Easter Pictures

If I'm not careful, I'm going to get my Mom Card taken away.  

Yes, these pictures are all from my iPhone. 

Doesn't the laundry basket in the background add that "Easter" touch?  

Hey, it's a basket, give me a break.   

Oh yeah, and funny faces courtesy of mouth fart noises by the photographer. 

They were looking much too serious.  

Funny or not, I love these little faces.  

Valentine's Day

What's that?  Do I know it's almost a month past Valentine's Day?  

Yes.  And your point is?

This year we did glow stick Valentines for #1. 

(Thank you Dollar Store)

#2 was over the moon about Batman Valentines.

I did very few treats, but I managed to pull together s'mores with heart shaped marshmallows. 

Not quite as delicious when prepared under the broiler, but it worked.  

For "dinner" I made french toast with sliced strawberries, fresh whipped cream, and bacon. 

Then we all had a brief, sugar-coma nap, and watched a movie.  

It was a great day!

Easter Week

Resurrection Rolls

Baked eggs

An early morning egg hunt

Easter duds

 Recital pictures

and..... a sick little boy.

Quick Easter Craft

With my self-imposed housebound Saturday (stupid allergies have made me unfit for human interaction... crazy eyes, cracked lips, and a serious mouth breathing problem), I decided to whip up a quick Easter craft.

Supplies: glue gun, wreath form (Dollar Tree), plastic eggs from last year, ribbon for hanging.

Yes, I keep the plastic eggs.  

It seems silly to buy them over and over each year.

An hour of gluing, and VOILA:

Ah, Springtime!

Total spent: $0

V-Day Decor

I have never been a big fan of Valentine's Day.  Yes, it is wonderful to receive flowers or chocolates, but why on that one particular day?  And try getting a dinner reservation on that night... no thanks.  Surprise me on a day with a little less hype around it.

But, as with nearly any holiday, my kids get SO EXCITED about it.  So, I am trying to dig down and unearth my Valentine's Day excitement.  As such, I made these:

The wreath idea came from Tatertots and Jello, and the puffball was a natural extension of the wreath.  Total cost for materials was $4.00 ($1.00 each for wreath form, styrofoam spheres, and 2 packs of cupcake liners).  I used polka dot cupcake liners from Michael's (sold in a pack of 75 - 50 red, 25 orange).  I set aside the orange liners and ended up using about 65 liners for the 8" wreath.  I used a different liner for the puffball, but they coordinate.

The printables I found via links on Tatertots & Jello.  She did a contest with a weekend wrap up party, and there are TONS of great projects there. The printables are from here and here.  I printed them on cardstock and placed them in frames I bought at Pottery Barn Kids (they were having a floor sample sale & I picked up 2-11x14 frames & 2-8x10 frames with mats for $16 total!).  The frames are little beat up, but they are up high enough that you (mostly) can't see the scratches (I'm planning on painting the frames & just decided to use them because I had them).  The smaller print was larger than the mat, so I used 2 removable glue dots to secure it to the outside of the mat.  The larger one was a perfect fit.

I'm also going to make a Valentine's Day Chairbacker inspired by this one from Pottery Barn Kids.  I'll show you that one when I'm done.

How do you feel about Valentine's Day?  Do you decorate and celebrate or keep it low key?

PS - I'm sort of giddy about the puffball.  At first I was ambivalent, but it's growing on me.  It looks a bit like a cluster of carnations.  I know, carnations are the Wal-mart of flowers, but I much like the 'Mart, I think they are underrated.

Christmas Recap

I am a homebody.

There, I've admitted it!

I feel so light, so unburdened.

OK, maybe not.

The Holidays are a time I always look forward to, but often with mixed feelings. While I love my extended family and miss them, I've come to terms with the fact that my love for them does not override my distaste for travelling during the Holidays. Especially after last year's travel nightmare, it may be a handful more years until I entertain the notion of boarding a plane to travel thousands of miles through winter weather anytime from December 1-January 12.

As such, we had a lovely Christmas this year! Although I took on too much (crafting), and happily decided to not finish everything I started, I felt 97% prepared for Christmas to come.

We had a slow start (Big Sis must be the only kid on earth who sleeps in on Christmas morning!), but really enjoyed taking our time opening presents. We ate yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast, stayed in our PJ's ALL day, and whiled away the afternoon playing with our new gifts, snacking, and eating an early dinner (our usual prime rib roast - YUM!). We capped off the night by watching A Christmas Story. It was a perfect Christmas Day.

Big Daddy and Big J enjoying a story in his new chair.

Racing with his new dragster - a well-chosen gift from Big Sis.

