Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Tackle it Tuesday: The yard

The backyard is finally starting to look like a yard, and not a barren wasteland.

Before


After (this was right after we laid the sod down, the stuff up behind the retaining wall has all been planted now, most of it is no longer in pots)





Next up will probably be a new fence. Someone remind me again why we didn't just buy a new house???

Sunday, December 27, 2009

More pictures...

Amelia taking her own picture, Anthony jumping on the couch while the cushion covers are in the washer, Amelia painting, and Ant at Pretend City in Irvine.







Thursday, December 24, 2009

Happy Christmas...

Some random pictures, my children having a yard sale in the living room (they wanted to sell me their toys, take my money but keep the toys! LOL) eating lunch, my son being naked which is his favorite thing these days, and snuggling daddy.





Monday, December 14, 2009

Hi, Remember Me?

Yes, I'm aware that I haven't posted yet this month, and the month is half over. Things are just busy around here, as usual. Jeff has started taking the train to work, which often means he leaves here at 5AM and returns at 620PM, so he's only here for an hour or so of kid time, and he's generally too tired to do much besides eat dinner and go to bed.

Amelia's participating in the nutcracker with her ballet school, and the rehearsals are nuts. Three hours on Saturday, class plus an hour or two extra on her regular day, extra classes on Wednesdays, dress rehearsal on Thursday, shows on Friday and Saturday. I also need to sew fake fur and a tail on her costume. I have finally perfected the proper bun,it requires lots of gel and a hairnet, still working on the correct makeup. (The kid is 4! Who knew ballet was so serious.)

She had her Christmas show for preschool on Saturday, it was too cute. We also had three parties to attend last weekend. I did a lot of baking for two of the parties, which although it was time consuming, I enjoyed it. I still have a few loaves of pumpkin bread I need to make and Jeff needs a coffee cake made for work for Wednedsday.

I'm still doing the playgroup stuff out here, although it's slowed down for now, I'm only doing 1 or 2 activities a week until after Christmas, we're just too busy right now.

Ant is doing well. The number of words he's speaking has great improved. Finally! Some of the things he says are pretty funny though. He won't say Amelia's name, once in a while he calls her Ma ma. And for himself he usually says "me". Lately though he calls both Amelia and himself "baby". So when he was going to bed tonight, to me and Amelia he said "Goodnight Mama. Goodnight Baby." So cute.

So yeah, that's what's going on around here. We've had lots of rain the last week which I love. Still drama going on with my family, but I'm trying not to worry about it. I can't do anything about it, except try and support the people who are around trying to take care of the kiddos. Anyway. If I don't get back here anytime soon, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And if you celebrate some other holidays, I hope those are great too.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Tres Leches Cake

Found this on Pioneer Woman's website. Saving it for later. Yum!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/09/tres-leches-cake/

Prep Time: 45 Minutes Cook Time: 1 Hour Difficulty: Easy Servings: 12
Ingredients

* 1 cup All-purpose Flour
* 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
* ¼ teaspoons Salt
* 5 whole Eggs
* 1 cup Sugar
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla
* ⅓ cups Milk
* 1 can Evaporated Milk
* 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
* ¼ cups Heavy Cream
* 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
* 3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Separate eggs.
Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla.
Pour egg yolk mixture over flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.
Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer on, pour in 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.
Fold egg white mixture into other mixture very gently until just combined.
Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out surface.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 1/2 cup heavy cream in a small pitcher.
When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times.
Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.
Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes.
Whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.