Scrambled Egg Spaghetti

Tonight was an experimental dinner. I had this mean hankering for pasta AND eggs. What to do, what to do.... so I decided on both.

Here's what I did:

Cooked whole grain spag noodles, drained, and set aside

Mixed 4 eggs with some whole milk, added garlic powder, salt, and pepper

Threw the noodles into a hot pan with olive oil and then poured the beaten eggs throughout the pasta until cooked (the noodles really soak up the egg)

Served with shaved parm cheese, fresh chopped basil, and an additional sprinkle of olive oil, salt, and pepper.

It came out pretty darn tasty! Ryenne loved it, I loved it... Kai was more interested in his strawberries (as usual).

Asleep

... sweet ...

2 Years

Ryenne and I just made two years in Texas. It's wild that she has now spent half of her life living on Maui and the other half here in Austin.

I keep daydreaming about taking all three of the kids to the beach back on Maui. I am praying for a day when I can take them back every summer to be lazy with their grandparents and spend time at the beach everyday. Doesn't that sound just perfect? If I could work it to be in Austin for 10 months and Maui for two months that would just be the most perfect scenario (note to mom & dad Dagupion... that means we'd take over your house for 2 months.. hehehe).

Today I had quite a moment though... I was driving to a photo shoot in Buda - a little town just south of Austin that I adore - it was hot (very hot), I had the windows down, the music turned up - it was just me - And I looked around and thought to myself... My gosh this place is beautiful. It really is... it has a beauty to it that is lovely. The countryside is quite stunning and reminds me so much of Upcountry Maui (less the view and mountains) that I just feel HOME.

Looking back on these last two years, I find it incredibly amazing that I stepped off that plane with a little girl who was 2 years old and was pregnant. In that two years I've had two children!!! Can you believe that??? 2 sweet little boys in less than 2 years. CRAZY! But then I often feel that way... like a crazy person who's bitten off more than they can chew and wouldn't trade it for anything. Well some parts I could trade. :)

After the photo shoot we threw the kids into the pool (I got in with Cruz) and enjoyed the heat of the day, the sounds of the crazy cicadas in the trees, splashed. It was a complete summertime moment.

A few days ago I was on a blog I frequent that has a question of the day and you answer it. The question that I had answered was "What makes you think of summertime?" and my answer that day was "the smell of salt water embedded on my skin as a kid running around Kuau Cove." But today changed everything. Today my answer would have been, "throwing the kids in a pool with baby soap, splashing, soaking up the last of the day's sun, and going to bed clean and happy. " ... perfection, don't you think?

Reading material

While Ryenne can't officially read yet, she does love her books. It's so nice to know that all her books came from somewhere... from my childhood, from Uncle Koa's younger days, from friends, from garage sales, ect. Every book has some kind of character to it - it makes them special. This is how I found her last night...

She's completely passed out with most of her books, My Peek-A-Boo dog, and her Chicken. The funny thing about Chicken is that he was a gift for Kai from Grandmama. Ry promptly stole Chicken and now can't sleep without him. So Kai stole Ryenne's Glow Worm and now everyone is happy.

Cruz was also quite giggly yesterday!

Father's Day

All my little loves on the couch.

He is adorable.

The road to being healthy

I think I've mentioned before that I am on a quest to lose weight, right? Not just to lose weight, but to change my entire lifestyle and eating habits and be HEALTHY and show my kids how to eat healthy.

I feel like I've come such a long way. In my former Concierge life pre-kids, this is what I looked like.

I found this picture, and a myriad of others like it, while I was looking for baby pictures of Ryenne on the computer. I was pretty much in shock because I hadn't realized that I had looked like that!

The past couple of weeks (before I had seen my old pictures) I was starting to feel sorry for myself because I have been working so hard to fix my body and wasn't seeing huge results. Really I was just being quite impatient about the whole process. But after seeing the pictures, I can see HUGE changes that are being made. It put me back into a good place emotionally.

So pre-kids, I didn't know how to cook. Spaghetti and salad, sure. But I made no effort to cook and we got take out A LOT plus all those fabulous concierge dinners I got to go to. Plus a nasty habit of soda everyday.

Now, I LOVE to cook. I love exploring cooking, flavors, texture, ingredients. I love making something from scratch and having my family eat it and like it - or in some cases not liking it and tossing that recipe. It's been an important step to evolve and grow and play with raw, real ingredients and get yucky preservatives out of my life. Maybe I should start adding some of the things I'm cooking to the blog? Leave me a comment if you'd like recipes added every now and then.

So today is Friday. Fridays are my weigh in days. I won't divulge my weight cause I'm still embarrassed by it - but I will tell you the scale is moving downward. I will tell you that I'm at a weight that I haven't been since I was at MCC. I'm feeling strong and good. And my kids love to eat broccoli and pesto.

