The Domingos

Starting off the New Year

Brittany Domingo — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:01:31 +0000

Feeling so excited and hopeful about this next year ahead. Our family resolution list has grown to be rather large, but feeling pretty uplifted to know that as a family we are heading in the right direction and stronger than ever.

Olivia has been quite entertaining these days with the things she has been doing and saying. She is like a little sponge soaking in all new words, phrases and actions.

Here are the newest develoments in her little life- (had to throw in some of the hilarious ones as well)

-gone 4 times on the potty! (not officially going there just yet with the whole potty training, but at least she is starting to understand the concept)

-learning some new dance moves thanks to her daddy. When asked to “pop” she moves her arms around as if she is doing an interpretive dance and then when she really like a song she taps her feet as if she is in riverdance. hilarious!

-when asked what her name is she replies with “good girl.” Guess we use that phrase a bit more than we realize when referring to something she has done. Well, at least she has a good self image.

-”I sorry mommy/daddy” is often a phrase we hear since we have entered into the 2′s realm and having to do a bit more time-outs. eek!

-already the time to enroll her for pre-school next year in the 2′s class at Sonshine! I am beyond excited for that day to come when she gets to go.

-still LOVING books and can’t get enough of them. Her current favorites are any pop-ups, Tickle Monster, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and anything to do with Elmo.

Looking forward to this next year ahead with her and to watch he as a 2 year old. Parenthood is such a gift!

Here are some pictures from our freezing cold trip to Summerlake Park. Made me SO excited for Spring to get here and we can start those up again.

December

Brittany Domingo — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:03:57 +0000

It has been such a fun Christmas season for our family. We definitely packed it full of lot of Christmas activities with loved ones. Some of the highlights were making gingerbread houses , zoo lights, getting our Christmas tree, Nutcracker and lots of dinner parties.

My favorite part of all was experiencing Christmas with Olivia and seeing her face light up at all the decorations. A phrase she said many times a day, but never got old was “ooo pretty lights” when we saw Christmas trees or decorated houses. She loved hearing Christmas stories read to her and hearing about “Baby Chesus.” It was also fun taking her to my parents house and seeing her get excited by the same thing I used to love, like my mom’s Christmas village, nativity scene, snowglobes, and nutrackers. One activity Livi SO did not enjoy was her visit to Santa. She was fine seeing him from a distance, but as soon as it was her turn to sit on his lap she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him and let everyone know. (Just look at the picture and you will see…) At least it will be a hilarious picture to look back at.

For Christmas day we spent the early morning at our house opening presents and watching Olivia play with her toys. Then we headed over to my parent’s house for more gifts and brunch. The theme this year for Olivia’s gifts seemed to be around making her domesticated since she got a play kitchen, vacuum cleaner, stroller. All things she loved!! Then the other theme was all about Elmo. It is true love of a parent when you allow that doll and all his paraphernalia into your home. But, Olivia loves that red monster and so it stays….for now.

It really is such a special time of year and it makes me feel so blessed to have my faith, family and friends.

Being a bunny is a serious thing…

Brittany Domingo — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:07:37 +0000

We had a great week with some fun parties. To start it out we celebrated my mom’s birthday over at our house.

Happy Birthday Mom! You are a blessing to us all. :)

Then the Halloween festivities began! Olivia was a good sport letting me play around with a few options for costumes (giraffe, garden gnome, lion…), but the winner was my old bunny costume my Grandma made me back when I was little. Pretty nostalgic to see her in it and know that her Great Grandma made it for her mom 26 years ago.

Bunny in 1984

Bunny in 2010- apparently Olivia took being a bunny very seriously and didn’t crack too many smiles for pictures. Although I know she loved being in it because she got giddy putting it on and was sad to take it off.

We started the week off with a party over at our house with my mom’s playgroup. The kids were all dressed up in their adorable costumes and had a blast playing together and eating lots of fun Halloween snacks and treats.

For Halloween we got to spend another year with our good friends the Leedy’s at their house. We ate a ridiculous amount of food complete with enough candy to last us all year. It was so fun to take Olivia out trick or treating and to see her actually being able to walk to each door by herself, take a piece of candy, put it in her bag and say ”tank oo.” I can’t get over how fun it is now that she is able to be a part of all these fun traditions that we grew up doing. Just makes me even more excited to have Christmas come!!

Thanks Leedy’s for a great night!!

Sunriver with the O’s

Brittany Domingo — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:13:06 +0000

We had a great time going to Sunriver with our good friends Erin, Andy and Wesley Oranen. The weather could not have been more perfect with the sun shining and breathing in the cool and crisp Fall air. We all share a love of good food, so of course we managed to eat lots of it! The highlights were the amazing Cuban Corn Chowder (in which I am officially addicted to) and yummy Paella. After putting the kids down for bed, it was so nice to just sit at the table together and talk for hours. (especially for Erin and I since we typically never get to finish our sentences while we’re with the kids)

We also got to take many bike rides to the mall and park while the kids were strapped into the trailor. They were both so cute riding side-by-side together and for the most part had big smiles on their faces as the dad’s pulled them along.

Olivia and Wes are seriously so cute together since they both get along so well. They had fun running around the living room chasing each other, dancing, and every once in a while they would stop and hug and then go on with their games.

Here are some more photos from our trip:

Green Tomato Ketchup

John Domingo — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 04:33:33 +0000

This last weekend was garden cleanup time, and along with a ton of basil and fennel, we picked 10 pounds of unripened tomatoes off the vines. Our yellow pear, thai pink egg, purple calabash tomatoes didn’t fair so well with this year’s crummy weather. A lot of people would either throw away these too-young, late-season fruit, or drum up some fried green tomato recipes, but we decided to make some ketchup. Green tomatoes have an immature tomato flavor and a hint of sweetness similar to a zucchini.

Click to view slideshow.

Ingredients:

6 pounds green tomatoes

3 pounds onions

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Colman’s dry mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons mixed pickling spices (i.e. chilies, coriander, cumin, ginger, all spice, cinnamon, bay leaves, brown and yellow mustard seeds, cloves, tumeric)

2 cups organic vinegar

1 cup organic honey

Preparation:

Slice green tomatoes and onions; place in a large pot with pepper, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Put the mixed pickling spices in a small cheesecloth bag and add to the mixture. Pour vinegar over all and cook for 4 hours over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Carefully puree mixture in a blender; strain through a mesh strainer. Return to pot and bring to boil; add honey. Immediately fill 5 sterilized pint jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Wipe the jar tops and threads clean with clean damp towels. Place hot sealing lids on the jars and apply the screw on rings loosely. Process in boiling water bath in a deep canning pot for 5 minutes. Remove the jars and cool completely. Tighten the jar screw rings to complete the sealing process. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. (If lid springs back, it is not sealed and must be refrigerated.) Let jars of green tomato ketchup stand at room temperature 24 hours. Store unopened product in a cool dry place up to one year. Refrigerate green tomato ketchup after opening. Makes 5 pints of green tomato ketchup.