Fillmore...times 2!

So, the secret's out.  Carson discovered today that Fillmore is more than just a single frog.  I asked Sadie to go grab Fillmore for me and she didn't know he was on the couch.  She went and grabbed "Fillmore" out of Carson's closet.  And, for the rest of the afternoon, Carson carried Fillmore AND Fillmore around with him.  (Fillmore needs a bath, so I'm only putting him to bed with one...let's see if he forgets!)

The Pioneer Woman

Today, I love her.  The blueberry muffins were awesome!  Tomorrow, as I'm running to burn off the blueberry muffins...well, we'll stick to the fact that they were awesome.

Until about a year ago, I didn't even know she existed.  Then, I stumbled upon her book one day, and fell in love!  If you haven't read her book yet, you are welcome to borrow my copy!  Or, if you live far away, here's a link to buy it on Amazon: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels.

Anyway, let's start at the beginning.  About a year ago, I read her book, and then shared it with all my book club groupies back in Denver.  Our tradition in book club was to make a delectable treat to share. Even better if it came from the book we had just read (remember the potato peel pie, ladies?).

This gave me an opportunity to browse through all of the Pioneer Woman's tasty recipes on her website, The Pioneer Woman.  I remember, in particular, making her Knock You Naked Brownies, that were quite scrumptious!  And, ever since then, if I've had a inkling to make a new treat, I've turned to this fabulous site!  

Jump forward to this morning.  I have a tub of blueberries in my fridge.  It looked something like this: 

I also have a 6 year old that's been asking me for days (okay, just yesterday) what I'm going to do with the second tub of blueberries.  I told her we could make blueberry muffins.  But, we've kind of been stuck in a little heat wave, and I have been trying to avoid the oven like the plague.  But, today, I decided I would break the "save the planet, don't run the ac full blast" rule and make blueberry muffins for breakfast.   Which, turned out to be at 8:33, not 7:00, but, hey, it was worth the wait!  

So, here's what the final product looked like, complete with the tasty sauce over the top! Mine were slightly darker because I used whole wheat flour and sucanat, but they still tasted delicious!  Slightly crispy on the outside, and soft and moist on the inside!  Yummy!  Here's the link to the recipe, The Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins.  The girls loved them so much, they requested them for a morning snack, about 5 minutes after breakfast.

(photos courtesy of thepioneerwoman.com)

King of the Beach

So, we have a new love at our house.  It's called Lake Mission Viejo.  We frequent it.  Often.  Like, at least weekly.   And, now that Carson is walking (as of last week, it's official!), we should just go every day.  Only, that might be a little bit too much work to pack a picnic every day.

We've had lots of friends come up to play at the lake.  But, being the super-on-top-of-it mom that I seem to be these days, I haven't taken a single picture.  So, while we were at the lake yesterday with Maryn, my BYU roommate (who also married my 2nd cousin), she took some pictures.  Most of them are posted here, on her blog.  But, I have to share my absolute favorite of Carson (taken by Maryn).

Here's the story behind the picture:

We are playing in the water and everyone is having a great time, when one of the ladies next to us decides to put her child's chair in the water.  Not exactly sure why, because her child never actually sat in it there.  Anyway, Carson notices this lonely chair on the edge of the water and starts walking toward it--very determinedly--to say the least.  I quickly asked the parent if he could play in the chair and she said, "Sure!"  And, by this time, Carson had already climbed in, sat down, and decided he was king of the beach!

Random Snippets from Late

We've been crazy busy around our house!  Brian and I were just talking last night about how we chose a rather hectic time to move.  I don't think we've had an empty weekend since we moved---2 months ago!  So, I'm happy to announce that we have NO PLANS for the next 3 weekends and I'm super stoked!  I can finally finish moving in!

Here are some pictures from the last month or so:

Morgan was bored during nap time one afternoon.  She kept asking me what she could do.  After not liking any of my suggestions, I finally put her to work.  I gave her the spray bottle of vinegar and two rags and told her to clean the floor.  She loved "skating mopping"!

This summer has been all about reading for Morgan.  I have lost track of how many books she's read.  She gets swallowed up by The Magic Tree House series!  I'll ask her to do something and she'll walk through the house, getting the task done, all while reading her book!  I found her sitting on the coffee table one afternoon, reading.  That can't possibly be comfortable, but if you're so caught up in a book, I guess it doesn't matter! (Oh, and Morgan scored with her own private Magic Tree House library!  The primary president in our ward has the entire collection, so we stop by each Sunday after church for a new sampling!  This week she picked 8 because she finished the 4 from last week before Wednesday!)

