Trip to Oregon

The kids have had this whole week off school. For some reason our district thinks we need a "mid-winter" break (even though Spring break is six week away). Anyway, I did something out of the ordinary for me and took the kids on a trip by myself. We went to see my long-time friend, Kim, and her family in Florence, OR. I have the pictures in reverse order and am too lazy to change them :)

On the drive home Wednesday I decided to take 101 all the way up the coast. Drive to have a good time, instead of driving to make good time, right? We left Kim's around noon and got home at 10:30pm. It was a long day but it was beautiful outside and I thought it would be fun to drive up the coast.

We stopped at Manhattan Beach State Park. Besides us there were literally two other people (and their dog) on the entire beach. It was fabulous! The kids had a great time playing in the sand and water.

Kim has 5 girls. Ivy and Miranda are just a couple of months apart. Ivy just had her hair dyed purple when we were there. I asked Miranda if she'd like to get her hair fixed like Ivy's. "No", she said. "But I like it on Ivy".

On Tuesday we had gone to the aquarium in Newport. On the way home I stopped to get a picture of the Lighthouse (I can't remember the name). Hmmm . . . I think I need a better lens to zoom in next time :)

At the aquarium Christian really enjoyed the aviary and reading about the birds. He asked the volunteer about the holes in the rocks and we learned that is where the birds build their nests during mating season.

When we first walked into the fish tunnel, Merek stopped dead in his tracks and stared. He was AMAZED at the fish swimming all around him. He stood there for a few minutes (quite rare for a 15-month to stand still that long) and just watched. He'd point and say "oooooohhh". When other people would walk by he'd point and show them the fish. It was really cute.

On the way down to Florence on Monday we stopped in to say hi to cousins Jessica and Tanner. Then we met up with some of my Personal Scrapper friends, Erica and Lindsey. We had lunch at Burger King (with all of our kids) and then went to a park so the kids could play. I love visiting with online friends in real life. And it was really fun to see the kids play together even though they had never met before.

I'm so glad that I didn't let my normal inhibitions take over and prevent us from going on this trip. Sure it was hard driving alone with the kids but we really had a good time. I just had to mentally prepare myself for the journey. Which is really what we need to do for all of our life's adventures :) We are much stronger than we give ourselved credit for sometimes.

Just My Sketches reveal

You can see this week's sketch from Just My sketches here. I flipped the sketch so the two pictures were on the RH side of the page. I had fun working with this sketch and the Paper Posies kit from last June. I got to add in a couple of Jenni Bowlin journaling spots (thanks, Amy!).

My song inspiration for this page was Seals &Croft Summer Breeze song and the phrase "everything's all right". Sometimes in the morning Merek gets upset but when it's time for the girls to go and catch the bus, everything's all right while he waits at the window watching for the bus to come up the hill.

This page also fulfills this week's challenge over at Paper Posies to have the title of your page be a time of day. MaryAnn got the idea from 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges with Elizabeth Kartchner.

If you make a page for the sketch, be sure to leave a comment so I can see your work. Also, leave a comment on the Just My Sketches blog so you can be eligible for the prize!

19 Valentines . . .

Today marks the 19th Valentines' Day that DH and I have celebrated together. That's over 1/2 of my life! I believe the photo above is actually our 2nd Valentines' Day together. We celebrated by having brunch at Ruth's Diner up Emigration Canyon. Yummy Baking Soda biscuits!

