Feb 27, 2011

Cooking Class

The kids reminded me that I was suppose to be doing cooking class with them once a week ...ooops... so we did just that last Thursday. They got to make their own little pizzas. We cut the dough and they got to make it into a circle and then add the toppings that they wanted. Jace did one side just tomato sauce and cheese and the other side he added pepperonis and olives. Brooke's was mostly tomato sauce, cheese, and olives. She put pepperonis on but them picked them off when she ate it. They loved making their own pizzas just the way they wanted to. We also made fruit salad and chocolate chip cookies. What a fun night. The kids LOVE cooking class. I guess we need to do it again next week.



The kids with their finished pizzas.  So fun!

Basketball boy

We've had Jace in a basketball class on Sat. mornings for the last 6 weeks. He loves it. It's been his and Craig's special time. They practice together in the back yard. He's getting a lot better at dribbling. He's great at passing but is still working on shooting the ball up instead of from his chest. He's had a lot of fun. Coach Mike has done a good job teaching their little team. Craig really enjoyed being there with his son and helping out.

"Don't bug us ... we're having an adventure."

 "Don't bug us! We're having an adventure." is what Jace and Brooke say when I come out to check on them playing in the yard. It's so cute. They have become the best of friends. Jace keeps sneaking Craig's hat. It's an Indiana Jones hat/whip set. I got it for Craig as a hoax since I 'used' to have a thing for him (Indiana Jones). Anyways Jace always wants to play with it. He and Brooke run around the back yard, behind the bushes, jumping from rock to rock, and have an adventure. It's so funny. I have to end up watching out one of the windows since they don't want me to 'bug' them. I love it.  Jace is my new little Indiana Jones adventure seeker.


Jace

Jace is turning into such a big kid lately. He's so much better at following directions and he's been trying really hard to be nice to Brooke...even when his friends are over. (Before she would usually she get turned into the bad guy that they had to attack or was ignored/ discluded ... one time they even took all the superhero toys outside and put a sign that they made on the sliding door that said "No Brookes Allowed" and they had drawn a picture of her with a big circle and an X over it. It was so funny but Brooke was really sad and just sat on the inside of the sliding door and watched them with a sad face.) He's really trying hard to be a nice big brother now. He wants to be a good example. He even has been keeping the toy room, his bedroom, and the kids bathroom clean everyday. He gets a mark on his chart each day and if he does it everyday that week he gets to go to the dollar store at the end of the week. Brooke is suppose to help but she hasn't been and she is the REALLY messy one. In fact I just found out that she has been hiding her lunch/dinner food in random places around the house so she can get dessert. At first I noticed that she was putting it in the garbage can. I told her she couldn't have dessert and refilled her plate with salad. She brought me her empty plate a few minutes later. I checked the garbage and it wasn't in there. I asked her where it was and she said "In my tummy, silly mommy." ... so I gave her dessert. Later when I was sweeping I found it under the table. Then yesterday she did the same thing. She didn't want to eat her salad but couldn't have dessert until she finished it off. I left the room and came back to an empty plate. I checked the garbage, under the table and any other hiding places of hers. I couldn't find anything so I gave her dessert. When I vacuumed the living room I found it hidden behind the couch. WHAT A STINKER!! Okay.. back to Jace. Jace has been reading a book to me every night. I'm so proud of him. I had his parent teacher conference the other day and his teacher told me that he is doing wonderfully. He is already well above the benchmark of where he needs to be to move on to 1st grade. The only thing he needs to work on is staying focused. Sometimes he's a bit of a space cadet ... mind wandering. What I would give to see what goes on in that mind of his. He has the most random questions all the time... like, "How did George Washington die? Why is there sap in trees? How does a camera make a picture? Usually I have to google his questions. He's such a little smarty pants though and he gives me hugs and tells me how much he loves me all the time lately. I LOVE it. He has even been making me these adorable pictures to hang on the fridge. He has also taken an interest in photography. He is constantly wanting to take my new little camera and take some pictures. It's funny to look through them later and see what he would choose to take a picture of. I just love this little guy. He's so loving and sweet and has really been making me smile a lot. I love that I get to help out in his classroom on Fridays. It's fun to see how he is at school with other kids. He hardly tells me anything about school. I always ask but it's always one word answers. How was school? "Good". What did you do? "I don't remember." His teacher is amazing and they do so many fun things. Right now they are reading a chapter a day of Junie B. Jones and it's hilarious. The kids love it. I love being there.




Here are some of his pictures from school along with a sentence.  I like that Mrs. Figg encourages detail and makes them use a different color for how old they are.  5 colors for 5yrs old.  She also has them try to spell things out on their own from sounding it out so no everything is not spelled correctly but it's good for them to think about it instead of just having an adult tell them exactly how to spell something.  The first picture is of a bus and says "I like my bus."  he got to ride one on the way to his field trip.  The second picture is of himself going down a slide at recess and says " Recess is fun."  Recess is his favorite part of school. :)


Here is one of his spelling tests.  He's been doing so well.


