Happy Halloweenie!

Happy Halloween from my little pumpkins!

{Hey, 2 out of 3 looking at the camera isn't so bad...}

I tried to snap some photos this morning, but they were all WAY more interested in the pumpkins than in my desperate tactics to get them to look at least *towards* my way...

This is Jake shouting "Happy Halloween" to everyone

I asked him where his skeleton was, and he shouted some sort of gibberish and pointed to his shirt...

...which scared Chloe, hence the screaming baby below. {Don't you just love Jake's expression towards her, like, "What's wrong with you?!}

And of course, as always, Ava's just chillin'.

The girls are going to be Dr. Seuss's Thing 1 & Thing 2, and Jake is going to be DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba. (Would you expect anything different?!) Have a safe and candy-filled Halloween, everyone!

{Note to self: when making headbands for the girls, make sure to make one for Jake, also. He kept trying to take Chloe's off to wear hers, and then tried to balance one of the itty bitty pumpkins on his head in a makeshift attempt to create his own headpiece. Wish I had gotten a picture of that!}

Meal Planning Monday

Have any of you tried the El Torito Mexican-style Caesar salad Costco carries? If you haven't, you HAVE to try it. It comes with everything you need to create a great salad, just without the lettuce. We had one pack for lunch after a Costco trip Saturday, and we'll have the second pack tonight.

On Tuesday we're keeping it easy by grilling up some thick-cut porkchops. I'll be microwaving one of the Trader Joe's brown rice packets (it comes as a three-pack in the frozen section; so convenient and so easy to have nutty brown rice on the table in minutes!) and adding some carmelized shallots to the rice {fancy way for saying I'm going to mince some shallots and put them over low heat with some butter and leave it until it hopefully doesn't burn}. Of course, I'll be doing my easy peasy roasted green beans I mentioned the other week.

Wednesday is Halloween, of course! We'll be spending it at the Wades' house, like we have for the past several years. Husband Danny and I used to go over there for Halloween even before we had kids and either help pass out candy or take the kids trick-or-treating. Now that we have kids of our own, and the other kids have grown (so, so much--tear!), they come and help us! ANYWAY, I'll be busting out the crockpot to make an awesome and unusual chili recipe that I got from {of course} Family Circle. I'll see if I can remember to take pictures and follow up with a post of the recipe sometime soon, because you all just *have* to try it.

Thursday's fish tacos are going to be a little different than I usually do them. Normally, I'll grab some marinated Ahi in the frozen section of my most favorite store, Trader Joe's, but when I went grocery shopping THEY DIDN'T HAVE IT. Nor was there the usual sign for it, so I'm thinking they've discontinued it. Sigh. Why do you do that to me, Trader Joe's? I grabbed some breaded cod fillets that looked good, and we'll put some of those, their tartar sauce, and cabbage in some tortillas with a side of black beans and call it a night.

Happy cooking!

Jake's Birthday at Pretend City

Danny and I decided a long time ago that we would always have big birthday parties for our kids' 1st, 5th, 10th, 13th, and 16th birthdays, and do smaller special celebrations on the other birthdays. We went big with the little monster party for Jake's first, and this year we were looking forward to a small October birthdays family party, and spending Jake's special day doing something he would LOVE. While trying to think of something age-appropriate that Jake would enjoy, I thought of Pretend City in Irvine. We have been wanting to take him for some time now, and decided this would be a great time to visit. He had a blast! We invited our dear friends and neighbors, the Johnstons, and were so glad they came along. Although, as soon as we got into Pretend City, all boys took off in different directions! ;) My mother-in-law Sherrie was visiting, and it was nice to have a 3:3 ratio as husband Danny refers to our parent/child ratio when we have help.

Pretend City is this awesome place that is aptly named so, because it offers kids ages 2-10 to pretend to be adults in a mini city! Such a neat concept. I'm warning you: this is picture overload. I just wanted you all to feel like you were there with Jake on his birthday. ;)

So glad Sherrie was there to take a family photo {even if the girls are in their car seats}, we never get to take family photos!

Jake kept eying the firetruck while kids were in it, and snagged the driver's spot when they got out!

This boy loves slides...

There was a gym area where he enjoyed climbing on the stacked mats...until he found the ball!

There were little chickens in the "farming" area! So adorable, Jake LOVED them!

The apple picking area entertained him for such a big chunk of time!

Luckily he found the water feature towards the *end* of the trip, otherwise that could have been pretty tricky trying to pull him away from it...that kid loves water.

And what were the girls doing during our trip, you might ask? Well, Chloe was trying to be held as much as possible, Ava just chilled for the most part (looking somewhat terrified as always, so cute!), and getting fed by their awesome dad. :)

I can't wait to take Jake back! We had such a good time. We did our best to attempt a group picture with the boys, but they weren't having it. Who could blame them?

