Avocado Festival

A couple weekends ago (on April 19th), the whole family (Mom, Dad, Sister, Ken, Kay, Kathryn, Stephen, the girls and I) packed up the van and headed to Fallbrook for their annual avocado festival.


I was actually a bit hesitant to go because it was so freakin' hot that weekend. But I met someone at Kathryn's birthday party the previous day who grew up in Fallbrook, and she said that the avocado festival is really nice, so she convinced me to give it a go. I'm glad I did. We all had a great time! We of course tasted the guacamole that was awarded the Blue Ribbon, and it was really good. Most guacamole is made with onions, and unfortunately this was no different. I loathe raw onions, but I put aside my hatred because I could tell that the avocado was really good, and it made up for the nastiness of the onion. We also tasted avocado ice cream, which wasn't half bad! Emily had a blast going down the big inflatable slide with Ken. She also rode on the Dragon Adventure ride. She was brave and decided to get on all by herself. Boy was she proud! It was fun watching her go around over and over again. She was SO excited. Em also got to decorate cupcakes with Ken and Kay at Elegance on Display (a cute little wedding cake boutique), which she loved. I bought a super-cute handmade, cloth "responsibility chart" for the girls. I hope to get a picture of that soon. (Unfortunately, we've already lost a couple pieces. Boo. I tried contacting the company to see if they'd sell me some extras, but they've yet to return my call. Double boo.)

Another pleasantry about the festival was the fact that we met a couple of very nice gentlemen while we were cooling down and watching Emily slide down the big inflatable slide with Ken. One of them (the guy with the hat) seemed particularly taken with Leah. He smiled at her, talked with her and laughed at her (in a good way, of course). He seemed like a genuinely kind soul. I just love it when I encounter people like him.

So yes, it was pretty darn hot, but it was pretty darn worth it!


[For the rest of the Avocado Festival pictures, click here.]


Oh, yeah... Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

All-in-One

Below are thoughts that have been stewing around in my head the past few days for quite some time. Rather than write 30 separate posts, I decided to just post an "all-in-one". I warn you... it's overkill!

1. There's this blue bird that hangs out around our house all the time, and I've named him Bluey. Of course I can't be sure that he's the same bird every time, but I like to think that he is. He's very pretty. He has a bright blue streak that goes down his back and he has some of the same on his head. He has a whitish/grayish belly. He may be a Western bluebird, but I really can't be sure. He seems to have some black on his head and body, and it doesn't look like the Western has that. Anyway, whenever we go outside to play, he makes an appearance. I would love to get him (or make him) a birdfeeder. I like him very much and I wish I were a better photographer than this. Hopefully one of these days!


2. Emily starts soccer a week from tomorrow, and I'm SO excited! I can't wait to watch her first Pee Wee "game". (I say "game" because the kids are so young and are just starting to learn, so I doubt it'll be much of a game; it'll be more of a lesson, I bet.) She's going to play with her friend, J, who she's known since birth. Stephen and I met J's mom and dad at our childbirth preparation class in the fall of 2004. Lisa and I ended up having our girls only three days apart!


3. My parents' 50th wedding anniversary is a little over a year from now (in July of 2010). My brother and I were talking Thursday morning about how we really should start making plans! I need to create a Yahoo! group for us siblings so we can start researching, discussing and planning.


4. That same brother, Jaime, and his wife, Debbie, just bought a beautiful new home in Massachusetts. They moved in this week and sound very happy. (They're in the same town they were in before, so the kids didn't have to change schools, which is nice.) I'm very happy for them and wish we could go see the house (and throw them a housewarming party)!


5. Since he's on a roll, I'll mention one more Jaime thing. When he graduated from Harvard Medical School in the early '90s, PBS aired an episode of Nova which had, up to that point, been following several of his classmates, documenting their journies. That original episode was called So You Want to be a Doctor?. I remember getting excited when I saw my brother speaking in a scene or two. Anyway, when I couldn't sleep the other night and was flipping channels at around 2 a.m., I flipped to PBS and somebody caught my eye. I soon realized that he was one of the young doctors who was featured in So You Want to be a Doctor?. It had been years since I'd seen that original show, but I still recognized him. I watched this episode (called Doctors' Diaries, which is a follow-up on the doctors some 20 years later) as long as I could, hoping to maybe see my brother, but I never saw him (and I ended up falling asleep at around 2:40 or so). At one point I wanted to get up and go program my DVR to record the show, but I didn't, because I didn't wanna disturb Leah. Fortunately, Jaime gave my parents a heads-up a few days ago that the show was about to air, and they ended up recording it. I hadn't realized that it's actually a two-part show. I'm looking forward to seeing it in its entirety. (And in case you're wondering, my brother IS shown a couple times, but very briefly. His coverage isn't as good as it was in So You Want to be a Doctor?.)


6. I'm loving AI this year. I think the order should end like this: 1)Adam Lambert, who's from my neck of the woods, by the way, and is a BRILLIANT artist and performer; 2) Allison Iraheta; 3) Kris Allen; 4) Danny Gokey; 5) Matt Giraud; 6) Anoop Desai and 7) Lil Rounds. (Poor Lil Rounds is not very good. For some reason there was so much hype surrounding her in the earlier weeks of the season, and she was so overrated. She really isn't that great of a singer, and is a pretty bad performer, in my opinion.)


7. Facebook's addictive! (MySpace is obnoxious; Facebook, I like. And Twitter, I just don't get.)


8. Angie, one of my best friends, (we met during my short year in Illinois, when we were sophomores in high school), is over 35 weeks pregnant right now with her third child -- a (third) baby girl. Her babies tend to make early appearances, so Baby Girl J #3 could come any day now. I'm very excited for Angie and wish I could be there to meet the baby!


