Super Easy Teething Biscuits

I like to know everything Miss B puts into her little system. I do NOT like processed foods or artificial ingredients. So to insure that she is only consuming stuff I want her to eat, I make her food. This includes teething biscuits. The recipe is so simple that I thought I might post it for anyone who wants to make them as well.
1 cup organic flour
1 cup baby's cereal (i use organic barley cereal)
1 cup organic fruit juice (i use the leftover juice from when I steam her fruit in my Beaba, or I use 100% organic pomegranite juice)
Mix all ingredients together and roll into a dough. cut out into shapes. I used a snowflake cookie cutter because I think that the shape is perfect for little teething gums, and it's festive too! Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Let your little sweetie chew away!

You and I are not so different Liv

I love my job. I love the kids, I love the parents, and I love being a mentor. But sometimes, in fact MOST times on my days off, I want to be left ALONE. I want to take off the teacher hat and put on the mommy hat. I want to walk down to the beach and play on the swings with my B. I want to go to Target without makeup on, or go to music class and talk with other moms, and NOT about how their kid can improve their grammar grade. I do not want to talk on the phone or feign interest in other people's kids. Though I really am interested in their kids on Mondays and Wednesdays, the rest of the week I WANT TO TALK ABOUT MY KID!!! This anonymity is becoming increasingly more difficult the more years that I teach. It seems I am always running into someone I know. And when I have the kid with me, FUGHETTABOUTIT. I stand there juggling my squirmy little B while I hear about recent soccer games, what dance class their kid is in, how they are doing in high school, what they are up to this weekend and on and on and I PRAY silently to God, that if my kid would just hold still for a minute and if she would just smile and act cute in front of my students and their families, and POSSIBLY let them hold her (seriously, people are always asking to hold her) that I would do MANY good deeds that upcoming week, including possibly answering my jury duty summit and not writing return to sender on the envelope any longer. And for the most part, Brinkster is her charming little self. But the stress that it causes is almost too much to bear. So all this to say, that sometimes, sometimes when I am just not feeling into it, I will occasionally put my sunglasses on, turn and walk in the other direction before I am bombarded with people. I know, I know. Evil right? Maybe not so. Last week I took Sprinkles to DIsneyland with my family. We were having a grand time, walking around the park, sharing in good times, eating a big fat churro and going on rides. We were in line for Peter Pan and Miss B was getting antsy. We waited in line for 45 minutes and this is a long time for a toddler. So to keep her busy I sang songs, tickled her, hung her upside down and did anything I could do to distract. When all of the sudden, I look two twists behind me in line and I see a student and her family. SO not in the mood at that point, and I knew that Miss B was not in a smiling giggling other people holding her kind of mood. So what did I do? I put on the Pradas. Yup. I stuck my sunglasses on, pulled my cute hat down and turned the other way. I hissed at my family members to not call my name out loud and we made it unnoticed through the whole line. Then an odd occurrence, well, occurred. We got to the front of the line, just about to get on the flying ship when the ride attendant put out her arm in front of us while a full ship stopped in front of us. A small party of 3 had apparently gotten on the exits. Miss B leaned back in my arms and giggled loudly while I tickled her, when I noticed the mom of the ship smiling at B, and then looking up at me. It was Liv Tyler. When I gave her that look of recognition after a moment of what I'm sure could have only looked like I was confused. (I always think I know famous people before I realize that they're famous, I sit there like an idiot thinking, did I go to high school with this person? did I teach their kid? did I serve them at RUby's back in the day?) As soon as the lightbulb went on she looked down and was off to the third star to the right and straight on until morning. I made sure to text my friends after this and even saw Liv (who is TINY by the way) walk off in her flannel shirt and jean shorts and fedora hat with her kid and husband, going around Disneyland unnoticed. When asked by everyone I knew WHY I didn't snap a photo with my phone or ask for her autograph, I simply told them, she just wanted to be with her family, put on the mommy hat and go unnoticed, just for one day.

