Father-Daughter & Mother-Son Dates: Spaghetti vs. Thai

Our elementary school hosts an

Annual Father & Daughter Dance,

and this year was the first year that all our daughters could attend!

Unfortunately,

we couldn't make it.

{sad}

So to make up for missing out,

we created special invites for both the girls AND boys

inviting them to spend an evening with mom & dad.

The girls were delighted to receive THIS invitation

which instructed them to dress in semi-formal attire for this

"grand occasion"

which included dinner & the theater.

Look at all my pretty faces! 

That's more like it!

Owen was convinced his invite would be better,

and of course,

when we opened the front door,

there it was waiting for him!

{truth be told}

With all the excitement of getting the girls ready for their date.

I had forgotten to create the boys invite!

When Owen started peeking out the window,

I quickly realized he was waiting for his "special delivery".

Luckily,

he's easily distracted,

giving me a few minutes to steal some time

on the computer to print one out!

Whew!

Gabriel,

definitely less inclined to be impressed

with something as non-edible as a formal invite.

 

Popcorn!

Now I'm speaking his language!

My sweet, sweet boy.

Just like on real dates,

things can start out so well...



...and then take a nose dive!

Bummer!

My date landed himself on time-out!

If I didn't already know him,

this would have made a horrible first impression!

Lucky for me,

he straightened up,

and a good thing too!

It's time to eat!

While Samuel opted for the menu-friendly Spaghetti Factory,

we went for a noodle of a different sort:

Pad Thai!

Noodles.

An absolute favorite with these two.

Granted,

we need to work on our date-worthy dining skills...



Thank goodness we've got time to practice.

The question is:

How did Samuel fare with his noodles?

{smile}

The Ballfield

Taking advantage of the sunny weather,

Samuel's day off,

and having legs,

we hit the bikes hard

and pedaled like mad to the library.

My favorite part of the afternoon,

aside from watching Iris moping in the outfield,

and Owen pitching the ball,

was seeing the boys clamber around the bleachers.

They're both growing so fast,

and it's amazing to see their friendship and

brotherhood strengthen,

even now,

as just kids.

I'm grateful they have each other,

just as I'm grateful my daughters have one another too.

This family thing...

it's pretty amazing.

Goal: One Post Per Day

I am daunted by the fact that we're in a new year and

I have gobs and gobs of blog posts to catch up on! 

I really do enjoy chronicling our adventures,

but it just reached a point where the living

outpaced the documenting and,

well,  

here we are...

months and months later!

The goal then...baby steps.

One post per day. 

I think I can manage that,

so we'll see what happens!

Kings: Do You Love Us or Hate Us?

I ask because I love my sister and her family,

which is why I can't understand why

they got our family a gift certificate to

Incredible John's for Christmas!

Samuel and I said:

"N O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O !"

The kids said:

" Y E S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S!"

Let me explain our adverse reaction...

Samuel and I stepped inside once to

buy a gift certificate for someone else,

and when we got a peek at what it was all about...

[ Basically, it's a Chuckie Cheese on steroids... ]

...we vowed we would never

step foot in there again!

{ Guess again...}

Like I said,

from the beginning the kids were...

O V E R  T H E  M O O N !

...

And granted,

it was a GREAT family outing,

especially on a rainy Christmas-break day.

I mean,

think about it.

Where else can you ride on the bumper cars,

dine in an honest to goodness lodge,

and eat Spicy Peanut Butter or

Mac & Cheese Pizza?

Bowling was a huge hit...

And as you can probably tell,

Iris was bowling like a 300...

...

T H A N K  Y O U  K I N G  F A M I L Y !

We love you too!

Our Cali Spin on a Traditional East Coast Crab Boil

We have been a go-go-go lately

which is why we chose to slow things down

and celebrate Christmas Eve at home.

If you didn't already know it,

Samuel and I have a beloved tradition of

eating King Crab Legs at home.

And the kids,

up to this point,

thought that tradition was disgusting.

But as they've grown older,

their curiousity has led them to want to give

these gnarly crustaceans a try.

Granted,

I'm stingy though.

King Crab is pricey!

But as I was pondering a

simple Christmas Eve dinner,

it didn't take long for me to know that

it was time to get the butter melting!

Our beautiful family!

Though it was casual dress

-we're at home!-

some of the girls chose to don their

best Christmas dresses for the occasion!

The big kahuna!

Traditional East Coast Crab Boils have

whole new potatoes, Kielbasa sausage, and shrimp.

Sign me up!

We chose to keep things simple though,

with the crab-both King and Dungeness-centerstage!

My babies!

Sadly,

when I say "babies",

I'm referring to my lovely little crab legs,

scrumptious corn cobbies,

perfect lemon wedges,

and flowering of fresh cilantro.

Oh yes,

and then there are my girls!

{ I don't mess around when it comes to crab } 

Turns out they really are babies!

For all their begging to try crab,
each sampled a biteful before deciding they'd rather

much on corn on the cob and sourdough bread!

