Lake Arrowhead

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We spent Memorial day weekend up in the mountains. We left Friday morning and arrived less than three hours later. We rented a place next-door to the village and a grocery store, the best location if you want to avoid the car. It was a 2 bedroom condo I found through VRBO. The girls shared a room and although I had to tweek the room a bit, it worked great. I pushed two twin beds together for Kaili and threw the pack n play in another corner for Averi. We had a bedroom next door and the living area just out front. Our balcony over looked a very cold pool and luke warm hot tub.  I must confess I was worried about the girls sharing a room because A. Averi has been waking all times a night and cries until I come in and B. Kaili falls out of her bed and hollers, or gets up and comes into our room. Turns out, I over reacted because they both slept through the night both nights. Averi woke up the third morning at 5:30 but Kaili slept through her hollering. the only downside with room sharing is once one of them is up, you really can’t put them back down since there isn’t the option of “cry it out.” Doable but not desirable.

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The Village
The Village

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The weather less than desirable, the crowds scarce.  We  got there around lunch time and walked the village, scoping out the must-do’s. We had lunch at the very popular mexican place, Papagayos and although underwhelmed by the food, the atmosphere and people made up for it. They had a large out door patio that featured a bar and grill for margaritas and tacos that locals and tourists gather on warmer days, we will get to know this place well.

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After our big lunch we decided to go back to the condo, put the kids down and enjoy a small dinner of wine and caprese. After a good nights sleep we would devour the town in the morning.

We started the day with breakfast at the Belgium Waffle Co. which was a recommendation from a local. After an indulgent meal we fed the ducks, walked the village and watched Kaili go on kiddie rides at their local “amusement park. Then we got in the car and hit up all the open houses and boy did we find some gems.

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After house hunting and a little shopping, we ended back  at the village on a patio semi shivering due to the cold weather as we sipped margartias. Sitting next to us was a group that were Arrowhead vacation owners. We got to chatting and luckily the weather lifted and the day unfolded nicely. We learned a little more about the place and which parts of the lake was the most desirable yada yada yada. The day ended a lot like the day before with a quick swim in the warm tub and a light dinner of caprese.

Sunday, I made breakfast at the condo and then we went back to some house hunting. We also made our way to a “festival” at the next town over and although it was a very sparse “festival” it lead us to the best pizza place. Another gem told to us by a local, this place will one day be featured on Food Network, I’m sure of it. We devoured an amazing pizza and some beers while Kaili ran around with a little friend she met. Everything about this place was awesome, my only regret was there weren’t more of us so we could have tried two types of pizza. Two thumbs up for Lou Eddies Pizza.

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That afternoon we went back to the patio at the village but now that the sun was out it was packed. I lucked out and got a table but soon after Averi managed to dump my entire beer all over us. We paid the tab and went back to the condo for a replay of hot tub and dinner. We were all in bed early and ready to head home the next day.

Our drive home was fun. Halfway down the mountain Kaili said she had to go potty, we told her we were on our way but then she got quiet, too quiet. She got sick, so much sickness out of a tiny human being and I had nothing but clorox wipes. We were able to change her out of her clothes and I cleaned up as much as I could but the 2 hour drive was smelly.

We are heading back again in another month or so. Looking forward to checking out more of the surroundings and maybe partaking in some water activities. Hopefully the weather will be in our favor.

10 Months

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Averi is 10 months old and I can’t say its been easy. She is waking up at night again and has NOT slept past 6:00 am it seems in weeks. She is whiny, clingy and cries if I put her down, walk away or even look in a different direction.

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She looks so cute and happy there doesn’t she. Well really, it’s all a ruse. This is how she usually looks, at least when no one else is around.

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In her defense, she is getting two more teeth, so that probably isn’t helping. She has also mastered pulling herself up on furniture or anything sturdy or not. But she is afraid to sit back down because she has bumped her chin a couple of times. This is a big problem, huge problem. She will be happy and crawling around then she will reach the couch and pull herself up and then cry. Then someone, usually me will go to her and help her sit back down and she will cry even harder. This continues all day long. She does the same thing in her crib, so that’s how that goes.I think she just wants to walk and strut around the house like she owns the place and honestly I will welcome that if it stops the crying.