Carson always loves to share everything....including his pancakes.  Isn't that so sweet???

Somebody has big sisters around!

Don't know what Sadie was so sad about, but it's such a classic Sadie face these days!

We went to see Hunter Hayes (click here if you have no idea who he is!) last Saturday at the lake!  Didn't plan on all wearing our BBQ shirts (and my cowgirl hat), but, we were running late, lost our change of clothes underneath all the recycle bottles in the car, and, well, we had fun and that's what matters!

 Carson is one and walking now, so that means he gets his own chair, right?

Sadie's 4th birthday was a couple weeks ago and all she wanted was a burrito.  Well, there it is....her burrito. (We had cake and presents, too!)

Big boy Carson moved up into his big car seat!  Still has to face back, but there's plenty of entertainment in the back seat, so I don't think he minds! And, for all of you out there that think he's a tank--he's only in the 60th percentile (23 1/2 lbs!)  He's not really that huge!

Laundry Room

I have a really small laundry room.  Really small.  Additionally, my small laundry room is also the most used walkway in the house because it's the path into the garage, where we park the car, leave to go on walks, get to the extra freezer...sometimes I wonder why we have a front door.  

So, although I have NO complaints about my house, other than the old dishwasher--which, shouldn't be called that, because I have to basically clean the dishes before putting them in to be cleaned (oh, how I miss my nice dishwasher in Colorado)--I have a few ideas to make our house slightly more functional. Anyhow, I've digressed.  Back to the laundry room.

Soon after we moved in, I saw this on Pinterest,  courtesy of Better Homes and Garden (bhg.com).  (I'm sure every husband hates Pinterest with a passion because of photos (i.e. projects) like this! ;) )

That's about the size of my laundry room.  And, on any given day, ours could look like this...

...actually it does look like this. And I didn't want this to become the new dumping spot.  Trust me, I've already got one of those that I am desperately trying to eliminate.

Additionally, you can't really tell from the picture, but, I could barely reach the bottom shelf of the cupboards to get my laundry soap and cleaning supplies.  And, I was getting tired of getting the kids' stool out of the bathroom every. single. time.

So, Brian and my dad, but, to give credit where it is due, mostly Brian (thanks, Sweetie!), built me these shelves on Saturday.  We still need to get moulding for the edges, but, here is my fabulous laundry room!

I now have a clean rag bucket, a dirty rag bucket, and "in" and "out" buckets. (This means stuff that comes in without a home--one sock, dirty jacket, etc.--and stuff that needs to go out--to someone, a return, etc.)

Plus, I can reach my soaps and cleaning supplies, I have a spot for the kids' laundry baskets, and, I can still get to my storage cabinets (via the stool, of course!).

I am in love with my new laundry room!  

3 Dog Night

Or, as Brian now refers to them, "4 Cat Day".

We have a membership to the local lake, and, a few times each summer, they host concerts.  When we read who was coming this summer, we invited Papa Dale up to come with us.

We ordered pizza.  Got a recommendation from a neighbor to try Rubino's.  Yummy!

Sadie and Morgan each took their turn on Grandpa's lap!

Carson  demolished a water bottle.  The toys I brought just weren't as cool as drinking water and spilling it all down the front of your shirt.  Hopefully the bottle is still intact enough to recycle in the automated machine!

For those of you familiar with the Moonlight in Vista, it's similar.  A big grassy hill with blankets and lawn chairs.  Brian got up at 5:30 a.m. to participate in the lottery to lay your blanket down.  He was in the 6th of 38 groups, so we got pretty decent seats!  He said the only time it's been more crowded was when the B-52's came!

As a side note: We figured out that these guys are probably 65 or older.  They joked that new to their contract this year, they are allowed to sit on bartsools for a few minutes halfway through--and they did! So, it's not like we needed to see great visual effects or anything!

 The concert went until 9:30.  Carson made it until about 9:00!

Anyone up for Hunter Hayes in 2 weeks or Hanson over Labor Day???  Brian showed the girls MMMbop on You Tube and Sadie goes around singing it.  Lucky me!

Inside Out Strawberries

That's their new name at our house. Most people would probably call them Chocolate Filled Strawberries, though.

I saw a post on Pinterest for Chocolate Filled Strawberries, and thought, "I've got to try that! Chocolate Dipped Strawberries are so messy (to make and eat)!"

So, along with my trusty 6-year old photographer, here's how we made our delectable treats.  Oh, and there aren't any pictures of us enjoying them because they were gone before I grabbed the camera!

