Gains by Barter

Lately the girls and I have been bartering for things.  I have a small box on my dresser with interesting odds and ends -  mostly little broken pieces of fun jewelry that I'll never get around to fixing.  I don't remember who came up with it, but we have been "trading" for things in that box for awhile now.

Tonight we took it up a notch.

I have bags full of costume jewelry, trinkets, and fun stuff I've collected literally my entire life.  I brought out one bag and asked who wanted to trade.  I got this:

In exchange for things like this: (note that most of the "good" stuff - rhinestone necklaces, anything bearing a heart - had already been swapped)

When the girls ran out of things to trade, they made me pictures and cards.  This one was by Robin, and shows a Shark (the twisted thing) about to eat a fish (the bubbly thing) and the caption is "SHARK!"

Totally worth it.

Johnny's

Possibly the best doughnuts on Earth.

Especially when still warm from the fryer.

So the deal is the Dads bring the Kids in on Sat. mornings.  The few times I've brought the girls in, Chang the owner asks, "Where's daddy? What is he doing?"  We usually bring back a raised glazed or old fashioned.  

Not opened on Sundays.  Often closed on holidays, including a week or two at Christmas, Spring break, and during the summer. Hey, it's a family business!

Christmas 2012

Erin woke at 6:30 - pretty standard.  We forewarned her she would cuddle in bed and watch shows on the iPad while we waited for Robin to wake up.

Robin woke. We scurried out to see what Santa had brought. Erin dove straight for the stocking, completely oblivious to the present in front with her name on it.

Robin saw her scooter and told Erin that she got a bike.  There was much excitement.















Then Erin wandered into the family room,  where the family presents were.  She started screaming, "Robin!!! Robin!!! Come here!!!  There's something really big!!!"




My old doll house.  Complete with very 70's doll house furniture.

A good haul, all around.

Spice Therapy

It's been a rough day all around, so decided to take myself to a local chinese food place for lunch.

This place is kind of known for the "extras".  Last time we ordered take-out we got a beer, some fried appetizers and a couple pieces of baklava.  For free.

So it was no surprise then when the waiter walked by each table, and set down a huge bag of organic greens, gratis.  Because nothing goes better with spicy eggplant chicken than 2 pounds of uncooked greens.

And the spicy peppers did really elevate my mood.  Now back to the Holiday Madness. 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/asia-palace-restaurant-moraga

WW: Get Your Marshmallows Ready!!!!!

Big Candy Cane

Today Erin comes home with the biggest candy cane I've ever seen.  Well, maybe not the biggest, but the biggest one she's ever had.

I say, "Erin, that's about 15 times more candy cane than you've ever had. It's a lot of candy.  What do you think we should do?"

Erin thinks for a few seconds, then replies, "Mom, I'm going to split it and share it with Robin.  Because she is my best friend!"

OK, I guess you guys can eat the whole thing.  You're already too sweet.

Bathroom is done!!!!!

Forgot to post the final-final-final pictures.  Thanksgiving was the first day we could use the shower, and boy was I thankful!!!!

Robin Starts Her Christmas List

And the the kid goes big.

Mama's got a new hobby!

Can you guess what it is???

Who wants to be a brewing buddy?

From the drafts

I thought I started a post yesterday so was looking in the blog drafts.  There are 20.  This was put there about three years ago.  No idea why it was never published, but enjoy y'all.

Here's all that was in the blog post:


This is funny

CSA box: More Apricots and Peaches.

So far, we've made fruit leather, preserves, canned them, now I'm onto straight drying them.  Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas?

I mean, looking at the picture it doesn't look like that much fruit.  But the bowl in the background is a 1.5c bowl.  So, these are not little itty bitty apricots.  These are "I'm done after one" kinda fruits.  And we have 6# of them.  

At least we're enjoying untold regularity in this household.

A Little Celebration

Erin decided to have a little celebration this morning.  So she decorated.

And set the table "fancy".  She did this entirely by herself.  The only thing I did was light the candles. 

An Evening of Yes

We got home from our first swim lesson today.  Dinner already consumed, "bath" already taken, Erin asked if we could paint.  With the "big" paints (tempera).  This is an outside-only activity, and as the temperatures creeped towards 100F today, it sounded like a great idea to go outside. So, yes, we can go outside and do big paint.

I fixed each girl up with paint and paper, and let them go to work.  They worked on blobs, butterflies, etc.  Then they got into it.


Yes, you can paint with the wheels of a car.

