Ruminations

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Giant Cupcakes DONE! And Back to Healthy


We've had a nice week, which means nothing really bad happened. The kids and Jeff went to a BYU Basketball game and cheered on Jimmer and the team. They had a good time while Charlotte and I had a GREAT time lounging around at home.
















We were all healthy most of the week, although we've got a new cold creeping into our family now. Jeff got some good bike rides in, I had some good runs - even an outside run! - and stair climbing and rode my trainer once. We all spent a lot of time in the pool, too.

Spring is in the air - I'm so excited for warmer weather!




The boys & Jeff went to help get fish eggs - from fish (where else?) - for the fish hatchery (I don't understand it all, but it was pretty interesting).
It was part of a scout activity and everyone seemed to have a good time. They traveled to Henry's Lake where there's a fish ladder. Oliver told me they got to see a fish "milked" from its fin.
Who knew?





Best of all (for me) the Relief Society Birthday party went well and there was enough food, plenty of cakes, and a great program. Since I was in charge of the cakes, I'll post this picture. They turned out well, and I had lots of help (THANK YOU, KERRI & HEATHER & also to Val for the idea!). The frosting is colored with Kool-Aid for flavor and color (1 Pckg unsweetened Kool Aid per 1 container Rainbow Chip frosting). It took 1 1/2 cake mixes for each giant cupcake. The ladies seemed to like them. They cakes were mostly devoured, but I did rescue a left-over one to share with my kids, Jeff, my parents & Don.

Hair does not run long and thick in my family. Usually. Charlotte is the exception. Her hair is generally in braids, but every once in a while we'll let it down and it always startles me that a three-year-old of mine could have so much lovely hair.
The only problem is that with long hair comes lots of knots. Ah, the price of beauty. :)
And my other lovely girl, Eleanor, is home sick today (this seems to be a recurring theme in my blog). As I write this (while everyone else is at church) she's making bookmarks and hosting an art show - and her art is for sale if you're interested. Although I think she'd be just as happy giving it away free to anyone who smiles at her.

Samuel and Oliver discovered that dunking the ball really isn't as hard as they thought.

All it takes is faith and trust... ...oh, and something we forgot - Pixie Dust (and having a stool is okay, too). After Jeff cautioned the boys about falling teeth-first off the stool, we've resorted to just Pixie Dust. Doesn't seem to work so well, though.

Pickpocket: Charlotte (age 3) discovered my phone's camera this week. It's been quite the ordeal to convince her to give it back to me. She often carries it around anyway so she can play the preschool games, but now she's obsessed. She even pulls it from my pocket - the little thief! We've come to an agreement now - she must ask first. Still - I don't often have my phone with me. Oh, well. I think her photography has...potential?
Charlotte's feet - from her perspective. Cute toes. Nice floor.
The corner of a wall. It's actually a straight wall.
A close-up of Dad's jacket. Notice the fine lighting and detail of the shifting colors of grey fleece...

Mom. (Do I really look so tall to her?)

Dad (he really looks this tall to all of us)

Recipes: Well, not exactly recipes, but food. I made my French Bread (recipe is posted earlier in the blog) but this time I made individual loaves for the family, and one big one. The kids loved the little loaves.

These shish kabobs are from a while ago, but I'm posting it to remind me that I'm going to make these this week. Probably.







I made whole wheat couscous with chopped (steamed) mixed veggies (steamed the couscous in chicken broth). Yum.
I had left-over pudding from my Giant Cupcakes (I filled them with pudding in the center) so I couldn't let it go to waist - oops, I mean waste! :) I made a Boston Cream Pie since I had the stuff (including left-over chocolate frosting from my chocolate cake a while ago).
Now I'm on my semi-annual health-food kick (okay, more like every-fifth-year health-food kick). Boston Cream Pie doesn't need to be mentioned here. :)
So at the store, I had fun gathering the good stuff. That little container in the middle is fresh-squeezed (?pressed?) peanut butter. Fro-Zing is my kids' new favorite frozen dessert (frozen yogurt w/quite the little zing to it). I love making wraps with a 1/2 Flat-out bread, alfalfa sprouts, a smoked turkey deli slice, leafy green lettuce and brown mustard. Made stir-fry this week with mung bean sprouts, broccoli, matchstick carrots, celery, red peppers, green onions, and raisin tomatoes. Rice Cakes (the lightly salted ones) are a big hit here, too. I have to hide them from the kids!
Yeah, I had fun at the store. Hmm, one of these things is not like the other...
In my defense :) the Swiss Rolls are my emergency back-up for the boys' sack lunches if I've run out of home-made cookies (which rarely happens).

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful children, BEAUTIFUL FOOD, and beautiful you! Isn't spring sooo lovely? I have daydreams of laying on the green grace and smelling sweet things blooming. Oh, yes, it's coming . . . Hopefully we'll find time to get together during it all!

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  2. I love reading your posts! They are very inspiring, and I need all the inspiration I can get. I missed seeing you in church and hope the colds don't last too long. The cakes were amazing!

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  3. I will forgive you the swiss rolls and the boston creme pie as long as there are always fresh cookies and lovely (as photographed above) family to greet me when we get to visit.

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