Faith's Sweet Tooth Rages On

This past week, I felt like making some super ridic. dessert, and when I saw these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough with Toasted Marshmallow Frosting Cupcakes by Joy the Baker, I knew that I had found my answer.

So first this happened.




Then Lavella got off the school bus, so there was suddenly a whole lot of finger-lickin' help.



I carved little scoops out of the top of each cupcake, and Lavella ate each little scoop.  Then she helped me to position the peanut-butter chocolate-chip cookie-dough balls on top of the cupcakes, and I piped marshmallow/Italian Meringue frosting over the whole shebang.



Yes, I just said "shebang".  Learn to deal.




Once we were done frosting, there was still quite a bit of the stuff left in the bowl, so someone had to take care of it.  Thankfully the boys got home from school at approximately this point, so they were able to help with the frosting consumption.  And yes, it did end up in Lavella's hair, and on Elijah's neck, earlobes and eyebrows -- why do you ask?




While my helpers licked the bowl clean, I ran the frosted cupcakes under the broiler to give it the look of a toasted marshmallow.



So unnecessary, SO GOOD.

Hello tower of deliciousness.  Yes, I will eat SEVERAL OF YOU.  THANK YOU FOR EXISTING.



THE END.

Being a little girl's mom

Lately, Lavella has been coming home from school with mixed reports.  "My day was AWESOME!!" Is quickly followed by a deep pout and then "...And there was this boy in this other class who WOULDN'T PLAY WITH ME on the playground!"  "...And this one girl took away my scissors from me and then wouldn't let me play the game she was playing on the playground!"  "And then I was sitting in the swing, and someone started PUSHING ME!  And I didn't WANT THEM TO!"  Oh the drama.  

On the one hand, it hurts my heart to hear that she has felt slighted by anyone.  That's MY beautiful daughter, and EVERYONE should be looking out for her and treating her right!  Then on the other hand, well...she's a little bit of a drama queen.  A little.  I have NO IDEA WHERE THAT COMES FROM OHMYGOSH.  Right.  So anyway, this morning Jonah and I decided to go to school to hang out with Lavella and her class through their recess and then lunch, and get a feeling for what her day is like.

Overall, the class was orderly, peaceful and all of the little friends seemed to be respecting each other as much as 4-year-olds might be expected to.  It was good to see her playing with the other children, and gave me the re-assurance that I needed to know that her teachers are taking great care of her.  The only drama we saw all morning was in the goodbye -- Lavella was shocked that we had to leave (even though I'd carefully explained, that after lunch, she would go in line and we'd walk out the door...), and Jonah was terribly offended that he couldn't just stay at school the whole day.  We walked the halls of the school to the sound of wailing.  How musical.  ~sigh~

Jonah's Monday

I got a smartphone last week (a Droid Bionic. Yay!!), so I've got all sorts of fun new options for photography.  On Monday, I took pictures of mine and Jonah's day to amuse the other children when they got home from school...and maybe it will amuse you too.  Or maybe not.  Only time will tell.

Here we go.

Once upon a time...

After getting the three older children off to school, I do dishes, get ourselves ready for the day, and then finally sit down to breakfast.  My breakfast nearly every day is two eggs over easy, and two pieces of toast:



Nutella toast...oh yeah baby.

In the meantime, Jonah goes around and finishes everyone else's breakfast but his own (he likes milk in his cereal, but he likes to leave it to get soggy...and then never get back to it):


This particular day was a school day for Jonah, so at 9:00am I dropped off this little movie star.



"My pack-pack"

As soon as he got to his classroom, he sat right down and started playing with play dough -- no tears, just SUPER EXCITED that he was finally at JONAH'S SKOAAALL!!!!


While he was at school, I worked on the hair accessory things that I blogged about in the last post:


Then it was time to pick him back up from school (along with my friend Lisa's daughter "A"):


So freaking cute, I can hardly handle it!


Next, it was naptime, and then before we knew it, everyone else was home from school.

And everyone lived happily ever after.


THE END.

A place for the headbands and hairbows

FYI: this blog has now been optimized for viewing on your smartphone!

This morning, I brought Jonah to his 2nd day of "school".  He attends a mothers-day-out program once a week, and is incredibly proud that he has his Very Own School.

Here they are, all four with their backpacks on the morning of his first day (last week):


(Someone always must be crying in these pictures, yes?  The real question is, how can a person insist on being in the "center" of a four-person picture?  Thoughts to ponder.)

