Hawaii Top Ten

I should begin with saying that #1 is leaving your kid(s) at home. Vacations just aren't the same with your kid(s) dictating the entire schedule and agenda items.

For a quick contrast:

Vacation WITHOUT kid(s): sleeping in at your leisure;

Vacation WITH kid(s): wake up to "mama, beach?" "MAMA, BEACH!!"

Vacation WITHOUT kid(s): dust the sand off your feet as you meander slowly out to dinner;

Vacation WITH kid(s): drag your kid into the bath tub immediately to try to remove millions of sand particles from every possible orifice (including ones you really didn't think of)

Vacation WITHOUT kid(s): eat out at a lovely restaurant every evening, watching the sun go down;

Vacation WITH kid(s): force feeding mac-n-cheese in the hotel room

Vacation WITHOUT kid(s): explore the island and sunbathe

Vacation WITH kid(s): take a ride on the "Pineapple Express"

with that little disclaimer complete,

here is my Hawaii Top Ten!!!!

1. Eating Dole pineapple frozen deliciousness at the pineapple plantation.

2. Watching the amazing sunsets from our perch on the 35th of Trump Towers.

3. Taking the kids to the infinity pool at Trump. Wishing triplets on anyone who dare sneer at us with all 5 cousins screaming.

4. Playing on the beach with Parker, Trevor & Jane. (note: cleaning up from playing on the beach NOT in the top ten: see above disclaimer).

5. Kylie's adorable matching dress gift for Jane & Jocelyn. They were both nap-time zombies in this photo.

6. Aunt Kylie's weekend visit & playing with the kids so I could try to sleep in a little longer. Try.

7. Jane really took to the ukelele (sp?). She was rockin' it all week.

8. Jane and I woke up Tuesday morning to an amazing full rainbow as we sat on the balcony to eat our breakfast. What an amazing reminder of God's promises.

9. Also on Tuesday (Jane & I were rollin' solo that day) we ate a super delicious lunch on the patio at Roy's. She's showing off the seasoned edamame that she pretty much ate all of by herself.

10. Last morning. Savoring the view from our suite in Amanda's amazing apartment in the "tallest building". THANK YOU AUNT JODI & AUNT AMANDA for a fantastic trip!

So there you go.

Hawaii.

I swear I was there, I just was behind the camera. Trust me: be thankful.

Aloha & Mahalo,

Stace-in-your-face

Keeping in with this week's Peeps theme...

PEEPS KRISPY TREATS!!

(please note that the excellent photography in this post is copyrighted by Stacey Cheatham Wilson, thank you very much, and not stolen from any foodie website)

Can I get a 'what-what'?

Step One: Gather all your Peeps (the store was out of pink, bummer)

Step Two: Prep your generic box of Raley's Fine Foods Crispy Rice Cereal by opening it up and placing it by the stove.

Step Three: Melt your two tablespoons butter on medium heat. I usually use more, but this is seriously all we had in the house. Costco run tomorrow!

Step Four: Put all your peeps (at least 35 little critters) into the melting pot. Just as with Peepshi, ignore the silent screams of the poor little peeps.

Step Five: Look in that garbage and be amazed at the amount of peeps I will consume tomorrow when I eat all these peeps krispy treats by noon. Err.... ah... um, I mean not ME.... but perhaps the collective "you"?......

Step Six: try to keep both the burning sugar, as well as the mixing of colors, to a minimum by smooshing the peeps down within their own color group.

Step Seven: Add your Raley's Fine Foods Crispy Rice cereal to the melting pot (add as much as you want to keep it as marshmallowy as you like).

Step Eight: Now you can mix all those glorious colors together. This is the point that I really wished the store still had pink peeps. It would have made a less-puke-colored-and-more-rainbow-looking Peeps Krispy Treats.

Step Nine: Press the Peeps Krispy Treats into a greased (I had too use pam spray since I was out of butter) 13x9" pan. If it sticks, just lick your fingers. The reason is two-fold: one, the PKTs* won't stick to your fingers anymore; two, no one else can eat them since you essentially just licked the whole tray. Bonus!

Step Ten: Go into a diabetic coma from consuming more sugar than is humanly possible. Call your doctor.

*PKT = Peeps Krispy Treats, duh!

Peepshi

New Easter tradition:

Peepshi




If you'd rather: Peep Sushi


This "food" essentially combines my two ultimate favorites: Sushi and peeps. It looks like sushi, but is really not! Super cute, right?


Here's how this went down: Saturday was slow at the store, so I was cruising the "news" on Facebook. My dear scrapbooking friend Christina made some comment about wishing she was home making peep sushi.

