It's nice!

Earlier this morning I took Timothy outside with me to put something in the mailbox. It is such a beautiful day. When I got inside I was telling John that is very nice outside today. Timothy looked at John and said "nice, nice." Then he proceeded to pull down his pants. I guess he relates a nice day outside to not wearing pants! I was laughing too hard to get mad at him.

Friend Party

Amber has wanted a friend party for a long time. So we decided that a Friday after school would be a splendid time. Fridays aren't as busy as Saturdays for us. So we handed out invitations on Monday and told everyone to meet us at Chuck E. Cheese's. I admit I stole the idea from my friend Jaime. Although I'm not cool enough to decorate our cupcakes all fun!
Amber invited 7 friends. She picked the friends she wanted to invite. We had coupons for 100 tokens for pretty cheap. Her friends all came, she opened presents, and then I distributed tokens. The kids played the games and played in the play area! It was great. I had no set up, and no clean up. I didn't have to worry about my carpet getting messed up with cupcake crumbs! After playing for awhile, we gathered all the kids. They all sang Happy Birthday to Amber and then they decorated their own cupcakes. Amber just soaked up all the attention. She was so happy to have a party!
What a wonderful idea, having the party somewhere else! Doing cupcakes and tokens on my own, I didn't have to buy the birthday party package. I'm good! Okay, so really it wasn't my idea, but I'm glad I have friends that have good ideas that I can steal once in a while!

Amber's Birthday

I can't believe Amber is 7 already! Where has the time gone? For the past 2 months she's been asking us how many days until her birthday. Once we got to February, we started making her count the days herself. It was a good exercise in subtraction/addition for her! She needs these opportunities because she certainly doesn't get them in school.
Anyway, this morning I had to run to the store to get treats for her class. She was so excited for me to stop by and drop off the treats. Because they were frozen treats, she got to walk with me to the office to ask the secretary to put them in the freezer. The secretary was so cute. She told Amber she would put the treats in the freezer only if she could eat them all. Amber just got her usual look. It was like, Duh, you're just being silly! You won't really eat them!
After dinner we had a get together with my family. Anybody who wanted to come. We had a family home evening with birthday cake after! Our family home evening was about how everybody is special and we all have something that we are good at! Amber had requested an ice cream cake for her birthday cake! So I made the cake with a chocolate brownie crust and orange cream icecream! It was yummy, but I don't think Amber will ask for another ice cream cake. It was a fun night. Amber opened presents and had fun with everybody there. We missed the few who weren't able to make it for whatever reason!

Date with the kids!

Last week I was out of town for a couple of days. I know it is hard on the kids when I am gone, and it is hard on John too. Getting kids ready for school by himself? Just not easy! Remembering everything they need, well I usually do that! I just hoped Amber practiced her spelling for her test on Friday! Who knows what really happens when I'm away. It was probably party time all day long!
I felt bad that circumstances took me away one day longer than planned. I needed to make it up to my girls. I think Amber has the hardest time, she always feels slighted, like she's getting such a bum deal all the time even if I am home! So I had a plan. I was going to take Amber to see a movie on Saturday. Well, then I thought it would be fun to go on Friday afternoon, but I couldn't find one at a reasonable time. But the University of Utah had a gymnastics meet that night. So I decided I would take her to gymnastics! She was so excited to go somewhere with me. But the allure of gymnastics soon wore off. She got bored and we left about halfway through. I guess I can't expect an almost 7 year old to enjoy the same things I do! On the way home we stopped for ice cream. She was so excited. It was such a treat for her. I'm so glad I had the chance to take her somewhere by herself. I had fun with her.

So, the plan was to take Amber to gymnastics and then take both girls to the movie on Saturday morning. On the way to gymnastics Amber said, "Mom, you can just take Emma to the movie tomorrow because I came with you alone tonight. Then Emma can be with you by herself tomorrow." What a sweet little angel I have. I didn't really expect this attitude to last, as I fully expected her to want to go to the movie in the morning! But I love how thoughtful she was. Just the mere mention of letting Emma go alone on Saturday tugged at my heartstrings!

Saturday morning rolls around and yes, Amber wanted to go to the movie. So I loaded both girls into the car and we went to the theater. I took them to see Princess and the Frog, although Amber had already seen it! They loved being able to do something with me. It has been a long time since I have taken them on a date with mommy.

After the movie we stopped at Carl's Jr. for lunch since it was getting late in the afternoon. One o'clock is late for us, especially for lunch. The girls were hungry and I didn't want to hear them complain the whole way home! So we pulled into the drive through and Amber says, "Wow, mom, this is the second day you've done something nice for me!"

Am I really that mean? Okay, so we really haven't done much together and we haven't been able to eat out a whole lot lately. Financial circumstances have prevented us from splurging on the non necessities. I guess I didn't realize how hard that has been for my kids. They know they miss out on a lot, but I've really tried to do things with them. I know that I need to make a better effort to spend time with them doing things they enjoy.

