer recuperating from surgery!

I returned to driving this week, since my Mom went back home, and have been running errands all over the place. Buying groceries, post office runs, trips to the bank, hair appointments, Girl Scout meetings, volunteering at school and other things that I didn't get to do as much of in February.

A year ago, Saturday the 7th of March, was the beginning of Spring Break week for us. We were in an even more festive mood due to my birthday being the next day and the Jewish holiday of Purim two days after that, which the girls always celebrated at their pre-school. So we got in the celebratory mood by making Hamantaschen cookies for Purim! I already posted a recipe on Sweetest Whimsy's Sweet Spot blog as well as photos, but wanted to remember the evening once more:

LAYOUT CREDITS:
Layout scraplifted from 'Bubbles in the Backyard' by Laurel Lakey on Scrap Girls.
Paper: Scrap Girls 'Sugar Baby' by Brandy Murry.
Embellishments: Scrap Girls 'Sugar Baby' by Brandy Murry, Peppermint Creative 'Hannukah Funnukah'.
Fonts: CK Journaling by Porch Swing Publishing, Inc.

Stuff We Like: Eggs Benedict

2010-03-03T00:01:00.000-06:00

Today was a busy, busy, busy day, and therefore, I'm half-asleep and it's only midnight! My Mom went home over the weekend, and I've been back to my 'regularly scheduled program' since Monday. The break was nice while it lasted, although a tad bit boring, and real life is hitting me harder than usual this week.

I've been online shopping since my surgery from the confines of my couch and bed, so believe it or not, I'm kind of 'shopped out' right now. Today is usually my chance to prattle on about retail love, but I'm not feeling it. No love. hahaha

Anyway, Thalia discovered something she loves, loves, loves this past weekend when we were in Dallas. And if you know Thalia, if she's enamored of anything, it probably has something to do with food! (This is the girl who admits that her favorite part of her school day is lunch.) Thalia loves Eggs Benedict!

I can't remember the first time I tasted Eggs Benedict, but I know for sure I was an adult when I did. Thalia ordered off the adult menu the other day at a brunch shower at Breadwinners for my godsister Ruby, hosted by me and her sister. When she asked me what it was, I said, "Well, it has two eggs, sunny side up, bread, ham and a really yummy buttery sauce." Her eyes and her mouth said "Yum! I'll have that."

And have it she did. She devoured it. She even used her home fries to sop up every last bit of the hollandaise sauce left on her plate. Wow.

Eggs Benedict is one of those things that I always try to order if I'm at brunch, because it's just too much trouble to make it at home. I have made a fairly ok hollandaise sauce from a mix at home, and my kids have eaten it, so Thalia was slightly familiar with the taste of it already. But it's a sybaritic pleasure to have Eggs Benedict, in any and all of its many variations, made just for you. (My personal favorite is the Beef Tenderloin Benedict at Chez Zee in Austin.)

I'm really happy that my oldest child has a taste for the good stuff at an early age. The funny thing was, we ate out again the next day for brunch, and guess what she wanted to order?!

Pic from Google Images

FoodieLicious: Lasagna Soup

2010-03-01T21:19:00.000-06:00

Today's recipe is what our family ate for dinner tonight! I loved this soup that my friend Amy made for us almost exactly a year ago when we visited her, asked for the recipe and have made it many, many times since then. It's a Paula Deen soup based on the yummy flavors of lasagna, and is just as much a comfort food as it's original counterpart. In the past twelve months, I've "made it my own" by adding my favorite vegetables and additional flavors. Some of the changes to the recipe were made by Amy, so she gets credit for tweaking as well. As is, the recipe is great, and with additions, the recipe is awesome!

Original Recipe: Paula Deen's Tastes Like Lasagna Soup
(from Food Network via my friend Amy)

Ingredients
1 pound ground chuck
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
1 (32-ounce) box chicken broth
2 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups broken lasagna noodles
1 (5-ounce) package grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
In a large Dutch oven, combine ground chuck, onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until beef is browned and crumbles. Drain well.

Stir in thyme, brown sugar, broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

Add noodles, and simmer until noodles are tender.

Stir in Parmesan cheese.

Preheat broiler. Ladle soup into 8 to 10 ovenproof bowls. Evenly sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Broil soups, 6-inches from heat, 3 to 4 minutes, until cheese is browned and bubbly. Serve immediately.

My Notes: I have used ground beef, ground turkey and today, frozen pre-cooked meatballs cut into quarters. I have added yellow squash, mushrooms and spinach, which are all vegetables that have gone into my regular lasagna recipes. I have also used wide egg noodles, about half a package, instead of crumbled lasagna noodles. I think Paula would approve of the changes. Delish!

Pic from Paula Deen's website

Photo of the Week: Princess Day

2010-02-25T18:58:00.000-06:00

Monday was 'Princess Day' at Carys's dance/gymnastics class. She went to class dressed as Tinkerbell! We only remembered 15 minutes before it was time to leave for class that it was a dress-up day, so I very, very quickly put her hair up in a Tink bun! She even carried her Tink wand.

The class played games inspired by the Disney movie, Enchanted, in celebration of 'Princess Day.' They also danced like princesses. Several of the girls forgot it was dress-up day, which only made Carys look that much cuter, I thought. But all of the girls enjoyed being princesses for a day.

LAYOUT CREDITS:
Layout sketch: Creative Memories 'Decorative Click & Fill' pages;
All papers, embellishments, word art: Creative Memories 'Bright Blooms' Digital Kit, 'Delight Tea Party' Digital Additions Kit, 'Disney Princess' Digital Additions Kit; Font: Creating Keepsakes Journaling by Porch Swing Publishing, Inc.

Our Best Mom Intentions

2010-02-24T23:15:00.000-06:00

Last week's 'Mom Moment' was about my guilt about missing Carys's first and only kindergarten field trip. This week's 'Mom Moment' is a shout out to a recent post on our recently-met-distant-relatives' blog post about Mom-guilt and doing the opposite of what you intend to do as a Mom. I could totally relate to it. Your best Mom intentions being dashed in an instant, and the residual guilt that goes along with that.

The Hinkleys live waaaay further northeast of us (where it snows) and have recently started a new family blog, Did You Remember Your Pill Today? It's very "slice of life." Love it.

We met the Hinkley family last summer during our vacation at Dylan's aunt's home in Washington, DC. Dylan and John are second-half-cousins. (I think that's right; we figured out their Moms are half-cousins.) So now Thalia and Carys have three new-to-them third-half-cousins, whose adventures we can follow on their blog!

The Hinkleys and Stogsdills girl bonding over Rock Band!

Ian, the soloist, and his band, Carys and Thalia.

They love the Wii.

S'mores!

Bubbles!

Penny Pinching, Party Planning

2010-02-24T00:20:00.000-06:00

I usually start planning my kids' spring birthday parties right after New Year; I love planning kids' parties. However, this year, I have been slightly preoccupied with my health concerns and not focused as much attention on the details of each girl's party. And believe me, each girl definitely has a million and one ideas about their party!

We narrowed down each of their parties to a single theme, instead of the multi-themed endless party that went something like this: mini-golf/mall scavenger hunt/gymnastics/pizza/sleepover party. Yeah, sure. Once we've got the theme down, I don't let them change it, because then I start buying stuff!

My general rule is to try to get as much of the party decor and supplies on sale or with a discount, but that isn't always possible. However, we really lucked out last month with Thalia's party theme! She literally made her final decision about what kind of party she wanted to have while we were driving in the car on the way to Michael's for science project supplies. Fifteen minutes later, we found an entire bin of 50% off party supplies with her exact theme! What luck! Even she was excited. We scored some party plates, napkins, cake candles, stickers and coordinating thank you notes. I'm not allowed to divulge the theme yet, but everything matched perfectly. And did I mention that the the party stuff was originally $1 each? I spent very little money. Hooray for Michael's!

I hurried into HEB the other day for juice and ended up walking down the party aisle on my way to the checkout. Here, the party decorations for Carys's chosen party theme were also on sale! They were about 25% off, not as good as Thalia's find, but since I was already there, I went ahead and stocked up on plates, napkins, party game and treat bags. All matchy-matchy, just how she likes it. We didn't get everything we needed for each party, but this is where I'll fill in with more stuff from places like the dollar store that will coordinate nicely.

Each year I set a ridiculously low price goal for certain things like party favors. This forces us to be creative and not just buy expensive plastic junk to fill a party bag. For example, we've burned CDs with music that matches the party theme, such as Big Top Circus, Kiddie Western, Disney Princess (several times over), Candy Classics, Storytime, etc. A really easy party favor for literally pennies! And we've gotten so many rave reviews about the 'party mix' I do for each theme that some friends have even requested extra copies.

Party Mix CDs for pennies each

We've also trawled the $1 aisles at Target and Michael's when they go on sale. Last year for Thalia's 'Hollywood' party, we picked up High School Musical notebook diaries and pen necklaces for 50 and 25 cents each respectively. And they were actually useful too! For her Western Roundup party, I found mini board book sets in the $1 aisle marked down to 80 cents each. Books are always a welcome treat.

The guests made one of their party favors at Carys's 'Little Mermaid Under the Sea' party last year. I bought extra large popsicle sticks, something like 300 of them for $4, and made them into frames (hello, glue gun!) for the guests to decorate with sea-themed stickers and take home. A great party activity and soooo inexpensive!

50 cookie cutters, only 11 cents apiece

Coupons also come in really handy when party planning. I bought a set of 50 animal-shaped cookie cutters for Carys's 'Little Mermaid' party for only $5.40 using a Michael's coupon. We picked out all the sea animals and gave them as favors along with mini Play-Dohs, bought post-Valentine's Day for 50% off. The deals never end!

Since I've been 'resting' for the past two weeks and doing much online shopping, I've ordered several party activities and favors that were deeply discounted and free shipping. We haven't nailed down all the party details yet, but at least we've got some smashing decorations and favors ready to go!

FoodieLicious: Good Gravy!

2010-02-23T00:12:00.000-06:00

The gravy boat I wish I had registered for at our wedding

Some things just taste better with gravy. Thalia and Carys have fallen in love with gravy after eating it at school on mashed potatoes and at restaurants with their chicken strips or turkey. So recently I decided to start making it at home. (Note: I did not grow up eating gravy.) I think I have perfected cream gravy in the eyes of my kids! I make a small amount, just enough for the four of us, and they are just so happy. It's such a thrill that they can get so excited about little things like . . . gravy.

Today's dinner was roasted chicken (courtesy of my Mom), salad and mashed potatoes with my good gravy! It takes very little time to make this gravy from scratch, which is a plus. Here is the recipe, which I've been tinkering with for a few weeks:

Good Cream Gravy

2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. powdered chicken stock base (I use a Kosher brand)
garlic salt, about 1/4 tsp.

Melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Stir in flour and garlic salt. Cook for about 2 minutes, to avoid that "raw flour" taste, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth.
Whisk in the water and milk. Add stock. Heat to boiling. Boil and stir for 1 minute.
Serve immediately.

Notes: You could also add freshly ground black pepper, but I don't because the girls don't like the "black stuff". You can use whole or skim milk, whatever you have.

This Week Last Year: February 21, 2009

2010-02-20T00:01:00.000-06:00

Today my Mom noted that one of our tulip trees in front of our house was already blooming, well ahead of spring. We have two tulip trees, each with distinctly different flowers. The larger tulip tree is named the Thalia Tree, and the smaller is named the Carys Tree (how appropriate). Both were planted by my parents in honor of each of our daughters--Thalia's when we moved to San Antonio, and Carys's when she was born.

Exactly a year ago, both trees were already blooming due to the mild winter and early spring weather. Although we've had a more 'wintry' winter this year, the Thalia Tree is already showing us signs of spring!

Last year we admired the beautiful pink blooms of the Thalia Tree so much that we took many photos, after returning home from a birthday party. Thalia was very proud to pose in front of "her" tree.

LAYOUT CREDIT:Layout scraplifted from 'Princess Party' by Melissa Renfro on Scrap Girls; All papers: Creative Memories 'Blush Blooms' Digital Kit; Embellisments (some recolored): Creative Memories 'Blush Blooms', 'Calendar Cottage Garden' and 'Baby Love' kits; Font: Creative Memories 'Blush Blooms' Alpha Set, Blackadder ITC by International Typeface Corportation

Photo of the Week: Flowers

2010-02-18T21:15:00.000-06:00

I've been so blessed in the past weeks with phone calls, messages and cards filled with well wishes from friends and family. But I was completely blown away when flowers started arriving at my door when I got home last week! (Unfortunately, I couldn't actually get up to answer the door myself, so some were left on my porch!)

I love flowers but rarely have fresh arrangements in my home. I was so touched to receive these beautiful blooms, which went a long way in cheering me up:

What a luxury! So many lovely flowers in front of me at once. I arranged them on my living room coffee table so I can drink them in all day while hanging out on my couch.

The other day, I even entertained myself by taking macro pics of some of them:

So thank you from the bottom of my heart to Mom & Dad, Thalia & Carys, Rachel, Jayshree, the Landruses and the Joshis for such a feast for the eyes, and indeed, making me feel so much better!

IMAX, Rodeo and Mom-Guilt

2010-02-17T21:58:00.000-06:00

Today's 'Mom Moment' is a moment of Mom-guilt. Yes, that ever-present emotion we feel when we've let our kid down. Or when we think we've let them down, which amounts to the same thing.

Exactly two weeks ago, I chaperoned Thalia's 3rd grade class on their field trip to the IMAX Theater/Planetarium. Actually, there were so many parents on board that there wasn't enough room for us at the Planetarium, so we only had to accompany them to the movie and the planned lunch at the park. And then it rained outrageous cats and dogs, so lunch at the park was canceled. Poor kiddos, but at least the IMAX film, National Geographic's Lewis and Clark: Great Journey West, was really cool and of course, educational. (Did you know that Sacagawea took her infant son along for the entire trip, including the crazy downstream ride in an out of control canoe?!)

Today was Carys's first field trip ever, to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. She cried and cried when I told her the other day that I wouldn't be accompanying her class. I explained to her that because of my recent surgery, I can neither drive nor walk long distances yet, to which she cried accusingly, "Why are you still sick?!" I felt sad and awful about missing her first and only kindergarten field trip. And I even love going to the Stock Show and Rodeo! Then she threw out the real killer: "But you went on Thalia's field trip!" Enter Mom-guilt, big time.

This morning, Carys was rather obstinate and wouldn't get ready for school. I had to intervene and reminded her that today was her FIELD TRIP! She was going to have so much fun! (Without me.) And see all the baby animals! (I'd miss so many great photo opps.) And have lunch at the Rodeo! (Some other Mom would carry her lunch.) I was sad when they left for school. (Without me.)

I was able to pick the girls up from school for the first time since before my surgery, with Mom's help of course, and Carys was just full of stories about her special day. About the baby chicks and the pigs and milking the cow. And the bounce house! Not to mention the chocolate milk they all drank at lunch and the free ice cream, "only vanilla though." Then taking a nap on the bus ride back to school! I was so happy that her first field trip was such a good day, but sad again to have missed it first hand.

Ironically, I never chaperoned Thalia's kindergarten, first grade or second grade classes' field trips either! There was always some reason why I couldn't be there, and oddly enough, I felt little to no guilt about missing them. At the same time, I chaperoned Thalia and her Girl Scout friends nearly every month (sometimes more) on Girl Scout field trips, so perhaps that made up for the deficit.

But it's a little bit different when it's your 'baby' and your last chance to experience all of the elementary school 'firsts' one more time. Carys had a splendid time without me--of course she would--but I wish I had been there too.

Stuff We Love: Kohl's Coupons

2010-02-16T18:17:00.000-06:00

Today I ventured out of the house for just the second time since my surgery, which was now a week ago today (how time flies when you're on the couch!). I had to use my 30% off coupon at Kohl's! Priorities, you understand. I'm not allowed to drive yet, so my Mom has been picking up the slack there by chauffeuring me and my kids around everywhere.

Anyway, Mom and I went to Kohl's this afternoon, and as I've already mentioned before in another blog, you look at everything when you have a 30% off discount in your pocket. Not to mention that practically everything is discounted 30 to 70% off already. We only get the coveted 30% discount a couple of times per year, so it's very exciting!

