MAKING MOCHI CAKE

After breakfast, we spent some baking. It is a good way to teach the girls sequential order and reinforcing following directions. I pretty much measure it all out for them and separate it in bowls and they just put it all together and mix. Brave did the flour mixture and True was in charge of the liquids. Lots of good things always come out of baking.

This is a cake first introduced to me from my BFF when she made it. I always like Asian desserts cause they are mildly sweet. Though, I really do love all desserts mildly sweet or super sweet... they all taste good to me.

Mochi Cake |from Week of Menus, originally from Gourmet Magazine 2005|

* I changed the ingredients up a bit, but pretty much followed the directions.

1 lb box of Mochiko Flour

1 1/2 cups of sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 - 14 oz cans of low fat coconut milk

5 large eggs

1/2 stick of melted butter (allow to cool)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

The recipe said to put in the oven for an hour and a half, but ours only needed to be in the oven for 50 minutes and it was ready, so I would watch closely to determine its readiness. Also, I wanted less sugar in ours and I used low fat coconut milk. I think it came out fine and the girls seem to like it, but if I trying this type of cake for the first time, I would say follow the original recipe exactly. It isn't as sweet as I have had it in the past, but it is still sweet enough. Our favorite part of the cake were the edges. The edges are tasty! I think next time when I make this, I might do it in a cupcake pan sans liner, so there will be a whole lot of edges!

We made it after breakfast, but the girls waited until snack time (4 pm) in the afternoon to eat it. Judging from how fast it went, I think they would say it was worth the wait! This recipe might be next on the list.

GLOW SAYS, "HEY HOMIES!"

Honor to be nominated for Apartment Therapy's The Homies for Best Family Blog. If you love Cakies and would love to cast your vote, you could do so here. Honestly though, there are tons of good family/lifestyle blogs out there, so even if you don't vote for me, make sure you vote for your fave and let them know they are appreciated.

Today is for listening to Adele, schooling, and baking thrown in for good measure. Week's half down and the weekend will be here soon. Yay!!!

OUT TO SCHOOL: WEEK TWENTY-TWO

{where from again? dress: little bean shop; sweater: vintage; rainboots: target; scarf: handmade by mom; lunch bag: built nyc.}

This school day came with an episode...

When I dropped her off, the way she walked into the classroom got slightly changed, and then she didn't want to go in, then she started crying, so I stayed a bit. It was art class and she loves art class, so I knew it was her shyness overtaking her. I left her with the student assistant thinking she would stop and I made a mad dash out. I was almost home and when I got a call that she was wailing and would not to talk to anyone and they needed me to come back. I turned around and headed back to the school. I walked into the office and see her drooling and crying. I made numerous attempts to calm her down, nothing worked. Eventually, she calmed down and wants to go back into art and wants me to help her. I oblige. We go in, she gets to work on her painting and after another little bit, she lets me leave. Peacefully this time. Whew!

She loves her one-day-a-week school, but sometimes her shyness gets the best of her.

One day, she will no longer be shy and become the President of the United States. Just you watch.

MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE

Have you tried it? Oh it is so good. By far my favorite way to drink hot coco and it was perfect for today's rainy day. The girls gulped it up during snack time and I still have a little bit left in the fridge. It is even good to sip on cold and the tablet is really yummy to nibble on.

What's your favorite way to make hot coco?

I WEAR GLASSES BECAUSE I HAVE TO

Random fact: I have been wearing glasses since I was 13 (see proof here).

Therefore, I never really got into the whole geek chic thing because I have worn glasses most of my life and it really isn't anything particularly cool to me. It would be a dream to see clearly first thing in the morning and not to have to look for my glasses on my bedside table. So most days, almost everyday actually, I pretty much wear contacts. Though lately my eye has been bugging me, so I am resting it by wearing my glasses.

I think our winter is pretty much over, as our days have been pretty warm, but once that sun starts going down it gets really cold. Okay, California cold. This jacket is lightweight, kinda like wearing an extra shirt, but it is nice and light to wear during the day and is just an extra layer for our cool California evenings. Plus, it goes well with dresses and jeans!

The weekend was grand and we have rain in the forecast this week. Hopefully after the rain, I can get out to the yard and start pulling weeds (it's a jungle out there). It is about that time to start planning out our summer garden and I can't wait to start planting again.

It's Monday again. Happy Monday everyone!!!

What I'm wearing... dress, reverie market. olive it up jacket, c/o modcloth. boots, dv gifted from ben (see here).

HUZZAH!

The weekend is upon us. Woot! I have a girlfriend's bridal shower to attend and I get to be with Ben (and the girls) the rest of the time.

I have been really tired of late that I haven't even been exercising, which is something I do in the morning. It is strange. It is going on three weeks now that I have been having terrible sleep. I will wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to fall back asleep or relax. I don't know what it is. I finally fall asleep when Ben's alarm goes off and then I wake up an hour later when he has to leave. It is quite frustrating. I have always been a heavy sleeper and never had any problems with sleep until now. I used to describe my heavy sleeping saying "I melted into the bed." Now, I just won't melt.

