an afternoon with katie

Today Papa and Mo spent some time together while Katie and I hung out at home. Seems like all I used to have was time with Katie, but now there isn't a whole lot of it when it's just her and I.

While watching a little P&P we finally finished the 300+ puzzle she had been working on for almost a week.

She was pretty fired up to put that last piece in...

And, yes that's a 'Painter of Light' painting. When it comes to thrift stores, there's not a whole lot of selection in the 200-300 piece puzzle range.

Katie initially asked if the puzzle was a photograph. When I told her it was a painting she was amazed. "Wow, it looks so real!"

(Flash to Katie's house 20 years from now: cheesy pictures of dolphins, bridges and light houses everywhere ... ugh.)

Katie then had the idea that we should draw the picture of the puzzle ourselves.

Katie's picture of the puzzle. Believe me, you don't want to see mine (so I guess I shouldn't be knocking Kinkade).

We finished off the afternoon with her teaching me how to make origami frogs and hats.

All in all, an afternoon well spent.

in preparation for the tooth fairy

$12 from CuddleWumpkins

$11 from RainbowNest

$7.50 from foreveryoung

seriously?

Something like childbirth, I had forgotten how painstakingly time consuming potty training was.

Here is a guide to my potty training day in a nutshell:

Green = underwear changes

Blue = failed potty attempts

Red = successful potty visits

Note 1: All potty attempts were prompted by Mo, not me.

Note 2: I've added uber cute pictures of the girl to keep a smile on my face.

9:30 a.m. Convince Mo to put 1st pair of underwear on; sits on home toilet to no avail

9:45 a.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail

10:00 a.m. Leave house

10:07 a.m. Enter Big 5

10:09 a.m. Mo sits on Big 5 toilet to no avail

10:15 a.m. Arrive in Target parking lot

10:17 a.m. Mo sits on car toilet in Target parking lot to no avail

10:20 a.m. Enter Target

10:25 a.m. Mo sits on Target toilet to no avail

10:40 a.m. Arrive at Japanese market

10:45 a.m. Mo sits on Japanese market toilet and pees!

11:05 a.m. Arrive at school to drop Katie off; Mo sits on car toilet in school parking lot to no avail.

11:10 a.m. Mo sits on school toilet to no avail.

11:25 a.m. Arrive at home, Mo sits on home toilet and pees!

12:30 p.m. Mo wakes from short nap during my run, sits on home toilet and pees!

1:00 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

1:15 p.m. I get out of shower, ask Mo if she needs to go, she says "no" I walk out of the room, she screams, "I'm peeing!!!" First accident of the day.

1:20 p.m. Put 2nd pair of underwear on Mo.

1:45 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

2:00 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

2:15 p.m. Mo sits on car toilet in school parking lot to no avail.

2:35 p.m. Arrive at home, Mo has small accident in underwear, sits on toilet and finishes peeing.

2:40 p.m. Put on 3rd pair of underwear.

3:10 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

3:25 p.m. Arrive at gymnastics; walk 3 feet into the door and Mo pees in the hallway.

3:30 p.m. Put on 4th pair of underwear.

3:35 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet to no avail.

3:40 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet to no avail.

3:50 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet to no avail.

4:00 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet to no avail.

4:15 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet and pees!

4:30 p.m. Mo sits on gymnastics toilet to no avail; leave gymnastics

4:45 p.m. Arrive at home; Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

5:15 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

5:30 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

5:45 p.m. Mo sits on home toilet to no avail.

5:50 p.m. Papa arrives at home -- I immediately transfer potty training duties to him and stop keeping track of details. I believe he has two more successful pees in between a number of tries.

Note 3: I'm going to go ahead and categorize this post under "achievements."

someday

Katie drawing pictures of coins for homework this week.

KT: Are there any girl presidents?

Me: No there haven't been any.

KT: That’s weird.

Me: Yes, I agree.

KT: You mean even over hundreds of years there hasn’t been a girl president?

Me: Nope.

KT: That's really weird.

nothing like a beach day in october

our favorite guy

The week's highlights...

-- Celebrating Papa's birthday this week with a surfing themed party for four.

-- Mo picking up a piece of cereal off the ground in the garage; eating it and proclaiming "that was tasty"

-- Katie volunteering to read passages at choir off the dry erase board. She may only know about 50+ sight words, but you have to give the girl credit for her gumption.

-- Mo doing her dolphin kick in the pool (note to self: need to get some video of this)

Have a great weekend!

everybody cut, everybody cut

That's right they are remaking Footloose (see trailer).

I'm not sure how I feel about it.

I have a very strong feeling I'm not going to relate to it like I did the original back in the day. I mean, Ren and Ariel were everything I thought teenagers should be when I was 10.

This morning, me and the girls watched the final dance scene -- it being the only part that a) is appropriate for them and, b) they would want to watch anyway.

And like everybody, they cut footloose!

And no, that's not my camera making that reflective "light bubble" frame -- that is just the awesomeness of the filmmakers. That and the raining glitter throughout the scene makes for 80's perfection.

If you haven't seen it in awhile, you should watch it here, I promise it will take you back (and put a grin on your face).

the name game

Me: What's your name?

Mo: Maddie!

Me: What's your long name?

Mo: Moooooooooooooooooo

$250 goodness

So, the story goes... a lady was finishing her lunch at Neiman Marcus with some chocolate chip cookies. She asked the waiter if she could get the recipe. He said yes and that they charge "two-fifty" for it. Later should found she was charged $250.00 not the $2.50 she expected.

The story then goes that she vowed in vengence "to give everyone she possibly could the recipe."

Whether the story is true or not, I don't know. However, I can vouch that the cookies are truly delish.

