After School Treat - Pilgrim Hats

These are pretty self-explanatory but loads of fun to make. We used a bag of milk chocolate chips melted in the microwave, oreos and yellow icing in a tube.


You should know: exactly 30 seconds after this photo was taken, Calvin turned with the plate and dropped three of the wet cookies onto the baby and the back of the high chair. It was an impressive mess.

Gratitude Day #19

Thursday, November 19

1. I am grateful for good days. Today was really busy, but it was a good day. My interview went well, the kids got their rooms cleaned and vacuumed, I handled 11 kids with one turkey craft and a pilgrim hat treat, only one child splashed in the toilet when the older boys left the door open, the party tomorrow night is coming together thanks to the help of lot of talented women, I made several new pins to put in my non-existent Etsy shop, and I am almost up to date on some daycare paperwork. It was a good day.

2. I am grateful and yet repulsed by the fact that we caught another mouse in the storage room. Sophie found it tonight and it is still there. I wonder how early the neighbors wake up? My kids are with their Dad this weekend which means no one will be checking the traps for several days. *shiver* How can I figure out how they are getting into the house without paying someone?

3. I am grateful for clean sheets. I love the feeling of slipping into soft, clean sheets. If I were a pampered lady, I would insist upon clean sheets every night.

4. I am grateful for good health. I had three little children here today with runny noses. Please, please, please stay healthy everyone!

5. I am grateful for Thanksgiving. Are you thinking about your menu yet? I always like to try at least one new recipe every year. I need to start writing down everything I want to make and then see what I can do ahead of time. Usually I spend the day before making pies. I love the smell of Thanksgiving. I love the idea of slowing down and recognizing all that we have before barging into the gimme mentality of December. Does anyone want to share a favorite Thanksgiving recipe?

Thank You Mary!

Turkey Craft

Easy craft to do today with your kids. Have them trace their hands with a crayon - help them if necessary. Cut out each hand. My kids cut one and I cut the other. Glue the hands to a different colored paper and color.


Note: see the dark blob in the center of Calvin's picture. It is a tornado. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will also be able to see the "aliens from Mars are coming out of the tornado - they are coming to try and kill those two stinky chickens". It will also allow you to see that "these chickens are pooping out some babies". I kid you not. Calvin has quite the imagination.

Gratitude Day #18

Wednesday, November 18

1. I am grateful for our service men who protect our country. The cub scouts had a wonderful pack meeting last night where we learned about respecting the flag from three different branches of the armed forces. They have fascinating stories about serving all over the world.

2. I am grateful for a visiting teacher who picked apples from our apple tree the last time she was here and then brought them back in the form of homemade delicious applesauce. We had it for breakfast this morning - yum!

3. I am grateful for a proud little boy who made it on the Math Olympiad Team today. He was so happy and pleased and asked that I give him a reward for his achievement. When I asked him what he had in mind, he asked for one dollar. I said sure. He's a great kid.

4. I am grateful for learning new things. Yesterday I started felting wool sweaters that I bought all summer at garage sales, and today I made a pin out of them. Gorgeous! I'll show you how to do this very simple craft soon. I hope to make a lot of my Christmas gifts this year and felted wool is a favorite medium right now.

5. I am grateful for potential new clients. I have an interview tomorrow with a perspective daycare family. One little girl part-time two days a week. It would be a blessing to our family. Wish me luck! Tomorrow is going to be insane with 11 kids here throughout the day plus the interview . . . I need sleep.

Patriotic Jello

I was asked to bring patriotic jello to pack meeting last night. We are not a big jello family (much to the kids dismay), so I had no idea how to get that white layer in the center. A quick search on the internet did not help as the only suggestion I found was to fold whip cream into lemon jello which resulted in a color reminiscent of dog pee coated snow.

After two trips to the grocery store for more blue jello, I came up with a plan for the center. I combined 2 pouches of Knox unflavored gelatin with 2 cups boiling water and one cup cold water. I stuck that in the freezer to cool while I whipped a package of room temperature cream cheese. Then, with the mixer running, I added the cold Knox mixture along with a package of full sugar cool whip. It worked! The color is a bright white, it set up really firm and it tastes pretty darn good! I made some extras for after school snacks.

Gratitude Day #17

A quick list tonight as I have not been sleeping well and need to try and get to bed earlier.

