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 Saturday was our end-of-year picnic in the park for Henry's class. We wanted to have one last hoorah before school ended and I offered to do some games (I may never be asked again.) It was my own spin on the classic "Pin the tail on the donkey"  aka "Pin Your Teachers Head On Her Body" You know, that game. This is Henry giving it his best shot. The children put their names on the back so we could determine who the winner would be but alot of them did pretty well and got her head in the right general area, although the upside down head is hands down my favorite.Ms. M was a good sport; isn't she adorable? The other game was a simple bean bag toss. I made up about 6 bean bags and the kids took turns throwing them into the bowls. That's Henry's BFF. Bowls were from the dollar bin from Target. It was also a good little math lesson as they tried to add up their own points from their tosses. Each child got a turn with 5 bean bags. This is the game that kept on giving as it was pulled out today and set up on our living room floor and played with by Henry & Kate.  And lastly, hard at work on a special, top-secret gift for Ms. M. I'll let you in on the secret when the gift is done 🙂

Hope you had a lovely weekend!
XO

 One of my most favorite things about this school year has been volunteering in Henry's classroom. Initially I wanted to be involved in everything, and in the end, I realized the place I wanted to be most was in Henry's class. I've been alternating Fridays with another Mom in the class, but today was a special day as all the Kinders got to tie dye shirts and I got to go. I think Henry was mostly excited to wear the rubber gloves (I don't think any other children wore them- they were mostly for the volunteers.)  After he heard from Ms. M that your hands would be stained for about 5 days he decided he was not having any of that. The shirts were all dyed and set aside. Tomorrow will be the big day that we get to open them up and see how amazing the designs turned out. The hands of a true teacher! Thank you, Ms. M for the experience!

Happy Thursday!

 A few months ago our neighbors brought us over this corn bread and it was scarfed up in about 2 seconds flat. I just have memories of the kids literally cramming it into their mouths-lol! I don't know what makes it 'Jamacian' but it has a lot of sugar and butter and is super delish so who cares. It should be renamed a cornbread cupcake. When our neighbors brought it to us, it was in a 8" round cake pan and she said the recipe made 2 pans worth. As muffins, it ended up making 2 dozen. They are really light and fluffy and I guarantee you'll love them! Our Wednesday night Summer BBQ's have officially started back up and so we took these tonight and they were gone in the blink of an eye!

Jamaican Corn Bread

2 1/2 C sifted flour

1 C corn meal

1 c sugar

6 tsp. baking powder

2/3 tsp salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

2 eggs

2 C milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. Beat eggs and add milk & melted butter. Add to dry ingredients. Beat until well blended.

Pour into (2) 8" greased cake pans, (1) 9×13 pan, or 24 cupcake liners. If baking in cake pans, cook for about 30 minutes, if cooking in a 9×13 pan cook for 35 to 45 minutes and if making them as cupcakes, cook for about 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

XO 

 I find myself in a constant state of, "How'd he do that?" "How'd he get onto the kitchen counter?" "How'd he climb up onto the top of Kate's dollhouse without it falling over?" He's a mover & a shaker, like a little tornado, leaving in his path a collection of toys, clothes that have been pulled out of drawers and tuna & jam that have been pulled out of the pantry. 18 months already. He's still my baby, but that 'baby' feels like forever ago. His face is changing so much, thinning out as he starts to loose some of his baby fat. He's not saying a word (he's got a sister who does ALL the talking). His eye is totally healed from his surgery and we are grateful for that. He's a growing, climbing boy who never wants to be where he's supposed to be. Don't bother calling him, he'll start running the other direction and he's fast. He's teething now and those molars hurt. But those big brown eyes melt me every time and I'm so grateful he's mine. I love you, Charlie. XOXO

