Yep... It's official!

I am really bad at blogging... which is kind of funny since I am a talker and I am online constantly. Apparently I need to find a consistent way of combining the two. I am going to try! REALLY hard! So here goes.

DECEMBER... what a great month! I LOVE December! I love the warm, fuzzy feeling that Christmas brings. I love trying to make the season so special for my kids. I love the decorating, and the crafts, and the baking, (and the eating), and the family time!!! I especially love that my husband is in education and gets two weeks off. But that's rushing ahead... first things first.

December brought my birthday first. 37 big ones. Not so bad (I guess)! It's funny how 30 brought me to tears yet 37 is no big deal. My parents came over for dinner and games to celebrate... we're wild like that! :) We also enjoyed a champagne cake... YUM!

We spent the rest of December...

Being silly...

Decorating Christmas cookies...

More being silly...

Celebrating Paige's half birthday

And searching for our Elf on the Shelf "Abby" every morning.

To be continued...

Updates... Finally!

So I pretty much stink at consistent blogging... but it wasn't all my fault... Really, it wasn't!  :) For some reason my computer is acting wacky and won't always let me access the site I am trying to get to. Shockingly enough... this was one of those sites... and I'll admit it... I was just too lazy to keep trying. So here comes a long post with all of my news. Luckily, I am pretty boring and there isn't much news to share!

Here are my Halloween cuties all dressed up. We went trick or treating with the cousins and Nannie and Pop in our neighborhood.

On 11-11-11 I celebrated 8 years of marriage with my wonderful husband... AND we were even able to get out of the house ALONE for our once a year dinner date. Okay, sometimes we get out TWICE a year... what can I say... we just don't have eager babysitters beating down our door trying to take care of our kids. We went to a little Italian restaurant and had a great time... it is so nice to enjoy a meal and a glass of wine and be able to talk WITH NO INTERRUPTIONS!!!!

The next day we celebrated Pop's 65th birthday at the Mexicali with the family. Two nights in a row of dinner out!!! Yippee!!!

Jack's 3 1/2 year birthday was on the 14th. Yes, we celebrate half birthdays here... any excuse to celebrate with cake, right? Well, this year Jack was super excited for it... and so was Hailey. She made him a cute birthday crown to wear with pictures of Thomas the Train (Jack is OBSESSED!). He requested a Thomas cake too. Since I am not a cake decorator, I just decorated the top with Thomas figures... he LOVED it!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family at my Mom and Dad's house. It was delicious, as always. We were so happy to get to spend the day with our family. We were especially thankful to see my uncle and cousins who came up from San Diego... we just don't see them often enough. The next day we woke up and began our tradional day after Thanksgiving decorating extravaganza!!!! Everything goes up that day... I like to be able to enjoy the season for as long as possible. That evening we went to Jason's parent's house for dinner to celebrate with his family. We really enjoyed a nice long weekend together playing games, and watching movies and being thankful for our many blessings! 

Seriously???

I cannot believe that my last post was on Halloween... I am a SAD excuse for a blogger. Not a whole lot has happened this month... but I will update soon. :)

Happy Halloween

I LOVE getting ready for Halloween. I love making fun fall themed and spooky treats, doing crafts with the kids, and going to the pumpkin patch. I love the harvesty feel that October brings... I just don't care much for trick or treating. I don't know... there is something about going door to door begging for candy... it is just NOT my thing. Unfortunately, the kids love it... so we will be partaking in the fun this evening. Hailey is going to be a rock star, Jack is Thomas the Train, and Paige is a peacock! They are so cute!

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch this past weekend! Here are some cute pictures of our fun at the patch!

At least one kid knows how to look at the camera! :)

Sweet girl!

Picking the perfect pumpkin!

Hanging with the scarecrow!

After we got home, Daddy took the kids out back for pumpkin carving. He is the resident carver here. I usually have the extreme pleasure of being the "pumpkin guts scooper"... FUN! Surprisingly, I escaped that duty this year!  Yay!

The rest of our weekend was spent playing games with the kids, baking, a little cleaning, a LOT of laundry (Boo! ), and of course... Dressing up!!!

Arrrggg matey!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

So Tired

I just cannot shake how tired I have been the past several weeks. It is awful! Maybe I should take better vitamins or something... I don't know.  I just feel like I can't accomplish anything lately. We have been in our new house almost one month... its so hard to believe. I was so energized when I started moving everything in and the past couple of weeks I don't think I have touched one single box... SAD! I feel so lazy! Oh well... they aren't going anywhere I guess! Ha! The days just go by so quickly... here's hoping I get my groove back soon.

Just a few things that have been occupying my time in the last week! :)

My baseball boys

Not happy that the other kid on the team got the ball first!