9. Fallbrook is hosting its annual avocado festival tomorrow, and we might go. I *love* avocado, and besides, it's an excuse to get outside and walk around with the kids in what I'm sure will be fabulous weather. Fallbrook's not my favorite place in the world, but for an avocado festival, I'll try to overlook its faults and enjoy myself. ;-)


10. Since I'm on the topic of food... a couple days ago, my mom made an old family favorite for dessert and sent some home with Stephen. (He picked it up from her house on his way home from work.) It's banana pudding with Nilla wafers, and it's yummy!! My sister, V, used to make it all the time when I was a kid, but it's been a while since any of us have had it. Thanks for making it for us, Ma!


11. One more food post... I want NEED to try this place. It made the list of the five top American burger joints on CNN... and it's here in SD! Actually, it's in OB. Their burgers look AMAZING. To DIE for. We MUST go. NOW.


12. Kathryn's 40th birthday is today (happy birthday, Kat-ryn!), and we're going to her party tonight. She's renting a bouncy house for adults. Did you catch that? Bouncy house. Adults. Adults will be drinking yummy Stone beer... wearing funny hats... and bouncing. I'm there!


13. It's springtime. What does that mean, you ask? It means Xyno's hair is falling off his body in mad chunks and it's time to get him shaved! It's times like these that I am SO glad we have our new floors. (I also feel surges of gratitude for these new floors when someone spills something. Now when we have a spill, we think, "What, a spill? No prob. Bring it on.")


14. Speaking of springtime, the Carlsbad flower fields look cool. We should go. Maybe next month.


15. Emily learned about camping from Olivia. After she watched that particular episode, she asked me if we could go camping soon. I looked at her and said, "What a great idea!" After all, it's been YEARS since I've been camping. I can't even remember my last time camping, it's been so long. (I was definitely a little kid at the time -- possibly when we went to Yosemite when I was 10 or so?) So seeing as how Stephen and I have never been camping together, and it's been so long since either of us has been, and seeing as how Emily's NEVER been, I thought it would be nice for us to pack up and go in the somewhat near future. I told Stephen what I thought and he thinks it's a good idea. He thinks we should start out on a small scale and choose a local site. Maybe he's right. (I was thinking we should venture far out, but I'd be willing to go close by.) We bought a nice tent years ago, and we finally might have a reason to actually use it!


16. Another thing we've never done, even though WE LIVE IN SAN DIEGO, is Legoland. I hear all the time that it's ideal for kids Em's age, and I do think she'd really like it. They even opened a *really* nice-looking aquarium nextdoor to the park which I'd like to check out. I happened to see it featured on an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 (which I do NOT watch regularly, by the way; I just couldn't sleep one night and when I flipped to it, I saw that they were in San Diego, so I kept watching!) -- the Gosselins were on vacation here and they visited Legoland and the Sea Life Aquarium. They were actually the first-ever visitors to the aquarium; it wasn't even open to the public when they were there, but the officials let them tour it anyway. It's just all so gosh-darn expensive! Maybe one of these days.


17. Stephen and I are going on a date to see The Offspring in concert at SDSU's Open Air Theatre in early June. This'll be our fourth(?) time seeing them live. The last time we saw them was at Open Air, and I was about a week pregnant with Emily. (Didn't know it yet.) We really like the feel of OAT, because it's relatively small and kinda cozy. I'm looking forward to this!


18. G, my beautiful goddaughter/niece, turned 12 a few days ago. It happened to be a hectic day for me, and I tried calling her on my drive home from dinner out with friends, but she was unfortunately in the shower and would be in bed by the time I got home. I told her brother to pass along our love and "happy birthday", and that I'd hopefully talk to her soon. I'm glad I was able to send her a birthday card last week and that it got there on time!


19. Stephen's brother, Mike, has been coming to San Diego for business on a monthly basis lately. Sometimes the two brothers meet at a restaurant for dinner, and sometimes Mike comes to the house to see the girls. Emily always looks forward to seeing Uncle Mike. Whenever he comes knocking on the door, she hides from him and he has to go find her. He was just here the other night, and Emily enjoyed entertaining him like usual! :-)


20. Speaking of Lawlesses, it looks like all seven Lawless siblings and their spouses and kids will be descending on Oklahoma in August. I'm bummed because Em, Leah and I won't be able to make it. I'm glad Stephen's finally able to get out there to see his family and visit their properties, though. His brothers and parents have been out there for a long time, and this'll be Stephen's first time visiting, which is great.


21. I realized the other day that I haven't been to my OB for an annual well-woman check-up since my 6-week postpartum appointment after Leah was born. I really need to get on the phone and schedule that. (I'm surprised they didn't send me a reminder in the mail!) Oy, I also recently realized that I haven't scheduled Leah's 15-month well-baby appointment yet. Gotta do that first thing Monday!


22. How come when I feel like I'm "caught up" with my housework (like yesterday), I then slack off and let things go to heck again? On Tuesday I picked up and vacuumed in all the bedrooms, I swept and picked up in the rest of the house, I cleaned the kitchen, cleared off the hi-fi furniture piece in the entryway (the "hot spot" of our house), and cleaned the main bathroom. I felt pretty good about myself, but instead of maintain or tackle other areas, I totally vegged Wednesday, and come Thursday I was completely annoyed with myself. Speaking of cleaning house, I've heard good things about FlyLady, and I keep meaning to take time to thoroughly check out her website and ideas, but I never get around to it. Someday.


