No Surprises

Dominick and I have never waited for Christmas Day to open our Christmas presents. We do get our presents from Santa and our stocking Christmas morning. However the gifts to each other and the kids never make it. We are always too excited to wait. This year I was thinking we might just make it and then Nicholas' gift came via UPS.

The kids were home from school but they were in the other room when it came. Dominick quickly hid it in our room and closed the door. Then about an hour later Nicholas got to open it up. Dominick was just too excited about giving it to him. Nicholas loved his new Red Rider BB gun. We set up some targets in our backyard and we all went outside (after the whole safety talk and lesson) and had a great time shooting at the targets.

A few days later the FedEx truck came with Trinity's gift. I waited until Saturday to give it to her so we could watch her open it as a family. She got a microscope. She has wanted one for a long time. I researched and found one with good reviews in our price range. It's perfect for her. It's pretty durable but not babyish and she can adjust things by herself pretty easily. When she opened it up she wanted to take it all out and look at it. As a family we took turns looking a different slides that came with it. Then we found things around the house to look at. It was very fun.

Yesterday I took the kids with me to the grocery store. They both had a few dollars of their own money with them. Together they decided to buy Dominick a Christmas gift with their money. Where did they go? They headed straight to the candy isle and picked out a few of his favorites. I told them not to tell what they bought and that we wrap them up and put them under the tree for Christmas. We got home, unpacked the groceries and hid the candy so we could wrap it after Dominick left for work. However as soon as Nicholas saw Dominick he said "Daddy we bought you candy for Christmas it's up there in the cupboard."

We have found that opening the gifts a little early one at a time is fun for everyone. You get a gift, the family is excited and you spend time playing/using that gift before you get another one. Where as when you get a pile of gifts all at once it can be overwhelming. Maybe that is just my excuse for not being able to wait until Christmas =)

School * Kids * Baking

We've been pretty busy around here lately. Both kids are in school full time this year. I volunteer 8 to 10 hours a week at their school. The kids love when I come to help out in their classes.

Trinity is in 1st grade this year and doing very well. She is reading starter chapter books. She is loving the Diary of a Wimpy Kids books she borrowed from her cousin Dylan. Trinity also loves exploring new things. She got a microscope for Christmas and has really enjoyed looking at different things at different magnifications. She also enjoys writing books about what she is learning. I've tried to get her to write fictitious stories for fun but she told me "I only write about real things." She reminds me a little of Brennan (Emily Deschanel) from Bones the TV show. She is very serious and matter of fact all the time.

Nicholas is in Kindergarten (they started all day kindergarten this year) and loves it. He is doing very well. He can read, write and spell many words. He is also very good about sounding out new words. I think right now math is his favorite subject. Nicholas loves riding his bike and skateboard when it is not raining outside. He also really enjoys playing the computer. His favorite game is World of Warcraft but I limit how much he can play. His second favorite game is Jumpstart.com which is a fun interactive educational game. We pay $8 a month and both kids can play it as much as they want online, if homework is done and it's raining outside.

homemade marshmallows

I have been baking and making new things quite a bit lately. My favorite things to make are desserts and appetizers. We have had whole meals out of different appetizers I've made. It's amazing how many things you can do with a wonton wrapper. Dominick's favorite wonton creation was when I made baked wonton cups and filled them with shredded bbq pork and topped them with coleslaw. When we are going to a party/get together people usually request my deviled eggs and/or bacon wrapped waterchestnuts.

We are all getting excited for Christmas. The kids have been counting down since sometime toward the beginning November.

Hiking - Rain - Kids

Cell phone picture Eagle Creek

My younger brother Jacob has been driving truck all over the country for the past several months. He took a month break and came back home for awhile. We were able to go on a few hikes together. We hiked the Ape Caves with Cody (our nephew) and a couple of Jacob's friends. I had my camera but it wasn't working in the caves. It was very dark (can't see your hand in front of your face) and damp in there. I couldn't see that my lens was fogged up or I would have wiped it off and been able to take pictures.

Jacob and I decided that he was leaving soon so we wanted to get one more hike in. We invited other people to come with us but they decided not to go due to the fact that it was pouring down rain! We hiked 12 miles of Eagle Creek. The waterfalls were awesome and worth the muddy and wet clothes we had by the time we got back to the car. I was sore for a few days after this hike.

We have had record breaking rain this June. We have broke the record for rainfall in June (half way through the month.) We broke the record for May and June combined rainfall by the 4th of June. I love the rain but would like to have a nice summer too.

