Eat Like a Hobbit Day

I should have posted this a bit ago, but better late than never right?
The family and I love to geek out, as you can probably tell from everything I post. We decided to have an Eat Like a Hobbit Day on the Saturday that we would see the newest Hobbit movie. It was a lot of work, and a lot of dishes, and a lot of food, but it was sooo wonderful!

For those of you who may not know, Hobbits eat a lot!
7 meals to be precise.

First breakfast- Blueberry scones
Second breakfast- "Hobbit Holes" (jalapeno bagels fried with an egg in the hole) with sausages
Elevensies- Apple pastries with grapes
Luncheon- Assorted meats (chicken, salted pork, beef) cheeses, breads, pickles, carrots, tomatoes
Tea- Seed cake (caraway, pumpkin and sunflower), Honey cakes, and teas
Dinner- Mushroom, Kale and PoTaTo soup
Supper- Beef with a salad

I know there are a few things most people would add, like fish but I'm allergic, so it just isn't happening in my house. Lots of fun, but I may need a year to recover before we try it again!

Sauced Applesauce

I've been participating in Nerd Battle on craftster.org. Such a great group and it is so fun to see what everyone creates to fit into the prompts. One of October's battles are "Bottoms Up"- create something inspired by your favorite drink.

Well, my favorite fall drink is apple cider or apple beer with a shot of Fireball whisky. So I decided to make and can some applesauce with some yummy whisky in it. It turned out delicious and I'm having a hard time keeping the family away from it. I am hoping to still have some this winter.

Super Mario Cookies

I'm not very good at baking. Never have been, way too much measuring for me to enjoy myself. I'd rather be decorating them! I did however make a few cookies to try to make the boys happy. They love cookies and they love all things Mario Bros, so brick and coin cookies seemed to be the way to go!

Here are the coin and brick 2D style

And here is a 3D brick. They turned out fun and tasted great!

I purchased the cookie cutters (and some other really fun ones) at http://www.etsy.com/shop/WarpZone 

Confirmation

This last weekend my eldest son was confirmed, as was my eldest niece. We have such a large family that we took up 1/3 of the church! It was such a blessing of a day.

Here is Levi with all of his grandparents (minus one great great grandma who couldn't make it.)

Here are Levi and Alia

Sometimes they act a bit more like brother and sister than cousins!

Pathfinders/D&D- What we do for our kids

I love my boys. They are getting older and really not wanting to do any of the "fun" stuff that I try to get them to do. (Making bird feeders, painting crafts, baking, etc...) So what is a mom to teen/tweens to do? I didn't know, so I asked them. They expressed that they would like me to play Pathfinder with them. This is something they just started doing with the neighbor kids.
What is Pathfinder? Well, my kids have a long explanation, but it's basically a Role Playing Game like Dungeons and Dragons. Something I figured I would never play.
I have not played it yet. I was told step one is to create a character. So I have this long sheet to fill out. Having never played it before I am a bit overwhelmed as I don't know what to pick for certain things. I'm just trying to roll with it. There is a little spot for a picture. YIPEE! This I can do. So I doodled a little character picture. Then the kids said, that doesn't look anything like the player piece you get. I looked at my player piece and I didn't like it one bit. So again, back into my comfort zone, I made my own player piece out of Shrinky Dinks. I free hand drew it, but I took a lot of inspiration from a few different artist pics I found online, so though I did draw it, it's not really original.



I'll have to let you know how playing actually goes.

Menu Plan 4/4/2012- Do you hide nutritious food?

Do you hide food from your kids? I do and I don't. Growing up my mom always stretched ground beef by adding oatmeal. I do that too. I have always added chopped veggies to everything. I don't really hide them, it's not a secret from my children though. At least not until yesterday.

Our biggest weakness as a family is queso dip. By far not good for you. It's like crack for us. I'm just as guilty. Last night I had an epiphany, white bean puree! My eldest son HATES beans of any kind. He grumbles and argues. He feels I ruin most foods by making them better for him. I am now one of those sneaky moms. I pureed a cup of white beans, mixed it with what was left of the evil queso dip, and NOBODY KNEW!! Yes, we're still eating evil queso, but it's at least a little bit better for us right?

