Yipee Ki Yay Mini Sirloin Burgers

So you add that dumb Jack in the Box commercial plus my co-worker's obsession with it plus Bakerella's recent post and you get me making these adorable little sweet treats for my co-worker's baby shower tomorrow. I mean, yeah we could've gotten a typical cake for desert but that would be well...typical! I thought it would be fun to try these out and I must say, they are AWESOME!

So here you are, mini serloin burgers that are actually cupcakes, brownies and colored frosting :) Sorry, but no mini cows or "little people" to accompany these!

I couldn't have done this without help, you know! Here's my right hand pastry chef in action.

And here she is testing it out to make sure it's JUST RIGHT!

A Typical Weekend

In Havasu that is!

We spent with weekend in Havasu with the Campos family and had a blast, as usual! The boys, um I mean DADS, got a little out of control thinking they were the latest rock band and singing until weee hours of the morning! Oh how I wish I had pictures of THAT to post! It was all in good fun though and we were able to spend time out on the lake, hanging out by the pool, bbqing and just plain relaxing. I hope we'll all make it back up there together before the end of the summer.

Wordless Wednesday

I love you Gracie Lu!

New Obsession

OK, so I decided quite a while ago that I was going to attempt to make all of Dylan's baby food. I know a few people whove done it successfully and all their kids seems to love veggies so much more as they turn into toddlers. Dylan's babysitter told me yesterday that I needed to start sending more cereal cause my little guy is HUNGRY! So instead, I decided it was time to make him some food. I stopped at the market and bought a sweet potato, yellow squash, pears and peaches. I started with the sweet potato. I put in in the steamer, tossed it in the Magic Bullet and....MAGIC!!! Fresh, homemade baby food that's quite delish I might add :) I bought one tray of Baby Cubes which you can put the food in and freeze. It was $10 though, so I just used regular ice cubes trays for the rest. I'm obsessed!! I wanted to puree everything in the fridge!

My new LOVE, The Magic Bullet. My mom bought this for us two Christmas's ago and I barely brought it out. This bad boy won't see the darkness of the pantry for a LONG LONG time. I even made my morning smoothie in it today. 100x better than the blender! I heart you, my new little friend :)

YAY for sweet potatos!

My happy boy waiting for a taste test! He loves his new high chair. Thanks Grandma Patsy!

Happy Anniversary Melissa and Rudy!

OK, so it's technically another Flashback pic but it't only becuase today is Melissa and Rudy's anniversary. Five years ago today I gained an awesome brother-in-law! I was the Matron of Honor in their wonderful wedding which just happened to take place on the breathtaking Makena Beach in Maui. I can't believe it was five years ago because it honestly seems like yesterday. What an awesome week that was hanging out with the entire family. It's amazing to think how much our lives have changed in these last five years!

I hope you two are having a great day and have a lifetime of wonderful anniversaries! I love you two!

Flashback Friday

My friend Melissa blogged earlier this week about her love of tutus on her daughter.. It brought back memories of when I made Gracie a pink tutu for her 1st birthday. I just LOVED her in it and she loved playing it. I have the best professional pic of her wearing it blown up in our loft. But seriously, how is this little girl about to be 4???

T-ball

And it begins....

As all of you who read this know for the past 15 years or so my family's life has revolved around softball. Now, I kind of resented this as a kid since I was THE ONLY one who didn't play, but now as a Mom I'm totally looking forward to spending my days at the field.

Last night was Gracie's first day of T-ball practice. She's playing with the Rancho Cucamonga Pee Wee league on a co-ed team. She's on a team with Jacob, Mandi's son, and Cole, another boy from her class so she's super excited about that. Best of all, she's a Dodger!

I was so happy that she actually paid attention and wasn't in the back picking the grass :) They had her on first base and she was loving that. All kids have their parent playing the position with them, since they are only three afterall and just them on the field would be insane! She loves when it's her turn to hit and she's doing well at bat.

Now...if someone could just teach my poor girl how not to run like "Phoebe"!!

Dylan - 5 months

The little guy turned 5 months yesterday! He's getting so big, so fast. Here's what he's been up to.

To say he's a talker is quite an understatement. He LOVES to talk. Sometimes he sounds like an owl, sometimes a cat but it's just about my favorite sound of the day :)

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a roller! He's rolled a couple of times here and there throughout the month, but nothing consistent. That was until this morning. He must have rolled himself over in his crib a good 5 times between 5:00 am and 6:30 am. How do I know this? Well that would be because every time he did, I had to go in his room to roll him back over since he was not a happy camper after he ended up on his stomach.

He's now eating his cereal and bananas every day and loves it. We're on to oatmeal and then veggies later this week.

This guy LOVES his sister beyond words. She can make him smile faster than anyone! The minute she enters a room he's in (and trust me, everyone can hear when she enters a room) his whole face lights up.

He loves to be in his baby einstein exersaucer and his jumperoo. I love this becuase it means free time for mommy...not to blog of course ;)

Just after a bathtime
My obligatory nudie cutie pic

Big boy on his rocker

His favorite thing to chew on right now

I love you D!

