where was the vanilla-roma when we needed it?

While our drive up the Bay Area this week was not nearly as bad as our close to 9-hour debacle of a couple of years past it was as they always seem to be these days -- a doozy.

About an hour after we left our house this girl...

threw up in the car.

Of course there were no exits for miles, so we pulled over on the highway, cleaned and bagged everything the best we could and climbed back in because we still had a LONG way to go.

Mo was a trooper, and didn't even cry when she was puking or when she got stripped down on the highway shoulder (she was swishing the vomit around in her mouth which thoroughly grossed the rest of us out).

Nothing like trying to ignore the smell of puke in the car for 5 hours.

Oh and,

Happy Thanksgiving!

bag it

My Canon Rebel is sick.

It's been sent away to see if it can be cured. I'm sad without my SLR.

I think I'm going to ask Santa for a camera bag this holiday season. Emera bags have long been my favorite, but I'm usually in jeans and a t-shirt (or worse) and frankly you just need to dress better to carry an Emera bag.

I've got my eye on these three which mesh better with my more casual (read: not put together) lifestyle.

yellow bird by ketti

rose by jo totes

the bowler by acme

What do you think?

What do you use for your camera bag?

knock knock

happy friday!

arg, matey

Each day when I pick Katie up from school she hands me the tiniest paper cup.

I placed a crayon there so you can see just how small the cup is

Inside of it...

Treasure.

Apparently the school scatters colored rocks and other such little things in the sand.

She is now always on the hunt for treasure in and out of school.

The other day we went on a hike. I told the girls we could collect some pine cones or other pretty things to make a wreath.

Katie kept picking up -- well, trash -- little pieces of plastic, broken bits of glass, etc.

"Treasure!" she'd yell each time she found a strand of plastic Easter grass, a piece of metallic confetti or a sequin.

She even has her sister looking out for "treasure."

Excellent.

moody monday

Sometimes things can feel a bit blah in my generally positive world.

Especially on Mondays.

As per usual the weekend was crowded with events, classes and more. We also had the class guinea pigs at home for the long weekend. I feel as if I was constantly cleaning that cage.

I am finding hay everywhere.

My team lost last night.

My house looks like it is about to be invaded by a house-cleaning reality show.

We did see a gorgeous sunset at the beach this weekend though.

And, I still love these three more than anything else in the world.

oh my oh pie

We've had an uncut pumpkin sitting on our front porch for awhile now so I thought I'd try to make something from it.

I went online to read that jack o' lantern type pumpkins are not ideal for baking, and that you should use 3-4 lb. pumpkins for pie, muffins, etc.

Well, I didn't have a 3-4 lb. pumpkin on my porch I had a big, fat 10+ lb. pumpkin.

I went ahead and baked it and made my very first pumpkin pie yesterday.

Turned out pretty good, and it was fairly simple to make. I sort of tweaked a bunch of different recipes to make my pie (basically using the ingredients I had in my fridge/pantry).

Today, I've been combing through Dana's post to find some more recipes because I have an additional 4 cups of pumpkin puree.

Hit me up with a good recipe if you've got one...

Pumpkin Pie

1 unbaked pie shell (I did not make mine from scratch)
1 3/4 c. pumpkin purée
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. pumpkin spice
1/4 tsp. salt

To roast your pumpkin split it half (or quarters if it's a big one). Scoop out seeds and hairy stuff. Bake in large pyrex/cookie sheet for about 60-90 minutes at 350 degrees. When you can insert a knife like butter through the pumpkin it's done. Cool, scoop out pumpkin from shell and puree.

Preheat the oven to 375˚. Line pie dish with the pastry. Combine the pumpkin with all remaining ingredient and mix thoroughly. Pour into the prepared crust and and bake for 50-60 minutes, until custard is set. A toothpick should come out clean halfway to the center of the pie. If the crust browns too quickly make a ring of aluminum foil to protect it during baking.

little voices

I love listening to just about any two-year-old. Their little voices and they way they talk crack me up. Like when Mo sings Jack Johnson's "Breakdown" it sounds like "Beek-town."

I realized I have very little video of her talking or singing, so I've been trying to capture more because I know I'll blink and she'll be using triple-letter-word-score language.

and part korean too

Auntie Amy makes a statement about how we are Asian.

Katie: "I'm not Asian I'm Chinese and part white!"

it's starting to look a lot like

Christmas. At least the mall sure looked like it today.

I was informed on Saturday that I'd better go buy more Halloween candy "just in case."

When I got to the seasonal candy aisle what did I find? All Christmas candy. I had to search out the uber-small selection of Halloween candy.

I know this complaint is not an uncommon one, but we were really jipped out of our normal summer this year, so I think that's why I'm a bit more puffed up about this than normal.

This morning -- Nov. 1 -- we were greeted with gorgeous weather.

So, not ready to adopt any sort of holiday spirit quite yet we hit the beach this afternoon.


Mo has finally embraced the water and was literally pouring buckets of it on herself today.

While the weather was nice, the water is NOT warm right now.


The more than frigid water did not bother Katie one bit.

The girl can be straight fearless when it comes to cold water.

She just runs in and plops herself down in it.

