Helllllloooooooo out there!!!!!

It's only been a couple of weeks since my last post, but MAN has it been busy!!! We had Jillian baptized this past Sunday and I was preparing everything for that, Dominic began swim lessons, and hubby was out of town for most of one week. No time to rest, yet, Dominic's 3rd birthday is right around the corner and we're have TWO parties: one for friends and one for family.

For Jillian's baptism I made a new cake. It's an orange creamsicle cake. It was pretty good, but VERY sweet! Here's the finished product:

And here's the recipe:

Batter:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/3 buttermilk or sour milk (sour milk: 1tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar + enough milk to = 1 cup. Let stand 5 minutes.

1/2 cup shortening or butter
1 tsp. vanilla
4 egg whites

And the secret ingredient:
1 pkg. (0.15 oz) unsweetened orange Kool-aid

Pre-heat oven to 350*
In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/8 tsp. salt. Add buttermilk, shortening (or butter) and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl. Beat on medium to high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Add egg whites and Kool-aid (dry) and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping bowl. Don't overbeat the batter. If the Kool-aid isn't thoroughly incorporated, use a spoon or spatula to gently mix in the Kool-aid. Do not overbeat!
Pour into greased and floured cake pans.
Bake for 18-23 minutes. (mine took exactly 18 minutes) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Vanilla Cream Filling:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 pinch salt
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make filling: In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening together until smooth. Blend in confectioners' sugar and pinch of salt. Gradually beat in 3 tablespoons milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

Orange Buttercream Frosting:
1/3 cup butter
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Orange zest from one large orange

In a bowl beat butter until fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, beating well. Slowly beat in the 1/4 cup orange juice and vanilla.
Slowly beat in remaining sugar. Beat in additional orange juice if needed. If you're going to spread it, you might need to add more liquid to get it to the right consistency. Gently mix in grated orange zest.

Assembly: After cupcakes are completely cool, fill with cream filling using your preferred method. Frost as desired.

I also had candle favors for guests to take home. I found a nice scripture containing the word "light" and incorporated it into the candle idea. What do you think?

Cute, huh?

For Dominic's swim teacher I made her a little gift of thanks and appreciation for teaching him how to swim. Those who know me know how paranoid I was of him going underwater and she was so calm and awesome that he did it on the very first day! He cried, but he did it! Now we have a bona fide swimmer!! YAY!! Check him out:



Anyway, for the gift. I noticed that she always had a cool drink of some sort with her on the side of the pool since it's been record breaking heat this summer. I found a neat cool-keeping cup at Starbucks and filled it with Hershey Nuggets. What gal doesn't like chocolate, right? As expected, she loves chocolate and raved about the cup. Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of the completed gift. I had it wrapped up all pretty.

Here's the card that I made for her:

I took photos of them secretly and made a little photo booth looking slideshow on photoshop. Cute!

Easter Resurrection Cookies (a great Easter lesson)

In looking for some wonderful way to celebrate Easter with my little growing family, I came across a wonderful Catholic blog. I bookmarked this idea last year and decided we would do this last night after we returned from our family vacation.

The instructions and passages below are taken straight from the following blog: www.catholiccuisine.blogspot.com

"Resurrection Cookies

1 cup whole pecans
1 tsp vinegar, plus some for your children to taste
3 egg whites
pinch salt, plus some for your children to taste
1 cup sugar, plus some for your children to taste

Tools: rolling pin or wooden spoon, plastic baggie with a zipper-lock, scotch tape

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. (this in important - don't wait until you are halfway done with the recipe!) Place pecans in the plastic baggie and let children beat them with a rolling pin or wooden spoon to break into small pieces.

Explain that after Jesus was arrested He was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3: "And they came to him, and said: Hail, king of the Jews; and they gave him blows."

Let each child smell and taste some vinegar.

Put vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross He was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30. "Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst. Now there was a vessel set there full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar and hyssop, put it to his mouth. Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated. And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost."

Add egg whites to vinegar.

Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11 "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep."

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand.

Let them taste it as you put the tsp. salt into the bowl and explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27 "And there followed him a great multitude of people, and of women, who bewailed and lamented him."

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.

Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18, " And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool."

So far the ingredients are not very appetizing. Add the sugar to the egg whites, and give some for your children to taste. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us He wants us to know and belong to Him. Read Psalm 33:9 (34:8 in Bibles with Masoretic numbering) and John 3:16. "O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that hopeth in him... ...For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting."

Then read John 3:1-3, "And there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night, and said to him: Rabbi, we know that thou art come a teacher from God; for no man can do these signs which thou dost, unless God be with him." Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet (do not use a baking stone!). Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.

Read Mathew 27:57-60 "And when it was evening, there came a certain rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate, and asked the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded that the body should be delivered. And Joseph taking the body, wrapped it up in a clean linen cloth. And laid it in his own new monument, which he had hewed out in a rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the monument, and went his way."

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.

Read Matthew 27:65-66 "Pilate saith to them: You have a guard; go, guard it as you know. And they departing, made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting guards."

GO TO BED! Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.

Read John 16:20-22 "Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labour, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. So also you now indeed have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you."

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.

