Monthly Archives: February 2011

Quick update

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Alan is on his way home with a movie, so this hopefully will be quick. I couldn’t decide if I should title it “Happy Valentine’s Day” or “Crazy Weather Day” or what. So I went with generic. Here are a few thoughts on our day.

Happy Valentine’s Day! We started the morning with homemade cards from me to them. The kids were thrilled with the little messages I wrote them. Then we made strawberry pancakes for breakfast, played a bit, then headed out to a playdate at what Lex has deemed his “most favorite house ever to play at!” Why? Because “they have a fire truck that’s smaller than ours, but the ladder is bigger! And they have trains!” It’s the simple things for that boy. :)

This afternoon they got a reprieve from quiet time to watch a front loader and team of dump trucks clear massive snowbanks from the street. It was pretty exciting and, I’ll admit, cool to watch the maneuvering of the front loader driver.

watching the front loader

This afternoon it was sunny and 50°!! Crazy weather. We decided to head out for some playtime before the forecasted rain came. By the time we made it outside the sun was gone, but it was still pretty warm and we had fun playing for awhile.

tire tracks

Eve climbing in the tire tracks left by the front loader

throwing snowballs

Throwing snowballs

cool chick

She's such a cool chick

laughing

Silly kids

tiny snowman

Our first snowman of the season.

guardians

We are safe now with these mini snowman guarding our house. :)

We can sled anywhere!


  

  

She is yelling “Uno” at top volume. Why? Because she’s a nut, that’s why! :)
  

Dry nights

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I hope I’m not about to jinx this, but Lex has had 11 dry nights in a row. After five nights with a dry diaper he opted to try sleeping without the diaper. He’s tried once or twice in the past and always wet his bed pretty quickly… but so far he has been dry every morning! Perhaps he’s all done with diapers…? Not unheard of at this age :)

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookie

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I made Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies for Lex’s Valentine’s Day party tomorrow. They are DELICIOUS!!! I’m not going to type the whole recipe, but you can find it on the Martha Stewart web site. Super easy to make. Try them! :)

raw cookies

Unbaked, unfilled cookies. Simple finger prints make the hearts.

heart cookies

My hearts belongs to you. Those these hearts belong to tomorrow's kindergarden class! :)

I was reading the comments on the Martha Stewart page and I agree that the dough would have been a little better with a bit of milk in it and the cookies would have been even more excellent with chopped up peanuts or chunky peanut butter. Either way, they are tasty!

More misquotes from Eve

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Eve was wearing her “Frosty hat” again today and belting out “Frosty the Snowman” at full volume.  After she said “Down to the village with a road stick in his hat,” a few times I decided to teach her the correct words.  I explained that he had a broomstick in his hand and she looked at me like I was nuts :)  She said no, no, and insisted he had a road stick in his hat. I asked what a road stick is and she said, “It’s just sticks that people take off the trees and throw into the road.  Then Frosty picks it up and puts it in his hat.”  I guess that makes about as much sense as a broomstick in his hand.  She continued with her lyrics and I minded my own business.

eve

Eve in a quieter moment. I love this headband she made at school.

eve at dinner

Eve at dinner

A 6am birthday party

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I interrupted a birthday party last night at bath time.  The kids had cake and “packages” and guests and all. Eve’s doggie is the birthday girl.

The kids cleaned up nicely, but agreed to continue in the morning. As they were climbing into bed Lex said, “Eve, how about I wake you up in the morning for the party?”  She eagerly agreed. I almost protested because she usually sleeps a lot later than he does, but I decided to stay quiet.

At 6am this morning they were up and partying! Eve ran into our room and yelled “wake up!!” Good thing we were already awake! Now they are opening presents and I need to get going with my morning.

Hope your Thursday started with a party!

I have chocolate under my fingernails… or Valentine’s Day sugarfest

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Someone, please, get me out of the kitchen!!