Dreamy

Auntie Nikki told me about a ballet class that she enrolled Makena into and ever since Ryenne tried on 'Kena's ballet slippers, she's been asking about it. So I called them up and they said to come on down to the class Wednesday. So we went and bought Ry some ballet slippers and she put on her pink dress and twirled around the house all day just waiting for it to be time for her class.

While Kai was napping, she decided she needed to love on Cruz. I adore the dreamy light that was coming through her window in her big girl room.

My round little chubber boy...

After Kai woke up we hopped in the car and drove out to Bee Caves. I hadn't told Nikki we were coming so it was a surprise and all the girls were squealing with delight. And they all looked SO DANG CUTE!

We couldn't stay to watch the class because we'd be a distraction, and Kai would have wanted to stay. Unfortunately, nothing for his age group at the same time. So I snapped these pictures really fast so we could take Kai to the train set at Barnes & Noble.

Stretching with Makena

A little pre-class twirl

So she was SERIOUSLY excited about this. Here she is jumping for joy.

And she was the only tattoo'd ballerina. That's soooo Austin. A tatted up ballerina. (she got hold of the entire pack of Diego tattoos and did up her legs)

Anniversary

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's our 13th anniversary today. Not of our wedding, but of the day that we first met. It started out like most days with just me and the kiddos.

Ryenne decided to lay down next to Cruz and luckily the camera was nearby. Because if it hadn't been near, I doubt I would ever catch these again... so rare to have all the kids in the same spot!

Ryenne and Cruz

And then a little bit of magic happened. Kai saw Ryenne snuggling with Cruz and decided he wanted in on the action too. And here's what happened before my very eyes...

*gasp*... magic right? That moment couldn't ever be recreated in the same way.

Auntie Nikki, Kaeli, and Makena came over and we got to hang out - it was awesome. The girls and Kai all had such a great time while me and Nikki just chatted.

When Peter woke up we headed to North Austin to meet with one of my clients who happens to have a flooring showroom and we looked at tons of flooring for the living room. Really there were SO MANY options that it made it quite a task to decide. Of course we both loved a flooring that was WAAAY out of budget, but we also loved one that did fall into our budget and it's pretty distressed looking and random width and is actually in our budget INCLUDING installation. So I am completely and totally stoked about it.

So after the flooring appointment we decided we'd take the whole family to Korea House for dinner. Korea House is a total hole in the wall type place. You go there for the food not the service. So picture this...

The food comes out, Kai has his hands in the iced tea. Ryenne is reaching for food on the opposite side of the table, Peter and I are shoveling food into our mouths as quickly as we can hoping to eat fast enough before someone has a meltdown.

Cruz starts fussing, Ryenne is cold, and Kai is eating ice. The waiter comes and asks us not to make a mess. Kai drops his cup, ice flings everywhere, and he starts screaming at the top of his lungs. I am flushed red in embarassment as everyone in the restaurant turns to gawk at us.

We pay the check and get out as fast as we possibly can. Good food? Yes! Enjoyable... not-so-much. I think no more going out to eat for us again for quite some time.

Tee Hee

So today is June 11th - Kamehameha Day - and more importantly, the marker of the date I met Peter... THIRTEEN YEARS AGO! Wow... time sure has flown.

I'll post more about that later... but for now, I just had to jot down this little tidbit from Ryenne this morning:

"Mom, did you know that Crocodiles look like giant pickles?"

Love it.

The party!

Took me a couple of days to get a moment to sit at the computer and sort through Ry's birthday pictures. It was really quite a magical day!

The three monkey's were waiting for the partygoers to arrive!

Friends started arriving and I had everyone wait inside while we waited for a very special guest... Cinderella! She rang the doorbell and I had Ry answer the door. She didn't quite know what to think or to say! Cinderella read a story, danced with the kids, made crowns, and played limbo. It was tons of fun!

They were doing magic spells singing "Bibbity Bobbity Boo" and they were all Dragons here. :)

Look at that smile on Ry!!!

Sweet...

Her "Glass Slippers"

So after Cinderella left to see Prince Charming, we all headed outside for pizza and swimming in a new inflatable pool we got. All was going great until Fire Ants made there way into the pool and the kids were getting bit - Eeek! So we did the pinata in the house - no pictures - I was holding the pinata and then onto the cake!

She took a deep breath to blow out her candles!

And we opened gifts too. She got lots of amazing presents. More than any 4 year old needs! The funniest part was that each of the kids who brought the presents didn't really want to give them up. Challenging age! I did take some pictures for this part, but the kids were so fast and moving in front of the camera that they aren't very good. I did get this one though. This is Ry's good friend, Ryan, who she calls "Boy Ryan". They are very good friends from preschool. And I love that both of them have such long eyelashes!

Everyone started going home and the party was winding down when Kai blew out his diaper all over the carpet. That sure cleared the room and ended the party!!

It was really such a wonderful day. I was completely and totally emotionally and physically exhausted afterward, but it was so worth it.