23. Another complaint... why is it that I feel like I'm exercising my butt off, but not seeing or feeling results? (I was doing so well with an exercise routine up until October of last year. For some reason I stopped working out, and I then went on to gain between five and 10 pounds between November and January. I'm just now getting around to doing something about it. Ugh.) I know it's only been a few weeks since I started a workout routine again, but I just hate how I don't see or feel any change. It's so discouraging. My gut says it's because I'm such a night-owl... I go to bed too late (and end up late-night snacking) and consequently I wake up too late, and I don't eat breakfast like I should. I don't think I eat poorly or too much; I just think I need to be better at my scheduling and I definitely should make breakfast a priority and I need to cut out night-snacking. The exercise isn't the problem (I've been enjoying regular activity, whether it's step aerobics or Tae Bo, and I look forward to jumping on the treadmill again really soon); the problem is eating right. *Sigh.*


24. The other day, I was reading a blog post written by a woman who's due to give birth to her second child any day. She said that a part of her wants the baby to hurry up and come out, but the other part of her knows that her first will be an only child for just a short while longer, so she's trying to savor every last minute of alone time with her. Reading this prompted me to think back to when I was due to give birth to Leah. I do remember making a conscious effort to lie down with Em and cuddle her. I remember trying to filter everything out and simply focus on enjoying her, because I knew our alone time was running out. They were beautiful times; precious moments. Until reading that woman's blog, I hadn't really thought about those days since they happened. I enjoyed going back and remembering what it felt like to enjoy my Em... when it was *just* Em. What's crazy is that we'll never have those days again.
    Along these same lines, I do cherish the time when Em's in school, and I get to focus on Leah alone. She and I do lots of cuddling and snuggling during those three hours twice/week. It's heavenly. I do it because I know time goes by so fast!


25. School has been SO GREAT for Emily. She's really thriving. Every Monday and Wednesday night, she looks forward to the following morning so she can go to school to see Mrs. M. and play with D, T, A, and all her friends. She loves it when they paint, and she still loves to "vacuum" her classroom. She also digs snacktime and playtime outside. Mrs. M. is a wonderful teacher (my goddaughter/niece, G, had her when she was in preschool, too), and Stephen and I are very happy with how Em's first schoolyear's been going. She's really come out of her shell socially, too. A year ago, she was literally hiding her head when we were in a social setting she wasn't comfortable with; but now she seems very confident, playful and friendly. We're thrilled!


26. I (we) really should be signing with Leah. She (and we) for some reason stopped signing poop after a while, and I never took off with milk like I wanted to. Just now we showed her the Mommy and Daddy signs. There's really no excuse not to do signs with her, especially now that I've found a nice site to refer to.


27. I *knew* I was a mom when I bought this. The first time I saw it at Costco I resisted, but a couple visits later I gave in to temptation. I thought, "This is the answer to transporting cakes and cupcakes!!" I mean, you know how you put cupcakes on a plate and then put Saran Wrap over the top, and the frosting comes off? Or you can only put one layer of cupcakes on the plate, because adding another row on top would also de-frost the bottom row? Well, this fixes all that. I actually have Snapware storage containers -- I bought a set at Costco one day, came home, cleaned out all my mismatched Tupperware, and vowed from then on to *only* use Snapware. (I gathered all the Tupperware and gave it all to my mom. Sorry, Ma.) Since that day, I've only had and used my Snapware... and I *love* it! It was a great move. Anyway, this cake/cupcake carrier is a Snapware product, so I'm pleased. It's great, too, because it comes with three tiers, and you can use one, two, or all three! You can even add on if need be! Oh, and I got it for a MUCH better deal at Costco. ($17 instead of Amazon's $25. Target's much more expensive, too. I think I saw a one-tier unit for $10 at a Target store.) I think this is such a "Mom" thing because I envision using it to take cupcakes to Em's classroom and such. Awwww. I'm a Mommy!! (Sometimes I still have a hard time believing it!)


28. My neighbor suggested I buy a long-handled dustpan for our new floors, since we now do much more sweeping than we used to. I bought one at Target (it was designed by Michael Graves) and I'm pretty disappointed in it. The concept is great (I hate bending down for my regular dustpan), but this model's not so great. The dirty stuff sweeps right underneath the pan and just ends up on the other side of it, rather than inside of it. I found one on Amazon that got good reviews... I'm debating whether I should return the one to Target and go ahead and try the Amazon one. (It's twice as expensive, and if I don't like it, returning it would be a bit harder since it's an online store, but I think I might go for it.)


29. Speaking of neighbors... I love ours! We live in a great neighborhood. I love our street (to be specific, our *end of the street). It's a pretty quiet area, and there's not a lot of traffic, which gives me peace of mind when the girls are playing outside. Even though it's pretty quiet around here, there are still kids around for Em to play with. In fact, two families moved into the house across the street (Steve, his daughter and their dog Scruff had to move out late last year, and we miss them, but I admit it's nice to have more little kids around for Em to play with). The families are related to each other: there are a sister and a brother and their spouses. Each couple has two sons: one's 5, one's 4, another was born just a few weeks ago, and one is due to be born in a couple months. Also, the nice couple who live two houses down have three grandsons (ages 7, 6 and almost 2), and those boys live just a couple streets over (but they're at their grandparents' house at least a couple times a week). They're very nice boys and Em loves to play with them. [As a matter of fact, she was playing with them today (they like to make believe in the playhouse), and I noticed they had a yucky cough. Man, I hope my girls don't get sick. I really don't want Em to have to miss her first soccer game next week!] Then there's Jean and Dearie, who I've known since I was born... their granddaughters (ages 10 and 8) are often over, and Em loves them, too. And THEN there's of course Dave and Lee, who have two kids: J (age 14) and H (almost 12). We've known them since we moved here five-and-a-half years ago, and we've always been pretty close. J and H are both very good with Em. So I feel very lucky to live around such nice people, and I'm thankful that Em almost always has someone to run around with outside! :-)
    * Down the street, it's not quite so peaceful. There's a house down there that's occupied by a bunch of older men who apparently like to drink, yell and play *really* loud music. And by play, I mean THEY do the playing. They break out their microphones, electric guitars and amps, and go to town. Oy. I'm SO thankful I don't live directly nextdoor to them!!