We went crazy over fall and winter PJs on clearance for the girls and some Christmas dresses for 10 months from now (hope they fit!). I also decided I needed even more black, white and gray articles of clothing to add to all of my other black, white and gray pieces in my closet. hahaha Old habits die hard. Mom did persuade me to try some purple and red as well.

I was really proud of myself for walking around the store for over an hour, and my gait was easier and less stiff than during the weekend. Then again, retail establishments really are my natural habitat, so I always feel better when I'm shopping. :)

FoodieLicious: Shaped Cookie Cakes

2010-02-15T04:31:00.000-06:00

Due to my recent surgery and physical limitations this past week, I didn't do everything I like to do to celebrate Valentine's Day. However, I did as much as I could, sometimes almost comically so! I helped Carys make 19 toilet paper tube treats for her class from my perch on the living room couch. I packed Valentine treats to be mailed by my Mom to out-of-town friends and relatives. I oversaw the girls' spelling on their Valentines to hand out to their classmates as they worked at the living room coffee table.

But I didn't get to cook or bake any of the Valentine treats I've made in the past with the exception of one thing--a Valentine Cookie Cake. And this one was made with a few shortcuts, such as using pre-made cookie dough from the grocery store and having my kids decorate it instead of me! But no matter, our friends for whom we made it enjoyed it just the same.

Cookie Cakes had their day in the sun about a decade ago, when shaped cookie pans hit the market. These days, cupcakes and cupcake cakes have totally eclipsed cookie cakes, although you can still find them in nearly every mall in America. However, I still love cookie cakes! I like baking them in different shapes using my Wilton novelty pans and doing as much (or as little) detail with frosting as I feel like doing. That is the beauty of the cookie cake-- it's totally acceptable to have the "cake" showing, unlike a real cake!

Today I baked a heart-shaped Valentine cookie cake using my regular heart-shaped cake pan. Wilton sells a heart-shaped cookie pan, but I just use what I have. I usually use my own cookie recipe for the batter, but today I used grocery store chocolate chip cookie dough which always works in a pinch. I especially like the Central Market brand at HEB.

Here is my fool-proof recipe for a Shaped Cookie Cake:

1) Choose a Shaped Cake Pan that doesn't have too many deeply rounded edges. You can also just use a round, square or sheet cake pan.

Wilton Heart Cookie Pan (or use a cake pan)

Enchanted Castle Cake Pan used for my both of my daughters' birthday cookie cakes!

2) Whip up a batch of cookie dough, or choose a pre-made cookie dough from the grocery store, your choice of flavor. You may need 1 1/2 to 2 packages depending on the size of your pan. A sugar cookie recipe will result in a smoother cookie cake surface than a recipe with additions like chips or nuts.

Pre-made cookie dough: an acceptable shortcut!

3) Line the bottom and sides of pan with one large piece of parchment paper (not wax paper) so there is extra paper around the edges. If you are using a fairly flat pan, this is easily done. If you have a pan with lots of corners and curves, it's a bit harder to do. The parchment is key to preventing any part of the cookie from sticking to the pan.

This one's easy to find at the grocery store.

4) If using pre-made dough from a tube, cut into 4 to 6 sections. Some brands come pre-cut into cookie slices; this is even better. Drop the sections or slices of dough evenly around the pan. Then, using a sheet of wax paper, press dough evenly, covering the entire pan. The wax paper prevents your hand from getting covered in sticky dough. If using homemade dough, drop large spoonfuls evenly around the pan. Using a sheet of wax paper, press dough evenly, covering the entire pan.

5) Bake according to cookie recipe directions (usually 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees). Cool for about 10 minutes, then grasp the extra parchment paper at the sides and carefully lift cookie cake onto a cooling rack. You can also invert cookie cake onto a cooling rack if you're using a shallow pan, such as a cookie cake pan.

6) When cookie cake has cooled completely, carefully peel off the parchment paper and transfer to a cake board or plate. Decorate with frosting and decorations as you would a regular cake, but don't feel like you have to cover every inch of the surface. You want a little 'cookie' showing through!

Castle Cookie Cake for Carys's 4th birthday, made with cranberry-white chocolate cookie dough! It was slightly overbaked, but it still tasted good!

So that's how easy it is! What cracks me up is when friends groan about how difficult it is to make a perfectly round (or whatever shape) cookie cake; very often, they are using a regular cookie sheet and just plopping down a round hunk of cookie dough, hoping it will keep its shape. Duh. A cake pan or cookie pan solves that problem easily!

Photos from Google Images

This Week Last Year: Cookie Time!

2010-02-12T14:37:00.000-06:00

Thalia and her Brownie friends, in and out of costume!

A year ago today, Thalia and I worked the first of two Friday afternoon Cookie Booths at our nearby Lowe's. My Girl Scout troop loves Cookie Booth sales! It's their chance to try out all the sales techniques practiced at meetings, including the art of "upselling," and share all their cookie facts put to memory. Working two to four girls to a booth, they greet incoming customers with a cheerful "Good Afternoon!" and then offer all customers leaving the store the opportunity to buy cookies.

The thing they love the most about Cookie Booth sale, however, is wearing the Cookie Costume! Every year we rent a cookie costume for the girls to take turns wearing at the booth. Their favorite is the Samoa, but sometimes we're stuck with Do-Si-Do. No matter, it's fun to get into cookie character and the customers think they're adorable. (Which of course leads to more sales!)

Last February, we took advantage of an early release day to do an afternoon cookie booth. The weather was perfect and the girls were ready to sell! Thalia was particularly good at pitching our "gift with purchase" option:

"If you buy just one more box of cookies, you can get a free recipe book!"

The recipe books were handmade by our girls, each decorated differently with drawings of Girl Scout cookies. The recipes all call for Girl Scout cookies as an ingredient, obviously! The girls also convinced reluctant buyers to donate boxes to our chosen charities, Ronald McDonald House and Fisher House at Lackland AFB, if they didn't want cookies for themselves. I was so proud of them, even the shyest one taking her turn to sell.

What can a cookie do? It can develop girls' self-confidence and entrepreneurship. It can help pay for service projects and field trips for an entire year. It can also provide fun memories that girls like Thalia will hopefully never forget!

LAYOUT CREDIT:
All papers: 'Brownie Scout Scraps by Jenny Cereal; Cookie embellishments: 'Cookie Time Quick Page' by Jenny Cereal; Other embellishments: 'About Scout Girl' by Amanda McGee, 'Brownie Scout Scraps' by Jenny Cereal; Fonts: Creative Keepsakes Journaling by Porch Swing Publishing, Armalite Rifle by Vic Fieger

Photo of the Day: The 100th Day of Kindergarten

2010-02-11T20:48:00.000-06:00

Carys shows off her shirt with 100 somethings!

This was actually last week's photo of the week, but with blogging all topsy-turvy these days, it's the closest thing we have to a current pic! Wednesday, February 3 was the 100th Day of School for our kids. Thanks to some very clever teacher who thought of it in the first place and also to Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolff for popularizing it in their book Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten, many kids in America celebrate their 100th day of kindergarten with very special activities. I would like to celebrate the 100th day of kindergarten!

Carys literally counted down the days until it was time to decorate her own '100 T-shirt' for the big day. When Thalia celebrated her 100th day in 2007, I overenthusiastically suggested she select 100 iron-ons from Michaels for us (me) to iron onto her white t-shirt. Huge mistake. First of all, those iron-on transfers and patches are expensive! Second, it takes a very long time to iron on 100 of anything. Finally, it wasn't really Thalia's project anymore because there was really no way she could help with the ironing, so ultimately it wasn't that much fun for her. Lesson learned the hard way.

So this time, I suggested we hot glue some cool stuff to Carys's t-shirt, whatever she wanted from Michael's that was glue-able (and practically everything is). She chose mini pom-poms and glittery foam dragonflies, butterflies and hearts for her hot pink t-shirt. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I also discovered we still had a slew of smaller iron-ons from 2007, and I hate to waste anything, so I suggested we use them up as well, but this time I had a more efficient iron-on plan! Carys was okay with the iron-on transfers (rainbow foil hearts), so we cut 40 of them into strips of 10 and I ironed them on really quickly, instead of one at a time like before.

After Carys carefully counted and then arranged her pom-poms and foam shapes into a specific design on the front of the t-shirt, I hot-glued them all down in a matter of minutes. Ah, the joy of hot glue guns!

Carys had a great day counting everything in sight, to 100 of course. And she was so cute in her 100th Day shirt! I only wish I had snapped a pic of Thalia three years ago in her 100th Day shirt, which was a hodge-podge of iron-ons and not very attractive by the end of the day, when the patches started falling off. Another lesson learned.

LAYOUT CREDITS:
Layout scraplifted from "100 days *CG 2009*" project by jchilds on Two Peas in a Bucket; All papers from: Shabby Princess 'Spring Breeze' kit. Embellishments (some recolored) from: Shabby Princess 'Promise' and 'Holiday Magic' Collections; Digital Scrapbook Place 'Diva Page Kit' by Amanda; Creative Memories 'Sewing Room-Primary', 'Baby Love' and 'Pet' Digital Kits; Scrap Girls 'Refresh 2' kit, Scrap Girls 'About Scout Girl' by Amanda McGee

Sweetheart Dance

2010-02-11T00:27:00.000-06:00

And just like that, another week or so goes by without any blogging! But I really have a good excuse this time--hospital stay and recovery time! I had a double surgery (appendectomy and hysteroscopy) on Monday, was released on Tuesday and now slowly getting back to my regular self. Prior to the surgery, I had a few days of annoying, required pre-op tests and "prep." Thus, these procedures have consumed my life for several weeks already!

So now I am confined to bed/couch this week with no heavy lifting or driving allowed per doctor's orders. Ha! Just moving from room to room is a monumental effort, forget doing anything else. Here's the thing about recovering from abdominal-area surgery: bending, walking and sitting, which usually require no thought whatsoever, must be done very, very carefully. Even breathing is a bit more labored, post-surgery. I also have a fancy breathing tube to practice deep breathing again. In any case, it's nice to be back in my own home again surrounded by my favorite people and things.

Many thanks to dear friends and family who emailed, called or sent well wishes and prayers my way. I very much appreciate your encouragement and support!

Today's blog theme is 'Mom Moment' and the moment I'm reliving is the recent father-daughter dance that Carys, Thalia and Dylan attended last month. It was Carys's first father-daughter dance and Thalia's third. It was certainly one of the most hectic evenings at our house because it was also the night I was scheduled to fly to Dallas for my cake decorating seminar! But we did it! Dylan stayed a bit late at work that evening, but with my Mom's help, I got the girls fed, hair-styled, bejeweled and dressed in time for them to be whisked to the Dance by Dylan, who barely had time to change into his very handsome suit. Then, I was dropped off at the airport by my parents, had a very short flight to Dallas, rented a car for the weekend and drove to my friends' house while snowflakes fell all around me. At the Sweetheart-themed Dance, the girls danced and giggled themselves silly (with some tired tears being shed as well) and posed for photos with their Daddy. Everyone in our family arrived at their designated destinations and had a great time!

By the way, I've never been so proud of hair-styling efforts as I was that evening! Fixing hair has never been one of my talents, and when you have two girls with rather short hair (one of them with very short hair) it's a downright challenge. I had less than an hour to style both girls' hair for the Dance before leaving for the airport. This included drying Thalia's hair upside down first for maximum volume!

Thalia had bookmarked an updo she had seen in a Disney Princess magazine (Belle) and desperately wanted me to recreate it. It was so cute how much she wanted to look like the girl in the magazine! I did my best with her short hair and relied on many bobby pins to hold it all together. In the end, we had something that actually looked like an updo!

Carys was wary of the curling iron and hair spray I wielded, but still wanted her hair to look "fancy." So I convinced her to let me just curl and pouf the edges of her short bob cut and do a little curly ponytail on top. She looked so precious!

I missed having the girls and Dylan tell me all about the Dance that night in person, but I'm so glad I was able to get the last flight out of town and be part of the Dance preparations beforehand. It's one of those Mommy moments I really love!

LAYOUT CREDITS
Layout sketch by Creative Memories "Simple Click & Fill"; All papers, embellishments and word art: Creative Memories 'Sending Love' Digital kit; Fonts: 2 Peas Billboard by Melissa Baxter, Two Peas in a Bucket;Lauren Script by Mike Allard for De Nada Industries

An Evening at the "Theatah" for Pennies

2010-02-03T01:33:00.000-06:00

Ashley Brown, the original Broadway Mary Poppins

Our family, with the exception of Carys sometimes, loves to go to live theatre shows and musicals. We like local productions as well as traveling Broadway shows. We especially like children's theatre. Thalia herself was a member of a children's acting troupe for two years. There is something very special about being part of an audience at a live performance and witnessing the wonderful energy on the stage.

The only thing we don't like about the "theatah" is the price of tickets to these events. For example, a single ticket to the upcoming South Pacific Broadway touring show in the orchestra section is $76.15, which includes $12 of "convenience" charges. Multiply that by 4 and yikes! Or even just for two tickets, it's alot, plus the cost of having to hire a babysitter for the kiddos while we're out.

But we're firmly committed to enjoying the "theatah" as much as we can, so here's where our theatre penny pinching comes into play! I subscribe to email newsletters for Broadway Across America and specific theatre venues across Texas, which often have pre-sale discount codes available before tickets go on sale to the general public. Another secret of mine is to buy tickets directly from the venue, not the ticketseller (ie. Ticketmaster). You save so much by not paying fee after fee after fee on every ticket. Armed with Entertainment book coupons we bought 4 tickets to a Disney on Ice event several years ago for 50% off at the venue's ticket booth, and did the same thing again for High School Musical on Ice.

I am also a member of San Antonio Methodist Hospital's free WomenPlus program. Members receive a generous discount on tickets to nearly all touring shows, plays and symphony performances at the Majestic Theatre, Empire Theatre, Josephine Theatre, and occasionally at the Alamodome. We saw Disney on Ice (again) last year for $12 each. In addition, being San Antonio Girl Scouts entitles our entire family (yes, even Dylan is a Girl Scout!) to similar discounts on touring Broadway shows and symphony and pops performances. Two Christmases ago, we saw Cats on tour for $17 each at the Majestic. Quite amazing.

Thalia & Carys at Mary Poppins matinee. Full price tix worth every penny!

Sometimes, however, when we really want to see a show, we'll pay the full price anyway, as we did in November to see the original Broadway cast perform Mary Poppins in Houston. Was it worth it? Most definitely! It was, as Mary Poppins herself is, "practically perfect in every way"!

Photo from Google Images

Girl Scout Tip #1: Free Field Trips

2010-01-28T00:17:00.000-06:00

I've been a Girl Scout Leader, on and off, since 2000, for a total of six years altogether. I currently have two troops, one for each of my girls. One thing that I think sets my troops apart from others is that we like to go on lots of field trips! Generally, we go on at least one or two outings per month during the school year, and sometimes one in the summer.

When I first started as a Girl Scout Leader, I was assigned to a wealthy private school in Austin. Money was not an issue for my scouts' parents, so we requested, and received, generous troop dues to fund our Brownie activities. So when planning field trips, the cost of the outing was not a huge consideration for us.

In time, I became a Mom of girls and therefore a Leader once again. This time I had a troop of kindergarten Daisies at our public school who were not allowed to sell cookies yet and therefore earned no troop funds. This time around, I was very conservative and realistic in setting the amount for our troop dues; I only charged enough to cover patches, insignia and first aid supplies. Field trips would have to be funded separately by the families as the year progressed OR we could creatively plan free outings for the girls!

We live in a very large city, so thankfully there are lots of options available when planning a free field trip for a group of giggling little girls. Very often, especially for the older girls, our outings coincide with badges we are earning. For example, just last week I took my Brownies to our local branch of IBC Bank, where we keep our troop bank account for a free tour and Q&A with the branch manager. The girls, I have to say, were not thrilled initially with the idea of visiting a bank around the corner from our neighborhood. But the bank tour fit in perfectly with our work on the 'Penny Power' Try-It. Well lo and behold, the girls were fascinated by the tour! We actually stayed an extra half hour longer than we'd planned because they were so busy asking question after question, really thoughtful ones too. We learned quite a bit about counterfeit checks and bills, which is pertinent to their roles as entrepreneurial salesgirls. The girls and I were thrilled that the bank manager gave us two counterfeit detector pens to use at our upcoming Cookie Booth! It was a memorable field trip, and best of all, absolutely free.