Budgeting and other ways to take the fun out of Christmas

The Love and I are going anti-consumerism for Christmas this year. As part of our focusing on the important things in life we have decided that Christmas should be a time to celebrate the more important things in life. Jesus, Love and family. We have come up with .....drumroll please.... a budget. Just the word alone puts a bad taste in my mouth. NO FUN my inner child yells inside me, I like to think of money as fluid, not an issue. It doesn't matter... and yet I know it is the right thing to do. And besides, what do I really need? my more logical side argues. I have everything a girl could want. But still, when I spend for others I like to be extravagant. In the spirit of giving the word BUDGET puts a damper on the whole situation. So, although I would technically like a million dollars for my many craft nights, dinner parties, Christmas luncheons, Christmas plays, brunches and gift exchanges that I host, I have agreed to stick to this foreign word, this budget. On the brighter side of things, I think that I actually began to enjoy things that are GASP! cheap or even free! I pulled together some great clothes out of our closets for our Christmas photos rather than running to Target or Forever 21 and purchasing new ones. please see below and vote for your favorite one:
Option #1

Option #2

Option #3

Option #4

My friend Megs and I even had a little craft night, where we went to the Dollar Tree and found adorable decorations and made home made wreaths instead of purchasing new ones this year. Please see below:

So although we don't have a big budget, we've turned a little resource decrease into an enormous heart-source increase.

For Real Friday

A peek into my life based on random photos taken from my week. Enjoy!
a day off

kisses with the Love

music class with my girl

drama practice for the Christmas play I direct

a little holiday baking

Give Thanks

Thanksgiving is the ONE time a year that most people set aside to actually put their focus on what they are grateful for. Usually it's the obligatory friends and family and roof over their head blah blah blah. Then on black friday they go out and forget to be thankful for what they HAVE and focus on what they WANT. How backwards is that, right? So, Scott and I have decided to express our gratitude for the every day things. The things we take for granted. What would it look like if we spent all year focused on our thankfulness and then only ONE day focusing on what we want? It's a pretty revolutionary thought, if I do say so myself. So I've decided to list a few things here that I'm thankful for. Scott and I have also decided that weekly (probably on our date night) we will verbalize to one another what we are thankful for.
-the coffee that Scott brings to my bed every morning and then takes Miss B out on a walk so I can have an extra 20 minutes of sleep
-the extra 20 minutes of sleep:)
-holiday socks
-snuggle nights with my Love
-hugs and kisses from my baby girl
-my parents living so close to us and getting to share in our child-raising
-having found my soulmate, my true love so young in life and experiencing everything with him
-my faith in God
-manicures and pedicures
-living on the beach and seeing the waves every day
-having a husband who's willing to fly away with me
-really good books
-having a job where I can use my creativity
-seeing the world through a new perspective in the eyes of my child
-chai lattes with soy from Starbucks
-Sunday night soup and Miercoles Mexican in our house and other "theme nights" we come up with
-craft nights with my girlfriends
-my book club friends
Once you start the thankfulness list, the possibilities are endless. What are you grateful for? Let's start a backwards thinking society.

One Year

Remember this?

How did that turn into this?

It seems that the year has FLOWN by. But our little B turned 1 on October 21st. (i know, i know. i'm late in posting this. read my blog hiatus and understand that i have been OVER IT. i wonder if blogs gather virtual dust? my friend Priscilla posed that question and if it is true, then my blog needs a serious dusting) Anywho. Sprinkles' first birthday was at Tanaka Farms in Irvine. It was a gorgeous day and the kids and the grownups all had a lot of fun. Because B turned one, The Love and I had a long talk about the precedent we would set if we spent hundreds of dollars on our oldest child's birthday. Unrealistic and unnecessary. B doesn't even know she turned one. Nor does she care about the amount of money we spent. Scotty and I are not about that anyways. We have had multiple discussions about Sweet 16 on MTV and gag at the thought that these poor girls grow up thinking that money is the most important thing in life. Porsche's do not show up at the front door of most people's homes on their birthday. Character is a huge focus in our family and so with that in mind I had a couple of girlfriends over the night before and we made most of the decorations. With a little help from Miss B of course. She fingerpainted a painting to match the theme- Hello Kitty Halloween. It was perfect. Everyone got to go on a tractor ride, through the corn maze (how ironic. corn is also known as maize but there really was a MAZE, you know like the labrynth. i'm a nerd sorry) and pick a pumpkin as their party favor. It couldn't have been a better day.

