Future American Idol

Freedom, Freedom, Freedom!!

This morning Brian took Emily up to Lake Arrowhead to see Grandma and Grandpa while he did some work around the house with his dad. I had so much to do around here, that I wasn't able to go. (We are moving into a different house in a month, and there is sooo much to do)
So for the first time, except for a couple of hours, I am toddler-less! For two whole days! It is so quiet. And peaceful. And I got so much done today. And I miss her.

Pizza

Four days on my own with Emily has been rough. She has been quite the handful. So I was thrilled when Brian, who got home late last night, announced that he had a work function to go to all evening. Anyone who has toddlers knows that 5pm till bedtime is the crankiest time of day, so I decided to take Emily out to dinner. She will usually eat pizza, and there is a great restaurant called Stonefire Grill that we love, so off we went.

Well, not much pizza was eaten by the munchkin, but at least I enjoyed my salad. On our way home, she must have realized what she missed, because she began shouting, "Pizza, Pizza, where are you?" "Pizza, Pizza, where are you?" Then it turned into, (and these are her three little buddies) "Mika, Mika, where are you? Jake! Jake! Saxon, Saxon, Saxon..."
Did this cuteness erase all of the tantrums/drama of the last few days? No. But it did cheer me up.

Great Easy Meal Idea

When was the last time you ate ramen noodles? For me, it had been years, since I am always trying to eat Weight Watchers, and those little guys are full of calories and fat. But I have to admit, I love them. So lucky me, I was on a fun food site (for weight watchers) called greenlitebites.com and discovered a very cool little meal.
Traditionally, ramen noodles are deep fried. Thus all the calories and fat. But there are now ramen noodles that are not fried, called Choice Ramen. I bought some, and this is the recipe:

1 Package Choice Ramen Noodles
Frozen Broccoli
5 Frozen Shrimp (3 oz)

Boil 1 1/2 C water. Add ramen. Cook till almost done. Add seasoning, frozen broccoli, and frozen cooked shrimp. Stir. Cover and cook till broccoli and shrimp are hot, about 3 mins.
7 Weight Watchers Points.

So I have had this 3 times this week. It may have more sodium than is ideal, but boy is it good, filling, and easy! The ramen tastes just as good as the original.

Cool Invention

OK- I am a sucker for kitchen gadgets. I have bought (and thrown away) more than my fair share of them. But I found a winner the other day at the grocery store. It is a winner because:
1. Useful
2. Cheap
3. Easy
4. Small
So, what is it, you are wondering? It is a vacuum sealer from Reynolds. Unlike the monstrous machines that are over $100.00, this one is just this little hand-held vacuum, and they sell special zip lock bags that you use it with. The thing was on sale for around $7.00. + the bags, which were around $3 something a box. Our family is not big, so we freeze a lot of leftovers, and I love to have things on hand in the freezer. This little device eliminates freezer burn, and you can reseal it as many times as you want! I love it.

Socks On

I had laundry out the other day and Emily decided that it would be fun to wear some of the clean socks. So she picked two out of the pile. One of daddy's and one of mommy's. She thought it was great and I thought it was funny. She roamed around for about an hour like this.

Bad Bread

So I was online today browsing through some of my favorite sites to get lowfat and lowcal recipes and saw a recipe for this yummy wheat bread. So after grocery shopping, where I purchased all the ingredients I needed, I came home and actually baked! (This really was a wild hair(hare?) since I am not much of a baker.) Some of the comments on the recipe board said that their loaves didn't rise very much, so I wasn't expecting the beautiful loaf that mine turned out to look like. For the last rise, I put it in the microwave with a cup full of boiling water, and the bread rose beautifully. I was so excited when it came out of the oven, it looked perfect. So patiently (amazing because I usually don't have very much of that) I waited for it to cool, so I could slice it evenly for sandwiches. Finally, I painstakingly sliced the bread, only messing up once. I decided that that piece would be my sample. So I took a bite. Yes, you can imagine the tears flowing, after all that work, when I realized I forgot the salt! Not even a load of butter could save this bread. I asked Brian if it was good for anything, and he said, "no." (Very Sad)
Maybe I will take Emily to the park and feed the ducks with it.

Me Me Me

This story should have been written up by Brian, but he insists that I do it. I am not sure why. Anyway, here goes:
Emily was in the kitchen begging for a snack. (From Brian, as I am still sick and was laying down at the time) She was saying "me me me me me," like-give it to me, give it to me! Apparently, it was taking way too long for her taste, and she forgot what she was saying, when the me's turned into a song. All of a sudden, she was singing me's to the tune of Sesame Street: me me me, me me me, me me me, (I hope you can picture it, because I can't sing on this blog...) So funny, I wish I had been there!

