7/04 - Happy 4th!

Aside from the loud fireworks around the neighborhood at all hours, the heatwave, and intermittently cranky children, we had a lovely 4th of July celebration.  How about you?

6/20 - Super Samurai's dubious deviled egg technique

No!  We do not use our swords to slice eggs!
And no masks in the kitchen…  Are those gloves clean?

12/02 - Weekend fun: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas edition

Last weekend, we started getting ready for Christmas.  First, we picked out a tree.  Then, we had cookies and eggnog and decorated it.

The next morning, we put the ingredients for homemade soup in the slow cooker. I also made my famous Mommy Bread.  Between that and the Christmas tree, the house smelled delicious all day!

After that, we got all gussied up and went to see Santa.  Lil' Guy stepped right up and charmed Santa.

Lil' Gal has always been shy, but this year, we had a Plan B.  A letter!  Santa was very touched and thought she did a great job drawing him and Rudolph.  She was SO proud.  And when he asked for a hug, she gave him a big one!  (I was on the other side, and her face was beaming.  So cute!!)

My attempts at getting a holiday card photo were not as successful as I'd like, but I'll keep trying...

11/22 - Thankful Thanksgiving

This was the year I cooked my first turkey.  For a vegetarian, this is a big act of love, so I was quite relieved and extremely proud that it turned out well.  I was also relieved that my guests were willing to carve it up and take the gruesome bits home for soup making.  :)  The twins were great helpers.  Lil' Gal made place setting tags for each guest, and she and Lil' Guy set the table.

Lil' Gal chopped the veggies for the appetizer and all of the broccoli for dinner.  Both she and Lil' Guy helped me make the stuffing.

They were very interested in the turkey and gobbled a lot of it up!

We had a wonderful feast and lots of laughter with our friends.

The twins even helped do the dishes afterwards.

Good night!

10/14 - Weekend fun: Cheese and bubbles edition

Last weekend, I was still under the weather, so we had a low key weekend.  We talked about going to the farmer's market and getting free ice cream offered as part of BART's 40th anniversary celebrations, but we just couldn't pull it together to get out of the house in time.

We did make it to the library.  :)

And made cheese enchiladas with green sauce.  Nom!

And had fun with bubbles.

4/08 - Weekend Fun: Easter edition

Despite my being sick, we pressed on with Easter plans, covering the children with more dye than any Easter egg, a last minute grocery run, and trying to cover for the Easter Bunny despite multiple pop-up children in the night.

Easter started bright (not yet) and early, with the kids up and egg-hunting at about 6:45am.  This was the first year they could read the note from the Easter Bunny!!  (sniff!)

The twins picked our dinner recipe -- Molly Katzen's "Enchanted Broccoli Forest" -- which turned out well. And then I collapsed into bed.

3/24 - Weekend Fun: Dough Day

Saturday was a cold and rainy day.  We started it out with pancakes.  We played a new game from Linda.

Then we made cloud dough.  This was just as much fun as I thought it would be.  I had some moments where I despaired of the mess, but it swept up very nicely and washed up easily.  Next time, I'll put the kids (and me!) in play clothes that go right into the wash, but everything else tidied up better than expected.

We finished up our rainy day by making a loaf of "Mommy Bread" to have with our favorite family dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.

On Sunday, we got Lil' Gal a much-needed haircut!

2/26 - Weekend fun

On Saturday, I got to go to the opening bout for the Bay Area Derby Girls.  It was a whole new perspective for me -- I was checking out everyone's gear, studying the strategy, and explaining the ref calls to David.  What a difference knowing the rules makes!

Apparently, the last time I wore this coat, I forgot to take the toy out of my pocket -- whoopsie!  (Or was it part of Lil' Gal's plan to come to the bout with me after all?)

Oh, and I got to meet Chantilly Mace, otherwise known as Skater 26.  Wooo!!

Made these yummy Creamy Spinach Enchiladas for dinner, and they turned out really well. NOM.

And... Lil' Guy is always cute in googles.

11/24 - Thankful

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for good food, great family and friends, and wonderful kids.

The menu, as scribed by Lil' Gal:

The pies, as baked by me and Lil' Gal:

How was your holiday?  What makes you thankful?

7/04 - Happy 4th of July!

My cold is still raging, and I've had to cancel or scale back on all the plans I had for my much-anticipated 5-day weekend.  I'd like to say I'm being all Zen about it, but I'm really not.  Mommy is cranky.

Sick or not, I was not going to keep the kids from enjoying the holiday.  First, I put the kids to work prepping mint from our garden for the mint juleps.  (Is that wrong?)  They took their job very seriously and it was awesome (as were the juleps!).

We sniffled our way through the always nice Alameda 4th of July Parade, and enjoyed seeing Suzanne and hanging out with Linda, who we later kidnapped and brought home to our BBQ.  We were joined by Kathleen and Chuck.

I made Amish Cole Slaw, my mom's potato salad, and my famous portobello mushrooms.  Mama grilled them up, along with zucchini, burgers and chicken breasts.  The twins and Chuck had virgin juleps, made with the mint-infused simple syrup and sparkling water.  We also enjoyed the slightly melted cupcakes from the other day.  What a feast!

6/12 - Kids in the Kitchen

This weekend, I made-up a pasta dish for our family dinner with egg noodles, fresh spinach, corn, and feta.  Lil' Gal chopped the spinach for me, and Lil' Guy was "Spice Guy."  He was so enthusiastic about learning the spices that he had a small sneezing fit!

They were so cute in their aprons, and we loved making a meal together.

On Sundays, I hang out with the kids while Mama has a sleep-in.  Usually, we'll make pancakes, but this week we made something else...