Read Matthew 28:1-9 "And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalen and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. And behold there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. And his countenance was as lightning, and his raiment as snow. And for fear of him, the guards were struck with terror, and became as dead men. And the angel answering, said to the women: Fear not you; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, and see the place where the Lord was laid. And going quickly, tell ye his disciples that he is risen: and behold he will go before you into Galilee; there you shall see him. Lo, I have foretold it to you. And they went out quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy, running to tell his disciples. And behold Jesus met them, saying: All hail. But they came up and took hold of his feet, and adored him."

This was a family event and I'm so glad that my husband volunteered to participate with us. I didn't even have to ask!

Happy Easter, everyone!!

PS- I'll have a vacation storyboard in the next post. Also, I'm having a sprinkle shower this week!!! Can't wait!

Only 52 more sleeps...

until Christmas, according to Santa's Official Christmas Clock!!!

I feel bad for Thanksgiving. It gets smooshed in between two kids holidays and it really deserves it's own time to shine. We went to the bookstore today to look for our camping titles and the stores are already all dolled up for Christmas! What happened to Thanksgiving?

My husband's family has a BIG family Thanksgiving every year and I just love it! He has such a great family (and I'm not just saying that b/c my MIL reads this blog every once in a while). The first Thanksgiving that I was a part of their festivities they just welcomed me in and chatted me up as if they'd known me all along. I LOVE that Dominic gets to experience the family Thanksgiving. They've been doing it for YEARS!!

So....I am going to let November do it's own thing this year. No more rushing it to hurry by so that Santa can be on his merry way. Each day in November I will mentally take the time to be thankful for the blessings in my life-and I have many. Lucky me!!

When I taught school I would have my middle schoolers keep a daily journal for the month of November. Every night they would list 3 things that they were thankful for that day. Think it sounds easy? The twist: they couldn't list the same things more than twice in the journal. That really made them focus on the little mundane things in their life. Try it out...you may find it helps refocus you, too!

So, enough about that. You're really checking in to see pics of our Halloween, aren't you?? We don't have much, I'm afraid. The hubster was in charge of the pics and he's not as nostalgic as I am, so we'll have to make do with what we've got.

On Wednesday, the 27th we participated in a costume parade at a local senior center and boy, was it fun!!! The olds just loved seeing all the kiddo's dressed up for Halloween. Of course D strutted his stuff like a pro.






Thursday we had a 12pm ultrasound. Baby #2 is looking good!! Heartrate of 176 (which means girl, for those wondering) and measuring right on track! We are 9 weeks preggo today.

This past weekend we went out of town to visit Aunt Suge and her crazy bunch. D loved playing in the boy's room!! We had a wonderful visit and a few hours after pulling in the driveway here at home we were off to the neighborhood block party.

D got to trick-or-treat for the FIRST time Sunday night. Our street is pretty quiet so there were only 5 houses to go to but he had a ball blurting out, "trick or treat!"





Yesterday we invited L and A over for some afternoon sandbox play. We haven't seen them in a while so D was excited to get some A-time in. As usual, the boys had a great time together.

I was going to post about the camp coming up but I think I'll wait until next time. The little man is napping and mommy needs to try and get in some z's too, if possible.

We also have a recipe club tonight and David made his SCRUMPTIOUS spinach. We should definitely win tonight!!! I'll post the recipe in the next post and let you know if we won or not.

When the cat's away, the mice will play!

Yesterday we had a full day! Two events to attend.

First up was the invitation from L to join them at Barnes and Noble for some storytime activities. We had such a great visit and the boys loved playing afterward with the train table set up. It was so cute to watch them parallel playing nicely with each other. I just love watching Dominic as he interacts with other little ones.

Of course we had to buy three books! We bought a Yo Gabba Gabba board book, a set of dinosaur seek and find placemats and a How-to book showing how to draw Marvel super-heroes. The last book is actually meant for our sponsored friend, Francisco. He is 11and loves to draw. I will copy off some instructional pages and send them to him in our correspondence. I think he'll get a kick out of that!

After a LONG nap (2.5 hours!!!) we were off to playdate #2: the recipe swap. I made caprese bites while D was napping and then assembled them prior to walking out the door. We met two new faces at this meetup. C and her 6 month daughter O were just too stinkin' cute! And C made the most fabulous pineapple crumble!!! YUM-O! I've already hit her up for the recipe. Her printer died before she could print out the recipe.

I noticed that one mother in particular has a rather rambunctious son. He is constantly taking toys away from other kids and upsetting them. He did it to Dominic a couple of times, but I was always right there to intervene. She seems pretty oblivious to it all. She sits politely chatting while her child is being the group bully. This bothers me to no end and for two reasons.

1. As a former teacher I see that this behavior only escalates with no consequences are given for said behavior. They become the kids who don't realize that they are doing something wrong because they are never reprimanded at home. It makes the teacher's job so much harder to deal with when there is no support at home.

2. Children need to know that there are boundaries. Personal space. I'm sure he wouldn't like it if Dominic came up to him and just grabbed a toy away. Children, especially boys, have a pecking order. The bully shouldn't be allowed to be the top dog all the time. It should fluctuate accordingly.

I also struggle with watching as Dominic loses a toy to someone and he's not sure how to take it. He will often look at me incredulously as if to say, "did you SEE that???" I commiserate and then offer him another toy. Why should he have to continue to find another toy? We all know that toys aren't fun until someone else is playing with it, right? It would be a non-ending game!

Anyway, I am just venting about this situation. It's not going to get any better as the boys get older. I'm just going to have to get used to the fact that some days D will be the one pushed around and some days (not too often, I hope) he'll be the one doing the mischief.