Image from Google Images

Penny Pinching, Target-Style

2010-01-27T09:38:00.000-06:00

Would you believe I actually fell asleep, computer on my lap, last night as I attempted to do my blog bit? Pathetic! On my way out the door in a few minutes, but here's my Tuesday Penny Pinch, a day late:

Yesterday I was at Target in search of a single pair of slightly dressy shoes for Thalia, who is, at size 5 1/2 - 6 ladies, a mere size and a half away from me. She's only 8 years old, but wears an adult size shoe. This poses a problem in several ways.

Her foot, although quite long for her age, is very, very narrow. As was mine when I was growing up, so I know where that comes from! So right there, very few styles will fit her narrow foot. Also, ladies' shoe styles are pretty much inappropriate for the everyday routine of a 3rd grader. And finally, ladies' shoes cost more than kids' shoes! My 8 year old may only wear them for 2 months, but they still cost as much as my shoes that I could (theoretically of course) wear for years. Sheesh!

So you can imagine my absolute joy when I discovered the shoe sale aisle at Target was full of 50% to 75% off flats and sneakers! Now we're talking a good buy! I bought 13 pairs of shoes in all, 9 of which were deeply discounted. Two pairs were $1.75 each. The most expensive pair I bought, full price, was $24.95. Clearly we don't intend to keep all of these shoes; I bought several sizes because I wasn't sure about the sizing of different styles (sandals v. loafers v. dressy flats.) They all looked slightly different even when they were the same size.

Not the same exact shoe I bought, but very much like it: $6.24

Returns are not a problem at Target! I saved my receipt, but even if I didn't, they are always so nice about looking up my purchases by credit card.

As it is, Thalia was down to one pair of loaferish flats that she was wearing constantly because they were her favorites, but they were so obviously getting too small and so worn out. They too were a Target find last fall at half price. Thank you, Target!

FoodieLicious: Mint Chocolatey Goodness

2010-01-25T15:33:00.000-06:00

Pic from LittleBrownieBakers.com

We are finally down to just two Girl Scout cookies left in the jar! Hooray! We've never had this many left over, and I've never been so motivated to think of recipes to use them up. Our 2010 cookies arrive in 4 days, so not a moment too soon!

From chatting with other Girl Scout cookie customers, it turns out that many people still have extra Girl Scout cookies from last year in their freezer (the best place to keep them). The other week, Dylan's aunt said that she likes to add Thin Mints to a pan of brownies. I thought this would be a great idea to use up our last 8 Thin Mints, so I used Little Brownie Bakers' own Thin Mints Brownies recipe. Little Brownie Bakers is the bakery that bakes the cookies for about half of the Girl Scout troops in the USA; they also get to use the "traditional" cookie names such as Do-Si-Dos and Samoas. The other Girl Scout bakery does not.

Thin Mints Brownies
recipe from Little Brownie Bakers

Ingredients
½ box of crushed Thin Mints Girl Scout Cookies
1 box of brownie mix
2 eggs (3 eggs for cake-like brownies)
¼ cup of water
½ cup of vegetable oil
Directions
1. Crush Thin Mints into medium size pieces.
2. Mix all ingredients into mixing bowl. Do not use electric mixer. Batter will be stiff.
3. Spread batter evenly in greased baking pan (13 x 9 x 2 inch).
4. Bake in center of oven at 350 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool before cutting.

Serve with mint-flavored tea.
Yields 6 servings.

My Notes: We only had 8 cookies left, which is about 1/4 of a box, while the recipe calls for 1/2 of a box. The taste was subtly minty and would have been more minty if we had used more cookies. We also used 3 eggs instead of 2.

Counting down the days to our new cookies, including the newest one, Thank U Berry Munch! Cookies still available from Troop by the way!

This Week This Year: 18 January 2010

2010-01-23T01:12:00.001-06:00

Today's theme should be 'This Week Last Year,' but I already posted about what we did this week, last year! That in itself is amazing, that I was already caught up with our January 2009 pics last year.

So, we'll just talk about 'This Week This Year'! Here are some more moments from Carys's Show Week on Monday:

Carys and her classmates received a special medal from the owner of the school, which thrilled them all very much of course! She was soooo proud of herself! And so were we.

LAYOUT CREDITS:
Layout sketch: Creative Memories 'Decorative Click & Fill' pg. 13. All papers, embellishments, word art: Creative Memories 'Delight Surfer Girl' Additions kit, Creative Memories 'For Her' kit; Font: 2 Peas Scrapbook by Two Peas in a Bucket

Photo of the Week: Hawaiian Rainbows

2010-01-21T23:40:00.000-06:00

This week provided ample photo and video opportunities! On Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday, our own Carys Faith performed for her family at her Little Gym 'Jazzy Bugs' Gymnastics/Dance class's Show Week! Kind of like a recital, only without the costumes, memorizing dance steps or outrageous fees. Very, very low key.

Carys's class showed off their gymnastic prowess and then wowed us with their tap dance and ballet routines as well as "creative movement" (ie. free dance).

Here, without further ado, is Carys's ballet performance of Hawaiian Rainbow (apologies for the low-quality video):

Some of you already know that this is the third dance class that Carys has been a part of in the past 3 years. The previous two dance experiences, both at the JCC, did not go well. She was politely "kicked out" of the first one, and I removed her from the second class after Carys had repeated differences of opinion with the instructor. However, this casual, fun approach to kids' movement has been the perfect fit for her! She is one of the oldest girls in the class, which also helps with her self-confidence.

Stuff We Like: Dual-Screen Car DVD Player, or A Little Piece of Heaven in Your Car

2010-01-20T22:59:00.005-06:00

Not our car, but looks just like it!

The newest member of our automobile family, our silver Volvo S80, arrived last Monday, after a long trip through wintry, snowy parts of the U.S. We had it shipped to San Antonio straight from the dealer in Virginia, right outside of Washington, DC. How we ended buying a car from several hundred miles and states away is a story for another day. What the car came with, however, is the topic at hand. (Actually, it's a combination of yesterday's and today's topics, as I wasn't in a bloggy mood yesterday and I'm catching up today.)

The Volvo S80 has a number of pretty cool features never before seen in any of our previous cars. We've never been ones to spring for the extras at the dealership, and the one time we did, it ended up biting us in the you know where. So to have a car that is fully loaded with all sorts of car-geek toys is something. Features of note: Air-conditioned Seats. Pop-up Navigation System. Push Button Start/Stop.

But you wanna know what really rocks in this car?

The Volvo Dual-Screen Rear Seat Entertainment System. That's fancy talk for two built-in DVD screens on the backs of the front seats and two wireless headsets plus a DVD player inside the arm rest. I usually hate these kinds of things. I hate the idea of my kids watching TV while we drive around town, doing our normal everyday routine. It's just one more way to electronically remove them from their surroundings. But I'm a hypocrite, and we do own a mini-DVD player, nothing fancy, that we use on long car trips or airplanes. Our long-standing rule, however, is that we don't use it for just driving around San Antonio. Entertainment? Look out the window.

Dylan defines a long car trip as an hour's drive away. I usually think it should be somewhere farther. This past weekend, we drove 45 minutes to New Braunfels for a Girl Scout outing in the new car. Dylan (not I) decided to surprise the girls with with a DVD on the drive there. Grrr. After some figuring out of how the DVD player works and how to turn on the headsets, there was a strange and eerie sound in the car. It was the sound of silence.

No screaming, crying, fighting, whining. No toys or books or whatnot flying across the backseat. Just the occasional tinkle of a laugh. Big smiles on my kids' faces wreathed in headsets. It. Was. Very. Strange. Usually, I find myself telling the girls in exasperation that they have to quiet down/stop fighting or else I might crash the car with the distractions. For once, we could actually hear our music on the radio.

I admitted that I could become addicted to this strange peace in the car. It's so tempting, the DVD player is built in! Not like our mini-DVD player that is a pain to hook up and often becomes disconnected during travel. Now the arm rest of the car is my Pandora's Box. Will I be able to resist the temptation and become one of those Moms?!

FoodieLicious: Tim-Tam Slam

2010-01-18T23:04:00.001-06:00

Yes, they actually have Girl Scout cookie jars. I have one.

We are finally down to 8 Thin Mints and 6 Dulce De Leches in our Girl Scout Cookie Jar! Two weeks ago, we still had at least 5 or 6 boxes of cookies left from last year's Cookie Sale. My Girl Scouts ate up about 3 boxes and I created my own recipe for Lemon Pie using 1/2 box of Lemon Chalet Cremes, 1/4 box of Lemonades and some stray Trefoils. Whew! Just in time for the new cookies, which arrive on January 29.

In the process of trying to figure out what to do with our leftover cookies, besides eat them of course, I found this interesting tidbit in the comments section of an article on the Orange County Register's website:

Have you heard of the Tim-Tam slam? It’s not a recipe, but it’s still a fun thing to do with a Girl Scout cookie. Here’s what you do:

Fill a mug with hot chocolate to just under the rim.
Bite off opposite ends of a Girl Scout thin mint (make them small bites since you want much of the cookie left to work with).
Dip one end in the hot chocolate, put your mouth on the opposite end.
Suck the hot chocolate through the cookie as if it were a straw.
After sipping just a tiny bit of hot chocolate the cookie will begin to disintegrate, so pop it in your mouth.
It will melt into your mouth like a tasty piece of warm, chocolatey, minty heaven.
Wash down with hot chocolate, of course!

Posted by Martha on March 5, 2009

I don't know, sounds like a recipe to me! And a yummy one! Will have to try this one out with our remaining 8 Thin Mints!

Images from Girl Scouts of the USA website

This Week Last Year: January 14, 2009

2010-01-17T22:16:00.005-06:00

I was busy with a special cake order on Friday evening and then too tired to blog after that! But I'm getting caught up with our endless photo backlog by revisiting Friday, January 14, 2009:

I blogged last year about the Spurs v. Lakers game that Dylan won tickets to at work. It was the best basketball game experience we've ever had! Box seats, hospitality suite, private bathroom, all the Cokes I could ever drink and Sean Elliot up close!

The game was close, but the Spurs prevailed. 112 to 111, but we'll take it. After the game, we sauntered to our reserved parking spot right outside the entrance, next to the limos and private cars. Awesome game!

Digital Layout Credits:
Creative Memories 'For Him', 'Go Team', 'Jewel Achievements': All paper & embellishments; Except wood floor paper (recolored) from 'Schoolin' by Kate Teague for Two Peas in a Bucket, Icy Alpha Set by Lauren Bavin for Digital Scrapbook Place, and Spurs Basketball from Google Images

Farewell to Christmas: Photo of the Week

2010-01-14T23:53:00.001-06:00

Christmas 2009 is finally packed up and out of sight at our house! Yesterday, I packed away this last decoration:

This is the ceramic "Piano & Mice" that my Mom made for me in the very early 1980s. Each piece was painted by hand with great detail, and the tree has actual miniature translucent plastic ornaments that "glow" when a light or candle is placed under the hollow tree. The mice's piano was modeled after my own piano, an oak Baldwin that I had received for Christmas. It's so cute! I think I've had this on display every Christmas ever since our second house in Austin, when we acquired a baby grand piano and therefore a "music room." I stopped taking piano lessons just a few years after I started, but I still dearly love to play Christmas carols on the piano. I treasure my "Piano & Mice" very much because it was made especially for me!

Doing For Themselves

2010-01-13T23:45:00.000-06:00

When I was growing up, my Mom would constantly remind us that she shouldn't have to do things (clean up, homework reminders, etc.) for us that we could do for ourselves. And that she wouldn't be around forever so therefore we should learn how to do these things for ourselves. This was said often in exasperation and met with a "yeah, whatever" on my end.

So now that I'm the Mom, I find myself saying the same exact things to my kids! How can I not?! Because it's true--I can do it for them over and over and over again, or I can teach them once and for all how to do it for themselves.

Here, let me show you where your jacket goes when you're not wearing it.

Look, this is how you unload the dryer.

Yes, this is how you tie your shoelaces.

Okay, this is how we put our dishes away after we're finished eating.

And they do learn, in small baby steps, how to do some things just like you've taught them. And they do remember, sometimes, where things go. But this morning, I truly felt like we'd turned the corner.

I usually get up around 6:35 am to supervise the getting up/getting dressed phase of our onging Project Get-Out-The-Door-On-Time. Either Thalia or Carys will turn off their shared alarm clock that rings promptly at 6:30 am, but there is often some heel-dragging going on after that. Then I prepare breakfast like a short-order cook at the busiest IHOP in town--I mean really fast. They eat a hot breakfast and sometimes talk or laugh or fight too much at the table so there is not enough eating going on. I do their hair while they eat (ever the multi-tasker). In general, this all happens under my, or sometimes Dylan's, direction.

But this morning! I woke up to the vague sound of water running in another room, which I assumed was one of the girls getting ready in the bathroom. There were also footsteps in the kitchen, which I assumed meant someone was ready to eat. I high-tailed it to the kitchen and discovered Thalia had already made breakfast for herself and Carys! I mean, she was putting the food on plates and putting away the ingredients! And a chorus of angels from above sang in absolute harmony as I stared in wonder at my oldest child doing for herself!

Breakfast, by the way, was raspberries washed carefully before serving (that explained the earlier sound of running water), toast with either Boursin cheese or butter and milk. I added some scrambled eggs, which Thalia would not have known how to heat up as I have not taught her the magic of the microwave yet. (And yes, I cook my eggs in the microwave.) But all those random lessons about toaster safety (ie. always use the bamboo tongs, never a metal fork) and using a knife carefully (to spread butter or cream cheese on toast) all came together this morning in perfect harmony--no burns or cuts or spills.

This morning wasn't rushed for me as it usually is, and they ate their breakfasts with enough time leftover to play for a few minutes before heading out the door. I'm so proud of my big girl! Today she showed me that she can take care of herself and her little sister, that she is responsible enough to be trusted with easy cooking tasks, and that she enjoys helping out. She's already asked when I'll show her how to cook eggs. Those baby steps lead to big steps in the end.

After-Christmas Shop & Save Tip

2010-01-13T23:17:00.000-06:00

Blogging on a schedule is too difficult for me! I forgot to post my Tuesday Shopping or Saving Tip yesterday. Will I ever get it together?!

I posted this on my personal blog already, but I think it's actually more appropriate on our family blog as it's all about my post-Christmas shop-and-save tips:

Here are two successful shopping strategies that I've used in the past few years, now that I have school-aged kids and their friends are also past the toddler years:

1) Holiday Gifts for Kids-- I no longer buy toys to give our close kid friends like I used to. Too confusing to remember who had what or what I'd already given the year before! And getting more and more expensive as our friends' families expanded in size as ours did as well. My big idea: Christmas books for the kids. I love Christmas books, as I've already mentioned, and love even more giving them to other families. And the best part is they always go on sale at bookstores nationwide and online after Christmas! A few days after Christmas last month, Carys and I had so much fun selecting several books each for the kids on our Christmas list. Board books for the chubby hands little ones who are just discovering words, holiday puzzle books and Mad-Libs for the beginning readers, and really cool chapter books set at Christmastime for the older kiddos. And since they are all on sale when I buy them, I just buy more of them to give! Books, by the way, are not cheap. A mere paperback for kids can set you back up to $10. So books on sale are always a good thing. The only sad thing was having to pack them away in the Rubbermaid box until November!

2) Teacher Gifts--This may not be much of an issue for those whose kids go to very small schools or have few teachers. However, my kids go to an elementary school with upwards of 1,100 kids. Lots of kids = lots of teachers! When you factor in the number of rotation teachers (art, gym, music, etc.) and specialists in addition to their homeroom teachers, that's alot of teachers. Each of my children are taught by 10 teachers or specialists. When I was growing up, my brother and I always gave gifts to our teachers at Christmas. I loved picking out the boxes of Whitman's Sampler or French pastille candy tins for my teachers. I did this through high school! Even the teachers I didn't like. (That whole Asians-respecting-elders thing.)

Thalia and Carys love giving to their teachers as well. Each year, we start weeks ahead and make hand-made Christmas cards for each teacher. This year was quite a challenge for Carys, going from three pre-school teachers from last year to this year's 10! Card-fatigue set in quickly! Thalia decided to make scrapbooked cards for her teachers using my scrapbooking supplies such as buttons, ribbons, glitter, pop-ups, etc. They looked great! (She gets it from me.)