Mmmm Mmmm

I know that most of you know that Gabriel does ALL of the cooking at home. I know, I know, I'm really lucky, but I do appreciate it beyond belief! We've been trying to eat a lot healthier lately and so Gabriel's been cooking up some really yummy new stuff. We love turkey burgers and always used to eat them with fries. Tonight however, look what he made instead. He got this recipe out of the Biggest Loser Cookbook and it was delicious and super healthy!

Speaking of eating. I mashed some fresh banana into Dylan's cereal this evening and he LOVED it. I couldn't get it to his mouth fast enough before he would start grunting for more.

Eatin' like a champ

After several unsuccessful attemps at feeding Dylan cereal it seems that he's finally got the hang of it. He was actually enjoying it tonight. Well, for the first 5 minutes anyway. I'm thinking that he really just might not like the cereal so I may just try to give him food and see how he does with that. Here he is eating away!

You know those nights where everything just seems to go right? Where dinnertime, bathtime, storytime, and bedtime all go so smoothly? Well you have no idea how glad I am to say YES ladies, tonight was one of those nights!! They have been coming few and far between so I surely celebrate them when they are here. To share my celebration, here are my two little angels right after storytime being oh so sweet!

Weekend Fun

It was nice to actually stay local this weekend after spending the last two weekends in Havasu. Saturday, after getting rained out at a birthday party, we headed over to my parents house to see how my dad was doing. He had surgery on his rotator cuff and he was recovering pretty darn good. Since the weather cleared up, we decided to take the kids to Early California Days (the church carnival). As you can see, my little daredevil had a blast going on the big kid rides and was not happy when it was time to go.


About a month and a half ago my mom and I bought sewing machines. I've always wanted to learn how to sew but I never thought that it was even remotely possible. Anyhow, there was a great deal on Joanns.com and when my mom said she was getting one, I said what the heck and got one too. So on Sunday, my Auntie Mary (the sew master) invited us over to teach us how to work these beasts. I'm proud to say that with the help of her and my Grandma (the teacher's aide) I have mastered my machine! Quite frankly I am feeling pretty damn sewtastic!! I completed one whole project there and am almost done with a second.

Thanks Auntie Mary and Grandma for an awesome Sunday!

Flashback Friday

Well, we've made it to Friday! My 5 day workweeks always go by so slow! Anyhow, on Friday's I'll be posting pics from back and way back in the day. Here's a fun one to start things off.

Gabriel and I circa 1994 dancing the obligatory waltz for Evelyn Lugo's Quinceñera. Would anyone ever have guessed that we'd be married 10 years later??

Have a great weekend everyone!

Another Fun Weekend

Well it was another great weekend in Havasu for the Valdivia Fam. Driving up at night was definitely the way to go and both of the kids were great! We woke up and hung out for a while and in typical Arellano fashion, didn't head out to the lake until about 1:00 pm. So there we were in the Marina waiting for Gabriel to park the Suburban and get back to the boat.

We've got the kids all geared up
Sunblock on - check
lifejackets on - check
hats on - check
sunglasses on - check
icechest filled - check
towels, blanket, dylan's bumbo - check
alarm sounding on boat - check

Yep, that's right. Before Gabriel got back on the boat, the stupid alarm went off AGAIN!! Yes Tracy, it was Deja Vu! We just had the water pump replaced and the boat serviced at a hefty price last month when this happened. This should not have happend again. We brought the boat back in, which does not make for happy ,hot, sweaty kids. We took the boat back to the shop, left it there and headed back to the house. This is where having a pool makes for a great plan B. The guys had went to the market earlier that morning and had picked up some great food to BBQ later and so we just ended up enjoying the afternoon in the pool and the guys heated up the grill. Gracie's getting a lot braver and is doing better swimming without her floaties on. She'll definitely be swimming on her own by the end of the summer. Dylan went in the pool for the first time and LOVED it.

The guys picked up the boat later that night and all was fixed. We headed out to Moabi on Sunday and spent the afternoon there. All the kids were great as usual and they had a blast.

Nathan loved hanging out in the boat pretending he was driving. Although, he seemed to have gotten a bit distracted when Uncle Gabe turned up the jams and the girl next to us proceeded to jump up and down, up and down, fake boobs and all! Hmm....thanks Uncle Gabe!

We ran into some of Rudy's friends from work and they were in full party mode (Oh, the good 'ol days). They had Rudy bring out the beer bong and we had two very interested onlookers. Dang...where are those kids parents?? Don't get any ideas kids, you've got a good twenty years 'till you're having this kind of fun!! Stick to your sand toys for now!

We wound up our weekend by celebrating Grandpa Mike's birthday. We spent the afternoon at my in-laws with the family enjoying some more great BBQ. Gracie woke up this morning and the first thing out of her mouth was "Mmmm...that was some good birthday cake Grandpa Mike had!" Silly girl, she must have been dreaming about it! Happy Birthday, Grandpa Mike!!