Big Girl Bed

A Progression of a girl and her bed...

Above age 1 week (in her Moses basket in the crib)
Below age 1 month - I ended up taking those huge bumpers out very soon after this.
While they were very cute Dana did get stuck underneath them!

Big girl in her crib converted to a toddler bed:

Dana's new Full-Sized Bed!

Dana's new sheets:

Dana picked this bedding out by herself. Honestly I tried talking her out of the horse bedding... I guess it's just inevitable. This girl is gonna have the horse bug.

SO EXCITED!

All ready for bed!

Nighty-night, sleepy girl!
She slept all night on the first night!

School Photos Fall 2011

My Sad, Pathetic Attempt at Food Blogging

I have absolutely no formal food training. I really just do what the recipe says - but after I make a dish a few times I start to tinker. This is an example of just such a recipe. I can actually say I am proud of this one... it's good. It is complicated - but worth it. It's time consuming too - but again, worth it. (I give myself 1 and1/2 hours 'till dinnertime for this one.) It's a hit with my husband and my two kids (all of whom are rather picky eaters).

One of my favorite food blogs is Crepes of Wrath - and I am shamelessly copying her format. Cause I'm a visual person... so I assume you are too.

So because two of you have been relentless about asking for this one here ya go!

Consider it my birthday gift to you. Love ya.

Spanish Rice & Bean Pie - the full recipe is at the end.

Your ingredients:

Step 1: Start the rice. Boil 1 cup of water plus one chicken bullion cube.
Once boiling add 1/2 cup of rice.
Cover and turn down to low - simmer 20 minutes.

Step 2: Drain pinto beans (I don't rinse) add 1 teaspoon of cumin.
Stir together and set aside.

Step 3: Saute 1/2 cup EACH red and green peppers and 1/2 cup onion and 1 Tablespoon Butter. (Note: recipe calls for pimiento - yucko - I just use fresh red pepper.

Veggies are done after about 5-7 minutes.

Time your saute so that your rice and veggies are done at about the same time. This takes practice, but if I can do it, you can too.
Add the veggies to the rice - stir together.

Step 4: Temper in the Egg
I use the pasteurized egg stuff because the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of egg.
Tempering means that you poor in the hot stuff into the egg stuff slowly... slowly heating the egg up to the temperature of the other stuff - this way the egg doesn't cook the instant you pour it into the hot stuff. It's supposed to be like the glue for the the 'crust'.

Step 5: Pour the Veggie/Rice/Egg mixture into a pie plate that's been sprayed with Pam.
Use a spatula to mold the mixture to the pie plate.
This makes the 'crust'.

Step 6: Add 8 oz. Cottage cheese to the center of the pie.

Step 7: Top cottage cheese with the beans and cumin.

Step 8: Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
After 20 minutes it will look a little runny... it's okay dude.

Step 9: Add 1/2 cup (or so) of shredded cheddar cheese (we like sharp cheddar).

Step 10: Bake for another 20 minutes at 350.

Step 11: Remove from heat and let it cool on a cutting board for at least 10 minutes - more is better - it lets the extra liquid be absorbed.

Enjoy!
It's awesome with a dash of Tapitatio hot sauce.

Formal Recipe:

1 can pinto beans
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup water
1 chicken bouillon cube
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
2 tablespoons chopped pimiento (again, I just use 1/2 cup fresh red pepper chopped)
2 tablespoons beaten egg
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (we like sharp)

In a small saucepan bring water and bouillon cube to a boil. Stir to dissolve bouillon. Add rice to bouillon. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to lowest setting. Cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Drain beans. Stir in cumin; set beans aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small skillet, saute onion and green pepper in butter or margarine until onion is tender but not browned. Stir in pimiento.

Add onion mixture and egg to cooked rice; mix well. Oil a 9-inch pie pan. Press rice mixture into pie pan to form a crust. Spread cottage cheese over rice crust. Pour beans over cottage cheese. Bake 20 minutes.

Sprinkle top with cheddar cheese and bake another 20 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes before cutting wedges. Serve with a spatula. Makes 4/6 servings.

Ko Olina Resort

Here are some pictures of the Marriott Vacation Club where we stayed.

They have the most amazing beach - perfect for little kids like ours. No waves and a gentle sloping sandy bottom.
They rented this incredible hammock that we enjoyed a few days.
Perfect for kids and adults alike (it had cup holders).

Grandma and Grandpa Weiss walking out to join the fun.

Looking North from my beach chair...

The man-made lagoons had break-waters that protected our beach.

Here's a picture of our building looking from the beach.

Family fun in the pool.

Daddy, Dana, Blake, Aunt Katharine, Uncle Gregory and Cousin James.

CHEESE!

Back at the beach:

Here are some pictures of our resort:

The 'great' lawn:

Looking down at the main pool from our balcony.

Looking towards the lagoon beach from our balcony.

Looking north from our balcony: You can see the other tower of our resort, and our lobby entrance with large pond and the great lawn. The next resort is Ko Olina Golf Club, then the new Disney Resort, the furthest is the JW Marriott. You can also see the next lagoon.

Behind our resort was the marina where the Pirate Ship, Queen Anne's Revenge was moored. This was the Black Pearl and the main boat used in the new Pirate's of the Caribbean movie! It was very intricate and cool... it had a large canvas wall around it on the dock, so you really couldn't get closer than this. It's probably here because this is where the movie was made (Oahu) and because of the new Disney resort soon to open!

I'm not a big Pirate's fan, but this was COOL!

Update for Grandma and Grandpa

This past weekend we celebrated Mother's Day at Crescent Bar.

We did get some sunshine and warm enough temperatures to venture out to the beach. Nice preview for our up coming trip to Hawaii!
I will never get tired of this view.

Lunch outside!

Dana has really been into the princess thing lately...

The greater Seattle area has had record rain for the month of April. If we had 10 minutes of sunshine, we went outside... Digging in our flower beds is Blake and Dana's favorite way to get dirty.

Blake is so intense about his digging.

It's a good thing clothes and kids wash out.

Dana has been making some outstanding progress with her potty training.

She pretty much gets whatever she wants for a reward.

Ice cream in a cone was a big hit for both of them!

Dana's other favorite pass time is FINGER PAINTING.

Easter 2011

We had an Easter Egg hunt with Grandpa and Nana.

Here are Dana and Blake with their cousin Chloe.

They cannot wait to get out there and grab those eggs!

The Saturday before Easter was a special Birthday party for Liliana and Talia.

We got to go up to Everett and celebrate at a very cool Bouncy House!

Here a just a few pictures of our little dare-devil Blake.

He climbed the huge slide all by himself.

Here he gets a little extra help through the obstacle course.

After all that fun bouncing we had cake and ice cream!

Dana also got to help me dye Easter eggs for the first time.

She thought they were pretty-darn cool.

She didn't want to eat them though.