Saturday School

Today started VERY EARLY for us. Bailey was SO EXCITED about Saturday School, she woke up extra early to let us know today was the day Daddy got to go to school with her!

This morning Bailey's preschool had a special day for the kids and the parent who comes "least often" to school. Well, you can imagine how happy Bailey was to have her Daddy go to school with her. She picked out outfits for the two of them last night and had everything laid out and ready to go for today. At 9:30a they were off. (Gregory cried and was VERY BLUE he had to stay home with mommy. We baked cupcakes and made a Valentine decoration and played outside to pass the time, but he was sure happy to see Daddy and Bailey come back home)

She had a great morning. They played with play dough, played basketball and soccer, went on the swing, seesawed for a bit, and drew a picture for a special plate they will get to bring home in a few weeks! Bailey tells me she drew a bunny. :) And ended with circle time. (She is still talking about her day! She just asked "Daddy, did you have a great time at my school today?") What a great day for both of them!

All set to go to Saturday School

Bye, Bye!

Bailey telling me about her day

She wanted a photo with their name tags.

Nature Walk

Today we had another beautiful day. Probably will be another record breaking day. Feels like spring outside! To enjoy the weather we played outside all morning. It was actually warmer outside than in our house! The kids rode their bikes, played in the sand and then we decided to make a nature sculpture. We started out hunting for things in our yard, but realized there weren't many things to stick into our clay so we went for a walk around our neighborhood and found all sorts of goodies! We learned that some things are too soft to stick in clay and some work perfectly. Bailey decided she was making a garden for the butterflies - Gregory was making a sculpture. Don't know what we'll do with them, but it made for a nice morning project.

Gregory's sack of goodies

Bailey's sack

Pressing things into the clay

Bailey's butterfly garden

Corn on the Cob

Popcorn, that is...
 
Ollie and Emma went to pick popcorn around Halloween and they gave the kids a bunch to pop at home. We had to wait a bit for them to dry, but we popped our first cob today.

 

This is what popcorn looks like when it is still on the cob



To pop the corn, you place a cob inside a paper bag. Fold over the top a few times and place in the microwave for 2 minutes.



Here's what you get from that little cob! And I took it out a little early because I was worried about setting our microwave on fire. You can still see the unpopped corn on the cob along with some popped corn still attached. Amazing!

Dessert Party

Today we helped Auntie Patsy celebrate her 60th Birthday with a dessert party. Our camera kinda lost power early on so I don't have many photos - and the ones I took near the end were too dark, but here are a few shots from our fun afternoon.

A few finger foods to go along with all the desserts

Desserts

More desserts

Homemade strawberry jam party favors!

Kellie MADE this cake, including homemade fondant!

Another Beautiful Day!

Hard to believe we are in the middle of winter as I'm sitting here in a short sleeved shirt thinking shorts would be nice. Today we decided to go out and get some fresh air. I wanted to take the kids to the zoo this weekend, but since none of us are feeling very well we scrapped that idea and decided to feed the ducks. We had a bunch of duck bread in the freezer so we took a trip to the mall down the street from us. They've been renovating for what seems like forever, but they are finally done and it sure looks nice! Now they just need to get some stores in there. They added a play structure and they still have the ducks to feed, so there are a lot of families there. They also added a pair of swans!

Teriyaki Chicken Buns

Today we were planning to go to the zoo, but when Daddy got home from grocery shopping he said it was still 32 degrees outside and freezing. We decided to wait a bit and got side tracked with other things so I decided to make Chicken Buns. First I made some Amish White Bread and while they were in the first rise I made some chicken teriyaki filling. They were a lot harder to make than I anticipated since the bread dough I made was quite sticky, but they were delicious! Definitely worth the trouble. The Amish White Bread also makes really tasty bread without the filling if you're ever looking for some easy bread/rolls to make.

Teriyaki Chicken Filling
4 boneless chicken thighs - finely chopped
1 rib celery - diced
1 carrot - diced
5 green onions - diced
4 cloves garlic
3 T sugar
1/4 c shoyu
splash of sake
1T cornstarch
3 T water

Cook chicken, drain fat. Add veggies and cook for a couple of minutes. Add sugar, shoyu, sake and cook a few more minutes. Mix cornstarch with water and add to chicken mixture to thicken. Cool before stuffing buns. OH! I also added a little sesame seed oil and sesame seeds.

Stuff buns, let rise about 30 minutes and bake 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. I baked on parchment paper. Enjoy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wow, 2009...Can't believe it's already here. Year of the Ox. Sure hope it brings happiness to all!
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Yesterday we went to Stockton to help Grandma prepare for New Years. Bailey even pitched in a little and peeled daikon! I think we pretty much cooked from 11am - 8:30pm! Actually Mom and Uncle Frank started even earlier!! I like to cook for New Years and I think it's something important for the kids.

Bailey peeling daikon that Grandpa grew in his garden.

Today we went to celebrate in Stockton! We always have ozoni and brunch at Hibachan's house and go back next door to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner. We have LOTS of yummy food to eat. Daddy said he gained 4 pounds today!!

Hibachan with her great grandchildren. (Camryn's in Irvine)

More pictures on photoshows...

Our Kabocha

Well, we picked our kabocha. Didn't look like it was going to get any larger and our plant was pretty much dead. The kids were still excited to pick their pumpkin though.

Hmmm, think this will make enough for our family?