Re-Cap: September 2010

To make up for my long hiatus I will do a quick photo recap of each month I missed out on.

SEPTEMBER

More construction. We call this "Phase 2", got the first swing up and you can see Cali was instantly on it while David continued to work.


Spent a lot of evenings and weekends going on nature walks, exploring the area.. Huey too. This is called a "gentle lead" (to keep him from pulling) not a muzzle, although people often ask "Does he bite?" To which I laugh because Huey is the most laid-back dog you could meet. Can't you tell he is smiling?


Diego learned how to browse Amazon.com for toys, but thankfully not how to buy them!


Both kids started soccer for the first time! There is a wonderful program here perfectly geared to their ages. It is more of a fun soccer playtime than following all the rules and playing serious games. They both loved it and will be starting the Spring session here soon.

Met this parrot named Macy at a Festival. Funny to the kids because we had a neighbor girl in TX named Macy too.

Cali turned 5, she was incredibly excited about it! She had a white cake with pink marshmallow frosting. We also celebrated with friends and neighbors at a nearby park.

Re-Cap: May 2010

To make up for my long hiatus I will do a quick photo recap of each month I missed out on.

MAY

A visit from David's brother's family as they were moving from California to Missouri. This is our sweet nephew Brock with our big dog, Huey.


Mother's Day: not sure why but we ended up drawing on each other with eyeliner.


Sold our boat in prep for the move. David was either deployed or away at different schools for so many summers in a row, it hadn't been used since Cali was a baby.


The kids loving up on Daddy at the Austin Botanical Garden.

Our annual trip to Sea World (Military gets in free once per year!)


We spent the night in San Antonio and spent the 2nd day at the San An Zoo.


Enjoying one of our favorite hiking/cool-off spots in Texas.


Chillin' at the City water park.

Make Wonton Chips

You Will Need:

wonton wrappers (found in produce section)
various cooking oils
spices/seasoning mixes
cookie cutters
pastry brushes

We used the following combos of flavors:

• olive oil and garlic bread seasoning
• meyer lemon oil and parsley
• canola oil and Ranch dressing powder
• canola oil and cinnamon with a pinch of sugar

1. Cut individual wontons with cookies cutters, to your heart's desire. You may want to cut scraps into simple shapes also.
2. Combine small amounts of cooking oil and seasoning in a shallow bowl and use pastry brush to coat one side of each "chip".


3. Arrange "chips" on a baking sheet and bake at 400*F for 4 minutes or until lightly browned.
4. Remove from oven and let cool. Enjoy!



We had a lot of fun with the process, but the chips themselves were just "ok".... the kids wanted to eat them when they were fresh out of the oven but the novelty wore off by the time I had the kicthen all cleaned up. I would recommend this as a great sit-down activity and not for the quality of the end product.

Surgery Day

This past Friday, both kids had surgery to repair umbilical hernias. It wasn't anything that bothered them now, but the surgery will prevent worse complications in the future. Since it wasn't an urgent matter, we were able to schedule it for after David got home from Iraq. Here was our day in pictures:

Approx 7 am

bag full of activities, but the wait wasn't too long at all
D gets to go first
All done, time to wake upNot a fan of the IV in his arm

Cali waiting her turn
Playing piano on Mommy's new iPhone
See you later
She didn't mind the IV at all
Let's roll!
They have had 8 days to recover now, and all the bandages are off. Still a little swelling, but they are feeling fine... too fine really as we are constantly reminding them to slow down and be careful! They have internal stitches that need to stay in place long enough for scar tissue to form and keep the holes closed for good. Will post pics of their brand-new innie belly buttons soon.

Egg Time

Our Saturday was a beautiful day for taking the egg-dyeing/dipping/painting mess outside!

Creative Play

When my children play nicely together it sure is entertaining to see what they will come up with. Recently they have played a "game" where Cali goes to visit her brother at his "house". This involves Cali packing up her babies, their beds, backpacks full of their baby clothes, bottles, toys, etc. and carrying it all to D's room. Today she told me she was going to stay for "5 days" (which explains why Cali took a handful of her own clothes over to his room) and during her stay they play together, take care of their babies, pretend it's bedtime and even... that their babies are sick. Today they told me that Baby Cali was sick and she threw up on Cali's shirt so she had to go change it. This was followed by D telling me his Baby Diego Bear was sick and he threw up on his stuffed puppy so he had to go put it in the wash.

Their other current "game" is taking the eggs we got from our library egg hunt, putting little toys in them, hiding them, helping their babies find them, then acting very surprised and excited about the little toys inside.

Frogs & Pollywogs

We spent the morning with nets and buckets in hand chasing little critters at a secret little pond our friend Maria shared with us. It was a beautiful day for it.

Free Art

I sure love a good deal! Can you believe the things people are willing to toss into a dump? Found this on the curb, asked the lady who was packing up a U-Haul if it was broken and she said "No, just needs to be cleaned up." Sold! In less than 10 minutes I had wiped it down, scraped off the stickers, magic-erased some marks, and cleaned the tray with soap & water. Cali has already created 3 masterpieces. This is the 3rd one pictured, that figure toward the top is "Daddy doing ballet!"