I think she did a pretty good job of Mulanizing

The girls’ fave two movies right now are Mulan and Mulan II (both purchased on the cheap as used movies from Amazon.com). And the fact that we do not own a bonafide Mulan costume is not slowing them down at all.

Oh good, now they don’t have to lie (anymore) to the dentist

We’ve been having trouble convincing one of our girls to brush her teeth for two minutes, like the dentist said. She’s perfectly satisfied with a brushing experience of oh, say, 10 or 15 seconds. So I searched around online and found these nifty Rite Light blinking nightlight/toothbrush timers.

We bought two of the lights, have used them for a couple of weeks now, and all love them. Seriously, LOVE.

Figured if anyone else is tired of being the brush warden, you might like these little gizmos too. When it’s dark in the room, the unit functions as a nightlight, and when you push the tooth button the green light starts slowly blinking. The light blinks faster and faster until it turns red at the two-minute mark, signaling your tyke that her brushing time has come to an end.

Ro and Ree humored me with a video demo of the timers this evening, and it just killed me that Ro (in stripes) kept whacking her hand on the counter anytime I turned around to focus on Ree. Guess she thought I was missing out on some award-winning dramatic tooth action in her corner. It also cracked me up that Ree was so eager to demonstrate the nightlight capability that she turned the lights off in the middle of brushing, then could barely wait to remind me about it at the end. Funny little girls.

PS: This company doesn’t know we exist, and I don’t get anything if you buy this little device, just sharing a great product.

I think they spent more time in the water than out

Our quickie girls’ roadtrip to Tahoe was fun, but tiring. (Actually, we all know that only one of the three girls on the trip was tired, and it wasn’t Ro or Ree!)

We got there in the evening, unloaded everything into the cabin, and the girls immediately begged to visit the lake, where they promised to only dip their toes in the water. I am forty-something years old, for cripes’ sake, and STILL fall for that one.

Hm... With nary a paper towel in the van, the soggy little squirts dried off with two sweatshirts and wore a couple of car blankets back to the cabin:

We spent the next few days playing around at various beaches around the lake. Oh so many fun beaches to explore and
oh
so
many
rocks and sticks to collect. (Which reminds me, need to toss those blasted “treasures” out of the back of the van before the girls remember they’re there...)

One of the beaches was PACKED. More people per square inch of sand than I’ve ever seen there. Ro and Ree were nonplussed, but my introverty self wanted to immediately flee.

It was fine though. I stayed under my nice little umbrella happily munching on Pringles, while the girls built (and rebuilt and rebuilt) their “Great Wall of China”:

We had dinner at The Beacon one night (a must-visit restaurant) and frolicked on the wharf before getting texted that our table was ready (how cool is that?):

The gorgeous-reach-out-and-touch-all-that-blue dinner view at The Beacon always slays me (and we love the food too):

The view straight up from our table wasn’t too shabby either. Ro wanted to know how they kept pinecones from falling on people’s heads. Beats the heck out of me:

We hit a few more water holes the next day, and clearly the girls weren’t too surly about it:
  

While Ro and Ree were busy moving every rock in the lake to a new location, I was quite busy admiring my new Tahoe drugstore flip flops. (Yes I am a huge sucker for cute drugstore flip flops!):

I think this one is my fave picture, even though it was a complete misfire as my beach chair (and my butt) were suddenly doused by water:

Bye Tahoe, we’ll miss you!

PS: The girls slept in until a little after ten a.m. this morn. !!!!! I guess I wasn’t the only tired one after all. And I put names in the alt tags, so mouseover to see who’s who.

Computer-free roadtrip

The three girls of the house are heading out on a quick roadtrip. I don’t think I’ll have computer access while we’re gone (mostly because I don’t know how to get it to work on the road without my resident technological genius, heh), so here’s one quick pic I snapped of Ree (left) and Ro standing by the luggage.

