Little Girl, revisited

I saw her come down the stairs with the purple bow in her hair. It totally reminded me of this.
(This was in my drafts from last year- but it could have been just yesterday. I looked at Savanna's bow as I dropped her off yesterday and it just made me smile to think the same bows she wore when she was little are still being worn years later.

My favorite

Today is one of my most favorite days.
May first. I love May Day!
I pulled out my favorite book to go with my favorite month. I did my favorite May day activity. Things always feel different for me at the start of May.
I came across a quote a few years ago "Everything seems possible in May." That just sums things up for me.

What I don't regret

Savanna encouraged me to pick back up on writing. She even gave me an incentive. Can't let her down can I?

This is a post I started in 2011, back when I had braces, and a little boy still home with me part of the day, and then another post that I started in the spring of 2012.

I had been writing about Tucker and the things that we loved about him. He was starting pre-k soon and I had this overwhelming feeling that time was counting down until he was gone all day.

2011
Tucker makes us laugh. I had someone ask me this summer, "Is Tucker always this funny?"
Yup- I think so. But a lot of the time he doesn't even know he is being funny/cute. I guess that is what is so fun about 4 and 5 year olds. They just don't know any better.

We were swimming and talking about going to Colorado, and Tucker said "That makes me think of that food. You know it's dark green on the outside and bright green on the inside and prickly and I don't like it." We thought and thought, I was asking everyone around me- I brought Luke and Jack over and finally one of them said "Do you mean avocado?" "Yup!"

I was telling Tucker no about something. He turned around and looked at me with the most serious face and said "You have made a bad decision." I kind of expected it to be like a game show and I would get water dumped on my head or hear a loud buzzer go off for giving the wrong answer!

We were passing by a yard that had dogs barking. He looked out at the dogs and he said "They are calling for me- they are saying, "Tucker, Tucker"- "They love me. All dogs love me."

Then I wrote this a year ago today ...
April 30, 2012
This wasn't what I thought I would write- Today I had an errand close to the school and as I was checking out I noticed a photo of a boy that I thought I recognized. He had lived in the children's center until he was 18 and I think he went to our school when Savanna was in elementary. I asked the man behind the counter about the boy. It was his son and he had just passed away this summer. We talked about his sons life and what he had been able to accomplish. We talked about this mans life and how he and his former wife worked together to care for their son once he had moved back home with the mom. How much love was given and time. As the man helped me with my purchase out to the car he shared with me how frustrating it is to see parents treat their kids rudely. To be short with them or to ignore them. He said its so hard to see because he would love to just have one day with his son again.

Today was Tucker's practice day for eating lunch at the school. I got a note last week announcing that Tucker's morning class would get to "practice"eating lunch in the cafeteria. He was excited. I had a
moment of disbelief. I mean, I know he is going to school next year. I know that he is going to be gone all day just like the older kids, but be gone for lunch? Well I hadn't thought about that. It made me feel a little out of sorts. I remember reading this from Cathy Zielskie last fall- and taking photos of our PB&J's to
remind me to enjoy this last year home with Tucker.


So today with Tucker having big boy lunch and then my conversation with the man at the store it has filled me with the feeling of wanting to turn back the clock. It got me thinking of things I regret. That list can grow pretty quickly when you are looking back in time to things that are impossible to change. Then to make myself feel better I started thinking of things I don't regret. Like eating lunch with Tucker. The times that I actually sat at the table and ate lunch with him without computer or other interruptions.



Fast Forward to now April 30, 2013
I can still feel those feelings of wanting to turn back the clock. I will never regret the pictures I took. I will never regret the times I sat at the table and talked with Tucker while we ate lunch. I don't regret writing down the funny things he said.  I don't regret having the stories here on my blog. Thanks Savanna for the little nudge.

It's ...

-image from 2010-
Time to catch up on the blog and enjoy time with the kids. Lots of catching up to do with both!
What does your week look like?

The Boo Crew and Halloween dinner

 

The kids had a great time putting together their Halloween costumes this year. Luke and Jack have gotten a lot of mileage out of them! Luke has worn his five times for different dress up days, parties and trick-or-treating, and I think Jack has worn his at least twice.

 

Our evening started with a hot dog dinner at my mom's. Usually we dine on chili or taco soup- but someone suggested hot dogs. Then my brother asked if we were going to have "the hot-dogs." Sometime in the last two years I saw in a magazine all these great different hot dog combos and we ate them for some family gathering.  I couldn't remember when it was and I had not blogged about it! But I did find tucked away in my too-fat-to-overflowing-somebody-help-me recipe binder these cards that I had out from last time. They described each hot dog "scenario." So we opted to do that this year instead.

 

 

 

  

I think we have a definite winner for the favorite dog. But we decided that our family needs to have a proper contest to judge which one we think is the favorite.

I get a kick out of what the kids want to be each year, and I am always so thankful when we don't have to buy a lot of supplies. Long gone are the days when "I" got to decide what they were going to be!

It is still fun to dress up- even when you are 15. I think having younger siblings to "help" do the treating helps. You have to dress up if you are going! Savanna decided on a ghost. I think mainly the inspiration came from her bracelet. It is hard to see in this photo, but it is covered in googly eyes.

After the bracelet came the shirt- then we pulled out all the tulle that has been sitting in my material box and whipped it up. The only thing we had to buy was a white t-shirt. 

Jenna joined us for the evening- she dressed up as the girl from The Birds.