Well, I assumed it was a fluke, but necessity reared it's head today. I was making Lasagna Soup (recipe coming soon) my boys don't care for ricotta, they prefer when I make lasagna with cottage cheese, but I was low on cottage cheese, so I pureed about 1.5 cups of navy beans with the cottage cheese I had, some salt and pepper, and some Parmesan cheese. Again, NOBODY KNEW! It really got me thinking of all the creamy cheesy foods that the kids and hubby love. What if I replace some of the evil with pureed beans? More protein and fiber, less fat. I will be trying this out and I'll let you know how it works out.

Menu Plan
Monday- Meatloaf, baked potatoes, steamed asparagus, lettuce salad
Tuesday- Lasagna Soup (recipe coming soon)
Wednesday- Rotisserie Chicken (got a new rotisserie so we'll have to give it a try), grilled potatoes, broccoli & cauliflower
Thursday- Pot roast sliders, spinach salad, quinoa pilaf
Friday- lunch- chicken pot pie supper- Pizzas
Saturday- lunch- leftovers supper- cabbage rolls
Sunday- brunch out supper- cheese fondue w/spinach salads

Rainbow Unicorn Cake

My little Liam is officially a teenager. He is so cute and funny! Here is a couple of pictures of his cake. This was the 3rd attempt at this cake. Liam is a bit cursed when it comes to cakes. The first attempt was sat on... (don't ask) The second one I did really late at night on zero sleep, and I must have doubled or tripled the baking soda, so it wasn't good at all. This one was great. It tasted so moist and fabulous! He loved it!

Ash Wednesdays

Well, we made our official decisions over dinner.
I will be giving up Facebook games (though I will try to minimize my other ideas from my last post)
Levi will be giving up invading personal space
Liam will be giving up soda and juice
Lore will be giving up his pillow and also utensils (except chopsticks)
Tim is out of town for work, so we haven't heard his yet.

My children pick their own items to give up. Once in a while we veto, but these are their own
What are you all giving up?

Do you give something up for Lent?

My family is not the typical family that you would expect gives something up for Lent. We're not Catholic. Not all of us are all that religious in general (though some are.) However, we always give something up for Lent. We have for as long as I can remember.

So why give something up at all if it's not because you "HAVE" to? Well, it's nice once a year to re-examine your life and see where your vices, addictions, or distractions lie. Then see if you can live with out them, even if for a short time. It opens you up to new experiences and opens your heart/life up to let other items in. Be it God, spirituality, family, exercise, healthy habits, meditation, whatever. Though many people go by the honor system and be their own personal Lent police, we choose a charity as a family and any slips we have to put a quarter in the jar. Then at the end of Lent we give the money to that charity. (We have another jar where throughout Lent any money we find gets put into this and donated to our charity also.)

We'll be having our family meeting tonight to declare what we are giving up for Lent. I personally haven't decided yet. Last year I gave up soda. Now I only drink about 1/2 of a soda a month. I'm considering giving up;

• Facebook games. I do catch myself playing those a bit too much.
• Multi-tasking. This one would be really hard, but good to fully pay attention to each item of my life. No talking on the phone- making dinner- checking homework- signing permission slips all at the same time.
• Pinterest- enough said for those who enjoy it
• Sitting on the sofa- I know this one sounds weird, but my husband and I have "our spots" at night and both are on the sofa. I think getting off the sofa and changing things up would be interesting.

So are you giving something up? What?

Meal Plan Monday 2/20/2012

Last week we did pretty well sticking to our meal plan. Let's hope we do again this week!
Monday- Spaghetti w/ meat sauce and garlic bread
Tuesday- Cottage Pie from freezer
Wednesday- Squash Lasagna
Thursday- Tacos
Friday- Homemade Pizzas
Saturday- We have chess tournaments all day and so we'll bring chicken salad, veggies, grapes, popcorn, Liam's "crack" (it's ranch oyster crackers) and pickled carrots.