1. I am grateful for learning new things. Today I figured out a little recipe for patriotic jello cups. I'll share it and some photos tomorrow. It was gratifying to come up with an idea and have it work.

2. I am grateful for little boys in farm socks. Calvin wore these to church on Sunday. I love cute little socks. Today Calvin wore his Thomas the Train pajamas all day. We went visiting teaching at two houses, Michaels, Walmart and pack meeting - all in pajamas. Choose your battles.

3. I am grateful for unexpected packages in the mail. My sweet Mother in Law sent some Thanksgiving decorations for me and a new outfit for Calvin. I have very few decorations for this little holiday sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas. It's funny because I love Thanksgiving far more than Halloween, yet I have four bins full of Halloween items and about 1/2 a bin of Thanksgiving items. Calvin asks me every night "how many days until Thanksgiving"? Soon, sweetie.

4. I am grateful for cousins. I have 10 cousins on my Dad's side and 4 on my Mother's side. My children have 4 cousins on my side (with one more on the way) and 9 on their Dad's side (with one more on the way). I think it would be wonderful to live near our cousins, to be able to see them for special occasions and sleepovers. I have always kept up with my cousins through blogs and family members and family reunions, but I wish we were able to spend more time together. I have some pretty amazing cousins. I love big families.

5. I am grateful for finding a new little shutterfly blog where I can post photos of my daycare kids for their parents to see and print if they would like. I have not shared this blog with them as I feel it is too personal - maybe I'm wrong. Only one of the families knows that my husband moved out in July and only because they kept asking where he was all of the time. It is a great little format and super easy to create if you are looking for a little place to share photos.

6. One more as I am still not in bed, I am grateful for dead mice. The sticky trap in the storage room caught not one but two mice today. *shiver* Sophie found them as she was checking traps and all of the kids had to run down and check them out. Me? I ran next door and asked my kind neighbor Paul if he would not mind coming over and taking their little corpses out of my house. Gross. I did not have to look at the dead mice and for that I am truly grateful.

***Pet peeve: why will blogger spell check your post, but not your title?***

Still Pretty Darn Cute

Five hours today. It makes his little head sweat like crazy and tends to slip down too far over his eyebrows. I thought he was pretty patient overall!

Gratitude Day #16

1. I am thankful for a handsome young son who wore his first real tie to church yesterday. Yes, it did take me a couple of tries to get it on right. He looked so very mature and reminded me how quickly he is leaving childhood behind. I am grateful for this season of my children's lives; they are such fun and interesting little people right now!

2. I am grateful for eggnog. I love the stuff and it makes me happy when it is back in the stores for the season. I buy the light version, but it still cannot really good for me to drink it as much as I do. Resolution: drink less eggnog; move more. When exactly do single women with young children find the time to exercise?

3. I am grateful for YouTube. We have not had any TV channels in our house for a couple of years. We only have one 12 year old television in the house that you have to physically approach and push the buttons on the TV to adjust the channel or the sound. It will never be replaced until it dies. We still watch VHS and DVD movies, but no TV. I am grateful for the little clips of So You Think You Can Dance, Ace of Cakes or Britain's Got Talent (the American version makes me believe that we do not in fact have talent in the US) or The World Strictest Parents Utah episode that my sister told me about. I do not really miss television at all because there is just no time to watch it. A 10 minute clip on You Tube is all that I can fit in my life right now so thank you You Tube!

4. I am grateful for organization. I am happier when the things around me are organized but most of the time, my life is anything but tidy. Last night, I went to bed happy because the kitchen was clean, the family room was clean and dusted, four loads of laundry were done and folded (not put away, but whatever) the hall closet was organized and the floor was mopped and the living room carpet had been steamed cleaned. Isn't it funny what we consider an accomplishment as a stay at home mom?! Tonight Sophie and I spent hours organizing her bedroom. Her room is tiny and she stores about 500 books in there. It is hard work to keep a house clean and organized - especially if there are young children around! I am grateful to have a home which stores the things we treasure. As Sophie and I sorted through her books, we talked about how blessed she is to have so many books of her very own (99% of which come form garage sales, the very best source for books!).

5. I am grateful that it looks like the mice are not laughing now! I could see bites taken out of the poison in the storage room a couple of days ago and for the last two nights we have set out sticky traps (thank you Heidi!) baited with peanut butter with zero luck. I think they are dead. Where are their little corpses? That question may keep me up at night - yuck.