On my end, I am in charge of selecting gifts for the 9 rotation/specialist teachers and 2 homeroom teachers without breaking the bank! And I like the girls to be part of the process, so they go with me in search of fabulous treats at fabulous prices. Our go-to store: Michael's. Hooray for the $1 bins at Michael's! For the past four years after Christmas, we've found awesome office supplies to give as gifts to the teachers. Some years they've been holiday themed (ie. Mary Engelbreit Christmas) and some years not (last year's colorful flower motif). We've found decorative binder clips, post-it notes, notepads, magnets and purse-size tissue packs, all of which a teacher friend has confirmed they can all use more of! And since they're 50 cents instead of $1 each we buy several of each and mix and match for each teacher, creating a useful gift with zero calories. I like to think that months later, when they're reaching for a binder clip in their desk, they think of our family!

Foodie Fun: Mrs. G's Amazing Butternut Squash

2010-01-11T00:01:00.004-06:00

This recipe is not mine and comes to us by way of one of my favorite blogs, The Women's Colony (specifically the Kitchen). Mrs. G has a funny backstory about how she came about this wonderful recipe. I made this for the first time for our very good friends who willingly tried and loved this last month. I've made it a few times in fact, and Dylan and I have rediscovered how much we love squash.

So here it is, sans Mrs. G's witty commentary which you can find directly at her blog:

1 medium butternut squash (peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes)

3 large eggs

1 3/4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup chopped green onions

2 tablespoons (packed) chopped fresh dill or 2 tsp. dried dill

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 stick butter

2 1/4 cups fresh bread crumbs (Sometimes Mrs. G. replaces 1 cup of the bread crumbs with 1 cup of crushed garlic croutons...your call)

Preheat oven to 350

Butter 13x9x2 in. baking dish

Steam squash until tender (about 10 minutes). Coarsely chop squash in food processor or blender.

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Blend in 1 cup of cheese, green onions, dill, salt and pepper. Add squash and mix thoroughly.

Melt butter in large skillet--add bread crumbs. Stir until bread crumbs begin to crisp and brown. Remove from heat.

Mix half of bread crumbs into squash mixture. Transfer squash mixture into prepared dish.

Mix remaining 3/4 cup cheese with remaining bread crumbs in skillet. Sprinkle crumb mixture over casserole.

Bake until topping is golden and squash mixture is set. About 35 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. Take a bow and enjoy.

My notes: I used more fresh dill than the 2 Tbsp. in the recipe. I added garlic powder and Pampered Chef dill seasoning mix to the fresh breadcrumbs and butter. I skipped the food processor/blender step and just mashed in my standing mixer.

Photo from Google Images

This Week Last Year: January 7, 2009

2010-01-08T15:46:00.006-06:00

In typical "Melissa" fashion, I'm months and years behind in scrapbooking our family's memorable moments. We've got lots of photos, both traditional and digital, just waiting in boxes and computer files to be rediscovered!

So our new Friday blog feature will be a completed digital layout of something from exactly a year ago (in this case 364 days ago).

Family Night at the JCC Pre-School
Event Theme: Discovering and Using Natural Materials in the Classroom (or something like that)

So basically Carys and her Dragonfly classmates showed us (siblings and parents) their new discoveries, such as seashells,rocks, pottery bowls, sticks and natural wood blocks. Not that they didn't love plastic-y Legos and other such toys, but it was all about getting back to nature in the classroom. My contribution was several pairs of wooden chopsticks, which I'm not sure were ever played with!

DIGITAL LAYOUT CREDITS:Layout template: Creative Memories Decorative Click & Fill Template; All Papers & Embellishments (some altered): Creative Memories Family Kit, CM Party Favor Kit, Frost Kit; Font: CK Journaling by Creating Keepsakes

Order, Order

2010-01-07T22:01:00.003-06:00

Happy 2010! If you were to visit my personal blog, you'd already know that I'm embarking on an ambitious (perhaps too much so) project for my collected blogs: imposing some order and structure over the none-too-frequent posts. I have weeks and weeks worth of posts, good ones, in my head, you know. And the blog post inbox is filled with unfinished posts that I've started but never got around to completing. No longer a problem! Here's what you'll see starting tomorrow (my apologies for the cutesy topic titles, I just couldn't help myself):

Mondays: Foodie Fun
Tuesdays: Product Reviews (a.k.a. Shopping) or alternately, Penny Pinches
Wednesdays: Mom Moments or Girl Scout Leader Tips (I've got lots of both)
Thursdays: Photo of the Week
Fridays: This Day Last Year (or something like that)

Come back soon! Although this schedule may not last, it will be fun trying!

Graphic image from Google Images

'Tis the Season to be Reading

2009-12-30T22:27:00.001-06:00

Wow, just found post this in my inbox from the 1st week of December! Better late than never, right?

We had a lovely, stress-free Thanksgiving this year, with many, many blessings to be thankful for. For the first time since 1999, I did not cook all or part of a Thanksgiving meal! I've been cooking and baking for Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday when I was growing up, since 1996, the year Dylan and I moved in together. This year, Thanksgiving dinner was a posh affair at the tony Las Ramblas restaurant at the Hotel Contessa on the Riverwalk. Everyone in our family loved it! Thalia and Carys absolutely adored that it was a buffet (there was even a low table with kid-food) and you could go back as many times as you wanted (in theory) for freshly-made waffles with ice cream on top. I kept thinking to myself, "Why have we not done this before?!"

We spent Thanksgiving weekend putting up our two Christmas trees and other indoor decorations, in addition to outdoor lights and reindeer. And on December 1st, as we do each year, we unpacked our box of Christmas books. I love to give Christmas books to kids, especially to mine! Classics such as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas as well as the novelty soft-covers with favorite current characters like Dora the Explorer, Backyardigans and Littlest Pet Shops.

One of Thalia's 1st Christmas books, 2001

Dora's parranda has delighted both girls since 2004

Thalia's absolute favorite Christmas book since 2007 and "the authority" on all things Santa-related

Carys loves this one right now. Once I explained all the Amelia-isms, she thought it was so funny!

And Melissa's own personal favorite from my childhood. I never, ever get tired of this one!

The girls got so excited when we unpacked and sorted through nine Christmases worth of books! They squealed with delight at rediscovering their favorites--very much like reuniting with old friends. They even enjoy re-reading the holiday baby board books. We always pack them back up at the end of the month, so all of December is spent reading Christmas stories every night in anticipation of the big day. Each book gives us a little bit of holiday spirit every day! Then all too soon, the books are back in storage until next Noel.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2009-12-23T19:19:00.009-06:00

Digital holiday greetings to our awesome friends and family who may not have received a snail mail card from us this year, for whatever reason! Apologies if we overlooked you, lost your address or if your card came back undeliverable. In any case, we wish you a Merry Everything and a Very Happy 2010!

Love,
Dylan, Melissa, Thalia & Carys

Card layouts:
Card #1:Paper & Embellishments (some recolored): 'Be Merry' kit by Cherie Mask for Two Peas in a Bucket; Creative Memories 'Candy Cane' kit; Word Art: Creative Memories 'Gazebo' kit; Font: MammaGamma by Jakob Fischer/Pizza Dude
Card #2: From Scrap Girls ScrapSimple Layout Template 'Be Jolly 3' Kit by Syndee Nuckles; All Paper & Embellishments (some recolored): 'Be Merry' Kit by Cherie Mask for Two Peas in a Bucket; Font: MammaGamma by Jakob Fischer/Pizza Dude
Card #3:Layout based on Scrap Girls ScrapSimple Card Template '4x6 Photo Cards 3' Kit by Syndee Nuckles; Papers (recolored): Creative Memories So Chic Kit; Embellishments: Round Ornaments by Me; Oval Ornament (recolored) from 'Be Merry' by Cherie Mask for Two Peas in a Bucket; Ribbons (recolored) by Peppermint Creative; Sheer Bow from Creative Memories 'Baby Love' Kit; Fonts: MA Sexy by Margarete Antonio, MammaGamma by Jakob Fischer/Pizza Dude
Card #4: All papers from Scrap Girls 'Kiddie Christmas' kit by Keri Schueller; Scallop Circle Frame (recolored) from 'October Orange' kit by Jennifer Pebbles for Two Peas in a Bucket; Word art (recolored) from Scrap Girls 'Perennials' kit by Valerie Randall; Font: MammaGamma by Jakob Fischer/Pizza Dude

Photography by: Rachael Myles Photography

Portrait of a Family

2009-11-20T01:30:00.008-06:00

It's been exactly 5 years since our last family portrait, taken by a graduate student/part-time photographer friend from Austin, who has since graduated and moved out of state. So we decided that we were long overdue for another one and went with the recommendation of a friend who has experience photographing young children.

I had booked the session weeks ago with the idea that we would use the images for our holiday cards, so my plan was to wear appropriate winter-ish colors and styles, such as sweaters. How was I to know that the temperature that day would be 80+ degrees?! Or that the sun would be shining so brightly with not a blessed cloud in the sky?!

We chose the Japanese Tea Garden at Brackenridge Park for our photo shoot, which is a lovely gem in the center of the city that I always forget is there. Admission to the Garden is free, which partly explains why there were--I kid you not--4 Quinceanera parties, 1 wedding party and at least 5 other families also having their professional photos taken there at that same hour! It was too funny how each group kept getting into another's shot. Except that there was a bit of waiting to set up the shots as a result.

Our photographer, Rachael Myles, was just lovely to work with, very professional but also so friendly and great with the girls. She was also very open to our suggestions and ideas for backgrounds and poses. She loved one of Dylan's ideas for using the bottom of a bridge as a background, which worked out well as there were never any other people there to ruin the shot!

Thalia and Carys were amazingly good-humored throughout the entire photo shoot, despite the sun and heat and crowds. They loved the Garden too, with its enormous koi and quaint bridges and waterfalls.

I've posted the highlights of our afternoon at the Japanese Tea Garden, which you may see again on our Christmas cards too!

All images by Rachael Myles Photography

School Pics: Fall 2009 Edition

2009-11-15T02:59:00.005-06:00

In general, school photos are not my kids' best pictures. The background colors are too strange, their smiles are too stilted, body poses are awkward, or there are distracting clothing or hair 'malfunctions.' We never request retakes either, because who knows if the next image will be worse than the original?!

I thought this year I would spruce the pics up a bit with my digital scrapbooking software and then print them out for our relatives and friends. And I was itching to use a brand-new autumn-themed digital kit!

I think the fall colors complemented the girls' outfits and made their smiles seem even brighter.

Layout Credits :
Layout: Scrap Girls ScrapSimple Digital Layout Album Templates-Layered: 4x6 Lay It Out by Syndee Nuckles.
All papers, embellishments & alphabet: Eloquent Autumn kit by Betsy Tuma for Two Peas in a Bucket (some recolored).

Happy Birthday, Kelly!

2009-11-13T21:14:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday, Aunt Kelly! We miss you!

Love,
Thalia & Carys

Smart Girls

2009-11-13T11:11:00.003-06:00

This is really cool, whether or not you're a parent of a tween girl or just a girl at heart. From the Girl Scouts of the USA online Leader Magazine:

Amy Poehler is known as a TV comedian (Saturday Night Live) and a movie actress (Baby Mama), but the former Girl Scout Brownie also is a Web pioneer. Hadn't heard? It's possible her Internet work flew just under your radar. Last fall, Poehler joined up with Meredith Walker, a former senior producer for Nickelodeon's Nick News, and musician Amy Miles, host of the PBS show Lomax: The Hound of Music. Their plan: Make an Internet-only TV series that could be viewed for free by anyone at any time. The title: Smart Girls at the Party. The subject: girls! In each of the first season's eight episodes, Poehler interviewed girls about their passions. She sat behind a round desk in a dark room (the set looks just like that of PBS's Charlie Rose) and introduced the show as a celebration of "extraordinary individuals who are changing the world by being themselves." Subjects included Cameron, a 10-year-old Poehler described as "a writer, poet, playwright, collector, and scooter enthusiast," and Ruby, a seven-and-three-quarter-year-old feminist who displayed her kindergarten report, A Few Things I'd Like to Share With You, with a section that read, "if a boy can do the monkey rings, so can a girl." Eleven-year-old Valentine, a "teacher, horticulturist, philosopher, activist, cat-lover," talked about gardening at New York City's community garden Open Road Park. "Our goal was to create a show we would have loved to watch when we were young," said Walker in a press release when the show launched. "We knew we wanted to honor real girls and their originality, and we knew we wanted to have fun doing it." Episodes run six to seven minutes, and each ends with an invigorating dance party. The great thing about the Web is that what's old to one person can be new to someone else. So track down the show at www.smartgirlsattheparty.com. New episodes are scheduled for this fall.

And they have a casting call on right now, so if you have a girl who'd love to talk about her talents and interests, hopes and dreams, she might be a part of Season 2!

Back to the Future

2009-11-06T23:35:00.000-06:00

Each year during Red Ribbon Week, our school shows its support for a drug-free society with five themed days that celebrate being drug-free. The last day has always been a 50s Sock Hop so we can "sock it to drugs." All the kids are invited to dress in 50s attire to celebrate. However, until last week, Thalia never took part in the Sock Hop.

This year I decided it would be fun for both girls to dress up as 50s gals, so I braved the last-minute Halloween crowds at the party store (50s Sock Hop day was Oct 30) and picked up the very last 'Pink Ladies' satin jacket and a pink poodle skirt. Unfortunately, the costume only came in Thalia's size; they had run out of anything smaller. But then we remembered that Thalia's dance recital costume from the previous year had been a yellow poodle skirt (only instead of a poodle it was musical notes) complete with a black crinoline and top! Hooray! The skirt no longer fits Thalia but with a very slight safety pin modification, it fit Carys nicely. Thalia's hair scarf from dance recital was also perfect for her 'Pink Ladies' look.

Here are my girls when they went back in time:

Glamour Witch

2009-11-05T23:12:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I look into my oldest child's face, searching for a glimpse of the impishly sweet toddler she once was. Each growing year takes her further and further away from that idyllic stage of our shared life as "Mommy and little girl." Of course, that is as it should be.

On Halloween night, I experienced the same longing for the earlier days when I snapped photos of my daughter in her tweenish costume of Glamour Witch. She looked so "big girl" to me, so mature and different. So grown up.

She got quite into character as the Glamour Witch and had a blast. During our costume run-through the week before, I realized that the outfit needed some "oomph." She already had some killer (age-appropriate) heeled boots that she just received from her generous Aunt Kelly and Uncle Richard, so I added some fishnet hose to complete the glamour look. (It's very strange, almost disconcerting, to know you can buy fishnet hose for girls as young as 2 years old, by the way.) But it was exactly what the costume needed!

And yet, a part of me wished she could have been a pixie-dusted fairy or courageous and strong princess just once more. *sigh*

Happy Birthday, Steve

2009-11-04T23:41:00.004-06:00

Possibly my most favorite photo that I ever took of Tyra and Steve, sometime in the wonderful 1990s.

In honor of your birthday, Steve--my first impressions of meeting you. You are very much loved and missed.

I first met Steve Damm in June 1992 when he and his friend Will picked up my best friend Tyra and me for a pre-Cure concert tailgate at Texas Stadium. I came by my free ticket to the Cure concert through Tyra, who came by her four tickets through her ex-fiance. Tyra, who is just too kind sometimes for her own good, thought that perhaps we should attend the concert with the ex-fiance, as he had bought the tickets. Her friend Will thought otherwise. I agreed whole-heartedly with Will. Will’s friend from high school, Steve, finished out our happy foursome.

We arrived at the Texas Stadium parking lot with plenty of time for a pre-concert-getting-to-know-you happy hour (I vaguely recall trying Seagram’s 7 for the first time). We laughed alot. Our tailgate ended on a boisterous note with both Steve and Will each taking turns wearing my beautiful, beloved Sunflower Hat, and only slightly mocking me for owning it. It was a black hat trimmed with an extremely large sunflower. (Upon reflection, it was a slightly obnoxious hat, but otherwise still very beautiful.) Some random impressions during the tailgate:

Seagram’s 7 mixed with something else isn’t half bad.

Steve was the more outgoing of the two guys.

