Cooking with Emmie

I love to cook.  Oftentimes I cook things I won't even eat because the true joy I get from cooking is the joy it brings to others.  It is one of my favorite past times and is one of the ways I show my family that I love them.  That being said, what better way to share the love than to cook with the kids?  

When I have to whip up dinner ASAP on a crazy busy night I don't typically have time to include the kids.  But, when I am cooking a special treat and can really enjoy it, I am happy to have a little helper. 

Lately little Miss Emmie has been the one volunteering for the role of sous chef.  I think she has figured out that helping usually leads to tasting, and she is never one to pass up food! 

The other night we baked a blackberry cobbler and made whipped cream from scratch.  She was very excited to lick the whisks full of whipped cream!

This past weekend we baked coconut caramel cookie bars and Emmie was front and center to assist! 

Kids First River Cats Game - Sort of!

Continuing our goal of exploring California we spent last weekend enjoying All-American activities like baseball and burgers! Saturday night we took the kids to In-N-Out for the first time.  While they didn't have a cheeseburger yet, they were happy with the grilled cheese, fries and milkshakes!

After dinner we headed to Raley Field to watch the River Cats beat whatever team they were playing (as you can see I am a serious baseball fan!).  This was the first baseball game for Logan and Emmie.  Joey hasn't been since he was a toddler, so it was like the first game for all the kids but technically was Joey's second game.

They had a great time and enjoyed the bounce houses in the Kids Zone, the wave (Joey's second favorite part) and the fireworks at the end (everyone's most favorite part).  Emmie managed to convince the lady behind us to give her a cookie and the lady next to us to give her cotton candy - what a little charmer!

Overall an awesome night and we can't wait to go back again (probably will arrive around the 4th inning though, a full game is hard to keep the kids entertained at this age!)

Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

This weekend's out-and-about adventure took us to Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge for a nature walk. Joey and Jeff had been there once before for a field trip, but this was the rest of our first time.

Hubby was convinced I would love it because the paths are paved - he underestimated my love for trees more than paved paths though.  Despite the lack of shade, and my own lack of sunglasses, it was a nice easy trek and has great potential for bird watching.  Per the signage it is even possible to spot a river otter or a fox which would be fun. 

Joey was more than happy to play tour guide, having been there before.  Logan didn't really love that plan and spent most of the walk trying to get in front of Joey. Emmie spent most of the walk looking for ladybugs.

Overall we didn't see too many critters but I blame that on the time of day.  Definitely want to check it out early in the morning (and by "early" I mean 9 or 10 a.m. because I don't really do early. 

Preschool Field Trip

Today was Logan's first ever field trip!  The preschool arranged for a class trip to The Crest Theater to see a live performance of Beauty & The Beast.  This morning Logan was excited to see the play because he was convinced the beast would eat the girl... he was a little disappointed to discover that was not the plot after all.

After the play they headed to Capitol Park for a picnic.  I was able to join them for lunch and had a great time hearing all about the show from the excited preschoolers.  Of course, the girls (decked out in their finest princess attire) loved the part where Belle marries the newly transformed beast.  That was definitely not Logan's favorite part!

Here are some pics from the picnic...

Scorpion Sucker

On a recent layover in Arizona a friend of ours purchased the kids a scorpion sucker.  Basically it is a blueberry flavored lollipop with a dead scorpion inside of it.  Who thinks of this stuff?  Anyway said friend offered the kids $1 each if they would lick the sucker.  To be fair, they are only licking the blueberry flavored part since the scorpion is totally surrounded by candy, but the proposition was no less terrifying to the boys.

Logan is pretty skeptical of this whole idea.

He finally does lick it.  Only after crying about it though because he wanted the dollar but didn't want to taste it.

Joey also not thrilled with the idea.

Took the tiniest lick possible!

Emmie had no problem at all with this proposition and didn't get what the big deal was!

In fact, she ended up eating it for a good portion of the night.  Never got to the scorpion though.

Spring has Sprung!

