Recipe for Success: Tacos

There are many things you need to learn in life, not the least of which is how to have a successful Family Taco Night--otherwise known as F.T.N.  Luckily for you, I'm here on crynfiction.com to spell out for you this super secret and also super successful recipe for F.T.N.

This is actually the "Swordfish" truck which has good tacos, but not THE BEST tacos in town. (see step 1 below)

Here goes:

1) First and foremost: Spend as much time as it takes to search out and identify the best taco place in town. This may take several weeks and many taste tests (DO NOT attempt to make your own tacos for F.T.N.  That is a common mistake for newbies as F.T.N. is often confused with Build Your Own Taco Night, otherwise known as B.Y.O.T.N.). Our best taco joint in Santa Rosa is "the orange truck"--a little taco truck, or "roach coach" parked on Sebastopol Road and West.

2) Gather together as many friends and family as you can wrangle up.

3) Meet at the nearest park or home to the taco truck.

5) Cook up a healthy amount of quesadillas for the toddlers and youngin's to eat so you can afford more tacos from the truck for yourselves.

6) Make sure to have a camera along as this provides good sport and entertainment while the men are out getting food from the taco truck.

7) Once the tacos arrive, gather around an eating spot and chow down while your friends' kids keep your kids entertained.

8) Hang around for as long as humanly possible (or until members of your group have to hit the sack) and sit around talking while your food digests.

9) Discuss pointless things like which taco truck is better, arrangement of the marriages of your children to your friends' children, things like that...  all in good fun, of course.

10) Finally, make one last run to the taco truck and try to fit one more taco into your already full stomach.

11) Go home and bask in your accomplishment of a perfectly rounded and well planned F.T.N.

Horror Upon Horrors

Okay, now I come from a family of 8.  I feel like I know a thing or two about the stages children go through as they grow and mature.  I'm the third child, with three siblings below me--the youngest being 10 years younger than me.  I can particularly remember the stages of odd habits of dressing they each went through.  I remember one brother being a huge fan of patterns (it was the nineties, after all.  Gosh, I hate the nineties fashion), particularly a big bold pattern on top and a quite different pattern on the bottom...and no underwear. (Boy, did that get a lot of disapproving looks when he was wearing shorts and lounging around.)  My other brother loved to layer.  He was afraid of getting tan.  He wanted to stay as white as possible--go figure.  He would wear like fifty pairs of shorts and then super long socks stretched and pulled up as far as they could possibly go and...horror upon horrors, he probably topped that off with a pair of thong sandals.  My little sister went through a hat stage and a bright colors stage and all of that fun stuff.

My mom would always patiently explain to us older children, that you need to let kids express themselves or whatever.  Yah, yah, yah.  Got it.  I think I would say that I've learned a pretty relaxed art of parenting from my mother.  So, I thought I was ready for most things when it came to the whole style quandry with kids.  I figured if I don't give my kids really outrageous clothes to choose from, then they probably can't do too much damage...right?

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Now, Elliott went through that whole layering thing a while back, remember?  I took it in stride.  But this?  This I'm not so sure about.  I guess I'm exaggerating a bit about the whole thing, but here it is.  Elliott wants to be a superhero.  He does all kinds of fighting moves all day long.  He does headstands.  So, Elliott has been on a quest for clothing that can help him perform in that way.  It started out innocently enough.  Pajamas.  He always has to wear pajamas.  I have a major battle on my hands anytime we go out, because he hates to have to put on regular clothes.  A bit annoying, but nothing I couldn't overcome.  And then, from pajamas, it went to tight fitting shirts.  If he has to wear street clothes for going out of the house, then he wants them to fit just right.

"Okay,"  I thought, "No big deal.  That's kind of a style right now for guys.  The whole, 'fitted shirt' thing.  I can live with that."  And then it happened.  One day, we weren't able to find a tight enough shirt that wouldn't fall down/up when he stands on his head.  We had somewhere to be and Elliott was in his room trying on each shirt and then standing on his head.

"See?!"  he would huff as he stood on his head to show me how the shirt didn't stay in place.

"Elliott, its fine.  Just come on, we have to go.  You're not going to be doing any fighting at the doctor's office anyway."

Any one who knows Elliott knows that this kind of logic doesn't work with him.  He's just like me...  Once he gets something in his head, thats it.  He gets really frustrated if things aren't just right.  So of course, my comment only served to frustrate him further.  So that's when I told him he could just tuck his shirt in when he did his flips and stuff.  It was all in the heat of the moment and the pressure to get out the door.