30. I wrote down 29 items, and I just had to write down a 30th, so here it is. Hmm. Did I mention I get to bed too late? It's almost 2:00 in the morning!!

Red Velvet Sweetheart Cupcakes

I never posted these pictures to Flickr, but since a year has passed, I might as well go ahead and share them now. Last Valentine's Day, my mom and I made cupcakes from a recipe I found in Better Homes and Gardens. Actually, the magazine was at my OB's office... I picked it up at my last prenatal appointment when I was pregnant with Leah! {Sniff, sniff.}
[And in case you're wondering, I did ask the receptionist if I could swipe the magazine. I politely pointed out that they had another copy sitting on the table, and she reluctantly said I could go ahead and take it. (Sheesh! ;-)]

Up until a few years ago, I had never had red velvet cake. I always thought it looked and sounded good, but I never really noticed it offered anywhere. When we went to New York City in 2006, we visited The Magnolia Bakery at my sister's recommendation. That's where I tasted my first red velvet cake, but surprisingly, I wasn't all too impressed. Nothing Bundt Cakes, however, has some pretty tasty red velvet cake. It's WAY better than Magnolia's! Maybe it's 'cause they put chocolate chips in it. ;-)

I love cupcakes. It seems a lot of women do. I don't wanna be sexist here, but whenever I hear someone say they love cupcakes, it's almost always (if not always) a woman!

So anyway, if you're in the mood, go ahead and try these! They're fun and yummy. I, in case you're wondering, am most definitely NOT in the mood. Em and I have been busy making Valentine crafts, and also cards that she's going to exchange with her classmates on Thursday. (Pictures of the crafts and cards hopefully coming soon.) I'm glad we made the cupcakes last year, 'cause it ain't gonna happen this year... and that's okay. This is the first time Em's needed Valentine cards, so that's priority.

If you do end up making these, be aware that you don't have to make the chocolate cookie if you don't wanna. My mom and I did, but we weren't planning ahead very well and the cookie ended up being too big to use as a pattern on our cupcakes! (D'oh!) To remedy the situation, we just made a pattern out of paper, placed it on each cupcake, sprinkled outside of the pattern with powdered sugar, and voila! We ended up with the desired red heart shape outlined with white powder. (I'm sure you woulda figured that out on your own, but just in case... ;-)

Oh, and in case it flew by for you like it did for me, let me confirm that my Munks does indeed turn one very soon. These pictures were taken on Valentine's Day, and I was 37+ weeks pregnant at the time. Leah was born five days later (at 38 weeks exactly).

Where, or where did the year go??

Raves!

• Crunchmaster Baked Rice Crackers from Costco -- they come in Toasted Sesame and Artisan Four Cheese, and they're yummy! I eat them all kinds of ways: with cream cheese, with salmon, plain, etc.
• kaseri cheese -- I get mine at the local farmer's market. Oh. My. Goodness. It's scrumptious! My sister and I absolutely love it. It's pretty mild, but oh-so-good.
• Tasty Bite's Madras Lentils from Costco -- I've been heating this up and adding rice for lunch. It's actually vegetarian, but it's pretty hearty and tasty. I'd like to try their other stuff!
• Savon de France Oatmeal Exfoliant Ginger Almond Soap from Trader Joe's -- it lathers nicely, smells pleasant, and is very nice and mild on my face.
• Biosilk Silk Therapy from Costco -- I apply it to my hair after I take a shower (while it's still damp). It leaves my hair feeling a little softer and smoother, and it's got a nice scent to it. Costco sells it at such a better price than other places I've seen (like Target, etc.). Seriously, like half the price!
• In The Mix Yogurt frozen yogurt (or fro-yo, as Cel calls it) -- it's SO good! The yogurt is really good quality, and they offer all kinds of yummy toppings. It's a do-it-yourself place, so you put in however much yogurt and toppings you want, and you mix it the way you want. You then pay based on weight. So if you feel like a little, that's fine (but hardly ever the case for me!); if you feel like a medium amount, that's fine, too; and if you feel like a lot, well, go for it! The fact that buy-one-get-one-free coupons come in the mail makes this place extra nice. :-) My favorites so far are the blueberry and the coconut.
• Nothing Bundt Cakes bundtlets -- I typically don't care for bundt cakes, because my impression is that they tend to be on the drier side (I guess due to the fact that they have more crust than a regular cake?); but these are delicious. They are super moist and flavorful. I highly recommend them! My favorites are the marble and red velvet.

Christmas Meme

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper, for sure.

2. Real tree or artificial?
Real. I need to be able to smell my tree. That's a big part of what makes it so special! (Not sure if we'll have one this year, though, 'cause we're getting new flooring in the kitchen, dining room area and living room. Yay!!)

3. When do you put up the tree?
Usually the weekend before Christmas, 'cause I don't like to give it time to dry out. (Although I guess it really depends on when Home Depot gets their shipments in, huh?)

4. When do you take the tree down?
Shortly after the Epiphany (around Em's birthday).

5. Do you like eggnog?
Love it! Especially with some brandy or rum.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Hmm... that's too tough. Too many to choose from. I was a spoiled child. ;-)

7. Hardest person to buy for?
Two people who shall remain nameless. One's a he and the other's a she!

8. Easiest person to buy for?
My girls.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Not a nice one.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I don't know, but I know the worst wedding gift we received. Funny enough, it was a Christmas decoration... and it wasn't even a nice one!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Christmas Carol.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Usually November.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yes. If I don't like something or wouldn't use it, isn't it better to pass it on to someone who would than to keep it and watch it collect dust?

