Living with Bryan

It's that time again...

2010-10-16T09:05:00.001-07:00

School pictures are out...

Can someone please explain to me when my little boy grew up? I know I was here for the journey but man oh man -- he amazes me. He's only in second grade but looks older to me! Never mind that his mind blows me away on a daily basis.

I figure since I'm blogging already I might as well interview him.. so here goes..

Favorite color? Red

Favorite animal? Dolphin

Book? too many to choose from

Sports team? Dolphins

Video game? Lego Harry Potter Wii

Board game? Mouse Trap

Food? Steak

Dessert? Pumpkin Pie

Ice Cream? all of them

Candy? Sugar Babies

He's a reading maniac and is reading at a 5th/6th grade level, loves math and asking questions about EVERYTHING!

A Special Message From Bryan to someone Special!

2010-10-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Eli from the 3 of us! Love you and Miss you!

Horses!

2010-07-29T07:19:00.001-07:00

(this is Daasha -- love her boots!)

So, back in April we won a riding lesson at our school's silent auction. We finally took Bryan a couple weekends ago... I only have a couple pictures edited of the 90+ that I took. I need to find my mojo for editing again.. or I just need a new computer that moves faster? So, here are a couple pictures from that day.. hoping I can add it them at a later date!

This is Marit.. the sweetest most responsive horse I've ever seen (or ridden!)

This is Irina (our friends oldest daughter) warming up Vin.

Bryan really demonstrating his ability to "Whoa" a horse, I think Marit was more interested in my camera at the time...

(my apologies for pictures smaller than usual for me -- I was trying a new sizing technique in photoshop and I don't think I like it very much!)

I'm so neglectful!

2010-07-17T11:29:00.001-07:00

Sorry about that! We've been busy? Yeah, that's it!

So, Bryan finished 1st grade with a bang in June.. he really grew by leaps and bounds both size wise and knowledge wise. He's a quick thinker and a very caring kid. He wants to help every cause that passes his view. (this morning he was asking about foster kids!)

So, he's a ham too... June was Paul's birthday so we took him on a brunch cruise on the San Diego Bay... they take a photo before you board and it took a couple takes to get a decent family picture! Here's Bryan in all his "I'm gonna be a movie star!" glory..

And here's the actual photo we paid for (the photographer threw in the above photo gratis)

I know, it's not enough of an entry to really count but I'm trying.. give a gal some credit will ya? Bryan will be in camp all next week -- all day -- so I will put updating this blog thing on my list of things to do while kid is gone. Whether or not I will be able to find that list next week is an entirely different story!

Riding away!!

2010-03-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

So, once again I have been a slacker in writing in this blog and only have a minute to do this so without further ado... here's Bryan riding his bike!!!

School Picture Time

2009-10-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

Kinder picture from last year..

to first grade...

My boy is growing! Can someone please ask him to stop now! But he did tell me that he'd always be my baby when I was lamenting his growing up when we were looking at pictures...

It's been a while

2009-10-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

So, Bryan is now in first grade! Oh my, where'd the time go? He's six years old and finally lost his first tooth! He's doing great in school and since I don't have a lot of time right now I'll just share a bunch of pictures...

First day of 1st grade

On Sept 21 Bryan's school participated in the International Day of Peace. Here is his contribution..

And finally that tooth that he just lost on Saturday...

Crazy Hair Day

2009-04-14T11:22:00.001-07:00

So, I have some stuff to update from the last couple weeks but right now I wanted to share Bryan's hair for school today. It's spirit week at school and yesterday was pj day and today is crazy hair...

Of course I took the pink spray and the glitter spray to school and I was the hit of the kindy crowd.. no one got as much as Bryan but they got something...

ER Visit last night.

