Happy Birthday, Keats!

Our baby boy is one! We celebrated Keaton's first birthday on Sunday. It was really simple - just cupcakes in the park with grandmas and grandpas. (It is definitely true that the second child gets the short end of the stick!) But we still had fun. Keaton had a good time, even though he lost it a bit when he was covered in chocolate frosting. But he perked back up when he opened his presents. Nathan had a blast playing with Bailey and Gavin, and inspecting and test-driving Keaton's toys.

Happy Birthday, little man. We love you.

Fires

Thankfully, the closest major fire (Santiago Canyon) is about twelve miles away, but things are still pretty smoky around here. My heart breaks for those who have lost homes. We are still waiting to hear about two families we know who think their homes were lost in Arrowhead area. :( But as far as the little bubble we live in with the kids, they are just sick of being trapped inside. Nathan was so disappointed that his preschool did not allow playground time today, and knowing him, he tried to negotiate with the teacher about it.

Deceptively Delicious

Did anyone see this on Oprah? I was sooo inspired. This book has recipes for kid-friendly food, but with a little extra thrown in. ;) Brownies with pureed spinach (sounds gross, but supposedly, you can't tell), scrambled eggs with pureed cauliflower, and chocolate chip cookies with chick peas.

Now my boys (both the little ones and the big ones) will not touch vegetables. Ryan actually picks out veggies and makes a pile on the side of his plate! So the other day, I was feeling sneaky, and put pureed butternut squash in some mac n cheese, and no one noticed a thing! (How do I insert the twiddling-thumbs, evil laugh emoticon? LOL)

Anyway, here is a recipe (from some magazine) for yummy italian meatballs with a little added something. Kids loved them.

Tuscan Meatballs (aka, "cheesy green balls" in our house)
1/2 cup steamed, pureed spinach (you can also just chop instead of pureeing)
1/2 steamed, pureed carrots
1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
1 cup italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 handfuls shredded mozarella cheese
1 tsp garlic salt
black pepper to taste
1 - 2 Tbsp olive oil

Heat oven to 350. Mix ingredients (except oil) and form into balls. In a pan with olive oil, brown meatballs 2-3 minutes. Finish in oven for 20 minutes. Serve with pasta and marinara sauce.

And while I am being domestic, here is a new secret I discovered. With these messy boys, the kids shirts get stained a LOT. I tried every trick - Spray and Wash, Zout, baking soda, OxiClean, and sometimes I just couldn't get the stain out. So the clothes were tossed. But I found an answer! Put 1/3 scoop of powder OxiClean in a big glass bowl, fill half-way with hot water, put the shirt in, and microwave for 5 minutes. P.S... no metal or buttons, and I watch it closely (so don't blame me if your microwave blows up!) It is amazing, and I think I should win a prize. :)

Focus

So, I have been bitten by the photography bug, and I just got this great opportunity. A professional photographer is going to mentor me, helping me with focus and exposure. This was a picture I took yesterday, where I was only focused on getting a crisp, sharp picture. Not sure how I did yet - she is still going to give me feedback (and she can be very picky, so I have my hard hat on). :)

Retro

Photoshop is still completely overwhelming to me, but I feel like I am sloooowly learning it. I don't think they could possibly create a program that is less user friendly. :) But with trial and error, I discover new fun things to do with pictures. This is a "retro" Photoshop action that I ran on an old picture of Keaton. (First is "retro", second is original.)

Sunflower

Just a sunflower from the farmer's market. Saying goodbye to summer. :)

Black and Whites

It has been a while since I have posted... We are so crazy with the kids all day, and then as soon as they are in bed, we just want to plop on the couch, watch TV, and do nothing that requires brain cells. But I think I have my blogging groove back on, and I am going to try to post more.

I have been experimenting with black and whites more, trying to get better at it. These are some pictures of the kids playing at an amphitheater park by our place. Nathan had fun swinging around his stick "sword", and Keaton rolled down the hill and ate sticks. :)












Eek, I just realized these pictures are all tilts (I get crazy with the tilting sometimes!) I will throw in some non-tilts tomorrow so you don't get dizzy. :) ** Added some straight ones. :)

Hot Day at the Park

We headed over to the park yesterday to have lunch and let the kids run around. It was HOT, and after 20 minutes, Keaton seemed miserable. But as soon as we soaked him with water from his sippy cup (which he thought was hysterical), he was good to go, and he joined in the fun with Nathan again.