Well, now he has to have his shirt tucked in at all times. Usually its tucked into the front of his pants and in the back its tucked into his underwear.  And even worse, it looks like I enjoy the shirt tucked in style.  (No offense to those who do enjoy it.)  Most of the time he just looks silly.  And he's always tucking.  Its kind of funny.  He looks a bit like my Dad when my Dad does the whole tuck-in-go technique.  Dave really hates it.  And at times, he'll even forbid Elliott to tuck in his shirt.  The only consolation I have is that while Dave and I both think he looks ridiculous, at least I was somewhat prepared.  David was totally ambushed.  Boom! Roasted!

Blessings...

Bragging Rights

I just had to do a little bragging after Mother's Day yesterday and show you my absolutely adorable video card from Elliott and Caiden.  Please watch!

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;  They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate." Psalm 127:3-5


Tech Speak:  We loooove our Flip Mino HD video camera!  This camera is the size of a cellphone; you can slip it into your pocket.  It records video in HD, so the quality is incredible.  There's no memory card to worry about or cables to lose, it is all built directly into the camera. It is incredibly simple to use: big red button to record, touch screen buttons for zoom and playback.

Cookies--Not the Internet Kind...

Photos by David

There are few other great pleasures in life than sitting down with your family after a long day with a few home-made cookies and a good cup of coffee.  Its true.  When it comes to things like this, you gotta just let go and let the calories.  I'm serious.  A few well spent caloric splurges can really go a long way.  If it makes you feel better, I made pretty darn healthy blueberry muffins the next day.

And if you only have one kid--or no kids at all--then let me just urge you not to judge me because I allow my one year old to eat cookies.  I too, shared your high health ideals at one time and refused to poison my first child with sugar until he was well on his way in life, but let me tell you...  its much harder with the second one.  They always see what the first one is eating...  They want to be part of the family, too!  In fact, I've heard a mother with a whole heaping brood of kids say that after the third child, she doesn't even stress anymore if the fourth or fifth child chooses to simply eat condiments for dinner.

This time we had snickerdoodles.  I had promised David that I would make some after he got cheated out of his snickerdoodle at Flying Goat Coffee this past weekend by Elliott who took the last one.  Our homemade version came out excellent--due, in part, to a secret ingredient.  If you lean real close, I might tell you what it is... cornstarch.  Yep!  Uh-huh.  That's right.  And here's the recipe.  Try it out.  It only makes a small batch--about 9-12 cookies, so you won't be in much danger there.  I, perhaps, got a little overzealous with the cinnamon sugar on top, but that is only because the recipe instructed me to sprinkle about half a tablespoon on top of each, which turned out to be a ridiculous amount.  I didn't even do the whole half tablespoon on these and just look at them!  Anyway, they were scrumptious.  You know you want some, so go ahead and whip out your butter, egg, flour, sugar, cinnamon...

Oh!  And don't forget to grab your absolute favorite mug and snuggle down for a nice, focused, happy time with your family.  There will be lots of giggles--promise.

Home At Last

Home is:

1) "Where the heart is"

2) Where we feel free to dump out the whole bucket of train tracks and build a giant track

3) Where I can cook and eat a meal at home

4) Where the vegetables are

5) Where I can sleep the best--in my own bed

6) Where my hubby is

7) Where there is no maid service

8) Where the coffee is good

9) Where I can post a decent blog post

10) Where we crack the whip on discipline

11) Where Caiden isn't allowed to get by on candy alone

12) Where the rain is welcome

13) Where my peeps are

14) Where I don't smell like campfire

15) Where I can buckle my youngest in the highchair and eat a meal in peace...of mind

16) Where there are no soda, chips, candy, icecream, s'mores, and the like

17) Where my mom and dad and brothers and sisters are not (boo)


We're back from a stay at Point Arena (otherwise known as "smack dab in the middle of nowhere") where the kids and I stayed with my mom, step-dad, and two of my brothers at a timeshare.  We did way too much driving along sickeningly winding roads, but it was a great time to reconnect with my family.  It also gave Elliott a good chance to get to know these people who are such a big part of me...

Photos from my iPhone

We had fun...  Thanks, Mom!

After the week at the beach (see the six previous posts) with David's family and the week in the boonies with my family, I'm so so so happy to be home.  Have a great week, everyone!