2009-04-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday Bryan woke up with an extremely sore neck -- to the point of tears. I tried icing it, massaging it, motrin -- nothing helped. I called his ped's office just after 5 and waited for a call back but he was begging to go to the hospital because it hurt so bad, so Paul came home and we took him in. It was a long night -- we didn't get out of there til around 8pm. He was starting to feel better so I felt kind of like a heel for bringing him in but the doc didn't let it phase her, just basically said "well, since you're here why don't you tell me about it and let me check it out" so he did, he was presenting as guarding his shoulder and neck which was a clue that something was wrong -- so she felt around he yelped when it hurt -- he had a nasty spasm in his trap (left side) and get this, they use valium (crushed up and added to cherry syrup) as a muscle relaxer for kids... so he drank that down, got a popsicle since he didn't like the taste and slept the night through (after a quick stop at McD in the hospital for his dinner) -- woke up with no pain this morning. Still need to keep up with the motrin for the day and take it kind of easy since he hasn't regained full motion yet but he's getting there and we are heading up to Knott's Berry Farm tonight after Paul's softball game and then a stop in Dana Point for some whale watching on Saturday.

Carrot Raisin Muffins

2009-04-04T07:09:00.001-07:00

What is this mess on my table?!?!

So, this Friday Bryan had a"Spring Party" at school. Being the lover of baking that he is we found a recipe for Carrot Muffins. I oops and didn't but grated carrots so I just chopped up the julienned carrots. I used glazed walnuts instead of plain. And I did mini-muffins versus regular sized. Bryan and I made one batch (the one shown) on Tuesday and those wound up going to Paul's office since I wanted a fresh batch for school and I also bought four times the carrot I needed! Paul had commented to me that while they were inhaled in his office he wasn't too sure how the kids would like them since they weren't overly sweet. I have about half the muffins that came back with me after the party. Oh well, more for us!

Rating: 4.5/5 forks up!

My Life. In Pictures: Day 5

2009-04-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

I slacked on Day 5. I was out of the house all day with school stuff and then had a t-ball game after that. I hope to try one of these again. It's been a total blast seeing what everyone comes up with and what kind of comments I get.

My Life. In Pictures: Day 4

2009-04-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

It's Day 4 in Amber's Photo Adventure! The topic today something you do every day.

So, here you go, I was thinking of coffee, Starbucks, snuggles with my child..but I opted for this.

This picture shows how a day starts and ends for me...taking my temp before I even try to get out bed .. (that'd be the start) and then every night after stories, bible story and devotional, and finally prayer Bryan comes from his room into mine, curls up makes sure I say "Sweet Dreams" and start up Big Rock Candy Mountain for him to fall asleep to -- as he's cuddled up of course.

My Life. In Pictures: Day 3

2009-04-01T17:12:00.001-07:00

So it's day two in Amber's Photo Challenge! Today's theme is ... "View From Front Door"

Not too terribly exciting since I live in a townhouse so I had an option of either showing you my neighbors doors or turning a little and catching the view to the mailbox.. I opted to turn..

Tomorrow is something you do each day.... hmmm.. pondering that one.

My Life. In Pictures: Day 2

2009-03-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

So it's day two in Amber's Photo Challenge! Today's theme is ... "Something on your table." -- well my table is kind of crowded right now, it's been a busy day...

Let's see, what do we have... a peek of a laundry basket (our laundry closet is in the dining area), then I was cleaning out my camera bag so we have an extra body, assortment of lenses, flash, extra battery (need to find #3!!) my coffee cup that my mom bought me when I had my son, my DS, ever present "Dinner Games" tin, camera bag, kid's homework folder, and various art projects that the child has started...as witnessed by the paint residue around my coffee cup...

Guess I need to clean up the table before dinner tonight!

Saturday Fun

2009-03-30T17:57:00.001-07:00

On Saturday afternoon we hit the beach.. what else is there to do with temps in the high 70's?? I didn't take many pictures because I was having fun just playing and watching Bryan....

Karate Tournament

2009-03-30T17:27:00.001-07:00

I have to hand it to my kid and give him credit where it's due. He's a trooper. We went to his 3rd karate tournament on Sunday. And he was competing against kids older than him (there was only one other 5 year in his group) and he did his best. Did he place? No, but the experience is priceless and helps him prepare for future tournaments.

My Life in Pictures: Something New

2009-03-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

So, Alicia blogged about this cool thing and I'm going to try and play along, I'm sure I'll mess up how I'm supposed to link back and all that jazz so I'll just say whoops from the get go...

(and because I'm on a time limit I'm going to just c&p what Alicia said in her blog.)

Everything Except The Grill is hosting a wonderful Photo Challenge this week. I think it looks like a lot of fun...

