Tub Time

When Jeff was out of town last week, I asked him to get me a Gloomaway bar from Origins. Sadly, the shops at Bellagio and Miracle Mile are no longer around. So he made a detour to Lush instead. Soap for me (Sexy Peel, ooh la la) and the little ones (Honey I Washed the Kids - funny.) He also brought them each a bath bomb and they were tickled. Especially Theo, because his actually said "BOMB" on the side of it. Jeff documented their bath bomb experience, and though most images are not suitable to post, these are a few highlights.



Look at my cute hubby, taking these bloggy photos!



Dora's Confetti Bomb



The Blackberry Bomb turned the water bright purple. And tucked inside ... a little note that said, "BOOM BOOM". So funny.

Most expensive bath time EVER, but everyone loved it. Theo wanted to make sure he'd still smell like his bath for school the next day.

Oscar Night & Baking Monday

We had a party last night for the Oscars with our friends from Jeff's pool team. It was the kind of party we used to have in the days before kids, but had sadly faded away. Now that we have a group of friends who are child-free, we can lure them to our house with soft couches and baked goods and have a social evening without a babysitter. Yay!

So, no Baking Monday today, because we had so many yummy goodies leftover from last night. (Millionaire Brownies ... mmmmm.) BUT! I did a little bit of baking over the weekend. First project: use up the leftover frosting I had in the fridge from past Baking Mondays. I made a chocolate sheet cake and used the fillings to make mini-cakes with glaze.





And what to do with all the scraps after cutting out the circles? Pudding Cake trifle, of course. I made this for the kids. Am wondering how wrong it would be to eat the leftovers for lunch.



And I couldn't let a party go by without some cookies. Stars, of course, for the Oscars. These are the butter almond cutouts with sparkly sugar.

The Easter Bunny's Gonna Find You

Working on more Sunday school stuff tonight. I like to have worksheets for the kids to do while we're waiting for everyone to arrive. I used to do coloring pages, until about six weeks into class when the kids finally protested, "No more coloring pages!!!" So, I've been asking them what kind of activity sheets they like to do. Theo requested a "really, really hard maze." I've been searching for different printable maze sheets, and found one that had a good maze, but this was the starting image:



"Come here, little boy. Help me find my carrot and I'll give you some candy."

I know, I know, it's just a throwaway activity sheet, but still felt the need to cutesy it up.



Ahhhhh. That's better.

Cute Bunny Maze printable here.
Derranged Bunny Maze here.

What I Love This Week

I pack a lot of lunches.

A. LOT. Of. Lunches.

The kids lunchboxes were falling apart a few months ago - Dora had a Thermos brand that lasted 2.5 years and Theo's whatever from Target stuck around for just over a year. The insides were shredding and gross. Before Christmas, I invested in these lunch totes from Land's End. They are super durable and the inside is a solid soft surface that will not rip and is super easy to wipe down. I love that it's just one big space, so I don't have to worry about trying to fit a certain size container into a certain size space. It's got a little mesh pocket for napkins, change holders and utensils. The only bummer is that it does not come in a lot of colors (which is probably why it's on sale), but I was very lucky that their favorite colors were two of the three available. I hope they will have more again before the fall, because this is a really great product. I still hate packing lunches, but these make me just a tiny bit happier.

Theomanji!!

So, a few weeks ago, we watched the Muppet Movie for family movie night. When the movie was over, we scrolled through the previews on the disc and watched the preview for Jumanji. And then Theo wanted to watch it again. And again. And then wanted to know when we could see the movie. When Mom? When can we see it? When? When? When?

I checked the movie and the book out of the library and we watched it for our next family movie night. I had only seen it once and many years ago ... I had forgotten how intense the action scenes are (And freaky monkeys!) It was definitely the scariest movie the kids had seen. Clark didn't make it all the way through, he wanted to go to bed. We fast-forwarded through a lot, in particular the giant spiders, the stampede, and alligator wrestling. Theo was spooked by the plants and vines.

However ... they LOVED the movie! The next day, Dora had a friend over to play and they all started talking about the movie while having a snack. Then they started acting out the movie. In typical Dora fashion, she remembered in what order all the things appeared from the game. They pretended to roll the dice and fight each disaster until the game ended.

Play continued long after Dora's friend went home ... and then they came up with this.

Baking Monday - Homemade HoHos

This week was a Baking Monday first ... a challenge! A friend asked if I could make homemade Ho-hos. I gave it a try. The recipe was a little complicated, I think there are definitely shortcuts that can be done next time. The cake turned out a little too thick and I would use more filling next time.



Because the cake was so thick, I made thin pinwheel type slices instead of a traditional ho-ho shape.



The chocolate coating was a little too sweet, would look for a different kind of glaze next time. The filling was delicious, and I've got some extra. I would like to try a multi-layered chocolate cake with this filling in between the layers.

Today I came across a recipe called "Better Than Pop Tart" which is on deck for next week. I'm having fun trying to replicate favorite childhood treats!



Also this week ... birthday cookies for Jack and Emma. (Hi Laura!)



And mmmmm ... foccacia. It was supposed to have rosemary, but Jeff doesn't like "that stuff that looks like sticks", so this is garlic with Tastefully Simple Italian seasoning. This turned out great, but the recipe makes two giant loaves. Luckily I was able to bring some to a family party the next day.

Scenes from a Snow Day

In anticipation of last week's snow day, I went in with a plan. Which the kids were very excited about at the beginning of the day. Then not so excited when they realized the tv would not be going back on again. There was whining and complaining and two kids up in their rooms before 9 am. But once we got past that bump, the rest of the day went really well, and they checked the "schedule" often during the day.









We checked everything off the list by 5:00 and even finished work for the OOTM competition that weekend, which left just enough time for some snow time before dark.



All in all, a good day. I'm happy that we had a plan. We have our share of lazy days, but knew that I would do better with a schedule on that particular day. I also let go of the possibility of getting anything done for myself, which made the day that much easier.

And then ... we got to do it all again the next day.



Dora and Theo both asked if they could have another schedule. So I made up another one before breakfast. At the end of the day, Dora asked if we could always have a schedule on snow days. I originally made it up for me, so I was genuinely surprised at how much they enjoyed it. I will soon start working on "Spring Break Plan" and "Summer Vacation Plan!"