Does anyone recognize that piece of material that Ree tied around her waist for decoration? Bonus points if you do!

Just can’t wait to get on the road again...

Can you believe I’m craving a vegetable now?

We tried a new recipe for green beans tonight and it was so good we nearly licked the pan! Oh man, delish.

The recipe came from the EatingWell magazine (which I now want to subscribe to) and was easy enough that a five-year-old (Ro) and an amateur cook (me) could make it. Do yourself a favor and make these for dinner tomorrow – I’ll bet you’ll never have plain steamed green beans again. Well at least I know we won’t. Heh. Here’s the recipe with some notes on what we changed (intentionally and accidentally):

Balsamic Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided (I messed up and used 2TB, not 2tsp – and will make this “mistake” every time now because the beans were FAB)
• 1 pound green beans, trimmed
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I didn’t mince very finely, because Ro was “helping” so much, but the dish still turned out wonderfully)
• 1 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add green beans and cook, stirring often, until seared in spots, 2-3 minutes. Add water, cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes for tender-crisp or 6 minutes for tender. Push the beans to the side; add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, stir everything together and cook until the tomatoes begin to break down, 2 to 3 minutes (I cooked them for about 5 or 6 minutes because I wanted the tomatoes to be on the soft side and cooked through). Remove from heat; stir in vinegar, salt and pepper. (Don’t leave out the balsamic – the flavor was key and was SO GOOD.)

This was all that was left:

Mmmmmmm.

Lunch menus, take 2

Ro and Ree would rather eat carbohydrates than anything else (well shoot, who wouldn’t, heehee?!), so I’ve redone our lunch menus to help push a variety of foods in a way that’s fun for all of us.

Now we have a page for proteins, a page for starches, and a page for fruits/veggies. Basically each day when lunchtime rolls around (and we’re actually at home), the girls agree on one thing from each page and then I don’t have to rack my tired brain trying to come up with something other than PBJs to slap on the table. (Seriously, why does my mind go completely blank as the clock strikes lunchtime?) Anyhow, they like the independence, and I like the variety.

These are all basics that we always have in the cupboard or freezer, they’re all foods that Ro and Ree like, and they’re all quick fixes (because I refuse to spend a whole lotta time on lunch).

Proteins:

Starches:

Fruits/veggies:

Now, for my Microsoft Word question: how in the world do I get different headers onto each page? This is a simple three-column MS Word doc with pics from Google Images pasted into the columns (see my doc here), and I’d really like to write the categories (protein/starch/fruit&veggie) at the top of each page, but I just can’t figure out how. Argh!

(The menus are clickable to larger versions, in case anyone wants to save or print them, or I published the MS Word doc here if you’d like to download it to your computer and customize your own menu)

The four twincesses had a fab time

Good buddies and fellow twins S2 and H2 came to visit, and the big and little twincesses played their wands off. Heh.

They shared wonderful wardrobes and accessories:

They enjoyed sleepovers and hanging out:

They were always up for a game or two (I think they’re all used to having bodies close together, being all twins – the sight of four dark heads touching made me smile every time):

They liked crafty stuff like Moon Sand and Sidewalk Chalk Painting:

They were an amazing help during grocery shopping (which goes incredibly fast with eight extra willing hands)(and yes, people did stop and stare):

They couldn’t get enough climbing and swinging. Seriously, there was A LOT of climbing. These four girls are crazy STRONG:
 

They thought that movies in the car and a late-night movie viewing (with popcorn of course) were so cool (Mulan II was a fave):

Pooltime was always popular (even though it was chilly by CA standards):

And, of course, there was lots of eating:

The two mamas were there too -- see we have actual photographic proof:

I think that about covers our twintastic week (oh except for a Gilroy Gardens trip, which TubaDad didn’t bring me any pictures of)... Until next time H2 and S2!

(I put notes on who’s who in the alt tags, so mouseover the photos if you need to know)