Monday- Something new
Tuesday- Something on your table
Wednesday- The view from your front door
Thursday- Something you do each day
Friday- Something old

And here is my Monday assignment... Bryan and I planted some seeds a week or two ago -- look what we found this morning (I admit I hadn't looked in a few days)

T-Ball Opening Day

2009-03-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

So, today was opening day and Paul and I went a little photo happy -- it was mostly me flipping between two cameras (I didn't want to bother with changing lenses so a friend loaned me her camera bag for the day) but when our team was at bat I was playing the role of 3rd base coach.. I've got over 200 files to go through and whittle down but wanted to share one of Bryan in "ready" position -- he was playing between 1st and 2nd bases --I also wanted to share a link to the local news station that was there -- if you look closely you'll see me on the sidelines with camera in hand on the ground (in a black top) -- Bryan's team is the Indians in dark blue shirts and hats...

Coming home early...

2009-03-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

This morning I was in Bryan's classroom for about an hour, grading homework, updating folders and grading spelling tests. Ran to Target, stopped at Starbucks and get a call from Paul that the school called him (having some serious cell phone problems lately) -- shortly after I left this morning they went out for morning recess and Bryan decided to jump off the swing...landed on his face. No tears and he told Paul on the phone that he was okay to stay the day but I still swung by. He didn't go to science so he stayed in the class with his teacher and helped her and they had just come back to the nurse's office to get ice when I showed up. He decided then that he wanted to go home. Looks like he'll have a black eye for t-ball opening today tomorrow and now he's resting with a bag of frozen corn on his face. I'll update with a picture later... right now he just needs mommy..and mommy needs to go watch cartoons with him.

And here's a picture...

August 2008 trip to Legoland

2009-02-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

So, back in late August I was able to meet up with a mom that I met online --- We went to Legoland for lots of playtime fun for Bryan and her two kids. Since I haven't cleared sharing pictures of her kids I'll show a couple of Bryan instead...

Bryan and K watching a ride go by...

Bryan on our way out, proudly wearing his "drivers license" and soaking wet!

Fun with Koko

2009-02-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

Back in October Alicia blogged about Timothy's adventure's with Koko the gorilla, she also gave a good amount of background on Koko and who she is. Well, Bryan was supposed to have Koko turned in on Friday last. Well, it was a crazy busy week and Koko will be returning tomorrow. She'll have the addition of a little kitten clipped on her jammies as well as a pink kitten Bryan decided to get her for Valentines Day.

Here's a couple pictures of Bryan and Koko's adventures.. I was really slacking in the carry the camera department.... I had to send Paul out to Walgreens to print the pictures for the book we return with Koko...

Birthday fun...

2009-02-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

So, Saturday I gained another year on this planet. Paul gave me my present early because I was tempted to buy it myself so we've been enjoying my Wii Fit for over a week. On Friday Paul came home with beautiful orchids for me... I love that man. Saturday morning he ran out and grabbed breakfast then we headed over to t-ball team assignment, Bryan is an Indian with his first practice tomorrow (Tuesday) -- we'll see how that goes with the awful weather we're having. After that we headed to Stars on Ice which was actually my Christmas present. Bryan complained the whole way there but LOVED Yuka Sato. Then Paul took us to dinner at Anthony's Fish Grotto. Yummy lobster and grilled shrimp at a waterside table. It was a good day filled with lots of hugs and kisses.

Sunday we went to church then to Cafe 222. Bryan picked Cafe 222 because there's a Farmers Market right by it but it was cancelled for a Chinese New Year celebration so we walked over to the Children's Museum but it was packed since it was their "Free Sunday" so we didn't stay long. Lots of Wii playing once we got home and I cooked a really awesome meatloaf (sauted onions & mushrooms, layers of cheddar cheese...yum!).

Today school is closed for Abe Lincoln's birthday -- I was hoping to get out and do something fun with Bryan but this winter rain storm is kind of prohibitive -- I drive okay in the rain but I don't really think other people do. He also has next Monday off -- as does Paul. We were thinking of going to Knott's Berry Farm or Disneyland for the weekend but this rain doesn't look like it'll be letting up anytime soon. Palm Springs is out too due to the rain.. we may head up to Big Bear and enroll Bryan in ski school. Definitely will not take my car on that trip though -- Paul's 4 wheel drive will be mucho safer.

