Couldn't wait

Fish boy had been out of the water just a bit too long and at the hint of warmer weather, decided it was time to get in.  I'm not quite as brave (without a wetsuit), so when he asked I just laughed and said "Sure!"  He swears it was warm, but seeing him hyperventilate and make it to the side in record time, I'm a bit suspicious that it wasn't.  Fish boy liked it and just gets us pumped for the season to come...kind of like the smell of sunscreen. 

The Newest member of our family

A friend of Oshyn's passed this on to him--he had outgrown it.  Oshyn has currently worn it three days in a row.  He beams with pride as people in the grocery store, on the street, or at the park know his name.  It's SPIDERMAN!  I hope he can see through the mask when he's riding his bike--so far so good.

Think happy thoughts

Ode to happier weeks when climbing fences and licking trees was funny, green mocos weren't flowing from little raw noses and coughs were just to get someone's attention.   

Seattdoe and the Garage sale bachelorette

Last weekend Beau took the crew up to Seattle (or Seattdoe as Oshyn calls it) for a bit of male bonding experience.  He had his 10 year high school reunion and stayed with his older sister Janaea.  They had a blast--forgot the camera, so who knows what really went on, but I trust them. 

 I stayed in Lodi...by-myself...and worked at a ginormous garage sale for our Young Women.  We raised almost two thousand dollars, which is going to pay for almost everyones entire Girls Camp cost.  I also pounded out as many pages of Cruz's baby book as I could, along with a nice run and wandering in stores as long as I wanted just because I could.  A nice weekend for everyone & even nicer when I picked them up from the airport and out of Cruz's little boy voice I heard, "I missed you Mom".  Fun to be a bachelorette for the weekend, but ONLY because I knew they were coming back. 

Spring Training

Boy are we happy to see buds on the trees and blue, sunny skies.  We have had a lot of rain and welcome with open arms the spring weather.  What goes better with this time of year than a little baseball?  The little men have been honing their skills this past weekend.  Here's a clip of Cruz during batting practice.  

 

I, too, had a little batting practice.  Beau was pitching with Oshyn in the outfield.  Quite a few pitches came my way, but didn't make it past me.  I was having a good  'ol time.  Finally I missed a pitch and Beau commented, "I got you with the change up!"  From then on, if I ever missed a pitch, Oshyn would yell at the top of his lungs, "Got you with the CHAIN SAW!"  What a funny start to a Saturday.  Here are a few pictures from later on in the day...at Target. 

Scrumptious Zucchini Bread

It is hard to find a delectable GF bread-like anything.  After making and trying this, I have new hope for baking.  Not only was it good for me, Beau thoroughly enjoyed it...which proves it is a winner.  There was no crumbling or grainy texture, just a soft, melt-in-your-mouth goodness.  Try it, you won't be sorry.

FYI: I used 1/2 c oil (no applesauce in the house) and oat flour instead of tapioca.  Regular flour would work too I am sure.  It was fine and dandy with those two alterations.  I also dusted the top with powdered sugar.  MMM good.

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups cornstarch
• 3/4 cup rice flour
• 3/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1 Tbsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups fresh zucchini, grated
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Beat the eggs until foamy, adding sugar, oil and apple sauce (using wire whip attachment for mixer).
3. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients and then add them to the egg mixture (switch to the flat beater or dough hook attachment) and beat in electric mixer for about 3 minutes or until batter is well mixed and becomes very thick. Add nuts.
4. If baking as a loaf, grease two large loaf pans and fill each 1/2 full. Bake for approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, testing to be sure the middle is cooked through. If your oven cooks the tops of these loaves too quickly, cover with aluminum foil to prevent burning (after about 25-35 minutes). If you want to use this as a breakfast bread, you can sprinkle the tops with Confectioner's sugar.
5. If baking as muffins, grease and 1/2 fill 24 muffin tins. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, testing to be sure the middle is cooked through.