The concert was loud, dark and awesome. I remember very little about it, only that we stood and danced and sang with the Cure. After the concert, we stopped at a convenience store, and Steve bought some Texas Lottery scratch-off cards. (Texas Lottery scratch-offs were brand-new that summer). We watched as he scratched off each one in front of the store, and on one of them, he won $20! Lucky! I said something like “What are you going to do with your twenty bucks?” thinking he would spend it somewhere else, like I would. But Steve just said, “I’m going to buy 20 more!” He dashed back into the store and did just that. Twenty more scratch-offs later, he was back down to 0 again and couldn’t be happier. He was like a kid in a candy store. Had I ever known anyone who could derive such joy from lottery tickets?

I had half-forgotten about the lottery tickets until recently, and when I thought about it again I knew it was the first of many quintessentially Steve moments that I was lucky enough to share. He was the kind of guy who wasn’t afraid to risk it all (lottery tickets or otherwise) and enjoy every moment of it! I knew from the very first hour that I spent in his company that he was unpredictable and adventurous and funny.

Oddly enough, I don’t think I realized on that summer night that he was perfect for my best friend. But then again, they didn’t need my help to figure that out!

Halloween Hair

2009-11-03T14:02:00.001-06:00

This year we paid alot more attention than usual to Halloween costumery at our house. In addition to the costumes needed for Halloween night, Thalia and Carys each were invited to a costume party the week before and their school had a 50s-themed costume day the day before Halloween. By October 31st, I was a bit costumed out!

Carys could not wait to get dressed for trick-or-treating last Saturday. She asked all day long if it was time to get ready yet! Cute, yes, but also increasingly irritating as the day wore on. So at 4:30 pm, well before sunset, I finally gave in and told her she could put on her costume. Her Tinker Bell costume was too cute, but it lacked a certain something to really finish the look. I decided it was the hair. We toyed with possible mini-pigtails (she has very short hair) and Carys fetched one of her Tinker Bell dolls so we could have a good visual. She noted that in the recent movie, Tinker Bell, Tink wears a bun in her hair. So we decided to go for it. Basically I was going to put up her extremely short hair, which is very nearly impossible except that I know all the tricks from Thalia's mandatory-bun days at the dance studio! Carys's bun was actually an almost-bun, held together with bobby pins, clips and lots of hair spray, but from far away looked like the real Tink thing. She loved it and was so proud! And only 2 1/2 hours to go before trick-or-treating!

Our "Stinker Bell": Soooo darn cute!

Girl Scout Scrapbooking

2009-11-02T13:45:00.001-06:00

Lately I've been working on digitally scrapbooking the many, many photos taken at Thalia's Girl Scout Brownie troop meetings and outings from the past three years! I was starting to feel doubly guilty about not doing anything at all with the pics; in addition to the Mom-guilt, I also had Leader-guilt since I'm in charge of the whole troop! So, I'm working on some simple layouts with a very limited palette of papers and embellishments on purpose so I'll have a fighting chance at actually completing this project.

I also finished a digital scrapbook of Thalia's Daisy Girl Scout year (2006-07) several months ago. Even after limiting myself to a single color scheme (blue), the album took several weeks to complete! Too slow! But I'm proud of how it turned out, and Thalia loved it. Here's one of the finished pages:

It's NaBloPoMo Time!

2009-11-01T14:00:00.000-06:00

Pumpkin Heads

2009-10-29T01:08:00.003-05:00

October has been such a crazy busy month for us! We have:

gone out of town to visit our loved ones
celebrated at several birthday parties and a wedding
worked on projects for school and home
baked ginormous amounts of sweet treats
participated in many Girl Scout events
sold nuts and candy as a fundraiser

So we almost went through the entire month without one of our annual October outings, to the Pumpkin Patch! But last Saturday we squeezed it in, literally, between Carys' Daisy Girl Scout field trip to the Red Balloon book store in the morning and a birthday party for Carys' school friend and gymnastics Halloween party for Thalia in the afternoon and evening. We also bought 4 mini pumpkins and 1 medium-sized pumpkin for Carys' classroom pumpkin carving event this week. Whew!

We also finally tried on our Halloween costumes and found out that Thalia's is slightly too large and Carys' is slightly uncomfortable. After some modifications involving safety pins and encouraging words, we did a trial run so I could take some photos of them in the daylight. Did they ever love posing in their Halloween finery!

The girls are so excited about Halloween this weekend. They spent some of their free time this past weekend stuffing treat bags full of candy, stickers and little Halloween toys for the ghosts and goblins (or should I say Hannahs and Stormtroopers) who come to our door. They love doing this! We've filled 120 treat bags so far. We are so ready for Saturday night!

Layout Credits:
Paper, Owl Tag, Tree Branch (recolored), Word Art: 'Thrilling' October Free Kit by Cherie Mask for Two Peas in a Bucket; Swirl Overlay (recolored): Creative Memories 'Calendar' Free Predesigned Pages

The Royal Treatment

2009-10-26T21:21:00.001-05:00

On October 11th, Thalia and Carys were guests at the 'My Princess and Me' fundraising event on behalf of the St. Peter-St. Joseph's Children's Home. My company, Sweetest Whimsy, was one of the sponsors of the event, providing 500 cupcakes, 300+ cookies and a 4-tier display cake. After setting up the cake table, my main role during the event was being in charge of the Cookie Decorating Activity, which 'My Princess and Me' had never offered before (my own idea!). Princesses Thalia and Carys toured the 'castle' with their grandmother while I volunteered at the cookie booth. Their first stop, of course, was to say 'Hi' to Mom and decorate their own cookies!

Decorating some of the 300+ cookies Mom baked for the event with frosting, chocolate chips and rainbow sprinkles!

Smiley face cookie by Thalia

Abstract cookie design by Carys

Then it was on to hair styling, makeup application and photo shoot with Grandma inside the Red Berry Mansion. The girls really got the star treatment from the many professional hair stylists and makeup artists who volunteered to transform the little girls!

Thalia's hair glamour: a bun on top, ringlets on the bottom and lots of hair glitter!

Carys gets the Cinderella treatment from TWO Aveda hair stylists!

Hannah! Hannah!

Meet & Greet with the most awesome Hannah Montana impersonator ever! (Plus a few of her "entourage"!)

Face painting artist hard at work on Carys' design

Viola! A rainbow for Princess Carys

After all the glamour, the girls were treated to a special performance by San Antonio's premier Hannah Montana impersonator! Seriously, she was very, very good. (Look out, Miley Cyrus!) Then there was the photo opp with her. Thalia and Carys also sampled my pink cupcakes, which they'd seen me working on for the past several days. Carys and Grandma stood in a long line so Carys could get her face painted, while Thalia hung around my booth.

At the end of the event, we were all tired but had a great time raising money for some special kids in San Antonio!

Little Longhorn, Part 2

2009-10-02T01:28:00.002-05:00

Not to be outdone, of course, Carys created her dream college collage the day after her sister did. She really put quite a bit of time and work into it. Notice her "fancy" new signature at the bottom! (She is just learning how to write words right now in kindergarten, so I wrote her statement for her.)

Carys has been a Longhorn at heart since she was born! She mastered the "Hook 'Em" sign at a very early age, earlier than her sister did, and loves to spot the UT Longhorn logo everywhere! She also loves to wear her Longhorn gear, unlike her sister who, although likes UT, does not like burnt orange as a color. (Whatever.)

We hope one or both of the girls will win the contest at school for best design! Winning classes get a popcorn party!

Little Longhorn

2009-09-28T22:44:00.003-05:00

This is Thalia's contribution to her classroom's College-Theme Door Decorating Contest. Every child is supposed to create something that represents their "dream college." How proud am I of my future Longhorn?! Like Mother, like Daughter!

Longhorn Gal, taken October 2007

Princess for a Day: An Invitation

2009-09-10T08:50:00.006-05:00

You are cordially invited to take part in a fairy tale Mother/Daughter event, My Princess & Me, at the elegant and historical Red Berry Mansion on the Lake on Sunday, October 11! For just a $30 donation, each little Princess will receive a professional hairstyle from top hairstylists in San Antonio, make-up application, a tea party, music, dancing and a keepsake photo with her Queen Mum – all while helping support the children of St. Peter – St. Joseph Children’s Home.

Princesses will arrive in their most royal finery with their Mothers (or Grandmothers, Aunts, Sisters, Friends). All Princesses will receive a magical treat of hair design and makeup from our very talented fairies.

And this year, my company, Sweetest Whimsy, invites all Princesses to decorate their own royal cookie treats and dine on special Princess Cake and punch with their Moms! I will provide all the sweet ingredients for each girl to let her inner sugar artist come out!

There will be time for a fairy tale photo to remember this special day. What could be more magical than seeing hundreds of girls of all ages enjoying time with their Mothers and new friends?

Of course, this Royal Event wouldn’t be complete without dancing! Princesses will gather together and dance to great music with girls from the Royal Court. Special appearances by San Antonio Fiesta 2010 Queen of the Vine, Hannah Montana and other special guests!

And the best part of all? 100% of the profits from this royal event go directly to St. Peter - St. Joseph's Children's Home! St. P-J's is a home for children who have suffered sexual and emotional abuse, neglect, poverty and broken homes, as well as a community counseling and service center for families in crisis. This event is made possible by the many companies and individuals who are providing funding, services and in-kind donations, and I am thrilled that Sweetest Whimsy is a sponsor this year! I hope everyone will join me at the Red Berry Mansion on the Lake!

Event Details:

Sunday, Oct.11th, 2009

12:00pm - 4:00pm

The Red Berry Mansion on the Lake

858 Gembler Road

San Antonio, Texas

Ticket Information: Order Your Tickets Online!

$30 donation per person ~ Your entire donation goes to help St P-J's Home

(Or call 210-408-0101 to purchase tickets)

All images from the My Princess & Me website

In the Blink of an Eye

2009-08-24T08:30:00.008-05:00

The passage of time is never felt more keenly than on days like today, the first day of school. And today's experience was even more bittersweet because our youngest child, my "baby", went off to Kindergarten.

Here's a look back at our family's "first days" in public school since 2006:

Thalia: Kindergarten 2006

Thalia: 1st Grade 2007

Thalia: 2nd Grade 2008

Thalia: 3rd Grade 2009

Little Miss Cupcake: Our new Kindergartener, Carys! 2009

Our "school-age" kiddos this morning, August 2009

The first 5 years really and truly go by like the blink of an eye. And the years after seem to pass even quicker! Today my "tween" age daughter sported size 6 ladies running shoes, a size 10-12 outfit and new glasses to school--what happened to my little girl?! At least Carys is still "little" (perhaps the only kindergartener still wearing a size 3!) . . .

Both girls are excited about school and their new teachers. We are off to a great start! And Thalia's cast comes off this afternoon! We are all so blessed.

Happy New School Year, everyone!

Using It All Up, Part 2

2009-08-08T03:46:00.011-05:00

Yesterday's culinary challenge, as part of our ongoing effort to eat up everything in the fridge, involved some of the same stuff we had the day before, just more of it.

So to start off with, we still had these perishables:

ground turkey (which technically would have survived our vacation in the deep freeze)
1/2 bag of sliced baby bella mushrooms
onions
1/2 a brick of cream cheese (leftover from a previous recipe)
6 corn-on-the-cobs (down from 8 earlier in the day)
3 heads of lettuce (down from 4 the day before)
bunch of cilantro
fresh flat-leaf parsley
celery
1 1/2 tomatoes on the vine
bunch of green onions
1 squished slice of potato bread
1/2 of a cantaloupe

From these varied ingredients, I turned out a pretty darn good dinner that featured my new creation, which I will call:

Melissa's Dinner Dish
I am calling it thus because the finished product, on the outside at least, looked very much like something Nigella Lawson makes called "Granny Lawson's Lunch Dish." But basically, it starts with a version of stroganoff with turkey instead of beef because that's what I had. I based the stroganoff filling recipe on one from the Land o' Lakes Treasury of Country Recipes cookbook.

Brown the ground turkey with some chopped onions and sliced mushrooms. I wish I had thrown in some sliced green onions as well for flavor and color, and I will next time. Add softened cream cheese, parsley, some thyme (I love thyme!), fresh ground pepper and garlic salt. Add some fresh bread crumbs made with the leftover slice of bread (using a food processor). The bread crumbs kind of hold the whole thing together.

Now for my magic ingredient! I threw in a non-perishable item that is quite possibly my new favorite time-saving ingredient-- Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations. Yes, it's a really weird name for one of their many tubes of dough, but I don't care what they call it, it's great! I generally don't buy tubes of biscuits or rolls very often, but I happened to buy some pie crust for another recipe a few weeks ago and discovered the Crescent Recipe Creations. It's basically a sheet of crescent roll dough that hasn't been cut into triangle shapes as usual, so you can use it as a pizza dough and such.

I unrolled the crescent dough and was able to fit half of the turkey mixture on one side of the dough. I folded the dough over and crimped with a fork. So it looked like an enormous hot pocket pie kind of thing. Since I still had a second tube of Crescent Recipe Creations (that is a totally strange name for this product!), I went ahead and made a second "dinner dish" to eat the next day, before we leave for the airport.

I baked both for about 15-17 minutes at 350 degrees in the oven, and while it was baking Thalia said "What are you cooking, Mommy? That smells really good!" Always a promising sign.

This is what it looked like out of the oven:

And here is a slice of it:

This is what it reminded me of, Nigella's Granny's "Lunch Dish," although her crimping is much prettier:

The girls were very interested in my "Dinner Dish." And here are the "reviews":

"Mommy, this tastes awesome. Really good." ~ Carys, age 5 and the pickiest eater in our family

"This tastes kind of like crab rangoon. I love crab rangoon." ~ Thalia, age 8 and adores cream cheese in just about anything

"It's good!" ~ Dylan, who will eat anything I make anyway

It tasted pretty good and the crescent roll dough is very light. No leftovers! We also ate up a head of lettuce, a half of a tomato, some corn and some melon. Almost an empty fridge!

Using It All Up

2009-08-06T22:31:00.004-05:00

We are leaving very soon for our Pacific Northwest vacation, which will include some beach time! Therefore, I've been trying very hard to cook up and eat all of the perishables in our fridge before we go. Yesterday, we had ground turkey, mushrooms, onions, half of a very large zucchini from a friend's garden and 1 bell pepper to use up. So this is what I dreamed up in my head, and it turned out really great! I love when that happens. If you happen to have these in your fridge too, here's a yummy way to cook it all up:

Stuffed Pepper & Zucchini

1 chopped onion
1/2 bag of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 lb. ground turkey
1 large can of tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups cooked white rice
large, long bell pepper, top trimmed and insides removed, cut in half lengthwise
zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and seeds scooped out
grated parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning
basil
oregano
garlic salt
black pepper

I sauteed the veggies and turkey until no longer pink and then added
half of the tomato sauce and seasonings. I didn't measure any of them, just added "to taste." Simmered for a while.

Meanwhile, I micro-steamed the bell pepper and zucchini for about 3-4 minutes.

Then added the cooked white rice to the turkey mixture. I put the 4 veggie pieces (2 bell pepper halves and 2 zucchini halves) into a lightly greased pyrex dish. I scooped 1/4 of the mixture into each half of the pepper and zucchini and poured rest of the tomato sauce over the whole thing. Sprinkled grated parmesan cheese on top of each mound. Baked for about 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

I had intended to just use bell peppers, but as I only found 1 in the fridge, the zucchini substitution was a last-minute inspiration.

Quiche in Every Way

2009-07-24T17:03:00.005-05:00

This week I found myself with 36 eggs in the fridge that need to be used up before we head for the beach and other places. They're left over from my "cake hell week" when I created and decorated enough cake for over 300 people. Hmm . . . eggs . . . definitely no more cakes . . . quiche?!

I have the best and easiest quiche recipe from my college roommate and dear friend Lea. Ever since she made it for our going-away party in 2003 when we left Austin, I've taken her simple recipe and made it a gazillion different ways, and it's always good! So if you too have a surplus of eggs, here's a great way to use them up. The recipe only calls for 2 eggs, but I make enough quiche filling to fill up 2-3 pie crusts at a time. You can freeze them too.

Lea's Famous Quiche

1 unbaked deep-dish pie shell
1/2 lb. ground beef or sausage (Lea likes the Sage sausage)
1/2 cup mayonnaise NOT Miracle Whip
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 cups Cheese (Cheddar and Swiss OR Cheddar and Jack, the latter Lea's and my favorite)
Dash of Pepper
1/3 cup chopped onion (Lea says optional, she doesn't usually include for breakfast quiche)

Brown meat and onions. Drain grease.
Blend next 4 ingredients in a bowl. Cornstarch and mayo first, then eggs and milk.
Stir in meat, cheese and pepper.
Turn into the pie shell. Bake 350 to 375 degrees F for 30-45 minutes, until top begins to brown.
For 2 quiches, just double the recipe.