February Fun

2009-02-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

So, Bryan has been begging to make brownies for some time now. They are currently in the oven. Here's a bad cell phone picture of him reaping his just rewards especially since they won't be cool enough to eat when it's time for bed.

(Can you guess where our laundry closet is in comparison to our kitchen?? Need to put away the laundry!! And my poor neglected wine rack is overflowing, just got another shipment!)

Speaking of bed it's almost time to put Koko the gorilla to bed. It's a really cool class project that his teacher does. Each student gets a chance to bring KoKo home to experience new things. I've taken a few pictures but they are on my camera and being the perfectionist I am, they won't be posted until I can edit them.

Koko is due for a fun week. I think we're going to the driving range to try out the club that Daddy bought him this past weekend. Then Thursday is the late day at the Children's Museum followed by karate. Saturday brings t-ball team assignment, Stars On Ice (do gorillas like ice skating?) and my birthday. Sunday of course is church as well as brunch following.

Well, I have a brownie batter covered child to clean up..... stay tuned for more fun.

So not food related...

2009-01-09T14:24:00.000-08:00

Although it may lend itself to me not cooking after next week. While we were in Texas over the holiday Bryan fell in love with the Wii. Well, one day this week we were at Game Stop because I'd misplaced the AC charger for the Nintendo DS... which is so not a good thing for me and the boy. While we were there he got all excited because they had a bunch of display boxes for Wii's. (is that the plural form??) But lo and behold, they had none in stock....so I called around for a couple days, started stalking wiitracker.com. And today I hit paydirt -- Walmart.com had them. Granted it's not the same as walking into a store and walking out with one but it'll definitely be an incentive over the weekend to get the mass of toys out of the living room so we'll have room to play. So, I've got the console (and all the stuff that comes with it), an extra controller & nunchuck, and Monster Trucks game (for him obviously!) Everything will be here by Wednesday!

I can't wait to tell him after school. He started crying yesterday when I told him I couldn't get one. Oh, and the kicker, he's keeping it a secret from Daddy!

Delicious Deviled Eggs

2009-01-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

So, the same night we made the mac and cheese Bryan still wanted to make those Deviled Eggs. Back to the same recipe box and we moved onto letter D. I cooked up the 6 eggs, split them and Bryan did all the rest -- well until it was time to fill the yolks.. he had no patience for that.

After they were all done and sprinkled with paprika he presented his Dad with a plate full of deviled eggs. When I went to put the leftovers away there were only 2 left! I ate two, Paul (aka Dad) ate 2 and that means that Bryan ate 8! He ate the leftovers the next day.

They were pretty tasty, but I may doctor the recipe the next time we make them.. it was the simple recipe, egg yolk, mayo, mustard and salt. I might add pimento or olives next time.

4.5/5 forks up --

Cheesiest Cheese and Macaroni!

2009-01-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

For Christmas my 5 year old niece gave Bryan and me My A to Z Recipe Box: An Alphabet of Recipes for Kids Let me tell you -- the kid was thrilled! He really wanted to make Deviled Eggs while we were Texas over Christmas but it didn't work so we made "Cheesiest Cheese & Macaroni" after we got back into San Diego.

It was awesomely wonderful! I'm used to reading recipes that call for you cook the cheese sauce ahead of time -- nope. We mixed up cheddar, mozzarella, ricotta and grated Parmesan. Added in the heavy cream and milk.. I took care of cooking the noodles and Bryan mixed it all together! Then we carefully poured it into a dish (and I say carefully because it was super wet without the sauce being precooked) and into the oven it went after Bryan dutifully sprinkled bread crumbs and more Parmesan on top.

I was weary of how it would turn out since it was so wet but it was wonderful! It help together fantastically and Bryan had two servings of it that same night.

5/5 forks up on this one.

It's a Start

2009-01-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

So, I was talking with Alicia from Experiencing Each Moment this morning that I should start a blog with some of the fun things Bryan and I do in the kitchen. So, this is the start.

I'll be chronicling our cooking adventures as well as any other fun things that we do.

I need to go pick him up from school right now but stay tuned for some yummy things we've cooked just this past week!