I Should Go To Culinary School

If for no other reason than tonight's dinner.  How does pea soup turn brown?  I have never seen little maggot shaped things pop out of peas.  I made sure they were indeed not maggots or living and I think it was a part of the inside of the pea, I found a raw one I had only soaked but not cooked and split it open and say the thing in there, maybe more like a stem and not a maggot but if I say maggot, you will get the throw up in your mouth feeling I have.  I could not bring myself to eat it, my family did though and they loved it.  Will called me a hypochondriac however when asked if he knew I didn't make it and saw it in a restaurant if he would order it....when that came with a no and he wanted to spit out his food when I pretended to make puke noises, I knew it wasn't as great as they all swore it was.  Cass did have 2 bowls though.......should I worry, ha.  I made everyone smoothies after to make up for it but even that failed.  We had one popsicle left so I decided smoothies for the big kids, popsicle for the baby.  She loved it, until she took a bite out of it, chewed for a good 5 seconds and started screaming in pain from the cold.  I wonder what else I can turn my kids off of?  Maybe I can make dessert super nasty and they will crave nothing but broccoli and brussel sprouts from now on :)

The Real Purpose Of A High Chair

Many of you may think that high chairs are for the purpose of feeding a small child.  To spoon feed your young one before they are able to sit at the big table with everyone else.  But we here in the Hall household have found 2 main purposes for our high chair.  The first?

Learning all about bacon!  Our sweet angel still only has 4 teeth which we lovingly refer to as her beavers.  She has her front two on top and bottom.  Therefore, we still try to feed her somewhat mashable food, food she can chew in her gums or gnaw with her beaver teeth.  So when we had bacon, we decided to let her try.  Man did she love herself some bacon!!!  I think she would have sprouted teeth and gnawed like a beaver as soon as she was born if we wafted a piece of bacon in front of her.  She went to town on that sucker, the poor little piggy never had a chance!  So, whats the second reason?

Why naps of course.  Who can resist a nap after eating things like bacon in that comfy thing?  The real reason she is asleep is because we have completely screwed her and any chance of a schedule these days.  4 weeks of summer school for Cass and having to run her back and forth have screwed my little one out of her routine.  She was such a sport but it eventually caught up with her.  I still think that if someone sat me in a comfy chair that reclined a bit and gave me bacon, I would totally nap any chance I got.  And I would love someone to carry me in a snuggly sometimes as well, is that wrong?

Engagement Celebration

Over the weekend I got to celebrate the engagement of one of my very best friends.  Her name is Bre and I have known her since high school.

She recently got engaged to her amazing (now fiance) Chuck.  He gave her an amazingly gorgeous ring and makes her happier than anything money can buy.  The party was a luau and was filled with great people, food, drinks and dancing!!!!  I got to see her parents that I haven't seen in a while.

This is Bre, her sister Allie and her dad.

This is Bre with her mom and sister, plus her new fiance.  I love how she would look at him!

And this is me with the gorgeous bride to be.  I love and don't love this picture.  I love that I am back in California and can see my friend and celebrate with her.  I love my dress I picked up the day before for only $10!!!  Seriously, $10!!  So excited.  What I don't love is how I look.  I swear I always say I will have my pre-baby body back by the following summer.  So, last summer I vowed and his summer, I think I am 4 pounds lighter, which could be because I don't eat a meal.  4 pounds is nothing.  I felt so jiggly.  Mostly just in my crazy flabby arms that have no tone whatsoever in them.  And it doesn't help that I am vampire pasty, I seriously would fit in with the Twilight crowd.  The rest of me was sucked in by spanks and thank the Lord for those!!!  But I am waiting for someone to make invisible arm spanks.  Or some device that would make my arms looked toned and tan.  I know, the device exists and it is called a push up every now and again but I don't like them and don't want to do them :)  But I swear, by next summer I will be back to my pre-baby body...........I wont laugh until next summer when I see that I am down another 4 pounds.  But if I lose 4 pounds every year, by the time my kids are in college, I might be back to my pre-baby weight, woo hoo!!!!