Precious girl

Learning to ride without training wheels

A baby shower for a dear friend

We are trying to get the kids to the pumpkin patch... here's hoping this weekend we will make it! :)

Black Magic Cupcakes

I think I said in a previous post that I had been baking/cooking a lot... and I do mean A LOT! Everyday has turned into Kitchen Fest 2011. If I see something that looks good, I can't get it off of my mind until I make it. This week has consisted of making several pans of lasagna and baked ziti... (I even gave some away and still have some in the freezer... yay!), chicken tortilla soup, this Honey Sesame Chicken, with a side of Pioneer Woman's Sesame Noodles (these are so good i will eat them cold for days after...) and much more.... including these cupcakes...

Don't mind the picture... I tried to make them look Halloween-ish for the kids... I'm not a food stylist...Ha!

 I found this recipe for Black Magic Cake on Pinterest (shocking, I know given my new love for Pinterest)! It looked sooooo good I had to make it. I wanted to make a cake, however hubby and I have differing views on frosting. He prefers disgusting canned frosting, which I usually will not buy, and I prefer homemade. I'm not particular... cream cheese frosting... good; buttercream frosting... good; ganache... good!!! While Jason is not a fan of buttercream, he does like the other two and I wanted to experiment with different frostings so I made cupcakes. These are so YUMMY! I made a mochaish (is that a word?) buttercream, and a ganache and they were great with this cake. I would imagine a peanut butter frosting would be fantastic too... I guess that gives me a reason to make this cake again!

Black Magic Cake - I read that this is originally a recipe from Hershey's cocoa

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup Cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk*
• 1 cup strong black coffee OR 2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee plus 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
2. 2 Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes (Batter will be thin). Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
3. 3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick
   inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool
   completely. Frost as desired. Yields 10 to 12 servings.

I made 24 cupcakes and a large ramekin and baked them for about 18 mins... they were perfect!

These are kid approved too... 

(I left off the one with him EATING the paper towel to get every last bit of chocolate.... BOYS!)

Workmen

I've had a lot of workers in and out of this house in the past few weeks...

But I think I'll keep this one...

He's been running through the house "fixing" things. Love this kid!

Pinterest and Yummy Muffins

So I originally took awhile to check out Pinterest. I have a problem with becoming obsessed with checking things on the internet and I didn't need ANOTHER site beckoning me to the computer. Finally, I gave in. I didn't get the hype at first... unfortunately, now I do. I dig it... BIG TIME! It was a great help when I was looking for ideas for the house, but I am really on there for the recipes. I am a cooking blog hound... I LOVE them... as in I can't get enough looking at recipes. I look at so many that when it comes time to bake or cook... I can't decide on what to make because I have seen SO many! Anyway... today I was going to make pumpkin spice mufffins. Its raining here and cool and pumpkin muffins just scream fall to me. So I had planned on making Pioneer Woman's recipe , which are to die for, but I didn't have any evaporated milk in the house. Hoping to find another worthy recipe, I turned to my new friend Pinterest... and there were plenty to check out there. This recipe was the winner...YUM!!! Make these... trust me... you will thank me! SO good!!!! Even my picky 3 year old loved them...which is saying something!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Courtesy of Annie's Eats


Printable recipe here

Yield: 24 muffins
Ingredients:For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
For the muffins:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1¼ cups vegetable oil
For the topping:
½ cup sugar
5 tbsp. flour
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Directions:
To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth.  Transfer the mixture to a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a log about 1½-inches in diameter.  Smooth the plastic wrap tightly around the log, and reinforce with a piece of foil.  Transfer to the freezer and chill until at least slightly firm, at least 2 hours.
To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line muffin pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil.  Mix on medium-low speed until blended.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.
To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; whisk to blend.  Add in the butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two forks until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.  Transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use.
To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a small amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the liner (1-2 tablespoons).  Slice the log of cream cheese filling into 24 equal pieces.  Place a slice of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin well.  Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely.  Sprinkle a small amount of the topping mixture over each of the muffin wells.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving.  (It may be hard to resist immediate consumption, but the cream cheese filling gets very hot!)

**
I didn't have cloves and I couldn't find my nutmeg so I just used 2 Tbsp of Pumpkin Pie spice... still good!!!

Moving!

We have been moving for the past week... it has been SO fun!!!! (sense the sarcasm here). Seriously, though... I do enjoy getting everything settled in and put away. I have been able to make REAL meals... in a NORMAL sized kitchen which has been HEAVEN!!!! I still have my handyman in the house completing all the little projects we have going... they seem to be neverending! I am also proud to say that my not so handy husband has surprised me in the past week. He replaced light switches in all the bedrooms... and he did it CORRECTLY!!!! He also drained and cleaned the spa, replaced outlet covers, and put together furniture, on top of moving all of our stuff from the apartment and storages. I think that there just may be a handy guy in there waiting to come out... or maybe not! :)   As soon as I get most of our junk things put away... I will update with a few pictures! Now back to unpacking!!!!

