April to June - 2012

Scout and I had the chance to go on a few school field trips with Josh.

The Children's Museum, one of our usual haunts. Josh had a great time exploring with his friends, and Scout had a great time finally being able to play with whatever she wanted, for as long as she wanted, instead of having to go where Josh wanted to play.

We went to the Crowe's Nest Farm just outside of Austin with Josh's class (on the same day we moved into our new house, actually), where Josh immediately discovered a new obsession: farm animals. This field trip, and the associated learning at school, had an immense impact on him. He absolutely loves farm animals now. They're right up there with ocean animals and zoo animals. We saw a milking demonstration, which sent him right over the moon. The cow's name was Hershey, and now most animals that Josh gets to name are named Hershey (including dinosaurs). It was so great we took a few more trips out there with Mario a few weeks later.


We got to go on the hay ride and see lots and lots of fun animals.

A few weeks after we went to the farm, I was making breakfast and Josh said, "Hey Mom, cows make milk. What do chickens make?" I said that chickens make eggs. He thought for a minute and said "Cows make milk. Chickens make eggs. What do roosters make?" I said they didn't really make anything. He thought for another minute and then said "I know! Roosters make pancakes! And donkeys make waffles." He continued to inform me that kittens make apples and T-Rex makes dinosaur cheese.

She's being a chicken. :)

 

We tried to take family pictures at the park with our good friends, the Ancers, but the kids didn't cooperate so we scrapped it and just took pictures of the kids instead.

Texas has maybe the most intense rain storms I've ever seen, and I lived in the South Pacific for a while so that's saying something. Since thunder storms are going to be a part of our lives as long as we live here, I've tried really hard to make them something fun and exciting instead of scary. Here are the kids enjoying one particular hail storm from our old house. This storm was so strong that it washed our big city trash cans down the street.



We've been to the Austin Zoo about 4 times. Notice I didn't take any photos of the animals. That's because the Austin Zoo is a really good zoo in some ways and a really terrible zoo in other ways. It's great because it's a non-profit organization that only takes in rescue animals or animals to be rehabilitated, so it's not as sad as going to a "good" zoo and seeing all kinds of wonderful, healthy, endangered animals that should have been left where they were, not stuck in concrete cages their whole lives. The Austin Zoo is awful because there aren't a lot of animals there. It has three lions, four tigers, a blind panther, a leopard that can't walk, a couple sick bears, a pig as big as a tiger, and a whole lot of normal animals, including a

The zoo train!

boatload of goats, deer, and llamas that you can feed, and dozens of chickens and peacocks that will steal your lunch (so I guess you could say that you feed those ones too). Apparently two of the tigers were dropped off by a man who said he "found them in the woods." Right. You found two fully-grown tigers in the woods and decided to invite them into your car to drive them to the zoo? As full of bologna as that story is, at least he gave his two illegal tiger pets to a zoo instead of killing them or just

This is how my city boy feeds animals at the petting zoo.

releasing them so someone else could actually find them in the woods. So the animal selection is less than impressive, but they have a train!

At the Zilker Botanical Gardens.

The Botanical Gardens down at Zilker Park are a lot of fun, or they were until it got so blasted hot outside.

Movie Night at the Apreotesi home. Boy can these three put down the popcorn! Josh can plow through an entire bag all by himself and ask for more.

 Fun with Scout while Josh is in school.

In May, we really realized just how awesome our new neighborhood is. They have an annual kick-ball tournament. Fun stuff!


We got to go to one of Josh's best

Josh and Mirabel.

friend's third birthday party in May. He and Mirabel have been playing together basically since she was born. The kids especially enjoyed the cupcakes, both at the party and as a treat at home the next day.

Random adorableness.

We also celebrated my birthday in May with our first trip of the season to Sea World!
 

 

Josh went through a phase a while back where he didn't just want me to draw vehicles for him - he wanted me to MAKE vehicles for him. Like ones that really rolled and could hold little people. This particular little beauty took me a while to make, but it took him even longer to color. I think he worked on this for over an hour - you can see that he was only using the fine point tip of his marker.

Josh and Dude at the splash pad.

