Yesterday was one of those days. The crazy woman in me came out again. The day went mostly well, we were done with homeschooling by lunch time, then the girls spent the afternoon playing and I was cleaning. We were all excited because we were going to hang out with church family that night and have a bonfire (with s’mores of course!). Well then by 4:30 our plans (well, the ones I had in my mind) started unravelling. I had planned to leave at 4:45 pm, so I told them to get dress at 4:30 (yeah, we were still in our pajamas at that point), well, 15 minutes later they still weren’t dressed, and another 15 minutes passed and they still weren’t done (and just playing), so now I’m kinda frustrated at this point and was yelling like a mad woman that we weren’t going anymore. Ugh! I was so frustrated with myself! Brave was crying because she really wanted to see her friends and I was feeling bad because maybe I was too drastic about it. But I had already told them we weren’t going and as much as I wanted to just take them because they were so excited, I knew I had to stick with what I said.

Eventually, the girls calmed down and we went about our evening like normal (we didn’t go), but man I was feeling crummy for reacting so badly. Ben was working late so it had been an especially long day for me, but even still, it was no excuse and I was so mad at myself for being such a crazy mama. It definitely put me in no mood to blog because what was I was going to do? Come to this place and be all sunshines and rainbows. Yeah right! I was definitely not feeling any sunshines and rainbows. At the end of the day, I just wanted to crawl under a shell and hide forever. I was exhausted.

Thankfully, a new day came this morning and I had a talk with my girls about how I behaved badly and I was able to ask for their forgiveness. We all talked about good and bad choices, Christ and forgiveness, then we prayed together. I’m thankful for their forgiving spirits and their continuous showering of affection towards their sometimes crazy mama. And if you feel like a crazy mama from time to time, I’m here to tell you, you’re not alone! As difficult as these crazy and overwhelming moments are, it’s all part of the parenting package and as my mom tried to remind me today, “Soak this time in, it goes fast.” So through all the frustrating and happy chaos, I’ll keep trying to do just that.

Tilapia Ceviche on Crispy Wontons
adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:
1. 2 avocados
2. 1 medium tomato
3. 1 lime
4. Habañeros finely chopped (we used 6 because we like it that spicy, but unless you like it pipin’ hot, maybe just use 1)
5. 1 small red onion finely chopped
6. 1 package of wonton wrappers
7. 1 tbsp sesame oil
8. 1 pound of sashimi grade tilapia
9. 2 tbsp rice vinegar
10. 1/2 tbsp fish sauce (can do without it if you don’t have any)
11. 1 bunch of chopped cilantro
12. Salt to taste

Directions:
Chop up the avocados, tomato, habañeros, onion, tilapia, and cilantro and toss together (note the finely chopped items in the ingredients list). Continue to add in the rice vinegar and fish sauce, and mix well. Sprinkle with salt (about 1/2 tsp – 1 tsp should do it) and squeeze the lime juice on top. Mix, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Set the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly brush each side of the wonton with sesame oil, and then lay each piece separately onto a baking sheet. Watch the wontons carefully as they can burn pretty fast, but generally it takes about 4-8 minutes (depending on your oven) to get them crispy. Once they turn a nice golden brown, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool. Top your wontons with the tilapia ceviche and enjoy!
When we want a sushi night, but don’t really want to dish out the money, this is what we do. Tilapia is so much cheaper than salmon sashimi, which is our fave, and most definitely cheaper than getting sushi for take away. It’s Ben’s favorite way to eat raw tilapia (this is my favorite way to eat it as I just substitute the tuna with the tilapia). We probably put a little more habañeros than the average person because we like things spicy, but 1 should do it, or if you can’t hack spice, just lightly sprinkle some red pepper flakes. The habañero tastes so good here because it’s a pepper that has a sort of spicy sweet thing going on and we love it! I’m pretty sure we’re probably going to eat some version of this on Friday night. It’s just so good and quick to make, plus it’s perfect to eat while we relax and watch a movie in bed! If you like sushi, I’m almost sure you’ll like this too!

Here she is, my biggest girl, the head honcho of the sisters (though #3 often tries to take the job away), and she is finally getting her 7th birthday breakfast in bed. We’ve been doing this tradition since she was one, but it started in my family when my parents were doing this for us since I was a kid. Our biggest gal is quite the creative gal. She’s always reading, drawing, and crafting. Every day she wants a new project to do. It’s always, “Mommy, can we make something today?” True has been planning this birthday of hers since August and she had lots of very specific requests, so we started off the day with her first one… the dolphin shaped pancakes (made by Ben!).

When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, besides her request for a party (and all the specifics to go in it), she said, “Anything swimming, ocean, or mermaid.” Then she followed that up with, “You can just make me something mommy!” So make is what I did.

I ended up making her a mermaid doll and had Ben drill a hole in a little seashell the girls collected, and sewed that onto her head. She came out looking pretty sweet and quirky. I just knew True would love her. Then, we were going to get her another bathing suit, but then I came across these turquoise glittery sandals (for $10!) at the store, which seemed mermaid-ish, so I got that for her as well (we ended up not giving her a bathing suit).

