Disneyland 2012 Birthday Trip

 Tristan turned 4 and Mike really wanted to take her to Disneyland.  So we had Pau Pau and Grandma & Grandpa Bob come with us to celebrate.  Thanksgiving week is busy but we made the most of it.  Ariel's Grotto with the princesses, Breakfast with Mickey & Friends -even Donald held Tristan's hand and walked around Main Street with her.  Good memories.

Milestones

It's amazing how time flies - yesterday Tyler got her drivers license, three weeks ago Mike and I ran a half marathon, two months ago my brother and sister in law had their very first baby and she is gorgeous.  Nine months ago my dad left us.  Nine and a half months ago we moved back to the US.  There are so many moment in time you want to stop the clock so many moments you want to savor just a little bit longer or just want to get off the ride and take a breath.  School ends in 2 weeks - it's amazing how things are measured by school years - weekly test, midterms, Christmas or Easter Break... summer is coming but we have only small plans - things on the calendar to keep busy - but I want to make sure there are memory makers on the dates as well - so much to plan - but yet sometimes the best things are off the cuff... will have to see how it all pans out.

Sweet 16

Oh my goodness how time flies... how could I possibly have a 16 year old!? My daughter is the very best and I'm so grateful she is in my life. She is strong and independent, caring, nice and no-nonsense! I love her so much and she makes me a better person. I'm glad I am her mom but I also know I am her friend - Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Happy New Year

2011 Was a tough year for me. We have now moved home from our fabulous experience of living abroad in England. That in itself was a huge change for our whole family. My year had started off with my grandfather passing away January 19, we moved home August 5, and my dad passed away August 31. Not a summer on my highlight list to remember.

It would take me forever to recapture every moment of last year. I'm trying to remember things so I will have to do it in bits since I do use this blog as my journal. But it will take me a while I imagine. We are enjoying being home, but miss the UK terribly. They say it is harder to come home and I do see why.

The funny part is I still have this table and the rocking chair!
I wish I still had my dad instead

In the meantime, we had a nice holiday with my mom and she even stayed with us through New Years which was nice and quiet up in Tahoe. We are in our old house, we didn't get into it until September 25th however as we remodeled and did lots of work. It took us forever to get through the boxes the movers brought - I still have some in the garage, but mostly crafts - since we came back with an extra person I've run out of rooms in my house for me to have a craft room. However I cannot complain because in 2 very short years I will lose one of my babies to college. What a strange concept.


But today is another day and another milestone. We've been married 19 years today - sealed in the Oakland Temple and what a wonderful ride it has been. I love my husband and what we have built together is priceless and there isn't much I would change. (Maybe a hairstyle or two) If I had to do it over would I pick this man? Yes, absolutely. I'm so grateful that we met all those years ago on an apartment stoop and that of all the people I had met that day his name was the only one I had remembered.....

One of those Saturdays

Spring has sprung in the Crane household - 4 baseball games, Tiger Cubs, Bday party, Eagle Court of Honor and Softball practice....oh and a trip to the grocery store. It's fun having all these little kiddies but sometimes on Saturdays it might be nice to just hang out at home and chill out!

Tristy likes to pick out her own clothes lately... here's a cute sample of what she likes to wear...

Menu de la semaine

I think I know why I don't blog as often as I used to - 1) Blogger doesn't let me with my Mac upload pictures easily - I have to do them one at a time and it is time consuming. 2) There is something wrong with my 'new blogger' as I can't change the design any longer.... I need to try it on the kids computer and see if it is just mine. But in reality those are my biggest hurdles... well not really - just getting on sometimes isn't fast enough... I kept hoping to catch up but I think my iweb is so much easier just dragging and dropping....

Anyway - I have still been keeping up with the new meal each night theme but have decided I needed to start keeping track - some nights we have left overs, so those don't count, and some nights we go out without the kiddies and throw pasta at them or pizza - so those don't count either!

But still, I am going to start writing them down because I'll forget otherwise!

