Cooking Class Instructor Needed

You remember my great idea to be Jessica's Cooking Class teacher? Well, it's been a while since last class. Then with Spring Break, visit from my brother & fam, and a plethora of other distractions, we didn't schedule another class. So image Jessica's delight when I told her that today was cooking class.

I thought we should make Snickerdoodles because of all the tactile involvement - squishing the dough into balls and rolling it in cinnamon & sugar. I found a recipe entitle Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies and thought it sounded great. I love them puffy; chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside.

The mixing and stirring and measuring went beautifully. The balling and rolling were perfect. The cookies however were a flat mess - tasty, but ugly. Not puffy. Not to be photographed. So take my word for it that I have NO RIGHT teaching the Snickerdoodle Cookie Lesson in cooking class.

Jessica did get to wear her new apron, but she changed into this Cinderella gown while the dough was chillin.


This is her watching the cookies splat flat. Perhaps it's time to clean the oven - huh? Amazing what looking through the lens will show you.

My Life Goes on in Endless Song - How Can I Keep From Singing

There's a song I love entitled, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" For me, singing aligns my soul with perfect contentment. Feeling a vocal move within me is so soothing.

When I see my adorable son I wonder, "How can I keep from smiling?" Man I love him! Come on - it's not just me. You think he's adorable too - don't ya?








I'm trying to learn how to shoot in manual mode (that's the M on the SLR camera - where you have to enter all the settings). Aren't you excited to see way too many pictures as I practice?

Personality Captured

I learned so much from this photo/balloon experiment. What was I thinking when I let the kids hold their Hubba Bubba Tape?! They had HUGE wads of gum in their mouths. It made a ball larger than a golf ball when I made them spit it out in my hand.

Also, if you want to see balloons against the sky, don't pick the location with all the electrical wires overhead. And WHAT were was I thinking trying to do balloon pics on a completely windy day? I'll tell you what - it was on the calendar and there wasn't another time. Anyway- James let go of the balloons. The weights kept them close enough to the ground, but the wind gusts kept sweeping them outta reach. He ran his guts out.





And Finally...

Here's the shot that may not be admired by most, but it absolutely captures their personalities. My good, obedient James. He's looking at the camera with his forced smile trying too hard to get this task finished so we can go home. Jacob has all the time in the world. He's in no hurry. He's off in his own little world watching the blades of grass grow. Jessica won't look at me to save her life. She's too busy egging on her brothers. She's got a beautiful smile, but it is mostly seen in

It's Already Been THREE Months

I was lying in bed nursing the baby and Jessica snuggled in to join us.

"I like this baby" she said after kissing him on the forehead. "I don't want to give him to somebody else because we love him so much."

Sometimes when he cries Jessica pats him on the head and says, "It's okaaaaay. It's okaaaaay. You are in our family now."

I am truly grateful that my sweet, beautiful son (who also sleeps ALL night long) has finally come to our family. My heart is full.




Don't ya love the Bubble Beard?

A House Full of Princesses

Jessica's birthday was a magical day for her. All her party guests arrived in their beautiful gowns. We had princesses everywhere - batting balloons in the front room, tasting bagel bites in the kitchen, sliding down the slippery slide in the backyard, and some sneaking upstairs to her bedroom. I found Jessica & Belle having a tea party on her bed.

They painted pretty princess door hangers with glittery pink & purple glue. They played stick the crown on the princess.




They ate cake & ice cream. Jessica said in her prayer, "and thank you for all my friends and all my presents."


Jessica's friend shares the same birthday. She's two. We re-lit a couple candles and sang to her also. I was her nursery teacher, so she has a special spot in my heart.



They helped Jessica toss the tissue papers out of the party bags in minutes to unveil the birthday surprises. They got so excited to receive purse treat bags and immediately unwrapped the candy necklaces.



Jessica stood on the porch with he new sparkly unicorn (which she now sleeps with every night) and waved until every last guest drove away.


The morning after the party Jessica reminisced, "I had a great birthday... I got lots of wonderful gifts."



And now... My Birthday Party Tips:

*Kids don't care if the frosting is homemade.

*Mini figurines make great cake toppers for themed parties. I don't have lots of success drawing with frosting on a spongy cake.

*Candies make great accessories

*I'm not going to have time to make marshmallow pops on the same morning that I need to clean my house for a party.

*You don't need to do Princess Shrinky Dinks - one craft is enough

*Here's one I read in Family Fun magazine. Before the party scoop ice cream into cupcake papers. For extra fun add sprinkles. Return to the freezer. When it's time for ice cream, you just need to cut the cake. I REALLY liked this. When I do it again, I'll not soften the ice cream so much (I was frosting the cake) so I can make prettier balls.