So the recipe, as is, is pretty excellent. However, a few years ago we hosted a vegetarian Thanksgiving at our house, and I wanted to have a veggie dish that would also have some protein in it. So I substituted the meat with some veggies and came up with this option:

Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche

In place of the meat in Lea's Famous Quiche recipe, add:

2-3 Tbsp. julienne-sliced sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil)
a couple of handfuls of chopped fresh spinach leaves

I also included the optional chopped onions. This recipe was awesome, if I do say so myself, and a nice addition to the Thanksgiving table.

When I've made it again, for just our family and no vegetarians, I've included cooked, diced chicken breast meat. Or you could also throw in diced leftovers from yesterday's roasted chicken dinner.

Southwestern Quiche

This is a generic name for adding some spice to the recipe.
In place of the beef or sausage in Lea's Famous Quiche, add:

1 small can of chopped green chilies (drained)
about 1/2 cup corn kernels
about 1/2 cup chopped bell peppers (any color)
cooked, diced chicken breast meat OR diced ham OR crumbled bacon (optional)

I include the optional chopped onions as well. You could also substitute jalapeno jack cheese for the milder cheddar/Swiss/jack cheeses. Serve quiche slices with salsa if desired.

I have yet to try a seafood variation on this recipe, but might venture into that soon. Maybe with lots of fresh dill? I'll have to play around with that. That's the best part about creating your own recipes, the taste-testing!

Photo from Google Images

Eggs-ellent Entertainment

2009-07-23T14:29:00.000-05:00

Another one of those posts stuck in the limbo of my blog drafts inbox . . . some cutesy photos of the gals Easter egg hunting this past Spring! And amazingly, Dylan is not in the photos and I am!

Adaptation

2009-07-22T00:59:00.012-05:00

What a difference a week makes! It's been just over a week since Thalia's big accident, and it was certainly a week of ups and downs. Thalia was in pain for the first couple of days after having the bones set, which was to be expected. She basically cried all day for two days, poor thing, with little relief from the pain meds. But visits from friends definitely cheered her up as did the cards, emails and gifts that arrived for her (thanks to everyone who took the time to do this!). She spent Tuesday and Wednesday icing down and elevating her arm while watching show after show on Disney Channel.

The first couple of days were also painful for Mom! Thalia needed assistance with going to the bathroom, washing hands, getting dressed and basically anything else that involved her hands. I hadn't spoon-fed Thalia since she was a toddler, so that was a surreal experience. The crying and complaining about pain and boredom also wore on my nerves, sad as it was.

By Saturday, however, she was able to sit in a restaurant and use a fork with her other hand to eat salad! And she had figured out how take herself to the potty--hooray! This process was helped along by dressing her in loose dresses only so she wouldn't have to deal with buttons, snaps or zippers. Big huge thanks to Thalia's godmother, Amy, and her godsister, Kendall, for quickly sending us a week's worth of spaghetti-strap and halter-top dresses to wear! Because there was no way that big fat cast was going to fit through hardly anything in her closet!

Furthermore, we figured out a way to bathe her with the challenge of the non-waterproof cast. Dylan installed a hand-held shower in the girls' bathroom which made it a little easier to get her squeaky clean. (Although the hand-held thing is still a bit unwieldy and we're trying to do every-other-day showers if possible. Thank God for that press-n-seal stuff). She can "kind of" wash her good hand at the sink but still requires help with the soap, plus we're using hand sanitizer on her injured hand as much as possible.

Yesterday, Thalia finally ventured out without the sling, finally getting used to the heft of the cast. Thalia also managed to open the car door and buckle her seat belt all by herself by using her good arm and her teeth to help out! She is particularly proud of this. She also uses her one good hand to play with her hand-held Nintendo DS, which is rather impressive. But perhaps the sign that she was really adapting to her situation was when I discovered that she had climbed a stool to reach board games with her good arm on the highest shelf in the playroom . . . healthy self-confidence or just sheer craziness?!

So things are kind of back to normal at our house. She's still sad that her sister goes to camp every morning and she does not. She's trying to keep an open mind about it all, but still goes to bed each night wishing she had her "normal" hand back. We're constantly trying to set up playdates and she's enjoyed having friends over already. It's not the summer we planned or expected, but life is funny like that.

We're visiting the doctor once a week for follow-up and x-rays, and during yesterday's visit he said the bones were healing nicely. The spacers were removed from the cast which was tightened up and covered with yet another layer of blue fiberglass material (now the cast is even heavier!). We're keeping our fingers crossed that the doctor will ok a shorter, water-proof cast before we leave for our trip next month. But if he doesn't, we'll still make the most of our days at the beach. With lots of plastic wrap around her arm.

The Blue Cast Girls
Thalia and a friend from school who also broke her arm this summer; together they make up a healthy set of arms and hands!

Sympathetic Casting
Thalia's playdate sports her own cast and sling, made with the material from Thalia's splint, and some foam and yarn!

And Summer Abruptly Ends

2009-07-14T10:17:00.005-05:00

(Cake by Charm City Cakes; photo from Google images)

Yesterday morning, Thalia was at a summer camp field trip at the roller skating rink. She was skating along very nicely until a big boy slammed into her. The kid, by the way, didn't even stop or apologize (jerk!). Thalia fell hard and was taken by ambulance to the ER where Dylan and I met her. I was the last to find out about all of this as I had accidentally left my cell phone on the charger at home before I left to run a bunch of errands, but the camp staff was able to get a hold of Dylan quickly.

One of her counselors rode with her in the ambulance to Methodist Children's ER where it was determined that she broke her right wrist in 2 places. After a few hours in the ER, we went to see the pediatric orthopedic physician who said she would need to have her wrist fixed up and cast in the hospital under anaesthesia. So back we went to Methodist Hospital to have her admitted and prepped for the procedure. Having her "asleep" allowed the doctor to manipulate the bones exactly where they need to be to heal properly. It was a thankfully short procedure and she is now sporting a lovely powder blue cast that is unfortunately not waterproof. No overnight stay required and we got home around 9 pm after side trips to the pharmacy and HEB for soup and popsicles. What a day!

She was in alot of pain today and a brave little trooper overall,
having ridden the ambulance without either of her parents and endured alot of poking and prodding and bad-tasting medicine from a bunch of strangers. Thalia was completely worn out after 13 hours without food or even water and all the time spent hurry up-waiting at the hospital and doctor's office. We're quite relieved that it was only her wrist as it could have been much worse.

Anyway, Thalia will not be returning to camp or tennis for the rest of the summer as she is not allowed physical activity or swimming for 8 weeks. Basically, she can't do anything that requires two hands just now. So we've canceled camp, tennis and swim lessons and shelved some of our summer plans that involved water or being outside for a long time. (That cast is heavy and hot!) She's feeling very sad about "summer" being cut short rather suddenly and is looking forward to some "quiet" playdates.

Ironically, she broke bones in the same arm in which she broke her elbow exactly 4 years ago. It's also ironic that Thalia has gotten so much better at roller skating over the past few months and enjoyed practicing with her own white and pink skates! It was great to see her confidence growing every time she went to the skating rink. Here's a pic of our skating diva being wheeled out of the hospital last night:

Finally . . . headed for home! (And my teddy bear's arm has a cast too!)

The Heart of Winter, Part 2

2009-06-24T14:03:00.006-05:00

This is a continuation of a blog post from several months ago, on the first day of spring in fact. Well, now we're officially a few days into summer, so might as well finish up that post!

As I was saying a few months ago, winter can be kind of blah after the holidays. But our winter was punctuated by a few exciting events, including my birthday and Spring Break!

Gruene, Texas with friends

Birthday Celebration

Spring Break treat: Salon treatments at the American Girl Dallas store for our dolls! Thalia's doll, Felicity, got her ears pierced and Carys's Bitty Baby had a relaxing spa facial! Then more girly fun with our friend Katie.

Viva Fiesta! (Segunda Parte)

2009-06-20T18:43:00.005-05:00

Oops, forgot to add these Fiesta images to yesterday's post, showing Carys's royal encounter with Miss Fiesta San Antonio 2009 and her Court and our Fiesta eating frenzy!

LAYOUT CREDITS:
1st LO by Stickersnfun.com. Papers: Creative Memories 'Family' Kit; Embellishments: Creative Memories 'Everyday' Kit (recolored ribbon); Digital Scrapbook Place 'After Midnight' Kit by Nicole Young & 'Faerie Wish Kit' by Emma Powell (recolored wand); Creative Memories 'Disney Princesses' Kit (recolored word art).

2nd LO from Stickersnfun.com. Papers: Creative Memories 'Family' & 'Everyday' Kits; Embellishments: Digichick 'Sweet & Sassy' by Mira Designs, Shabby Princess 'Dinner Party' by Sara Carling, Creative Memories Strawberry; Shape. Maracas background by me.

Viva Fiesta!

2009-06-17T13:41:00.002-05:00

The Girl Scouts at the Fiesta de los Ninos Parade

Where do the days go?!? I started this post about 2 months ago and here it is, still unfinished. Fiesta 2009 came and went in a blur, and for the first time in many years, we actually took part in one of its official events. Thalia, as a member of the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas Public Relations Team, was invited to march in the 3rd annual Fiesta de los Ninos parade! All of the girls in our troop were also invited to join in the fun. Unfortunately, the two weekends of Fiesta are some of the busiest ever, so only one other Brownie was able to go.

The Parade was the kick-off of the fairly new Fiesta event hosted by Port San Antonio, located at the former Kelly AFB. Parade lineup started early, at 8 am, and the rainy weather the day before had us a little wary about driving all the way out there. Sure enough, about five minutes after we got out of the car, it started to rain! (And then we discovered that Thalia had left her raincoat at home.)

Amazingly, the rain stopped as the lineup began. And although there were still dark clouds above, the parade went off without a hitch. Start time was a bit later than planned, but we definitely weren't bored while waiting for it to start. There were Fiesta celebrities to meet!

Several red Cadillacs pulled up right in front the parade-watching spot that Dylan, Carys and I had staked out along with the other Girl Scout parents and siblings. Through the window of the "Official Car of Miss Fiesta San Antonio," I spied several tiaras. Fiesta royalty had arrived! Carys was star-struck. Miss Fiesta San Antonio stepped out of the first car directly in front of her! Two other tiara-and-flip-flop-wearing Princesses got out of the other car. The "official" Fiesta photographer ran up to us to take a photo of Carys with the royalty. Carys was doing her "shy" bit, but you could tell she was soooo excited. We also had an impromptu meet-and-greet with the SA Missions Baseball "Ballapeno." And while we waited for the parade to start, parade volunteers handed out Fiesta pins to all the kids. Carys scored two of them.

The parade started and it was really exciting to see our girls march with our troop banner (custom-made by me and Thalia). And they wore the requisite Fiesta wreaths in their hair, of course. Other troops pulled tiny little homemade shoebox floats or red wagon floats. Very clever ideas. There were fewer girls than expected due to the uncertain weather.

We got pics of the girls at the beginning and end of the short parade route and then followed them to the stage where they made up the color guard for the flag ceremony. The flag ceremony was led by the Sons of the American Revolution, all decked out in their impressive costumes. We listened to some short speeches by local lawmakers and the elementary school-aged Queen and Princesses of the Fiesta de los Ninos were crowned. Very cute. And the little girl who designed the event's official Fiesta pin was recognized for her very impressive artwork:

Then it was time to eat! The best part of any Fiesta event is the food! Our mouths were already watering throughout the parade from the heavenly scents of fiesta food. We enjoyed: hot dogs, Frito pies, snowcones, frozen fruit bars, soft drinks and candy. But there were lots more we could have eaten, had we not restrained ourselves! The best thing about the food was the prices--very, very reasonable for Fiesta and we'll be back again next year with our appetites.

There were some other activities there (moon bounce, games, rides) and the weather was looking a little bit brighter, but I voted for a post-Fiesta nap after lunch! We hope our troop will be invited to participate again next year and make it a yearly tradition.

LAYOUT CREDITS:
First LO: LO scraplifted from Scrap Girl's M Re. Mexican serape background created by me; Creative Memories "Everyday" Kit: paper; Creative Memories Freebie: Nuts & Bolts Border; Digital Scrapbook Place Red puffy paint alpha set, Digital Scrapbook Place "Sapphires & Faded Jeans": Flowers (recolored); Digital Scrapbook Place "Welcome Kit": Ribbon Frame (recolored); Digital Scrapbook Place "Annika's Dress" by Samara Gugler: Twisted Ribbons (recolored); RAK Scraps February 2009 Mega Kit: Bows (recolored)

Second LO:LO scraplifted from unknown artist. Creative Memories "Everyday" Kit: papers; Creating Keepsakes "Whimsical Rain" by Amanda Dykan: Alpha Set; Two Peas in a Bucket "December Free Pea Kit" by Rhonna Farrar: Starbursts (altered); Digital Scrapbook Place "Annika's Dress" by Samara Gugler: Twisted Ribbon (recolored); RAK Scraps February 2009 Mega Kit: Bows (recolored); RAK Scraps February 2009 Mega Kit by Designs by Shannon: Ribbon (recolored); Broken Cascaron created by me; Maracas background by me

Eat My Face

2009-05-13T14:36:00.006-05:00

Or, Really, Really ?!*%&$#@ Mother's Day Gifts

(This is simultaneously being posted on Melissa's blog because it's just that good)

If you're a Mom, what did you get for Mother's Day? Brunch with your family and a complimentary rose? (Or better yet, complimentary Mimosas?) A day off from cooking and other mundane mommy-chores? Or maybe even a store-bought gift? I sent my own Mom her favorite perfume and a card across the miles since we couldn't spend the day together.

I was excitedly summoned to the living room on Sunday morning by my kids for the presentation of a mysterious gift that arrived earlier that week. Hints of a wonderful "surprise" had me slightly curious, although in all honesty, I've learned over the past 8 years that lowering your expectations to the point of nothingness is really the way to go with this holiday. There were homemade cards that the girls created at school and at home, and of course, I always love and appreciate those. Thalia also made me a "rock person" at school, and even has the hot-glue gun burns to prove it! But last of all was the piece de resistance:

Don't you love it?! What do you mean, what is it? My FACE on M&Ms of course, silly goose!!! Yeah, because every Mom wants to eat her own face in chocolate, right?!

As a bonus, the M&Ms also have custom sayings on them:
Best Mom Ever!
Terrific Wife!

I was rather underwhelmed by my gift. I think Thalia picked up on that right away, because she quickly said "It was Daddy's idea." And so it was. Apparently my spouse thought it was a great gift idea. Interesting. Of course my little half-pints went along with it, what do they know? Candy for Mom? Hooray! They chose the colors, pink and platinum.

To humor them, I opened one of the three packages of customized M&Ms and let my kids eat my face. Several times in fact.

And then I got up off the couch and went back to bed for three more hours. Happy Mother's Day, y'all.

Pretty as a Princess

2009-04-30T01:06:00.003-05:00

I wrote an entire post about the background behind this particular layout of Carys. Blogger crashed and my writing wasn't saved, so here is the layout sans description, because I think it's so cute anyway!

Taken at Carys's pre-school Purim Celebration in March 2009. Carys wearing her Giselle (from Enchanted) costume.

Flat Thalia & Flat Carys go on Holiday!

2009-04-29T14:38:00.005-05:00

Image from BarnesandNoble.com

Thanks to our very creative aunt/sister-in-law Kelly, Thalia and Carys's alter egos are now on a year-long holiday in Ireland and beyond! Check out Flat Thalia and Flat Carys at their new blog, lovingly updated by Kelly.

And if you've never read the Flat Stanley series of books for children, you absolutely must!

The Deed is Done, or Thalia's Ears are Pierced

2009-04-19T00:22:00.000-05:00

For her 8th birthday this year, Thalia decided she would finally have her ears pierced. In Asian and Hispanic cultures, having your ears pierced is typically done when you are an infant, so Thalia was about 7 1/2 years late in getting hers done.