Isn't it Ironic. A Life Lesson.

A valuable lesson was learned by yours truly this month. So many, many things went down the month of October in the Cheo household. Least of which was Miss B turning (gulp) ONE. (pictures to come). Since I was working so VERY hard, I took some much needed time off. I left my little sweetie and my Big sweetie for one whole evening and painted the town red with some girlfriends. That's right. You heard me. I packed my Big and Sexy hair spray, my sequined dress, and my fake eyelashes and headed with my three besties to Vegas for a night to see our beloved Dane Cook. I had some reservations about leaving the homefront. 1- lil miss B had fallen and had an enormous bruise on her head. would it cause amnesia? would she remember me when I got home? 2- I had never left her for a whole night before. and while I trust Scott, I did not trust myself not to have a breakdown in Caesar's palace and start showing some Elvis look alike pictures of my little mama in the bath tub. I had visions of myself saying "look at those little buns!? aren't they adorable!!" But alas, I took off my mom hat and got into the car with the ladies without so much as a wayward glance toward my home. We got dressed up (and looked pretty bangin if I do say so myself) and went to the Hard Rock to go see Dane. Please see photos below.





The night went off without a hitch. UNTIL. we became lost and ended up in a shady area on our way back to the strip. You might be wondering why we didn't take a cab. Well, we did not want to wait in an hour and a half line (which is what the line was at the Hard Rock) to get back to the strip. By that time it would have been late. We're old. We can't stay up all night like we used to. So we trucked it. In my heels, in my sequined dress through gravel and construction sites. We walked and walked. There were people trying to pick us up in their cars. There were shady characters everywhere. My besties got scared. I did not. They relied on me to navigate the way back to the strip. I wondered why. Then it hit me smack dab in the forehead. I'm a mom. I got down to business and found our way back. Though I was 500 miles away from home. Though I wanted to not be a mom for a night. No matter where I go, I'm sure to find myself there.

Blog Hiatus

I have been on a little blog hiatus lately. For reasons that I don't even know. I love blogging. I have a lot to say but for some reason I have not even been in the mood. I think perhaps I just feel like how many posts about lunches with friends, parties, concerts, etc can one person possibly keep up with? When I look back on my life and think how will my kids remember me, what do I want them to say? She was a great blogger. who cares? Scott and I have been going through a little bit of a transformation lately and it's incredible. We have been doing what we call "weeding out." We are getting rid of the clutter in our lives and focusing in on the important stuff. Simple right? no, not really blogging friends. We got rid of cable. Now when we have our "cookie surprise" (a routine that scott and i have nightly where I ask what we will have for a treat, he responds with, well maybe some broccoli? and i act disappointed only to be "surprised" by whatever cookie or treat he brings for us to enjoy) we talk until all hours of the night. We have never been big on TV and this just seems like the right thing for our family. We begun teaching college group at church, we are concentrating on molding our lives into something spectacular. I have a very wise friend who once told me that everything spectacular in life comes down to one word. Intentionality. This just seemed like the right time for us. We have always lived our lives by the seat of our pants which we love and will still continue to do but just with more intentionality. So what does this entail? Well this blog for one. It will henceforth be an effort that we concentrate on together. Kind of like our journal to one another this will be an account of our journey through our life together. Life is good blogging friends, and it's time to start giving an account of just how good it can be. Now, I don't mean to insult the blogs that post pictures of what they made every night for dinner. I have a passion for cooking as well, and perhaps if it strikes me, might post a meal or two as well. But don't you ever think that there is something more? We do. And that is exactly why we are going through this transformation. So stay tuned. Revolution is on it's way.