Yummy Brussel Sprouts

Jason arrived home from France safely last Friday. The kids were more than excited when they saw him at the airport. Here are some of Jason's photos. Not too shabby that he could see the Eiffel Tower from where he was eating dinner!

I took Anna shopping for new shoes last week. Luckily her feet are slowing down from growing so fast so it's been awhile since we shopped for shoes which made the trip extra exciting. Of all of the shoes at Stride Rite Anna picked hot pink running shoes because they are like "Grandpa Lee's" shoes. Anna tried the shoes on and ran in place -- it was pretty funny!

Transportation we used shopping for shoes =)

Ben has had an epiphany and suddenly likes fruit and vegetables. I guess after offering them to him 1000 times he decided to give me a break =). He especially likes strawberries, peas and brussel sprouts. I'm thinking the brussel sprout thing must be hereditary b/c I love them and so does Grandpa Jim =). Even Anna the veggie queen turns her nose up to brussel sprouts!



Ben had his second hair cut today. This time went much better than the first! He didn't cry at all and didn't want to leave the salon. I think he likes his stylist Ms. Esmeralda and all of the fun things she has at her salon.

Anna didn't have her hair cut but she had some blue glitter sprinkled in her hair =)

Recipe for Ben's Yummy Brussel Sprouts -- give them a try!


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Wash brussel sprouts thoroughly and cut the white ends off.

Place brussel sprouts on a roasting pan/cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh black pepper.

Roast for 15 - 25 minutes; until they look a little charred and are fork tender.

Optional: sprinkle with a tad bit more kosher salt -- you'll forget you're eating brussel sprouts and think you're eating french fries =)

Bon Voyage Daddy

Jason left for France yesterday so it's just me and the kids for a week. Anna cried on the way home after we dropped "daddy" off at the airport ... sniff sniff. Yesterday we went to Target and then made things for dinner that Jason dislikes: salmon, veggies with onions and oatmeal raisin cookies with pecans. I'm sure he'll cringe when he reads this =). Today we went to Fairfield to visit family and to visit my friend Jessica who was fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at a local produce market. Here are some pics from today and from this past week:

At the produce market in Suisun Valley by Grandpa and Grandma's

Jessica at her booth. It was hot out so this is a dedicated woman!

Anna and Ben were more excited that there was a ranch with horses across from the produce market. Anna is fascinated with horses right now and has a poster of horses on her door and has a new special horsey music box that plays "Home on the Range".

Here is some serious bed head =). Time for a hair cut!

Ben laying in his bed in the morning. He was upset that I disturbed him but it was 8:30 AM and it was time to get up. I think he lays in his crib and plays with his blankets for endless amounts of time -- I'm not complaining!

This is another day despite the same jammies. Ben has become obsessed with these old blue PJ's with a red fire truck on the front. I have to hide them or he'll insist on putting them on!

He found these in the dirty clothes pile this afternoon -- I know, a little gross. He's wearing these thick, warm pajamas at 3 PM when it was about 105 degrees. This was his immediate reaction after getting his way and having them put on:

Anna had water play at school this week so she was very thrilled to wear her Dora bathing suit and terry cover up to school.

Anna when she was supposed to be napping. I heard loud clacking in her room and she was crawling on all fours with shoes on her hands. She was probably pretending to be a horse. I think rain boots are always appropriate during the summer in Sacramento when it's bone dry and 180 degrees =). The big box behind Anna is a gift Jason received from UC Davis when he graduated from residency. It's a rocking chair and I imagine it will be sitting there in the box until we move next year ???

We hope you see this Jason! We love you!

Happy 4th of July!

Hello all! We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! We made a very quick trip down to Huntington Beach after I had some changes in my work schedule. It was a short trip but full of a lot of fun memories. Anna was very excited that we were going to visit "Auntie Angie" and was amazingly good during the 8 hour drive to Huntington Beach. Ben wasn't thrilled about the long drive but he did quite well as long we kept giving him cookies =). I ran in a 5k run while we were down there and Anna "ran" in the 1/2 mile kids race. Her medal is hanging up in her room! Here are some photos:

Anna at the 4th of July parade in her patriotic cowgirl hat =)

Ben was a little distracted by this big hill behind us at the parade and he preferred to run and tumble down it!

At my sister Angie's block party

Ben really liked "Teddy" the dog!

My niece Maddie with Anna

Anna may have been the smallest kid there but she has a lot of pinata experience!

Ladies in the kitchen: Me, Angie, Ada (brother-in-law Freddie's sister) and Devona

Anna was in heaven when she saw that Uncle Mike was grilling all of these hot dogs!

I love to bake and cook so I had an excuse to make some yummy things:

Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting ... wish I had one now!

Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing ... yummy!!!

Delicious sangria and it looked so pretty!

I am a bit behind in posting to our blog .... here are some other photos from the past couple of weeks:

Anna and Ben enjoying their chocolate ice cream cones!

It was over 100 degrees here last weekend so Anna, Benji and I met my sister Devona and her family in San Francisco. It was absolutely gorgeous there that day and about 25 degrees cooler!