Gratitude Day #15

Sunday November 15 (I was grateful and tired last night and the tired won)

1. I am grateful for the primary program. The children knew their songs (even the hard ones) and sang their little hearts out. I am grateful that the program went smoothly and brought the spirit into the room. We have a great group of primary kids. I am grateful my children's Dad came to see the program. Sophie invited him and the three of them were just beaming and giving little waves from the front. Max was typically Max and when he got to the stand he whipped the cheat sheet off the podium and dropped it on the floor before saying his part from memory. Calvin had his pants unzipped the entire time. I am grateful to be able to work on new songs! I made the children thank you treats pictured above for their hard work. The parents loved me.

2. I am grateful for music. Yes, we still listen to Cd's in an old boom box. On Sundays, my favorite CD to listen to is Peace Like a River by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. This may be my favorite of all of their Cd's. Another favorite for Sundays is the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. I love this music so much that I even bought the sheet music for the piano. It is deceptively difficult to learn. I'll just stick with the CD for the time being. During the week, we listen to a lot of children's music and musical soundtracks. I am a musical junkie. It comes from my secret regret that I did not run off to NYC to become a Broadway star. Just kidding - I am way too practical a person to have ever considered such a move. If I had the time and the money, I would see every musical that came to the Twin Cities. Sophie has recently become a little music fan and has her own CD player in her room and a collection on girly Cd's from garage sales. She loves to put them on and jump on her bed while singing along at the top of her lungs.

3. I am grateful for NPR. I have been listening to NPR for as long as I can remember. When my spouse was in the car with us, it was always on. Other than classical music or the occasional book on CD, it was the only thing we could agree on. He did not like my musical soundtracks and I did not like his punk?/grudge?/more screaming than actually hitting a note music. My favorite programs on NPR include include Car Talk, The Splendid Table, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me news quiz and the book reviews. NPR allows me to stay somewhat current on what is happening in the world while driving kids here, there and everywhere - very convenient.

4. I am grateful for our upcoming girls night out dinner and a movie party. Last year, we had 23 women when we went to see Twilight together. This year, we have 41 women signed up for dinner and the New Moon movie! It is a lot of people to coordinate, but it is going to be a ton of fun and I can't wait to hang out with all of them! I think I am more excited for the dinner than the movie - but who knows, maybe it will be better than the first. Hopefully I can get someone to bring a nice camera and I'll have some photos to show you next week. The restaurant is roping off a huge section for us and there will be live music as well. I am grateful for all of the women who are helping with the preparations.

5. I am grateful for play dates. Both Sophie and Calvin had little friends at the house on Saturday. Friends are so important, no matter your age.

Two Cakes

Happy Birthday Paula!

Barnes and Noble Book Fair

A couple of shots from the Barnes and Noble book fair the other night. Sophie and Max both had their faces painted - Calvin was too busy playing with the train.


I saw this on the shelf and it made me laugh. It is Wuthering Heights, our book club book for this month repackaged to say "Bella and Edwards favorite book!" I wonder if sales have picked up due to the Twilight reference?


By the way . . . I received this message on my cell phone this morning at 8:24am. Keep in mind, I do not text. I have the flip top free Samsung cell phone that came with opening the account three years ago. "Ron ano na ang balita sa building wara man ki update ako kay beth kumusta kamo diyan" What does it mean?!?

Gratitude Day #14

Saturday November 14

1. I am grateful for grocery stores that hand out balloons to little boys. Little boys who then wear the balloon on their wrist in the car, for the entire duration of the primary activity today, back in the car, into Menard's to buy mulch, and then home. Lots and lots of entertainment out of one balloon. Thanks Trader Joe's.

2. I am grateful for scholarships. Over the last two years, I've had to pull the children out of dance, piano lessons, swim lessons, summer classes and sports . . . pretty much most extracurricular activities. I have been trying to teach Max and Sophie piano on my own and that is really not going well - no consistency on my part (goal: do better). On the bright side - I applied for scholarships for Max and Sophie to attend the MITY fall Yes: Your Extraordinary Saturday classes and they were accepted! I ended up paying less that 1/3 of the cost of tuition which made it doable for us. Today was the third of four weeks of classes. Sophie is taking The Plays the Thing and Leonardo DaVinci: Artful Scientist. Max is taking Environmental Science and another about Hawaii. The classes are in St. Paul and the both seem to love them.