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Cookies and tamales!

16. Lights on the tree?
Yes: multi-colored!

17. Favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night... and the entire A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack (yay, Lisa)!
Also: Carol of the Bells, Silent Night, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), and Do They Know it's Christmas?.
By the way, here's a pretty good list of Christmas carols.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Staying home is the best.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Yes!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Maybe one on Christmas Eve, and the rest on Christmas morning. As a kid, we actually opened them after Midnight Mass.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Just all the usual pressure and chaos. I wish we could all relax more and just really enjoy it (and enjoy each other) and take it all in.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
All the Christmas colors: red, green, gold, silver... like Lisa, anything sparkly!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Mom's prime rib with potatoes and all the fixins.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Good health and happiness for everyone... and relaxation!
Oh, and new flooring wouldn't hurt. ;-)



-- Here's my Christmas Meme from 2006.

The Perfect Day

[Click on photos to enlarge.]


Leah was baptized yesterday, March 30, 2008 at Founders Chapel on the campus of the University of San Diego. She was baptized by Fr. Mike White in a private ceremony (only attended by close family and friends). Auntie Martha (our wonderful friend of many years) is Godmother and Uncle Andy (Martha's younger brother and another good friend of ours) is Godfather.

Leah is such a sweet, mellow baby, so it was no surprise that she did so well throughout the ceremony. She didn't cry at all until we started taking pictures. She didn't even whimper when Father poured the water over her head!


Fr. Mike is also such a sweet person. He's so pleasant to be around. He baptized Emily, and it's no wonder we chose him to perform Leah's ceremony as well. I hope he's around for all our kids! (He said, "As long as they [at the school] don't retire me, I'll be here.") We all love the guy!

Founders Chapel is such a gorgeous church, too. Everyone seems to fall in love with it when they see it for the first time. Only alumni can get married there or have their children baptized there. I feel very lucky to have that privilege. Stephen and I were married at The Immaculata (the main church on campus), and both our babies were baptized at Founders. Fr. Mike warmly said to me, "Welcome home [to USD]!" I gotta say, it really does always feel so good to go "home".

After the baptism, we all congregated at Martha's home in Poway for a delightful reception. We enjoyed each other's company and ate delicious food: carne asada that Andy threw on the grill (Five Star Market in Escondido sells it already prepared and it's SO good); Martha's mom made rice & beans; my mom made potato salad and crab macaroni salad; chips & dips; fruit; veggies; and to finish, my sister, Cecilia, made our famous chocolate cake. Yum!!

I'd also like to comment on how well Emily did all day. It was a long (albeit a lovely!) day, and she was so cooperative. Lately she'd been waking up kinda cranky, but yesterday she was in such a happy mood as soon as she got out of bed. The fact that she got to wear a beautiful dress didn't hurt, of course. This child is quite the girly-girl. Every day she's asking me for a dress to put on! At the party she enjoyed tossing her big purple ball and kicking Daddy's soccer ball around. And when J (Martha's cousin) accidentally kicked the ball over the fence and into a drainage ditch, Em and H (our 10-year-old friend and neighbor) got such a kick (no pun intended) out of watching Ken hop over and fetch it out of the nasty green, murky water. Em kept shouting, "Ken, NO!! You'll get your shoes wet!!" ;-) H gave Emily a cute Dora softball set, and I heard that she's quite capable of hitting the ball with the bat. (I unfortunately didn't get to see it.) Like I mentioned in our Christmas letter, she seems to be pretty good at sports!

I hope to put more pictures up on Flickr in the near future. Here I posted a few highlights. My sister, Cecilia, was photographer.

What a beautiful day yesterday was. Even the weather was gorgeous: some refreshing light rain in the morning, followed by sun and cool, lovely breezes. The temperatures were in the 60s all day. (Now that's my kind of weather!)

Emmyisms

- "gabrella" is Em-speak for umbrella.
- "Critta Ramen" or "Ritta Ramen" is Em-speak for Christopher Robin.
- On our flight home from Boston a month ago, when the plane lifted-off, she threw her arms in the air and shouted, "BLAST-OFF!!!"
She's a huge "Little Einsteins" fan. Can ya tell? ;-)


It's been raining cats and dogs here all day today (which has been wonderful, not only because I adore the rain, but also because we so desperately need it here in SoCal). Em got to use the cute little pink "gabrella" Sister bought for her in Massachusetts.

Call us nuts, but we just got home from an evening at SeaWorld. We bought year-round passes ("Passports") a few months ago (when our Zoo/WAP passes expired), and tonight the park was open after-hours for Passport members. It was nice, because for the most part we had the place to ourselves, and we got to see a neat Christmas version of The Shamu Show. Em LOVED it. She squealed with glee every time Shamu leaped out of the water. When the show was about to end, we told her it was time for Shamu to go "nigh-night". She exclaimed, "No! Shamu NO nigh-night!!" She wanted to continue to watch him perform his antics. It was terribly cute.

Unfortunately, due to the rain, the park closed an hour and a half earlier than originally planned. We missed out on seeing our usual favorites (the sharks and penguins). Oh, well. It's an excuse to go back soon. :-)

After SeaWorld, we picked up a half-order of carne asada fries to share from Santana's. Yum! (Santana's was one of our "regulars" when we were in college.) After we went through the drive-thru, we drove through USD to take a look. (We usually do that when we're in the area, just for old time's sake. I'm also in love with the place.) Can I just say, I have the prettiest alma mater in the world?! It was gorgeous when I was a student there, and it just keeps getting more and more beautiful. And The Immaculata -- wow. Stephen and I were lucky to be married there. It's simply breathtaking.

