Shark Girl

Because Hannah had art class, she didn't get the sheer joy of going to the dentist with her brothers this week, good thing I guess. While she got a clean bill of health today, she on the other hand has her mama's very small mouth/jaw structure and not enough room for all those teeth. Because of this, they are going to extract 2 baby teeth to allow room for the adults to come in. She won't get the joy of having these babies fall out like all her friends, shoot! However I am quite certain that the tooth fairy will be bringing bonus goods for the double tooth extraction that will happen in a few weeks. At least she had 2 fall out on their own. On top of all that braces will be in her near future as soon as she has 4 perm on top and bottom. They'll need to "expand her palate". I've been through this recently with my own braces, not too bad just a long process.

Why shark girl? Because her mouth is so small her permanent teeth are coming in behind the baby teeth so she has "rows" of teeth. Better to bite her brothers with.....:-)

And darn it, I left my camera on my desk and couldn't take a single picture. You can bet I'll have it for the next appt.

All in all it was a good week of dental appts. Not a single cavity among the kids, they can thank me for that as even to today, not a single cavity here either. That's always a blessing. Let's hope it lasts for them.

As promised, today's photos!

My boys getting their twice annual check-up!

Look mom, no cavities for either of us! My girl, the artist at Ms. Mary's Studio the Sidestreet Gallery!

Great White - Oil painting on canvas

Hannah, age 6

How appropriate that yesterday was the start of shark week on the Discovery Channel!

Tasty Tuesday....

There will be a couple of posts today - the boys had dentist appts, Hannah was in art class and I'll have a beautiful painting to share later and then I grow my own herbs and I wanted to share with you my basic pesto recipe as well as a torte recipe that I got from my dear friend Amy Z. when I lived in Charleston! So be sure to check back, there will be pictures galore added!

PESTO
2 Cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves
¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese (fresh)
¾ cup olive oil
2 TBLS pine nuts
4 cloves garlic

Blend all ingredients on medium speed, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides – blend until smooth.

PESTO DIP: Stir in 1 8oz carton of sour cream. Serve w/ fresh veggies or pita chips

PESTO AIOLI: 1 cup mayo, 1-2 tblsp fresh pesto, stir and serve on your favorite grilled sandwiches or paninis!

***Another tip I learned from my Granny Shirl years ago is to make up the pesto minus the parm cheese. Fill each slot in a plastic ice cube tray with the pesto and freeze. Once frozen, empty the trays into a ziploc bag. Now each time you want a little fresh pesto all you have to do is take out a cube or two, thaw, add Parmesan cheese and cook or use as desired. Needless to say I always have fresh pesto around my house, it's a favorite among my kids.

CHEESY PESTO AND SUNDRIED TOMATO TORTE: (this is a beautiful appetizer to bring to parties- gets oooohhhs and aahhhhs every time!)
3-8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic
7 oz of homemade pesto (chilled)
1 jar (8oz) oil packed sun-dried tomatoes-well drained

Blend cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and garlic in blender/processor. Divide into thirds
Line 5-cup mold or loaf pan, 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ inches with plastic wrap. Spoon 1/3 of the cheese mixture in bottom of mold; smooth top w/ spatula. Spoon pesto evenly over cheese layer. Spoon one-third of cheese mixture over pesto layer; smooth top w/ spatula. Spoon tomatoes evenly over second cheese layer. Spoon remaining cheese mixture over tomatoes. Strike filled mold on counter to pack down. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 days.
When ready to serve, invert mold onto serving platter. Remove plastic wrap and serve w/ baguette slices.

Yields 5 cups of spread

Shameless Plug!

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Brothers from another mother...

Our old neighbors in Bakersfield keep in touch with us regularly and we try to see each other as often as schedules permit. We are fortunate enough to have their 2 boys, Brandon (11) and Tyler (13), staying here at Camp Grove this week. I met them in Burbank yesterday for the switchoff at Hooters, of course. With all that testosterone around, where else would you take teen boys to eat?? They will be here until Thursday evening when we do the meet-up and pass off again, then they'll return mid month and end of month to visit Casa Grove when they are in town for Tyler's soccer tourneys. We just leave the light on for them!

