Cake Pops

My kids have seen the info-mercials for cake pops for the last year or so and have been obsessed with them. They begged me to call and order the baking pans so we could make our own, but I didn't give in.

Then one day a friend told me about this:

It's just a little appliance like a waffle maker. You spoon in some cake mix and a few minutes later, you have little cake balls. So easy. So cheap (less than $20 at Target for the cooker). And something to make the kids happy. I'm in!

They cook up nice and round.

You can make a bunch in a short time. (And if you have extras, they keep well in the freezer for a treat later.)

I made up a little plate for each kid with everything they needed to decorate some cake pops.

Eating them was even more popular than decorating!

Brekken is mad at me because I made him stop eating long enough to take a picture.

And Rylen didn't decorate any, but he sure enjoyed eating them!

More Semi than Sandra

Have you ever watched Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Cooking show? The premise of it is great... she's going to show you how to combine store-bought ingredients to make it seem like a homemade meal. I love that idea... that's how I tend to cook. But to me her show just doesn't quite deliver. I mean, I don't deny that she makes some delicious-looking food. I'd love to try it! But when you're making your own sauces from scratch (those come in bottles you know) and your cooking instructions include the use of instruments such as duck snippers (I have no idea what those might be), it's missing the mark for me.

My own definition of semi-homemade is to take something from a box or a can and doctor it up until it tastes homemade.

Like my arancini... based on Rice-a-Roni instead of risotto.

And my homemade mac and cheese... which starts with boxed Kraft mac and cheese. (Prepare two boxes of mac and cheese as usual, add a can of cream of mushroom soup, a splash of milk, and a cup of shredded cheese - even better if you have a couple of varieties of cheese - put in a casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs and some shredded Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. You'd never believe it started as a box mix.)

My award winning white chicken chili (okay, so it was just a work pot-luck, but it was an award nonetheless) - canned beans, canned chicken broth, canned peppers... thrown together in a crockpot for a few hours.

The homemade pot pies my kids love... which are really just a bunch of storebought ingredients thrown together because the kids were begging for pot pies and I didn't want to go to the store and buy any. (Half a piece of refrigerated biscuit dough in the bottom of a cupcake tin, topped with a spoonful of cream of chicken soup and a scoop of frozen veggies, topped with the other half of the biscuit dough.)

I'm so much more semi-homemade than Sandra. Now if I can just convince Food Network to give me my own show...

Haunted?

My mom has complained a couple of times when she's come to stay with us that our house seems to be just a little bit haunted. It's nothing too alarming, but frequently one of the many electronic toys around our house will start talking or making noises for no reason that you can see. No one is around, no cats bumped it to trigger it, it just starts on its own. It can be a little unnerving when you're alone in a quiet house and this keeps happening.

And I have to admit, it flat out gave me the creeps the other night when I wandered out to the kitchen at 3 in the morning to get a drink... in the silent house where everyone was sleeping (even the cats) I suddenly heard a toy exclaim: "Peek-a-boo! I see you!"

I may or may not have yelped and scurried back to the bedroom to cuddle up to Aaron...

Happy Birthday to Haley

Haley's birthday is December 27 and we always make sure to make it a very separate celebration from Christmas. This year I took some vacation time and stayed home with her to celebrate. Preston was home, too, since the daycare Haley and Preston attend was charging holiday rates. We sent the little boys to their daycare as usual so I could take Haley and Preston out for the day.

We started off with a trip to Sweet and Sassy, where I had a Groupon for a glam makeover package for Haley. It was her own little spa day, where they gave her a manicure, fixed her hair (lots of glittery sparkle spray), did her makeup (barely there, but enough to make her very happy), and even gave her a special birthday girl tiara to wear for the day. She loved it!

From there, it was off to lunch where, thanks to her birthday tiara, they gave her a birthday sopapilla and sang happy birthday to her. She enjoyed being the center of attention.

Preston just enjoyed being along for the ride.

After lunch we went to Ceramics in the City, where the kids each picked a project to paint. They had a great time personlizing their projects and keep asking when they can go back again. (It was a lot of fun - I would love to go back again too!)

We headed home to let mom rest for a couple of hours, then it was time for birthday dinner. Haley had specifically requested Cinzetti's (yummy Italian buffet restaurant) and since it was a kids eat free night, we agreed. The lesson we learned was that you should NEVER go to Cinzettis on a kids eat free night during a school holiday week. I have never seen so many people crammed into a waiting area. We managed to squeeze inside and find a place for everyone to stand (standing room only doesn't come close to describing how crowded it was in there - and it's a really big waiting area) and I wormed my way to the front to check in for our 6:45 reservation. Parties of two (usually the fastest to get seated) were being quoted a wait time of 75 minutes. I guess it shows how good the food is that people accepted that and sat down to wait.