In pregnancy news, not much to report -- everything looks great. (No news is good news, right?) I went in for my monthly check-up today, and my OB said I have the blood pressure of a teenager. ;-) I was glad about that one! I thankfully haven't gained any weight (I actually lost 10 pounds when I was pregnant with Em), and I feel good. I still get tired more easily than I did with Emily, and now and then I ache a little more, but I really can't complain. Both these babies have been so good to me! A few weeks ago, I finally got to the point of feeling him/her kick every single day. I love that. That's definitely my favorite part of pregnancy. :-) My doctor now wants to see me every three weeks instead of every four. Two weeks from now, I'm supposed to take the glucose test to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. Let's hope I don't! That would be no fun at all.

Off to bed now. We have gymnastics in the morning (only two classes left). I hope it continues to rain!

Turkey Day

This is what our Thanksgiving Day looked like this year.


Here's Em with her very own apple pie. She made it the night before. She rolled out the dough, made the filling, and filled the crust!




Here's Tom comin' out of the oven:




The pecan pies (and Em's apple pie):




Tom in all his glory:




The Spread (I love the centerpiece!):




And Em digging into her pie. Or, rather, the whipped cream on her pie:




'Twas a very good day. An excellent day full of good company and delicious food. We're blessed.

And oh, so thankful.

Everyday Dinners

Now, I probably won't take advantage of this because (as most of you know) I don't cook (tsk, tsk!), but I thought maybe some of you could. It looks like a nice resource because it provides daily ideas of what to make for din-din.

Enjoy!

B&J's Banana Split

As I said before, I'm not a big ice cream person, but DANG this stuff is good! It's one of Ben & Jerry's newest creations.

I normally don't care for walnuts, but I don't mind them in here. The banana and strawberry ice creams, fudge chunks and fudge ripples are so good that they make me not care about the walnuts. Either that, or maybe walnuts just aren't as bad as once I thought they were.

I swear, I never look in the B&J's section (only 'cause I'm a cheapskate), but I thought I'd take a peek last time I was at the grocery store. I'm glad I did, 'cause this stuff is da bomb!

Easter Treats

We're planning on making these for Easter. Our good friend Martha is throwing an Easter egg hunt at her new house, so we're gonna go over there in the afternoon and we'll take these along. I don't even remember how I stumbled upon the JELL-O website, but I thought the egg and bean jigglers were so cute that I ordered the molds and they arrived in the mail about a week ago. (Just in time!) The molds were only $3.50 a piece, and that included shipping and handling.


And now Easter with Red & Yellow:



See also: Bright Ideas


M (Stephen's niece) is coming down from USC to visit us tomorrow and will stay for Easter. That'll be nice! Thankfully I'll have been on the antibiotics long enough that I shouldn't be contagious anymore and will probably feel (at least almost) normal again.

Dad ended up getting sick with an intestinal virus a couple days ago, and he still feels bad today. Em was vomiting all last week, but I don't know if it was due to an intestinal virus or just a symptom of the flu that she, Sister and I all had/have. (I've read that children can display those kinds of symptoms with a "regular" flu, whereas adults don't tend to.) Of course, my flu (and Sister's) developed into a bacterial infection, whereas Em's didn't, thank goodness. All this just to say that I don't know whether Em gave the stomach bug to my Dad, or if she even had it to begin with. I hope he'll be better by Sunday so we can all get together Easter evening.

Alright, enough sick talk.

Happy Easter to you & yours!

Santa's Whiskers

Merry Christmas & Happy Feast of Stephen!



In addition to all the other yummy cookies that Mona usually bakes for Christmas (chocolate chip, sugar, peanut butter and Mexican Wedding Cakes), she also tried a new type this year, and they're really good!

They're called Santa's Whiskers. Cute name, as it does fit the look of the cookie.

Christmas Meme

I was tagged by Alicia, who said that I should participate when -- not IF -- I got my blog back. I appreciate her optimism!! :-)


1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
For Christmas, definitely egg nog, 'cause it's only available this time of year, so that makes it special! If I had to drink one or the other all the time, though, I'd probably choose hot chocolate, 'cause egg nog's pretty rich.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
He wraps them, of course!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
While I do think that all white lights are pretty, I also think they're kinda boring. We do colored lights on both the tree and the house.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No, but I'd like to!

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Ideally, right after Thanksgiving, but that never happens. In fact, I'm ashamed to say that they aren't up right now. :-( There's just been too much going on, especially with Stephen gone. (He's been gone the past week, and back and forth the past three weeks, which is funny, 'cause his "extended work week/long hours" were supposed to end before Thanksgiving!)

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Well, my favorite Thanksgiving dishes are my Mom's mashed potatoes, my sister's mashed potato casserole, and stuffing. Man, do I love stuffing! And it can't be sweet, either. No, no, no.
We don't tend to have turkey for Christmas, but rather a prime rib, which is definitely my favorite Christmas dish. That, and tamales, which my Mom usually makes after Christmas. YUM!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child:
I don't really have one favorite holiday memory, but I fondly remember how we used to go to Midnight Mass when I was little, and I couldn't wait to get home because I knew that we'd then open our presents. When we'd walk up to the front door of our home after Mass, usually one of my parents and one of my siblings would go in to "make sure Santa was gone". (We all know what they were really up to. ;-)

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't remember, but I think I was on the older side. I don't even remember how I found out. It didn't come as a big surprise to me, though. I certainly wasn't devastated or anything.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Sometimes Stephen & I do. I think we'll start that tradition with Emily.
As I mentioned above, that's when my family opened all our presents when I was a kid. Well, technically we opened them very early Christmas morning (like at 1:30 a.m.) but since it was right after Midnight Mass, it still felt like Christmas Eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Multi-colored lights, an assortment of ornaments from all over (no expensive ones, that's for sure!), some garland (no icicles! too messy!), and a star on top. Specifically, the one that my Mom used when I was a kid (which I LOVE). Definitely a star on top, though. I'm not an "angel-on-top-of-the-tree" kind of person. (Probably 'cause my Mom always used a star when I was growing up, which is funny, 'cause now she uses an angel!)

