Fishy, fishy!

Something we have been doing quite a bit lately.

I did my best to catch this fish without actually touching it. I thought I should for the picture.

This would be even sweeter if Damon was reeling in a great big fish. Maybe I'll photoshop one on there. Ellie is so helpful.

Ramekins

I hosted Bunco a couple of months ago and one of the prizes I picked where little souffle ramekins. A few people had never used them before so I got a couple recipes together for them. Thought I would post them here, too.

The first is Molten Lava Cake. I don't have a picture, but that is probably because I am too excited to eat these that I don't take the time to get one. They are so yummy and I make them a lot. The recipe suggests making them in muffin tins which works well if you are serving a larger group of people, but I like to make them in ramekins. They are so much bigger. ;)

I also like Chocolate Souffle and I think this is a good recipe. I have heard that you should brush the butter up the sides to encourage the cake to rise better while baking.


And then here is one that Damon has been begging me to make. Really easy and fast Chicken Pot Pies. I also like it because it eliminates a lot of the crust. I like to save my fat and calories for dessert. If this was a berry pie I would say the more butter the better.

Here is what I do. Cube some potatoes and boil them with mixed veggies. At the same time in another pan I saute onion and seasoned chicken in a little olive oil. When the chicken is done I make a simple gravy and drain the veggies. Then mix everything together and fill the cups. Top with a round of pie crust and bake at 415 until the crust starts turning brown. This is also great for summer because you don't have to have the oven on for very long heating up your kitchen. Damon loves having his own little personal pie.

Also, if you like fabric napkins, like us, you might like this idea. I got an e-mail about them this morning and it came at a perfect time. Tyler had just filled a bag for the D.I. and there were a few shirts in there I'm excited to use.

Have you ever...

Damon certainly has a mind of his own. He is very inventive and is always wanting to make something. We are in the process of building a play house in the back yard, and every day he tells me what new thing he wants to make in his "work shop, that's what I'm going to call my play house." He is also VERY stubborn! The combination of these 2 traits means that he has either made me so mad I don't know what to do next, or I am so happy to just be with him that I want nothing more. Like when he taught me how to write with a stick on leaves. Never mind that we had a notebook and pen within arms reach. He thought it was so much fun to create his own idea. I loved playing along.

Everyday he amazes me. Sometimes by how stubborn he can be, but always by how much I just can't get enough of him.

Update: After reading this over today I thought I should probably say that Damon & I are happy with each other most of the time. He just argues about everything and it drives me crazy, but the other day I found out he doesn't mind it all that much. Here's what happened. I was explaining something to him, which he had to argue about. He would not let it go so I just left the room. He promptly followed me and said, "We were arguing?" Then after a pause he said, "like 'you were saying' only we were arguing, where were we?" I was a little shocked and said I didn't want to talk about it anymore and he said he did. What? He was enjoying the arguing which was making me mad. One thing I always try to remember when a child has a trait that is a little difficult to deal with. As an adult it will probably serve them well. As long as they can learn to appropriately use it. That's part of what growing up is all about. Right?

Brace yourself, it's a long one!

Together with Tyler's family we rented a cabin by the lake for a few days of fun!


Fun at the pool!

While we were there we had a picture scavenger hunt and I couldn't pass up a picture of Gavin in these floaty wings for my "something hot pink."


We had fun riding the lake trail on these multi-passenger bikes.


Here's Brock in my "picture of a flower."


The lake was great, as always!


Andy tried, unsuccesfully, to keep Alivia from eating sand and just ended up knocking her down. It didn't seem to bother her too much.


Here is Tyler's "picture of someone you don't know." Notice his hand tightly clutching a bag of chocolate covered raspberries.


They are amazing and my "picture of something I love (excluding people.)"


Also on our trip we ordered "Famous Raspberry Shakes."


We ate "Famous Raspberry Shakes."


Andy watched us eat "Famous Raspberry Shakes."


The kids bounced.


Ellie gave it her best shot at blowing up an air mattress, with absolutely no luck at all.



As the weekend wrapped up we had to be a little more inventive with our pictures. Like this one which fullfilled the requirement, "picture with a wild animal," and


this one, "something we're afraid of."

I don't think anyone was more creative than Kaleb. The end of our trip happend so suddenly that we never took an official count, but I am pretty sure he won!

It was a little bit hard to say goodbye to the amazing views,

and our cute cabin (especially since there was a missing wedding ring on the loose, which has since been returned to it's rightful owner, whew.)

But, we went straight to the blessing of baby Maddox, which made it a lot easier to do.

We had a great time. Hope everyone else did, too!

