Be Mine, Valentine

The girls have colds yet again. So Valentine's Day was full of tired, cranky fussing this year. Miss D had a fever and both girls' noses were running like crazy. But I did manage to get some cute shots of them dressed up for Valentine's Day and even got a smile or two out of poor D.

I did not have an outfit picked out, but when I looked in their closet for something with hearts for them to wear, I found these adorable dresses. They had been a birthday gift from a friend of my mother in law and I had completely forgotten that they were bedecked with hearts. You can't see the pink hearts on D's dress but they are there and look adorable. A friend of mine crocheted the heart headbands for them last year. They fit them better now and look so cute.

The day before Valentine's we painted cards for Daddy and the grandparents. The girls and I made thumbprint hearts.  Miss T was not a fan. She still needs to take her time getting used to having paint on her hands and I wasn't about to let her play with acrylic paint. D loved it but was so eager to paint that trying to position her thumb to make the heart before she slammed her thumb down was hard. After making a few thumbprints, we moved on to heart stamps. I taped a toilet paper tube in the shape of a heart and dipped it in paint for them to stamp. I held on to it too and guided them, mainly because I was afraid of the paint ending up all over.

I had the oven going for awhile in the afternoon. The first thing was roasting a whole chicken. I saw the idea of putting on a bundt pan on Pinterest and wanted to try it out. I cut potatoes and sweet potatoes to place along the bottom of the pan and then stood the chicken on up over the hole. I had foil underneath just in case but nothing leaked.

I was afraid the skin would burn so after letting it brown for 20-30 minutes, I placed aluminium foil over the top like I do with the turkey every year. That worked fine. The chicken turned out fine but there really wasn't much of a difference between baking it flat on the cookie sheet and doing it this way. Some of the potatoes on the top ended up really dry because I didn't bother to oil them since I thought they would soak up all the chicken juices. The ones on the bottom were delicious so I would recommend a few less potatoes/sweet potatoes or oiling them first. All in all the vertical roasted chicken is not a Pinterest fail, but I am feeling rather meh about it.

Then on to the cookies. I have made these chocolate chip cookies once before and they were so delicious. So I decided to try to give them a Valentine's look but that was basically a fail. I did have the expectation that they would not keep their shape that well but I was really hoping that I would be wrong. The problem was the cookies are so thick -- each cookie takes a third of a cup of dough.

They looked like cute hearts when I cut them out but spread out into a not quite heart shape while baking.

Some look pretty close to a heart but hassling with the cookie cutter was not worth the final shape. I also unfortunately got distracted by fussy, sick babies and let them bake a little too long so they are not to die for like last time. Disappointing but still not a bad cookie. Next time I will have to be more careful.

My husband has been really busy with work the past few weeks with long hours and no weekends off. So I gave him a break and bought myself tulips from him. They are so pretty. I always prefer tulips on Valentine's to roses. Something about having the bulbs to replant and renew versus cut roses that just die seems a better symbol of love to me.

Hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!

Finger Painting

Today I decided to try out finger paints with the girls.  Now we have done some painting in the bathtub with pudding, so this wasn't something completely foreign to them.  But having a variety of colors and painting on paper at their high chairs was definitely something new and different.

I made the edible finger paints in a pot with 1/2 cup cornstarch, 3 tablespoons sugar, 2 cups of water and food coloring following a recipe I found on Pinterest.  Heat it up on medium heat and take it off the heat when it reaches a thin pudding consistency.  I let it go too long because I was not paying it as much attention as I should have.  But I just thinned it out with more water and it was fine. 

It turned out much sweeter than I expected.  I was worried the girls would be more interested in eating it than in painting with it.  Luckily they are past the worst of that stage.  Although some ended up in their mouth, they were too busy playing with it to be that interested.

 

I taped down some blank card stock with painter's tape thinking the tape wouldn't tear the paper but it did unfortunately.   I also cut out some masking tape heart shapes to block the color to make little Valentine's Day cards.  I will still salvage the paintings with some modgepodge, but that idea is a fail.   Bummer.

I made it easy on myself and gave the girls both red and blue but yellow only to D and green only to T.  This way I can tell whose is whose even though I haven't labelled them yet.  I always make sure to do something like that otherwise it gets too confusing.

After the girls had fun for awhile (including getting some paint in their hair, on their face and mixing the paint together in the cups), I decided it was bath time.  I wiped their hands and brought them and the paint up to the bathtub for some more fun.  I got some cute videos of them painting the walls and each other.  Then I washed it all away and scrubbed them up.  We had a good time and though it was a bit of work, at least it kept them busy for a long time and did not end up being too messy.