Today, with the entire morning to myself, I decided to make some sense of all of mine and Lavella's hair accessories.

First, I took an empty rolled oats cylinder and some fabric.


Then, using spray adhesive and hot glue, I did this.


Next, I tied a wide ribbon to a D-ring and hung it from the bathroom wall.


I have a lot of hairbows, and I am not ashamed.

Lavella, on the other hand, is all about the headbands.


For her, the most important step in getting dressed in the morning is to choose The Perfect Headband.  Which generally means the pink rose one. Obviously.

She also has a number of hairbows, so I made her a ribbon organizer as well.


Now to make a headband holder for myself!

With Thanks

There is terrible, historical flooding happening right now in and around my hometown (although thankfully both mine and Greg's families live on high ground and are safe with their homes unharmed  in the midst of it all).  At the same time, there are terrible wildfires raging nearby here in Texas.  If only we could give them some of our dry, and they could pass along their glut of rainwater to our parched Texas landscape.  Our firefighter neighbor has been deployed to the fires, and we pray for success in his mission and his safe return.

In this moment, we are focusing on the beauty of a house safe from fire and flood.  Thankful, and knowing that what we have is simply a gift, not because we deserve it.  It's amazing how much more beautiful everything looks through the lens of thankfulness.

Bike riding






A family soccer game (also known as: how many balls can we have in play at once?)


Knitting a scarf and ripping it back out


Garlic Sherry Burgers with Roquefort cheese, shallots, watercress and Bread & Butter Pickles (from the latest issue of Rachel Ray Everyday)


(As a little side-note so that everyone can laugh at me...this is the first time I've ever made burgers.  No exaggeration.)


Andrew's "burger face"


Preparing to use my Le Creuset to make slow oven-roasted Spicy Shredded Pork (which Greg then deemed to be "among the top 5 things Faith has ever made for dinner").  Thank you Pioneer Woman for a crazy simple recipe with delicious results.



Giant chocolate chip cookies


For these simple joys and comforts...for the roof over our heads...for our family...for the brave men and woman in our community (and the community back in NY and PA) who are fighting the flood and fire and sacrificing their own comfort to save the lives of others: we are filled with appreciation and gratitude.

In the cool of the day

Today, in the sudden cool turn the weather has taken, we are....

Building fairy houses at the park:

70 degrees out, and we need long jeans on to stay warm!





Collecting things in back pockets:


Eating our morning snack and embroidering on a picnic table:


Spinning some Seawool:

By Creatively Dyed Yarn, colorway: SRLE3

It's the 2nd day in a row that we've had a break at last from over 70 days of 3-digit heat, and it feels like a priceless gift!

Andrew, the 8-year-old Pirate

This year for Andrew's 8th birthday party (this past Saturday), he decided on a pirate theme.  Greg took command of the decorations and activities, and set up our church playground (which is big, brand new, and has a sun shade: perfect!) as a pirate ship with skully flags, etc.  He also set up a Pirates' Booty Treasure Hunt around the church property including the woods, complete with actual maps for the children to follow.  Of course, he also dressed up as a Pirate Captain.  Because he already had all of the clothing and accessories in his wardrobe.  Naturally.


Explaining the rules of the Treasure Hunt.


The tiniest pirate didn't think this part was very interesting (Becca's baby, "C")


I love how someone on the left has already found the objects hidden at this check-point and put them in the appropriate bag, but others are still looking.  What a team!






The most frightening little pirates I've ever seen


The Pirate Birthday Boy, leading the hunt

Once they were done with that, they brought back all of their found items (as well as the "treasure boxes"/goody bags at the Treasure Site), and Greg did a Pirates' Grog Ceremony (after the fashion of an Army Grog, sans the alcohol).  "...the sand of a thousand beaches (brown sugar), the blood of 7 barracudas (grape juice), the sweat squeezed out of a sock in an old pirate boot (....) (..........), etc. etc. etc..... because we are DISGUSTING PIRATES!!"  This delighted all of the boys.





Help with the birthday candles (lemon cupcakes with stabilized whipped cream frosting tinted "seaweed green" as per Andrew's request).




A reversible super-hero cape that I made (the night before, naturally).



Today, Greg has the three older children out at the "Go-Cart Place".  Jonah is currently down for his nap, and I am thoroughly enjoying the quiet.  I hope you are all having a lovely Labor Day Weekend!