Crazy Weather

A couple of days ago we got some pretty weird weather here in California.  I actually saw my friend Ashley post on Facebook that the storm was crazy and her power was out.  I looked out my window to blue skies and no clouds.  I basically told her she was nuts because it was a beautiful day outside.  Around an hour later I smelled rain.  The smell you get when you have had a huge storm and you walk outside after and it smells like fresh rain and concrete.  I first thought that maybe someone had hosed off their patio or driveway and that's why I was smelling it.  Then I decided just to go look outside.  To the north was beautiful blue skies, to the south were jet black ominous skies.  Yep, there was the storm.  I was able to watch it actually move over our house.  And since we have lived in the midwest for years it was normal for me to see it, and I had been missing parts of the midwest so I guess it was God giving me a little bit of back east.  However, all the California natives?  They went crazy!!!!  a guy on the news had a video of the storm and screaming that it was the end of the world and if anyone found the tape, he was alive and to find him.  And I thought I was nutty!!!!  I don't remember the Bible saying God will come back via thunder storm and rain.  People, it is a storm, a summer storm that makes the weather hot and sticky.  Granted, it normally happens far east of here but it is still a normal thing.  And what did we get in the end?  A beautiful rainbow that I saw go from the beach to the hill behind my house.

And after the first rainbow, I saw a faint second rainbow form right on top of the other.  A double rainbow!!!

I know it is hard to see but if you look a little above the first one, you will see a faint line of the second.  It was so faint it was hard to capture on film, but it was super pretty and I for one loved the storm!!!!!!

The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake?

(please disregard the horrid picture, I am also not a professional photo taker)

As with most bloggers out there, I love going to Pioneer Woman's site everyday, sometimes more than once.  She is witty and hilarious and the girl can cook.  Awhile ago I printed out the recipe for the Best Chocolate Sheet Cake.  I finally made it this past week and I don't know what to think.  I read so many comments on how amazing it was and people ate 2 pans at once because they couldn't get enough so I think I was expecting this out of this world kind of flavor and that I would die a happy woman because of this cake.  I don't know what to think of it being called the best.  It is good, don't get me wrong and super simple to make.  And the first night I tried it, my stomach was aching before I even ate any so that could be why it wasn't so tasty.  The following night I nuked it to get it hot and gooey and put some ice cream on top and it was super yummy.  So, I don't know what to think.  It is super good and I recommend trying it but I don't know about it being the best.  I hope I don't sound cynical or trying to come off as a professional food critic, I am in no way a professional, this is just my opinion.

Standing Tall

The other day, without anyone prompting her, Hayley decided that she wanted to stand on her own in the middle of the room.  I was sitting next to her and she just stood right up, looked at me and giggled.  She does it a lot now and looks at you and giggles, she is so proud of herself.  So, today I finally was able to capture it.

My little frog, getting ready to stand.........

Getting her legs steady.......

Almost all the way up....(wish I had it set on a different mode so it isn't blurry)

My little princess standing up all on her own!!!!!!

Did you notice in the last one how elegant she looks?  Her onesie has the dress part on the front and I swear she stood like that, in curtsy mode, for a good minute before plopping back down.  She is growing up way too fast!!!!!

Weekend

Over the weekend, the girls and I packed our bags and spent the weekend at my Aunts house.  It is always good times at her house and we were planning on having a BBQ at my sister-in-law's house that weekend as well so we just stayed for 3 days.  Hayley hates her pack-n-play with a passion so she didn't sleep at all the first night.  Kendall slept with me and with only that being said you should already assume I didn't get much since I had feet in my face constantly and she refuses to sleep anywhere except right up next to me.  The next night she was trying to be nice and sleep in her side but kept falling off the bed and hitting her head, which I would need to wake up and get her back in bed anyway so I just let her sleep right up on me.  I was so tired I was fine sleeping that way!  Saturday was fun, that's the day we had the BBQ at my sister-in-laws house.  We spent some time swimming, and I actually wore a suit, thank God I was the one with the camera so no one was able to capture that nonsense.  Cass made no progress on her swimming.  She freaked anytime she had to get off the top step.  I swear she could have been strapped to me with rope and still wouldn't trust us not dropping her in the water.  I guess it is a blessing since she isn't supposed t be swimming anyway.  Kendall had fun and swam on her own for a bit with floaties and Hayley completely enjoyed the raft.  She was almost asleep just floating around the pool.  After we got out it was time to BBQ and for the kids to play.  And what else is there for girls to do but dress up?

Since Cass was bigger than the other girls, she got to dress up in Auntie Brandi's clothes, she felt very special. 

I went inside to change Hayley and caught Kendall playing golf in her outfit.  I just thought it was so cute to see my little fairy playing golf.  I guess that encompasses so much of her personality.  A little bit girl with a love for guy stuff and sports.

Then it was time to push baby cousin Hayley around the pool.  Hayley loved it and so did my niece and of course Kendall got involved.  When they were done my Aunt took over for a little bit and I kept trying to get the face she was making.  she had her tongue stuck out with a little smirk, it was super cute.  She kept pulling her back and rushing at me so I might be able to get it, which I didn't but I did get this super happy face.

Overall it was a fantastic, relaxing (somewhat) weekend.  I love spending time with family!!!!