Xander and Hannah have been so excited for their visit. Xander refers to them as his "brothers from another mother" and Hannah calls them cousins, I guess you can tell how close our friendship is, they are actually extended family for us vagabonds who don't put down roots too often.

I will post some photos of our "sons" this week. They are all out surfing currently and since we have annual passes, I think we are headed to the SD Zoo & Wild Animal Park or Sea World tomorrow, it should be a fun week with lots of pictures to post.

A Friday Funny...

In honor of my Aunt Sandy who is always posting something funny, I have one to share that my mother in law sent to me. Enjoy~

Ten Thoughts to Ponder for 2008
Number 10
Life is sexually transmitted.

Number 9
Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one
can die.

Number 8
Men have two emotions:
Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

Number 7
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day,
Teach a person to use the Internet
And they won't bother you for weeks.

Number 6
Some people are like a Slinky .
Not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile
When you shove them down the stairs.

Number 5
Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday,
Lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

Number 4
All of us could take a lesson from the weather.
It pays no attention to Criticism.

Number 3
Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200.00
And a substantial tax cut saves you $30.00?

Number 2
In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird.
Now the world is Weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

And The Number 1 Thought For 2008 :
We know exactly where one cow with Mad-cow-disease is located among millions and millions of cows in America but we haven't got a clue as to where millions of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of Immigration?

' Life is like a jar of Jalapeno peppers. What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow'

More fun than a human being should be allowed!

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/traffic-quesada-rig-2103561-big-slow

This morning I read the news as I always do to get my day started. I read that there was an accident at 5am just south of where I needed to get my scout car pool boys to at Camp Pendleton at the Las Pulgas exit (where the accident occurred) but the SIG Alert would be lifted around 11am. No worries, I think, we'll be a little slow but we'll take our time and not worry about it.

It is 1:07 my time now, I have only been home for about 15 minutes and I never made it to Camp Pendleton to drop off the boys. Traffic on the 5 was gnarly and it took me THREE HOURS to drive just under 6 miles. I finally found one of those median opening that are used by emergency vehicles but illegal for the rest of us and I bolted and it took me 3 minutes to get back to where I started from. There is a 20 mile back up of traffic from this big rig rollover and fire, I feel sorry for all those still out on the road not knowing what they have gotten themselves into.

I did my good deed for today while sitting in the blistering sun and rolling parking lot. A lady next to me rolled down her window and asked if I knew what was going on (people must not know to listen to AM Talk Radio when they are stuck in traffic, wink) , so I told her, she also had her granddaughter with her, and then she asked if I could call her daughter down in San Diego (she left her cell phone at home) to let her know that she would be running late and her granddaughter would not be there in time for her doctors appt. So needless to say, I called the random stranger's daughter to apprise her of the dilemma. Afterwards the world shifted a little as if to say thank for the kind gesture.

Amidst all the frustration of the delay, not getting to camp and having hot and hungry boys with me, it all turned out well. I was proud of the scouts I had with me, there was not a single complaint from one of them and they acted like troopers. I treated my boys to Pedro's Taco's (a local surf spot favorite) and then drove them all back home. Now it is good to be home myself, just wish I had time to sit with a glass of wine and decompress but the life of a mom is never ending and I am headed out the door again soon. Today is one of those days where I have had more fun than any human being should ever be allowed! :-)

Tortilla Tuesday

I thought I would share a couple recipes that are family favorites around my house. Enjoy~

Tortilla Soup
2 skinned and boned chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
2 cans Mexicorn
1 can white whole kernel corn
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 cans chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes (I use the flavored kind)
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and chilies, undrained
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
4-5 tortillas (any flavor)
Garnish: (optional) fresh chopped cilantro, chopped red onion, chopped tomato, sour cream, cheese and tortilla crunchies!