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She isn’t the best eater. She doesn’t like anything other than purees and yogurt, I am wondering if it’s a texture issue. She turned her nose at avocado and mashed banana, and sweet potato bits. So I haven’t gone out of my way to try much else. She touches the food and then makes a face and wipes her hands on her clothes. Aca-awesome. She does love her baby crackers, puffs and cheerios, probably because they aren’t mushy or sticky, or who the hell knows. I am not going to worry about it until she turns 1.

Kaili is a pretty good big sister but she is super territorial and doesn’t want to share any of her toys with Averi but Averi HAS to share her toys with her because…duh. But when Averi is crying Kaili will bust out singing “Hush little baby” and Averi stops, at least for a minute. I finally googled the rest of the lyrics to that song, and what baby wants cart and bull?

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These two, I love them to the moon but they do a good job keeping me on my toes.

“Frozen” Play-Dough

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Play dough is one of those things that parents spend money on when in reality it’s super simple to make, and chances are, all of the ingredients are in your pantry.

I thought making some blue glittery play-dough for Kaili’s party gift bags would be a fun idea.

DIY "Frozen" playdough
“Frozen” play-dough

So easy.

Ingredients

2 cups AP flour

2 cups water

3/4 cup table salt

1 Tbs oil

1 tsp. cream of tarter

food coloring

glitter

* Add food coloring to the water to start so the color blends evenly.

Combine water, flour, salt, oil, cream of tartar and glitter in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.

*This is where you can add more food color or glitter if it needs it.

Continue stirring over heat until a dough ball forms. When it’s at your desired consistency, turn onto wax paper of foil.

Let cool and store in air tight container.

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Four for Frozen

~ Girlmom ~ 4 Comments

Kaili was adamant she wanted a “Frozen” birthday party. To us that consisted of a “Frozen” bounce house and some “Frozen” themed gift bags, ya that’s it.

DIY
DIY “Frozen” playdough

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We had finalized the guest list a good month before, a chunk of our friends, some family and our neighbors (because we have the best!) She was inviting 6 friends from her school and 3 not in her school. I sent the invites out early and literally only had 2 RSVPs from her school mates, one I had to fish out. That was enough to make me not want to do this again, but tough shit I guess.

I went back and forth on having a taco stand but the price was a leeeeetle too much, so I ended up catering it from our local Mexican market and it worked muy bueno. Carnitas, carne asada, shredded rotisserie chicken and quesadillas ( thanks mom)  beans, rice, guac and salsa. An abundance of food and I am pretty sure we just threw out a good 4lbs. of leftover rice and beans.

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We had the bouncy in the front yard so the kids ran from there to the backyard where the playhouse is. I think it all got good use and went smashingly. The weather wasn’t the best and when it started to sprinkle I almost lost my shit but it turned out fine. While the majority was outside eating, chatting and playing, my family was huddled on the couch busy with something important, socialites.

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I had decided before the party that presents weren’t going to be opened when the kid guests were still around because it’s hard for them to sit still and with the amount of people we had it would be a lot easier to “maintain” later that day. See this post. But, if you can believe it, Kaili started opening presents earlier than I wanted, and not with me…or Shane!  Yep that is right, someone else decided it was okay for Kaili to open some presents without her parents present. I ran in to find the unwrapping underway and then it was apparently time to open presents. I have been called “dramatic” before and I have to say it took a lot for me to not lose my shit over this. I am still not happy about that.

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Kaili had fun and got way too much good stuff,  that is all that matters. Eventually everyone trickled out and the kids went to sleep so the adults could play.

Next year might be a little different as we will be having a very quiet party and Averi might just be shit out of luck and never have a birthday party.

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Worst blogger ever. I have been so terrible about taking time to catch up. We were busy with a certain four year olds birthday party and since then we have been on the go. Just as I sat down to write this I had to stop more than once to tend to a whiny child, not naming names.

Kali’s party was hit, most of it great, some of it not. I have a ton of thank you cards to get to but I will have a post dedicated to the birthday party soon.

