Welcome Baby Buster

Born today at about 1pm.

8 pounds 15 ounces.

22 inches long.

Melita and Baby Boy (still choosing the perfect name) are doing great.  Cody is excited to be a Dad again and Savannah is still deciding what she thinks of it all :)

Saturday Brunch

this whole being a stay at home mum thing seems to be agreeing with me. now. it took me a while to get into the swing of things, but since I figured out that I don't have to be constantly holding Mabel every waking hour, or rocking her to sleep every time she needs to nap, I seem to actually have some time to get things done. she's quite happy to lay in her chair and watch me do stuff, and listen to me nattering away to her about what I'm doing. and she is good at going to sleep on her own. as long as you check in with her when she gets upset. sometimes there is a total meltdown which calls for some rocking, but generally she's good.

learning all these things has taken time, and trial and error, but I'm happy to report that we're finally getting it together over here. which has increased the sanity levels immensely!

so much so that I am starting to try new things. cooking new recipes. last week it was banana bread, and this weekend I tried these delicious pancakes. I mean, I can cook, I have no problems with it, it's just that I usually don't take the time. and when it comes to pancakes I usually just opt for the shake and bake variety - which, if you add the right topping can be yummy. (oh and these are awesome for camping!)

I've had this recipe on my pinterest board for a while now, so on Saturday we had brunch with the gang to try it out. Lemon poppyseed pancakes, fresh orange juice (from our trees) and espressos (made by Barista Bryce). it was a beautiful summer morning, under our newly refurbished patio and it was delicious - if I do say so myself!Savannah needed some shades. Mabel loaned her a pair.Daddy and Savannah
Mummy and Savannah
Hannah and Mabel - seems Mabel has to grow into this pair of sunnies...

Lemon Poppyseed Buttermilk Pancakes with Macerated Berries Berries Just add a bit of sugar to your berries, and let them sit at room temperature while you make the pancakes.   Pancakes 2 cups unbleached (all-purpose) flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/3 cup sugar pinch of salt 1/3 cup poppy seeds zest of 4 lemons 2 cups buttermilk 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 2 tablespoons butter, melted butter, to serve (and for pan) To make the pancakes combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt in a large bowl. In another bowl the buttermilk, eggs, butter, lemon zest and poppy seeds. Add the wet to the dry. Stir all the ingredients until they are just combined. Don't worry if the batter is a bit lumpy, you don't want to over mix. Heat your skillet, pan, or griddle to medium-hot and brush it with a bit of butter. Test for the right temperature. If a drop of water dropped onto the pan starts to dance, you are in the ballpark. Pour about 1/3 of a cup of batter into the skillet. Wait until the pancake bottom is deep golden in color, then flip with a spatula and cook the other side until golden and cooked through. Repeat with the remaining batter.  Keep the pancakes warm on a baking sheet in a 200 degree oven until you are ready to serve.

welcome Savannah Reese

Born Tuesday 8 March at 12:18pm, at about 7.5 pounds. I finally got to meet baby Savannah last night, and she is such a little cutie. Basically a little clone of her dad (but way cuter), she has these amazingly long dark eyelashes, tiny long fingers and seems to be a happy little girl.

Melita is tired but so happy to be home with their little bundle of joy. Cody is the total doting dad, and it's pretty sweet to watch him with her :)

we're so happy for the 3 of you.

kisses and hugs

I'm not the only one with a baby bump...

since she hasn't mentioned it on here (that I can recall), I'm going to spill the beans and let you know that Melita and Cody are having a baby.

Today!

they were officially due on Saturday but with no signs of labour, today they're in the hospital where they're making it all happen :) here's probably the last photo of them as non-parents that I took last night at dinner. (sorry about the crappy iphone photo...)

so cross your fingers and send good thoughts their way :)

First Dinner Party

Kate, Bryce, Cooper and McKenzie came over last night for our first impromptu dinner party and to admire the new TV in it's place of honor - towering above the fireplace. Since it was Veggie Tuesday I made eggs Benedict with an assortment of toppings - tomato, spinach, avocado, asparagus, and a very lemony Hollandaise to drench the whole thing. I also make some bruschetta that had small sourdough toasts w/asparagus and melted fontina with a drizzle of truffle oil, sauteed sweet potatoes (I smothered mine in ketchup), and a French blueberry tart for dessert - proving that Veggie Tuesday is delicious, especially when butter is in every nook and cranny of the meal. We ate dinner, watched all four dogs scamper around until finally I snapped, and watched part of Avatar (until realizing that 9:30 on a work night is too late to try and watch a 4 hour movie).