Everyone in the water were in full wet suits and there's my little girl fully submerged trying to body surf like "what? who thinks it's cold!?"

the hills are alive

If you remember, I've managed to transfer my love of musicals to Kaitlyn.

A couple of weeks ago she announced she was going to be Maria from the classic Sound of Music.

I knew I had to call in reinforcements for this one -- a.k.a. Miyo.

(Again, thank you Miyo!)

She fashioned the apron out of an XL men's shirt I found at a thrift store.

Mo snatched this costume the moment we walked through the doors of Old Navy a couple of weeks ago.

She literally dragged it around the store the entire time we were there refusing to let me carry it for her.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

sleeping with sissy

We are officially going to move the girls into the same room.

Katie has been sleeping on her mattress in Maddie's room almost two weeks now and they both love it.

Katie: I want to sleep with sissy all the time!

Mo: Me too! (although yelling "me too" seems to be a knee-jerk response, and not always one she means)

How can we say no to these faces?

So, for those of you who have kids who share a room: Do you have any tips? Pointers? Absolute Dos or Don'ts?

homemaker of the year

Scene: At Miyo's house. She is making Katie's Halloween costume and ironing a piece of fabric.

Katie (pointing to the iron/ironing board): What's that?

for mo

Maddie loves yellow. When she paints she always chooses yellow paper and yellow paint. Her work is like modern art you see in museums.

When we shop she always grabs random yellow clothing. Most of the time we are not shopping for her as she has a ton of beautiful hand-me-downs from both her sister and Dylann.

Today I found this in a thrift store and had to buy it for her.

Looked up the label and it turns out I scored a vintage 1950s Jean Durain dress for $5.

celebrity sighting

Pulling into a Montecito neighborhood on the way to a lovely friend’s baby shower.

Jen: Okay guys, THAT’S Jack Johnson.

Tracy (rolling down her window): Hey, great show this week!

He walks over to the car pushing a stroller (I'm guessing being five moms and a baby in a minivan is a less-than-threatening scenario).

I dig frantically through Miyo's purse looking for my camera.

Tracy: I was one of the people underneath you when you were surfing the crowd this week.

He reaches in the car to shake Tracy’s hand and then shake’s Jen’s hand. Amy, in the backseat thrusts her hand out the window between Tracy and the front window. He shakes her hand.

Tracy: Becky in the back was also at your concert too.

He glances through the tinted windows and waves.

I wave frantically at him even though he can’t see me, snapping pictures like a maniac.

He walks away.

Amy: I should have called shotgun.

Jen: I had to be driving a minvan when I meet Jack Johnson?

procrastination

takes odd forms sometimes.

I'm on deadline this week so, what do I do this afternoon? Try to recreate Jenn's awesome mobile project with Katie and Maddie's artwork of course.

my babygirl

Me: Come over here baby girl.

Katie: I'm not a baby anymore Mama.

Me: Honey, you will always be my baby girl. Even when you're 40, you'll still be my baby girl.

Katie: Okay, but do you think you'll still remember then?

Me: Oh, I hope so.

a party for papa

In Katie's world all parties have themes.

Katie: What theme is Papa's birthday going to be this year?

Me: Uh, what do you want it to be?

Katie: Well, last year he had a prince party. I think he should have a cat party this year.

Logical, right?

A cat party it was.

We made cat decorations.

We crafted cat masks.

Mama jerry-rigged some cat ears.

As well as some tails out of old leggings.

There were cat races.

And, the aforementioned inedible cat cake.

Hope you had a good one Papa!

making lemonade

While I bake often for some reason I had never made a cake from scratch before. So, for Papa's birthday I made a first attempt and it was in word: Bad.

Katie (with a half-eaten cake in front of her): I think I'm all done Mama.

Papa: That was the litmus test you know.

No idea what I did wrong. It was so disappointing. I even made strawberry butter cream frosting, which we all tried to eat off the awful cake.

We had some leftover frosting, so we made sugar cookies today in order to salvage some of the labor that went into making that.

I will be making cakes over the next few weeks to try to ameliorate this situation.

In the meantime, here is my strawberry frosting recipe, which took me many batches to perfect.

Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting

1 C. unsalted butter (two cubes)

1 C. fresh or frozen strawberries, hulled

2 lbs. powdered sugar (two boxes)

1. Press strawberries through a sieve to get rid of as much liquid as possible. Result should yield approximately 1/2 C. strawberry pulp.

2. Puree pulp.

3. Cream butter with a hand mixer.

4. Add powdered sugar and pulp little by little while with hand mixer on low until you reach desired consistency.

happy birthday babycakes

Thank you for being the best papa ever. Mama and the Little Wickies love you.

trifecta

We had a mini heat wave here which is hopefully breaking today.

So, for the third day in a row we hit the beach in the afternoon when it gets the hottest in our non-air conditioned house.

I love that we live close enough that we can go for just an hour or two to cool off for a bit (And, yes I am aware of the fact we live in one of the most moderate climates in the world.)

We brought some Yan-Yan treats. The girls had never had them before and Katie thought the sayings on the sticks were hilarious.

Apparently the Japanese guy at Meiji with an English thesaurus and 4-year old humor align because if you haven't seen the sticks, they are a bit -- um quirky.