Our backyard needs some serious help.  To be fair, when we moved in a year and a half ago we were basically handed a wasteland.  The yard was comprised solely of dead grass, weeds, clay soil, and whatever those little spiky things that grow in grass and get stuck to your socks are called.  Our house backs up to a small creek and then open fields as far as you can see.  The deep water channel runs nearby and it is so cool to see a massive ship float by over the fence. 

Over the past 18 months we have definitely made improvements.  There is green grass now, a play area with bark for the kids, garden boxes (that don't have anything in them yet), a vegetable garden area has been sectioned off, etc.  Even with these improvements the winter months wreaked havoc on the yard and TLC is now required. 

Last week Jeff rented a roto-tiller thing to churn up the weeds and clay and try to make the ground somewhat more useable.  He has also been weed whacking up a storm and replacing the bark as needed.

As spring weather has set in we decided it was time to plant our modest vegetable patch again.  Last year we had some successes but that clay soil is really not great for vegetable growing. And the advice we received from a local farmer to "amend, amend, amend, the soil" just seemed like a total pain in the ass so we just lived with our poor showing of tomatoes and couple strawberries that bloomed.

This year we are hoping for a better crop so we changed the game plan and went for container gardening instead.  I read that you can grow a lot of vegetables and fruits in containers so we are giving that a shot.  The problem is that really good containers are really expensive - like crazy expensive! Not in the mood to spend a lot of money on pots, we hit up garage sales and Craigslist and got some major scores.  We have spent about $50 so far and have gotten a huge wine barrel container with a good sized orange tree in it, and seven large ceramic pots.

Last night we enlisted our little helpers to plant our starter seedlings in the new pots and what resulted was a muddy, soaking wet, mess!  So basically they had a blast and Jeff and I did all the work. :o)

Easter Weekend

We would love to take our kids all over the world, and someday I hope to be able to do that.  In the meantime we are determined to show them California and all this great state has to offer.  We made a list of places we would like to go this year and Daffodil Hill in Volcano CA was one of them.  Jeff and I had never been and since it is only open for a short time in the spring, we thought Easter weekend would be a perfect time to make the trek out there.

Saturday we packed a picnic lunch and headed to Volcano to see thousands of daffodils.  The drive was beautiful and someday when the kids are older we'd like to stop at the little historic towns  along the way.

We were so happy to have Cheri join us and she took amazing photos again; so grateful that she helps us document these precious moments.  And only Cheri could make all of us do this...

When we arrived we started off with a picnic but forgot to bring a blanket which completely threw off Logan.  Daffodil Hill has plenty of benches but Logan freaked out at the idea of having a "picnic" without a picnic blanket.  Emmie on the other hand, had no issues with the benches and was happy to eat!

Finally got a partial smile out of Logan once we let him collect filthy rocks for his rock collection...

 Love this pic of me & Jeff! 

 Great family day!

Every time we asked Logan to smile he wanted to "do a move" instead.  Here is one of the moves he did with the stick he found.  Serious business! 

Joey had a blast scouting out locations for Cheri to take photos and posing for them!  He turned into quite the little model during this trip!

Daffodil Hill has peacocks, even a beautiful white one.  Peacocks have become my favorite animal over the past year and seeing a white one was so special.

Joey took this photo with Cheri's camera.  I could see him becoming a photographer someday...

On the drive home Logan wanted to stop at a roadside stand and get flowers for me and Cheri.  Here is the shot I snapped from the car as Jeff and Logan picked out the flowers.  Our little Logan might be a handful at times, but he has a heart of gold.

We hosted our annual Easter Brunch on Sunday with friends and family.  It was a wonderful day complete with way too much food, way too much sangria, and tons of laughter.  Honestly I think this Easter was one of the best we have had, low key and filled with fun.

In the morning Joey and Logan woke up to find their Easter baskets and clues from the Easter Bunny to find their other gifts. Emmie slept in, we don't wake the princess for anything!

One of the clues from EB - 

And this is what they found... 

They tore up the house looking for the rest of the gifts.  

 Aunt Megan and Emmie blowing bubbles.

And we dyed Easter eggs - 

And had an egg hunt in the backyard...

 Where Logan threw a fit... which is pretty normal for Logan... 

Gidgit supervised.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!