Dalek Advent Calendar

I wanted to get this posted before I forget, which seems to be happening more and more frequently lately. This is our new Advent Calendar for the year (and hopefully many years.) It isn't quite finished. This is how finished it was when December 1 rolled around, and will be good enough until after Christmas. It is missing a bit of white felt up top.
What I did was cut out a silhouette of a dalek in black felt, then with fusible web, I cut out grey, and blue parts, I could only find one shade of grey I liked, so I painted some of the grey for a bit more depth. Then I fused them onto the black background leaving black around it (like a coloring book sort of) The Dalek Bumps are blue felt fused onto black felt with black numbers on the blue. Then I glued the bottom and side edges to make pockets. In these pockets we put a piece of paper with our activity for the day on.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and the kids are thrilled, even hubby was quite impressed.
I will try to get a better quality pic when it's all finished, but I figured this camera phone pic was better than nothing right!

Homemade Halloween Costumes

The one dependable post every year. Our Halloween costumes were a bit more subdued this year, but still lots of fun. The kids helped a lot more and I didn't freak over perfection as much.


Here are the Homemade 2011 Costumes


My youngest was Gordon Freeman from Half Life. The base was underarmor style black thermal underwear. The vest type thing was Grey fun foam painted, and glued. Old shin guards that were painted and put on with black elastic. The "gravity gun" was made with an Ice Tea gallon and a two liter soda bottle. We used gift wrap cellophane on the inside of the 2 liter and some battery LED Christmas lights. Then duct tape and electrical tape. My husband and my son did ALL the work on this one!


My middle son was a sparkly unicorn. We used thermal undies and the white base. We made the hooves out of fabric covered tag board that I put some snaps on so they could be taken on and off. I also stapled some elastic on the bottom of the feet hooves so they wouldn't spin on him. (They even made a clomping sound when he walked which was an unexpected bonus!) The horn is made out of Crayola model magic and glitter paint, attached with clear flat elastic. It broke the first night he wore it, but we put a big blob of hot glue under it, and let it dry and it worked great. We used a feather boa for his main and tail. (There is an inside story to his costume, and it was wonderful!)


My niece was Mary Poppins. I designed and made her skirt (black fleece) and her jacket (blue and black fleece with black frogs for fasteners). I also crocheted her hat. The umbrella my mom made by cutting the head off of a parrot beanie baby (it was in rough shape on the bottom, so it was ok,) and attaching it to the umbrella handle. My mom found a lovely Victorian style shirt and we used red ribbon for the tie. My niece's carpet bag is actually my sister's carry-on that she got when she graduated. It meant a lot to all of us that my niece was able to carry a small part of her mom with her while celebrating Halloween.

So that's it. Another year done. Clean up is taking quite a bit though. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!

Summer Activities

Well, summer has most definitely begun for us. We've already had our big camping week (since we couldn't find another week available all summer.) The big spawn got to bring some buddies along, as sort of an 8th grade graduation celebration.

Now summer school has begun with babysitting classes and my big spawn attending driver's ed classes (gulp!)
We always try to have some sort of family project through the summer too. Kind of a "keep your mind working" class of sorts. It's really hard to think of great activities for teen/pre-teen boys to do that they'll enjoy during summer and learn something. Well, some years are far more productive than other years, but I have a good feeling about this year. We're having a cooking class/cookbook writing class. The boys are really taking the lead on this which I think is awesome! They've come up with a bunch of recipes that we enjoy as a family and that are requested frequently. Then they are making the recipes, testing them, measuring carefully, writing out the recipe, typing it up, photographing the finished product and when summer is over we'll publish it as a cookbook.