HOLD THE PHONE.

Did she just say peep sushi?

Yes, she did.

So, I found this fabulousness at www.seriouseats.com. All you need is the packaged rice krispy treats (of course you could make your own, too), fruit-by-the-foot, and different colors of peeps. I was so excited that I went out and bought WAY too many peeps.


You then slice the treat, slice the fruit roll a little bit longer, and chop off some poor defenseless peep's head. Poor peep. Roll it up.


As we were down at the Fanoe cabin Saturday night pretty much all by ourselves, I made two plates full of Peepshi. But, did I bring my camera for Easter? NO. What a fabulous mom, right. FAIL.

Hopefully, you aren't dissatisfied by these stolen pictures off the seriouseats website. Mine looked sooo much better. Or, maybe kinda similar....




I asked several other people to take a photo of my Peepshi for me. We will see if I procure a copy soon. If so, will post!

NOT a Monday Top Ten

Today I miss you, my dear blog reader.

Life has been a little crazy (or is that just normal?) lately.

Marie and I had a successful trip to LA for viewing the fall fashions to order. We also brought home lots of immediates available for Spring/Summer. The coveted "wife beater" ribbed tank was almost elusive to us at a reasonable price, but we finally found one at the last moment! Yay! Other highlights of our LA trip include the places we got to eat: the best sushi in the world, and the Bottega Louie. Our hotel was old with amazing architecture, and they were filming an HBO show there one of the days! Cool!

Blaine's surgery has been postponed until the geniuses at Stanford medical can figure out what to do for him in the area of recovery pain management. We all sure wish they were able to figure it out before they cancelled the surgery Thursday night! (it was supposed to be a go Friday at 7am). Uncool.

I am busy trying to tie up loose ends and figure out how to fill our spaces needed for MOPS spa day on Monday April 12. If you have any product you would like to donate, or a spa-type service you can provide: call me, sister! It is going to be a super relaxing morning where moms get to be pampered and relax. Cool!

Saturday morning I got a call from Wyatt asking me to be the fifth in their Mud Run team. One guy was out for work. Blaine came home. I drove out to Fort Ord. I donned a Salinas Rural Fire shirt, and was a total poser for the previously-all-fireman-team. Somehow I kicked butt (compared to my team's time last year). I think it had to do with being the slowest one on the team, and trying to play catch up the whole time! whatev! Cool!

Monday, Monday, Monday

OK, so these photos weren't taken today, but maybe it was A monday. Not really sure. Only thing I know is that Jane is stinking cute.

In honor of my beautiful daughter:

MONDAY TOP TEN:

reasons Jane rules!!

1. Jane rules because she is fast. She runs everywhere. Around the living room, through the kitchen, on the cul-de-sac, and away from me whenever I tell her it is time to put her PJs on. The only time she doesn't run is to her bed to go to sleep.

2. Jane rules because she loves to dance. I may have a little to do with that. We make up songs and boogie together around the living room. She sometimes turns on my clock radio "c'mon mom, fouw me" (um, that means FOLLOW me). She just wiggles and kicks and twists her wrists. I wonder if that is exactly what I look like? Hmmmm.... that's cool. We are totally having fun.

3. Jane is a big cuddler. Sometimes she comes into my bed and cuddles with me on those mornings when we don't really have to be anywhere and I am too lazy to just get up and start the day. She cuddles on the couch. She cuddles on the floor. She even wants to cuddle when buckled into her carseat when I'm driving. "Hold you mom?" "I will hold you when we get home, Jane".

4. Jane rules because she is a copycat. Right now it is really endearing and funny. Notsomuch when she becomes a teenager and just mocks me. But for now, really adorable. I love that she wants to be like me and be around me. Just be careful what you do and say when you have a 2 year old mimic - believe me!

5. Jane self-soothes by sucking her thumb. At two months or so she started sucking on her fist, and then discovered the thumb. The funny part is that it is always in tandem with her other hand on her belly. Now, for babies they have snaps on almost all shirts - the "onesie". Jane would be frustrated all the time trying to get to that danged belly button! So - get this - she recently discovered her "boobies". So what do you think she replaces the belly button with? You guessed it. Truly funny. Again, funny until she becomes a teenager only.

6. Jane is rad because she already loves helicopters. To be fair, she also likes airplanes. I try to explain to her that helicopters are cooler because they have rotating wings that create their own airspeed, AND a helicopter doesn't need a measly ol' runway to land on. We'll see which she lands on that one.

