Lightining McQueen cake from the Disney "Cars" movie

This was a fun cake! I made it for Gunnar's 5th birthday. I bought a blank costco cake and decorated it. Everything is edible excpet for the flags, car, and candles of course. The grandstand is rice crispy treats covered in frosting. It was a lot of work, but I'm happy with the results.

Where would I be without the love and support of my family? Thanks Mom for all of your help!

First Fieldtrip and Bus Ride

I've been feeling what mother's have been saying for years: Enjoy it because it goes by fast. I think it's because once school starts there is so much to look forward to. And not just for kids, but the parents too.

I was lucky enough to escort Kayleigh and 75 other kindergarteners on their first fieldtrip. A BIG thank you to my mom for spending a few days with us so I could go. Myself and another parent had a group of 7 boys and girls. We had a really great group.This is how it was the entire day... At a 10 (for the kids). Always moving. Always excited. Always happy.

The kids had a full day of picking their own vegetables to take home, learning about the farm, a corn maze, lunch AND ice cream, animals to pet, things to climb, and picking out that perfect pumpkin.

Kayleigh was on cloud nine at the farm and talked about riding the bus for days. She even asked me if I could find someone else to sit by so she could sit by a friend. Whomp. Whomp.

She has been saying for a long time that she wants to be a vet when she grows up. I really hope she does!

Baked Eggplant

WOW! This was delicious and didn't call for any fancy ingredients. Eggplant, mushrooms, onion, garlic, tomato sauce and cheese. An all around winner for our no meat night. Oh, and the most awsome thing about this meal? At 168 calories per serving there is room for dessert!! It's easy all you have to do is follow THIS link to the recipe.

It's like riding a bike

This weekend my little girl grew up so much. She learned how to ride her bike! We went to our neighborhood park so she would have lots of flat trails to ride one and grass to ride into. The park was packed and everyone was so encouraging to Kayleigh. I think that helped her be so successful. As you can see in the above picture (taken later at home) that she is pretty proud of herself :)
Later in the day she was riding around the courtyard when suddenly the sprinklers came on. It was hysterical. I'm so glad Dave was there to help her out.

We promised Kayleigh a new and bigger bike when she learned to ride her current one. When I say new, I mean new to us. Craigslist here I come :)

Potato Gratin with Goat Cheese and Garlic

Okay, Okay I didn't take the picture. The smell of the cheesy oven roasted potatoes hypnotized me and all I could do is devour the starchy goodness.
Ingredients
1 cup half-and-half, divided
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled goat cheese
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 garlic clove, minced
5 cups thinly sliced peeled potato

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine 2 tablespoons half-and-half with flour in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add the remaining half-and-half, cheese, and next 5 ingredients (cheese through garlic), stirring with a whisk. Arrange half of the potato slices in a single layer in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour half of the milk mixture over potato slices, stirring the milk mixture immediately before adding. Repeat procedure with remaining potato slices and milk mixture. Bake at 400° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender and golden brown.

Although tastey and "light," I have to say it was a waste of goat cheese. We love goat cheese and decided you couldn't really tell it was made with the goat. :(

recipe and pic from Cooking Light

Happy Friday

There are so many things going on in my little head today. I guess this means I'm not sick anymore! The weather is finally right were it should be. And I'm happy to say that we haven't used the AC in 3 days!!! Yes, the windows are always open. It's my favorite!

Today I have a parent/teacher/kid conference, car to the mechanic, and energy permitting a movie in the park. This weekend is wide open :) No schedule or commitments, just parks and pumpkins with my pumpkins. Then I will brace myself for our insanely-over-busy-pull-out-my-hair-holiday-season.

Today, I came to the realization that I have been neglecting to post photos of the foods I have been making. I like having a visual history for myself. I've made some yummy things lately too. Drinks, roasted butternut squash and apple soup, pasta dishes, fish dishes, and desserts. I have an eggplant dish on the menu this week, I'll have to rememeber to take a picture.