Last year for my birthday my friend Rachel gave me a gorgeous hydrangea plant. I immediately went and planted it in our little garden where it promptly died. Totally dead. No leaves, nothing. I was majorly bummed out. Then, this past April around my birthday it started sprouting up again and has turned into the most stunning plant. I'm hoping that it just gets gigantic. Only Summer will tell I guess. We made a few trips to the nursery this week to pick up some plants/flowers for my hanging boxes I have out on the patio. We have a bit a of a squirrel problem; I can't seem to stop them from nibbling on my flowers… I also picked up this plant, I think a Foxglove?, that I re-planted which now sits in a big pot on our patio. It's getting warmer and soon we'll be grilling up a lot more and eating outside so I'm feeling extra motivated to get the yard/patio into tip-top shape. I really need to repaint our iron patio chairs, which isn't really a big job, but a job big enough that it's had me procrastinating doing it for well over a year. Last week was really fun and busy. Henry performed the hookilau with his class (and 3 other Kinder classes). It was so awesome that words can't even begin to express…. Plus, who doesn't love saying 'hookilau'? We've been singing and saying it all week.  He & Pops also got invited to see "Star Wars in Concert" at the Hollywood Bowl with his friend Jack and his Dad, Paul. Everyone gave it glowing reviews! Grandma & Grandpa came into town for a few days which was really fun, too.  I can't believe it's June already. 3 more weeks of school... I cannot wait. Henry has had a wonderful year in kindergarten with a class and teacher that we absolutely adore, but, we are ready to hit the beach everyday and enjoy the lazy days of Summer.

Hope you are gearing up for Summer, too!

XO~

For our anniversary, Chris bought me a little herb garden from Trader Joe's. I'm growing parsley, basil and, I think, oregano? There have been rumors floating around amongst friends of a salad that includes basil and watermelon that I've been itching to try. I tracked down the recipe today (Thanks Sherry!) and decided to give it a whirl. Chris's parents are in town for the weekend and we were grilling up carne asada today (which I purchased from a great Mexican Meat Market called Don Felix- on Sawtelle for you locals. Chris heard me wrong and thought I purchased it from 'Donkey Lips' not 'Don Felix' funny to me…maybe not to you. I digress)  anywho,  I thought this would be the perfect side. The recipe is pretty loosey goosey with no exact proportions for the tomatoes or watermelon, so just use maybe 2-3 tomatoes so you  have roughly equal parts of tomato & watermelon. Start by cutting up the tomatoes into large chunks. I only had roma but I am totally going to make this again using heirloom or my favorite, beef-steak tomatoes. Cut up a small watermelon into bite sized pieces. Next up, using about 1/2 C of fresh basil leaves, roll up and cut into ribbons (thin slices). Toss together in a bowl. Next up is the dressing: 1/4 C (or less) olive oil, 1/4 C balsamic vinegar, honey to taste (I used about 3/4 TBSP), kosher salt & freshly ground pepper. Add to the salad and fold in gently.  I know it sounds like a super funky combination & all with the tomatoes and watermelon, but it was actually quite tasty and refreshing. Since Chris & Henry don't eat watermelon or tomatoes (what gives?)  that means more for me & Kate. Woohoo! I get the feeling we'll be making this a lot over the next few months. Here's the recipe:

Watermelon, Tomato & Basil Salad w/Balsamic Honey Dressing

Small ripe watermelon

2-3 Brightly c0lored heirloom tomato's

1/2 C Basil

For the dressing:

1/4 C or less, Olive Oil

1/4 C Balsamic Vinegar

Honey to taste

Kosher salt

Freshly Ground Pepper

Directions:

Cut up the watermelon into bite sized pieces. Cut up tomatoes into large chunks. Cut basil into ribbons.  Add tomato, watermelon & basil to a large bowl and gently stir. Whisk together all dressing ingredients. Spoon over fruit mixture folding gently. I didn't end up using all of the dressing- maybe only 1/2 or 3/4 of it.

Enjoy!

May was a very exhausting month for me and I'm still recuperating 🙂 I hope you have a wonderful weekend I hope to see you in this space again soon!

XOXO

 We survived a whole weekend full of turning-six-years-old-festivities! We started on Friday (his actual birthday) with a request of "vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting" (because George is allergic doesn't like chocolate) to be brought to his Kindergarten class. We also read the class "Fortunately" which was the perfect birthday book and hilarious all around.   Then it was pizza and shared rootbeer at our favorite local pizza joint. 

The Angry Birds party was on Saturday and we couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day at the park. We brought lots of blankets and set up camp under a huge tree. We ate, chatted, relaxed and then played (2) games. I had made about 6 angry birds out of felt; 3 were beanbags and 3 were stuffed with batting. We bought a slingshot and had the kids take turns seeing who could slingshot the birds the furthest (I have no pictures of this, I ran back to our place to get the cake). For the second game, I wrapped soup cans in green paper & taped pigs to them. Then, they took turns tossing the beanbags and knocking them down.  (the end of the day- you can see the cans were the worse for wear!)  

