Forts & Kitten

This is the scene I have seen DAILY since school ended. It's gotten more elaborate every week, too, but it's so cool. Carson's got such an imaginitive mind and is so creative and has constructed some pretty amazing forts with our couch cushions, dining room chairs and blankets. I sort of cringe when I see the living room being torn apart every day, but it entertains them so much, so it's okay. These are the things I want them to remember from their childhood, not me being a freak about keeping the house straight. And....we are on week 7 (!) of the kids not watching tv......how can that be? We were in such a habit (and not necessarily a bad one) of watching a couple PBS shows first thing in the morning, but for some reason, and totally of Carson's sole doing....he didn't turn on the tv for the first few days of summer, and I pointed it out and since then, he's quietly been on a mission to not watch tv. It's really funny. He's lost interest in it, and so has Livi. I love that. Although I do miss our little brown friend's morning appearance, Curious George. I sure like that show. :-)
So instead of watching tv....they've begun building forts and playing Kitten.....usually Livi is the kitten and Carson is the Dada (he calls himself that). It's fun to watch them really getting into it and playing so amazingly well together. I love what good buddies they are.

Breakfast on the deck

Dressing up in Daddy's biking gear

...and his CSU garb.

I can't remember what this was....some sort of moon travel/motorcycle/superbaby flying game.

Polenta Tamale Pie

Here's a recipe for a dish we really like around here. It's easy and good for a crowd and super tasty.

Polenta Tamale Pie:

1 lb mild Italian sausage
1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 16 oz. jar salsa
1 15 oz. can black beans
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 small can corn
1 small can olives
2 1lb. rolls polenta, sliced into 1/3 in. thick rounds
3 cups shredded pepperjack cheese (or if you want it less spicy, sub cheddar/jack)

Saute sausage in large pot over medium heat, breaking up. Add chili powder and cumin, stir 1 minute. Add salsa, beans, corn, olives, broth. Simmer until mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Mix in 1/4 cup cilantro, season with salt & pepper.

Oil a 9x13 glass baking dish. Place half of polenta in dish. Top with sauce and 1 1/2 cups cheese, then remaining polenta, cheese & cilantro. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover w/ foil, chill.)

Preheat oven to 350*. Bake freshly assembled pie, uncovered until heated and sauce bubbles, about 35 minutes. Or bake refrigerated pie, covered 20 minutes, then uncover & bake until heated thru ~ 35 min.

Enjoy!!

A Boy at the Beach

Origami boxes

These were some end-of-the-school-year presents for the teachers at Carson's preschool. We filled them with mini chocolate chip cookies that we baked (which was such fun....trying to come up with the perfect tiny bite-sized cookies!) I got this tutorial a while back and have used it several times. The boxes are simple to make, and they turn out so cute.

Big Sur Camping Trip

Here's a smorgasbord of pictures from our super fun camping trip a couple weeks ago down at Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground. We live in such an amazingly beautiful place, and it was so fun to go camping as a family for the first time ever! The kids LOVED it and Carson was in his element...dirt, fire, water, s'mores, and a tent with a "pet den" that he slept partway in. :-)

The scenery is unbelievably gorgeous!

Livi waking up in the morning, smiling as usual. She slept the best of all of us.

We went on a beautiful hike to a waterfall, and then up further to a valley view.

Carson found the biggest dandelion we've ever seen....look at that dirty face! I think it was like that most of the weekend. :-)

Morning snuggles.

A powdered sugar donut breakfast. Yum!

It was such a great time. It felt like a good balance of relaxing, hiking, reading, playing, and all around memory-making. We taught Carson how to play Checkers and Battleship which were fun to play in the sunshine at our picnic table. Livi took a nice nap after our hike, so I got to sit and read in the sun while Carson and Jason explored the river for a couple hours. We are looking forward to going camping again this summer.

"The Best" Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe comes from a dear friend of my mom, who is known for her DELICIOUS baking and cooking....she is amazing and I hope to acquire some more recipes in the days ahead, especially her recipe for Snicker bar-like candies. Yum.

Janelle would bring these cinnamon rolls into the church office where I used to work and they'd be devoured quickly. When I was looking for a recipe that I wanted to become a tradition for Christmas breakfast at the Hughes' house, I immediately thought of these and tried to get her "secret" recipe. She sweetly emailed it to me and so I present it here since several friends have requested it...I can't help but share the love....Enjoy!

4 1/2 to 5 cups flour
1 pkg. yeast
1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup flour

In large mixer bowl combine 2 1/4 cups of the flour and yeast.

In a small saucepan heat the milk, 1/3 cup butter, 1/3 cup sugar and salt just till warm (120-130 degrees) and butter is almost melted, stirring constantly. Add to the flour mixture. Add eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 cups flour as you can.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (3-5 minutes). Shape into a ball. Place in a greased bowl, turning once. Cover; let rise in a warm place till double (about 1 hour).

For filling, combine brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and cinnamon. Cut in remaining butter till crumbly; set aside.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll the dough into a 18 x 12 rectangle.