11. Snow?
Uh, here in SoCal, the closest we get to snow is IMPORTED snow. My sister & I took Emily, our 9-year-old niece G, and my 9-year-old neighbor H to Candy Land, a function that the City of Poway puts on every Christmas. This is the first time I've been and it was fun: they had karaoke, crafts, Santa & Mrs. Claus, elves making balloons, and the (imported 45 tons of) snow. The main attraction, however, was the life-sized version of the children's game, Candy Land, which was really neat! They decorated a gymnasium with Candy Land props, and volunteers dressed up as Lord Licorice and Queen Frostine. A female announcer called out the directions: "Move three spaces while shaking your belly like a bowl full of jelly." "Move one space while tiptoeing like an elf." And every 10 spaces or so, a boy scout or a Candy Land character would hand out -- you guessed it -- candy.

Em caught on to the whole thing really quickly. She held Hannah's hand the entire time, listening for the lady to give her instructions on what to do next. And when she got to the candy spaces, she eagerly held out her little white sack. It was all just too cute.

12. Can you ice skate?
No... I've only tried a couple times. The times I tried, though, I was able to do something that at least resembled ice skating!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
No, there are too many favorites to name just one.

14. What's the most exciting thing about the holidays for you?
All the beauty. Beauty in the lights, trees, families, and children's faces. And the smells. Christmas smells wonderful.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
For Thanksgiving, it's cheesecake and pecan pie.
For Christmas, I love all the different cookies my sister Mona makes. She makes a huge variety: chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies, Mexican Wedding Cakes, and more. My favorite of all these are her chocolate chip. They're Stephen's favorite, too. :-)

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Just everyone getting together, eating good food together, and enjoying each other.

17. What tops your tree?
A star always tops our tree. Unfortunately, our tree is currently sitting in a garbage can full of water in the side yard of my parents' house. Stephen told me to wait to put it up 'til he gets home, and he's on his way right now (yay!). So we'll have it up tomorrow, probably.

I wouldn't be able to put it up now, anyway, 'cause I don't know where our tree stand is! Stephen's gonna have to help me look in the garage. My father-in-law gave us our tree stand, and it's a really great one. It's simple, but it works well. I remember my Mom used to have problems with different tree stands throughout the years. This one, however, is a keeper. :-)

18. Which do you prefer - giving or receiving?
I'm not gonna lie -- I like both. But if I had to only give or only receive, I'd much rather give.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
O Holy Night.

I also like Carol of the Bells, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), Do They Know it's Christmas? and the entire A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. Mine doesn't look like this copy on Amazon, though. Maybe 'cause mine's from Starbucks.
By the way, here's a pretty good list of Christmas carols.

20. Candy canes?
I sometimes hang them on the tree, but my family never did when I was growing up. They aren't a big part of our Christmas tradition.

The Cook's Thesaurus

Speaking of cool websites, here's another. I found this interesting one through Parenting magazine.

It's pretty much a food dictionary, but the kinda cool thing about it is that it gives food substitute suggestions for those times that you don't have a particular ingredient. (For example: You don't have cinnamon? Foodsubs.com says that nutmeg would work in its place.)

I'm not a cook. The problem is, I guess, that I don't know how to cook. I think I'd like to take a class someday. That sounds like it'd be sorta fun.

Anyway, for you cooks out there, this site seems like it just might come in handy sometime. So bookmark it! You may find yourself running out of comino and learn that (half as much of) caraway seeds would work for you instead. :-)

Mexican Hot Dogs

My Mom makes these for me once in a blue moon. It's funny, because it seems like she'd make them more often (seeing as how they're tasty and easy to make), but for some reason she doesn't. Hmm... maybe she doesn't like them!

All it is is a hot dog wrapped in a corn tortilla and fried in a pan. (Stick a toothpick through the hot dog and tortilla to hold them together.) Put some cheese in there, and presto! You've got a Mexican hot dog.

I love these things. Again, not too good for you, but that's beside the point. :-)

Mortal Sin

A good friend of mine introduced me to Chili's Chicken Crispers. They are so yummy. (Darn you, Cel!) I never really used to like Chili's, but she, Em & I went there for lunch one time, and Cel ordered the Crispers and let me have a taste. Mmmm!! They're chicken fingers that are battered like fish in fish & chips. (I highly doubt they're a healthy choice in the slightest, but that's not the point. ;-) They're served with pretty good seasoned french fries and a really sweet piece of corn on the cob. Like Celia, every once in a while I now crave the Crispers, so Stephen took me & Em to satisfy my craving Friday night.

We were itching to go out because we've all been so sick and miserable the past couple of weeks (and housebound as a result). It was really nice to get out of the house and rejoin the living!

Whenever we go out to eat, we always bring along a (usually dry) snack for Emily to munch on while the food is being prepared. She gets pretty antsy in her highchair while we're waiting for our meals, so we usually keep her occupied with some Cheerios, Goldfish or Fruit Puffs (a.k.a. "Stars"). On this particular occasion (on Friday night), she was sitting in her wooden highchair, happily munching away at her Stars, when all of a sudden, the waiter appeared from the kitchen with a tray full of FOOD. All kinds of FOOD. Hot, steaming, delicious-smelling FOOD. Emily took one look at all this FOOD and started bopping up and down in her chair, squealing in delight. "YAY! The FOOD is here! Rejoice. Rejoice!!"

