Easter 2013 - It's All About Bread!

This post has been 1.5 months in the making.  Well, that's how long it has taken to get it written and uploaded! ;o)  And now I'm so fed up with rearranging photos that they are staying as they are... all higgledy-piggledy.

I made the mistake of taking the boys with me when I shopped for Easter eggs this year.  Once J had seen them, it was all he could talk about, and he was bugging me to eat them.  Having let the incentive chart on our fridge for potty training lapse, he suddenly wanted a chart so he could 'earn' those eggs!  It didn't seem to make much difference to the nagging, but it helped keep us occupied.

Here's the last of the hot cross buns we made. We gifted some away, knowing there was more bread to come this weekend.

I found a cheap egg-dyeing kit so we tried this for the first time.  I'm not sure if we'll do it again.  Neither of the boys liked hard-boiled egg, and the dye scratched off far too easily.  They both had fun sticking Easter stickers on the eggs and standing them in a little cardboard 'cuff'.  I don't know how many times C dropped his ones on the floor.

On Saturday, both boys were keen to help in the kitchen.  J helped measure the ingredients.

C helped stir the dough (in the early stages)

Then I cut the dough into ropes, rolled them and twisted them into bunnies.  J rolled all the tails and stuck them in place.  (We've been playing with playdough lately.)  You may spot a poinsettia with raisins... J saw the Christmas picture in the book next to the bunnies.

Then they baked, and were drizzled with sugar glaze.  Yum!

On Easter morning the boys hunted for the Easter eggs and chicks we had hidden around the living area.  One had a clue to find a big bunny in their bedroom.

J found them all eventually.  The chick in the pot plant was the hardest to find.

C enjoyed the bunny after lunch.

And finally, a not-so-successful gift.  I can't remember if I've blogged about this yet.  I gave N 12 new types of bread for Christmas - one each month of 2013.  I'm a bit behind, but this was the the Easter offering - an Italian wreath with a nut praline on top.  A lot like pannettone, but a bit overcooked.  I made sweet breakfast strata (bread pudding-ish) for breakfast later in the week.

Family Fun in February

Get ready for a lot of pictures because we've had lots of fun this month!

Ready... set... GO!

 J helped make holes with a toothpick...

 I added the top of the egg carton... (recognise that tape?! End of the roll.)

 A bit of potting mix...

 And a top up...

 Some water sprinkling...

 And we have a great seed-raising tray.  Today I've just transplanted the little sprouts to bigger pots.

Proof that packages can contain more than the sum of their parts: 'butcher' paper stuffing = laying on the floor and drawing around J, C, Mum (and guessing Dad's outline 'cause he's at school) then colouring them in.

 And the box itself = a great indoor sled - "Again, please Mum? Please-please?"

 Chef J making gingerbread men

 C making sure there are differently abled men...

 The "babies" get stuck you know.

 And C made one obese man, one pinch of dough at a time! (Mum re-rolled him for even cooking purposes.)

 They tasted good no matter the technique.

 This game gets just as much use as a dress-up item as it does as the official 'guess what's in the Cat's hat'!

 Lego/Duplo is popular.

 We made Valentines with salvaged toilet roll tubes and paint.  The librarian loved hers!  I'm still trying to get stains out of one t-shirt.

 Dad bought a funky pair of headphones to share

 Though I think the novelty is really holding the iPod.

And, contrary to photographic evidence, C enjoyed helping me make cookies while J played with stamps (read: distraction tactic until J wanted to cook).  But what would really have been more fun (in his opinion) is if Mum had let him play with the new camera.

 Yes, this is the right way up!  C has learned to 'bend' and I took the photo 'bending' down too (though my hands and head weren't touching the ground!)

 Our box 'sled' became a car.  Those are pillow wheels, blanket seatbelts and a lid steering wheel you can see.

 More cardboard fun: a cereal box house, and toilet roll monsters.  J named them Dace and Grob, and then we made 'babies' named Bob, Rob and Gob!

 J can finally blow his own bubbles...

 While C is learning not to tip the whole bottle over himself  or the ground every time.

And finally, Mum's cleaning gloves contribute much more fun to "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands."

Advent 2012: Week 3

Well, Christmas has arrived, but here's our update on Advent activities.  They have helped me focus more on the season of preparation this year.  I felt surprisingly calm and organised - I hope it lasts!  Here's what we got up to in Week 3...

December 15: Due to a short ban on DVDs for a young man, we postponed watching a Christmas movie until a few days later!  Instead we opened our piggy banks and helped him divvy up some money to give to the Salvation Army bell-ringer at Walmart.  He has been fascinated with the bell each time we shop there, so he was keen to give - even if it was more for the bell than the need we explained to him simply.  Near disaster - the bell-ringer wasn't in place as we entered the shop but (phew!) was cheerily ringing as we exited.

