Kids Say the Darndest Things!

I am getting backed up in my blog ideas now that summer is here! These are some of my recent favorites about the kids that I thought I'd share. This video of Grace makes me so excited for the teenage years. I videotaped her at swimming lessons (that video was too long to upload here). She had been scared and crying so I wanted to tell her she did a good job etc. and she would NOT look at me:

After school got out, I was going through the kids notebooks to see if they were worth saving and found this in one of Collins. Interesting to see his perception of me:

Mum (he has read the Harry Potter's at LEAST 5 times - all of them)

strong

Pretty

VERY helpfull

HATES soda

loves water

nice

Has glasses

Exercises ALOT

Culture

We had quite a cultural weekend . . . One of the great things about living in such a big city is the cultural diversity. We spent Saturday running errands for Jons Fathers Day dinner (it was so tasty, I have to put it here - shrimp scampi pasta, artichokes, salad etc. and chocolate mousse and mixed fresh berry parfaits).  We live in a very Asian area of town so our first stop was a new store Jon had found called H Mart. He had told me that they have great fruit and fish. I said Yay! But that if it stunk (literally), I was out of there! After entering the store, I realized we were the only non-Asian, lone English speaking ones there. It was like walking into another little country. I could write a whole page about that store, but won't. Jon was right. They had a seafood section about as big as a regular grocery stores produce area; shark fins, abalone, conch etc. They had great prices too. I had my camera, but since everyone was already looking at us like we were out of place, I didn't want to whip my camera out and start snapping. We also found some fresh lychees, a whole jack fruit and durian (the rotting flesh smelling fruit). 

  Our next stop was the Middle East at a store called Phoenicia. Again, we were the only non-Middle Eastern ones there. We spent about an hour in the store, and could have spend 5 days and not seen everything! We didn't even know what some of it was. But somehow Collin found the lamb head, lamb brains and tongue. As a side note, in his prayer that night he said, "Please help me not think of the lamb heads!" :)

In case you are wondering what Jon is eating in the picture - a smoked mackerel, lamb sausages, flat bread, crackers, cheese, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, lychees, assorted spreads and Turkish Delight (the kids were so excited to try that). Can you tell we had turned the TV on right before I took the picture? If not, look at where the kids are looking!

At Phoenicia they also had a lot of German and British items. We found these Kinder brand filled cookies called Happy Hippos. They caught my eye because they were so cute and when I saw the name I had to laugh. One of our favorite games is Hungry Hippos and Grace is always the pink one - named Happy Hippo (did you know each color had a name?).  The kids thought they were so cute that we needed to take a picture before they ate them. 

P.S. Grace's card to Jon said, "Dear DaD, I love you so much. Ispeshile (especially) on Fathers Day." :)

Budding Chefs

We've had quite an interesting first week of summer! We've been to the beach a couple of times (that's a post in itself - coming soon) and the kids have been "cooking" a lot, which is what this post is about. We also had our afternoon reading time interrupted by 3 huge orange explosions outside that the firemen (my first time, and hopefully last time, calling 911) and power company determined was caused by a branch falling on a power line. The kids were bawling, and it scared me to death too! The next day we were coming back from getting cupcakes for our Friday Night Fun and got rear-ended. Thankfully we were in slow moving traffic so no one got hurt (and amazingly the kids did NOT bawl!). I was glad we had our Montero because our bumper only got pushed in a little and our extra wheel cover got torn. The Mercedes that hit us didn't fare as well as we did. Anyway, back to my little chefs. . . 

                                           Collin has been cooking for us for years, but this week made pancakes on his own.  He got out his Kids cookbook and decided he wanted to make a Lemon Layer cake. He made the batter etc. and when I went to get out 2 round cake pans, there was only one! I remembered I had thrown the other one out before we moved because it was rusty and had never gotten another one! So, we have one square layer and one round one. I felt so bad that his first masterpiece was off kilter because of me! He didn't mind it at all though and thought it was cool. He named it the Topsy Turvy cake. It had lemon curd filling and lemon glaze and was very tasty and lemony.

