Fun Times

This was posted on an online forum I'm a part of, and I thought it was so great that I should share.

This little girl’s mother is a computer specialist from Helsinki , Finland . While her daughter is sound asleep, she creates a completely different world from whatever she can find around her home! What a truly fabulous imagination!

http://www.bluesalley.net/Fans/AdeleEmerson/default.html

Fruit Collage

I was trying to do a make work project with Big N the other day (it's getting boring in the house, we're running out of things to do, SPRING COME SOON!!!) we were looking through the flyers and decided it was time to make a collage.

Big N and I flipped through and she pointed out all the pictures of fruit, together we cut them out and pasted them on some construction paper. We then went over again and again what all the fruits were. Now, I would have loved to post a picture of how wonderful our creation was, except about an hour later it got ruined by the Big one herself in a colouring frenzy. At least it passed the time for an hour or so.

It's Almost March...

I didn't get near as much accomplished this month as I had originally planned, who knows why, other than a lack of motivation.

But, I have a few things on the to do list for March. Most importantly I write an industry exam on the 12th that I desperately need to pass. So, the next 12 days of my life WILL be devoted to studying (well, after the kids go to bed). Other things I'd like to get accomplished involve:

1. Planning Big N's 2nd birthday party

2. Buying a birthday present for my 3 year old niece.

3. Finishing the taxes

4. Organizing the master bedroom (I picked this room because there isn't a ton of work involved).

Maybe I'll get started tomorrow. If I could get these things off the list ASAP then I could expand the list. Although I really really do need to study. Ugh, I hate studying.

Slow Cooker Love

With two under two, it can be difficult to find the time to make dinner (especially around the 4pm witching hour), so the slow cooker became my best friend. After having four very unsuccessful meals in the row, my slow cooker has failed me. I stumpled across this blog http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ and have since tried a few of the recipes.

We had this one today:

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2010/04/slow-cooker-peanut-butter-cup-cake.html

I made a few very small variations and all in all I would call it a success.

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water

Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker coated well with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar and baking powder. In the microwave, melt peanut butter for about 30 seconds, and then add to the mix along with milk, oil, and vanilla. Stir really well to combine.Spread this mixture into the bottom of your slow cooker.In a separate bowl, mix together cocoa powder, the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1 cup boiling water. Pour evenly over the peanut butter batter in your cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until the top has set and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake sit uncovered in an unplugged crockpot for about 20 minutes, then serve warm in dessert bowls.

When scooping out these "cup cakes" I thought they were going to be really really sweet, but they turned out to be just the perfect amount of sweetness, enough to feel satisfied, but not overdone in regards to sugar intake.

In the hoopla of todays events (a gathering of my brother, sisters, nieces and nephews) I forgot to take a picture, but give it a try, and you can see what it looks like for yourself.

We LOVE Muffins!

Big N absolutely loves muffins. I love them for their ability to hide vegetables and for the easy breakfasts that can be done in an instant. This week we made carrot raisin muffins as Big N loves having bits of things to pick out of her muffins.

We've altered quite a few recipes to come up with this one we like:

Ingredients:

3 medium eggs

½ cup of all-purpose flour

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1 ½ cups of shredded carrots.

¾ cup of granulated sugar.

½ cup of raisins.

½ cup of milk

½ cup of melted butter

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder

½ teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of vanilla.

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda. Beat together the eggs and the granulated sugar. Add the shredded carrots, raisins, milk, and melted butter; mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and stir until the dry ingredients have moistened. Spoon the batter into twelve greased muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes.

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've baked a lot of chocolate chip cookies in my day, but by far the BEST recipe I've found comes directly from Chipits. Who knows chocolate chips better than the people who make them??

http://www.hersheycanada.com/en/recipes/recipes/detail.asp?id=3544&page=1&per=25&category_id=6&product_id=3&CategoryPage=true#content_area

CHIPITS Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup (175 mL) butter or margarine
1 cup (250 mL) packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon (5 mL) vanilla
2 1/4 cups (550 mL) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking soda
1 teaspoon (5 mL) salt (we omit this)
1 package (270 g) CHIPITS® Milk Chocolate Chips
1 cup (250 mL) chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:1. Heat oven to 375°F (190°C). 2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until creamy. 3. In medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture. Stir in milk chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. 4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Big N and I LOVE making cookies, for the baking part, and the eating part. We made a bunch of these the other day and they lasted in the house for three days. Perhaps a sign we should go on a diet?

UFC 33 Party!

All in all, the birthday party was a success! I would say all our hard work paid off as all the boys were very impressed with how pretty our party was and it gave Big N and I lots of things to do.

I was given some good advice, that in order to make the party a success its great to put the same effort you would put in for a children's party. So that's exactly what we did!

It started with the beer glasses. We made 33 cut outs and glued them on every glass. We used these for both drinks and decorations.


I had Big N paint some canvases in a black/orange theme to go with the party.

I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to do with these come party time, but we ended up setting them on the mantle. We are going to do something else with them and make them a permanent fixture in the room in the near future, just to figure out what we want to do now.

UFC 33 Victory in Vegas was our entire theme. We made a pretty banner and hung it over the fireplace.

Unfortunately most of the pictures turned out crappy, our rec room is very hard to photograph because it is so dark down there. But, you get the idea. Lots of orange and 33's.

The key piece that brought the entire party together was this:

Our awesome UFC Octagon Cake made by our friends over at Le Bon Gateau http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Le-Bon-Gateau/301304152923

I'm in envy of the talent that is required to make such beautiful cakes!