Remodeling for Dummies

Reminder to me... DO NOT REMODEL HOUSE EVER AGAIN! This is a nightmare! Seriously... I don't have the energy for this. My mother keeps telling me how "fun" this is.  FUN???? I think she may need to check out the definition of fun again.... It just seems like one project turns into 15 other related projects that need to be completed by different people and add more to the cost. So here is a list of a few remodeling do's and  A LOT of don'ts from me:

DON'T let your tile guy talk you into letting him remodel your bathroom without completely finding out ALL ADDITIONAL COSTS!!! He BEGGED me to let him tile the bathroom and shower area in addition to the flooring that I wanted him to do. So I agreed... with the final price in mind. After he rips everything out he starts asking when the plumber will be there. Say what??? The PLUMBER? I didn't call a plumber... I had no idea that I needed to call a plumber! So, apparently, I now need a plumber. Tile Guy recommends one and we call him... plumber crisis resolved for a mere $1000. :(

DON'T anticipate being able to reuse ANYTHING after tile guy gets ahold of it.  I see the shower glass is outside while bathroom is being tiled and it is still is good shape. So I plan to just replace the hardward and reuse the glass. YAY! The next day... GLASS IS BROKEN INTO A GAZILLION PIECES!!! Now I have to get quotes on replacing shower glass... again crisis solved for another $1000!

DON'T assume Tile Guy will replace everything he rips out. Apparently replacing baseboards is NOT in his job description. GRRRRR!

DON'T listen to Tile Guy when he tells you that he has a buddy who will replace the baseboards for "real cheap". Apparently "real cheap" means different things to different people.

DON'T pay Tile Guy for his finished work when he still has to replace a few poorly placed tiles... He may SAY that he will be back on Monday... but he has yet to return a phone call. Hmmmm???

DO find yourself a nice, hardworking handyman that can do multiple things for you when you barely mention it to him. I LOVE the guy installing my new pantry. That was what he was hired for... however our conversations go a little something like this:

Me: "Hey, Sean... Tile Guy left the front door with an inch gap at the bottom and say's he can't fix it... do you know anything about that?"

Sean: "Yeah... I can fix that for you."

Me: "Hey, Sean... I really would like to remove the flourescent lighting in the kitchen and put in canned lighting and finish off the ceiling... do you  know anyone who does that?"

Sean: "Yeah, I can do that for you"

Me: "Hey, Sean... the previous owners ripped out this cabinet and left this awful looking space here... do you know where we could get a matching cabinet and have it installed?"

Sean:" Yeah... I can get you a matching cabinet and install it."

Do you see the pattern here??? I LOVE this guy! :)

He is doing all of this, plus installing the granite in my bathrooms and later he said he would come back in put in invisible hinges on my kitchen cabinets, because we currently have exposed ones and they don't look that great with the new paint.

Here are a few pics of the project that is still underway...

Kitchen with painted cabinets

Still need to get rid of the hinges and replace the hardware

Removed the wood desk and installed a BIG pantry... Woohoo!!! Mama likes her some storage space!

Master shower (sans shower glass... grrrr and tub)

Middle of the backyard and built in kitchen

Pool

Front

Front

So there it is... this has been an UTTER and COMPLETE... PAIN. IN. MY. HINEY. I am praying that we will be able to move in this weekend. We will see. :)

Paige at 15 months

Our sweet little girl is 15 months!

Paige...

You are a walking machine now. You didn't start walking until about 2 weeks ago, and now you can't be stopped. We think you are so cute when you toddle around.

You like to talk now... A LOT. You can say Mommy, Dada, Hailey, Jack, Nana, Pop, Hi, Bye, dog, duck, thank you, ball, baba, night-night, no, mine... (and more)

You love to suck your thumb... :)

You weigh about 22 lbs and wear 12- 18 month clothes

You are starting to be a picky eater. You used to eat EVERYTHING... but now you turn your head when I offer you food. Right now you will eat cereal, yogurt, grilled cheese sandwich bits, peas, nilla wafers, graham crackers, applesauce, bananas, refried beans, rice, raviolis, and sometimes squash and sweet potatoes. You love to have little samples of my food and have eaten lasagna and fish if I feed you off of my fork... but NOT if I put it on your tray.

You are sassy and sweet. Your sweet smile can charm anyone... but you sometimes make people work to see it! :) I guess you got some of mommy's attitude! haha

You love to play with your brother and sister... one of your favorite things is when they come into the room in the morning... you light up when you see them... it melts my heart!

Paige, you are such a precious baby and such a wonderful addition to our family. We all love you so much!

Happy 15 months!

P.S. Taking pictures of you is nearly impossible right now... you DO NOT like to pose... we will have to remedy this soon! :)

Gymnastics for the WILD man

In my last post, I spoke of taking Jack to gymnastics. He LOVES it! He goes once a week with his little friend Natalie and they are SO CUTE! We were worried that he would run around doing his own thing and not listen to the teacher, but he has done a great job!

Mama's sweet boy!

Being a good listener!

Floor time

Backward somersault... He gets his skills from me! HA! The little girl behind him likes him... a lot. She is always trying to sit next to him and he just pushes her away... its tough being a ladies man!

Waiting for his stamp and sticker

The coolest sticker EVER!!!! :)

I have enjoyed watching him grow and learn to listen to others. I hope he continues to do great job.