My Turn!

This is me

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Receptionist/Odd job doer at FES
2. Security Monitor at Stern Hall, UCBerkeley
3. Babysitter
4. Apartment Manager

B) Four movies I could watch over and over:
1. Enchanted April
2. Pride and Prejudice (any version)
3. Anne of Green Gables
4. What's Up Doc?

C) Four places I have lived:
1. Newbury Park, CA
2. Berkeley, CA
3. El Sobrante, CA
4. Fremont, CA

D) Four television shows I watch: (disclaimer: we don't have cable or an antennea so I used to watch...)
1. Seinfeld
2. A Baby Story
3. Zaboomafoo (this is when Marah was little, although the Kratt brothers were pretty cute...:)
4. ???

E) Four places I have gone on vacation:
1. Spain
2. Hawaii
3. Puerto Morelos, Mexico
4. Upstate NY

F) Four websites I visit almost daily:
1. Blogger
2. Church website
3. Google search
4. craigslist

G) Four of my favorite foods:
1. ice cream: Grandma Smith's homemade vanilla, pistachio, pecan praline, Haagen Daaz chocolate peanutbutter, are some of my faves
2. Pho (Vietnamese soup)
3. Boti Wrap (cubed lamb wrapped in Indian naan bread with a delicious onion and cilantro sauce) Sadly the restaurant where I used to get these has closed. :(
4. anything with pineapple (Hawaiian pizza, African Peanut Pineapple stew, pineapple upside down cake, etc.)

H) Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. the beach
2. hiking somewhere beautiful
3. Oregon...picking blackberries, yum, yum
4. visiting my Mom and Dad

I) Four people I tag:
1. MaryAnn McFarland
2. Megan Wilson
3. Kristi Smith
4. Carolyn Matthews

Happy Easter

Here are our adorable children in their Easter best. Judging by her smile, I think Abby has had enough candy!

Abby is Free

When Abby fell and broke her leg she went through many emotions. Pain...

anger...

frustration...

and disbelief that she had to keep that thing on her leg for 5 weeks.

But now her leg is all better and this is how she feels...

In fact she feels like a new woman, like Super Abby!

Sunol Wilderness

Sunday was a beautiful spring day and we decided to spend the afternoon enjoying nature. We went to the Sunol Wilderness area. It's hard to believe we're only 20 minutes from our house when we are there. It feels like we're way out in the country.
Here are some photos of our adventures.

Marah's Baptism

I am a bit behind in sharing the news that Marah got baptized two days after her 8th birthday. We had both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a really special day. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was 8 years old, getting baptized...

Favorite Toy?

My sister Kat posted about her daughter's favorite toy...a Curious George monkey, who she thought may be favored because it slightly resembled Maggie's baby brother, Cash.

Well this is Abby's favorite toy as of late...orange measle bunny...



I have no explanation.

Abby's Accident

Five minutes before we were about to leave on a sledding trip, Abby decided to climb the fence; actually the gate that was leaning on the fence...it tipped, she fell and, to make a long story short, she broke her leg.
Here it is in all its hot pink glory.


She has been a good sport. She asks me now and then, "Off, Mommy, pee (please)?" When I explain that we have to keep it on for a long time so her leg can get better she says "What!?!"
As of today she can walk with it and that makes her feel a bit less "stuck". She looks like a little peg leg pirate hobbling along!

Tea for...20!

Marah and I wanted to do something special for her 8th birthday. She decided on a Tea Party with all her friends.

Welcome to my party!


We ended up with about 18 girls coming. We served cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, ham sandwiches, veggies, grapes, orange juice finger jello, pink lemonade, cranberry tea and mint tea. Of course it was served on very lady like glass luncheon plates and all the girls dressed in their finest tea party apparel.



The girls were asked to bring one doll or stuffed animal guest. I think the dolls and animals enjoyed themselves.




Marah had a four layer birthday cake (alternating choclate and vanilla layers!) piped with blue frosting. It was very yummy if I do say so myself.



