Maggie

Have you ever met one of these perfect babies? This is little bright Maggie. She is one of my 3 nieces born the end of last year. Keaton and I love this little Maggie to death. Keaton often will say (in a whisper), "Mom let's go get Maggie and take her to ours house". I have often thought that was a good plan. Maggie is one of those babies that makes you ache for a baby of your own. She doesn't cry unless hungry and tired. She goes right to sleep when you tell her it is time, and she laughs at your jokes even if they are not funny. What more could you want?

San Diego!

As promised here are some of our pictures from San Diego:

Is there anything better for a boy then to have older boy cousins to look up to?

Keaton is pretty lucky he has 28 cousins. This sure helps in the example department.

I think this was his favorite part of vacation: Nate, Seth and Noah.

My sister is the queen of low-key.

Keaton has this fascination with Buzz Lightyear right now.
She encouraged him to practice his " to infinity and "BEYAR"" off her couch into her love sack.

He thought this was pretty cool. Now the trick is teaching him he

can't jump on everyones couch, just Aunt Meesha is special :)

We went to Wild animal park with Noah. I wore new sandals...what

was I thinking?!? By the end Keaton and Noah were so tired Lee was

trying to keep all three of us going.

The last time I went to the Wild Animal Park was about 15 years ago. At the time my favorite part was feeding the Lorikeets. It still is the big hit.

I was pretty proud of Noah, he stuck to it until he had a flock
fighting for his nectar.

Keaton with my sisters 3 boys at the zoo. Did you know it is IMPOSSIBLE for

4 boys to have their picture taken without one of them

goofing off?

Keaton really thinks his Dad is cool (so do I), he would follow Lee anywhere.

This is them at Seaworld trying to hurry for the Dolphin feeding.

I will forever be a fan of Dolphin feeding at Seaworld. For 5 bucks you get 3 fish.

They have the Dolphins trained so you can pet

them and then feed them. Seaworld is my favorite amusement park,

yes even more then Disneyland.

We went 2 days because one is never enough.

I love all this hands on things at Seaworld.

I think that is how kids learn best, being able to use multiple senses.

Keaton loved to touch the starfish,

not nearly as intimidating as a Dolphin or Bat Ray.

Fascinated by the Shamu show, I still can never figure out how that is possible. How can something so big do all those tricks....does anyone know?

Berry Bliss

So.... never being one to pass up a deal, I bought 2 flats of Strawberries this week for...4.99 each. Being one to never be second best....I made 6 types of jam, 35 jars out of the berries. I guess I was just curious what was the best recipe for Strawberry jam. I also froze 5 pounds and we are eating through 2. I guess I had no idea exactly how much a flat of Strawberries is. SO.... in case you were wondering, here is what I found. Keaton's favorite was a very easy freezer jam called Banana Split Jam click HERE to get the recipe. I liked the flavor of THIS Canadian cooked jam. Lee liked the twist in THIS Pineapple-Strawberry jam, and we were all pretty big fans of this low sugar one:

3 large bananas
3 cups crushed strawberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 pouch pectin
pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Put bananas on a baking sheet in the oven for 15 minutes. Cool, peel, crush. Measure 1 cup of banana (i just threw the rest in too). mix with berries and sugar in a medium bowl. Let stand 15 minutes. Mix in pectin for 3 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Put in jars, label and freeze.

I guess in the end Keaton and I came to one conclusion....Strawberries and sugar....YUM!

FHE Flop

Well, we have been really trying on the FHE thing. I was ready to throw in the bag though last night. I prepared a lesson on Queen Esther. We talked about her courage in doing what was right. We talked about what courage means and why it is important. We had played at the park that day with friends. To bring it home I asked Keaton, "So Keaton if Abigail asked you to hit Andrew or throw sand at him what would you say?". Keaton didn't even need to think about it.... he got a mischevious look on his face, threw up his hands and said, "LETS DO IT!!!!". I guess we need some more work on that lesson :)

Favorite finds- March!

This a little late but we have been out of town. I have had a great month of "finds".

First of all I have to tell you about Priceline (priceline.com). I have never used them since I was always worried I would get "Joes Back Alley Motel" and even at $30 that is NO deal. When we were planning our week away to San Diego we knew we wanted to stay in the city a couple of nights (the other nights we stayed with my sister in Murrieta....gotta love family :). I looked into rooms in the area we wanted to stay (Mission Valley) and couldn't find anything less then $120 that was a good hotel. I was frustrated to say the least. My sister talked me into Priceline. I didn't know you could pick the area of the city, the star level of the hotel, etc. They are all name brand hotels. We got a room for 2 nights at the La Quinta for....$40 a night. I started at $25 and went up to $40. It was SO clean, the staff was very friendly and accommodating, and free breakfast (great budget helper :).

Second, in an ongoing effort to cut back I think knowledge is the biggest problem. My friend told me about this website. It lists many restaurants and good choices you can make there. Check it out!
http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html
I need to get going on our vacation post that will have to be it for now :)

Yummy!!!

These Mint Chocolate Bars were the cover recipe for Cooking Light this month. I have had a number of requests for the recipe. So I thought I would share with all.

The dense base layer is like a rich, fudgy brownie, so don't overcook it or the dessert bars will be dry. Refrigerating the mint bars allows the chocolaty top layer to set properly. You can make the dessert up to one day ahead. For a more grown-up taste, you can also use dark chocolate chips for some or all of the semisweet chocolate chips in the glaze. Also, remember these were "lightened" by 1/2 from the original but they are by no means calorie or fat free :)

Ingredients
Bottom layer:

1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup egg substitute

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, beaten

1 (16-ounce) can chocolate syrup

Cooking spray

Mint layer:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons fat-free milk

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

2 drops green food coloring

Glaze:

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3 tablespoons butter

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 350°.
2.To prepare bottom layer, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and salt; stir with a whisk. Combine granulated sugar, egg substitute, 1/4 cup melted butter, 2 tablespoons water, vanilla, eggs, and chocolate syrup in a medium bowl; stir until smooth. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture, stirring until blended. Pour batter into a 13 x 9–inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
3.To prepare mint layer, combine powdered sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, and next 3 ingredients (through food coloring) in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer until smooth. Spread mint mixture over cooled cake.
4.To prepare the glaze, combine the chocolate chips and 3 tablespoons butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until melted, stirring after 30 seconds. Let stand 2 minutes. Spread chocolate mixture evenly over top. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Cut into 20 pieces.
Yield
20 servings (serving size: 1 piece)
Nutritional Information
CALORIES 264(30% from fat); FAT 8.7g (sat 5.2g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 2.8g; CHOLESTEROL 38mg; CALCIUM 12mg; SODIUM 139mg; FIBER 0.5g; IRON 0.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 45g
Megan Patterson ,
Cooking Light, MARCH 2008

My buddy

The other day I was thinking how much fun it is to have a 2 year old, WHAT?!?!? I think 2 year olds get a bad rap. As much as Lee and I would like to have another baby, while we wait I am LOVING this time in my life. Keaton and I hang out everyday. We go to the zoo, go shopping, go to lunch, go for walks, read books, go to the library, or just hang out and talk about stuff. It is like having a friend to hang out with all the time. We don't worry TOO much about diapers, special food (he is great at eating just about anything), and he is a pretty good sport about doing pretty much anything. Now warmer weather is here we can get into even more trouble. Life is good.