I am thinking of trying some sort of relaxing tea, but I am not sure which one. Anyone have any tips? These sleepless nights are driving me mad.

This week's learned and links...

- Family meal planning has been so great. I am appreciating it more and more and it has really changed the dynamics of our dinners and even our daily lunch.

- Soul must always get dressed first thing in the morning. She insists on taking off her pajamas and wearing a shirt and a skirt. Sometimes 2 skirts!

- Still obsessed with Madewell. I am holding a sign that says, "Will work for these shoes."

- Wish I went to school for graphic design so I can have skills like this lady.

- Love hearing your thoughts on this post. I would also like to hear from those who are more spontaneous or do "attachment" parenting. It is good to learn from everyone! My way isn't the only way to parent, we all have different styles and we just do what is best for us and our children.

- Honored to be on DailyBuzz Moms Top 9 for today!

- This idea of my sister's is so genius. Happy jar... a good way to count your blessings and name them one by one!

It seems there is a whole lot of truth serum going out in the blog world these days. I have always been a fan of sharing the not so pretty parts of my life and I love knowing the real life stuff behind another blog too. Makes people seem more real and relatable. I think blogging can sometimes be alienating thinking certain blogs have got it made in their lives and that is probably further from the truth.

One day you may be reading how much we loved baking and crafting up a storm, but the next day I am probably more likely to have a mommy meltdown because let's face it, I have meltdowns all the time because being a mommy is hard. Sometimes during my sleepless nights, I even think about how awful I might have been that day, how I wish I got more done or how I wish I could redo the day all over again. All this to say, if you have bad days, I have them too. If you have got bills to pay, well, I do too! If you yell or get frustrated, I do too! If you are wondering, how you can get your kids to be more well-behaved. I am too! No one has life quite figured out and I am here just trying to trust and love God as I go through it and learn from it. Makes me more thankful for Christ's redeeming work on the cross.

READING AND CUPCAKES

This week was for plenty of reading for all of us here (and cupcake eating during snack time). The girls are busying themselves with their books and I have a few of my own. The next step in True's reading is to conquer long vowels. She's got the short sound vowels, blends, and digraphs and now we get to move on. Of course, she still has to work on fluency, but she will get there (and so will Brave) or at least that is what BFF tells me. For those wondering, I used "The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading", which I highly recommend. It is a nice phonics based program that builds skills slowly and has a nice review at the beginning of each new lesson.

As far as my reading, I have started reading the book, "Bringing Up Bébé", which puts American parenting styles versus French parenting. There is a lot of hoopla about it here, here, and here and it got me curious, especially since the bits I was reading online sounded a lot like my own parenting philosophies.

I am really enjoying the read. I know in our home we are quite structured and really value routine. We have done a version of the "cry out" method for each of our girls to sleep through the night and we pretty much follow the same eating philosophy mentioned in the book.

I know when we just had True, my parents had a hard time with our parenting style, particularly the fact that we let our girls cry it out. We even had a big fight about it once. Big! With all the girls so close in age, we have to have structure and find that our girls thrive on structure and balance. I thrive on structure and balance. Sometimes, I wish we were more spontaneous, but we just aren't. When they are given too much of something or too little of something, it really comes out in their behavior and it throws them off.

I know some of you in the past have emailed or asked, "When am I able to blog or make things?" I think since I have always been so structured with the girls, that has allowed me the freedom and time to do those things. The girls up until the age of three all napped twice a day, usually from 10 am-12 pm and 2 pm-5 pm and then still went to bed at 7:30 or 8 at night. Really. The two big girls no longer nap, but Soul still sticks to that same nap schedule. She goes into the crib, I close the door to her room, and she naps. Glow is pretty much on a similar nap schedule, but just a bit longer. During this nap time, I am doing school with the big girls or we are having quiet reading time.

We are very strict about bedtimes too. Not only is it for Ben and me to get some peace and quiet and alone time, but also for them. When they stay up too late, they get cranky and the next day they are cranky and just thrown off kilter. This framework is what works best for our house and our personalities.

I am no parenting expert and I am sure everyone just does what they know and feel is best for their children. We all have to go with our gut. We know our children best and what will work best for them and the wonderful thing is we can also learn a little bit from each other. If any of you have any thoughts about it, I would love to hear!

GLOW AND HER PINK CHAIR

Following suit to Soul and Boogie, which seem to stop right around 14 months for Soul and probably because I was in the midst of morning sickness and pregnant with Glow. We got Glow her very own chair and in pink because let's face it, pink is kinda fantastic (always loved this mama's pink chair). I am kinda late in sharing it here because I wanted to think of a clever name for the chair (Soul's chair got its name from this hilarious surprise) and well, nothing ever came to me, so "her pink chair" it is!

One month.

Two months.

Three months.

Four months.

Five months.

I can hardly believe Glow is on her way to being six months old. I take daily pictures of her and post it on instagram and twitter, though the past few days don't seem to want to load on Ben's iphone, but you can follow along here and here.

She is a happy little joy and we all love her to pieces. And my oh my... that hair of hers is always crazy!!!

*idea inspired by Nicole from Making It Lovely.

