Oh Christmas Tree on speed

Christmas Tree 2013 from Shannon Ng on Vimeo.

Happy 4th Birthday Charlotte!

My does time pass way too quickly.

Four years old from Shannon Ng on Vimeo.

Oliver was sitting by the sliding glass door looking outside
C: He wants to go outside but he doesn't have shoes


C: Girls aren't cranky. Boys are!


C: Knock knock
Kayu: Who's there
C: Monkey
Kayu: Monkey who?
C: Monkey Banana!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope your day was filled with lots of red, white, & blue.

Bring on the eggies (As C would say)

Looks like we have all our bases covered

C's Preschool Graduation Performance

C's Preschool Graduation (3 years old) from Shannon Ng on Vimeo.

Green Tea Cake

It's not St Patty's day but I thought I would add a little green to my life.  The cake calls for matcha powder, which I had just recently bought some to make copy cat green tea frappacchinos.  The cake came out tasting light and paired perfectly with a hot cup of coffee.

Green Tea Cake

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 tablespoons matcha green tea powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup greek plain yogurt
3 large eggs
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease bundt pan.

In large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.  Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sour cream until combined.  Pour in the oil and extract and mix together.

Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Mix just until incorporated.  

Transfer the batter to the pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.  Cool for 20 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Sprinkle with confectioners sugar and Enjoy!

Love

With a peep peep here and a peep peep there

I am blaming the newbies on Kayu's mother and grandmother =) They both thought we should have four chickens and the more I think about it, the more economical four chickens sound. We are only feeding one more mouth but our egg production should increase. Now if you do the math, you are probably saying to yourself, 3 + 2 does not equal 4. Here's the deal...we are convinced that Little is a rooster. He/she is much larger than the other two and the tail feathers seem to be curving much like a rooster. Only time will tell, but in the mean time we decided to get two babies since they can't be raised solo. This time we got a Plymouth Rock and a Rhode Island Red. Currently the black one is Millie (named after my coworker) and the Red is Penny.

Look at their cute little tushes!

A letter to Grandma Ng

Grandma Ng,

I don’t think words could express how thankful I am that you left all your familiar surroundings in NYC to come live with us and take care of Charlotte. I think Charlotte will be able to look back and have fond memories of your time together. Sometimes I would come home from work and it was as if you two had your own little inside jokes…giggling like school girls. I also think that this time helped build a solid foundation for Charlotte learning Chinese which she will hopefully build upon in the years to come.

It was nice to have your company around the house while Kayu was gone. I know I slept better at night knowing that you were there as well. I will dearly miss your wonderful home cooked meals. I know my diet improved drastically with all the delicious vegetables you cooked. I am very grateful for all the cleaning and extra work you did to help out around the house.

Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to see Charlotte as much as I did due to my hectic work schedule. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You will be missed!

Love,
Shannon

Pimp my chicken coop

I was getting worried because the chickens were getting bigger and they had no real home besides the roosting cardboard box in the garage.  The ornery chickens had also figured out how to jump on the rim of the box.  I had found a coop with a garden top that I had liked in a magazine so I asked Kayu to sketch up some plans.  Well my genius husband found the exact coop that I wanted with plans in a book at barnes and noble.  So I did what any cheap girl would do, I sat at barnes and noble and took pictures of the plans.  Twenty-five pictures and a couple of stares from the employee later and I was ready to build a coop.  My aunt and cousin stepped up to the plate and agreed (well I don't know that Kelly really knew what she was getting into) to help me build it.  I felt rather empowered after the coop was built that we were able to complete the project all by ourselves.  Kayu joked that it was "made by girls for girls."  I only wish I had gotten a picture of the 3 of us after with power tools in hand.

C: Give me a big hug
C: That wasn't a big hug. You didn't squeeze me

C: Smell my hair (after taking a bath). Does it smell like strawberries?

C: Grandma do you like cats?
Grandma Ng: No cats. Cats no good 
(C laughs hysterically and the same conversation repeats itself)

C: I have a brother and sister.  They are at my new house.
Mommy: So where is this new house?
C: Right behind your house.  But you can't go there.

Daddy: Eat your dinner.
C: Maybe I will do that tomorrow

(After C drew the body of a butterfly)
Mommy: Are you going to draw the wings
C: No, I will do that tomorrow

Everything is about tomorrow these days...

A Girl and her chicks

There is no doubt that Charlotte loves these little chicks...she is constantly chasing them around and picking them up. I actually think they oddly prefer her over other people. We try to get them outside for a couple of hours each day. They love to nestle in the dirt and look for insects. This is what I like to call their "toddler" years.

Meet the newest members of our clan

I know...I know...call me crazy.  I really had good intentions of waiting until it was closer for Kayu to come home.  Then my neighbor impulse bought 2 more chicks (on top of the 4 she already had) and had regrets.  How could I say "No" to these cuties.  Nugget (the brown one) and Little (the blackish/gray one) are Ameraucana chickens and will lay blue and green eggs.  Honey (the golden one) is a New Hampshire Red.

If you think kids grow fast, you should see how fast these little ladies are growing.

i'mmm back

I took a small hiatus while I was busy trying to keep kitties from scratching toddlers, growing a garden, and trying to convince my husband that backyard chickens are a fabulous idea.  Sadly I have only succeeded at growing my indoor garden {California is great because unlike WY,  you don't have to worry about massive hail storms and 90 mph winds destroying your vegetables}

Charlotte has been talking up a storm lately and I have been terrible about writing stuff down.  Here are a few tid bits that I can remember....

Me: Where do you live?
C: Califunga

Me: Where is Daddy?
C: Afnanistan

C: Are you married?
Me: Yep
C: Oh. That's cute!

Lastly, elevators are commonly referred to as "alligators" and smoothie sounds more like "smovie."