Combine ALL ingredients minus tortillas and garnishes into large dutch oven, bring to a boil and simmer over med heat for 30-45 min. Combine ½ cup milk and 2 tbsp. cornstarch, bring soup back to a boil and pour in corn starch mixture and boil until desired thickness is reached. Soup is then ready to serve!

Optional: Place all ingredients in crock pot and cook on HIGH heat for 6 hours. Add cornstarch mixture when ready to serve.

For tortilla crunchies: cut tortillas into ¼ in wide strips, place on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 5 minutes. Stir strips and bake for 5-7 more minutes until crisp. Serve with soup and garnish as desired. Yields about 10 cups.

And for a delicious dessert, pop this in the oven while you are eating so that it it will piping hot after dinner!
Apple Enchiladas
1-2 cans 21 oz. Can Apple Pie Fruit Filling
6 8-inch Tortillas
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/3 cup Butter
½ cup Sugar
½ cup Firmly Pack Brown Sugar
½ Cup Water

1. Spoon fruit filling evenly down center of each tortilla; sprinkle evenly with cinnamon. Roll up, place seam side down in a lightly buttered 2 qt. Baking dish.
2. Bring butter and next 3 ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan; reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for 3 minutes. Pour sauce over enchiladas; let stand for 30 minutes. If you have any apple pie filling left over, spread it over the top.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
4. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

3 kids, 3 camps, 3 locations

WHAT WAS I THINKING??? Experience a day in my world this week.....

Christian Church Camp 9-12 - In town
Hannah Ocean Institute Camp 9-4 - Dana Point - in the opposite direction NORTH!
Xander Cub Scout Day Camp 10-3 - Camp Pendleton - in the complete opposite direction SOUTH!

So I drive Hannah to her camp in Dana Point, turn around, drop off Christan at his back where we started from, pick up car pool scouts and then head south to Camp Pendleton to drop off the boys at their camp where they are leaders and helping out. Stay for 2 hours myself at the day camp as a parent volunteer before heading back to......

Pick up Christian at noon, hang out with my boy alone for a few hours, head back south to pick up the other boys and car poolers, head back to the church (starting point) to drop off said car poolers, then head back north to the Ocean Institute to pick up my darling daughter!!! WOW.

I thought I would get a little free time having them all in camp at once during the same week, I just never factored into the equation, the locations or times. Bad planning mommy, bad panning! :-) I am road warrior this week.

However at the end of the day when they are sharing their experiences with me and telling me all they did and learned, I snuggle in close, listen intently and thank God for allowing me the time and opportunity to be that road warrior or mom that gets to do this each day. I wouldn't change a thing!!!

Ocean Institute Summer Camp

My darling daughter's first day of summer camp. This year she was lucky enough to attend the Ocean Institue in Dana Point. They offer phenomenal marine sciences programs for kids of all ages. They even have Tall Ships that the kids get to go on and so much more. She is very excited. It will be a long day as it runs from 9-4 so I am assured that she will sleep well tonight, :-)! My babe is growing up!

Funnel Cakes, caramel apples, kiddie rides and a concert!

When was the last time you went to a county fair? I have to say for me, it has been years, I cannot remember the last time I went to the fair. I think with my growing annoyance of large crowds I have avoided places like this to save my sanity however with children it is almost a rite of passage and something you must do as a parent. So out we ventured and I have to say, it wasn't all that bad. The kids had a great time, ate waaaay toooooo much "fair food" and are sleeping blissfully at this point. All in all today was a great day. The first ride of the day, Pony Rides. Ain't she a doll?

Xander, Bob and Xander's friend Katin are still there rockin' out to the Dropkick Murphy's, an Irish Punk Band. This was an early birthday gift from us since it is his favorite band of all. We only have birthday parties on milestone years and since this is one for Xander it will be filled with fun and surprises. He doesn't know this but we have decided as a special treat for his 13th bday that we are going to surprise him with 12 small birthday gifts leading up to a big one throughout the next week heading in to the special day. The special day will be filled with fun and laughter as we host a beach bash luau for him over at Doheny State Park. So anyway, this was his first gift of many to come. He was over the moon and has had a smile on his face the entire day today!