So tonight's menu: Chicken soup with stars...
30th Wednesday: Salmon & Lentils - with teriyaki sauce
29th Tuesday: Chicken Teriyaki & cucumber sushi

(and yes, the teriyaki & sushi - as everything else lately are all from scratch)

28th Monday - Brisket & roasted veggies
27th Sunday - I can't remember but I cooked!
26th Saturday - we went to a surprise party
25th Friday - Pizza for the kids -we went to The Temple

I'm not Martha Stewart

About a week I go I was figuring something out - I'm not trying to brag at all, it was just an observation that I noticed it, but now I'm going to try to keep it up... what is it you ask?! Well let me tell you.

I noticed whilst picking out what to make for dinner - that since Christmas - I haven't really repeated any meals, let me repeat - I have not cooked repeat meals since Christmas - now keep in mind, I'm not counting if there is a date night and I throw pasta or chicken nuggets at the kids, or the 3 times we've had tacos this year so far because the kids adore them and we had a gaggle of kids over and they are easy - and of course leftover night and maybe ordered pizza once - but of the dinners I've been making for our family in general have not been the same since sometime before Christmas. This doesn't count sides like salad or rice but I mean mains for dinner.

So now it's like a contest to keep coming up with different ideas every single day. I'm not going fancy or anything - sometimes it's down right, well - boring... But while I do have picky kids just like anyone else - they eat what I serve and get on with it.

So for example - last night we had steamed fish I - Asian Style like my grandma used to make...
one of my absolute favs.... I even called to tell my mom to make her jealous!



So what have I been cookin' in the kitchen? Let me think....

Fish - Asian, Couscous
Fried Rice & asian hot dogs (lop cheung) sp?
Breaded parmesan chicken
Home made pizza, cinnamon rolls
Thai Green Curry
Chinese Stir-fry
Lamb chops
Sweet & Sour Meatballs
Beef Thai Salad
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Homemade Mac & Cheese
Chopped Salad
Pancakes
Beef Bourguingnon (yes, from scratch)


That's all I can remember at the moment but obviously I'll be keeping track now! I'm just curious how long I can keep it up before I slip back to boring-ville! But even if I slip a little - I want to see if I can keep it up at least 5 days out of 7 if I'm cooking them all... stay tuned and I'll keep you posted! If you have any ideas or yummy recipes, send them over please!!

What's on for tonight you ask? Homemade beef pot pies......

Budapest, Hungary

This Mid-term break in February we were supposed to go to Sharm El Shiek & Cairo Egypt with new friends the Fikes. We had set up hotels at The Ritz Carlton and Mena House Oberoi at the base of the Pyramids - but as fate would have it, there was to be a historic revolution instead. Riots and chaos were abound and it wasn't safe for foreigners to travel. The US and the UK put warnings to citizens not to travel there. So we had to scramble and come up with a new game plan. At first everyone was worried about refunds - luckily I got back either all my money or got credit on the airline. No small feat I can say.

We wanted sun but the Canary Islands seemed iffy - our friends all ended up going to Dubai (about 6 families that were to go to Egypt) but since we had been there last year it didn't make sense (nor could we spare the cost to our pocketbook) to go again. I polled a bunch of friends and our good friends the Folan's were going to Budapest - I always wanted to go there anyway so we took our credit from our flights.

It was not disappointing in that it was so beautiful, even in the freezing cold. However you could really get a sense of the Eastern Block and what it might have looked like back in the day. Although it was very gray you could make out the pretty colors and amazing architecture of the city. Another place to tick off my very long list of places to see in this beautiful world.

Pinewood Derby 2011

Another Pinewood Derby has come and gone.... Lucas got 2nd in his Den... Ian's car didn't place but it was a darn cute car, and they had a parents race, but Mike helped so many others with their cars this year we didn't have time to do our own - so we recycled and used one of Chandler's old ones!! All the wheels stayed on so it works.... good times

Margie's 40th

We had a very fun Surprise 40th Birthday Party for Margie at our house - it was really great fun and she was super surprised!! Pictures are worth 1000% words....

Me & Jen

Margie & The Selkirks

The Boys

Me, Jen, Margie, Kathy

The Girls (channeling Charlie's Angels)

Dancing Queen & Her Main Man

ABBA

Farrah (Sharee) & Me

Welcome Back Kotter (Andy) or Greg Brady & Mike

One Groovy Couple