Love those boys. :)

Musings of a 2-year-old

As I was going through and editing pictures from our trip to Pretend City for Jake's birthday, I came across this picture and chuckled. He thought the air blasting out of the spout was just awesome. When I blow dry my hair, Jake will often run up to me and shout, "Mom!" (which sounds more like "Mam"), and he'll hold his face up to me so I can blast air on his face. He loves it!

This picture makes me want to be two again. Rather, it makes me want to appreciate all the awesome things in life...like air blasting out of a spout.

A post with more pictures from our trip to Pretend City and Jake's birthday will be up in the next day or so.

Meal Planning Monday

Monday's "Crockpot Chicken Tacos" are beyond yummy, and super easy to boot. That was a recipe flying around Pinterest that I definitely had to try, and so glad I did. Take a look at the three simple ingredients.

Monday's flavorful pasta dish is a {of course} Giada recipe. All her dishes are amazing, and this one was an instant hit with husband Danny and I. The roasted vegetables turn out perfectly, the simple dressing has great depth of flavors, and the prosciutto adds a great salty bite to the dish. Try it!

The spicy salmon is coming from my Coastal Living magazine. It sounded simple and looks like this whole dinner can be made in a jiffy.

Thursday's dinner is a Trader Joe's fave dinner of ours...I think it was on the menu a couple of weeks ago. I asked husband Danny what he wanted for dinner this week. He requested that dinner. I told him, "We just had it a couple of weeks ago." He responded, "Then why ask what I want?" Point taken. It's classic and beyond simple; why NOT have it every other week?!

Happy Cooking!

Pumpkin Patch Kids {Tanaka Farms}

I wanted to get some cute pictures of the kids at a pumpkin patch, but couldn't decide which one to take them to. We often go to the one on PCH near the Seal Beach/Long Beach border, but I wanted one a little more "rustic" I guess you could say...one without fair rides. Authentic, that's the word. I still want to take the kids to the Irvine Park pumpkin patch because there's a railroad and fun little activities, but I am so glad Laurie and I took them to Tanaka Farms in Irvine a couple of weeks ago. I asked her to tag along for help. 

Tanaka Farms is this sweet family-owned business with a "pick your pumpkin off the vine" patch. Such fun! Too bad it was already 80 degrees at 9:30 when we got there; it didn't exactly put us in the picking pumpkins kind of mood. But do you see that large haystack with pumpkins piled up behind Jake and Laurie in the above picture? I spotted that as the *perfect* place to be able to prop the girls up with Jake and snap some photos.

Jake wasn't exactly in the picture-taking mood. He was more into throwing rocks at all the pumpkins and trying to roll them down the hills. Have I told you yet my son is all boy?!

I just LOVE this time of year, don't you?! If only the weather would cool down a little bit around here to really feel like it's autumn. Happy Harvest time to you and yours!

Sweet Sixteen

Yesterday marked the girls' 16th week of existence in our little family! I just can't believe 16 weeks have already gone by. Some days I think, "Ok, this is getting easier." Some days I think, "Could this GET any HARDER?!" Either way, every day is a blessing with these girls in it.

Oh my, look how they've grown!

{Ava on left, Chloe on right}
On our way to half a year old!

Meal Planning Monday

The kids and I have a busy-ish week, so we've got some easy dishes on our weekly menu.

Monday's "Chicken Tamale Casserole" comes from an awesome blog that always has fun recipes to try. I've only tried this recipe from her, and it was an automatic hit. I've made it *several* times over the last year since finding it.

Have you ever seasoned up some thick center-cut porkchops and thrown them on the BBQ? Well, you must. They're delicious. Or maybe it's because husband Danny works magic on the grill. That's what we're making Tuesday, with some herb roasted potatoes, and roasted green beans (if I'm turning on the oven for a side dish, I'm most likely going to cook the other side dish in the oven, as well!) For the green beans, I basically foil line a cookie sheet, spread the washed and trimmed green beans out, drizzle them with olive oil, and season them with kosher salt and pepper. I pop 'em in the oven at 400 degrees (or thereabouts if you're roasting something else in the oven) for 15-20 minutes or so.

Wednesday's "Zucchini Pasta" is a wonderful dish that comes from Family Circle {of course}. I ripped it out of the magazine last year and can't find the recipe on the web, probably because the recipe comes from a guest chef. It's so flavorful, and I always add more zucchini than called for, so it's a well-rounded meatless meal that appears on our table once a month or so.

Thursday night I'm keeping it easy with Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken {we love it!}, their Jasmine rice (that I'm able to cook in the microwave thanks to my LOVELY Pampered Chef microwave rice maker!) and steamed broccoli. Husband Danny will be taking over bath and bedtime duties while I'm out crafting with other twin moms. And no, "crafting" is not code for drinks at the local bar. But there may or may not be some wine involved. ;)

Happy cooking!
 