Yes, you can paint with rocks and leaves.

Yes, you can paint with your hands, cotton swabs, and just about anything else you find outside.

National Marshmallow Day

We decided we needed a new holiday, so yesterday was National Marshmallow Day* at Casa de McMiller.  Armed with a pack of mini-marshmallows, a pack of star shaped marshmallows, and an armload of toothpicks, we set to work.

Robin mostly made ate a handful, made some triangles and sticks, then ate another handful.

Erin was totally focused.  She spent a good 20 minutes constructing.  She built mostly churches.  We worked on how to made a 2-D triangle into a pyramid to stabilize her spire.  And when the construction was finished:

What should be our next holiday?


*There is a National Toasted Marshmallow day on August 30, but who needs to wait for that? 

Bunny Head Count

And I know there are still two lurking in our unpacked backpacks from yesterday.

EASTER!!!! (picture and unnecessary detail heavy)

How I love this holiday.  We're not the most pious of households so the day is really about finding eggs and eating chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate.

The hunt:

They ate nearly all the candy in their baskets:
3 peeps
2 Cadbury cream eggs
4 eggs filled with Jellybeans and Cadbury's malted eggs
1 - 5oz (the big one) See's Chocolate Easter bunny.

 Good thing first Easter bunny of the day wasn't very generous.

About half an hour later was this:

The Easter Hangover. After a 15 minute freak-out by the eldest, we sat them down for a much needed Bob the Builder/Banana/Potato Patty/cheese stick rest. Note: this is now 8:30 AM.  Erin requested the shades drawn tight, her sunglasses, and a cozy blanket.

Then it was onto the next event: brunch at Grammy and Papa's club.  The girls met the Easter Bunny with much glee.

There was a baby-animal petting zoo too.  The caretaker told Brian a story about co-sleeping with a convelescing cow.  Hard. Core.  One more egg hunt too, but the candy factor was minimal.

I wish we had more pictures of them with their Miller cousins, but we were not taking the pictures.  *ahemDawn* can we get those? The girls ate themselves silly with bacon, berries, and pancakes, Oh, other than the 2+ chocolate bunnies plus loads of chocolate kisses provided by the Miller Easter bunny. We enjoyed the company of Grammy, Papa, Great Granny, Aunt D, Cousin C and K, Uncle Heath and companion Katie , and N&N.  Good times.

Then back across the bay to Grandma and Grandpa's house for another egg hunt, more candy, more cousins, and more fun!  The girls ran these boys ragged, and the UOMcF boys were awesome, as always, with the girls.

A delicious ham dinner with scalloped potatoes, asparagus, and amazing Jello salad was consumed.  Followed by, you guessed it, chocolate cream pie.  Awesome. 

I think the girls were finally worn out.

Sushi Date Night!

Grammy and Papa graciously came over to take the girls and Brian and I went out on a date!  Woot!  We went to a local sushi place, Blue Ginko, for some excellent raw treats.

Dinner was over very quickly.  Sushi doesn't take very long. My parents had taken the girls to Fentons, and we didn't want to get home before they did. So we went to Metro for a cocktail.  Then to Loard's for an ice cream cone.

Totally bursting at the seams, we went back home.  The girls were taking a bath, energetic and happy.  Very energetic.  Apparently Robin ate half her body weight in ice cream.  She was up until 10:45, long after we normally go to bed.  But she snuggled and watched my favorite show with me.

A great date night!

Christmas 2010

As told in pictures. It was great. We had good food too, but we were too busy eating to take pictures of that.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

P.S. These events occurred over three days.

Cooking Show

OK, another back post, but this was too cute not to share:

We made chocolate zucchini bread tonight.  Erin likes to mix each component and taste each ingredient.  I encourage her exploration with the caveat she use a wet dishcloth and wipe up the inevitable spills on the countertop.  Her own person, well, the more mess the more fun, I say!

Does this count?

OK, OK, OK. So I'm trying to blog every day for the second consecutive month. I've been diligent getting the posts in by the midnight deadline except for today. So I'm backdating this one. It's probably cheating, but oh well.

On an slightly related note we drove back from our Christmas visits, leaving at 6:29 pm on 12/28 and getting into town at 5:24 AM 12/29. Phew. Luckily Lil' E slept nearly the entire time. Luckily at least one parent was up for the entirety of the trip. And luckily the mounds of snow P-town received last week are reduced to the occasional mere teeny, gritty piles by the side of the road.