"Climber" is his middle name

Whether it be trees or walls, this kid can sure ascend.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

When love was flowing for most of the world in the middle of February, Dr. Jekyll came to visit our home.  When asked to do simple tasks such as "Put your boots on the stairs", he would reply with an angry and very firm, "NO!"  Not just once but EVERY time he was asked.  It didn't stop at that.  The early hours is when it all would begin, "I NEED MILKIES NOW!"  Nap time also had some issues and nasty words would fly, "NO NAP!  PLAY CARS!  NO READ BOOKS! WATCH A MOVIE!"  Dinner time wasn't any different, "NO STIR FRY!  OATMEAL!  CEREAL!"  I was starting to wonder what to do (besides laugh).  Then when the month of (supposed) "love" was coming to an end, Mr. Hyde suddenly showed up out of no where.  "Put your boots on the stairs," was followed by a sweet voice offering, "Okay Mommy!  Thank you Mommy!"  and every other request had the same answer.  Where did Dr. Jekyll come from and where did he go?  I have no idea, but occasionally he visits for short periods of time.  Short (for Dr. Jekyll) and sweet (for Dr. Hyde) is what we prefer.  

Breakfast (not) in-bed

Saturday morning...doesn't everyone want to sleep a little bit longer?  Not if you are 4 1/2.  Oshyn kept bugging us to get up (mind you it was only 7:15a at the time) and we kept trying to stay in bed.  He decided that maybe if he complained about being hungry we would help him out.  Well, when you have demonstrated your capabilities in the cereal pouring department, you have no case with this whine.  We told him to go make a bowl of cereal and we would be down soon.  After what sounded like a massive cereal explosion down stairs...that much cereal for ONE bowl?  Oshyn arrived back in our room and announced that breakfast was ready.  He had poured us all a bowl of cereal.  How sweet!! you're thinking, well he also announced that he had poured the milk already because he knew we didn't like soggy cereal so we would surely come down right away.  Smart little cookie.  We were down in a flash.   

We had our treasure all along

After a morning at the temple, Oshyn trying out every tree available to climb, we decided to go on another letter-boxing treasure hunt.  The pirates stayed home, but their attitude came along.  We followed the directions to a "T" and came upon the treasure's location after a nature walk by the 

American River.  I was just thinking what a good job the boy scouts who planted the letter-box did as Oshyn 

lifted up the rocks to find...a bunch of dirt and roots.  Where was the blue lid they described?  We searched high and low around the area, but had no luck.  It was no where to be found.  I guess being planted in 2005 can do that to you.  Boy Scouts may be Man Scouts now.  We were left empty handed

---or I guess "stamp-less".  Bummer.  As we were hiking back to our car, we ran into a guy with a dog (always a popular attraction).  Oshyn told him all about how we were searching for buried treasure, but it wasn't where they said it would be, yada yada yada... The guy smiled, very intrigued by this little man, and said matter-of-factly, "I know exactly where the treasure is.  Do you want to know where it is?"  Of course Oshyn was pumped.  The man said, "Turn around.  Your treasure is standing right behind you."  Not quite what Oshyn wanted to hear, but a good little wrap up of our day--starting with the temple and then realizing we had our treasure all along.  

Putting on a show

Cruz was workin' it with the skateboard and wanted to make sure I didn't miss a thing.  He kept saying, "Watch this MOM!"  So I got out the camera and he hammed it up some more.  Then I videoed him and he was sooooo excited to watch himself--you will see him do a trick and then run over to me to see it.  Recently this guy is making Oshyn look like a calm, relaxed, shy one--what will he be like at 4?!?  Can't wait.

Happy Heart Day!

Brian

As my kids are slowly breaking me into those teenage years when they eat me out of house and home---both have had 2 eggs & toast and are onto oatmeal/cereal, I thought I'd take a minute to talk about "Brian".