Apple Muffins and Cloth Diapered Nights

Finally being a little productive after another round of colds.  It is so hard being sick with sick babies.  They ended up sleeping with me part of two nights which always translates into a grumpy momma to go along with two fussy kids.  But now we are better except for a little coughing and a runny nose here and there.

I managed between our CA trip and sickness to run out of disposable diapers (technically I did have one left but since that doesn't work for two babies, I just left it in the diaper bag).  Then I completely forgot to buy some when I went shopping two days ago with the main objective to buy diapers.  I didn't bother to put it on the list since it was something I wasn't going to forget, right?  Out of necessity the girls slept in cloth diapers, which I had always avoided because I did not want to deal with leaks.  But the two nights we did it were fine. No leaks, no rashes, no end of the world.  It gives me new confidence to at least partially expand into nighttime cloth diapering.  It does of course take extra inserts, so I will have to get up to my sewing machine at some point to make some more micro fiber inserts.  But in the future the girls will be sleeping in cloth a few nights a week.

Today we baked muffins.  This time I actually described everything I was doing to the girls, along with the usual letting them mix the ingredients with the whisk.  D stood by me the whole time watching and listening to what I was saying.  T was playing nearby, seemingly not paying attention, but I have learned from experience that she is still a little sponge even when she is off on her own.  I can't wait until they are a bit older and taller and can stand at the counter with stools to actually bake and cook with me. 

They both like the muffins, which have apple and raisins in them.  Miss T thought it was tons of fun to try and grab a muffin off the plate while mom was taking pictures of them.  Naughty girl. 

I am lining up play dates for the girls now that we are better.  We've been trapped at home for too long.  It will be good for the girls to get out and socialize (and probably pick up their next cold).   

California is Sunny and Warm

The flights weren't too bad.  On the way there, Miss D skipped her nap unfortunately which made the three hour flight from Houston to Orange County unpleasant.  At least there was an empty seat so we were able to sit all together in one row.  The way back went much better with the two 2 hour flights and a lengthy lay over in Denver where the girls could eat and get some exercise.  Both girls napped a little under an hour on the first flight and we also were able to sit together in a row of three seats on the second flight.  This summer will be interesting with me flying alone with the girls. 

We had a wonderful time staying in Yorba Linda with Kevin's parents. Leila and Pho Pho were so happy to see the girls and play with them. On the day after we arrived Oma, my sis and the girls' cousin H visited for a little while which was really nice for them.

On Wednesday we went to the Buddhist temple and the girls were blessed by a senior monk.  It is the first time they really got to learn anything about their religion.  I think one of their favorite parts about it were the two little dogs and a sweet cat that lived at the monastery.  Understandable for one and a half year olds.

 

The girls got to wear the cutest little outfits for a family photo.  They looked just adorable!

 





We spent a lot of time out doors in the warm sunshine.  The first two days were a little cool but after that it was such nice weather there.  We walked with the girls, went to the park, played in the back yard and on the swings.  The girls are now demanding to go outside here in the cold which isn't always feasible. 

 

On Sunday was my sister's baby shower.  So the girls, Leila and I headed down to Temecula and had a really nice time.  The girls missed their nap but stayed in pretty good moods throughout the day.  They got to play with H and a few other kids that came around their age.  The party was really nice and I am so glad my sister's friend offered to organize it this time.  She did a great job and I didn't have to stress. 

 

Girls got to dress up in a cute little outfits from their Leila and got a few pictures playing with a Burmese tea set.

 

 

Tying Up Loose Ends Before CA

These are some last projects I've been hoping to get done before we travel to California tomorrow.  All four of us are going this time; Kevin's first visit in 2 1/2 years.  The girls are excited to see their Oma, Leila and Pho Pho even though they really don't understand what is going to happen.  I've been reading a book to them about a family that takes a trip on an airplane.  Maybe some of it will seem familiar tomorrow.

 

I made ornaments of the girls' hand prints out of salt dough for their grandparents for Christmas and I finally got around to making some for me in the past couple days.  I tried out a cornstarch dough for my ornaments but they all cracked, so I will stick with salt dough I used with the first ornaments.  And since I only needed enough for two ornaments for myself, I used the extra dough for an Anna paw print ornament.

 

I knitted a neat looking lattice design headband for my sister-in-law.  I love the design.  It is one I will probably incorporate into other projects like hats in the future.  I am also almost finished with the gloves I have been working on for my father-in-law.  Three fingers left to do!

Bows! Bows! Bows!  Three to be exact.  I finally put some of those bow tutorials I pinned on Pinterest to good use and made the girls some bows to go with an outfit their Leila got them.  I made the third to give to my sister at her shower so that my future niece will get to match her cousins.  They all look pretty nice but I can still tell the difference between the first one I made and the last one.  It did not take long to get the hang of maneuvering the ribbon and glue gun though. 