My speed demon in the middle of the pack - she is a take no prisoners kind of gal.

Hannah brought her friend Kennedy with us to the fair and we embarked on all the kiddie rides. H & K rode the ferris wheel all alone and after getting stuck at the tippy top for a few minutes while the operator handled other business and changed out riders, they decided that they had had enough and never wanted to see that ride again, once was enough!! They did enjoy all the other rides, their favorite was the bumper cars.

Christian, Kennedy and Hannah respectively

Of course Christian decided I needed to ride with him on a few even though I tried to talk him into taking daddy on the rides. No way, he wanted his mamma! So I squeezed into the toddler seats meant for no person over about 50lbs (I am just a few lbs over 50lbs but that's a topic for another day) and tried to enjoy the 45 seconds that the ride lasted. Again, he was delighted and decided after a couple of rides that he was a big boy now and managed the remainder of the rides with help from no one. Whew disaster averted, I had visions of having to be rescued from one of the rides! He especially loved the swing ride, that was the only one where he threw his hands in the air during the ride and squealed with delight, it was such a joy to experience new fun stuff with my babe who also has a birthday coming up very soon!

Look ma I can pay for the ride and ride the ride all by my self!!!

I am heading off to dream land myself as this week will be super busy as all three kids will be in summer camps at 3 different locations with 3 different starting and stop times!!! I didn't plan that well did I? :-) I will do my best to post regularly this week, I am still working on the past posts, I have a few in drafts and will have those done as well. Keep checking back.

Updated and backdated posts

As I catch up on the last month, I am going to be backdating some posts back to the dates that they actually occurred on to keep my own journal in chronological order. Over the next few days be sure to keep checking back on the older posts as I will be updating throughout the week.

Lots of love, sorry for the long span of not posting - darn that technology when it doesn't work like you want it too!

XOXOXO
Kimberly

Junior Lifeguard

My baby did it again! For a 3rd year he has completed the Junior Lifeguard program. This year he switched programs from one state guard to another state guard. He felt the other program offered more in the way of instruction and how to actually be a lifeguard however he felt this program was more fun and he was able to just enjoy himself this year. Which I guess is okay in the grand scheme as he has already been through the program twice and I trust this kid to save my life or that of anyone I know, he is very level headed in an emergency. He's the kind of person you want around when there is trouble. Anyway before I digress too much, in this year's program they offered up extra challenges to those kids that wanted to earn the rank of "Superguard" and the final challenge to earning superguard was completing their version of a beach "Ironman" competition. I am very proud to say that he completed both with flying colors. There were 140 kids in the program, 103 competed in Ironman and Xander finished 33rd overall out of the 103 kids!!! I think that is fantastic and he overcame a few fears to accomplish this goal. One part of the ironman was to swim out about 500 yards in to the ocean around this buoy and back which normally isn't that scary however with all the shark sightings that we've had this year and our proximity to all of them, they actually cancelled one of the challenges to swim out to Seal Rock (hence where seals hang out as well as sharks trying to catch a meal) and replaced it with this buoy swim. Xander almost backed out but decided to persevere and charge forth. He said that was one of the scariest things he has ever done because the water was VERY cold, dark, murky and he felt like shark food out there, especially since with the 2 groups that were swimming, he ended up between them somehow because he was swimming too fast, :-)!
Then after the buoy swim he had to grab a paddle board and paddle out. During this paddle out a couple of frisky dolphins decided to play with the kids and would skim right underneath their paddle boards and then flick their tails at them as they passed over the surface. He was kind of spooked at first to see a dark shadow passing beneath him until he realized it was dolphins. What a cool encounter with some amazing animals, I am sure he will never forget it!