You'll need:

*fresh strawberries
*empty, clean egg carton
*chocolate chips
*plastic 1-gallon food bag (doesn't need to be zip top)

First clean out the insides of the strawberries (I think it's called "hulling").  No need to clean them out more than usual.  There's plenty of room for chocolate.  Trust me.

Measure out about 1/2-3/4 cup of chocolate chips.  3/4 cup was plenty for 18 medium strawberries.  But, in my experience from melting chocolate, it's far easier to melt too much and have extra than to melt more later.

While you are melting the chocolate chips (50% power in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.  Be sure to stir every 30-45 seconds), cut the tip of a bag.  I used a decorating bag because I have a ton, but a ziploc would be just fine.  I also used a tip, but it took longer to wash the chocolate out than it did to fill the strawberries, so I'll skip the tip next time around.  Just make sure your hole is pretty small (a pencil-sized hole is about right).

Pour your melted chocolate into the bag.  Sorry, no picture here.  My photographer doubled as my sous-chef.

Squirt the chocolate into the strawberries.  I filled mine to just overflowing and it was perfect!

Refrigerate to harden the chocolate and enjoy!  Delicious!  And, the kids stayed much cleaner eating them, too!

AZ Trip

Last week, we headed out to Arizona for a family reunion, and, on our way back home, stopped by to see friends and cousins.  We had a great time!

Brian's cousin, Tiana, and her husband, Ross, brought their horses.  The girls were so excited to ride them!  Carson loved the horses, too!

 Carson's first birthday was the day after we left (we were traveling home), so we celebrated at the reunion with cake!  Yummy!  For his actual birthday, we were at Chili's, on our drive home, so he (we) got a brownie and ice cream to share!  He loved when the waitresses sang to him!

Carson loves his Aunt Shelles!

The best family pictures we could get!  We either had a grumpy or sleeping kid when we thought to snap a photo!  Oh, well!  That's real life!

 Morgan and her cousin Brinley.  They have a blast together, but, as they get older, it's turning into a love-hate relationship.  Oh, the drama!

Brian's Uncle Jim brought his dune buggy (?) out and took everyone on rides.  The girls went right after breakfast one morning, hence the PJs.

 Here's Aunt Shelles and Sadie, making biscuits for breakfast one morning.  Sadie was an awesome helper!

Here's the best picture I got of us at the Hursts.  Try getting 6 kids under 6 to sit still!  

I didn't take pictures, but, we also visited more friends and cousins.  Thanks, Patch's for your hospitality!  And, thanks, for letting us come play, cousins!

How In The World

Did these girls share a bed at my parents house???  For nine months!?!?!

Here's Sadie, our delicate sleeper.  Never moves around much, and has only fallen out of bed because she's been pushed out by her sister.  We usually find her in the same position as we put her in the night before.

Then, there's Morgan.  Upside down, backwards, sideways, hanging halfway off the bed...you name it, we've found her in very unusual sleeping arrangements.  Let's just say, I'm glad I'm not the one making her bed every morning.  (It's bad enough I have to comb her hair after her crazy sleep!  I need to remember to braid it!)

But, somehow, or another, they sleep (most of the time).  And, that's the goal, right?

Sweet Dreams!

Happy Birthday to...

...all 3 kids!

Okay, we've had lots going on, and I have lots of pictures to document it all, just not any time to download them to the computer and put together some posts.  So, those will have to wait.  But, I had a minute, so I thought I would do this one post.

All three of our kids have birthdays within 5 weeks.  Add mine a week later, and our anniversary 2 weeks after that and, aside from Brian's November birthday, all of our "family" celebrations fall within an 8 week time slot.  That makes for a lot of partying, and a lot of cake!

So, my sister, Courtney, had a great idea that we should just celebrate all the birthdays at once with Grammy Tammy and Papa Dale, rather than have them come up 3 separate times (which, I'm sure they would love to do, but, with all the family events this summer, their schedule was filling up fast!).  And, that's exactly what we did.

We had BBQ (seems to be a staple with the Ginos' these days!), and I made a pan of brownies and cut out a shape for each of the kids (Morgan, flower; Sadie, butterfly; Carson, Dinosaur) and decorated it with whip cream (freshly whipped...yumm!).  And, I wish I would have thought to do this for my girls' first birthday "cakes", because Carson just picked it up and ate it!  Almost mess free (note: almost.  We're still talking about Carson, here)!

We ended the evening with a walk to the park down the street, where the girls made sand pizza, Carson ate the sand, and Sadie licked the grass to wipe the sound out of her mouth.  Never a dull moment at our house!

Carson wasn't quite sure what to think as his sisters started blowing out candles.  

As soon as we gave him his brownie, he dove right in!

Thanks for coming up, Grammy and Grandpa!