The reason Thalia didn't already have it done really has nothing to do with her ears and everything to do with her mother's. I had my ears pierced by my pediatrician/godmother when I was a mere babe. How could I not? I was a typical Filipino baby girl! However, one day when I was a baby, not sure how old exactly, being cared for at my babysitter's house while my parents were both at work, one of my earrings, not sure which one, got caught in the netting of my playpen. I must have turned my head to get free and in the process tore my earlobe. Ick, ick, ick. Trip to the ER to stitch my ear up and frantic calls to my parents ensued. And very much parental blame (my Dad's) and parental guilt (my Mom's) followed. Although I have no memories or scars from the experience, this event is remembered by practically everyone who ever knew me as a young child. It was a big deal. So I didn't get my ears re-pierced again until I was about 6 or 7 years old, when my Dad finally gave the ok to do so and I was willing to have it done. Because the idea of having a "shot" in your ears voluntarily doesn't go over as well when you're older.

I made the mistake of telling Dylan my torn earlobe story once, so when we had a baby girl in 2001, he was not really enthusiastic about exposing Thalia to the same dangers. Even though playpens today are much safer, fine mesh instead of loose netting, etc. Ditto my Dad's 2 cents on the subject, a rehash from 1971. Various Filipino relatives sent gorgeous itty-bitty, infant-sized earrings in gold, coral and other gemstones, but she never got to wear them. We decided that when she was old enough to make the decision herself, she could have her ears pierced.

Thalia was basically oblivious to it all until the last year when she started noticing and envying her friends' pretty studs and dangling earrings from afar, but was still too afraid to have her own ears pierced. My brief description of how it all happened horrified her, despite my assurances that it would "only hurt for a second." But recently, something happened that made her change her mind.

In March we went to the American Girl store in Dallas where Thalia chose to have her doll Felicity's ears pierced at the "Salon." This beauty procedure costs $14 and includes a very nice set of six mix and match earrings. (Basically they take the doll to the back and drill a hole in each ear. Clearly not something that needs to be done in front of the child!) She was so enamored of her doll's new look that she decided she would do it as well! Ha!

I suggested that we go on Good Friday as she would be off from school. We told lots of people she was going, to solicit moral support! She got excited, then apprehensive, then excited again, then scared. We drove to Claire's (which boasts having pierced 80 million ears worldwide) at La Cantera. The store was busy but there was no line for piercings. First, Thalia chose a cute mesh earring organizer (I've always wanted one of those) and then a pair of white gold 4mm balls (to match her doll's earrings). After she climbed onto the ear piercing stool, she had that "deer in the headlights" look. She looked very scared. I gave her a reassuring smile and held her hand. Secretly, I wondered if I was being a bad parent who had somehow "pushed" her into this decision. I assured her it would be like a very quick little pinch of the ear. The Claire's woman did the first ear. Thalia cried. Apparently it hurt more than a little pinch. She didn't want the second ear done. In went the second earring. Thalia cried some more, but valiantly tried not to.
"You said it would only hurt for a second!" she accused me.
"Umm, maybe more like 5 minutes?" I ventured.

I quickly paid for the whole experience and we walked out of the store. Thalia sniffled and pouted as we left. We were three stores away when I realized we hadn't taken a photo yet (no ear piercing photos allowed in the store).

"Let's take a picture of you and your new ears in front of the store!" I said over-cheerfully, steering us back toward Claire's. Thalia looked very glum through the camera.

"How about pushing back your hair so your earrings show!" People were looking at us, probably thinking what a crazy mean Mom I was to make my kid pose for pictures in her obvious discomfort.
"Smile!" Thalia gave the very tiniest of smiles. Good enough.

I offered her ice cream at the Food Court to celebrate her bravery and fashionable ears. The long lines and apparent pain in her ears made her change her mind. She just wanted to go home. "You said it would hurt for 5 minutes," she reminded me. "It's been hurting for way longer than that."

We didn't have any more junior Tylenol at home (darn it!) but she was content to lay on the couch wrapped in her favorite blanket and watch Disney channel. She looked pathetic. I felt very bad. Bad Mom! Bad Mom!

An hour later, she came up to me. "My ears don't hurt anymore. Do you think I look pretty?" Hallelujah!
"Yes, definitely!"

She's already asking when she can switch to dangling earrings.

Layout Credits: Layout sketch from http://www.stickersnfun.com/
All papers, lettering and embellishments (some recolored) from Shabby Princess Designs "Festival" kit

At the Garden Gate

2009-04-13T12:01:00.001-05:00

We've been so disappointed these last few years with the total lack of wildflowers in the spring. Although I myself did not grow up having photos taken among the Texas bluebonnets, this is something we've tried to do each year with Carys and Thalia. The only snag is that we've had at least three spring seasons with few or no wildflowers at all! Darn these dry Texas winters!

So when I saw an extremely tiny patch of bluebonnets on the side of the road in Shavano Park near Carys's school the other day, I knew we had to come back and take pictures there! I have a feeling this patch of loveliness was deliberately planted by the owners of the house on the other side of the gate, and I thank them very much, whoever they are!

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, started out with yucky rainy and cold weather but very quickly became a lovely, sunny day. So as soon as we were finished with breakfast, we drove over to Shavano Park for our photo shoot. Dylan actually thought we were being ridiculous, posing for pics in front of someone's private property, but I was having none of that! The bluebonnets were beautiful, the sun was shining, and the girls were wearing their adorable Easter finery--all begging to be photographed. Carys was much more agreeable and helpful about having her picture taken, thank goodness, while Thalia was in tears about us possibly getting in trouble (thanks alot, Dylan). In all, we were only out there "trespassing" for about five minutes, and managed to regroup long enough to take a few pics:

This was actually taken in front of our own house, no bluebonnets unfortunately!

Easter Monday

2009-04-13T10:38:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter Monday! (We're a bit late with our Easter greetings to everyone, but since today is still an Easter holiday for some parts of the world, it's probably ok!) So here's an Easter card just for you.

We hope everyone had a blessed day with family and friends. Ours began with wet, blustery weather but just as we walked out of church, the sun came out and the rest of the day was lovely in every way! And of course, the Easter Bunny made his yearly visit and left overflowing baskets of goodies on our front porch as always.

Love,
Melissa, Dylan, Thalia & Carys

LAYOUT CREDITS:Layout scraplifted from "Chickadee" by Davinie. Papers by: Amanda McGee for Scrap Girls (recolored), Shabby Princess "Splendid", Shabby Princess "Spring Breeze", Creative Memories "Bright Boy" (recolored), Creative Memories "Baby Love"; Embellishments: Buttons: Suzanne C. Walker "Cute as a Button", Ribbon: Amy Teets "Sunporch", Easter basket & eggs, stitches (recolored): Creative Memories; Easter bunny: created by me; Fonts: Creating Keepsakes Cursive, Little Days

Reality Check

2009-04-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

So it's been almost 6 months since I posted our family's recession-weathering strategies. These were
"non-sacrifices" for the most part and we were grateful for the fact that our cuts were mostly painless. We weren't cutting basic necessities, just upper middle class luxuries. Now it's time for a reality check to see how well we've stuck to our proposed cuts and changes:

1) Cancel the newspaper (San Antonio Express News)
Update: We did indeed cancel it but have still received a newspaper every single Friday, Saturday and Sunday since then! We can't stop them from coming! So of course, we sometimes read it. And I still cut out the Michaels coupon when there is one. Amazingly, no one has billed us for the past 6 months. I've supplemented my local paper needs by reading excellent articles in the FREE San Antonio Current too. So, total savings since October = $78

2) Do not renew current magazine subscriptions
As I mentioned before, this was a hard one. We still get the following magazines, thanks to lovely friends and relatives who've gifted us with subscription renewals: Texas Monthly, Consumer Reports, National Geographic Little Kids, Sports Illustrated, Cookie. We also still receive Time and Entertainment Weekly because our subscriptions haven't run out yet and National Geographic Kids because we just mysteriously started receiving it one month! Total savings over 12 months = Approximately $12 per year for each magazine. I broke down and subscribed to one magazine in the last 6 months, Wondertime, a wonderful magazine for parents. And this was after receiving about a half-year's free subscription from them. Altogether, with all the gifting going on, we've saved at least $50 in magazine subscriptions and only spent $12 on one.

3) Cancel our Blockbuster Video Total Access Plan
We did it and really don't miss it at all! Not like there isn't anything showing on the gazillion cable channels we currently have. Total savings over 16 months = $78

4) Give up haircuts & hair color
This applied only to Thalia, Carys and Melissa. We did fairly well in sticking to the plan, but as is often the case, plans need to be tweaked! Thalia has had 2 haircuts since October (approximately $38 total). Carys has had 1 haircut, and possibly 1 bang trim (approximately $26 total). Their hair did grow fairly long until I just got tired of having to style it (ponytails, etc.) Hopefully we can go another few months without major hair expenditure for them! I have had 1 excellent haircut since our recession plan began ($60). And NO hair color/highlights! *Sigh!* I think I need some color though. The gray and white hairs are significantly more noticeable this year . . . !
By this point, if we hadn't made an effort to reduce "hair spending", we would probably have spent about $188; we actually spent about $124. So total savings so far: $64. Other hair-related potential savings: stop buying Aveda hair products for Dylan and myself. Even if they smell really great!

5) Cancel XM Satellite Radio
Done that, and now I'm lobbying to just get rid of the Sirius Radio subscription as well, which costs approximately $20 per month. Total savings since October: $78.

6) Give up school cafeteria lunches (beginning in August 2008)
This has probably been the most significant change for us, interestingly enough. I now pack 2 lunches every single school day, with an occasional break when Thalia enjoys the occasional treat of a cafeteria lunch once in a while. This has brought about some really thoughtful discussions at our house about "healthy" v. "junk" foods. I think our kids have really benefited from helping pack their own lunchboxes. I think so far, we've paid for about $30 of school lunches/breakfasts, when normally at this point, we've would probably have paid about $160 to the school cafeteria already.

7) Raise our home temperature by 1 degree
Yes, we did this, from 78 degrees to 79 during the "Indian Summer" in Texas that is it's own season. But we don't really know how much we saved by doing that because we haven't compared 2008 bills to 2009 yet. However, we also successfully survived the entire (mild) winter by only turning on the heater once! And we even had some near freezing (below 35 degrees) temperatures! See my earlier post about how we did this without hardly noticing the cold at all. Again, we don't know how that translated into actual utility savings, but we were rather proud of ourselves! ha!

8) Cancel Showtime, a "premium" cable channel
Did this too and still don't miss The Tudors. However, HBO is a whole other story and would be greatly missed if we had to go without that channel. Total savings since October: $60.

9) Do not renew season passes to area amusement parks
Do we really miss not going to Sea World on a whim? A little bit. Our passes didn't expire until December 31st, and we were able to use them until the very last day. So we've only been without passes for a few months, and they officially just reopened a few weeks ago. Will we really miss them this summer? Possibly. Total savings over 12 months = $300.

So those were essentially our "non-sacrifices" these past few months, things that had little or no impact on us, with the possible exception of Thalia's school lunches.

But in other everyday areas of our lives, we've made some changes as well:

1) Food at Home: I've probably cooked dinner more times in the past 5 months than I have in the past 5 years! It's too easy to get lazy and rely on eating out in this country. And when you eat out, it's usually not the healthy stuff. I've changed the way I plan meals and shop for them. I've gone back to planning a menu (really hadn't done this since the late 90s), even if it's just in my head. We've always had alot of food in the pantry too, but very often forget it's there. One of my new rules is to use up everything in the fridge and pantry before I stock up again. So we experience the ebb and flow of full/nearly empty fridge. Also, I'm buying as much in bulk as possible, forcing us to eat at home more to make sure we finish it all! Cheap eats are all the rage now it seems. I can't tell you how many articles and blog posts I've read about feeding your family on $10 or less per meal. Some ideas are intriguing, some are just gross and unhealthy to me. So I've gone back to cooking some of the foods I grew up with, Filipino/Asian dishes, that are tasty and inexpensive. Asians always eat like kings, but for very little money! We are also eating more pasta, rice and potatoes. We might also be getting really sick of pasta, rice and potatoes! Interestingly, we spend the most money on fresh fruits, which I pack daily in the girls' lunches.

2) Eating Out: I think we eat out less frequently overall, at least at real restaurants. I have consciously tried to stock the freezer with meals that can be heated up quickly so we aren't tempted to go out for pizza or burgers and fries. When we do go out, we no longer choose restaurants where you have to wait very long for your food or have to tip the waiter. My kids' new favorite places to eat locally are Subway, which I think is basically healthy for fast-food, and Bill Miller BBQ (I love the Chicken De-Lite plate myself which I just discovered last month after 20 years!). Neither place has waiters nor do you have to wait hardly at all for your food.

3) Loving the Library: At any given moment, our family probably has over 20 items checked out from the San Antonio Public Library! We love the Library! There is a brand new branch 5 minutes from our house, and another one near Carys's school. I adore the place on hold feature, where I can request anything be held for me at any location for pick-up. I can go into a Barnes & Noble and NOT buy anything now, and feel just fine about it, because I can get the same book/CD/DVD at the Library! I grew up going to the Library frequently, and then went through a period of about 10 years when I never went, and now I am a devoted fan all over again. The girls love going there too, they think it's such a treat, because everything is FREE! They still can't believe it sometimes.

4) Vacations: Since I wrote the blog post about beating the recession, we've had 3 major holiday/vacation periods (Thanksgiving, Winter Break and Spring Break). We had originally planned to spend Christmas in NYC, but canceled the plans when the economy started to really tank. That made me really sad. I love to go on trips, and wanted my kids to experience the holidays in a city that loves Christmas like NYC. So Christmas was a "stay-cation" at home. Thus far, our only vacation has been Spring Break in Austin and Dallas, to visit family and good friends. The weather sucked, but we had a great time anyway, and thanks to the generosity of my parents and our friends, we spent very, very little! And it reminded us that the best things in life aren't things (or even places to visit) anyway, they are our friends and family who we never see enough of.

5) Spending Money in General: I have really tried to curb my shopping habit in the past few months! (Although it may not seem so!) I love to stock up when things I know we'll need or use go on sale, but haven't done as much stocking up as I used to. It's more like a "buy as we go" kind of shopping these days. This has had an interesting effect on our kids. They are very aware that things cost money and are keenly interested in the relative cost of things (is this expensive? is it a good deal/buy?) I like that they know at their young ages that everything cost something and that we can't afford to have everything, nor would we want to.

6) Driving Down the Debt: We did something that has never been done in the history of the Tarun-Stogsdill family recently--paid off our credit cards! So now the challenge, of course, is to keep them paid of.

There is one thing I think I can and should give up, but haven't gotten around to it: my "fancy" gym club membership. I go rather infrequently to Lifetime Fitness but pay the monthly fee year-round. I will probably cancel pretty soon. At least I think I will, unless I just start loving workouts again!

As I did almost six months ago, I thank God that my family is blessed with fairly good health. And Dylan is blessed with a job he enjoys at a large, stable company, which provides a good income, health insurance and other benefits. And my immediate family are also likewise blessed.

And while we have not had to experience (another) layoff in our family, I can truly see the other side of the coin, because it's all around me. Sadly, I don't have the means to support the entire world. I know for every "luxury" cup of coffee Dylan no longer orders at the Starbucks near his work, down the line there will be someone at a Starbucks who loses his job. And I feel sad when another family I know is really hurting right now.

This is the sad result of an economy where everyone is selling some thing or service to someone else, in which everyone we know participates, myself included. My own business? Who wants a custom cake at times like this? I may likely never grow my business much during this "Great Recession." Are we not all in the same precarious position, only in various stages? But lots more people will be out of jobs, out of their homes, before this thing shakes out, probably 3-4 years from now, from what they're saying. And I also think the world economy will be vastly different after the shake-out and there may not be the same place for everyone in it that there was just last year. Maybe that won't be such a bad thing either.

And when I wrote the earlier post, it was pre-election time and everything was still up in the air. I have new faith in my country's leader and hope that over time, the economy will turn around. No quick fixes for a problem that grew unchecked over many years. I'm not a naturally patient person, but I really think that patience is key in riding out this storm. We'll just have to see whether or not the storm will continue to be a painless experience or not for our family.