There are two key ingredients in the cookie, 1) ground oatmeal and 2) chocolate shavings

Mo really liked using the food processor to grind the oatmeal (and the chocolate as I was too lazy to shave chocolate with a grater).

Like her big sister, she is getting really good at handling the mixer on her own -- and, is quite proud of the ability to do so.

Mo also loved using the scooper to make the cookies, though they were a lot less exact and uniform with her at the dough-distributing helm.

I also caught her more than once eating cookie dough. I myself don't eat it, as the mere thought of raw eggs grosses me out. But alas, I could not convince her this was yucky.

And finally, the "can I have one more puh-lease" face.

Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 C. softened butter

1 C. sugar

1 C. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 C. flour

2-1/2 C. blended oatmeal

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 bag chocolate chips (12 oz)

1 (8 oz.) Hershey bar grated (I used 1 C. of chocolate chips and food processed them)

Blend oatmeal to a fine powder. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate large bowl cream butter and sugars together. Add egg and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Bake 12 minutes at 375 degrees turning once half way through.

mini bridesmaid

When Mo was a mere 4 months old I left her for almost a week to be in Lyndsay and Roberto's wedding in Mexico.

Now, nearly 3 years later, the bridesmaid dress I wore is her favorite dress up gown.

Today we went to a Princess Tea Party and she insisted on wearing it.

I had to do some serious jerry-rigging (think safety pins), but she was so happy even though she had to hold the dress up in order to walk.

look out scouting world

Here comes Daisy Scout Katie.

nine years ago...

in a land way before digital photography I married my babycakes.

10 years ago when we got engaged in Paris.

sex ed: round one

I'm so happy for our very dear friends Lyndsay and Berto who had their baby girl -- Ariana Noheme -- last week.

Kaitlyn: Mom, how did the baby come out? I mean, your body is all sealed...

weekend update

Someone told me you were supposed to lay low the first weekend after Kindergarten starts as your little one will be tired both physically and emotionally.

Probably good advice.

Which we did not take.

We started with a birthday beach party Saturday morning.

Mo and Lo completing the Beach Luge course

Then after some quick showers we drove to San Diego to meet Greg and Betsy who were in town and we rarely get to see.

The next day we all went to Sea World.

Greg summoning Shamu

Drove home late that night and started the second week of school the following day. Good thing she has afternoon Kindergarten, right?

This weekend will also be busy, but hopefully not quite as crazy as last.

You have big plans for the weekend?

more muffin madness

There has been a bag of frozen cranberries in my freezer for some time now (I would disclose the actual amount of time, but it's just embarrassing).

Rather than throw it away which is probably what Federal Food Safety Regulations would dictate, I decided to make some muffins out of them.

The girls didn't like the tartness of the cranberries, but me and the hubs liked them.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

1-1/2 C. chopped fresh or frozen cranberries

1-1/4 C. sugar, divided

3 C. flour

1-1/2 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 C. butter

2 eggs beaten

1 C. buttermilk (I used lemon juice and milk)

2 eggs slightly beaten

1 C. toasted and chopped pecans or walnuts

Grated orange peel from one large orange

Toss cranberries with 1/4 C. of sugar in a bowl; set aside. Grease muffin pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and remaining sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine eggs with milk; stir into flour mixture until just moistened. Gently fold in nuts, orange peel and cranberries. Fill muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 min.

first week of kindergarten: check

Katie on her first day of Kindergarten this week.

Being pregnant was difficult. Labor was tough. Mastitis sucked. Potty training an only slightly bumpy road.

But getting my 5-year old to school at 7:55 a.m on Friday -- for me, this was a near impossible feat. Now, before you respond similar to how many of us west coasters did in response to the "big" east coast earthquake -- "wah" -- understand I am not a morning person.

"Mama, your eyes are red," Katie told me this morning when she hopped over to me.

"Yes, well Mama's eyes don't' like being open this early."

Some (like my husband) might call it lazy, but I don't think the act of wanting to sleep in a little should be so villainized. I mean, it's my little pocket of "me" time before the day becomes, well, less about me. I mean if Jack Johnson preaches to "wake up slow," how bad can it be?

Oh yes, and Katie has been doing great at school. Where has the time gone, etc., etc. No seriously, I am sad -- my babygirl goes to real school now.

Also, I am glad no one was hurt in the earthquake... just like poking a little fun.

random wednesday

If I had my druthers:

blue chairs for my dining room

Filter for my new 50mm lens

Red Funkis clogs

Calcutta marble counter tops (totally not practical, but just love the way they look)

50 mm lens + baby e

After months of pondering and much discussion with a number of people I finally bought a 50mm lens.

I'm liking the clarity (prior muffin shots) and portraits you can do with it.

I took some picture of my friend Katie's baby the other day and was pretty happy with the results.

Baby E was not happy anywhere but on mama's lap, but with a low aperture setting I was able to get some decent shots without seeing too much of mom.

mini banana nut muffins

Two reasons to make them mini.

1) They only take 13 minutes to bake so you can whip them up quickly for breakfast or a snack.

2) They are perfect for mini hands.

Banana Nut Bread

my adaptation of James Beard's recipe

1-1/2 C. flour

1/2 C. whole wheat flour

1 C. mashed very ripe banana

1/3 C. milk

1 tsp. lemon juice (or vinegar)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 C. softened unsalted butter

1 C. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 C. walnuts

1/2 C. mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease pan(s). Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl cream butter. Add sugar and mix thoroughly. Add eggs & banana. Combine milk and lemon juice in a small bowl. Slowly alternate mixing in flour mixture and milk mixture. Mix until completely incorporated. Add nuts and chocolate chips last. Sprinkle a little sugar on the top before they go in the oven for a sweet extra crunch on top.

Bake until toothpick comes out clean.

Loaf pan ~60 min.

Muffins ~20 min.

Mini muffins ~13 min.