FAMILY MEALS: WEEK SIX

I have been finding it more pleasurable to be spending time in the kitchen. I actually started decorating it a bit. Kinda. Our kitchen is pretty clean, but not really decorated. You won't really find it on a house tour because as much as we like the openness of it, I don't really like the color of our cabinets. I dream of white cabinets. One day, it will happen, if God allows of course.

Monday we ate Pasta Puttanesca with Oven Roasted Cauliflower with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Lemon Juice...

I followed the recipe exactly and it came out fantastic. Ben and I could have use more red pepper flakes in it, but the girls are eating it too, so we kind of have to go light on the kick. The recipe didn't call for any protein, so we used shrimp.

The Oven Roasted Cauliflower was another yum. It was a variation of a normal vegetable dish we make, but this recipe called for lemon which was a good zing. The recipe says to put 1/4 cup olive oil, which I think is a bit much, so I put 2 tbsp and kinda stuck my hands in and rubbed it all around the florets. I think that worked just as fine. Will make this again.

Tuesday, we had Salmon Cakes BLT Burgers...

We actually made this on Sunday too and it was thanks to Jen from Our Happy Family leaving a comment on how to make it. Once I saw her comment, I knew I wanted to try it right away. I love crab cakes, so I thought this one sounded good and pretty healthy.

I used whole wheat panko bread crumbs along with two cans of salmon. I don't like celery, so I didn't use it. I used half an onion and four cloves are garlic. For seasoning, I used cayenne pepper (lots!) and cumin. Mixed in a bowl along with two eggs. Then, formed patties and placed on a pan and stuck it in the oven for 20 minutes, flipping after 10 minutes. Thanks Jen!

For the burger, I baked some soy bacon (tastes like the real thing to me!), mixed some siracha and eggless mayo together for a sauce. Toasted some whole wheat buns, added some greens, a dollop or two of sauce, the salmon cakes, 3 slices of soy bacon, and some avocado and we had ourselves a winning burger! For veggies, we had some canned beets.

Wednesday, we indulged in Chicken Cacciatore...

A pretty good dish, though Ben felt like it was missing something. I accidentally chopped the onions instead of slicing and I used shiitake mushrooms instead of white mushrooms. While we were eating it, Ben and I both added more red pepper flakes to our own plates because we love things spicy and felt it just needed something more. The girls seemed like big fans of this dish as they were all devouring it, so that's a good sign.

Out of this week's dishes, Monday was by far my favorite.

Week 2/27 - 3/2

Monday: Scallion Meatballs with Soy-Ginger Glaze with Spiced Coconut Spinach

Tuesday: Ginger Soba Noodles

Wednesday: Ground Turkey Tacos (something I already know to do)

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Pizza or something easy

I am in need of more vegetable dishes to accompany our meals. Ben is good at figuring those out on a whim. Me, not so much. Have any good quick veggie dishes to share! We have canned veggies ready to eat on hand, in case I don't plan for it, but I would like to start planning for it more.

DIY: FANCIFUL BARRETTES

And just like that you have yourself some fancy things for your hair!

I was the one glueing things on the barrette for the girls because I don't dare let them use a hot glue gun just yet, but they were the ones putting the combos together. We have been short on things for the hair because somehow they all end up magically missing, so I thought it was time to make some new ones. The result was happy girls, so I think it was mission accomplished.

We used 1.5'' and 2'' barrettes from here, the pom poms were bought at the dollar store, and the jewels and cabachons were bought on etsy. Now, you can make your own colorful stock of fanciful barrettes!

HAPPY SPOTS

Yesterday, my baby sister came over to start her first day as my one-afternoon-a-week nanny. It was nice. I got to do errands and clean up a bit. We have figured out that I need at least a few hours a week for someone to watch the kids so I can catch up on things like emails, cleaning, or errand running. This will help with my sanity a bit and help me get the house from crazy messes to happy messes. Plus, she will get paid with clothes and shoes. Not a bad deal. I would have gladly done that for my older sister, if I had one. The bonus is that she gets to spend time with her nieces that adore her!

The girls have been bugging me to do some baking, so we will see if we can squeeze some in today.

BIG GIRLS AND MAMA

Out with two is so much easier than out with four. Plus, we had my baby sister was with us, so that made it really easy peasy. The girls went to the dentist and it is the same dentist I used when I was their age and at that time, I thought my dentist was really old, but I think I probably thought everyone old was old cause he is still young enough now to work on my kids' teeth! They like going to the dentist cause they get to pick out a prize from the treat box, which seemed a lot bigger to me back then, but that used to be my favorite part of the dentist too!

on me: knit triangle top, c/o reverie market. scarf, from our pacific nw road trip. denim jacket, vintage. jeans, c/o levi's. bag, vintage. oxfords, boutique 9.

on true: shirt, vintage from 3 ring circus. poncho, vintage. skirt, misha lulu. shoes, toms.

on brave: shirt and shorts, misha lulu. shoes, toms.

Happy Monday! Technically, True doesn't have school this week, but we homeschool and are a tad behind in math, so we will be schooling. Love the flexibility we have!