3. I am grateful to have finished the two cakes today. My kitchen is one big sticky mess, but the cakes went out the door this evening along with the extra white chocolate mousse and bittersweet chocolate filling. Hooray. The dishes are done and the dishwasher is running, the the floors will have to wait until tomorrow.

4. I am grateful to the deacons (12-13 year olds) of my church. This afternoon, the deacons and their leaders came to my home to do a service project. They removed the 4 year old sod from under the deck (which had become home to wasp nests and little critters) and hauled it away, weeded and mulched, mowed the lawn, fixed all of the kids bikes, organized the garage, vacuumed out the van, rimmed a garden bed with pavers, stored the summer outdoor toys and who knows what else - I was holed up in the kitchen baking up a storm. Sophie acted the hostess and brought them hot cocoa and donuts. I seem to have become the ward service project and I am far beyond the point of being embarrassed by this distinction. Instead, I am just so very aware of how many truly wonderful people there are in my life. I am so very aware of how incredible my church is - specifically this Eagan Ward. I am so very grateful for these young men who willingly spent hours on a Saturday afternoon working in the chilly November air. I am so very grateful to the parents who have taught their children the importance of service. Thank you. Thank you.

5. I am grateful for the the new visitors to the blog who have left little comments this week. It is always delightful to meet new people and I am so grateful to these online connections. I know that I have been uplifted many times by the words of complete strangers posted on the internet. It is a wonderful thing.

Gratitude Day #13

Friday, November 13

1. I am grateful for bedtime. It is past midnight and the house smells of warm chocolate. I have two cake orders for tomorrow and have spent the last few hours baking one cake and making white chocolate mousse. I am tired and anxious to climb into my already warm bed. I love that moment when you put down your book, turn off the light, slide under the covers and relax your entire body.

2. I am grateful for a low-key field trip to the Mall of America with five children today (5 months, 24 months, 3, 3, and 5). We played at the Lego store, had a picnic on a bench and threw pennies into the mouth of the crocodile. The kids were well behaved - most of the time - and I was able to chat with Kelly for a bit while the kids played.

3. I am grateful for bookstores. The kids and I went to their school fundraiser at Barnes and Noble tonight. We browsed the books, heard storied read by Red Pine teachers and had our faces painted. Calvin found a book about nightmares (he calls them bad dreams) and the ever popular Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Sophie found a new series about a mermaid. I asked advice from an actual knowledgeable staff member on age-appropriate science fiction for Maxwell. He has graduated from the kids selections and wants to read adult science fiction books. A couple of months ago I let him buy some used science fiction books and later found one of them was naughty - very naughty. Actually, I did not find out it was naughty, the babysitter did when Max showed her a particularly steamy passage. Nice. We had a little conversation about appropriate books and got rid of the naughty one. So, helpful readers - do you have any science fiction or fantasy authors you could recommend for Max? Please keep in mind he is 9 years old. Does anyone know if the 5 million Star Wars and Star Trek novels are clean?

4. I am grateful for discount stores. They are a bit like yard sales except with higher prices - and yet still pretty cheap. Savers may help me get through the Minnesota winter this year. We stopped in at Savers tonight (same idea as Goodwill or Deseret Industries) and I found a great heavy wood organizer thingy that I am going to put on my computer table (when I finally move the computer) in the basement. I have been trying to figure out a way to better use the wall space down there, and this will help. It was $6.99 and I plan on giving it a smart coat of paint tomorrow . . . as long as the cakes are done. I'll try and get a photo tomorrow.

5. I am grateful for my funny 5 year old. He can be such a drama queen! The other night (when he was overly tired) I asked him to help Sophie unload the dishwasher and he burst into tears. "I'm too tiiiiired to do that . . . Your words are giving me a headache Mom . . . Every time you say that it makes my head hurt mooooore . . . If I help Sophie I will have a heart attack . . . I will have three five hundred headaches and I will diiiiieeeee!" Deb was at my house and I could not even look him in the face - I was trying very hard not to laugh out loud while my poor boy had tears streaming down his face! Oh Calvin, you make my life so very happy - even when you cry.

Little Helmet Here We Come

Today is the day this little guy gets his stylin' helmet. I am a bit anxious to see how he reacts as far as napping etc. I guess we'll see on Monday!


Evidence of the flat head they are trying to correct.


He is so good natured - I hope wearing a helmet 23 hours a day does not change that!