LEGOS! Big Daddy was so excited to share the joy of Legos with his boy.

A favorite gift (although she seemed to love everything this year -WHEW!)

Hope you had a lovely Christmas.

Sending Happy New Year Wishes to you wherever you are.

2010 has GOT to be better!

Holiday Cooking

Upon reflection, I think I was a little ambitious with this year's Holiday cooking.

First, I made caramels.

Never done it before.

First batch was good. A little pale, but soft & chewy - exactly how I like them.

I used my largest saucepan & came dangerously close to sugar coating my stove, so the next batches were cooked in a 5.5 quart pot.

Big Mistake.

My 2nd batch was hard & chewy, like Sugar Daddies.

My 3rd batch was nearly done, then burnt.

My 4th batch (a 1/2 batch cooked in the small saucepan) burnt so badly that I had to open all the doors & windows & light a Yankee Candle. My candy thermometer also feel victim to the muck, shattering when I tried to pry it out of the acrid mess still clinging to the bottom of the pan.

Yep, 5 hours later, it's still soaking in my sink.

On a happier note, I made marshmallows!!

I used this recipe from Bon Appetit.

Blooming the gelatin.

What's that?

You smell hooves?

Me too.

There's a reason the comments mentioned GOOD QUALITY VANILLA.

Read the recipe comments. Those people know what they're talking about.

(I used Costco vanilla. When I make these again, I will either need to make peppermint marshmallows with a kicky red swirl, or invest in better vanilla).

(TO BE CLEAR - I love Costco vanilla & this is my go-to for baking. But take a whiff of that bloomin' gelatin, and you'll want to pick up some Tahitian Bourbon Vanilla, too!)

Hot Mess.

Hotter Mess.

Marshmallow fluff.

Pour it in the pan & let it sit all night.

Messy, but not as bad as I thought.

Lots of powdered sugar & a serrated knife helped to make them cut-able.

I tried cutting shapes with a cookie cutter, but that was a little much for this year. Maybe in 2010.

They taste yummy - not at all like hooves.

I'm saving some for hot chocolate on Christmas, but I also set a few aside & partially dipped them in dark chocolate.
Say it with me: Mmmmmm.......

.

Then I made peppermint patties with the world's easiest recipe from The Kitchn. I LOVE The Kitchn.

Dipped in dark chocolate and ready to be consumed at our Christmas Eve gathering. They are really yummy, and are a near match in texture and taste to the commercial version. I was fortunate to find a candy supply store just down the street, and they had good quality chocolate at a low, low price. No tempering required.

Tomorrow I am supposed to make jam cookies, cherry cheesecake bites and artichoke dip (all for Christmas Eve).

(Yep, my New Year's goals are totally going to include some much needed gym time!)

Happy Eating!

"Gingerbread" House

Growing up, we did not have many traditions surrounding the holidays.

There was never a specific day to trim the tree, or a night to go caroling.

We didn't have a special ornament to hang or nativity to set out.

There were no candies or cookies that we made without fail.

When I envisioned myself as a mother, I pictured changing all of that. And while I realize that reality sometimes gets in the way of that vision of perfection, I am - slowly.

The tree is trimmed with care (and with the breakable ornaments carefully hung out of the reach of almost-2-year-old hands).

We're not big on caroling, but I do love to listen to Christmas music almost every day and night.

We have many special ornaments (including many from my childhood), and look forward to growing our collection.

I do love to cook, and enjoy trying new cookie and candy recipes, always refining what we like & when to make them. This year's experiments include caramels, peppermint patties, marshmallows, and maybe even cake balls.

One thing I've always wanted to cross off my Holiday Mom List was making a gingerbread house. I know better than to dive in full-force, so I started off small with a graham cracker version and dollar store candy.

We used a 6-pack holder as a base, with cardboard for sub-roofing.

(shout out to the neighbors for providing the foundation of our gingerbread house)

Work in progress.

Cutting graham crackers is much easier with a serrated knife.

And patience. That helps, too.

The finished product.

Next year I will: make more royal icing, buy more candies (including gumdrops and Nilla wafers), and not bother creating red icing. I will also spread the process over a few days. It seems best to assemble the house one night & decorate it the next.

I feel like I've completed a rite of passage as a mother.

Happy Star Wars Day!

Fun fact: The recessional song at my wedding was the Star Wars theme. It was my little surprise to Big Daddy. Yes, I am a SUPER nerd.

Oh yeah, and Happy Cinco de Mayo too.

Addendum: Apparently I am not as much of a nerd as I thought because Star Wars day was yesterday. {sigh}.