 

Last on the list of things that need to be done or at least in a state where I can complete them once I get to California is a Hot Wheels travel bag for my nephew Holden.  I saw a great tutorial on Pinterest for it.  Unfortunately, I don't get a lot of chances to access the sewing machine with my rugrats under foot so I opted for the quicker approach of felt and a glue gun.  It doesn't look as nice but it will do the job.  It has slots for 4 cars and they are numbered so he can practice counting.  All that is left to do is the buttons.

 

Well we are mostly packed, the boarding passes are printing and here is hoping for a good trip!

What a week!

What a week!  On Christmas Day we had a horrible storm that knock out power to thousands of people in our area for days.  Ours was out for 49 hours and man did it get cold in here.  It also dumped quiet a few inches of snow on us.

We were lucky that none of our trees fell over or large branches broke.  At a house up the street from us, one of their large oaks fell over and hit the roof.  Luckily for them, another tree next to it bore most of the weight so it did not go crashing through.  But it still caused damage to their roof. 

Our back fence looks a little bent from our neighbors large bushes.  But we are hoping that with the ice and snow melted, the bushes will recover and lift up off the fence.  Hopefully we won't have to repair anything. 

Kevin spent three hours shoveling snow off of our driveway.  He could not make it into work because the entrance to the cul de sac is too steep to get out of with all the snow.  Instead he spent his day doing what he could for us to survive without power for awhile and helping neighbors to clear the street so we could drive out.  He is a great husband.

The girls got their first chance to play in the snow, although I didn't really let them play because they had no boots and no mittens.  I had to tie plastic bags around their shoes so they could walk around in it for a couple minutes.  The snow was up to their knees and they did not really know what to make of it.  If we had heat inside, I would have brought a bowl of it into the kitchen for them to play with but we were freezing as it was.

 

 

Before the power outage, we had a good Christmas morning.  We helped the girls open a few presents from relatives.  Miss T was such a doll and smiled at the camera when I asked her to.

 

Both girls loved the sweet smelling puppy dogs their aunt got them.  Here is D hugging the one I have named Vanna.  For some reason I feel uncomfortable naming all their animals and dolls (we still refer to both of their dolls as 'doll'), but I thought I'd try it out this time.  I chose the very imaginative names of Vanna (for the vanilla colored one) and Chocco (for the chocolate colored one). 

We had a very nice, warm Christmas morning as a family.  I love getting pictures with my girls and am so thankful they are my babies. 

Christmas Eve

In our family, Christmas Eve was always the main event. Christmas Day we would spend at another relative’s or have everyone over at my parents’ house. Christmas Eve was always more of a select group.   My siblings and I, my parents and my grandparents were often the only people there.  Occasionally other close friends, relatives, or random people that needed a place for the holidays came as well. Uncle Henry was a permanent fixture on Christmas Eve until he passed when I was ten.  Occasionally one of our uncles and a cousin would spend it with us as well if they were visiting my Grandparents.  And I even remember a Christmas Eve where two climbers my brother had met up at the Monument (i.e. Joshua Tree National Park) came.  Generally though, Christmas Eve was just for us. 

Christmas Eve was also when we opened all the presents from everyone which of course influenced my preference for Christmas Eve as a child.  We would get a present from Santa, a plate of cookies and a full stocking the next morning which was great too.  Christmas Eve always had a ritual about it because it was the same every year.  Christmas Day changed depending on who we had it with.  During the day on the 24^th, my sister or I would bake Christmas cookies.  Our dinner that night was always fish (a tradition from my father’s family) and usually salt potatoes, peas and we could never forget the rolls (Grandpa had to have his rolls).  After dessert and topping off the wine or eggnog and brandy (of course we kids only had that when we were older), we would move into the living room where our Christmas tree stood looking beautiful.  When everyone was settled down into the couches or chairs one of us kids (always me once my siblings got older and didn’t want to anymore) would pass out presents.  After opening them and thanking the givers, we would explore our new treasures while spending time with each other.  I have so much nostalgia for those Christmas Eves. 

Everyone is back home in California.  My oldest brother flew out from Japan with his girlfriend, my other brother is there, and my sister drove up with her family.  It makes me sad that we are so far away.  The Christmas focus has moved onto the next generation. Holden, his future sister and the girls will be getting all presents to open.  We are having a quiet Christmas Eve here in Little Rock with nothing much planned. We will wait until Christmas morning to open the presents because the girls are not so tired then (and me too).  I do have dough prepped to bake today so we’ll have Christmas cookies like always.  Hopefully in two years, my family and I will get to be back at the home I was raised in for Christmas and celebrate in the traditions that have made such a lasting impression on me.