Dinosaur diorama!

It is that time of year in the 2nd grade...dinosaur diorama time!  Zach worked really hard on his project and I think he did great!  He made the main dinosaur, volcano and the pterodactyl out of model clay and painted them.  He also painted the inside of the box and got it ready.  I helped with gluing in the grasses, plants and stringing up the smoke and pterodactyl.  He is really excited to take it to school tomorrow.  I love that. 

And I love him. 

Bridgette and the Crack Bread

My friend Bridgette called me last week and told me she was arranging a trip for the next day to the cities.  She was wondering if I would have any time to meet up with her and if would possibly work out for her to come to Duluth after she was done in Minneapolis.  Hello??  I cleared my schedule right away!! 

She came out to work in the kitchen of a great restaurant.  She has a family member who is friends with the owner and arranged for it.  On Sunday I drove down to Minneapolis and met her at the owner's house (where she was staying).  We ran errands together and then Bridgette and I went around the city to some fun places.  We were invited to eat dinner at the owner's home that night - she was cooking!!  What a treat. 

We had a wonderful day and a wonderful dinner.  We drove back to Duluth late in the evening (a 2 a.m. arrival) and got to spend 3 more days together. 

Among other places, we stopped at a cupcake store that my kids wanted to go to.  This store just won 'Cupcake Wars' on the Food Network and we were excited to see if they lived up to their hype.  The cupcakes were really good and it was fun to try some of the same combinations they won with! 

On Tuesday night I made a new chocolate cake recipe.  The chef who's recipe it is says it's the cake to end the search of the perfect chocolate cake.  We'll be the judge of that!  I was trying to get it served before the kids went to bed and so the cake was still a little warm when I was putting it together.  Doesn't it look good? 

Well, didn't it look good?  When I cut into it, it just started to slide!  Classic issue on 'Cupcake Wars'...my kids were all over that!  They knew exactly what was wrong.  Zach told me that it would be okay if it was during the taste challenge, but if this happened during the presentation challenge...I was a goner!  It is a great cake...but my search isn't over...

Along with hitting some of my favorite stores and spending a bunch of time looking at sewing stuff (Bridgette's new little girl is arriving in a few weeks - giving her an endless list of fun things to sew), we cooked together...not a real shocker!  One of the things we were trying to duplicate was some thin crack bread we had had.  Presto!!  It tastes identical.  We were so excited.  Good times in the kitchen!! 

Bridgette and the crack bread...it just doesn't get much better than this on a Wednesday morning!  It was a wonderful visit with a great friend.  I'm so glad she made time to come and visit me in Duluth!!! 

Ava - Punky Brewster style!

This is what happens when Ava dresses herself and does her own hair!  Black shoes, red socks, purple leggings, tan shorts, ribbon belt, blue shirt, jean jacket with a ruffle and a messy bun on the side!  You go my little fashionista!

Swim lessons

The kids started swim lessons 2 weeks ago and are having a good time.  I think it is so fun and cute to watch Ava's class!  They all seem so little.  Here they all are waiting for their next turn with the instructor. 

I don't think I had ever seen them do this before.  They made a little train and practiced their kicks.  They actually got going pretty fast...fun for them and cute for me!

And here are the tiny bros waiting for their turns!  Good times at the YMCA!!

You can't just leave left over ganache...

So when there is extra (left over from the cream puffs at Easter), you make peanut butter cookies and dip them!  Yummy!

A fun way to end

The district pinewood derby was on April 14th and Andrew was super excited to go and compete.  Since he won in his pack, he had high hopes...hopes I tried to explain to him that all of the boys had...and I tried to remind him that each of the boys going had also won (or at least placed)! 

We were both shocked when we arrived and saw the crazy, long line of people checking in!  Last time we went to district, there were about 30 people.  This time there were 88!  There were scout packs that drove for hours to participate. 

Once everyone was checked in, the cars were weighed and turned over to the people running the race, they numbered everyone and the races began.  It was a really well run event, but was a little confusing to the kids.  Everyone was guarenteed to race on each of the 4 tracks and then the times were averaged.  Later, the boys were separated by rank (bear, cub, webelo, tiger) and the winners were announced.  So, it was possible to lose in a heat and still win...that's what happened to Andrew!  He lost to a car that was faster than his but they weren't in the same age bracket.  There were also boys who won all 4 of their races and didn't place at all - actually weren't even close by time.  Hard for some of the kids to understand.  No one watching knew who's car belonged in what category and so the awards were a surprise to us all!! 

  

When it all came out in the wash, Andrew won the Webelos divison!!! 

He was so, so excited and happy - and I was just as excited for him! 

 
      It is a fun way to retire out of your last official cub scout pinewood derby...as the winner! 