The only thing missing was all of our friends and family who couldn't come. Happy Birthday Marah!

Recipe

For those of you who have been salivating over my rice pudding post, here is the link to the recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creamiest-Rice-Pudding/Detail.aspx

Hope you like it!

Rice Pudding Nirvana

What could be cozier that rice pudding sprinkled with cinnamon? I love rice pudding, I crave rice pudding, maybe you could say I am addicted to rice pudding...but when you are pregnant strong cravings are totally normal and acceptable. Yes, this is my public announcement that I am expecting...baby number four will arrive around mid July...but I digress. Back to rice pudding. I have made the baked kind and I love it, but my quest has been to recreate the KOZY SHACK style rice pudding. For about a year now that creamy texture has eluded me. My attempts were always too pasty. I bought a 16 oz container of rice pudding on Saturday and between me, Marah, Ethan and Abby we ate it in one sitting. (My kids share my love of rice pudding) As I gave Marah the very last drop from the container she remembered to ask me if I had gotten any. "Yes I got a little," I replied. "Well just be glad you don't have more kids! Then you wouldn't get any!" This comment, combined with my growing belly renewed my desire to make my own creamy rice pudding. And today I think I've done it. I have found a creamy rice pudding recipe that tastes like Kozy Shack. No more must I deal with 16 oz containters that are gone the moment they are opened. Now I can make pig pots of it. And I am eating for two, so don't make any comments about the size of my servings...

Our Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's House!

Faces all aglow...

Santa's ho ho ho...

Waiting patiently...

Sleeping peacefully...(this is baby Scarlette Jane)

Sweep with hustle and bustle..

Show some muscle...

Sisters with their new gifts...

Abby on her new wheels...

Just relax...

Play hours of "Marble Blast"... (thanks for your patience Jonathan!)

And finally go to sleep...

Christmas Eve Morning

We decided to have our family Christmas on Sunday morning so that we could get an earlier start down south on Christmas Day.

Can we go see now??


Baby!


Marah's dream come true...a Molly doll!

The world through pink colored lenses...or eyelids

Abby's new favorite color is PINK! She has started pointing the color out everywhere. Clothing, toys, food, lips, gums, toes...if its pink, she will notice. The other day we were driving home late in the afternoon and we were sitting at a stoplight. Abby started yelling "Mommy! Pink! Pink!" I turned around to see what she was pointing at but she had her eyes closed. I realized that the sun was shining in her face and when she closed her eyes she could see PINK!

Climbers

We recently discovered that REI has free rock climbing on Saturdays. The first time we went, Marah made it to the top but Ethan did not. The second time both Marah and Ethan climbed to the top where they rang a little bell. Ethan was so proud of himself.

Abby didn't climb any rocks but if the prize is for "injury received while climbing" Abby won hands down. She was playing around in the van after church while everyone else was carrying in armloads of stuff. She was swinging between the two front seats, slipped and hit her eye on something hard. She has a raspberry colored eyelid...it looks like she is wearing funky eyeshadow.

Happy Halloween!

Here we have a black cat, a shadow ninja, and A-bee. Abby loved going trick-or-treating. Guess what she wanted for breakfast this morning...CANDY! Time to find a good hiding spot for that sugary loot!

Happy Birthday Abigail!

Here is our birthday girl! Two years goes by too fast!

Where is Daddy Mike?

After Mike's mom came for a visit, Mike went to visit her and his dad in St. George for a long weekend. Here are some of my favorite photos that he took. The first is Mike and his Dad...cameras in hand, ready for any gorgeous landscape that comes their way!


The third photo is of petroglyphs in a slot canyon in the Snow Canyon area.



Another adventure that Mike had recently is buying a car. A silver Jetta. MommaAshaleea thinks it feels really low to the ground after driving the van, Ethan thinks it is "a little sporty", Mike thinks it is fun to drive, Marah thinks it has a nice interior and Abby just says "ca"!