When Oshyn is Superman, I am ALWAYS Lois and Cruz gets to be "Brian". Who the heck is "Brian" you ask? This is what Oshyn calls him. I have no idea where it came from, but it makes us all laugh--especially when Cruz answers to "Brian" almost as much as Cruz. Superman and Brian have been having a good time together. Here are some pictures of their beds (differs daily), some on gates, some in random crevices and the one not shown is the bed, under Cruz's crib.

I laugh out loud to myself daily.

Buddies for Breakfast

I've always ment to take a picture of Cruz with his "buddies".  He loves these two guys.  Lambie is the one on top, almost leg-less and the monkey's name is Buddy.  What-chew doing Buddies?

Supersuits

It is highly apparent that the oldest Nobmann child in our family is a bit preoccupied with having supernatural powers.  We have not struggled with pj time for many months--maybe years because of Oshyn's 'faster-than-a-speeding-bullet' urge to get them on...with any hint of darkness in the sky he rushes upstairs to the closet to transform himself.  This has caused a few minor problems.  Enough that I decided to make him some supersuits that could be worn during the day.  He worked extremely hard to earn these and when he finally did, Oshyn changed between the two suits over a half dozen times throughout the afternoon.  On days ending in Y (minus Sunday btwn 9-12p and laundry time) this guy is either Flash or Superman.  I've never known a person so excited to get dressed in the morning.  Any bets for how long this will all last?  

Good 'til the Last Drop

Superbowl Sunday 1999

January 31, 1999 held a bit more than just another Superbowl Sunday for me.  10 years ago this weekend, I got baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Something that has had such an impact on my life that I find it quite hard to forget, unlike who was playing in that year's football game.  I have learned a lot in ten years (man, I hope I would--10 years is a decent amount of time) and have had many blessings come because of it all.  Some of the biggest were meeting Beau in college, marrying this fabulous man in the Seattle temple, and having two wonderful little boys born under the covenant.  Can't ask for too much more than that--except for something else pretty huge.   My family (and friends) have been in 100% support of me and my decisions since day one.  Wow.  I KNOW not everyone can say that.  Those of you I'm talking about, know that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Here is some of what I have become more and more sure of since that day, it is my testimony.

I know that there is a God.  We have a Heavenly Father that loves us immensely and knows each of us personally. 

 

We have an elder brother, Jesus Christ, who volunteered to come down here and suffer and die for our wrongdoings.  We have the ability to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ once again because of this selfless act.

The Book of Mormon is the word of God.  It was written by Prophets in the ancient Americas and its teachings can be paralleled to our lives today.

Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and went through a tremendous amount to translate the Book of Mormon and restore the Gospel to the earth.  We can become closer to God by reading this book along with the Bible.

All of the Presidents of the Church since Joseph Smith were called of God with Thomas S. Monson the current Prophet leading us in these latter days.

I know these things are true and challenge you to learn more and find out for yourself.  

Maybe next Superbowl Sunday (or someday sooner) will be your day. :)

websites to check out!

www.mormon.org

www.lds.org

They're back...

When we described our upcoming afternoon events to Oshyn, he immediately NEEDED to put on his pirate suit.  What could be more appropriate for our "treasure hunt" aka. letterboxing adventure?  After following the detailed instructions, we arrived within view of General Mills to find the 'Cheerios' treasure.  (See hands and forehead).  A great way to make a walk/hike more fun for everyone.  We got great rubbernecking from cars the whole way home.  Maybe it was the big pirate walking in front with his red punching gloves on? with an Ariel-like princess or possibly the shorter pirate strolling along singing "Ho ho, Ho Ho Pirates!"  I hope everyone is having as much fun being parents as we are.

 

Showing off

Blood, sweat, and tears

After lots of hard work (always more than you imagine)...we are nearly finished with our kitchen...minus a little caulking.  I love it.  

Its been a while but sometimes I like to revisit what our condo looked like before we moved in.  

Hardly comparable in my book.  Helps me realize that anything is possible.  Good on ya Beau!

Superboy

...named by the other superhero in our family

Child labor

with enthusiasm!