We did our first submission today. Magic 7 layer bars. I honestly don't know where this recipe originated, we've made it forever and I know tons of others who do too. I would venture to guess it was on the back of some packaging. Anyway, here's what they wrote so far. They will be adding family anecdotes and such to it too later

Magic 7 layer bars
4oz. of butter (that's a stick)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 oz. of chocolate chips
6 oz of butter scotch chips
1 1/3 cups coconut
1 can of sweet and condensed milk
1 cup chopped pecans (optional, but Mom says we should to give it an ounce of nutrition)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt butter in a 9X13" pan. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbles over butter, mix well, pat it in to the pan with fork. Do this really hard so you get a nice crust. Top crumble crust with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and nuts. Then sprinkle coconut on top. Drizzle the sweet and condensed milk over the whole thing. Bake 25-30 min until browned a little on edges. Cool then cut into squares. Prep time: 5-10 min. Cook time 25-30 min.

I just copy and pasted what they typed. I'm not sure if I should leave in typos and spelling errors, or have them fix it. They're cute, but it is supposed to be teaching them something.

No Soliciting Sign

I made this sign up after having already had visits. It's that time of year, and I hope this will encourage them to pass us by.
This isn't the original wording I wanted, but this is what we ended up doing. I don't have a vinyl cutter (yet) and so I had painted it.

The original wording I wanted was;

No Soliciting

(unless it's for cookies!)

OR

Proselytizing

(not even with cookies!)

But the boys didn't think most people would know what proselytizing is and the cookie parts would have had to be tiny and I just wasn't up for that.
Now I have to some how mount it by the front door. Thoughts?

Stuffed Bread Loaf- Picnic Food

Summer is FINALLY here in Wisconsin. Not only does this mean we get to enjoy the outdoors so much more, it also means crazy late nights with baseball and soccer. Hey, I'm not complaining! I adore this weather and time of the year. The only problem is the food. I learned recently that I am pork intolerant. This sucks, but I have to just get used to it and move on. And make adjustments.
What food do they have at the local ballpark? Hotdogs (nearly all are pork or part pork,) brats (pork) and pizza (pepperoni and sausage... both pork.) Though we would indulge in these items occasionally (the nutrition just isn't there,) I really can no longer do that. Did I mention there is absolutely no fast food in my town? Oh, I didn't. Well, there isn't, so that isn't a quick option anyway. So now we must bring something. Which really is ok, the nutrition will be much better, but I will need to be creative and think ahead. So what to make?

Here is the first travel supper of the season. Stuffed bread! It baked up wonderfully! Was super easy to make, and tasted good. I will make again, but I think I'll bump up the seasoning a bit more.

I started with Smitten Kitchen's bread without a timetable recipe
I stuck pretty close to the actual recipe she gave.
Then when she makes the baguette. I just filled in some yummy fillings before rolling.
This version was sauteed kale, carrots, mushrooms, onion, leek, garlic, broccoli, & red pepper. I sauteed it in a bit of butter and a splash of chicken broth. I seasoned it with thyme, marjoram, parsley, salt and lots of pepper.

Then I covered it in Gruyere cheese and rolled it up. I brushed it with water and snipped some spots on top.


I baked it on parchment paper. It came out golden. I let it sit a bit before I cut into it.

My husband and boys liked it alot. They all said it would have been better with bacon (again, I can't eat pork.) Really you could use any filling you wanted. Next time will probably be more of a pizza style or taco style one. This will travel really well though, and will definitely make it into our travel/picnic food rotation.

Do you have any great tried and true picnic recipes? I'd love to hear them!

Working On

Portal Turret Sneak Peak, a photo by ezri_b on Flickr.

Here is a sneak peek at what I'm working on for my husband.
Like many households, Portal 2 has become huge in our house. Even though I do not play, I have seen my fair share.
It was meant to be a surprise for my husband, but my nosey youngest boy found it and showed him before I could stop him. So cat's out of the bag, and now he gives lots of input!

Hope Chests for Today?