He is taking care of dinner tonight and I'll make dessert. I have no idea what is on the menu for dinner but here is what I'm making for dessert:

Molten Chocolate Cake with Caramel Filling (from foodandwine.com)
1 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
6 oz. dark chocolate (70% cacao), chopped
1 stick of butter
3 large eggs, at room temperature
4 heaping tsp. of cold, store bought caramel sauce
1/4 c. plus 1 T. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Confectioners' sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brush four 6-ounce ramekins with melted butter. In a small bowl, whisk the cocoa powder with 1 T. of flour; dust the ramekins with the cocoa mixture, tapping out excess. Transfer ramekins to a sturdy baking sheet. In a medium saucepan, melt one stick of butter with chocolate over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Let cool slightly. In a bowl, using an electric mixer beat the sugar with the eggs and salt at medium-high speed until thick and pale yellow, 3 min. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the melted chocolate until no streaks remain. Fold in the 1/4 c. of flour. Spoon two-thirds of the batter into the prepared ramekins, then spoon 1 heaping teapsoon of caramel into each ramekin. Sprinkle with sea salt and cover with the remaining chocolate batter. Bake in the center of the over for 16 min., until the tops are cracked but the centers are still slightly loose. Transfer the ramekins to a rack and let cool for 5-8 min. Run the tip of a small knife around each cake to loosen. Invert a small plate over each cake and, using pot holders, invert again. Carefully lift off the ramekins. Dust the warm cakes with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.


DH had some responsibilities at church this morning so he had to leave before the kids got up. But I got up (early!) and made him breakfast so we could have a little time just us together before he had to go. He left boxes of See's Candies chocolates for each of us. The kids also received Valentines from their grandparents and little treat packages from me. Miranda had a little valentines card for everyone, too.

Enjoy this special day with your loved ones!

Valentine Treat packages

The February challenge over at Elle's Studio blog was to make some Valentine-y mini-cards or treats. I went for the treats :) Here is my project: A few Saturdays ago I was working at Hip 2-b Square, putting together January kits to ship. The packages for the SR chipboard pieces caught my eye and I asked Kimberly if I could keep some to reuse instead of throwing them away. Wah-lah!! Valentine treat packages!! :)

Jana completely enabled me :) on the Noel Mignon Object of My Affection kit. And it just so happened to have some Elle's Studio product in there, which I thought would be fun to use for their blog challenge ;0

For this second one I used the cute FREE download on the Elle's Studio blog and punched out the heart shape. I added some patterned paper and ribbon from my stash to the NG kit stuff.

These treat packages are for my piano students (with a few left over for my kids--they'll be so happy). I have some boy students and thought they may prefer "not pink" valentine packages. So I pulled out some Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo product that had been waiting to be used up and finished off these for the boys.

It felt great to:

1. Complete the challenge for Elle's blog;

2. reuse packaging; and

3. use up product that I love (because I LOVE using up product to compensate for buying more) ;o

If you want to do this with some leftover SR packaging you have at home, the measurement for the inside paper is 3-1/16" by 6-7/16". I used my EK Success corner rounder to round the corners--but just put the corner half way in so it's a "little" rounded. :)

Words . . .

Today as DH was leaving for work, Merek actually said "bah-bye" without any prompting. His goodbye wave has become quite proficient and is very cute. Thumb in, other four fingers quickly and precisely opening and closing over the thumb.

Then, later in the afternoon, when we got home after picking Bird up from preschool, Merek said, "mama, mommy, mama". I'm loving this!

New cookie baker in the house . . .

Today after church, Miranda asked me if she could bake something. "Sure," I replied, fully aware of the mess about to happen in the kitchen and ready to let her go for it. (What has gotten into me??)

She asked where the recipes were. I told her just to use the one on the package of the chocolate chips. Here is the recipe she found and used on the package of Hershey's Mint Chocolate Chips:

Hershey's Double Chocolate Mint Cookies

2/3 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla extract

1 c. flour

1/2 c. Hershey's cocoa

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1-2/3 c. Hershey's Mint Chocolate chips

1. Heat over to 350 degrees F

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in mint chocolate chips.

3. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 9 minutes or just until set; do not overbake. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 2-1/2 dozen cookies.

I was truly amazed at how much of this she did completely by herself! She asked me about the 1-2/3 c. measurement. Was it 1 AND 2/3 cups or one 2/3 c. measurement? What mixing bowls should she use? Should she beat the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula?