I think the kids loved this game the most-so simple but they had a ball.  Oh the drama! The excitement!!

About 4 of the kids came with just their Dads which I thought was awesome. 

So the cake…the cake was so low on my list of priorities that I just hadn't had time to think of what to do. Saturday morning, about 3 hours before the party, we decided to go with one big angry bird. We were going to use the same technique we used for Kate's doll cake, as it gave the right shape for a birds body (with some added feathers sticking out the top and back). We were aiming for the red angry bird. Chocolate cakes were made (sorry, George!) and cooling as I went to make the frosting. I added drops of red food coloring, and then some more and more. Then, a quick call to Chris who ran to the store,"Can you pick up some more food coloring?" I keep adding drops until I have gone through and entire bottle & 1/2 of red food coloring. The frosting went from light pink to pink, to darker pink, to dark pink, to darkest pink. It wasn't turning red. "Um, Henry….the frosting isn't turning red..come take a look. It's just..ahem, a very light red." And very thankfully, my very low-key and easy to please six-year-old replied with a "That's o.k., that's cool!"  I just keep telling myself that surely he's not the first six year old boy to have a pink birthday cake, right???

I made felt angry birds for all the kids as their little party gift:  At  the end of the day, I think a picture says it all:  Happy Birthday, Henry! I love you! xoxoxo

(and how about those sweet faces of good friends?)

Hi All-

A really good friend has asked for help in spreading the word about an upcoming fundraiser. Please see the information below and be sure to contact them if you can help in any way.

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Help us feed the orphans of Ghana! We are having a fundraiser yard sale on May 28th at Aspen Academy in Payson from 8a.m. to 2 p.m. Kai's orphanage is in need of medicines, food and clothing. We want to purchase some of the needed items when we travel to Ghana for our court date. There is also a great need for clean water. If we can raise $2,000 dollars we can purchase equipment to drill a well! We are accepting items in good condition to sell, baked goods, and donated craft items. We also need volunteers on the day of the yard sale. For people that want to donate but live closer to Bountiful we will have a truck here on the 23rd so any donations can be dropped off locally. For the address and directions email amy@radseams.com.   Anyone that would like to mail handmade craft items can email at the same address and she will get you the address.  If people are donating handmade crafts it would be cool if they can be tagged with the price that they usually sell the item, if they don't usually sell their items if they could let us know what they think the item could sell for that would be great. 

 

Help Me Feed the Orphans of Ghana

My name is Alaina Belk.  I am 10 years old.  My family is adopting a little girl from Africa.  I am worried about the other children in the orphanage.  They need medicine, food and clothes.  I had the idea of gathering for Ghana.  I started going through my toys and clothes to see what I could sell to make money to help the children in my little sister’s orphanage.  Maybe you have toys, clothing and other things that you don’t need that we might be able to sell.  Please help me help the poor children in Ghana who don’t have a family to take care of them.  We are so blessed and have so much.  If we all give a little bit we can make a big difference.    

I am accepting items in good useable condition (including baked goods and handmade craft items.)  For information about a drop off location for your donated items call Alaina at (801) 465-4919

Remember to mark the 28^th on your Calendar and come to the yard sale.

 It's an Angry Birds party and it's going to totally rock. We have some great things planned (this Mama's gotta hussle!) Can't wait to share. 

It's official she is 3 years old 🙂 ! It was a very fun day with a very low-key small party with a few friends. The cake was a lot easier than I expected and I have to say that it was actually a hoot to make. We went to Target to pick out a doll to go in the middle and and she picked  Tiana which I thought was awesome.I don't really have any good photo's of the cake, but she loved it and that made me so happy. I tinted the inside layers different shades of pink which she seemed to like.  She really wanted a bike for her birthday. She is the first of the children to receive one. None of them know how to ride bikes- we live in a congested area so it's just never come up but Henry wants one too so we will probably get him one for his birthday this week.  

Happy Anniversary to US! 13 years today- WOW! We need to get out & celebrate! 

Hope you had a nice weekend. Back to party planning!