Sprinkle filling over dough and roll up jelly-roll style and slice into 12 pieces (get some plain dental floss and use it to cut through for easy slicing that won't mash the dough....cool trick!)
Arrange in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.

Cover dough loosely with cloth or plastic wrap, leaving room for rolls to rise. Let dough rise in a warm place till nearly double. About 45 minutes. OR instead of letting dough rise and baking immediately, you can refrigerate dough for 2-24 hours. Then when ready to bake, uncover and let stand in a warm place for 30 minutes till rolls are nearly doubled.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until light brown.

While still warm frost with a powdered sugar glaze. I usually melt 3 Tbsp. butter, add 2 cups powdered sugar, and then thin it to desired consistency with half and half. Drizzle over warm rolls.

Delicious!

I didn't have any pictures to post with this recipe because all the evidence was eaten. :-)

Balance

If anyone lives near a Trader Joe's and needs a really delicious dessert....I have found a new favorite! We love ice cream in our house and we love the chocolate/mint combo....well Trader Joe's has their own Mint Chocolate Chunk ice cream and it is truly one of the BEST ice creams I have ever had.....something about it just is SO delicious....you've got to try it if you like that combo.

And to balance out the unhealthy part of eating a bowl of delicious ice cream....I've come upon something else at Trader Joe's that I eat daily as well. I know I should probably be taking a daily vitamin to make up for the things I don't eat enough of (veggies!) and to give my body other vitamins/minerals it needs, but I just don't enjoy taking a swallowable one that has a nasty aftertaste....so while buying my kiddos some vitamins at TJ's recently, I noticed they have a multi-vitamin in gummy form (for adults!!!). So I've been taking my daily vitamins now since they taste like candy!! Hey, it's better than no vitamin at all, right??

So if you can, head to your local TJ's and see what fun things you can find! I'm not sure how I lived all those years without this wonderful store.

Colorado Trip Spring 2009

I took the kids with me to Colorado a few weeks ago to spend the week with my brother who lives at home with my parents, while they went on a much needed vacation. We had a great time visiting and got to do some fun things and see some special friends.

Gloria and I went to Colorado State together. She was a freshman when I was a senior, but we clicked so fast and became good friends. We haven't seen each other much over the past 8 years or so, but we've kept in touch and it was so fun to get together in person and meet each other's kids for the first time. Gloria is such a great mom to her sweet 3 boys and loves her husband dearly and seeks the Lord daily, I really admire her and wish we lived closer so we could get together to play more often. Carson had such fun with her boys, digging for bugs in the back yard was a highlight of the afternoon. Thanks for making time to hang out with us, friend!

Livi had fun in the sandbox in Gloria's backyard.

We got to spend some time with my friend, Angie, and her 3 sweet kiddos. The kids had fun painting and playing outside. Angie convinced me to go to her Zumba class with her and it was so much fun! We took all the kids and put them in the childcare at the rec center and off we went to our class. I'd been wanting to try Zumba for a while, so it was super fun to do it with her for the first time. I stumbled along, but had a great time. The music is fun and I can see it could be a really great workout once you get a hang of the moves and work it. Angie works it. :-)

We spent a wonderful day downtown in Boulder at the Farmer's Market and then walking all around Pearl Street, where the tulips were absolutely stunning.

Don't the kids look thrilled that someone was nice enough to take our picture together on Mother's Day weekend?!

Livi enjoying some ice cream on the back of a snail

Carson and Livi had a great time dressing up in Grandma's robes and snuggling up or doing some martial arts moves with their blow up baseball bats from Chick-fil-A.

Our plane was delayed about an hour returning home, so we spent lots of time going back and forth on the moving walkways. The kids did so great on this trip. I feel like they are at such easy ages to travel with and it makes it so much more enjoyable!

Dinner anyone??

I've really enjoyed purusing Our Best Bites recently, and we made these Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos the other night...they turned out really tasty! They were so easy and the whole family liked them. We dipped them in some salsa verde, but pico de gallo would be fabulous as well. They made for a really great summer dinner. There are so many other things on their blog that I would love to try....check it out and let me know if you try anything good, too!

Flowers

First cuts of this year's roses:

We have 6 rose bushes in front of our house and they are blooming really well so far. I love having a jar of fresh flowers on the kitchen table. It makes me happy every time I look at them.

Fun with Family

My parents came out for a visit all the way back in March and we had a great time with them. We got to do a lot of fun things and enjoyed some great weather.

We took a hike through the Redwoods down to the river to play for a while. Bumpa is a good rock skipper. :-)

Livi was eager to get in the water, although it was VERY cold.

My beautiful mom enjoying the sunshine on our front porch.

Dyeing Easter eggs

Bumpa made a space helmet for Carson.

A walk down on the Santa Cruz Wharf for lunch and a little treat at Marini's Candy shop. Carson had wanted a big lollipop for a long time, and he was thrilled with his selection.

We drove up Hwy 1 to a small beach we call Pebble Beach, it's a fantastic place to explore with the tidepools and the beaches made of the prettiest colored pebbles. It was a tad colder that day than we expected, but we had a great time.

We also got to enjoy the beaches closer to home.