All about Jace:

He likes to eat toast with nutella in the morning, he likes to take warm baths after playing outside, his favorite toy right now is his bow and arrow, his favorite foods are chicken, meat, ice cream, cookies, and cake, he likes to go to chucky cheese and have adventure in his back yard, he likes to read books about Iron Man at bedtime, he likes to watch the Carebear Nutcracker after school, and he doesnt' know what he wants to be when he grows up ..."but I have a long time to decide."

Here are some of his pictures:




Feb 17, 2011

Cake Pops & Oreo Truffles

Cake Pops (makes 40-50 pops)

*1 (14.25oz) box cake mix, any flavor
*1 (16oz) tub frosting, any flavor (you won't use all of it)
or 1/2 to 3/4 cups homemade frosting
*1 pkg almond bark/candy coating
*Sprinkles
*Lollipop sticks
*3"x4" cello bags (optional)

Bake the cake according to pkg directions.  Once it's cool, crumble the cake into a large bowl or Ziploc bag.  Add 1/2 of frosting container.  Mix with hands into a thick like truffle center.  Roll mixture into 1" balls and place on a cookie sheet.  A cookie dough scoop works great.  Cover w/ plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or overnight.  Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on pkg.  Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in chocolate and insert into the flat end of the cake balls.  Carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered.  Once covered, remove and softly tap and rotate until excess chocolate falls off.  Immediately cover with sprinkles and insert into a Styrofoam block to harden.  They can be frozen for up to a month.


Oreo Truffles (makes 50-60 truffles) 

*1pkg Oreo cookies. Regular, mint, or golden.
*1pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
*6 squares chocolate almond bark
*1 square white or red chocolate bark (optional)

Finely crush the cookies in a food processor then add the cream cheese and mix until it is a soft dough, uniform in texture.  Form the mixture into balls, rolling until smooth, and place on a plate.  Use a cookie dough scoop and cut each one in half then roll to keep them the same size.  Refrigerate.  Melt the chocolate bark according to pkg directions and dip each truffle in the chocolate with a fork or a toothpick.  Tap excess chocolate off and place on wax paper.  Drizzle white or red chocolate over the top for decoration.  Serve within 24 hours or refrigerate.  They freeze well too.

27

Yikes.... I'm 27! How did I get this old? ....I guess one year at a time just like everyone else. Time just keeps flying by. I had a wonderful day. When I first woke up Jace ran to go get the present he made me. He had been hiding it for days. He carefully cut out a heart then used some glue and glitter and made it all sparkly. I love this kid! He's such a sweetheart. The rest of the day he kept asking me if his present was my favorite. We met Craig for lunch at Jason's Deli then headed for the mall. Craig took the kids to Lego Land and let me go on a shopping spree in peace. I got some lace shirts and some earrings since I recently got mine pierced. I also got a new small camera that we can take on our trip to Peru. It's a Fugifilm finepix xp10 and is water proof, shock proof, freeze proof, and dust proof. I hope that means I can't break it. My parents got me a restaurant gift cert. and some Victoria Secret perfume. Paula & Robert got me some really pretty earrings & an adorable shirt. Over 40 people wished me a happy birthday on facebook. I feel SO loved!! For dinner we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. YUM!! I got the Chicken Romano w/  artichoke hearts. My birthday cake was the 30th Anniversary Cheesecake ( layers of the original cheesecake, fudge cake, and chocolate truffle cream.)and Craig and the kids shared a pineapple upside down cheesecake. Jace was REALLY well behaved and kept giving me loves and telling me that he was being good for my birthday.  Brooke was a stinker ... but 1 out of 2 isn't too bad.  Craig put the kids to bed early and I watched 27 Dresses. What a fabulous day! I didn't even do any dishes.
Look .... both of the kids smiled at the same time for me!  :)

Spontaneity

 Craig surprises me ALL the time! The other night he was up until 5AM working on a paper, then  he had to get up at 7AM to turn it in .... followed by a full day of classes. When he got home he took a 1/2 hour catnap then said "Hey, let's go to the Jazz game tonight. They're playing the Suns." Okay - sure. So we packed up the kids and headed for downtown Phoenix. We got there a little late so Craig got really cheap tickets. They started him at $175.00 and Craig got them down to $20 bucks. He is a master bargainer! We got popcorn, pizza, sodas, and nachos. The kids had a blast! Jace even sat in a lucky seat and won a prize. It was such a fun family night. It was a killer that they lost by 1 point but we had a great time.  The kids liked that they could be as loud as they wanted and nobody even got mad.  I love it when Craig surprises me and forces me to be spontaneous. I'm super proud of all the hard work, late nights, and studying he has been doing to do well in graduate school.  I'm going to miss him like crazy this summer.  He has been accepted for an internship in Lima, Peru.  The kids and I are staying here.  I'll go visit him in the middle for 3 weeks so we can tour around Peru together and go see Machu Picchu but I can't stand the thought of being away from him.  He's my best friend.  At least we have skype, right?  Okay... I can't think about it or I'll start crying.  :(

 

GO JAZZ!!