Going, Going, Gone!

Another donation to Locks of Love today!

Boys and Girls

I was cleaning up and putting all of the toys on the couch for the kids to put away...this is what was in the pile and I was struck by the extreme diversity of the boys vs. girls! Light sabers, barbie stuff, some wild nerf archery/gun combo and a Jessie doll. It just seemed so stereotypical that I had to take a picture!

Easter

Like most holidays around here, it all starts with a little baking and cooking! I wanted to make cream puffs for Easter and so I did the pastry on Saturday afternoon. Yum!

I didn't want to fill the cream puffs until Sunday (so they would be fresh), but wanted to taste them on Saturday. I did a tropez cream filling and a ganache top...it's hard to go wrong with ganache!! I also did the cake portion of the carrot cake on Saturday. It was fun because Andrew was helping me and then some neighborhood friends came over. It turned into an all out cooking class for kids! I think I had 4 helpers while making the cakes.

Easter morning we had an egg hunt. We use color coded eggs for the kids and hide them according to the age of the searcher. Ava's are still in pretty traditional hiding places - like behind the couch cushions...

Here the kids are showing their egg colors!

Zach's eggs are a little more difficult to find and sometimes require him looking in pretty non-traditional places...

And Andrew's can be downright hard to find! There was an egg wedged up in the framework of the dining room table. Even being underneath the table, it was super hard for him to find!

Once the hunt was over, the kids came into a room where we had the Easter baskets and 1 golden egg. The egg told them to open their colored eggs and find the letters to spell out where we were going. After they got all of the letters, the scramble began and all of the sudden Andrew was super excited. I was happy that he was so happy - until I realized that he thought it was something else! He had spelled: C, R, U, I, C, S - which he thought was CRUISE! Well, it was really CIRCUS! We quickly corrected the spelling before the other kids even knew what Andrew was doing and Andrew handled it really well. I'm sure he was a little disappointed, but he didn't show it. What a good boy!

Here they are celebrating the CIRCUS!!

Then it was time to get ready for church! Just a few pictures before we were off...

And of course, a photo shoot always goes a little better with the promise of a "crazy face" picture at the end!

That evening we had the Gores and the missionaries over for Easter dinner. Kathy and I combined efforts and had way too much food...also another common thing at holiday meals at our house...although it's not the worst problem to have!!

I made a bunch of rosemary bread and was happy to realize that my rosemary stash has lasted until now (and I still have plenty left). I won't run out until my new rosemary is growing in my garden.

And of course we ended the night with carrot cake...

And cream puffs...that went very quickly!

We had a great day and were grateful to celebrate in fun ways while understanding the real importance of the day. Happy Easter!

Ava's 5th Birthday Party!

What's in your fridge?? On Saturday there were all these little pots in mine!

We decided to do a gardening themed party and these were the desserts...little "dirt" cups! It was really fun and pretty darn easy!

We had things all set up for the girls and then we were just waiting for the guests to arrive!

When the girls started to come, they all went up to Ava's room for a few minutes while we were waiting for the last few people. We went up to get them and found them like this...with Ava reading them all a book on her bed.

When the last little friend arrived, they all came down stairs and we got the party started!

The girls got started right away at painting their flower pots. Zach was our big helper for the day - getting paint, helping the girls, passing out treats, etc. He was so cute.

We were TOTALLY amazed at the quiet at this party. I don't know if it was because it was a group of girls all concentrating and working on their own projects or if it was this group of girls. I am not exaggerating to say that there was complete silence during at least half of the party...so strange, but so, so calm and nice!!

I don't know why I loved how this paint looked on the plate when the girls were done, but I really did. It's funny the little things that "speak" to you some times.

The girls were getting a little playful here and using their hair like brushes...on each other, of course! After the pots were painted and were drying, we beaded butterflies to add to our flower pots. The girls did all the beading and then I did the finishing touches with my jewelry tools.

After butterflies, we brought out the treats and dirt dessert.

I love this picture!! I didn't even know Ava's cheeks could get this big...she really wanted to blow out all of these candles!

Last, but not least, the girls all potted their flowers! We got pictures with each of the girls on the way out and used them to make the thank you cards. This is Ava and Carrie...cute little monkeys!

We actually ran out of time at the party and so we opened the presents after. Ava had so much fun and got all things girly...perfect for her! Barbie and princesses were in abundance!

She loved this little puppy and carrying case!

Here was the pile after the presents had been opened. Look closely...can you see that Greg is under it all? And yes, he went under as a joke at first, but of course he fell asleep!

We had a great party with Ava and her friends and it is so much fun that they are getting big enough to do fun projects too! We love our Ava so much!! Happy Birthday Ava!!!