My husband has been traveling a lot for work. I don't tend to sleep well when he travels. So I'll find myself up at 2 or 3 in the morning. I can't do much cleaning as I'm afraid I'll wake the boys. (Ok, that's not entirely true, there is plenty of cleaning I could do without worry that I'd wake them. I honestly think my body is exhausted, but my mind won't let me sleep.) So I tend to think. Anyone who knows me well, knows that this can be extremely dangerous!

My latest topic... Hope Chests.

I didn't have a hope chest, I didn't really know anyone who did. I don't know if it's just the area I grew up in or if it's my age (born in 1978.) I did of course know of them. They were something that women did way back when... and they were where young ladies and their families would place items for the lady's future home. Ok, there may be way more to it than that, but this was my knowledge of them.

I don't have girls, I have oodles of nieces, but in my home are boys. I remember what it was like when my husband and I first started off. We didn't have a big wedding with showers and gifts. We actually didn't get any wedding gifts. We already had our eldest son and my husband just graduated from college. It was hard! I still don't always think we've "caught up" with the people who were given many items as gifts. So when my children were born, I said that when they turned 13 I wanted to give them gifts for their future homes (or when the go off to college or whatever.) A little kick start so it wouldn't be quite so rough for them. Well, my eldest is now 14 and I can honestly say I didn't start that yet. It's not for the lack of wanting, it's I didn't have any idea what to get him. Sheets... what size will he have in the future? Dishes.... will he like the colors/pattern I pick out then? Basic utensils/cooking supplies.... maybe, but where to start? Small appliances.... they always come out with better and cheaper. I was too overwhelmed, so it was just given up on.

Now, I'm thinking again about it. Maybe I went about it wrong. I make things. I teach my boys to make things, at least basic skills. I teach my boys to cook and to sew and to clean (ok, not great by example, but I try.) I want my boys to be partners to their future spouse and to be able to care for themselves until they find the right person. I don't want them to jump into a relationship for a "mommy substitute" so someone can cook and clean for them (you all know what I'm talking about!) I want them to take pride in their home even if it's a dorm room. Maybe homey touches will help them.

I know a Hope Chest isn't traditional for boys. I don't care! Roles aren't the same as they were back in the 1800's or even the 1900's. So what now?

All this ranting and raving is fine, except, I'm not sure I'm any closer at deciding what to give/make my children for their futures.What about touches of the childhood memories for their future children, do those go in there too? Do I enlist my child's help or surprise them when they're older?

I really want to get a nice list together and get started on this. I am hoping to not only do this for my boys but for my sister's girls too. I know their fathers won't and I feel it is something I can do for them since their mom is no longer here to do it for them.

So what goes into a Hope Chest??


I did do a fair amount of Googling with very little results. 2 pages I found that had some inspiration are A Wise Woman Builds Her Home and Miss Abigail's Hope Chest, please if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them.

Advent Calendar

We begin our Advent Calendar Activities again tomorrow.

We're still using the one I made inspired by Allsorts' pattern allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2007/11/advent-calendar.html I keep meaning to try something different, but this one works so well for us. I print out the activities and stuff them in the little pouch. If something unexpected comes up and we need a shorter one I just swap them.

I've had a lot of people ask me what sorts of activities we do. Well, I have to admit as the boys are getting older, it's getting harder and harder to come up with fresh ideas. Here is a list of ideas I've compiled over the years. Most we have done. Some while my nieces were visiting, others are just ideas I've had for others to do. Santa isn't a part of our holiday, and never has been, but he is a big part of other people's holidays, so there are some of those type of ideas too. Hopefully you can find these useful. If you have ideas of your own, (especially ones a 14 year old boy won't roll his eyes at,) please let me know!