I was upstairs working on some valentines for my piano students so she was running up and down the stairs every few minutes at the beginning of the process to ask me these questions. It didn't bother me in the least and I was actually quite happy to be letting her do this alone. (Amazing, I know. Trying to let go . . . )

The only other parts I helped her with (because I went downstairs to give Lina her punched butterflies for their 100-day celebration tomorrow) was softening the butter (she didn't know she needed to do this and I thought it would be a nice thing to tell her) and showing her what scoop to use for putting the cookies on the cookie sheet. Wow--I was so impressed with her capabilities! She's 10 and a total cookie baker now!

The cookies actually turned out perfect! I couldn't have made them better--and not to brag but I am a good cookie baker (or so everyone always tells me my cookies are super good). It's in the genes. My mom is an excellent baker, I've always loved baking, and now Miranda has begun. I'm so excited for her!

Dude . . .

Well, I guess it begins at age 6 for boys. Krish is diligent about making his hair look "just right" after taking a shower. Love the button-down flannel shirt open over his white t-shirt, too. I was thinking the other day how old he is getting. I think he looks older than 6. He sure is a handsome dude! :)

Projects with January Hip Kit

The colors of this month's Hip Kit were fun to work with. I always like brown and green together! It was fun to add in some yellow and red as well. This first layout is of my DD and her bestest friend. They are so cute together! I knew when I saw these circles I had to cut them out individually :) Well, actually I didn't cut them--they fit perfectly in my 1-3/4" circle punch. Handy! To pop up the yellow flower above the photo, I cut a few of the petal borders with my exacto knife AFTER putting the PP on the cardstock. The idea came to me after adhering it, so I just trying cutting it--and it worked! I didn't cut through the cardstock at all. A new trick to discover! The Hip DT members were all given Pencil Lines sketch #165 to work with. My layout above started with that sketch but then took it's own twist. :)

My sweet friend, Paige, just adopted this beautiful little girl. Paige and her DH feel so blessed to have beautiful Esme with them. I'm so happy for them! It was very fun to put together this layout with these photos I took of Esme a few weeks ago. Loved using yellow and red, instead of pink with baby girl photos.

I posted about the party the girls had for the boys already. Here is the layout documenting it. I had fun layering the die-cuts from the Origins line and mixing up the alphas for the title.

My fourth layout is on the post below. I used the Hip Kit for my JMS sketch this week. :)

Here are the cards I put together with the kit.

This first card I used the 12-inch border Origins sticker and cut it apart to layer underneath the die cut. The flower stems are from a sticker on the Origins sheet that looks like a wishing flower (what's it called? you know, the kind you blow on to make a wish and all the fluffy things float away?) I fringed the Jenni Bowlin paper for the grass at the bottom.

The Hip DT all had a Becky Fleck CardMap to follow this month for one of their cards. This is how my card turned out. I loved the die cut shape on the original Map but couldn't figure out how to cut it. Well, I remembered I had some Jenni Bowlin calendars in that same shape! So I grabbed one and traced around it. Smart thinking, right? ;)

Kimberly also asked us to make one card a Valentine--this was mine (but, shhhh, don't tell DH).

This last card makes me happy. Yellow is my favorite color and I feel it just pops off this page. Had to use those cut circles again. Oh, and these BG fabric brads--YUM!

Well, that's it. Thanks so much for reading through the post and viewing my creations. I had a really good time playing with this kit. I think there are still a few left. Be sure to grab one before they are gone!

Just My Sketches

Here is my first layout for the Just My Sketches design team! Deanne sent us a fun sketch along with a list of songs to inspire us. I ended up stretching the sketch into two pages. Two of the songs inspired me--David Cook's Time of My Life and Jordin Sparks' One Step at a Time. They talked about how their lives are changing. It made me think about my oldest DD and how life is changing for her. She is growing up--and I'm SO not ready!

I used the awesome January Hip Kit for this layout. In the next day or two I'll have the rest of my projects from this kit to post.

Be sure to check out the JMS blog for the sketch challenge and song list, and to see how the other DT members interpreted the sketch.

Have a great Monday!