I took the kids to the Dr for their yearly check ups. Nicholas is doing great! He is getting ready for Kindergarten, which includes getting his shots (4 of them) He is in the 97th percentile for his weight and height. Trinity has been struggling with her hay fever this year. We are trying to find a good combo of medicines (natural and over the counter) to keep her feeling well. She is in the 25th percentile for her height and weight. She is coming to the end of her Kindergarten year and is looking forward to 1st grade.

Trinity took a rock climbing class which she loved! Dominick and I asked her what kind of class she wanted to take. We read off a list of things from our park and recs booklet. She really wanted to do the rock climb class. We were a little surprised that she choose that but she did great.

Nicholas has really started LOVING computer games. I try to make sure the games he plays are educational but Dominick lets him play World of Warcraft from time to time. Nicholas begs me on a daily basis to log in and let him play WOW. I think we have a computer geek in the making =)

One of the few nice days we had

cell phone picture while hiking eagle creek

Desserts

Now that I have a mixer and no longer have to stir things with a spoon or whisk I love making new things. Meringue is my favorite right now because lets face it whisking the egg whites to a stiff peak by hand is killer on anybody's arm/shoulder.

This is a picture of the cupcakes with lemony meringue topping that Trinity and I made together. They were very light and fluffy. The best part was they were not nearly as sweet as normal cupcakes with frosting.

Here is my Key Lime Meringue Pie that I made this completely from scratch. This was my first time I ever attempted making a pie from scratch. I even sat and squeezed the Key Limes to get the juice.

Tomorrow Nicholas are going to make a strawberry pie of some sort. If it turns out I will be posting pictures of that too =)

Amazing Pad Thai

I was amazed how easy this Pad Thai was to make. It looked and tasted the same, if not better than going out to a Thai restaurant.

Here is the original recipe

Soak Rice Noodles according to directions for sauté on box.
Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in wok or large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add egg. Scramble lightly, about 20 seconds.
Add shrimp or meat. Stir-fry until cooked through.
Add remaining vegetable oil. Add drained noodles. Stir-fry 4-7 minutes until firm but tender.
Add scallions, peanuts and Pad Thai Sauce. Stir-fry about 1 minute. Stir in bean sprouts.
Serve hot, garnished with cilantro and lime wedges.

I changed it a little bit when I made it for myself. I used organic olive oil instead of vegetable oil, tofu instead of shrimp or chicken and I used Vegan peanut satay sauce in place of pad thai sauce. I also added shredded carrots just because I had them on hand.

*the picture is of Dominick's Pad Thai w/chicken and no sprouts

A NEW POST!!

Today it was so nice outside and we have our Zoo membership. So, Nicholas and I decided to head to the Zoo while Trinity was at school. He loved being there with just me. I let him pick which ways we went and what animals to see. When we were leaving I let him pick out a toy from the Zoo Gift Shop.

We had a fun time and the weather was perfect.

Last Saturday we headed up toward Mt Hood with our club Vancouver 4 Wheelers. We found quite a bit of snow at about 3500 feet. The kids played on their snow disks. I had to go down the hill a few times on the disks too. You know to pack down the snow for the kids ;)

Dominick took this picture of Lost Lake. This is my new desktop wallpaper.

I love the way I captured Trinity's face on this one.

Nicholas had just slid down the hill without waiting for Trinity to move out of the way.

It was only a 5 foot slide so he was not going very fast.

my photoshop stuff

I like to mess around with photoshop every now and then. I have made birthday banners, magazine covers and cartoonized people. My new project will be making the banner for my Dad's retirement party that is in a few weeks. I made the invitation for the party too. I have a bunch of ideas rolling around in my head right now I just need to get it in the computer so I can put it on paper.

Cartoonized Nicholas

This magazine cover was fun.

I just threw it together fast so it's not as good as it could have been with a little more time.

When I showed it to Trinity she rolled her eyes and said

"Now people are going to see me on magazines at stores?"

This was a poster I made for Nicholas' 3rd birthday party.

It was a football theme.

I really liked how this one turned out

TAG

I've been tagged by Stephanie.

1. Open your first picture folder.

2. Upload the 10th picture in the folder (if you don't have ten pics, then go to the next folder.)

3. Tell us the story behind the picture.

4. Tag 5 friends to do the same.

This is my Wedding Day 7/7/01. My nephew Cody was the Ring Bearer and my niece Rachael was the Flower Girl. It was very hot that day and I got a sunburn.

I tag Emily, Elise, Diana, Mom and Tonya