My Jake

Bubba J Man, you are TWO years old! My how the time flies! God has gifted me the most awesome son with an incredible personality. Jake, I can't begin to tell you how loved you are. Not only do Mommy and Daddy love you to the moon and back, but now you have these two little sisters that already adore every move you make. Not to mention all of your aunties, uncles, cousins, grandmas and grandpas that just can't get enough of you! You are such a special person to each and every one of us...isn't it nice to know you are loved by so many?

My sweet son, you are ALL boy. Do you know what your favorite thing to do is right now? Tackle people. Do you know what your favorite thing to watch is right now? Football. This is all self-taught; we just sit back watching and laughing. You *work out* hard running back and forth across the room, doing your sprints, diving on balls in a fumble recovery sort of move. I wish I could go into your mind, because I KNOW you think you are in a real football game with six seconds left in a fourth down on the opponent's 10 yard line. ;)

You don't walk anywhere, Jake, you run. I don't want to think of the day when the pitter-patter of your little feet running down the hallway from the living room to your bedroom gets replaced by a heavier clunk-clunk of a teenager's stride. May you always have the desire to run with such eagerness to where you want to go in life.

You used to love baths.  LOVE them. Then you decided you didn't like them anymore, because that smart mind of yours realized that bath time means bedtime. Now, you love your bath again. You could spend hours in there if we'd let you, practicing your swimming and blowing bubbles in the water. You "swim with the fishies" and love when I hold a cup of water way up high and let it pour down onto you.

Recently you have decided to start talking--a little bit--and I just can't get enough! The way you say "ice" and "rice" with that little lisp is just too precious. You have also said "down" and "this" a few times. Our official names you call us are now "Mom" and "Dad." (Actually, it's more like, "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom" as you walk around the house, following me around) I have to admit, it tugs at my heart a little that you don't call me Mommy or Mama.  But your "I'm stuck!" kisses make up for it. :)

Mister Man, you love hats. Specifically, hats that are a *little* too big for you. Whether it's Matt's baseball hat, a fedora, your Laker beanie in 90 degree weather...it's almost guaranteed you'll have a hat on.

Our little family is complete with you in it. You have learned (and are still learning) what it means to be a big brother to your sisters. You spontaneously run over to your sisters, giving them five, six, seven kisses in a row, almost like you can't contain how much you love them! It was a sweet moment the other day seeing you on put your head down on the ottoman next to Ava, patting her stomach as she smiled and cooed at you. When you threw a ball the other day and it accidentally hit Chloe, I could tell you felt bad. You looked at me with BIG eyes and I could sense you were remorseful. You are learning to not only be gentle with your tiny sisters, but also careful around them. Being a big brother is a big responsibility, but we know you'll handle it very well. As for your furry brother, Brody is probably your favorite *person* in the whole world. The two of you roam around in the backyard together getting into mischief. Many of your toys and hats are chewed up...why? Because you give the object to Brody, only so that you can chase him around to try to get it back. No matter how many belts to the head that dog takes from you, when you lean your head near his, he always covers you with a wet layer of Brody kisses. True love.

My sweet son, you are two years old. Thank you for being the blessing you are, and thank you for being my son.  Love you to the moon and back.

October Birthdays

We have some special people with birthdays in October! My mom and sisters came down from Santa Barbara last weekend, and we decided to celebrate my sister's, Jake's, and my birthdays with my crazy Munoz side of the family.

My sisters and I with the girls!

Sweet Presley and Jakers

Mom and Chloe...I can really tell how much hair Chloe has lost in this picture!

The best game ever...stacking cups

Cousins!

"The sisters"

The outtakes...

Sorry it's so grainy, girls :(. But cute, nonetheless!

Lauren and Chloe

Tutu and Ava :)

Blurry, and I had to use a flash, and the room was crowded so I couldn't get any good pictures, BUT this is Jake on his new scooter my mom got him for his birthday. He was so excited! Every morning now he goes outside and rides his scooter on the patio back and forth with his helmet on. *precious*

The next morning husband Danny watched the kids so my mom could treat my sis and I to some manis and pedis at the nail salon. Feeling spoiled!

This weekend is Jake's and my *real* birthday, and we've got some fun activities scheduled that will keep our little family (and my visiting mother-in-law, Sherrie!) very busy.  I used to be the only one with a birthday in October in my family.  Then my little sissy Julia was born. Then my sweet cousin Aidan was born. Then my Jakers was born. {Not to mention some special people on Danny's side of the family, including sweet Grandma Sally, who have birthdays in October.} I am one lucky gal to be sharing "my" birthday month with such special people. :)