Grace has started to get and interest in food too - but she seems to be more of the food artist. The picture on the left is of the fruit salad she took about 1/2 hour to cut and arrange on the plate. The one on the right is of her first dessert creation - blueberries and pecans with chocolate sauce and cinnamon sugar (it was really tasty!). 

 

Moab '08

Or as we affectionately refer to it, "Flash Flood Fiasco"!!! 

We had quite the trip this year. When I found out we were going at the end of May I thought, Oh Great!! It is going to be so hot!! But every time I checked the weather forecast before leaving, the temperature was lower and the chance of rain was higher. That was fine with me since I would rather have to wear a jacket in Moab than endure 110 degree heat and sun. 

I didn't tell the kids we were going until the morning we left which was so fun for me to have such a good secret to keep. I videotaped the kids response when I told them which was pretty funny. They just sat there looking at each other trying to decide whether to believe me or if it was all a cruel joke. Then they started yelling and jumping on my bed. We made it to Utah and Moab and started our fun vacation . . . 

This is what we call the "Indian Ladder" on the East side of the river and Collin climbing by some Petroglyphs along Potash Road. . . all pre-flood. 

As we started hiking out to Corona arch it started lightly raining and Collin fell along the way, which I should have taken as a bad omen but we kept going. The rain was getting worse and the temperature felt like it just kept dropping and then it started hailing. We were almost at the arch, but our pants were falling off from being saturated and Grace and Lia (the "Pink Posse" as Jessica was calling them) started crying so we finally turned around. That's when I heard what sounded like a waterfall, but that was impossible because there hadn't been any on the way up. I looked around to see what it could be, and this is what I saw . . . not one, but many!

            Picture courtesy of Ems

This just does not do justice to the weather we were experiencing. I could barely see what I was taking pictures of because of the rain and hail. When we got to where we had climbed up some rocks on the way up, we found a river so we had to find a new route out. 


The kids were soaked to the bone with freezing rain and hail and were both BAWLING when we got to the car (notice the rain on my camera and it was so cold it was fogging up). I think their rain jackets actually made them more cold than if they hadn't had them on! I gave them cookies, turned the heater up and promised them we'd get in the hot tub when we got back to the hotel. And they made me promise we wouldn't do any more hiking in the rain, which I was glad to oblige. 

The next day we hiked to Delicate arch and this year, we all made it so it was a new experience. 

Christian, Grace, Lia and Collin on the way up.


It was a very memorable trip and we can't wait for next year!!

Mothers Day = Cupcakes

Boy, I got spoiled this weekend! Saturday, Jon took the kids to see Speed Racer and when they came home, they had one of my favorite sites in the world - the unmistakable pink bakery box full of my favorite cupcakes (the picture on the left: 2 Black Forest, a flowery vanilla, "plain" strawberry and a "chocolate covered strawberry")

Yesterday I got woken up with breakfast in bed and new slippers. I got to lounge around and read (undisturbed !!) in my room and when I came down the house smelled so good with dinner cooking. Grace had suggested they make cupcakes for me for dessert (like I needed more!) and they were so good - chocolate coconut cupcakes (picture on the right). I was sick by the end of the day, but felt very loved. Thanks guys!!!

Moms

Since tomorrow is Mothers Day, I will take this opportunity to say THANK YOU and Happy Mothers Day to my mom and Sue - my Mother-in-law! I don't think words could encompass all that I feel for them, so I will just share the first thing that comes to mind when I think of them . . . 

Sarah, Laura, mom, baby Ems and me (the one with feathers in her hair) in clothes that I am sure my mom sewed . . . 

My mom is the most all-around crafty person I know. She can cook, draw, paint, crochet, sew, hook rugs, lace, knit and the list goes on. I like to tell people that she knits from scratch. Meaning that she starts with a bag of dirty, newly sheared wool, cleans it, cards it, dyes it, spins it (on her very own spinning wheel), makes her own pattern and THEN knits the item. Unfortunately, none of these talents passed through the gene pool to me, which is why I am always amazed at what she can do. I love you mom!

Howard, Sue and Jon at our wedding. One of my favorite pictures of Sue (she doesn't like to be photographed).