Shower Curtain DIY

A few weeks ago I found this shower curtain from Anthropologie and couldn't stop wishing that it didn't cost $118. And, even if I had $118 to spend on a shower curtain it is only 72" square and I had been wanting a floor to ceiling curtain for my little bathroom. So, I headed for JoAnn's with a 50% off coupon in hand. I knew the only way to get all the fabric I needed, for a reasonable price, was to get 1 cut (the coupon stipulation.) After a lot of figuring and a few drawings I came home with 15 yards of white muslin and 2 packages of RIT dye.




I cut 10 strips 120" long and 12" wide. Then I used every last scrap to piece together a back. I hemed the bottom of each strip, so that when I dyed it, the thread would match.




Then I mixed each of the colors in 2 buckets with a third bucket to use for combining the colors and soaking the fabric. I started at the top by adding some yellow dye and some water to get a really light cream and then continued to add blue down to the bottom teal strip which was dyed in the teal bucket with no yellow added. After rinsing really well, washing, drying, and ironing each strip I started sewing the strips to the back piece. I pleated as I sewed to get the ruffled look and underlapped each piece by about an inch or so (I would do a little more if I did it again because when it is hanging you can see under the pieces a little bit.) I worked my way down to the bottom and the length turned out just like I wanted it.



It turned out a little more yellow than the original and I wish I would have left a couple of the bottom blues in the dye a little longer. However, I finished the project for only $28, 2 trips to the store (I had to go back for more thread since all those ruffles used a lot more than I thought), and a few hours on my sewing machine. So, it was totally worth it. Plus I think this kind of stuff it fun!



Another bonus, I finally hung (scratch that) made Tyler hang, the cute towel hooks that his dad made us for Christmas a few years ago. I have been waiting to hang it until I painted, which I tend to put off. This curtain gave me the nudge I needed to finally get it done.

Last weekend...

it was great to be eight for a boy named Damon.

We had such a great time with so many members of our family who were able to come and celebrate with us.

Damon was feeling a little under the weather that day which made for some less than perfect situations here and there, but it was a great day and I am so proud of Damon for choosing to be baptised.

Since his baptism and birthday happened to be on the same day, we had cake. It's the same cake I made for Damon's last birthday. The difference was, I knew what I was getting myself into this time, and I didn't make it the day of. So, there were no tears this year. Tyler actually seemed concerned when Damon asked for this cake again. It turns out it's not too bad with the help of one simple item, PARCHMENT PAPER. Sometimes you can get by without it, or use something else, but that is not the case with this cake. Don't be scared by the fact that it requires 19 eggs and 2 lbs. of butter, it's worth it. (cake found here)

It was so much fun having family fill our house. Thank you to everyone who came! We love you!

Baptism

We have been a little bit crazy around here for the last few months. Lot of traveling (buisness related, not the fun kind.)


I did get Damon's announcements mailed a couple weeks ago. So, if you haven't gotten one yet let me know. The same day I sent them, I was mailing post cards, and some never reached their destination. So, I wanted to make sure that didn't happen with these. We plan on having lunch at our house after. Also, since it is Damon's birthday he really wants to have a "game party" as he called it. "You just put a bunch of games out and everyone can go to whatever one they want, and play," was about how he described it to me. So, if you have a fun game let me know. I am hoping for good weather and maybe some outside games, too. And, we have plenty of room for anyone who wants to stay over night. Just let me know.

Happy Mother's Day!

Damon had me cover my eyes since he didn't wrap the gifts he made me at school.

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that Damon's 8th birthday and baptism are coming up. I haven't mailed invitations yet, but I wanted to give some notice. It will be on Sat. June 4th at 10:00 a.m.

As I'm sure every mom says, "I can't believe he's 8!"

Our Easter!

I realized today that I never posted pictures of our Easter. It was such a fun day. The weather was cooperative (a little chilly, but no snow) and we had visitors.

After digging through his basket, Damon said, "Aren't these the eggs you can use as lipstick? But, I'm not going to use them as lipstick since I'm a boy." And then the next time I looked, he had them smeared all over his face. Oh, and isn't his bedhead sweet? Every morning!

I got Damon a Children's Dictionary. I have been on the hunt for a good one ever since he said he wanted one a few months ago. How could I say no to that? This one has lots of good pictures, but also age appropriate defintions, and a pronunciation key. He reads it with a flashlight almost everynight before bed.

Damon was really excited when I taught him how to color an egg with rainbow stripes.

I think next year the lesson will be how to color eggs, without coloring your fingers. Don't know if that one will be quite as exciting.

Easter Sunday was also my parents 30th wedding anniversary and I was glad they chose to share it with us. My Mom got these gangsta' teeth especially for the occasion and thought it would be fun if they wore them for a picture. I think Tyler and I will do the same on our 30th.