I don't think I wrote this down, but Kayleigh's teacher told her where meat comes from. We have been keeping it from her because we knew what would happen.... But now she is okay with the fact that we will just eat less meat. Which is fine with me. That kids just loves animals so much it's crazy.

Sickness, Sickness go away

Wish these scary monsters would scare sickness away. Zoe and I have been sick for a few days. I cannot wait until we feel better! The weather here is cooling off and there are so many parks and pathways that we need to discover. We also need to encourage Miss K to ride her bike without training wheels.

Pictured above: Mommy Monster, Zoe Monster and Kayleigh Monster

around the house

I'm totally in love with the weather (except today, it's supposed to be 99). The mornings and evenings are beautiful. And I do believe our complex courtyard was made perfectly to keep you cooler longer. Part of the draw to this place was the fully grown trees. I come from South Dakota... I'm a sucker for trees and grass. Miss Z has been practicing her scooting skills. She does a little ballet on her scooter. As a part of her "routine" she does the standard put your leg up in the air, but she also adds a little get off the scooter, a plie, a spin, then gets on and continues on her way. It's very cute.

We can't wait for Kayleigh to come home so they can have snacks under the canopy of trees.Namaste from Zoe!

My doll Zoe

This week is fall break. Kayleigh is spending a few days in Tucson so Zoe and I are keeping busy without her. Yesterday we painted and colored, ate outside, and I watched her do ballet on her scooter.

Today we ran errands and played dress-up. I wish it wan't in the high 90's so we could spend the majority of the day outside. Next week?!

KT's cake

My sister is going to The Republic of Korea for a year!!! I'm so going to miss her. I'm sure she will have a great time teaching the little Kindergarteners English and experiencing Asia. But, I will so miss her!Her trip inspired me to make my first hibiscus out of fondant. Dave and I also painted the stamen and the pedals to make it look more realistic. FYI the hibiscus is the Korean flower. I also practiced my piping skills with the paisly/henna.

me and my babes

Miss Z was super stoked to have her hair in two(!) french braids. She kept saying, "I look like Kayleigh!"

Sometimes we go to the gym after school so Kayleigh can play with her cousins at the daycare. We have time to kill in the mean time so once in a while I take the girls to McDonalds where they enjoy ice cream. We get homework out of the way too! Here we are one Saturday morning. We were having such a nice morning family and weather wise I opted to stay home instead of my usual gym time. :)

I've been keeping up with my workouts and suprise myself at all I can do. It's only been a few months! I'm happy to say that my longest time jogging/walking on the treadmill is 32 minutes. One day I'm going to run a 5K!!!

Keeping Busy

Holy busy! We've been keeping quite busy these last few weeks and there is no sign of slowing down. Well, at least not for me anyways :) Dave and I snuck in a date night. It was perfect. A 3 course meal, Jerame and Danielle, an after dinner stroll in Old Town, and a super cool wine bar.

The girls have been keeping me really busy. Zoe has just been hard to handle. I think she has OCD, but I'm sure it's just her age?!? She seems to need constant attention. Hence, the lack of blogging. Even now, after setting her up with a snack and a craft, she is still hungry and wants to do something else....

Kayleigh is really enjoying school. The biggest change I see in her is that she is trying to read- finally! She has never liked me trying to teach her things, so it's good that someone else can. We went to the bookstore the other day and she picked out a Barbie vet book and she reads it at least twice a day. Typical Kayleigh... Pretty+Girly+Animals = Kayleigh I think one day she will own a blinged out vet clinic. :) Zoe stayed with my parents for a few days (THANK YOU MOM AND DAD) so to welcome her home we decorated around her bed. She was quite pleased with it :)

And in case you were wondering what K is doing in the above picture, she is giving her sister a tattoo. When she was done she even covered it in plastic. LOL!

Dentist

I don't remember when we went without looking at the calendar, but the girls went to the dentist. And had a blast! It was a really fun pediatric dentist. The kids were happy that they got toys and a new toothbrush and I was happy they didn't have any cavities! I had to get them to tare their eyes away from the movie that was playing for this shot.This was Zoe's first visit. She was a good little patient!