{ That's okay...more for me! }

Now if I could just get Samuel to eat only a forkful...

Dessert:

An irresistible chocolate bread pudding!

T O  D I E  F O R !

And did I mention the Vanilla Creme' Anglaise sauce?

Y U M M Y!

...

We hope your Christmas Eve

was just as wonderful,

and that you found yourself surrounded

by family, good food, and a heart turned to the Savior.

M E R R Y  C H R I S T M A S  E V E !

{ p.s. recipes coming soon! }

Our Extreme Gingerbread House

I'll admit it.

We get a little ambitious at Christmas.

And with the kids home for the holidays,

they also shamelessly partake in my love of cooking shows-

especially holiday cooking shows.

Something we always get a kick-out of,

is "Extreme Gingerbread Houses".

Basically,

teams from bakeries across the nation

are tasked with creating insanely large gingerbread houses

in a ridiculousy short amount of time.

The end result?

After a whole lot of blood, sweat, and yes, tears,

there are enormous sweet structures

that any of my kids would happily move into,

and someone is $10 K richer.

Which always gives us the brilliant idea:

We could do that!

Granted,

it's not on the same scale,

but I tell you,

we're getting there!

You see,

size DOES matter.

And after we're done,

we take a step back,

look at our finished product,

and for all of two-seconds we're happy.

Then, without fail,

we make our resoluton:

Next year will be

BIGGER!

And that's how it begins,

and soon you find

yourself sweating and crying

on national T.V.

{smile}

The walls...

Basic design outline...

Candy Quality Control (C.Q.C.)

Very important in any official competition!

The mason...

Ta-da!

She's a beauty!

I can't remember how tall she was,

or how much she weighs,

but she looked great on our buffet!

{ And yes, it's a "she"! }

...

What will we do different next year?

Everyone gets their own house!

I want COMPLETE creative control!

Googly-eyed-ness & The Oakland Temple Lights

Visiting the Oakland Temple to see the Chritmas lights

is something we love to do every year for

family home evening.

Samuel and I were sealed here,

and the kids still giggle over the googly-eyed-ness

of this special place which is where our family first began!

This year the weather was really mild!

Usually it's freezing and it's a quick trip up and down

the grounds before we take refuge in the visitor center.

It was nice to be able to amble...

and take things in at a more leisurely pace.

The kids loved that the water in the fountain was frozen!

Guess again!

It's really just empty!

Owen boy,

full of loves!

And his loves are gone!

Gabriel,

getting a good long look,

and I'm sure thinking all kinds of profound and wonderful things.

I wish I could peek into that head of his!

My beautiful babies-

minus Owen who was officially in the minus-loves.

...

M E R R Y  C H R I S T M A S !

 

One of the Happiest Moments of My Life

My dad is a funny man.

When I close my eyes and picture his face now,
it's composed,
thoughtful,
very serious,
or,
he's dozing!

Getting any type of alternate expression out of him
is nearly impossible,
and this was proven when on my families
last trip to Disneyland
he rode down Splash Mountain
like he was waiting in line at the DMV!

No scream-face,
no eye-brows raised,
just dead serious-
and my mom has the picture to prove it!

Which is what makes what happened,
all the more joyful!
...

In the midst of all the holiday preparations,
I realized something pretty incredible.

I don't recall ever
-and I mean never-ever-
singing "Happy Birthday" to my dad!

Granted,
his birthday falls on Christmas Eve
and is always overshadowed by Christmas festivities,
but still...

Never?!?

This couldn't be!

So after a family dinner,
with everyone still settled around the table,
Samuel dimmed the lights,
we brought out the cake,
and sang him his very own rousing
 birthday song!

I'm telling you,
never have you seen a grown man
disintegrate before your very eyes,
only to be replaced by
a twinkly-eyed,
grinning-like-crazy
little boy!

It was a moment I'll never forget!

And I realized with perfect clarity how
grateful I am to be
this man's daughter.

He has always wanted so much for us,
always wanted to be more for us,
but in the end,
I know that he
always, always
loved us.

I love you too, Dad!

H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y !



Cookies Only Santa Would Love!

Yup,

I still hate making sugar cookies,

but I admit it's pretty fun

seeing each child take genuine ownership over

their portion of the dough.

From start to finish

they work with

intense concentration

and,

for want of a better word,

precision,

to see that

every

last

detail

is

just

right!

Though we won't win any awards for our cookies...

They certainly tasted

-and dare I say looked- 

good!

Thank goodness Santa's not picky,

but even so,

I think what we created would sufficiently

lure any legendary icon

to our home

for a sweet treat!

...

M E R R Y  B A K I N G !



Growing Up...Yet Young At Heart

Isabella Rose

So grown up now

at the ripe old age of nine.

I love that you still surprise me with your silliness,

and that you're keeping those creative juices flowing.

You are such a help at home,

and such a joy to have as a daughter.

I love you, my girl.

Always.

Love,

Mom