December 16: We lit the third candle on our Advent wreath.  J can now tell me as I light each candle during breakfast, "That's the hope candle. That's peace. That's joy!"  He likes trying to blow them out too.

December 17: This morning we hosted our playgroup friends.  Only a couple of families were able to make it but we still expended some energy!  We watched "Jacob's Gift" as our Christmas movie and some relaxation in the afternoon.  It is based on a book by Max Lucado of the same name, telling the Christmas story from the perspective of a carpenter's apprentice whose family runs the inn by the infamous stable.  It has a wonderful message about gift giving.  We have watched and read the book MULTIPLE times during the week since.

Source: Amazon.com

December 18: We bundled the boys up in pyjamas and drove over to Highland Park (a swanky Dallas suburb) to see the Christmas light displays.  Many have been installed by professionals and they can be spectacular. (Not that you can tell from my evidence!  The blurry photos don't do the displays justice.  Props to anyone who can identify what is shown in the third photo.)  J could identify snowmen, Santa Claus, trees and houses that looked like "gingerbread house[s]".  I was disappointed that (here in the Bible Belt) there were hardly any nativity scenes.  I think I only saw one in half an hour's driving!

December 19: We made an early start and made Peanut Butter Squares before we went to the local library's story time and shared Christmas stories and cookies.  This is one of the recipes my mum makes around Christmas time, and is the reason I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups so much!  Apart from the essence, they are pretty alike.  The boys helped crush the graham crackers to smithereens (since wine biscuits are hard to come by here) and I was amazed they didn't even attempt to hit each other. :o)  I think the recipe was originally from an Alison Holst cookbook but I can't be sure.

December 20: Today we made gift tags for presents.  I traced some shapes onto paper (stars for J and circles for C) and wrote in the to/from details.  The boys went crazy with the crayons and I doctored them up afterward and cut them out.

December 21: The boys helped me wrap the presents they are giving to each other and Dad.  We made sure to stick on the gift tags. At the moment the presents are stashed away because little prying fingers have no mercy and I don't have shares in wrapping paper companies.  They'll come out under the tree closer to Christmas Day.

Advent 2012: Week 2

This has been an unusual week.  A few days before this picture was taken we were still wearing shorts and getting too hot outside.  When we woke up on this day snow had fallen!  It's Texan snow, so it didn't stick around for long - but here's the proof it existed. :o)

We continued to enjoy our Advent activities this week.

December 8: We couldn't find any books about St Nicholas at the library so we watched a series of short clips on Youtube instead.  I'm not sure J understood it, but he sure listened.

December 9: We lit the second candle in our Advent wreath.

December 10: We made gingerbread men.  We didn't ice them, but J loved cutting out the smallest ones (about an inch tall) and C thought they tasted the best!  (He was only really interested in eating that size.)

December 11:  We made paper snowflakes since the overnight snow wasn't going to stick around.  At first I tried sticking them to the window with just water, but as they dried they peeled off, so eventually I used tape.  You can see them in the window in this picture.

December 12: We made 'gingerbread' houses out of graham crackers, some Halloween candy I had stashed, and some mints I bought last week (for their authenticity factor in gingerbread decorating).

They came together well.

J soon worked out he could eat more sweets than he stuck on!

It was cute hearing him count them as he stuck them on.

And here's C's one (well, that's what I'm telling J because he stripped his of its candy within 5 minutes of finishing!)

December 13: We had a cleaning day, to beautify the house for Christmas.  Now there is less dust, the nativity is out, Daddy's desk is orderly and some furniture has been moved.


December 14: We made some 'Chex mix'.  I ended up adapting the recipe on the back of the generic cereal I bought (see below).  It was dubbed our "treat snack mix" and doled out in small quantities.

The boys loved it, but it sure was 'melt on your face not in your hand'.

(Yes, for some reason J wanted to sit on the book to eat.  It wasn't worth a fight!)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chex Mix

1/4 c butter or margarine
1/4 c peanut butter
1 c chocolate chips

3 c corn Chex (or corn squares cereal)

1 c Cheerios (we had multigrain)

1/2 c icing sugar
1/2 c mini marshmallows

Melt the butter, peanut butter and chocolate in the microwave 30 seconds.  Stir and continue to zap and stir in 10 second increments until melted.  Add the cereals.  (I also had the end of a bag of sliced almonds which I threw in too.)  Stir until evenly coated with the chocolate mixture.  Spread in a single layer on a lined tray and refrigerate 20 minutes or until set.  Break into small chunks and place in a sealable bag with the icing sugar.  Shake to evenly coat the cereal.  Add marshmallows (or any other treats - M&Ms would add colour) and shake to distribute.  Store in the fridge in the bag.