And then it happened.

The waiter committed a mortal sin.

He served the FOOD to the table NEXT TO US.

Oh...
My...
God.

Emily was horrified. "AAHHHHH!" she shrieked, as if to say, "How DARE you give my FOOD to someone else?! Do you realize what you've just done??!!"

We tried to push some more Stars her way.

But alas, it was too late. She saw the FOOD and there was no turning back. She would not be satisfied until it was placed on HER table (within arm's reach, of course).

And she wasn't. Until the appetizer arrived, that is. (Thank goodness for hors d'oeuvres!!)

Then she was as happy as a clam.

[This story reminds me of the time when Martha took us out to Claim Jumper for Stephen's birthday. She ordered a sampler-type appetizer (and in case you've never been to CJ, their portions are ridiculously ginormous), and when the waiter set the plate down in front of us (piled high with three feet of food), Emily started bopping up and down (her version of jumping) and exclaimed "Eeeeee!!!" at the top of her voice. No one had seen anything like it -- I mean, a 13-month-old baby shouting for joy just because the food is here? -- and we all burst into laughter (especially Martha and her kid brother Andy). Too darn funny.]

SD Eats

For some reason, I feel compelled to list (at least some of) my favorite San Diego restaurants. (I say "some" because I know I can't recall all of them at once.) Here goes:

* Submarina -- THE best submarine sandwiches around! The original is here in Poway.
* Round Table -- Not exclusive to San Diego, but still one of my favorite pizza joints.
* Filippi's Pizza Grotto -- Completely different kind of pizza than Round Table, but yummy nonetheless.
* Souplantation (known as Sweet Tomatoes in the Bay Area) -- I believe they have locations across the country. Good thing, because their soup & salad buffet is one-of-a-kind! Everything's very fresh and tasty. I love their clam chowder.
* The Cheesecake Factory -- Again, not exclusive to SD, but one of my all-time faves. EVERYTHING there is excellent, from the appetizers (especially the potstickers -- the sauce they're in is to-die-for) to the main dishes to the desserts (especially the -- you guessed it -- cheesecake!).
* A Delight of France Bakery & Bistro -- We went here with Stephen's boss and some co-workers. Located in Escondido, it is out of this world!
* Rockin' Baja Lobster -- A fun atmosphere with yummy Mexican-style seafood.
* Katsu Seafood & Steak House -- Stephen & I never get tired of this place. Located in San Marcos' Old California Restaurant Row, it's probably the best Japanese around!

Apples & Bananas

The other night, my Mom made a special yummy treat that she said was for me and her to enjoy. It's something I'd been thinking about and craving for a long while. I had even been bugging her for months to make it for me!

She finally had some apples, bananas, and some evaporated milk lying around, so she decided to go ahead and make it. Boy, am I glad she did! If you ever want to try it, all you do is slice up some apples and bananas, put them in a bowl of evaporated milk, add some sugar and cinammon to taste, and enjoy! My Dad doesn't like the stuff, but the rest of us sure do. Zac, Grace & Emily tried it, and they all loved it. Needless to say, the dessert wasn't just for me & Mom anymore. ;-) My Mom's Mom used to make it back in the day, and even though it's so simple and yummy, I've never known anyone else to ever make it.

You can bet I'm going to make it for my kids like my Grandma & my Mom did for theirs. I just hope they'll all like it like I do!

Jose O'Reilly's

We took Emily out to dinner for her birthday on Monday. Our neighbors love this place called Jose O'Reilly's, so we decided to try it. It's a pretty big restaurant in PQ (Rancho Peñasquitos), and the portions are huge (Rich would love that part!), but the food (in our opinion) is just so-so. Stephen liked the Irish nachos, which are very different from Outback's cheese fries. The Irish nachos consisted of a large plate full of big, chunky, criss-cross-cut potatoes smothered in cheddar cheese, carne asada and jalapeños. Cheese fries, on the other hand, are regular French fries smothered in cheese and bacon, and a YUMMY garlicky ranch dressing is used as a dip. Mmm!! We LOVE the cheese fries. Whenever we go to Outback, we order them. We can never understand what the big whoop is with the Bloomin' Onion, when the cheese fries are to die for!

Funny thing about Emily... she LOVES to nurse (what baby doesn't?) and she LOVES "people food" (table food, adult food, real food, regular food, whatever you wanna call it), but she has always HATED jarred baby food. She loves eating whatever we eat: macaroni, rice, eggs, bread, Cheerios (one of her all-time favorites), chicken, etc. She especially loves Grandma's Mexican rice. At the restaurant, she ate some of the potatoes from the Irish nachos, and she shared my Mexican rice. For only weighing 16 pounds, 9 ounces (at a year old!), this kid has quite an appetite!!

We got a couple pics of Em in a sombrero and her adorable yellow dress. We get so many compliments on our "beautiful baby" wherever we go. Jose O'Reilly's was fitting for Emily, seeing as how she's our little Irish-Mexican beauty! :-)

The Most Delicious Pears

For the second Christmas in a row now (I sense it's becoming a tradition, and you can bet I'll look forward to this every year!), my sister's boss has given her a case of the most delicious pears we have ever tasted. (He gives her enough to share with her family, 'cause he's such a nice guy. :-) They're Harry & David's pears, and they are scrumptious!! I highly recommend you shell out the bucks and try them. Maybe for Christmas this year?