Since Monday was President's Day the kids had a day off school. So in the morning I took them to South Towne Mall where they have this little dinosaur play place. They loved being able to get out of the house! We were there for quite a while. But the kids started getting tired and it was getting too busy for my liking. When the kids had to wait in a line of about 15 kids just to go down the little slide, that is too many people in a small area! They were starting to trip over everyone! While we were there, Jenna showed up with her kids. What a pleasant surprise. I wasn't really expecting to see anybody I knew as most people had other plans. It was nice to see her for the short while we were there!

Needless to say, we all had a good weekend. The kids were all happy to have had special time with mommy!

I'm telling! & more

Kids say the funniest things. Although this time probably wasn't the best time to laugh, we just couldn't contain ourselves!

Yesterday Amber was flicking water in Emma's face, which was making Emma mad. So John took things into his own hands. He grabbed the spray bottle and started spraying Amber. Of course she didn't like that! It wasn't fair, she never used the spray bottle! But, not being able to pass up this opportunity, I took the spray bottle from John. Staying out of sight I started randomly spraying water into the bathroom. I didn't know if I was getting Amber or Emma. Amid protests, we switched off. Then we let Timothy spray the water. By this time Amber was getting really frustrated, but she didn't know I had joined in on the fun! John got all the blame. Perfect for me. I could still console her at the end, right? Then all of a sudden Amber bursts out with, "Stop dad, I'm telling Heavenly Father!"

We couldn't contain our laughter at that point. It was too funny. We were laughing so hard. And this all came on the tail end of Amber telling us how it everybody at school makes fun of her and how it hurts her feelings. Laughing at her right then probably wasn't the best choice, but she said it with all seriousness and it was just too funny. Sometimes we just have to laugh!


So, here's another funny story. Okay, so it may not be so funny to you, but it makes me laugh. Once I realized what happened, and why Timothy thinks the way he does! I like to tease Timothy and when his tummy is bare, I tell him I see a bare tummy, and then I tickle his tummy! Usually this results in peals of laughter. To make sense of what happened, you have to know that Timothy's favorite book is We're going on a Bear Hunt. We read it over and over. His favorite part is where they find the bear in the cave and then run home! He always says "bear, hunt, me." Yes, he likes those bears.

Confusion time. He doesn't understand the difference between bare and bear. To him, it is all the same thing. So I would say "I see a bare tummy!" and he heard "I see a bear tummy!" One day he said "bear, tummy, me!" Okay, so he thinks he has a bear in his tummy? I can go with this. I can pretend with him. He wants to be like me so instead of a baby he has a bear in his tummy! But wait, that's not what he was saying. It would be wise of me to pay more attention. He started saying he was a bear. Then he would lift up his shirt to bare his tummy. He wanted me to tickle him! Oh, I get it, because I was telling him he had a "bear" tummy he likes to think he's a bear! He growls at me, and wants me to growl back. But what he really wants is for the "bear" to be tickled! I laugh everytime he tells me he's a bear.

Okay, so to everyone else, that probably isn't so funny. But I really do think my kids are amusing. We laugh so much around here, despite those days when I feel I'm at wits end with the kids and nothing seems to go right! I need the laughter to keep me sane. Thank goodness my kids provide the entertainment on a daily basis!

Family Skate Night

The elementary school had a free family skate night at Classic Fun Skating in Sandy. The girls really wanted to go and I had promised them earlier in the week that we would go. After all, it was only a dollar for skate rental. Plus, we could take Timothy's little bike for him to ride, and John was home to go with us! Yay.

So we had dinner with Jaime and her kids, then we all packed up in the cars and made our way to the skating rink. We planned to be there about 5:30, but got there at 6:30 p.m. Oh well. That is how things go around here. We can always have the best intentions, but well, the best laid plans are always the ones that are flexible. At least it was Friday night. I didn't mind if the kids were up later!

First task upon arrival- skate rental!

John took Amber and Emma to get skates. They put them on, and then they couldn't stand up. Amber did okay on the carpet, but once on the rink she didn't particularly like to skate! Emma couldn't even stand up on the carpet. She fell on her butt one too many times. So she seemed content to lay on the floor moving her feet back and forth.

Then Saundra showed up and she had rented the adjustable skates for her 2 yo daughter. I hadn't even thought about that! I didn't even know those kind of skates were still in production! Those are the kind I grew up wearing! Yay, I was so excited. She let us borrow the skates for Timothy for a bit. He actually did very well. it wasn't until I saw Timothy skating on the carpet by himself that I had an epiphany. Emma needed skates like that! So she tried the skates on and loved it. So I exchanged her skates for the adjustable skates! She did so much better! She loved being out there with John. She even skated by herself. I'm glad we tried that. Now if Amber had worn her shoes instead of her boots she could have tried those skates too. Unfortunately her boots didn't fit into the adjustable skates.

We did enjoy the night. It was so fun to take the kids somewhere fun and spend very little money. We are so grateful for being able to go and for the time we could spend with friends. Nights like this are so wonderful.