So if you are ever in need of a lifeguard for an event, fly him out and he'll be sure to save you if necessary!

CPR Certified & 1/2 way to Eagle

How many 12 year olds do you know are CPR Certified card carrying members of the Red Cross? How many of them know what to do and how to provide care in the event that help can't arrive in 30 minutes or more? How many of them know basic first aid? Xander is and knows all of that! They normally recommend you to be 15 or older to be certified but demonstrated great responsibility and allowed him and a few other scouts to take the course and get their official adult and infant certification.

Last weekend Xander and I spent the weekend with the boy scouts and Red Cross going through an intensive 2 day lifesaving certification course. I was renewing my certification and the Xan-man was getting certified for the first time ever as part of his lifesaving requirements for the scouts. He passed with flying colors and was the only scout that did not have to "re-take" the test in order to pass, plus he made a 100% on one of the tests. Since he had already taken the First Aid course and has that merit badge, he stuck around to help out and the other kids used him as the "crash test dummy", oh did I mention that he volunteered to look like the village idiot? Anything for a laugh from that kid....

I get a text message from him during this portion of the class because I was off site saying, "Injured.....again, I need your help" with this darling image. Gotta just love 'em.

In addition to all the above, he also completed all the requirements and has earned First Class Rank. He now has to complete Star and Life Scout ranks which combined will take about a year to complete and then he will spend the next year working on his Eagle rank. His goal, as it stands now, is to have completed the Eagle rank by the time he is in the 9th grade. It is a LOT of hard work but even more fun and again he deserves all the credit in the world. All this and a 3.8 GPA on the Superintendants Honor Roll, we've certainly done something right and so has he!!!

The week of Xander

It is going to seem like all the posts are about Xander to start with as I catch up and well that is because they are! The first 4 weeks of summer vacation have been spent with Xander in Junior Lifeguards and completing a great deal of Boy Scout work. On June 28 and 29, Xander and I took a mother/son scouting trip whitewater rafting and kayaking on the Kern River in central Cali. We had an absolute blast and I would be in a 2 person kayak with my son any day of the week, he did a great job powering the kayak as I steered and we made it through some nice Class 3 rapids together. We also had to do river rescues where we were forced to flip the kayak and then get back in right before a set of class 3 rapids, after 2 runs down the river already in rafts, it was a bit exhausting but we managed. He also had to cook dinner for his troop and made a glorified home-made version of hamburger helper, it was actually quite tasty and got well-deserved rave reviews from the other scouts, even a few requests for the recipe. The next morning he delighted everyone with his camping specialty of delicious pancakes.

I was also one of only 3 moms on the trip of 27 people so my initiation was to swim across a very cold river into the center sandbar where all the other kids were hanging out. It took me a few minutes to get up the courage to dip into the rather breathtaking cold water but I managed, swam across and got just dry enough on the sand bar that I had to muster up that courage all over again just to go back across the river. We also had major water wars on the rafting and kayaking trips. One boat of boys thought it would be funny to buy these water pump guns and pelt us with very cold water on the duration of the first trip down the river. So between the 1st and 2nd trip, I snuck away and purchased 4 of those water soakers to provide to the others in my boat including the river guide, now it was an even fight! We even got to the point of where we were soaking innocent bystanders along the river's edge "just because", it got really dirty!! The best part was that Xander was in another raft and not mine so he was literally up a river without a paddle, er, um, I mean a water gun because our boat wasn't sharin'!

I wish I would have brought a waterproof camera because none of us were able to capture any photos from the trip but we sure do have some great memories! I can't wait until next year's trip, maybe we'll let Bob come on the next one, maybe!

YES! I promise to post soon!

I have had major computer problems for the last 3 weeks and have been up to my eyeballs in summer activities with the kids however all seems to be getting back to normal, whatever that is, and I promise to update before the weekend is out. Over a month of not posting, I have LOTS to say and catch up on so be sure to keep checking back for updates, photos and posts.

I've MISSED you all!