Although I don't call Sue "mom" she definitely is my second mom. The thing that I can't imagine Sue without is a smile. She is such an optimist and is always in a good mood. That is a rare quality and one that I hope to have some day! I love you Sue!

Onolicious

We had a fun weekend - at least food wise. Jon found a Hawaiian restaurant called Aloha Grill that he wanted to try out. I was less excited about it since there is usually nothing I can really eat. I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually pretty healthy Hawaiian! Yes, they had Spam Musubi (which should show you the joints authenticity) and other traditional fare, BUT you can choose between white and brown rice, and you get your choice of two types of salad - the traditional Macaroni, green papaya or green salad, which was really green. They also had Malasadas which were not Leonard's standard, but were still good. The highlight of the meal though seemed to be the Pineapple Mango Pearl Tapioca Smoothie we got. The kids LOVED getting the chewy balls and are already talking about which smoothie we are getting the next time we go to Aloha Grill.

P.S. Sorry about the bad pictures. I didn't want to make a scene by taking them. The one of Grace is her trying to suck up a HUGE pearl of Tapioca through a regular size straw.

The Stars at Night . . .

We had a very all-American, Texan, Pee Wee adventure this weekend. We went to our first ever professional Baseball game. The Houston Astros were playing the Colorado Rockies. We weren't very happy with the outcome of the game - the Astros lost, but at the beginning of the 7th inning, everyone stands up and sings, "The Stars at Night, shine big and bright (clap, clap, clap, clap) . . .". We probably would have never known about this song except for Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but we were glad we did and could sing right along with all the other Texans there. 

These baseballs line the entrances to Minute Maid Park so we took advantage of them while waiting for our friend Tom and his daughter Emma to show up.

I liked the Texan flag flying over Texas street sign.

The sweet potatoes waiting for the game to start.

It got cold towards the end (in the 60's) so Grace and I were sharing our warmth.

The kids loved watching the game, but I think the highlight for them was eating peanuts (ok, peanut M&M's) and Cracker Jacks . That's why I loved going to games when I was little!! Akshee, I still do!

Grace's 6th Birthday

Grace absolutely loves Chuck E Cheese for birthday parties, so this year was basically a repeat of last years party, but with different people and a different location. I have learned my lesson about making cakes for the kids parties since the guests don't care and usually don't even eat much of it anyway, so we got her a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and strawberry mousse filling that she was really excited about. 

Grace has always loved Clifford, the big red dog as you can tell. . . 


More fun and games. Jon was too busy playing to be taking pictures etc.

The gang eating . . . 

Ukrainian Easter Eggs

I don't know when, but at least 10 years ago my mom, the craftiest and most talented person with her hands I know,  learned the art of Ukrainian Easter egg dying. These eggs are either raw or have a hole pricked in the end and the inside blown out. They are then dyed in the most elaborate and detailed patterns imaginable. Of course Jon jumped right on board because he is the ultimate Renaissance Man, artist and designer and he can do all the detail that makes me want to pull my hair out. To me it's utter frustration. I am a perfectionist and if it doesn't look PERFECT, I get so frustrated and mine never do look perfect. My only one that did got dropped right after I finished it. 

Anyway, we have our Ukrainian Easter Egg boxes (2 now) of gear and a whole room dedicated to it for about a month around Easter. The kids really got into it this year. Collin seems to be following Jon's footsteps with the geometric designs and Grace was into swirl and bug motifs. My personal favorites are of the one Collin did of me (at the top of the basket - there is a close up of the basket at the bottom) and the one Jon did for me - the littlest egg in there full of detail that took him about a half hour to do. The rest of the pictures are pretty self explanatory . . . 

These are some of the eggs drying. You coat them in wax to keep the color you want left before you put it in the next dye, so these still have the wax on them.

An up close shot of the different designs. The black with white designs is one Collin did of a popcorn being popped in a popper. Not the most traditional, or very Ukrainian designs, but they reflect our style.

P.S. The kids made Egg Books of dozens of different designs they wanted to do, but ran out of time and eggs to do them all. I guess there's always next year!!