Cookie Decorating

So I signed up for a Cookie Decorating class thinking, this will be fun, right? And it didn't look like I needed to provide any supplies. That was a bonus for me, or so I thought. I should have thought harder about that one! Ha, just because supplies aren't listed on the class schedule doesn't mean I won't need them. So earlier in the week the instructor called me to confirm my email address, but apparently something went wrong in the communication. I wasn't getting the email! I finally got in touch with her and got the email the night before class.

Here's what I was supposed to bring to class:

Please bring 6 cookies of your choice to decorate

Please be sure to not over bake your cookies and have them be at least ¼ inch to ½ inch thick.

After the cookies have cooled, cover with Cookie Glaze with a pastry brush:
Cookies must have glaze on them before class

COOKIE GLAZE:
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Tblsp Water
1 Tblsp Light corn Syrup

Let cookies dry for at least 1 Hour


List of supplies to bring:
Apron
Bath towel
Scissors
6 cookies – covered with above glaze
Coloring for icing – Wilton paste or Americolor gels (Orson Gygi’s)
2 - 3 Small Bowls
toothpicks
Something to put your cookies on to take home (cookie sheet etc..)
Spoons
12 Decorator bags (disposable or Parchment paper)
Tips # 2, 3,16,18
6 couplers

1 batch of Color Flow icing

*** Make icing the NIGHT BEFORE CLASS ***

Do not refrigerate

So, that's what I found out I needed at 6:30 p.m. the night before class. I couldn't really leave right then, my kids were just starting to get ready for bed, John was still in class. So I was pretty much stuck for the time being. So I thought, I still have time to cancel, right? I'm just going to call and say I wanted a full refund of the tuition! But no, I couldn't just take the easy way like that! I had to go to the class! But then it gets worse. I had to have this icing made the night before class, and here it was the night before class? So here's the recipe I was supposed to use.

Wilton Color Flow Icing Recipe
Color Flow Icing Recipe: (full-strength for outlining)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon water
1 lb. (4 cups) sifted confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons Color Flow Mix
With electric mixer, using grease-free utensils, blend all ingredients on low speed for 5 minutes. If using hand mixer, use high speed. Color flow icing crusts quickly, so keep bowl covered with a damp cloth while using.

Makes approx. 2 cups color flow icing.
Make icing and place in glass container with a lid
If you do not have a glass container with a lid please purchase a new set of Glad plastic containers (find at the dollar store)
** DO NOT USE old Rubbermaid or Tupperware **
Icing will be stiff

So, who really stocks Color Flow mix unless you're into cake/cookie decorating? I certainly don't! I didn't even know what the stuff was! So 10:00 p.m. and I'm at the store with Cori trying to figure out what we're doing for this class! We decided to just get a couple of containers of decorating icing! That's the same thing, right? Ha, little did we know that we were really just buying buttercream icing! Duh.

So off we go Thursday night to this class, armed with what we thought was the correct icing! So I admit, sometimes I'm just a little dumb. I don't know anything about cake/cookie decorating. That's why we signed up for the class to begin with! Oh, and the tips I was supposed to have, um yeah, didn't have the correct tips either, but wasn't willing to spend money on a new set especially if I didn't like the class!

The class starts and we look at each other. The other people were armed with notebooks, taking notes! Oh my, this is serious. These people aren't doing this just for fun. Maybe they're trying to venture into a new business. And they have to have me in their class! I'm not serious about it, I just wanted to have fun! Finally we start trying to actually decorate. Ummmmm . . . yeah, the tips I have just aren't working. Oh well, we'll make do, right? We were making do.

Then it came time to thin the icing. All we had to do was add water, a little at a time. Okay, so admit, I was impatient and knew how much the instructor had to add. So I added a lot at one time. Oops. But our icing was not smooth! It was all grainy. (I've never had my own buttercream icing turn out grainy with too much liquid though!) We still didn't realize it was buttercream. But by this time we were positive it wasn't the correct icing. So much for following directions! Uh yeah, we tried. Then the instructor took my bag to help me with my stars. Her comment, "Why is this so greasy?" I looked at Cori and said, I don't know, my hands are pretty greasy. (By this time I could barely hold onto the bag!) So the instructor said, "This feels like buttercream!" I looked at Cori and we just laughed. We had known something was wrong here! All we could do at this point was laugh. We had messed up big time. Needless to say, our cookies weren't as pretty as the others. If the class would have been graded, we would have failed! Oh well. We took the class just for fun. And guess what? Despite the frustration and our failure at cookie decorating, we had a blast! I think it bothered the others in the class that we were actually having fun, but hey, they could have tried a little harder to smile, right?

I really needed that girls time. It was so good to be out and away from all the responsibilities of home! And I had a babysitter, who wants to know all of our cookie decorating knowledge. Do I really feel like I can show her? I'm going to try this at home with the correct icing this time! I will succeed. I can't let this be a failure just for my complete lack of ability to follow directions!

Let this be a lesson to me from here on out. Follow directions explicitly, especially when trying something new! Somebody else has been doing this longer and knows what they're talking about when they give specific directions!