Rocking with Bonnie

Opening act Dashboard Confessional

Love you Bonnie!!The mega screen! The lights and effects were amazing!
Our seats were behind the stage, but we were really close and

Bonnie's binoculars were so powerful I could see John's individual highlights.

When Bonnie asked if I wanted to go see Bon Jovi with her and of course I said "yes!" I bought the tickets a few months ago, put the date on my Blackberry, and thought we were all set. Unfortunately we forgot the correct day and both thought the concert was on a Tuesday, not a Monday so when I got a panicked voicemail from Bonnie this Monday letting me know we f'd the dates up I raced to get ready. Thankfully we were right on time and were even able to catch most of the opening act and had a grerat time watching the show. I only know a few of Bon Jovi's songs, but I do know how hot John Bon Jovi is from watching him in a few television shows. He's so cute!

Daily Macro

Gardening with Drake. I think this is a watermelon seedling.

Gardening with Drake

Lise and Drake came over on Saturday morning to help put in the first batch of seedlings. I've been threatening to garden this year and have actually started! Not only did we install the fence to keep the dogs out, but I have weeded, mulched, and prepped pretty much the entire area.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to have my little nephew come on over to plant some of the first vegetables and we plan to have him come back to watch their progress and see how eventually these plants will turn into lunch!

He seemed to really enjoy the whole process, but thought the worms were very, very gross.

But lots of worms are a sign of healthy and happy soil, so get used to them!

We planted carrots in several varieties, beets, zuchinni, watermelon, and something else. I'm not a very organized gardener and didn't label anything, nor did I plan the garden very well as far as planning what goes where and what plants will do best in certain areas. Basically the plan is to stick everything in and see what happens. If I can remember that plants need water, we should be ok. If not, it's only February and I'm sure we can try again later.

We haven't mentioned the chicken flock to Drake yet since it's going to be a little while before we can install the coop and get the chickies, but I think he'll be very excited to meet the girls when they finally arrive. We've already named them Buffy, Willow, and Cordelia.

Why yes, I am a big Buffy fan. So as thing sprogress with the house the garden will be growing and getting ready to give us our first home grown vegetable to enjoy with friends and family in the new kitchen. More on the reno later.

Texas has it's own cake?

Here's a post from our guest blogger, and my very BFF, Wendy. Wendy and her family all moved to Houston and she recently sent me an email informing me that Texas has it's very own cake! It's called...wait for it.... Texas Sheet Cake!

She made the cake for her dad's birthday and here's what Wendy wrote about the experience: "I had success with the 'cake.' Some call it a Texas Sheet Cake, I call it Diabetic Coma Inducing Deliciousness. It's like a brownie that is frosted with fudge. This recipe uses no eggs but calls for a LOT of butter." (Melita: Just for the record, I love lots of butter in anything, so this recipe already has my complete devotion)

Ingredients

CAKE:
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup water
1/4 cup baking cocoa
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream

ICING:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons baking cocoa
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: In a large saucepan, bring the butter, water and cocoa to a boil. Remove from the heat. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt; add to cocoa mixture. Stir in the sour cream until smooth. Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
If you are not a baker, like me, you will find the consistency of the cake mix to be more like pudding than cake batter.

In a saucepan, melt butter; add milk and cocoa. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add vanilla. Whisk in the confectioner's sugar until smooth. Spread over the warm cake. Cool completely on a wire rack.

I put a dollop of whipped cream on top of the cake because I didn't think the 3 3/4 cups of sugar I put in the icing was enough....

Thank you, mom

I haven't been posting very much over the last few weeks mainly due to the fact that I've been feeling so completely overwhelmed by the efforts to purchase my first home and have had no energy to post more than a couple of quick entries. Now, it's 24 hours before I'm officially a home owner and it's still so unbelievable. My mom is the whole reason this has been possible for me to do and I wanted to let her know how much I appreciate her amazing heart and generosity. I am filled with gratitude and awe that I am lucky enough to have a mother who loves me as much as she does. Ever since I was little I wanted to be close to my mom. I would have done anything to be able to spend time with her, go places with her, and to please her. Since my mom was a very young, single mom it wasn't always easy to get to spend time with her since she worked and went to school. Also, according to several family members, I was quite a handful as a child and it wasn't always fun for a young mom to be stuck watching her kid when there were more fun things to do and I consequently spent a lot of time with various babysitters. Over the years, I went through rebellious stages, wild partier stages, and growing up stages. During the last few years, and especially in dealing with my aunt's illness, I have wanted to be closer to my mom. It's been a long road trying to let go of the child inside who still demands, "Love ME!" and move on to become an adult who is able to love back unconditionally. A warm, sensitive, sunny person - my mom is downright lovable and I hope she knows how much she is loved by me. My mom has given me a gift by allowing me to buy this house and she has also given me a gift by being my mom. I love you.

