February Recap

Boy have I been MIA this month! Seems like I have been running from one activity to another and trying to keep up with the chores around the house in between...I guess blogging wasn't on that to-do list. I did take some pictures of some of the stuff we have been up to though so I will share what I have.

The spouses were invited to go for a ride on the KC10...

We got to sit in the cockpit and also down in the boom compartment. What a great view!

For Valentine's Day M and I constructed a VDay box for his friends to put his goodies in....a giant lego.

We took advantage of the wonderful weather over furlough week and spent many hours outside.

We also loaded up with a good friend and her 3 boys and went down to the Sausalito Bay Area Discovery Museum. The boys enjoyed running around playing in the learning centers and also playing on the playground. 

N also got lots of swing time, he has mastered sitting on a big boys swing!

I escaped from the house and went on a day trip to Napa with some of the girls in the squadron. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time trying some new wineries.

After the Napa trip I hurried back to watch the boys receive their advancements in cub scouts.

J got his wolf patch.

M got his bear patch.

That wraps up February, we are leaping into March tomorrow...hopefully I can keep up with the blog and projects around the house a little better.

What's on Your DVR?

Oh gosh its been way to long since the last blog post, so maybe I will write about something I use everyday...my DVR.

Technology today has really become a convenience factor for our everyday life. Personally it has changed the way I do a lot of my everyday activities. Working out of the elliptical has become a lot more enjoyable thanks to the Ipad and Netflix...watching all those tv series that I didn't catch the first time around. Likewise when I have to take N somewhere that he will be expected to sit quietly I bring out the Iphone and bring up a kids show on Netflix for him to watch or a game he likes to play.

Another staple in our busy schedule is using the DVR to record all our favorite shows, I rarely watch any shows "live" and get frustrated when I actually do and reach for the remote when a commercial comes on and I try to fast forward through it usually goes something like this. "Stupid remote, why aren't you working...batteries check...input check...oh ya its a live show...ummm, I wonder if there is something on the DVR I would rather watch and I'll just record this and watch it later..."

Lets see what's on the DVR today, and lets not judge ;). Recorded daily are House Hunters, Nate Berkus, and General Hospital.  Recorded on a weekly basis are Property Brothers, CSI, How I Met Your Mother, Law and Order, Love it or List It, The Voice, Two and a Half Men, Chopped, NCIS, Unforgettable, Are You There, Chelsea, Suburgatory, Revenge, Person of Interest, Grimm, Grey's Anatomy, Up all Night, Private Practice, and Saturday Night Live...what to watch, what to watch...

However, lately my DVR has had a lot of open space. Two of my long time soaps have been cancelled and some of the evening shows have been reruns which has shrunk the amount of shows that need my attention...I picture my DVR like the plant in Little Shop of Horror...."Feed Me!!" So do you guys have any suggestions on what to feed my DVR? Or maybe I should re-start my obsession with reading...that would probably be good too...although it is harder to pause the storyline in my head when I read.

Banana Bread Goodness

Lately we haven't been very good about eating up all the bananas, the good thing about that is I get to make some yummy banana bread. I use my mom's recipe, which she got out of one of my Aunt Marie's cookbooks...that's as close to a source I could track down since it probably happened 40 some years ago ;)

Ingredients:

1/2 c soft/melted butter

1 c sugar

1 teas lemon juice

2 eggs

2-3 bananas (depending on size)

2 c flour

1 1/2 teas baking powder

1/2 teas soda

1/4 teas salt (I tend to leave it out)

1 1/2 TB sour milk (mill with 3 drops of lemon juice)

1 c nuts (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and grease baking pans.

Cream butter, sugar, and lemon juice. Add eggs and bananas then dry ingredients. Finally add sour milk and the optional nuts.

Bake for 30-45 minutes, it could less or more depending on your oven and what size baking pans you use. Bread is done when you can stick a toothpick through it with no gunk (don't know what else to call it) sticking to it. Cool for a couple of minutes before cutting, or enjoy a crumbling mess ;)

Left without nuts (for little stinker M) and right with nuts (for the rest of us)...it got the full cup ;)

Perfect after school snack, it sures makes the house smell good too. I think both were gone in three days ;)

Our Little Terrarium

So I have been eyeing cute little terrariums for about a year...and then enter pinterest and it just got worse. Take a look at these that I have pinned...I know I couldn't stop myself from making one. BONUS it fit into M's requirements for Cub Scouting!

SOURCE: http://homeiswherehershoesare.blogspot.com/2011/08/diy-terrarium.html

SOURCE: http://www.designsponge.com/2011/04/around-the-world-with-bash-please-california.html

SOURCE: http://brittanyanddylan.blogspot.com/2011/11/weekend-project-1-terrariums-for.html

So we picked up some supplies. I had the large "wine glass" from our wedding center pieces...it is the only one that has survived the almost 10 years of moving...7 moves to be exact. Then I scored two bags of rocks from Michael's when they were 50% off along with the dried moss. The plants were from our local Lowe's, I think sitting outside in a CA winter hasn't been the best for them, but we will try to nurse them back to health. We also used the special cactus/citrus soil, although they only had the ginormous bags...anyone local want to give it a try can stop by and scoop some out of the bag ;)

First I cleaned the container..simple enough...and then M layered some of the rocks on the bottom, some pre-soaked "dry" moss and finally the special soil.

He then got out his football gloves so he could handle the various cactus/succulents I picked up. We dug little holes, planted them and then put another layer of rocks over the top.

Finished product. Looking forward to having some real greenery in the house that is low maintenance and the boys can help take care of. I've got my eyes looking for some more containers so that I can make some other little projects...like some fairy gardens, check these out!

SOURCE: http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-make-fairy-garden.html

SOURCE: http://www.midwestliving.com/garden/container/miniature-garden/#page=4

A Whale of a Day

So last weekend was a glorious three day weekend. Saturday was beautiful and so we choose to do something semi-local and take advantage of some warm winter weather. We headed up to Point Reyes since it is prime whale watching season. It is about an hour and half from here, J has been on some of the roads around there with his motorcycle, but for the rest of us it was all new ground.

We headed to the beach first. It was a different beach then what we have experienced in the past. The beach consisted of small little pebbles perfectly polished and in an assortment of colors.

After the beach we headed to the visitor center and bought bus tickets ($5/adult) to take us to Point Reyes Lighthouse. It was a 20 minute windy curvy road where we went through the coastal Alphabet Ranches where we even had to stop to allow some Holsteins to cross the road into pastures closer to the milking barns.

Once to the lighthouse we decided to not venture down the 300 steps but to stay at the top observation deck. Going down wouldn't have been so much the problem as coming up with tired little boys who out numbered us.

We did catch several whale "sightings" mostly the tails like in the above photo. We also saw several scuba divers down in the same cove.

My funny freckled boy.

Boys with a California Grey Whale scull.

Some really interesting landscape, CA just keeps amazing me with all the different coastlines.