Bounce

Emily loves to bounce. Once a week, we go to a little mommy and me class called My Gym. Emily absolutely loves it. They do tons of fun activities, and have fabulous inside play equipment. One of Emily's favorites is the trampoline. I think this is where she learned how to bounce. Upon arriving at My Gym, she immediately heads to the trampoline and there she goes... bounce bounce bounce. She does not enjoy sharing the trampoline with the other kids.

As much fun as this pastime is, there is one problem. It happens at home, in her room. Have you guessed yet? Hint: We may have to replace her mattress before she grows out of her crib!

Family Beach Days

So Saturday we all went to the beach as a family! Yeahhh!!! My friend planned a trip down to San Onofre, a great surfing beach, where whoever wanted to surf could surf, and then the rest of us could hang out on the beach, bbq, or whatever. We drove down there, and boy was it a great day. The weather was perfect, the waves were good, and there were great friends and conversation. What a peaceful, great time. Hopefully the first of many days like this.

Emily is finally at a stage where she no longer is out of control, running into the waves like a crazy little munchkin like last summer. She now plays happily, and runs around and eats a little sand, but what 2-year-old doesn't?

The only blight on the whole day, was that I didn't drink enough water and got sun poisoning/dehydration sickness that night. Which was not fun at all. Then I woke up the next morning with Strep Throat, which still hasn't gone away, even after 4 days of antibiotics!

More Two-Year Old Funnies

So Emily's favorite food is cheese. Every day, "Cheese?" "Cheese??" "Aahh cheese?" (That's a direct quote) Sometimes it is "Juice?" and then "Cheese?" But this afternoon was a first. She said, "Cheese?" and then "Cake cheese?"

I said "Cake cheese?" She replied, "Yeah."
I really don't want to try that one. She would probably love it, as she loves apples dipped in ranch, applesauce and ranch mixed together, and fries dipped in caramel sauce.

Rooster

Saturday morning, Emily brought me a puzzle piece that had a rooster on it. She showed it to me and said, " Daddy Doo Doo Doo!" It took me a minute to figure out what she was saying (She says doo-doo for poo-poo) and I finally got that she was saying her own version of Cockle Doodle Doo. Gotta love two-year-old lingo.

Toilet Trouble

I had quite an adventure today. I had just put Emily down for a nap, fixed my lunch and went to use the restroom. The toilet water was suspiciously low, and as I flushed, I knew I had made a mistake. The water began rising, and I was hoping that it would stop at the top, like it usually does in this situation. However, the toilet had a different idea today. Instead of stopping, the water began pouring out pee-water all over the bathroom floor. So then I had the brilliant idea of opening the lid to the tank and lifting the whatever it is called. (Attached to the chain) BAD IDEA. Instead of stopping the flow, it proceeded to do the opposite! Water was pouring out of the toilet in flood proportions! Here I was, standing barefoot in the water, panicking, when I finally realized what I wish I'd thought of minutes earlier, to turn the water off! So finally, since my brain had actually started working, I was able to stop the flood. The water was about 1/2" deep in the bathroom and was running into the hallway when I finally was able to contain it. I used about 20 towels to clean it up, and had to use disinfectant cleaner to finish the job. Needless to say, it ruined my lunch. (Actually I was an angry, sobbing nightmare, you can ask Brian!)

By the way, I didn't think you would want to see pictures, I didn't take any.

Sunday Walk

We love living here. Today Emily was going stir crazy in the house after her non-nap (for some reason on Sundays she won't take a nap - but she still goes into the crib for a while anyway) and so was I. You can only tolerate the toys being spread around your family room for so many hours of the day. Amidst the tornado of toys, I decided we needed to get out. So off we went for a walk on the beach. Emily loves the beach. She loves to find shells. She loves the little shells; when we find big ones, she is not very interested in them. Sometimes daddy finds it a little bit frustrating, as he wants to walk, but she is much more interested in discovery.

I actually took the camera along for once, as I often forget to bring it on family outings. Of course the battery was dying, and I had to limit my photos to just a few. Why can't I remember to charge the thing?

Anyway, it was a beautiful sunny evening, with a mildly cool breeze. We didn't think it would be very crowded at 5:30 pm, but everyone else must have had the same idea. Despite the crowds and difficult parking, we had a great time anyway.

Cake!

So ever since her birthday, Emily wants cake just about every day.... Cake? Cake? Cake? Always the answer is no, since we don't usually keep cake around.

However, last night we had a church cooking class, and we learned how to use fondant to decorate cakes! It was so much fun, and quite easy. Though the ones we made were super little, I really think that I could make a decent looking real cake! So much to Emily's enjoyment, here is my little cake that I decorated...

(I promised her some after naptime today. No sugar before nap, or there is no nap!)