 

 

 Jack was The Dr. from Dr. Who. Yes the red fez, and bow tie were important to the outfit. Jack found the jacket this summer in Jay's closet and thought it was a perfect Dr. jacket.

We found the pattern online for the fez and I broke down and bought the bow tie. He assures me he will wear it again. Fun for a Dr. Who fan.

Next up we have Luke as Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings. Technically he was Frodo from the book. (But we used the movie character as inspiration.) We were pretty excited to find everything we needed for his costume.

He really wanted hair for his feet, but somehow I convinced him otherwise. He gave me shivers when he imitated gollum saying "my precious."

Saving the best for last ... Tucker as Chris Krat from the PBS show Wild Krats. Wow- was this a funny one. After he nixed the idea of a cowboy  (because you can't dress-up, if that is what you already are) I kept giving him other ideas but he would not be deterred. He kept going back to this character. I remember him from PBS show Zoboomfoo.

  

Pretty good imitation don't you think?

Here is the story that I will remember best about this Halloween. See those round circles on Tucker's costume? I was putting them on last minute and wanted to make them stick so they would not fall off while he was running around. I had the "great" idea to use hot glue. I whipped that glue gun out and Tucker was not so keen on the idea.
This is what I posted on Facebook about the situtaion:

"A cautionary tale ... The hot glue gun will seem like an excellent choice to quickly finish off the costume so the young'n can get out the door. But not such a great choice when the hot glue is stuck in the zipper at the end of the night and there is no way out but to cut your way out of the costume.

Yes- I had to cut through Tucker's vest to get his head out. There was no way to get his head to go through either direction. There was a little moment of panic- and I loved having Tucker say "I told you hot glue was not a good idea!"

A Halloween story to remember! 

The Birthday's! 40 & 41

Last year Jay turned 40.  I had the idea to get 40 letters from people he knew sharing stories, memories, things they remembered over the last 40 years. The idea was to put them all in a book divided into decades of his life. I ended up with well over 40 notes. It was the best idea.

The even better idea? Having him read them out loud to his children. The laughter and tears! Everyone needs a book like this! Seriously. If you are trying to come up with something for someone who doesn't need another thing- or someone that could use a boost? This is the gift!

I had another surprise. I was pretty proud of myself. Two surprises that I didn't share! (I have the hardest time keeping surprises a surprise!) Jay kept mentioning over and over how he really wanted to go see Ben Folds. He mentioned several times how he had almost bought tickets. I kept praying that he wouldn't because I had already bought them.

It was such a fantastic show! So much fun to have something to look forward to and keep celebrating Jay's birthday a month later.

Well for his 41st birthday I couldn't really top a book and Ben Folds. But I did surprise him with something he had wanted for a long time.

 

Besides the cake I took him out for an afternoon of olive oil and vinegar tasting in Edmond. There is this great store Teaoli, that lets you sample, and sample and sample to your hearts delight.

 

The gal that helped us was awesome at paring the vinegars and olive oils. Flavors that I never would have thought of. Like fig vinegar and butter olive oil together.

  

Some of our favorite balsamic vinegars were strawberry, fig, peach, & traditional.
Favorite olive oils were butter, tuscan herb, garlic & Herb De Provence.  

 

We ended up picking out Butter & Tuscan olive oils and Fig Balsamic vinegar. 
So not a night out with Ben Folds but a great way to spend your 41st birthday on a rainy Saturday!

What to Eat Wednesday- Chocolate Malt Cake

Chocolate Malt Cake
*edit at the bottom of the page after the recipe*

I had pinned this last spring only for how it looked. The image was so enticing I didn't even think about the fact that I didn't love malt balls. When it got closer to my birthday I quickly put the idea away as I looked at the recipe. Not only was I clueless on how to follow the recipe, I was reminded again that I don't love malt flavoring. I changed the pin to something I could try for Jay's birthday.

Well September came and I started to try and find a recipe that would work for me to bake for Jay's cake. I asked if I could just surprise him with a birthday treat. Good thing he said yes. I found "the" cake recipe.  I wished I would have found it for my birthday. I could go on and on with words trying to describe the cake and it's chocolate malt goodness but it is no use. You just have to taste it. My only improvement would be to add more malt (I know! I said I don't even like malt) which I have noted in the recipe.

 

 

Chocolate Malt Cake

Cake
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup malted milk powder (slightly more)
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Malt Frosting
1 cup butter softened
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup malted milk powder (for sure add more- I think at least a cup)
5 cups confectioners' sugar
Garnish: malted milk balls 

(A very large bag is needed to cover the entire cake. Think Sam's Club/Costco sized bag)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 (8-inch) cake pans.

In the bowl of an electric mixture, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, combine milk and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add milk mixture, oil, and eggs to flour mixture, beating at medium speed until smooth. Add sour cream and vanilla, beating just until combined. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and let cool completely on wire racks.

To make the frosting, in a large bowl, beat butter and cocoa powder at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

In a small bowl, combine cream and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add cream mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed to combine. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth.

Spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Garnish with malted milk balls.

adapted from Paula Deen's Holiday Baking, 2007 & found on the blog  Budding Baketress- 

The recipe called for less malt and 3- 9 inch cake pans. I found it completely acceptable to just do 2 - 8 inch pans and add more malt.

*edit* Yes it was interesting to cut. We put pans underneath to catch all the stray malt balls then had them sitting in a bowl. The kids ate them up quick. Once we started cutting the cake started to loose its shape causing some of the malt balls to shift sideways. Some fell, but most stayed on.
The decorating part took about as long as it would to decorate any other kind of cake. It was a lot of fun to make!