Category: Family

Everything Espinoza family.

Lost Sheep

Today Isabel and Grandma worked together making “lost sheep” treats from the Bible story found in Luke 15:3-7

“Then Jesus told them this parable. “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents then over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
– Luke 15:3-7 NIV

The recipe for the “lost lamb/sheep” treats.

Mixing up the batter. Grandma decided to cut the recipe in 1/2 which was a great idea because we would of ended up with a lot more lost sheep!

Grandma showing her how to form a ball of dough.

After rolling the dough into a small ball you coat it with milk.

And then roll it in coconut.

Isabel giving her dough ball a bath in milk.

Sprinkle it with coconut.

The finished “lost lamb/sheep” treats.

These treats were sweet!! Isabel enjoyed making them with Grandma and enjoyed eating a few too. Thank you Grandma for sharing your recipe and making lost lamb/sheep with me.

Pom Pom Party

Today I had to attend a meeting at the District Office at school all day. I was a bit bummed that I would miss a day visiting with my parents but Isabel enjoyed the time with just the 2 of them. They went for walks around the block and even took her scooter around a few times too. They played bocce ball in the back yard grass which was a bit hard to do because the grass needed to be mowed. Which my father decided to do because it helped not to lose the bocce ball! They even had a party…

Raining pompoms!

They would gather the pompoms and throw them up in the air! Anyone that got a sparkly one got 3 points.

More pompom party fun!
Note: One month later and I am still finding pompoms that got “lost” during this party)

Independence Day

Happy 236th Birthday America!

Last year my parents were visiting and we actually spent the holiday with them and went to a party with some of our church family. This year however we spent the day at home, Gino and Isabel went out and got some fireworks to do after dark. Our “show” didn’t go on as long as some of the neighbors who keep it up until 2 a.m.

Our BBQ dinner was a juicy steak and corn on the cob. Yum! For dessert we had a patriotic fruit tart pie with raspberries and blueberries. Yum! Yum!

For less then $100 bucks, Gino got a decent package of fireworks but way to many sparklers! Isabel even got some of her “snaps” that she enjoys so much!

Waiting for our little show to begin.
She did OK until I got up to do sparklers and then she wanted to go in the house.
I even got her to hold a sparkler; for about 10 seconds!

This was like our little finally with lots of smoke!

Sparklers!

After the sun went down it got really cool, so had to get our jackets.

After all the “big” stuff, we just did sparklers and more sparklers.

Happy Independence Day!

Working Together

This afternoon after brunch we worked together to make two loaves of banana bread.

Daddy gathered and measured all the ingredients.

Peeling the banana’s.

Then she mashed them in the bowl. While I greased the pans and chopped the nuts.

Moments from the oven…can you smell the banana goodness?

After some cooling time we all had a warm slice or two with milk. Yummy!

Happy Birthday Isabel

Today is Isabel’s birthday!

We went to the newly-reopened Children’s Museum.

Isabel and I outside before we head inside for some fun and discovery!

Inside the Museum there are 5 areas for kids to explore. When we arrived there were so many people in the “woods” area that we didn’t stick around long. So we headed to the next area which is the “water” area.

This area is very cool. With water flowing freely in 2 different “rivers”. There is even a deep tank with a window to “fish” for items that sink to the bottom of the tank.

Having lots of fun in the “water” area of the museum.

The “voyager” area features a large metal and wood bird.
The kids can climb through and in the large bird.

In the head of the bird talking on the phone with someone??…
(I believe the phone connects with another phone located in the body of the bird. Kids can “talk” with each other)

This air shoot was around the corner from the bird. Kids can place scarves into different housing spots and air pushes the scarves through the tubing. After zipping through the maze of tubing the scarf will shoot out from different locations along the course. All the kids in the museum loved this!

After spending about an hour and half at the museum, Isabel was getting bored and hungry. So we headed out and walked up the street to the Old Spaghetti Factory. Isabel had spaghetti and both Gino and I had the Chicken and  Smoked Mozzarella Panini (YUM!) sandwich.

Daddy and his Birthday Girl.

Holiday Treats Part II

We didn’t decorate our sugar cookies yesterday but today we were able to get the cookies we baked over the weekend finished.

I layered on the frosting while she worked with holiday jimmies, red sugar, cinnamon imperials, holiday confetti, green sugar and holiday nonpareils. Enjoy!

She took her time placing all those candies on!

She took so long on her fist batch I had to step in to speed the process up!
Her work can be seen in all but 2 which I finished.

I completed the majority on this pan while she was finishing the others.
We had fun and we ate a few too!

Wish List

I remember doing this when I was little. I would wait for the holiday catalog’s to come in the mail. Anticipating the arrival of that magical book that held all my wishes. The day it would arrive, I would sit down and look through it. I would begin to visualize all the things that I really wanted. The next several days I would work on constructing my list on paper. I would put the item, price, and page number in the holiday catalog where the item could be found. Then after I thought it was finished, I would place it squarely in the middle of the fridge for my parents to see. I tried not to take it down and revise it because I was afraid if I did, I wouldn’t get the items on my list… which was the case every year except one year when I actually got a doll that was in the catalog!

I’m so glad my parents didn’t get me all that junk in the catalog that I thought I really needed because all those gifts are gone, except the most meaning full ones and they weren’t found in the holiday catalog’s at all. The most meaning gifts are the ones I hang on my tree each year. They are the ornaments given to my brothers and I each year and every year and that is the love that hangs on my tree!

Today Isabel wrote out her Christmas list. Isabel’s list is more from her heart. Enjoy!

1. a teddy bear (she has like 6-10 of them!)
2. a Pillow Pet

3. a book (since I cleaned out all her “baby” books)
4. glitter (don’t know why she’s asking for this when we have glitter!)
5. ♥ Love ♥