Quick 10 min or less
•Write a card to military overseas or veterans hospital
•Color Christmas Picture
•Bunny hop/Conga line through house
•Only speak in Pig Latin or like a pirate
•Learn or make up instructions for a secret handshake
•Write a letter to a distant relative
•Tell Christmas Jokes (have these ready)
•Call Grandparents and sing carols
•Word searches, crossword puzzles, mazes, etc... (there are a lot of online word search & crossword puzzle makers for free.)
•Read a Christmas themed book
•Sing Christmas Carols using kazoos
•Make and Drink fancy hot chocolate (marshmallows, whipped cream, sprinkles, candy cane)
•Make Snowangels

About 30 Minutes
•Hang Stockings
•Paper airplanes- make and fly (Who's goes farthest, highest, etc.)
•Make Ornaments
•Make Paper Snowflakes
•Set Out Nativity
•Paint Rocks (could take longer than 30m)
•Make an ice candle (larger bucket, smaller bucket, tape, greenery, water, freeze, use next day)
•Make stickers using white label stickers and markers
•Make Thumbprint animals on wrapping paper or gift tags (potato stamps would work too)
•Learn an origami project
•Make a birdfeeder
•Make Playdoh
•Look at past holiday pictures in a photo album

More than 30 min
•Bake Bread/Banana Bread
•Make a pom pom garland or string popcorn for a garland
•Make a beaded necklace, bracelet, bookmark
•Make soap/candles •Make Snow globes
•Have a bonfire
•Marbleize paper (liquid starch or shaving cream method)
•Lego building competition
•Make up a crazy dance to some Christmas music
•Take Silly Christmas Pictures (everyone in Santa hats, wearing reindeer antlers, wrapped up in Christmas paper or decorations, etc...)
•Make a memory game for the little kids we know with wooden disks and pictures
•Make Gift tags for our gifts to others •Write your own Christmas Carol •Make Teacher Gifts
•Watch a favorite or new Christmas themed movie
•Follow a treasure map to a large-ish gift or activity
•Write Out Christmas Cards
•Go out and play Bocce (or other game) in the snow
•Make a wreath
•Make/decorate a Christmas themed pillowcase or t-shirt
•Make pajama pants
•Learn a new magic trick or science project
•Star gazing
•Play a family board game
•Have a camp out around the Christmas Tree
•Make Snowman
•Have a video game competition (Wii bowling or boxing are popular)
•Have a snowball fight
•Christmas Charades
•Exchange Stockings Food/Meal Related
•Make Cookies
•Pizza making night
•Decorate Cookies
•Have Milkshakes
•Make Rock Candy
•Have an Indoor Picnic
•Have a Fondue Night
•Have a Candle light supper
•Have an Eat Dessert First night
•Breakfast for dinner

Away From Home
•Watch local Holiday Parade
•Get a Christmas Tree/Decorate Christmas Tree
•Buy a toy for toys for tots
•Visit at a nursing home
•Gather no longer used towels and blankets for local animal shelter
•Go to a production of the Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol
•Shop for things for women’s shelter
•Go out to eat at a favorite restaurant
•Go to a movie
•Take a walk/drive to look at holiday lights
•Go Bowling
•Go Sledding
•Go out for ice cream
•Pack a picnic for the park/botanical gardens (weather permitting)

Activities for younger kids or when girls are here
•Use puppets to tell bedtime story
•Have a bubble bath
•Fancy dress up for dinner time
•Give everyone crazy hairstyles
•Paint everyone’s toenails

Halloween Come and Gone

We do love Halloween in our house. The most consistant posting on this blog is Halloween costumes. My husband and my anniversary is Halloween. It just holds a really special place in our hearts. Here are the boys' costumes this year.


My middle son is a Piranha Plant from Mario Bros. Made primarily out of fleece, fiberfil, & plastic canvas


My eldest as Luigi (he did have a mustache, but there aren't any decent pics with him wearing it) Again primarily fleece (gotta love Wisconsin Falls!)


My youngest as Dark Helmet from Spaceballs. He LOVED this costume!


Hope you had a great Halloween too!

My oldest is 14!

Yep, that's right. He's getting older. Going to High School next year, driving the year after that, abandoning me for college 2 after that.

Sniff.... Sniff.... where is my baby?

Oh, there he is!!

Here is his birthday cake.

Chocolate with lemon filling. Chocolate and vanilla frosting with starbursts for the ghosts, Pacman, and the cherries.