7. Jane rules because the only TV (or "wee-wee" in her vocab) she ever asks for is "hey-cop". "mom, watch heycop wee-wee?" She is referring to my dad's SHOWCOPTERS FROM ABOVE DVD. It was a promotional video they made to get airshows to hire their act. It has two episodes of "Travelin' with the Showcopters" and three seasons of airshow video. It is pretty rad. In fact, leave a comment and I will send you one. Chances are most people reading this are my family and already have one. But if you are a lucky one-off - let me know. You can just email me at malibustacey@sbcglobal.net with your name and address. Seriously, you AND your kids will think it is pretty awesome.

8. Jane rules because she associates poop with candy canes. This is because I have promised her this reward. Now, mostly I just reward Jane with praise and excitement and made-up-on-the-spot-songs about how awesome she is. But this one time she pooped on the potty (sorry for the graphic nature of this here #8, buy y'all parents can relate) and I was so excited for her that I let her have a piece of a candy cane she had been asking for forever. If you meet her and she greets you with "poo poo pah-ee sai say" - just blame me - if you can translate what that even means anyway.

9. Jane rules because she prays to God every night before she goes to bed. We discuss the great blessings of the day, and she wants to pray first. "Gahd, thank you mama, dada, lala, papa, sky, ah-ree. Gahd pray. AAAAYYYY-MEN." It is pretty sweet.

10. Essentially, I am just saying Jane rules. She has her own personality. Counts 1-3-8, and always says that Q is after A-B-C. It is a blast to watch her grow and to be honored enough to be her mom.

Peacefully Yours,

Stacey

WEDNESDAY TOP TEN! the closet commandments

The Ten Commandments
Of Hanging Clothing

1. Thou Shalt Hang as Much as Possible in Thy Closet

2. Thou Shalt Not Hang Sweaters

3. Thou Shalt Banish Wire Hangers From Thy Closet

4. Thou Shalt Have Matching Hangers

5. Thou Shalt Use Appropriate Hangers for Appropriate Garments

6. Thou Shalt Not Kill Clothes with Plastic

7. Honor Thy Breathing Room in Thy Clothing

8. Thou Shalt Not Hang Thy Clothes with Strangers

9. Thou Shalt Color Code

10 .Honor Thy Pants and Thy Sweaters!

My sister Jodi sent this to me. Who knows where she found it. Regardless, it is the code by which I live.

Happy Organizing,

Stace-in-your-face

MONDAY TOP TEN: my new coffee maker

Isn't she a beaut? I finally broke down and purchased a real-live big ol' coffee maker!

In honor of this big step into my grown-up life,

MONDAY TOP TEN:

my new coffemaker!

1. It is so cute. It is shiny, black, and fits just perfect under the cabinets by the paper towel holder. And, there is an outlet right there - just waiting for a coffee maker!

2. I have plenty of coffee beans. See this beautiful shiny photo of the Starbucks Espresso Roast. Bold, but not overwhelming. These beans smell so darn delicious.

3. next step: grinding the beans. I use enough to fill to that line in the center. Just enough to cover the blades well.

4. I am the only one in this house who drinks coffee, so I just fill up the carafe with "6 cups". Which is really only 30 oz. Weird how "they" at Cuisinart have decided to recalibrate the CUP. Power hungry devils.

5. See that paper filter? You know the one. The most amazing invention by man to date. How easy does that paper filter make things? Answer: very. I bought this coffee maker just so I could use paper filters.

6. LOOK HOW EASY THIS CLEANUP IS!!!

7. See what I am saying about the "CUPs"? Just who do they think they are anyway?

8. Ok, back on topic here. I love coffee that is really just an additive to the creamer. You see, creamer is sweet, delicious, and - well - creamy. Coffee is kinda bitter and tough to get used to. Creamer makes it perfect.

9. Now, now, coffee. Don't you be sad. I really do like you. You are hot, and warm, and give me more energy to face the day. Did I mention you were warm? Don't worry coffee, you have lots of good qualities, too. I just like you even more with creamer, ok?

10. I love coffee.... as long as it has lots creamer... and is still hot... but not too hot... and has been made in a simple machine that is easy to clean.

Wishing you a day with much love, warmth, and creamer,

Stacey Erin Cheatham Wilson

P.S. Dear French Press, you introduced me to this gateway drug: coffee. That was weird. You ended up not being very friendly when I suggested you take a bath. So persnickity. And another thing - you might be in movies and have a fancy name like "french" - but you are really just another coffee maker. So, get off your high horse already and get a paper filter.