My Wendy

Wendy has been my friend for going on 20 years now and I love her for so many reasons. Not only is she stylish, but she is also very funny. Here are a few memories that I thought I should share.

Reason #78: She will hand you a bottle of tequila with a straw and trust you not to drown in her bathtub.

Reason #1024: Direct quote from Wendy "Alert the media! My intense hatred of James Taylor and his brand of adult contemporary folk music seems to have ebbed. I just had to sit through some song about sunny days and didn't feel an ounce of rage. Sadly, this probably signifies that I am getting old, not more mature, just old."

Reason #1108: Called me the next morning to say, "God, I hope you didn't go home with our friend last night. We forgot to tell you he has Tourrette's."

Reason #912: Conversation with her husband over breakfast.
Wendy: "What are people from Belgium called? ...Belgish? ...Belgique?"
Scott: "What kind of waffle are you eating?"
Wendy: "Belgian. Oh."

Reason #2005: Direct quote from Wendy while looking at her inferior grits. "Listen, I'm from the South and we know what good grits are supposed to taste like."

Reason #2017: Founding member of The Mega-maniacs. Our revolutionary band where all of our songs were screamed at close range through little megaphones. Co-wrote the hit "Emergency Situations"

Reason #25: Is still friends with me even though I yelled at her great-grandmother in law at Christmas when I thought she was pretending to not know who I was.

The Garage

WineBeerSaladHamburger Hamburger - moments laterShrimpVanilla Bread PuddingJulia, Jeremy, Jessica, Louie, Kwal Julia and Melita

Chris

Keri and Jessica = Foxy

I went with Keri, Jessica, and their friends to a fun night out. The first stop was a delicious dinner at The Garage in Naglee Park. This place is incredible! I love the beautiful and fun location and the menu was outstanding. I had a glass of Pinot Grigio and the hamburger special with avocado and swiss cheese. The hamburger was flavorful and juicy (Chris says it's because the burgers are hand-formed sirloin) and came with these amazing giant fried potato wedges and tomato jam. I sampled everyone else's dishes too and think next time I'll order the shrimp that Jessica had. The broth they came in was So Good and came with bread for soaking it all up! Afteward we went for a few songs at Bamboo 7 with Julia Gulia and Keri & Jessica brought the house down with their beautiful voices. In fact, when I went up to sing the crowd started shouting, "We want Jessica!" Below is video of the female power ballad Keri performed in an effort to cheer me up. It worked, girl! It's a little hard to hear her because there was a very intoxicated crazy lady who took a break from straddling random people to scream "ooooh yea!" during the performance.

Pete's Chanel Rocket Launcher!

Our friend Pete is an amazingly talented artist and also a very nice guy! I was so excited this morning when I saw on his FB page that Bruno was pictured posing with Pete's Chanel rocket launcher at the LA premier of his movie! Yay Pete! This is huge!

buy one here

Sneak attack

"Is mama looking?""Time to try her soda."

family portrait

Pizza party with mom

Tonight we met up with my mom at the new Mountain Mike's that just opened near the Almaden Cinema Five (our favorite place to see movies) for their 50% off any pizza night and then went to see Land of the Lost at the Almaden Cinema Five for their Terrific Tuesday $4.50 movie night. We ordered an extra large 1/2 pepperoni and mushroom, 1/2 Tuscan garlic, but they accidently made a whole garlic Tuscan and gave us a second pizza for free. We currently have a lot of pizza at home. So much pizza.

The movie was alright. I thought I would hate it, but Cody really wanted to see if and my mom didn't care either way. It was lame and pretty corny, but there were several parts that had me laughing so it ended up being fun to watch. Overall, it was an affordable and fun way to spend time with mom.

Hitler plans Burning Man

So. Awesome.