Up to the Challenge: Date Night with Dad

2009-03-31T12:20:00.001-05:00

I've never uploaded any of my scrapbook layouts on any website besides my own before, but I will spend hours looking through everyone else's on my favorite sites! I save copies of my favorites in various files on my computer or print them out, for the day when I need some inspiration or feel like scraplifting someone else's design. (By the way, this is totally acceptable in the narcissistic scrapbooking world).

Now that I've been dabbling in digital scrapbooking, I finally decided to upload something for a monthly "Scraplift Challenge" sponsored by one of the Facebook groups I'm a part of. After about 7 years of looking at other scrappers' layouts. This wasn't for a contest, so I thought it would be pretty safe if I uploaded a page I did the other day about the annual Girl Scout Father-Daughter Dance that Dylan and Thalia attended last Friday with the other girls and dads in our troop.

Thalia looked so pretty and "big girl" in her silver and black "fancy dress"! I used a TON of hair gel to throw her hair up into a pseudo-bun, the best we could do with her hair so short right now, and it looked really cool. And it stayed up all night! She also got a very quick manicure with sparkly nail polish. Ooh la la! Dylan looked very handsome in his suit, of course. Each girl carried a mask, in keeping with the Masquerade Ball theme, that we moms made for them. And despite Dylan's injured hamstring, Thalia said they squeezed in some dancing in addition to running around with her friends and eating snacks!

Dylan commented that it probably won't be very long before going on a date with your dad won't be cool anymore to Thalia. He said there were very few older girls there with their fathers, so we are still (barely) in that magical time when parents still know (almost) everything and your kids are begging to be with you. *Sigh!*

LAYOUT CREDITS:All papers from: Creative Memories Blush Blooms; Embellishments from: Creative Memories Pet, Gazebo (recolored), Baby Love (some recolored); Word art from: Creative Memories Blush Blooms, Best Buds, Gazebo; Font: Amaze

The Heart of Winter, Part 1

2009-03-20T11:53:00.000-05:00

Once Christmas and New Year's festivities are over, winter gets pretty boring, and at that point, the season is really just getting started! With the exception of Valentine's Day to look forward to, winter can be kind of dull. And now we're all so happy that Spring is here!

Here were some perks of our Winter:

Parties . . .

Build-A-Bear Birthday Party in January

Oogles n Googles 'Race Car' Party on Superbowl Sunday

"THE" Spurs Game . . .

And Valentine's Day! What would we do without Valentine's Day . . .

Let the celebrations begin!

Amazingly fun Tea Party at The Red Balloon bookstore with Lilly of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, one of our favorite books

Chocolate, Chocolate and more Chocolate

LAYOUT CREDITS--Build-A-Bear Party:Creative Memories For Her & Bright Baby: All papers & embellishments; Font: Edwardian Script ITC

Spurs: Creative Memories For Him, Go Team: paper & embellishments, except wood floor paper (recolored) from 'Schoolin' by Kate Teague for Two Peas in a Bucket, Icy Alpha Set by unknown artist, and Spurs Basketball from Google Images

Oogles & Googles: Creative Memories 'Everyday': all papers & embellishments; Font: Hyena

Valentine Celebration:Layout scraplifted from Scrap Girls email newsletterCreative Memories 'Valentine' Freebies, 'Fairy Tales' Freebies, 'For Her': all papers & embellishments (some recolored), except Triple Frame designed by me; Font: Angelina

Tea with Lilly:Creative Memories 'Everyday': purple paper; Creative Memories 'For Her': Red paper; Creative Memories 'Blush Blooms' Alpha Set (recolored); Creative Memories Bright Baby Boy': blue paper'

Under the Chocolate Tree:Cherie Mask for Two Peas in a Bucket 'All Twitterpated': paper; Digital Scrapbook Place 'Love': paper; Crosstown 'RAK February Mega Kit': Doily, Candies (recolored); Angela Coles 'RAK February Mega Kit': Punch Hearts Alpha Set; Font: Vladimir Script

Lego Millionaires

2009-03-08T16:10:00.001-05:00

Two days ago, the latest issue of the Lego Club Magazine for kids arrived at our house. The girls got their first set of regular-size Legos for Christmas and have been slightly fascinated by them. We'd always had Lego Duplos, but Carys had stopped playing with them a while ago so we sold several sets worth a few months ago. So we've rediscovered Legos around here.

The Magazine has pics from their monthly themed building contest in addition to photos readers send in of their own creations. Thalia was fascinated by them. Even more important to her was that you could possibly get your name and photo in the magazine! So she and Carys set to work on their own little masterpieces yesterday, limited only by the fact that we have just one set of Legos right now (the 50th Anniversary Set) and two bases.

Thalia appeared in my office some time later with her digital camera and asked me to send these pics to the Lego company:

Carys's Lego "Country Town" featuring a "Selling Place" (her exact words)

Thalia's Lego House, Swimming Pool (3-sided), Doghouse and some Tulips

Then Carys exclaimed "We're going to be rich!" I don't think they realize the contest prize isn't a million dollars. Not even a million Legos. But it was a great project for the afternoon in any case!

Godsisters & Girlfriends

2009-03-05T14:27:00.001-06:00

Carys has four godparents, mostly scattered around Texas. But whether she sees them often or not, they are very much a part of her life through cards, emails, phone calls and websites, and she knows all of her extended "Godfamily" members by their names. They all take an interest in Carys's upbringing and her growth as a Christian. We could not have chosen better for her.

We celebrated a late Christmas with her godparents in Austin in January, and it was just so nice to see how close Carys (and Thalia too) is to her godsisters! They are all fairly close in age and enjoy the same girly stuff. And they are even old enough now to play by themselves and entertain each other without our help!

Carys and her Godsisters celebrate Christmas

We miss living closer to them in Austin (hopefully we will be back there someday!) but really appreciate their efforts to stay close to us in other ways. They never miss a holiday or special event--Carys is quite spoiled with treats in the mail, or even better when delivered in person, from her godfamily in Austin! She is so loved.

'Ninangs' and 'Ninongs' (the Filipino words for 'Godmothers' and 'Godfathers') are very important figures in Filipino culture. My own godmother was present at Carys's Baptism in 2004, and her daughter is also one of Carys's godmothers. My godparents were my second fathers and mothers to me when I was growing up, and I can tell that my own kids' godparents mean just as much to them already.

LAYOUT CREDITS: Layout sketch from Scrapiopath.blogspot.com. All papers & embellishments: Creative Memories "Blush Blooms", "Seasons" and "Baby Love".

Irish Blessings: For Richard & Kelly

2009-02-27T00:39:00.001-06:00

My n0t-so-little brother and his wife just moved to Ireland yesterday. They will live there for at least a year and possibly up to two years while my brother helps establish a Dublin office for the company he works for. I think it's the most wonderful opportunity and I'm so jealous! We're all looking forward to reading all about their life in Ireland on their new blog and even skyping to keep in touch.

Because they couldn't take very much with them, I created several scrapbook pages as a going away gift for Richard and Kelly (and TJ and MacKenzie too!) instead of burdening them with more "stuff" to store or pack. Each page's theme had something to do with Texas and our family, who will miss them very much.

I wanted each page to remind them of home, so the elements, photos and text on each page were chosen specifically for that purpose. I love song lyrics as poetry, so three of the four layouts quote some great Texas songs.

I took this bluebonnet photo two years ago, right here in Helotes, and added the lyrics to one of my favorite Indigo Girls song, "Southland in the Springtime." For those times when Richard and Kelly are missing spring in Texas, I think this song brings it all back.

When you're away from Austin in March, you miss so much--Texas Independence Day celebrations, UT basketball during March Madness, and of course, South by Southwest! This photo of Sixth Street was taken during SXSW two years ago, and I added the lyrics from Pat Green's "Songs About Texas." I love the colorful neon lights on Sixth at night.

Before Richard and Kelly even got on the plane to Ireland, Thalia and Carys were already missing them! Thalia has already pre-written her first "I miss you" letter to them. So of course I had to create a page for them to remember the girls, appropriately dressed as future Longhorns and cavorting among the bluebonnets. This is actually our most recent bluebonnet photo of the girls, taken in 2007, as last year yielded very few flowers on the Texas highways. A snippet about Texas girls from Lyle Lovett's song "South Texas Girl" captured this photo perfectly.

When Richard was in elementary school and I was in high school, his class put on a performance that I think was all about songs about Texas or maybe all the states, not quite sure. Anyway, one of the songs he had to sing was "Giant" which is the theme song from the 1956 larger-than-life Hollywood movie about Texas also called Giant. (I love that movie, by the way, which my Mom made us watch when we were younger.) To help my brother learn the words to "Giant," I would play the music on my 1980s "Piano Phone" while he sang the song; when I was working on these scrapbook pages, I remembered all of this and knew those lyrics would go perfectly with the pic of the Alamo. It's a very "Hollywood-ish" song but there isn't anything really understated about Texas either! (Incidentally, the photo of the Alamo was taken by our cousin, Andrea, and her husband, Ray, when they visited last year for Richard and Kelly's wedding.)

I spent the most time on this last layout, "Blessings." It features the only Tarun family photo we have from 2008, besides the one taken at Richard and Kelly's wedding! The layout incorporates visual elements that symbolize the great state of Texas, the University of Texas, the city of Austin, and our country. I trawled the Internet in search of just the right images to capture the feel of Texas and found nostalgic vintage postcards of Lake Austin and Mt. Bonnell, UT, and a field of bluebonnets in San Antonio. I also swiped the Texas Seal and leather 'Texas' patch from the state of Texas' website! The layout background is green, of course, for Ireland, but I didn't forget to add some cowboy boots, which I even digitally "scuffed" a bit for authenticity, and the good ol' Stars and Stripes.

Forty years ago this year, my parents left their native country as newlyweds and began the adventure of their lives in the United States. And so it is that Richard and Kelly are continuing the family tradition of breaking away from the comfortable and familiar and experiencing a new culture, at least for a little while.

At the bottom of the 'Blessings' layout are our wishes for Richard and Kelly as they begin their journey:

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be ever at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall softly on your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand

We miss you already!

The Birthday Boy, Part 2

2009-02-19T02:10:00.000-06:00

Part Deux of Dylan's birthday celebration(s). As I mentioned before, December birthday babies have it rough. Half the time people forget your birthday altogether in the holiday rush, and the rest just don't have time to celebrate with you.

This year we actually paid a babysitter to watch the kids on a school night and celebrated on Dylan's birthday, just the two of us! That is huge for us. Amazingly enough, there were no school-related or extra-curricular events that evening, and I persuaded Dylan to forgo tennis for once. haha

Before we left, Thalia, Carys and I presented Dylan with his birthday gifts. Some years I go all out for his birthday, others I don't. Kind of depends on how busy I am with holiday stuff! This year, I made the effort. Dylan's first gift was some waaay cool sheets, yes bedsheets. Check them out:

Photo from Pottery Barn Kids website

Yeah, I think I'm pretty tolerant of my hubby's geekiness! And secretly, I love these sheets too. Dylan and I both love Star Wars (Episodes 4, 5 & 6 of course) and have been known to freak out certain friends with our combined random knowledge of Star Wars trivia. Note: I did not purchase the duvet cover or shams; that would have been overkill and a little weird even for me.

The second gift was Mario Kart for the Wii. The girls were excited about that gift which Thalia had actually picked out for him. It's very cute that all three of them will play it together. I have yet to have a turn at the Kart.

Dylan's final gift was actually a gift for me too! A gift certificate to Silo Elevated Cuisine, which we have visited before. A swanky-ish place for the north side of San Antonio. We're saving that for a special treat.

We had a leisurely dinner at the restaurant of his choice, Salsalito Cantina, and it was just nice to have "grown-up" conversation without constant interruption. I love their food too, yummy Mexican! We even had time to do some holiday shopping afterwards and finished off the evening at Starbucks! It was lovely to be able to splurge on a sitter during the week and have a birthday date. Now I'm looking forward to hopefully doing the same for mine!

Digital scrapbook layout credits:
Simple Pleasures: Scrap Girls "Refresh" kit: paper, blue tape, green tape, word art; Unknown artist: black zig zag; Font: Zapf Humanist BT.
Birthday Boy: Tia Bennett for Two Peas in a Bucket: Party hat seal; Mary Ann Wise for Two Peas in a Bucket: Green candle ribbon, scalloped ribbon, papers; CS Smith: Dotted black ribbon; Unknown artist: Red knot; Two Peas in a Bucket: 2 Peas Scrapbook font.

A Valentine for You

2009-02-14T02:41:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Wishing everyone lots of love and candy!

Love,
Melissa, Dylan, Thalia & Carys

I used my newest favorite line of poetry, from "Praise Song for the Day" by Elizabeth Alexander, as read at the Presidential Inauguration on 20 January 2009.

LAYOUT CREDITS: Layout based on card by Lea L. at Two Peas in a Bucket; Sande Krieger for Two Peas in a Bucket 'Rough Riders': scalloped paper; Nicole Young Designs 'Angel 2 Whispers': Mended heart, Grungy paper hearts, Glitter circle, Nicole Young Designs 'After Midnight': Confetti; Carrie Stephens: Glass dots; Cherie Mask for Two Peas in a Bucket 'All Twitterpated': Heart, Pink paper; Digital Scrapbook Place 'Art of Love': Red love paper; Tia Bennett for Two Peas in a Bucket: 'Dots paper; Fonts: Copperplate Gothic BT & uncletypewriter (from Internet); My own signature

Baby Days & New Years Past

2009-02-02T15:47:00.001-06:00

I'm slowly working on a digital scrapbook (actually several) of Carys's babyhood. I got a good start in December and then got sick and then got too busy. But here's a completed layout of some of my favorite pics of her when she was about 8 1/2 months old. (Layout says 7 months, which is incorrect but haven't gone back and updated the text yet.)

Layout credits: Shabby Princess: Harvest Spice alphabet, Splendid Kit paper; Creative Memories Best Buds embellishments, papers & word art.

Looking at my kids' baby pics always makes me smile and laugh. Really a good pick-me-up on those days when you can't even remember why you had kids?!

Here is another layout I made of our 2007 New Year's Eve party, which I completed just a few days shy of New Year's Eve 2008! Rather appropriate in a really procrastinating way.

Layout Credits: Rhonna Farrer for Two Peas in a Bucket New Year 2006: paper, word art; Creative Memories: stitching; Shabby Princess: Splendid Kit numbers.

I have friends who scrap everything as they go, so their layouts and journaling are practically "in the moment." But I find that I actually like taking the retrospective look back at times past, and then piecing together my impressions. I don't quite capture the details this way, as they sneak away from my memory, but if I can pinpoint the who/what/where/when and why fairly well of a photo, I'm ok with that.

A few years ago, my Mom started to scrapbook family photos that were 25-30 years old. She was frustrated about not being to tell what year some of the photos were from, what the event was, etc. I don't want our pics to go unattended for too long, but a little space between the actual occasion and when I actually record our memories, either digitally or traditionally scrapbooked, may fit my crazy, haphazard life.

One Wish

2009-01-26T22:45:00.000-06:00

There are days when I really do despair about my kids each having a conscience and a sense of right and wrong. Yesterday was not one of those days.

Thalia's 2nd grade teacher sends home a packet of graded work each week to be reviewed by the parent(s) in a reusable envelope that must be signed to show that you really did give it a look. We never know what to expect when we open the envelope. Some weeks, it's all check-pluses and "Terrifics." Others, it's "Do Over" or "See Me," which usually means a concept wasn't quite grasped the first time. Yesterday, the envelope yielded Thalia's One Wish.

A few weeks ago, the teacher asked each student to write a short essay elaborating on "If I could make one wish. . . ". This is what she wrote (spelling has been corrected because I can't stand misspelled words, even from a 2nd grader!):

If I could make one wish I would wish for everyone to care for each other. I think people will be more kind if people were more nice. Caring is important because I know people can act nice and kind and be caring. Even to people that you don't know. That's why I want to wish for people to care for each other. ~ Thalia

Immediate warm fuzzies. I almost bawled right there in front of her. I tried several times to tell her how proud I was, but I couldn't quite get the words out because I was just so proud and moved and teary-eyed. She was pleased with my reaction.

I turned the assignment over and read her teacher's comments:

105. Excellent. You are one of only two people who wished for something for others and not themselves. (Smiley face).

Of course that set me off again, smiling and sputtering and trying to tell her again how wonderful her One Wish truly was. Yesterday was one of those days when I thought maybe we're doing something right in our home after all.