Lately I’ve been realizing that I never have one-on-one time with my Elliott.
Holdy and I share Tuesday & Thursday mornings running errands together and his secret “cheeseburger time” once a week while “Sissy” is at school.
We needed a little Mama/Daughter bonding time.
After her favorite dinner of lettuce wraps, we went to Party City and she picked out plates and napkins for her school friends. We’re taking mini bagels and cream cheese next week for snack to celebrate her birthday.
She vacillated between Spongebob, polka dots, cheetah and zebra print, Tiana (Princess & The Frog) and finally settled on her all time fave princess, Ariel.
Next stop…Golden Spoon!
She was SO excited that she got her OWN yogurt AND got to choose a topping!
Chocolate & Peanut Butter with chocolate chips:
In 7th heaven:
I chose Coconut & Toffee Heath Bar:
We sat and talked about her upcoming graduation, dance recital and plans for the Summer. She said she still doesn’t need swimming lessons because she remembers EVERYTHING from “last time”…..m’kay, we’ll revisit that later.
She threw 2 pennies in the fountain and made as many wishes…
And as if all that wasn’t enough, we skipped down to Target and browsed around there, too!
She even talked me into some sour candies at the checkout ~ “It’s for our date, Mommy.”
We really need to do that more often.
Maybe next time a pre-Kindergarten pedi.
Yes, that’s what we’ll do.
I love you my almost 5-year old. Where did that half decade go?
This morning we checked out Placerita Canyon State Park.
We figure we’d better get out and do this stuff before the temps get over 100*…which will be soon enough!
There is a trail to a waterfall, but it was 5 miles round trip! The tikes aren’t quite ready for that just yet, so we hiked to the water tower instead!
Enjoying the view:
{I am currently obsessed with these $3 Organic Cotton “wife beater” racer back tanks from Wal-mart}
My absolute fave pic of the day:
Playing in the creek:
We learned all about owls and this little falcon:
Try explaining “taxidermy” to an almost 5 year old, too! That’s fun….
“Is it dead?”
“Uh, yes it is, Sweetie.”
“Well, why is it’s eyes open?”
“Uh, well…..”
I told her she would learn more about it in school when she gets older! Is that bad???
Seriously, how do you explain that?
Nature sure is tiring:
Hope your weekend has been full of exploring and one adventure after another!
Then doctor it up with just a bit of shredded cheese, a dollop of light sour cream, a few chunks of avocado & last but certainly not least, a sprinkling of cilantro confetti.
I served it with Jalapeño Spiked Cornbread Muffins.
This was my first attempt at these and they turned out perfect. I like to use Marie Callender’s mix ~ all you need is 1.5 cups water and about 20 jalapeños, chopped. Whisk water and mix first and then stir in the spicy goodness. I used cupcake liners for easy clean up. Bake @ 375* for 20 minutes.
{Makes 1 dozen}
A little sweet. A little spicy.
Perfect with the soup.
A little cinnamon honey butter is super yummy, too or you can just crumble your muffin into your bowl!
Note: This soup is a WW recipe if you use ground turkey. I splurged and used about 1.25 pounds 80/20 ground beef tonight. I also added a small (8 oz.) can of tomato sauce and about half a can (4 oz.) of water to thin it out a bit. I don’t like it too thick….it was perfect.
Saturday started off with a much needed bath for my car and a haircut for me.
Once those chores were out of the way, we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and go {tee} off with some miniature golf.
This was the first time for the kiddos and we weren’t sure what to expect, but they caught on real quick, loved the fact that they could pic their ball color and to top it off nobody got hit with a club, so it was a success!
Elliott chose her favorite color, of course:
…and apparently Holden is a fan of green:
Taking a break:
After 18 holes, we went to Farrell’s which is attached to the mini golf place and had a sundae:
We were on our way out the door, when a nice man gave us some cards loaded with LOTS of points so we decided to go on the bumper boats:
We were amongst a mob of middle schoolers who had NO shame and got us soaked!
She loved it, though.
Daddy took her on the race cars:
She loved that, too!
Holden was too small for both, so he had to settle for bubbles:
Then, today we finally made it to Griffith Park and visited the {Travel Town} Museum. The kids had fun climbing in old {t}rains and running through the cars.
Sibling Love:
Conductor Holden:
They have a Children’s Learning Center called “Holden’s Corner”:
And, of course, we rode the train:
I love this one:
It was a great weekend…exploring good stuff in our own “backyard” ~ tee times & Travel Town trains.
This weekend was kicked off with a Mommy’s Night Out!
A bunch of us ladies went to SABOR to celebrate a couple birthdays. We sipped strawberry blueberry margaritas and fruity sangrias, chatted, laughed, shared stories from the past, nibbled on chips and salsa, muy delicioso entreés and this crazy good dessert:
Nutella.Filled.Churros.
OH MY!
Our server was very “pleasant” ~ think Mark Consuelos caliber:
Looking forward to the next “Mommies Gone Wild” evening, Ladies!
*****
If you haven’t tried Buffalo Chicken Dip yet, you’re missing out.
I added some crumbled blue cheese and that put it over the top. I like to serve with tortilla chips, Ritz crackers, baby carrots and celery sticks. Thanks, Deb for brining this into my life! It is a staple now.