I don’t know what’s come over me this Valentine’s Day. I’m not really a big fan of the holiday, but for some reason this year I’m gung ho! I finally got the deliciously decorated sugar cookies out the door today…

one more peek

One more peek...

and this afternoon we found ourselves back in the kitchen (dining room, really) making Peanut Butter Balls. The kids saw this recipe in Parents magazine and wanted to make them for their classmates. Eve’s party is tomorrow and Lex’s is Friday, so today we whipped up a double batch, dipped them in chocolate, rolled them in sprinkles, and only sampled one each! :) I packaged up Eve’s tonight and tomorrow morning we’ll staple the Valentine’s Day cards to the baggies and send them to school. Hope they fit in the “mailbox” she made made in class today!

Eve

Eve, licking the spoon. She wore this hat all afternoon and made everyone call her Frosty :)

stickering

I printed labels for the baggies and the kids put them on. They were truly very helpful with this whole project!

rolling sprinkles

I dipped the peanut butter balls in chocolate and the kids rolled them in sprinkles. It was a messy endeavor. I don't know how people make chocolate dipped things look attractive. Maybe I need more practice!

close up

Not the most beautiful things, but I think their classmates will enjoy them.

me

Look, it's me! Alan came home and took some pictures. Chocolate fingers!

all packaged up

Here are the treats for Eve's class, all packaged up.

labels

Probably not necessary because the smell of peanut butter is potent, but I thought it would be nice to include an ingredients list, just in case.

eve cards

Here are Eve's Valentine's Day cards. She did most of the writing, but got tired at the end so I helped with a few. I love them! She was heart happy with the stickers :)

final product

This is what they will look like tomorrow when we staple the cards to the bags. I get all excited just looking at them!

lex cards

Here are Lex's Valentine's Day cards. He was so creative this year, with the decorations and the writing. I love the outpouring of love as well. I hope his classmates like it and don't give him trouble for not having "cool" store bought ones. I wonder what age that starts? I hope we have a few more years of innocent love!

clever writing

It took me a minute to figure out, but I love this clever writing.

I hope my abundance of photos isn’t annoying. I’m all giddy about pink this year!  I’d like to say we’re done for awhile, but I told Lex’s teacher I would make cookies for their class party on Friday, so tomorrow afternoon we will be making Peanut Butter and Jelly Heart cookies. :) I’m sure you’ll see pictures of them too!

PS. These Peanut Butter Balls are tasty, but not as good as the pretzels ones we had at Christmas! In case you were wondering.

Office

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A new game the kids like to play. They call it “office” and go sit behind the futon frame, each with a toy computer. Alan came home last night and saw them there. He said, “I don’t believe those cubicles are OSHA approved.” They stared at him blankly. Then he shut off the light and Lex yelled, “It’s ok, I have a flashlight!” :)

office

Weekend pics

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Sorry for the lack of depth these days. Hope the abundance of photos will suffice :) I know that’s what you’re really here for anyway.

I know I posted some of these pics already, but here are more. I’m excited about piping. It takes awhile to do though, especially since I rarely have solid blocks of time… and when I do there is usually something more important to be doing than decorating cookies. Anyway, I’m having fun with these hearts.

baking supplies

Let's bake!

piped cookies

Piped hearts

flooded cookies

First piping, then flooding. Then eating!

waltzing

The whole Johnson family was here this weekend. Grampy Don taught Eve how to waltz.

white board

Lex had a busy weekend winning games and writing love notes.

Today was sunny and in the high 30’s! Crazy. A few days ago I froze cranberry juice ice cubes and today we went on a “juice cube hunt.” The snow was SOOO deep I had trouble making it around the house to “hide” the cubes. The kids did a great job finding them though and the game kept them entertained while I shoveled the driveway. We were going to play again, but they decided to eat the juice cubes instead.

juice cube

Juice cube

kids in the snow

Off they go on their "juice cube hunt"

got snow

Got snow?

bucket in a tree

Lex put his little bucket up in the tree. I want to leave it there and see if a bird moves in this summer. It would also be a fun reminder of how deep the snow gets :)

This afternoon we went to a birthday party at the indoor playground. The party was for Eve’s classmate so her and I joined them while Lex and Alan played on their own.

running

Running with the girls.

candy

Candy, candy, candy!

rope

Alan showed off his upper body strength by zipping right up this rope!

We had fun at the party until the very end when Lex decided to protest, very loudly, our departure. It was rough, but the evening ended calmly. Alan and I are now “watching” the Super Bowl (with laptops close at hand).  Happy weekend.  Tomorrow it all begins again.