Sacramento

I have a thing for Sacramento. I just like the feel of it and every experience there has been a good one, including the one we had for one night over Memorial Day weekend. First up was a trip to Old Town and the Calfornia State Railway Museum, a good time for adults and kids:

I love dioramas of any kind, especially ones with realistic-looking mannequins--hee hee!:

There was a band of mostly old people playing old-timey music in the museum that day; I'm a fool for not taking a picture! There were tons of banjos, a washboard played with an egg beater, and a contraption made of rope attached to a broomstick and anchored to a bucket. I said to my husband, "Is Sacramento trying to make me love it more?" It was the best.

I was very happy it was in the 80s--it's such a treat to be truly warm and not to pack jackets around! Despite the thumbs up, I doubt the guy dressed as a watermelon slice was thrilled about the heat:

We also hit Fairytale Town, a great local playground, and 1st Brother and I toured Leland Stanford's mansion:

Slow cooker BBQ meal

I don't like to cook. I don't hate it, but there is an extra spring in my step when I know we're going out for a meal or someone else is in charge. So most of my recipes are pretty simple. Here are the instructions for one of my favorite easy meals that's great for summer:

BBQ meat

-About 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, frozen (could do pork or beef too)
-1 bottle barbeque sauce (I like Bull's Eye--it has no high fructose corn syrup and tastes great)

*Rinse each breast with water and cut off any fatty or bloody-looking pieces. Place in slow cooker and cover with whole bottle of sauce. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, shred with 2 forks and serve on buns.

California Cole Slaw - this is a vinegar-y slaw as opposed to the milky kind, much better I think

-1 bag shredded cabbage (or cole slaw mix with carrots)
-1 bag broccoli slaw
-1/2 of an onion, chopped small
-1/2 of a green pepper, chopped small
-1/2 of a red pepper, chopped small
-More shredded carrots if desired

-1/4 c. cider vinegar
-1/4 c. vegetable oil (I've found you can use less)
-1 1/2 Tbl sugar
-Salt and pepper

*Place veggies in large bowl. Combine vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper and mix, then toss with the veggies several hours before serving. Good as a side dish or as part of the sandwich on top of the meat.

I usually serve these items with chips (French Onion Sun Chips are my favorite. But isn't that new compostable bag the LOUDEST?!) and fruit, maybe some carrots and dip. Delicious.

Old Maid

Before I even had kids, I bought a set of 4 children's card games that were reproductions of old-timey ones; I love that kind of thing. They sat around unopened until about a year ago when 1st Brother was able to start playing them with me. I was really amused by some of the Old Maid cards, which has a circus theme. Several of them wouldn't fly in a set produced today:

Silly Wild Man! Just behave and we won't attach the ball and chain to your ankle! And doesn't Dancing Bear look jolly! He's so happy to be playing the accordion on his hind legs with a rope around his neck!:

And finally, how awful is the concept of the game of Old Maid!?! Don't be the one left with the old spinster! No one wants to be stuck with her! Harsh.

The Up Series

I've been preoccupied with The Up Series for the last several weeks. It started when the filmmakers took 14 children from various backgrounds in England and interviewed them in the mid-1960s; they were all 7 years old then. They have followed up with the children every 7 years and produced a documentary each time about what they're up to (the last one was done in 2005 when they were all 49). It's a fascinating series, one that made me stay up too late and neglect all sorts of other things I should be doing in order to watch.

P.S. All but 35 Up are currently available in Netflix's Instant Queue

12 months

He attacked the "12 months" sign this time. This picture shows off his stick-up mullet hair style:

-He's been consistently sleeping through the night since about 11.5 months--yes! (I count that as me not having to get up from 11pm-6am).

-He weighs just less than 18 pounds and is off the charts on the shrimpy side. Height is in the lower percentiles, but his head is around 80%

-He raises both hands above his head for "all done," waves good-bye, and folds his arms for prayer (learned by imitation; we didn't try to teach him). He claps hands a lot and dances to upbeat music

-Babbles a lot, often while gesturing, straightening his legs and fanning his toes. Likes to imitate sounds, especially screaming sounds made by 1st Brother

We kept the 1st birthday celebrations low key with only our family. He only ate a few bites of cake and ice cream, probably because he'd just consumed an adult-sized portion of lasagna. I re-gifted him a couple items of 1st Brother's that had been in storage, and he received several other new things. It's been a great first year with this little guy!

Happy Mother's Day!

I am so blessed to have a fantastic mom (who doesn't wear mom jeans by the way) and to be a mom to a couple of great boys! I got my first made-at-school present from 1st Brother this year--so sweet!:

But is it wrong that what I most want for Mother's Day is for my husband to [mostly] take over being the mom? That's oh so nice!

Trader Joe's Fruit Snacks

These are so great! They taste better than the Batman kind and don't have the icky ingredients.