On A Roll!

My third post for the day! I'm on a roll! Although I don't know if being on the computer that many times in a day would be considered a good thing, but I'm on spring break so I'm allowed. We went for a walk today to bask in the......cloudshine? It was more of a cloudy day than a sunny one, but figured it was as good a time as any for Sawyer to rock his shades from his nana Carol. He actually seemed to like them, which just goes to show he destined to be a cool dude. I told him that chicks dig men in sunnies, which is probably why he kept them on.

Woolly

Sawyer got his very first holiday package in the mail yesterday. My mom sent him something special for Easter that she made. He loves it already and slept with it last night up by his face. I'm telling you it's these genes I wrote about here. And now he has one just his size. We named it Woolly because of the sheep material on the back. I think this is the start of a beautiful long lasting friendship between them!

The Painful Truth

This is for you Matt, to watch while you're at work. Your son has something he wants to tell you!

Peas & Love

First video is of Sawyer crawling....sort of. It’s more accurately described as a caterpillar inching along, but he is getting the idea of how to move around. Toys don’t get him moving as much as off limit objects do, like my phone, camera or remote. He’s already tried making calls on my phone and the other day scared the both of us when he chewed on the remote buttons and accidentally turned the volume up to 30+. I think him and I both nearly pooped our pants from the loud shock of that one.

Second video is of Sawyer and peas meeting for the first time. Seems like their first introduction was not a good one as you can see by the many looks of disgust on his face, but they are still getting acquainted. Mostly he kept faking yawns so I wouldn't keep piling the peas into his mouth. Can I blame him though for not being a fan of peas? Not really,

considering I despise them myself. Cooked peas? Nasty. Pea pods? Tolerable, but just barely. Pea soup? Not in a million years! Once he finishes eating the rest of the bag I bought, I think

they’ll be off the menu for awhile.

Thank goodness for itty bitty umbrella strollers. Over the weekend we drove to the Americana in Glendale with the intent of walking around for a few hours; however, didn't realize we forgot our stroller until we got there. Good thing there was a Target in the mall where we could snatch up a cheap umbrella stroller really quick. I don't really think Matt, myself or Sawyer would have enjoyed toting him around in our arms all night.  

I had to snap a photo of Matt wheeling him around because it looked so hilarious! It felt like we were pushing a babydoll stroller all night. Sure made us appreciate our Bob stroller and how high the handlebars go up!

I'm on a sugar strike right now with a friend to see how fabulous we feel after weeks of no sugar! So far that means saying no to the obvious culprits like candy and desserts. Our initial goal is to go until April 4th and so far we've gone a week already. Then eventually we'll extend it and start canceling out all the other miscellaneous sneaky sugar items. My reward to myself it to run my first 5K April 25th!

Just because I'm going without though doesn't mean Matt has to or wants to. I told him he had to try Beard Papa's cream puffs while we were there since everyone I know is a big fan of them. I think it's safe to say he thoroughly enjoyed them. 

Fun in the Sun

 With a yellow duck. 

Here ducky, ducky, ducky.

Got ya where I want ya. 

Mission accomplished. 

 Who knew duck hunting could be so tiring. 

Reunited At Last!

I'm not sure what the breakthrough was, but Sawyer slept for over 7 hours in a row last night. That basically translates to seven beautiful, uninterrupted hours of sleep for moi. It was magical. Nice job buddy, keep up the good work!

Goody Gum Drops

Gone are the days of Sawyer being cuddly with me and letting me snuggle him like a stuffed animal. He's getting to be too much of a big independent boy and the last place he wants to be is in my arms.....unless of course he's really exhausted like he was this morning. I should have let him cry in his crib 'til he fell asleep, but instead I gathered him and his blankies up and held him until he started snoring. (Yep, he's a snorer. I won't tell you who he gets that trait from. Take a wild guess, and if you guessed me, try again!)  So what if I had a million other things I needed to be doing today like laundry, homework, and making the bed. If the times of getting to hold him like a baby are getting to be numbered I'll take what I can get even if it means my only chance is when he's sound asleep. Reminds me of my mom's favorite children's book called Love You Forever. If you've never read it, you need to. It's better to read it while seeing the illustrations, but click here you can read the story.

Hold onto your tissue after reading that story, because you'll need it for this too....
for a little background on how the author, Robert Munsch, came up with the idea for the story click on his name.

Date Night

Wednesday night, thanks to Matt's mom babysitting the little soy bean, we were able to go on an official date (as in just the two of us). Of course we chose to see Alice in Wonderland since we had been awaiting it's arrival to theaters since we first heard about it being made a year or so ago.  

We decided to pay the extra two bucks to see it at the Arc Light theater in Sherman Oaks where you can reserve your seat. You'd be surprised how many people were there on a Wednesday night! I'm curious as to how people can afford to go the movies so often though, considering we paid almost thirty bucks for the two of us! Sheesh. It was in 3D however and that was pretty spectacular. We wanted to keep our awesome new shades, but we had to give them back at the end. Indian givers. 

We ate our pre-movie dinner at Cafe 50's. It's only my favorite place ever because of the decor, oh yeah and the milkshakes are delish. They did have one slight change though. Our little jukebox player by our seat that you put a quarter in so the song plays in the overhead speakers, now had a note taped to it that said they weren't in use any longer because they're antiques so you have to use the new jukebox up at the front of the restaurant. How did they become antiques since the last time we were there? Just one day they hit their antique birthday and had to retire? Lame. Oh well, my snickers/oreo milkshake consoled me. 

All in all it was a fun night. And it was nice to have my man all to myself. I propose date night should become a regular monthly tradition. Who wants to babysit? 

Tastylicious.

If anyone knows me then you know I love Cafe Rio, particularly their barbacoa salad and their creamy tomatillo dressing which is the definition of delicious. I am smiling right now just thinking about it. Any road trip we've ever taken has always led us to a Cafe Rio at some point even if we had to go out of our way to get to it. In fact our last trip to Utah we went there not once, not twice, but three times (two of which were in the same day!). I can't ever imagine getting sick of that salad, but I am sure willing to try! Which is why (since the nearest one is in San Diego) I decided it was a MUST to search out the recipe and give it a whirl. Let me just say, not to toot my horn or anything, but the finished product was so incredibly delicious! The pork, the dressing, the rice, the beans, all of it turned out so well we could have  been eating the real thing it was so similar. Which I credit to the masters who created the recipe here, not to my lame cooking skills that I am just now trying to re-learn. 

Feast your eyes on the greatest salad ever invented. 

I could have drank the whole thing of dressing it was so yummy.  

So for the other Cafe Rio fans and even for those who have never been I highly suggest you make this for dinner sometime. Your taste buds will thank me. 

Here is the recipe I copied and pasted from the website I got it from and then added my two cents on what I would recommend to perfect it. 

The Heavenly Sweet Barbacoa

2 pounds pork (we got boneless rib meat from Costco)
3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 small can sliced green chilies
3/4 can enchilada sauce (medium spiciness)
1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight. (we did ours overnight)

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry) or on low for 8 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.

In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.

Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!

CILANTRO-LIME RICE


1 c. uncooked rice (long-grain, white rice)

1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp. sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.


BLACK BEANS

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 c. tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro.

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not BUTTERMILK)
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. buttermilk (I would recommend using 1/2 to 3/4 cup as ours was a little runny)
2 tomatillos, remove husk, diced
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 jalepeno (if you like it mild, just remove the seeds)

Mix all ingredients together in the blender. That's it!

This Explains It All

As in why I have a hard time studying:

Maybe he really was just interested in reading about Microbiology?

Either way this guy is way more entertaining then learning about bacteria.