Next up out of the recipe box: Carolina Barbequed Pork & Polynesian Coleslaw
Even though we aren’t even half way through Spring, I can’t help but think about Summer. I know it’s going to sneak up on us and in just 9 weeks from Monday “Beach, Pool & Popsicle Season” will be upon us.
Off the top, we don’t have much planned. No trips to Capri, Italy or Disney World or anything. Just a good, old-fashioned, simple Summer, but guaranteed to be fun for all (and frugal!).
It’s hard to keep the kiddos busy and happy for the whole summer and not spend a wad of dough. Fortunately there is a local movie theater that shows free movies two mornings a week (albeit OLD, outdated movies, but the kids don’t care!) in an air-conditioned building! That is heaven here in the SCV during July! We pack our own movie treats and this makes for a cheap day once a week.
Then there is the Saturday night Summer Concert Series that is also FREE and lasts for a good portion of the summer weeks. We went to several last summer and had the best time packing a picnic dinner, sitting in our lawn chairs, visiting with friends and listening to music while the kids ran, squealed, jumped, chased and played with ice!
We hope to take our annual trip to beautiful Wawona, Yosemite to visit my uncle and Jill. We went over 4th of July last year and had the best time ~ stagecoach rides, lunch at the swimming hole, walks along the meadow loop, wine on the deck, train rides, BBQ at the beautiful Wawona Hotel, a barn dance, s’mores by the campfire with wonderful neighbors. Hoping to recreate that again this summer minus these:
Souvenirs from the ‘squitos!
I imagine we will take a couple trips too the LA Zoo with our passes, too:
I also want to get one of these:
Yes, preferably in RED!
And get my hands on the pink lemonade ice cream recipe from Mel! Yum, and SO summery!
I see a lot of sidewalk chalk, hopscotch, bubbles, root beer floats, water table play, homemade lemonade, popsicles, flip flops, wet bathing suits, damp towels on the floor, sandy feet, the smell of sunscreen, cannonballs, beach balls and iced americanos in our future!
Looking forward to keeping everyone HAPPY for about 9 weeks before both my babies start school in mid-August…one to Kinder and one to preschool!
Looks like I will need to work lots of Kleenex into the summer budget, as well…
Reposting this carnitas recipe today {10.12.11} over at The Larson Lingo’s Crock-tober! These carnitas are healthy and great in tacos, burritos, over cilantro rice {recipe also on this post!}, on nachos or in a salad! Makes a TON so there are lots of leftovers or perfect for a party. Come on over and see who else is linking up and what they’re cooking up in their crock pots!
Mel shared a recipe for baby back ribs with a cherry mustard BBQ sauce ~ needless to say, they look amazing!
*****
Mondays are generally catch up days around here. You know…tidying up the tornado from the weekend, laundry, phone calls, cleaning, etc.
It’s been {c}old and rainy today, so I didn’t mind being holed up in the house doing all these lovely {c}hores.
I was up bright and early this morning getting my crock pot on. Jay found a {c}arnitas recipe here and I thought it’d be the perfect thing to cook away in my new, gorgeous stainless steel Crock Pot while we hung out at home today.
Here is the line up:
This recipe is soooo simple, but it takes 10 hours on low!
In at 7am…ready at 5pm!
In between the {c}hores, we played {C}hutes & Ladders:
…and put together a {C}urious George puzzle:
Rainy day movie of {C}hicken Little:
…and the tail end of a {c}artoon:
(gotta love {C}andace!)
Once the sun reappeared, the kiddos {c}hristened Emilie’s new swing set:
Sweet Baby Ryan:
We had a minor {c}ollision:
*****
I made some {c}ilantro lime rice to go along with the {c}arnitas. This recipe is inspired from my friend, Niki, in San Diego. Mine doesn’t turn out as well as hers, but it’s still delish.
Here’s the line up:
Tonight I made WAY too much rice ~ 2 cups with 4 cups stock! I think we could feed the whole neighborhood. I would suggest a cup of rice (2 cups stock) for 4 people or 1/2 cup rice (1 cup stock) for 2 people.
First, toast the rice and get the onion (I used a half, chopped) going in some olive oil and a little bit of butter for about 10 minutes stirring frequently:
Holy rice, Batman!
Next, add your stock depending on the amount of rice you’re making (1:2 ratio):
Bring to a rapid boil for a couple minutes on high and then turn to low and cover for about 2o minutes. Chop a handful of cilantro and stir in at the last minute and you will have this:
…enough rice to feed all of China!
The carnitas turned out perfect, but again, we could feed an army. Look at all this meat from a 2.5 lb. pork shoulder:
I got a bone-in shoulder and I was a little nervous, but the meat literally fell off the bone and I discarded it and then started shredding the meat with 2 forks. It was SUPER tender. I spooned a little of the juice over it to keep it moist.
Here is the final taco action on a plate:
YUM! Smokey from the cumin and citrusy from the orange and lime juices! I added a little peach pineapple salsa, a tad bit of sour cream and a squeeze of lime and it was delish. The recipe calls for corn tortillas, but I am a flour tortilla girl all day long. I found these mini ones at Super Wal-mart of all places and I love them because they are the perfect soft taco size ~ even smaller that the “fajita” size variety you see in the grocery stores. They come in a package of 20 for under 2 bucks!
Don’t forget a squeeze of lime on your rice!
Enjoy and adios! I am off to see {C}armen at boot camp!
Maybe I should take her a couple tacos and some rice…