Shane’s mom has been in town all week and we have been all over San Diego..Mission beach, downtown, Old town, Little Italy and Coronado. We ate our way through a lot of neighborhoods and had two nights out with friends without the kids. So much fun.

For an early mother’s day we went to the Hotel Del Coronado brunch buffet. I didn’t get any pictures but it was quite an ordeal. Imagine being inside a grand dining room. Waiters bustling, champagne flowing and food galore. The stations were spread out and separated by cuisine. Breakfast and omelets, seafood, carving station, soups, salads, soup, cheese, charcuterie, chocolate fountain, desserts and candy. Figuring out what to eat is almost like a science  or in my case, all the crab legs and the double cream cheese.  The girls were good, having Averi in a high chair now helps tremendously and lengthens our stay, but really, if you are going to have this experience, go without kids.

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Lately

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Have you ever had a dream where you knew you were dreaming but couldn’t wake up, and then when you do “wake” up, you’re not actually awake? It’s called False Awakening and it happened for the second time in my life last night. Scary shit. I had gone to bed early to read when I kept hearing weird noises. I used to blame them on my cat but now the cat is dead so….I got up and checked the kids once, twice, and then fell asleep. My dream was vivid and started to get scary when I lost the ability to talk. Somewhere I realized I was dreaming so I willed myself to wake up. My eyes open and I am in my bed, I get up and go out into the front room. I tried turning on the light but the power must have been out, none of the lights worked. I went to open the front door and their were two men rummaging through my car that in the driveway. I tried to scream but nothing… I realized I was still dreaming.
Finally I really wake up and I feel strange, the room is like static, my heart is pounding. That was zero fun and now I in no way wanted to go back to sleep. I read until midnight and must have fallen asleep but this time I was sleeping like a normal person and didn’t wake until the Averi alarm went off at 6 AM.

Remember the swim class Kaili was enjoying? That has taken a 180. The class got a little bigger with a 1:5 ratio and there was a lot of “standing” around. Although the pool is heated she was getting really cold, shivering cold. It wasn’t fun for her and she would get upset and we ended up leaving class early. Along with that her ear started bothering her and with a fever we took her to see the doc. Turns out she had a double ear infection that started with swimmers ear. She is on a 10 day dose of antibiotics and drops but 4 days later she still complains her ears hurt. Not quite sure what to do about swimming, the YMCA has left a bad taste in her mouth. I want to sign her up at another school where the ratio is smaller but she doesn’t seem thrilled about it. Maybe they will let me do a trial run before paying for a full month of classes, what do you think?

Averi had her 9 month baby check. She is 17 lbs, only about 10 lbs lighter than sister. Average in length and head size and got a stamp of approval from the doctor. She only had one vaccine injection and she didn’t even flinch, thats the sign of a good nurse.

Photo courtesy of Brian Kerr
Photo courtesy of Brian Kerr

Kali’s birthday party is this weekend and half of the kids she invited have not RSVP’d. What the hell is wrong with people, these are kids, if you can’t or don’t want to come, let us know. I feel bad because she keeps saying “so and so” is coming because she invited them but doesn’t comprehend that I haven’t heard from their parents. Ugh, I just hope she has a fun day and can the rain please stay away.

April

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

I finally got my computer fixed after I spilled apple juice on it, ironic huh? Apple on Apple? Gah, no more liquids around electronics for this girl. It was really hard to motivate myself to write on my iPad.
So all of the sudden it’s April, birthdays are looming ahead of us. Little Averi turned 9 months, she is moving along with her own unique crawl where she uses her upper body strength to pull herself along while her feet kick about. It doesn’t slow her down. We got a baby jail for her which is great when I need to turn my back, she will find anything and everything on the ground, put it in her mouth and then gag on it. Where there’s a will there is a way, she is a determined little thing.
She is still on purees because she chokes on anything that isn’t and it scares the hell out of me. I didn’t make my own food this time around because it’s so easy to buy and the variety of food available is amazing but it’s not cheap.
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She has been sick the past month AND her two top teeth just poked through so sleep has been a mess, with wake ups sporadic. Like her sister she is an early riser and I have come to the realization that these girls are not late sleepers and I will never sleep in again.