We also welcomed a new beloved friend into the family in May. I bought a plastic garden owl to scare birds away from making messes in my pool. Josh promptly decided the owl would make an excellent friend, however, so it has only spent a total of about two minutes guarding my pool. This fella's name is Dude and he was our constant companion for about a month. Josh would take Dude with us to the library, the store, even to Primary one Sunday.  Josh would play with and talk to Dude most of the day. "Dude, should we do a puzzle now? Oh, okay! That was a great puzzle! Now should we color? Dude, do you see this Iguanodon I colored? Are you having fun? Are you tired? Ok, let's have a nap. Now close your eyes and go to sleep! Oh, you woke up! Did you have nice dreams?"  Dude still sleeps right by Josh's bed every night.

This is where Josh puts Dude down for naps. Looks comfy, doesn't it?

Josh finished his gymnastics class in June with a whole little routine. It was really amazing to watch him get so much more confident over the months he was there!

Scout doing forward rolls, just like her idol Josh.

Singing with his class at school.

He also had a couple school presentations. His class performed at the PTA meeting one night, and they performed again at Dawson Elementary's annual Sock Hop. His school experience this year has changed our lives, and we're so sad to be moving to a different school next year! I hope he can connect with his teachers and classmates at his new school like he did at Dawson! (I can't post many of the photos from his school activities on the blog for privacy reasons as they show other kids in his class.)

Josh and his awesome teacher, Ms. Dennis.

We went mini-golfing after Josh got totally engrossed in a golf tournament on TV with Mario a few months ago. When we started golfing, he announced that he was Tiger. I'm sure Mario has nothing to do with that.

And I convinced Mario to go skydiving with me. It was AWESOME. Last time I went I was alone and in a foreign country and it was awesome. But it was so much better going with my best friend. 

Can you tell whose idea this was? There were a few minutes there when he wasn't too happy with me.

Seriously, there is nothing like throwing yourself out of a perfectly good airplane from two miles above the earth. Mario was sure this was going to be his one and only skydive. I told him he should wait until after he did it. And now he's sure that was definitely not his last skydive. Although next time I may make him jump out first. 

If you think Mario looks like he's about to throw up, you're right.

And then it was his turn . . .

My favorite shot of the day.

We made it! (But we did write our will on a scrap of paper before we left the house.)

And we'll leave you with a pic of my tiny little Chris Farley. :)

Key Lime Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

My tree full of key limes just outside my kitchen window has been begging me to make this since we moved in and she was covered in lovely white blossoms.

I read about ten recipes looking for the perfect Key Lime Cheesecake, to no avail. I was searching for a phenomenal cheesecake with phenomenal key lime flavor. Most of those I read had only a tablespoon or two of lime juice, and others had only a small amount of cream cheese.

So I created this, using the amounts of lime in the super lime-y ones paired with the high cream cheese content and baking method used in the America's Test Kitchen New York Cheesecake recipe. And it is amazing.

Note: if you don't own an instant-read thermometer or a kitchen scale, get one. You will never have dry cookies or over-baked custard or meat again. I have the OXO Good Grips Chef's Digital Leave-In Thermometer and highly recommend it.

Key Lime Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Recipe

Crust
2 c. graham cracker crumbs (6.5 oz, about 1.5 sleeves)
3 T. sugar (1.5 oz)
1/4 t. salt
1/4 c. butter, melted

Filling
4 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature (this is important)
1/2 vanilla bean, just the seeds (you can reserve the seed pod for another use) - can use 2 t. of vanilla extract if you don't have vanilla beans
2 t. key lime zest
2 c. sugar (14 oz)
2/3 c. key lime juice
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 t. salt
4 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

Preheat oven to 350. For the crust, combine all ingredients and press into the bottom of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Bake until fragrant but not browned - about 8 minutes. Turn the oven up to 500.

For the filling, mix the cream cheese in a stand mixer on medium-low until smooth, about 2 minutes. Don't incorporate air as this will increase the chance of your cheesecake cracking. Add the vanilla bean seeds, zest, and sugar. Mix on low until incorporated. Add juice, sour cream, and salt. Mix on low until incorporated and scrape down the sides with a spatula. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, mixing after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Mix another 30-60 seconds .

Pour filling over crust and bake at 500 for 10 minutes. WITHOUT OPENING THE OVEN, turn the heat down to 200 and bake for another 40-50 minutes, until the filling has an internal temperature of 150. Baking on low heat until the correct internal temperature has been reached makes for a smooth, creamy cheesecake, not the dry, egg-y mess you can sometimes end up with.

Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Then wrap tightly and store refrigerated. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream if desired, or whatever else you'd like to throw on it to put it over the top. Candied lime? Toasted coconut? Sweetened sour cream? It's pretty fantastic all by itself.

(the holes in the top of the cheesecake are from the thermometer probe. if you don't want yours to end up this dark, lightly cover the top of the pan with foil for the first half of baking time.)

Our new house! - April 2013

 
We decided in April that it would be a useful exercise to look at a few houses for sale so that we would be more informed when it came time to buy a house when our lease was up in October.

Then we decided we should move during the summer so Josh wouldn't have to switch schools only a month into the school year.

Then, during one of our "useful exercise" excursions, we found a house that we couldn't pass up. 

So we put in an offer. 

And that's how we bought a house. 

Helping me pack.

And that's how our bank account went from "comfortable" to "flat broke but in a really great house."

Scout helping me shop for our new pad.

Our neighborhood is amazing, although much farther from Mario's work than we had hoped to end up (about 10 miles). There are a ton of kids and lots of very friendly neighbors. We live on a very quiet cul-de-sac.

It's pretty freaking amazing, actually, that this is our life.

Unpacking and hanging out with Yaya.

The kids fell in love with it immediately. When we came for the inspection before the sale closed, I was explaining to Josh that we were only going to be at this house for a few hours, then we would have to go home but that we would come live at the new house soon. "Oh, please [can we] live at new house? Oh please oh please!" he said. We've been living here for almost 3 months now and he still calls it the "new house."

Yaya came out to help us during the move. 

 I'll admit, most days I feel as though I bit off quite a bit more than I can chew. Cutting the grass alone is 2+ hours a week, and I haven't even attempted to keep up with weeding or tending the plants that are already here. It's been a challenge trying to learn how to take care of the pool (Seriously, what happens to the oodles of very strong, very expensive chemicals I dump into this thing every single week?! Do they really just disappear?), apart from the fact that these two munchkins can't resist throwing every single blasted thing they can get their hands on into it. And obviously there is a great deal of space inside for my darling children to fill with crumbs, dirt, toys, clothes, and whatever else they feel like throwing around. 

But it is a gorgeous home, and we are so blessed to have it. I never imagined I would own something like this. 

I never imagined a lot of things about my life, though, and almost all of them are great. 

April 2013

Her hair is FINALLY long enough for pigtails!! Happy day!

One of my Christmas presents was a cooking class at our local Whole Foods, which happens to be the flagship store, corporate offices, and huge. I'm not necessarily a big Whole Foods fan, but this place is impressive. And it has a playground on the roof! Anyway, they host cooking classes, and we went to Korean Cooking 101. It was a blast! We made our own gimchee, vegetable pancakes, marinated short-ribs, yam noodle stir-fry, and porkbelly-gimchee stew.  Merry Christmas to me! (I know I took a picture of us at the class, but I can't find it anywhere!)

One of the lovely things about the kids getting older is establishing or renewing family traditions. For Easter, Josh and I had a great time coloring eggs and putting random Easter bunnies and eggs into his usual slew of drawings. He had so much fun coloring the eggs that we actually colored the same eggs about three times on consecutive days. We made sugar cookies together, which he then refused to eat. He told me they were yukky. His favorite part of the holiday was pretending to be the Easter bunny. He would take his basket of eggs from the assorted egg hunts he participated in before the actual holiday and hide the eggs around the house. Then he would go find them again. And then hide them again.


 For Easter, I decided to do a meal inspired by my time in Chile. I made traditional Chilean empanadas de pino, which have seasoned ground beef, hard-boiled eggs, raisins, and olives. I also made some more adventurous ones with roasted poblano peppers, butternut squash, and manchego cheese, with a delightful habanero cream sauce for dipping. Lovely!

This is how Scout entertains herself.

Josh cleaned house during the egg hunt on Easter morning. He was aided by the fact that once Scout discovered there was chocolate in her first eggs, she sat down happily on the deck and ate it for the rest of the time while Josh ran around finding the rest of the eggs. And then Josh hid all of his eggs and found them again. A couple times.

Not as motivated once she got her hands on some chocolate.

Then we had another egg hunt and dessert with the Ancers (including, of course, Josh's most favorite friend Mirabel).

Mario has been working a ton, but he's enjoying it. We couldn't have designed a job better suited to him. Except for the long hours, it's been a dream come true.

Saturday morning fun with Daddy!