We waited 45 minutes past our reservation time and FINALLY got a table. Then began the dance of you sit here while I help these two fill a plate... now I'll sit while you go fill a plate for that one and that one... oh wait, now this one needs to go to the bathroom... now this one needs to go... I'll wait here while you get a plate... but now this one needs to find the bathroom... I'm going to get a plate - I guess I'll take these two with me to get their refills... What do you MEAN you're full - Daddy and I haven't even eaten anything yet!

Whew! It was exhausting! It reminded me why we don't take the children to buffet restaurants... it's just too much work. But Haley thoroughly enjoyed her birthday dinner. She opened her presents at the restaurant and was thrilled to get more pillow pets, a beautiful new Sunday dress, and the Nintendo DS she's been asking for for two years. (She didn't care in the least that it's used and several years old!) And of course, with her birthday tiara, she got a fancy birthday cake and a birthday song. (She didn't actually care for the cake that much, but I thought it was delicious!)

And next time, Aaron and I are going to Cinzettis without the kids. :)

Christmas!

I thought I wouldn't like having early church (9 a.m.) on Christmas morning. But it was really very nice. We got up early enough that the kids could see what Santa brought and play with it a little, then had some breakfast and got everyone ready for church. We enjoyed a really nice Christmas program and then headed home for lunch and presents. It was nice the way that it spread things out a little... usually the kids are pushing to open presents immediately after checking out the gifts from Santa and it seems like Christmas is all over with almost as soon as it began. This year the Christmas excitement lasted a little longer and it was lovely.

Rylen looked so cute in his Sunday best.

Rylen enjoyed hanging out with Daddy on Christmas

Santa brought Preston a Transformer

Brekken got a Transformer, too.

Rylen got a new car.

Haley got a new fashion doll.

Preston and Brekken got Paper Jamz guitars and they were rocking out!

Preston and Brekken both got new airplanes that they like very much.

Haley got her very own real guitar. She is working on learning to play it and looking forward to some lessons from Grandpa Schurz!

Grandma thriftily used an old box to wrap up a present for Brekken. When he took off the wrapping paper he was so excited: "A heater! My very own heater!" Who knew he'd been wanting a heater? LOL He was happy with the present that was ACTUALLY inside as well and not too disappointed not to have his own heater.

We also added to our family of pillow pets this Christmas... bedtime now requires that we locate about a dozen much-beloved pillow pets to tuck everyone in. Not sure how I managed to not get pictures of any of those!

Christmas Train

It's long delayed, but I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of our outing on the Christmas Train. I bought a Groupon for the Christmas Train in November and it was good for 3 weekends in December. Of course, I was deathly ill for the first two weekends, so the last weekend was my last chance. I didn't want to waste the Groupon and the kids really wanted to go, so in spite of the fact that Aaron had to work, I decided to take the kids to the Christmas Train.

My first clue that maybe this was a little bigger event than I realized was when we were directed to event parking before reaching the train museum. We parked in the big lot and then had to catch a bus to the museum. The kids were thrilled! A bus! A HUGE BUS! They couldn't believe how lucky they were to be able to ride the bus. I was a little less thrilled, because it meant that my plans to transport Rylen in the stroller got scratched. Plan B, pop Rylen in the Snugli carrier and off we went.

The kids got to play on various pieces of train equipment.

I could barely drag the boys away... though they were very disappointed that it was chained in place on the tracks and I could not push them around (in this enormous, heavy piece of equipment) as they requested.

They wanted a picture with all the trains to show how big they (the trains) were.

We waited in line by this train for a VERY, VERY long time before we actually boarded the Christmas train.

And finally, the highlight of the day was a trip around the tracks on the old steam train. The kids loved it... though I couldn't get a great picture of them because I had a bad angle. But they are smiling and having fun. :)

After all the exploration of the trains and the train ride, we also saw Santa. Unfortunately I was stumbling with exhaustion by then (a day long excursion with four small children is not a smart idea when you are recovering from the flu) and completely forgot to get any Santa pictures. Next year...

I've been MIA...

That flu really knocked me for a loop. I was really down and out for about 2 weeks, then dragging for another week. And four weeks later I'm FINALLY almost over it. Still too easily exhausted. Still with the stuffy, snotty head, annoying cough and a voice that comes and goes. But it's better than it was.

I've gone from this handful of meds (4 times a day):

To just this:

I've also learned a nifty new phrase: Reactive Arthritis. Apparently this is where your body decides it's not bad enough to have the flu. Not enough to get strange rashes all over as a result of either the flu or the meds you're taking to combat the flu. No, let's add in a strange condition where for some reason the flu virus triggers your body to start attacking your own joints, resulting in a sudden-onset case of arthritis. In my case, most of my joints are a little sore, but my right knee for some reason is the major target. It's all swollen and sore and doesn't want to work for minor tasks like walking. Thus the ibuprofen, which does help somewhat. But hey, the good news is that it should only last 3-12 months... *sigh*

Believe me, I will NOT be late to get my flu shot next year!