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Kaili turns 4 in a couple of weeks, this amazes me. She is doing great in school, can write her name and is working on writing MOM and DAD. I can look at her and say Shane and I have done good. She is compassionate, empathic, funny and relatively a good listener. She is starting to act out a bit which is actually coming later than I expected. Nothing that’s not age appropriate but her baby sister usually gets the brunt of it. This sharing thing is harder than in looks.
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She started swimming lessons twice a week at the Y and she loves it.She is picking it all up really fast.
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We got her a bunk bed for her birthday with Frozen sheets to go with it, of course. She is excited to share her bed with anyone really, and soon enough Averi will be her roommate. I told Kaili she will be in charge of getting Averi back to sleep once that happens! Good times ahead!

Chicken Pot Pie

~ Girlmom ~ 2 Comments

I decided Easter was a perfect day for me to try my hand at making a pot pie. I told Shane that it will be our Easter tradition. Something the girls can complain about years down the road, having to eat moms chicken pot pie…again. I think that sounds like a great tradition.

I decided they would be indivual per Shane’s request and that I would not make the pie crust from scratch, at least this time because duh. I decided on this Ina Gartens recipe but I did a double crust. The filling was so good it could be eaten on its own so I knew adding pastry was going to make this dish extra ordinary…and it was. 

I only made a few pies so I had quite a bit of filling left and now it’s in the freezer for the next time I want to make one. The store bought pie crust was pretty good, it was no homemade but the easy factor was worth it!

   

   

Ain’t No Thang!

~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

Wings, I do love me some chicken wings. Buffalo, spicy, sweet, sticky…I don’t discriminate. The husband however prefers good ol’ buffalo wings so I made myself some Teriyaki Sriracha wings during the week. Doesn’t every recipe have Sriracha in it now? It’s like a new fad that’s late to the game. Anyhow, the Sriracha gets lost in this sauce so you could easily swap it for sambal or even cayenne pepper.

I made the sauce ahead of time and let the wings marinade in it while I fed the kids and did baths. I followed the cooking time from the recipe but the timer went off while I was reading stories so they cooked a little longer than I wanted them to. I broiled the shit out of them because I like the skin to get a little crispy. End result is I will make these again, finger licken’!

*Recipe from Damn Delicious

  

  • 3-4 pounds chicken wings 
  • 1 tablespoon corn starch 
  • 1 1/3 cups soy sauce 
  • 1/3 cup Mirin rice cooking wine 
  • 1/2 cup honey 
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced 
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger 
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 2-3 tablespoon Sriracha 


  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9×13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray. 
  • In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together soy sauce, Mirin, honey, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, Sriracha and cornstarch mixture. 
  • Arrange wings in a single layer onto prepared baking dish. Pour the sauce evenly over the wings. 
  • Place into oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, using metal tongs to turn at halftime. Then broil for 2-3 minutes, or until the wings are slightly charred. 
  • Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.


Above Average

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It was in the 90’s this past weekend. You would have thought it was summer if we all weren’t in different stages of fighting a cold….Because everyone knows you don’t get sick in the summer. Kaili woke with a lowgrade fever Sunday morning but by the afternoon it spiked up to 104, I only mildly panicked. In my mind 104 is no joke and its higher than she’s registered but the nurse assured me she would be fine. Some Advil and a nap later she was feeling a bit better and by Monday afternoon she was fever free. 



I told Kaili that on St. Patrick’s day we can only eat green food all day or the Leprachauns will break into our house at night and steal all our chocolate. Okay, the second part isn’t true but the first part is and she responded with “yuck! I don’t like green food”! This was once my good eater. Speaking of chocolate, I haven’t met a kid that will turn down candy and sweets, she just doesn’t really care about it  unless it’s chocolate, that she will devour. It isn’t parenting until you have hid chocolate from your kid.





Three wine corks taped together makes an excellent shamrock stamper. Pin this for next year!

That was the extent of our Irish celebrating, being a mom, alone, on a Tuesday I just couldn’t muster that much excitement. I probably should start thinking about Easter, you know the day where all you eat are eggs or…..