*Don't wrap the family gifts for your child. After the party guest leave, take all the bags and tissue paper and refill them with the other presents. I came up with this one on accident.

*In time you won't remember that you've had a pounding headache for days leading up to the party, during the party, and days after. Just grin and enjoy your daughter's special day.

Marshmallow Pops

Back at the beginning of March, I didn't pay much attention to Lyndsey's post about Cupcake Pops. Then at the end of March she brought it up again in her Cupcake Pops WHAT post. I followed the link to one of her favorite sites Bakerella and I fell in love with the photo. They looked like mini cupcakes - Adorable. I wanted to try them out and possible serve them at Jessica's birthday party. But I didn't want to go to all the cake baking, since I thought a marshmallow would work just as well. I had SO MUCH fun making these sweeties. I just used marshmallows. I dipped them in melted chocolate chips and cooled. Then I tried to dip them in pink. Oops - the warmth started melting the chocolate too. So I carefully drizzled the pink on top. Then finished them off with sprinkles and Easter jelly beans. My kids LOVED them. I think they are so pretty. I couldn't stop taking their pictures.

This is a Party I Don't Want to Miss

On Jessica's 4th Birthday Eve, I reminded her that she was having her Princess Party with all her friends. I told her there would be princess gowns, games, crafts, cake, & presents. She gleefully replied, "this is a party I don't want to miss." I wouldn't miss it either. How did we get to age four already? (Not that I'm sad about being done with her TRYING THREES).

These pictures were taken just before the guests arrived.

Joshua Tree National Park - the Rocks

I've had posting procrastination. These are from Spring Break when we spent a day at Joshua Tree National Park. The kids liked hiking around the rocks. I was sitting with the baby most of the time making sure he was all filled up before returning to the car seat.

Jon is especially interested in visiting National Parks. We both enjoy being outdoors, so it's good that he gets us out the door. We've never been here before. There are Joshua Trees EVERYWHERE when you enter the park, but don't take them for granted. Pull over to the side of the road and get that picture because as you drive deeper into the park - no more Joshua Trees. Luckily Jon found one when he was out hiking with the kids.

Jessica wants a pet too

It's not unusual at our house to have a child return indoors SCREAMING. So I kept doin' what I was doin' until James came upstairs to offer an explanation. Apparently Jessica was jealous that Jacob has a pet. She wanted one too. She spotted a grasshopper in the backyard and decided to take it for herself. Imagine her horror when it sprang from it's place when she bent down to pick it up.

She's big drippy tears scared.

Larry the Lizard

Jacob just came charging into the office and put a dixie cup in my face. "I caught a lizard," he exclaimed with glee. WHOA! Wait. "You brought a lizard in the house? Cover that cup? Don't you know that lizards can skitter out of a cup?"

"Mom," he calmly replied to my hysterics "it's a dead lizard."

"Are you sure it's dead? That's a trick lizards use to escape" I inform him.

"It's not moving."

Well, I wanted it outside anyway. Gross. But then I got to thinking... isn't it a huge compliment when a 7 year old runs to his mother to tell her about the lizard he caught? I was on the first to know list. So, I went downstairs and outside to hear about his fancy find.

By my estimation, the lizard IS in fact dead. And if it is super good at faking it, it's going to be really dead soon. Jacob has rolled down the dixie cup to secure the top and then he stores it in the BBQ grill. Great.

Jessica is so happy that "Larry the Lizard" lives at our house too. "Larry the Lizard" is the class pet at her preschool. It is any lizard that shows itself in the backyard during outside time.

Now my mind is compiling a list of things Jacob does to show me he loves me:

*Draws a pictures of us together with hearts around it with the words, "i love you." (okay so that's a bit obvious)

but there are other NOT so OBVIOUS expressions:

*Hiding his snack/candy/cracker wrappers under his bed so I don't have to know that he's spoiled his dinner.

*Kicking his clean clothes under the bed so I can see carpet when I walk into his room.

*Sleeping on top of his covers, so his bed is made each morning.

*Leaving his swords or lightsabers on the floor by the door just in case I need to defend myself from an intruder.

*Running around the backyard in his white socks so I have plenty of chances to use my Shout sprayer.

*****
I interrupt this post because Jacob just carried in "Bob's" tail and dangled it in my face. Apparently this isn't Larry. Also Bob & tail are NOT attached.

Thanks for sharing son! If any of you need help catching dead lizards at your house, you just let me know. I'm sure something could be worked out for a nominal fee.