With everything I had made, I was kind of thinking she needed a special birthday dress because having a special birthday dress is a must, right?! This was totally a last minute idea. I remembered I had this Heather Ross fabric from her “Mermaids” line that I have been holding onto for at least 3 years, so I took that out and went off into dress making. I kind of mimicked this dress I made for myself long ago, and thankfully it all came out fantastic on my first try. Good thing, because I wouldn’t have had anymore fabric had I messed up. We gave her all her gifts during breakfast and she was quite happy and thankful for all of it. We also gave her her first real Bible now that she is such an avid reader. It’s sweet because she’s been reading bits of it at night with Ben.

We’ve been inundated with various house and personal projects that we haven’t really been on many family adventures these past few months. Thankfully, most of our projects are wrapping up, so we’re trying to go on more adventures. This past weekend we told the girls we were taking them to the Wild Wild West and boy were they excited about that! Actually, it was really Pioneertown out in the desert, but that place made you feel like you stepped into a Western movie for sure. We had an early dinner at Pappy and Harriet’s and then we let the girls roam around the teeny little town. They had a blast just walking, exploring, and pretending they were cowgirls. They’ve got Texan in their blood, so maybe some of it comes naturally. That little baby of ours was especially happy to be walking and walking about. She’s got such a curious little personality and is an excellent copycat (always trying to do what the big sisters do). She’s such a doll!

After our Old West exploring, we headed out to Joshua Tree to get some family pictures taken by Kimberly Geneviève. Kim and Andre are such sweeties and we always have a good time when we see them. This was the first time we got official family pictures done as a family of 6! You could see a sneak peek of the pictures they got here and here, and I’m so excited to see the rest! We ended up getting an annual pass to Joshua Tree, so we can’t wait to go back and do more exploring soon!

Obviously, we had a pretty pack weekend, which included seeing the BFF and her hubs cross the finish line for the OC half holding hands (it’s such a big moment for them!), spending time with church family, and then spending Sunday afternoon feasting with my family. Weekends like this are fun, but oh man does it leave the house in a shambles. Oh well, that’s what Mondays are for, right?! Happy Monday friends!

on true: dress, vintage. on brave: mix match dress, c/o homespun vintage (their stuff is so cute!!!). on soul: dress, gifted from Rachel. on glow: dress, vintage. shoes, c/o freshly picked. the bigger girls all wearing salt-water sandals (we pass them down to the next gal each year).

This week was great! No one was sick, we got to hang out with friends, did lots of schooling, and filled in the other times with cleaning and catching up on life things. Oh and we started it off with the San Antonio Spurs moving on to the next phase of the playoffs. Woot! Woot! If Papi’s happy, all his girls are too!

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Love how True and Brave’s writing have really improved over this past year. Their penmanship is so much more legible and their stories filled with lots of details. They really are ready for the next grade! I can see how they’ve grown so much from the beginning of the year and we are pretty much done with some of this year’s curriculum, though we still have about a month and a half left.

Soulie. That girl is the girliest of my girls. She wants nail polish, lipstick, blush, necklaces, bracelets, and rings all on her birthday. It’s still 6 months away, but she’s already started plotting it out.

The heat (and wind) has been crazy lately! Today it got up to 99 degrees! Cray cray!

Love our Mightee Kids Tees. I love how you can get a cute tee for your kid and educate them on some of the difficulties other kids around the world face using the tee (and a card that comes along with it) as a learning tool. Last month was in support of autism and this month is to help soccer balls and build fields for kids in Africa to protect them from wars, drugs, and child soldiers. The tee designs are super cute too! I really love the concept behind these rad tees.

I want to get Gwyneth Paltrow’s new cookbook. I heard it’s a good one! Anyone try it yet?

I want to try these anti-break colored pencils. Our colored pencils are always breaking and we seem to run out of colored pencils all the time because of it.

Beth shared with me her new shop full of her colorful paintings. This one is my fave. I’m always encouraged to see people doing things they love and thankful that the internet really helps you get your work out there.

This week I was being all hormonal and Ben and I got in a fight because I didn’t think he cuddled me enough! HA! Us girls are just so silly sometimes, aren’t we?! Sometimes, most times, I’m just plain crazy!

Thankful for Friday nights because that’s when Ben and I do our dine-in/movie date nights in our bedroom (and I go pick up some fro-yo too). I always look forward to it! It’s an easy way to get quiet together time when it’s not so easy to get in a consistent date night.

We have a family outing planned for tomorrow afternoon, so we’re excited about that. It seems we’re always up to our ears in house projects that we don’t get out enough as a family. Tomorrow we’re making time to do so. Hip, hip hooray! The weekend is here!!!

Curried Split Pea Soup with Coconut Milk. Even if you aren’t a fan of vegetarian dishes, I’m almost sure you’ll like this one. It’s a yummy one!

Dumplings. Shrimp & Chive Dumplings and the other kind, which was ground turkey based, I kind of just winged it with my own ideas. The dumplings were a hit with the girls! Brave and Glow especially liked the shrimp ones and those were spicy! It was about a year ago when I first made dumplings for our dumpling party and they are such an easy dish to make. Don’t get intimidated and give it a shot! Mine aren’t perfectly wrapped, but whatever. As long as it’s yummy, there’s not much to complain about.

Week 5/6 – 5/10

Monday: Chicken Enchiladas (Just made it a couple weeks ago, but it’s so good, I want it again!)
Tuesday: Salmon Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Hummus Wraps
Friday: Pizza/sushi night

We have had one meal outside this past month, but I’m hoping for more soon. I’m ready to sit under twinkly lights and our (mostly) cool summer evenings!