Future Chef?

It amazes me on a daily basis how much Kevin likes food. He has 1/2 of one tooth and he will still eat a dinner the same size that Amanda does with no problem. When he likes something he puts one arm up in the air with a peice of the food in his hand and babbles.




It is absolutely hilarious to watch. The above picture, he was loving blueberries!

So tonight I was making pasta (a family favorite) and I had set up a step stool so I could get some spices out of a high cupboard. When I turned around, Kevin had started to climb up! So I spotted him and waited to see what would happen.



He proceeded to pick up the spoon and imitate me stirring the pot!



That would be me trying to hold him and prevent him from touching the hot stove, while still trying to take a picture (Mike wasn't home yet)



Perhaps he is destined to be a chef? Only time will tell...

Saturday morning

So I was putting away laundry in Kevin's room when both kids wandered in. Amanda started playing with a monster she got years ago that sings (really loud). She shook her head in tune to the music, and before we knew it, we all were doing it. Here is me, Amanda & Kevin "dancing" to the music.

Weekend fun

I finally got to visit my 2-week-old neice on Saturday.

Me holding my neice Makenzie:



In a milk-induced coma on her Mommy:



Meanwhile the older kids played with balloons. Check out this shot of Amanda. I don't even know how it made Uncle Jason look like a ghost.



Kevin LOVES balloons:



Loving older brother Andrew holding his sister:



And this was Sunday, I walked in to find Amanda helping Kevin to walk. She was also praising him and telling him "Yay Kev-O!"

Going Bananas

We have a banana plant in our backyard that was planted by the previous occupants. I can't stand the thing. It needs tons of water, and it is constantly starting up new shoots and taking over more of my backyard. But one thing it does is actually produce bananas. They are small, and kind of seedy, but they are bananas.

Mike just picked like two huge bunches of bananas that were all starting to ripen at the same time. We were all getting sick of eating bananas, so I decided to make a banana creme pie. The recipe I used called for whipped topping to be spread over the top, and that had to be defrosted in the fridge for 4 hours. So after dinner, when it had finally been 4 hours, I go to spread it. It was about Kevin's bedtime, so he was being fussy and wanted to be held. I picked him up, frosted the cake one handed, and then Kevin proceeded to grab the spatula from me and lick it clean.



He was loving the stuff!



Got it all over his face



But at least the pie was good :)

Oh, Snap!

Amanda is suddenly interested in learning how to snap. She concentrates really hard at putting her fingers together,

"Is this how you do it Mommy?"



Then she squeezes hard and waits for the snap...



...which never comes.

One day she will get it and then I will probably hear snapping all the time. But for the moment it's fun to help her learn.

Kevin's 1st birthday

Finally have some time to post some pics of Kevin's 1st birthday party! Kevin turned 1 on the 27th of July, but we had his party on Saturday the 24th so Aunt Erin could make it, since she was due with Cousin Makenzie at the beginning of August.

Back in 2008, since Amanda's 1st birthday party was just a few weeks after the holidays, I had decided to keep it small. Only invited family and close family friends. And I got a lot of slack from people, saying they wanted to be invited! So I decided to do it up big for Kevin - I invited everyone and planned a whole Hawaiian theme, a pool and water play for the kids...

and no one could come. Apparently July is a busy month for people! So we ended up with a small party again. Oh well, so be it.

Before. Amanda wanted to be in the pictures with Kevin.



Great action shot of Amanda on the bouncer, with cousin Andrew in the background.



The day was kind of coolish, so there wasn't much waterplay, but Amanda went swimming anyway.



The food table. I still had hawaiian food, which was delish!



Dessert was Sprinkles cupcakes. I was sick the week before and just couldn't muster up the energy to make them myself.

Here's Kevin testing out his cupcake (black & white, which was just a chocolate cupcake with white frosting)


And after he got a taste


Telling cousin Andrew all about it!


I let Kevin play in the water table for a bit too


Opening presents:


Playing with friend Kylie (just a few months younger than him)


And then he figured out how to climb under the chair!


All in all it was a good day, and Kevin got lots of attention and some great gifts!

Live Well by Eating Well apparently

Yesterday was a long day for me. I was informed at about 11am that my sister was in labor at the hospital with her second child (a girl). I left work at noon and headed up to be there with the family for her. I got there as she was getting her epidural, so we went down to the cafeteria for some lunch.

The Panorama City hospital is a remodeled, updated one owned by Kaiser Permanente (http://www.kp.org/). Which, if you've ever seen or heard their commercials, has a tagline of "Live Well". They have little incentives, like on-line programs for managing your health and classes at their locations to help live a healthy lifestyle.

So I go into the cafeteria to get food for lunch and decide to get something from the salad bar. I make a salad and then get some fresh fruit, followed by a drink. I notice they have caffeine free Diet Coke - my favorite! I'm standing in line and the guys behind me start making comments like "I can't believe they don't carry regular Coke", "How can they only have FAT FREE Oreos?". I start looking around and notice it's true. They only have diet and "zero" sodas. Only fat free desserts. Even the chips are healthy - Sun Chips, Baked Chips and Whole Grain crackers. I get back to the table we're at and my family is complaining about the fries. Know why? They are BAKED, not fried!

I was very impressed with Kaiser's ability to follow through with their "live well" theme. I used to candy stripe at the Encino-Tarzana hospital and I remember their cafeteria having the greasiest, fried, cafeteria-like food. I LOVED it as a kid, but was it really that good for you? I think people are used to that kind of food, so the different food offered at this hospital caused people to feel outside of their norm (thus all the comments about the food). As someone who has been very overweight, conquered it and now tries to eat heathly, I appreciate when a place offers wholesome choices where I'm not constantly forced into eating stuff that's not good for you. Thank you Kaiser!

I eat meat, therefore I am smart.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/07/30/128877628/meat-fire-and-the-evolution-of-man

Heard this on NPR yesterday (yes, I listen to NPR a lot).

According to the theory, mammals can have either a large gut or a large brain, but not both. Vegetarian mammals expend all their energy on digesting large quantities of vegetables & fruit. They need a big belly to be able to ingest a lot. Energy is mostly used digesting it all. But meat is easier to digest and packs a lot more calories. So energy can be used to grow a brain instead.

Next time your vegetarian friend tells you to stop eating meat, tell them you're smarter for eating it :)