Another Year

This was about as low-key a birthday as they come. I made a cake and let the little ones decorate it. Ellie let me wear a veiled crown and boa. I opened the dollar store gifts from everyone which included flowers, a frame or two, body wash, a tape measure, and a few other fun items. The big gift was an electric can opener--awesome! But the really big gift was that the kids cleaned the kitchen, decorated it all up for me, and behaved like angels for the whole day. I couldn't ask for more. It was wonderful.

Pioneer Day

Our school's mascot is a pioneer, so every year they have "Pioneer Day" and dress up. Here are the girls in our best pioneer outfits. Lauren is going for a more youngish look, while Ellie is looking more mature. Adorable either way. Ellie's day was shortened that day due to a fall which gave her several big scrapes, including one on her forehead. The nurse thought she should come home and rest. I thought the fall may have had something to do with running in a pioneer dress, but Ellie insists she just "randomly fell." Okay.

Truffles

I just finished reading Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke. She has written many murder mysteries in a series and they are all filled with recipes because the main character is a bakery owner. I didn't actually enjoy the book, but the recipes were great. I wanted to make them all. Since it was a book club book we all made one of the recipes from the book for our meeting. It was fun and truly, all of the food was great. This was my contribution. And here's the recipe. Totally easy and super yummy.

6 T. chilled butter
12 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. powdered sugar
6 egg yolks
1 T. rum, brandy, or vanilla extract

Cut the butter into small chunks into the top of a double boiler. Add the chocolate chips and powdered sugar and let it melt in the double boiler stirring occasionally. In the meantime, separate 6 egg yolks out and beat (not till they change color, just until thoroughly mixed). When chocolate mixture is completely melted add egg yolk one spoonful at a time and mix completely. When it is all mixed in add the extract. Let this mixture cool in the refrigerator for about 3 hours. Then, form into balls and roll in sprinkles, nuts, sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate shavings, etc. These are really tasty.

Medusa

Emma's Greek mythology 3D project turned out pretty cool. At first she was going to do a golden apple. I ask you, what's cool about that? Not much IMO. But a woman with snakes growing out of her head, now that's pretty cool. I already have plans about where to display it in our home. I'm thinking it will be a nice addition to the play room.

The Tea House on Mulberry Street

Loved this book. Reads like a blog list. Quick and easy brain candy if that's what you're in the mood for. Set in Belfast, Ireland. Great development of a bunch of characters. I don't usually like books with a lot of characters, but this had me. I could barely get all my party prep done.

Ooey, Gooey Birthday Party

Hooray! Lauren is 9 and her party is over! Lauren has always been unique. . . individual . . . and proud to be so. While I love this about her, it also drives me crazy sometimes. She also LOVES everything messy; the messier the better. Well, it's party year at our house, so Lauren's idea of a perfect party is an "Ooey, Gooey Party". Can you imagine what this is? This is a party where you get together with 7 of your best friends and make things like Ooblek, and Glop, and play with Gak, Noise putty, silly putty, Floam, and a variety of other gooey things. Then, you watch a "scary" Goosebumps movie and sleep over. Then you get up and make name pancakes with everyone. Unfortunately I don't have a single picture. It was a full time, hands on job managing this event. Of course, Richard did his job by getting as far away from this as possible. . . all the way to Pheonix. Then, Maddie ended up being a huge help (NOT) by going to a movie with her friends. Thank heavens for Emma.
The kids all seemed to love it. They all wanted the recipes and declared this party as the BEST birthday they'd ever been to and many decided they wanted an Ooey, Gooey party this year. That made me laugh.
The pictures we do have are of the night before when we went to Red Robin as a family.
Just in case you want an ooey gooey event I'll post the recipes. I really don't suggest this as a sleep over. It's a bit too much.

Glop

4 oz. bottle of white glue
2 liter bowl
1 pt. distilled water (I didn't use distilled and it worked fine)
Borax powder
Food coloring

Pour glue into a bowl. Fill the glue bottles with water, shake and pour into the bowl. Add 1 C. water and food coloring. Stir. Add Borax 1 tsp. at a time and stir until glop starts to form. Take glop out as you see it forming and continue to add Borax to the remaining mixture.

This really is fun to play with.

Ooblek

1 1/2 C. cornstarch
1 C. water
food coloring

mix together and see the magic. Tap it hard and it feels like a solid, set your fingers on it and it feels like a liquid. Add extra water the next day and it's still lots of fun.

House cleaning tip #2- Slow Drains

This is completely surprising, but here goes post #2 for the day. This is a tip and a product review, actually.

Slow drains is a common problem in my house; completely inevitable when you have 4 girls with long hair, I've discovered. Well, I finally figured out how to remove the drain stop in the shower and pull the hair out. It's way better than pouring any chemical down the drain. I've never had good luck with those and besides, every plumber I've ever talked to has said, DO NOT pour those chemicals down your drain. If you're interested I'll try to find the tutorial again and post it.

But the sink stopper was too tricky to try to remove. But in my search for how to do it I came across this cool thing called the Drain Claw. I made a snap decision to give it a try and ordered 3 immediately. I just used it today and WOW!!! It took literally less than a minute to completely clear the drain. It was pretty disgusting pulling the hair off at the end, even with a tissue, but seriously soooooo worth it.