It's over!

Birthday weekend is over. Actually last night I was so tired that I crawled up the stairs to bed. Yep... crawled. I think if I had put my head down on one of the steps I would have fallen asleep right then and there! Luckily the kids slept well last night and I got a deep, much needed sleep.

This morning Ry tells me, "Mom, howcome you didn't say Happy Birthday this morning?" and my response was, "Cause it's not your birthday anymore! Now you're a regular 4 year old." and she walked away miffed. Good lesson for her that the world doesn't revolve around her (although she thinks it does).

I have some really wonderful pictures from the party - it was really awesome. But I'll get to them in a few days!!

Happy 4th Birthday Ryenne!!!

Four years ago today - June 5, 2006 at 6:21pm - I became a mother for the first time. It's amazing to think back and realize how much my life has changed. It's hard actually - imagining a world without my children in it - although that world did exist a short time ago.

Ryenne is such an important member of our family. Our first baby... our only little girl. Headstrong as she is, I love her to pieces. She definitely knows how to challenge me and push my buttons, but perhaps it's a learning lesson for us both!

Happy birthday my love. I love you so very much you amazing, amazing girl!

3 Months

WOW! How can Cruz be three months old already? Well... today is his 3 month birthday and I wanted to capture all his little rolly-polly-ness... the boy has some chubs and it's completely adorable!

These are from his photo shoot today. The light was PERFECT coming in from the window and he, of course, was the perfect model.

Mmmmm hmmm... look at that hand... posing!

Oh his hair... I am loving it. It's getting so long. And it's sticking straight up most of the time.

So this next one... it's more of his bits that I love to kiss. See those rolly polly thighs? And those little dimples on his hands? And his big, round belly? So sweet!

And his last image for the day... a nakey picture with daddy. I love the contrast between their skin colors. And I realized that I didn't have any nakey booty pictures with his giant Mongolian Spot. I often wonder if it will fade away or if it will stay. Ryenne's spots weren't as big and they faded away. Kai still has his on his bottom and one by his ankle. Only time will tell!

Aside from Cruz's photo shoot, we had a really great day. I had clients over this morning and they bought a really beautiful album. Then Auntie Nikki, Kaeli, and Makena came over with balloons and cake and a gift for Ry since they can't make it to the party. She was totally and completely thrilled. We had a really great time hanging out and the kids had a ball!

I'm headed off to bed... tomorrow is Ryenne's fourth birthday. How can it be that my baby girl is going to be FOUR??? FOUR!!! Wow... She's excited. Daddy is getting her donuts and a giant balloon as a surprise in the morning.

Rustic

This is totally the wrong season for it... but I am really loving baking with Ryenne. We've been taking on baking projects together and I've been exploring new recipes to try.

We ate the black bean brownies before I could photograph them. We also ate the zucchini bread before I could photograph that. And we're continuing with our trend of normally savory foods in a sweet dish with a new recipe I found for Olive Rosemary Cake. This time I had the camera at the ready.

Mixing the eggs.

I'm not even going to apologize for my cluttered kitchen!

Deep in thought sifting the flour (I love this one!)

I love this one too...

Some of our ingredients... eggs, dark chocolate, and rosemary

She added the rosemary herself. We talked about how it smelled and she rolled the leaves between her fingers to release the aroma. She said it smelled good.

And then into the oven it went - only me for that part - and we waited for it to be done. I made spaghetti for dinner - a good vegetable filled 'sgetti followed by our rustic dessert. Here is the finished bread.

I put it under the broiler for the last minute of baking so the sugar on top would caramalize. It definitely gave it a nice crust! The kids were excited to try it. It definitely has a sweet/savory taste to it. Probably would have been more of a hit if the chocolate were milk chocolate. It isn't the sweetest cake so the kids were a little disappointed. I'm glad we tried it though. I was so intrigued! The zucchini bread and black bean brownies were definitely bigger hits. Next on the list is a carrot caked sweetened with only bananas and dates. I'll be sure to post that one. If you want to try the Olive Rosemary Cake, you can find the recipe here.

While the cake was baking, I snapped a few images of Cruz who is so huge. He is now officially in a size 3 diaper and size 12 month onesies. I can't believe it. He turns 3 months on Friday!

And I just love how he curls up his legs and feet. One of the sweetest things ever!!!

Sunshiny Day

It's getting warm outside! Popsicle weather for sure.

I think they love each other (most of the time).

We are growing a garden in the backyard. We have sweet potatoes, sunflowers, basil, yellow squash, carrots, stevia, and tomatoes growing. We are really enjoying watching everything grow!

And we made a new friend today! Meet Melissa... she came and played with the kids for 4 and a half hours so I could do photography work. Ryenne had a blast with her. Ry says she looks like Princess Jasmine. Kai was pretty smitten as well... you know what a flirt he is! Melissa will be back next Thursday to play. :)