Valentine Scratch Cards

We had a lot of fun making the Valentine scratch cards that I saw here. They are really easy to make and we're already scheming about lots of other non-Valentine uses for scratch cards.

Keeping Busy

Amelia finally went back to school today after a week off. Last week they had completely unnecessary snow days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. (Monday and Tuesday this week were teacher work days.) We got about 5 inches one night and all the roads were clear by the morning (it was a pretty nasty evening commute though) but somehow the kids still had school canceled for 3 days. It's getting pretty ridiculous. We live in a place that gets snow every year! It is not a rare occurrence. We need to figure out how to deal with it. Now the kids have to go to school on President's Day, which is unfortunate since that was a day that Ben had off.

We definitely weren't stranded at home (which would normally be the case on a legitimate snow day), but we spent most of our time the last week working on house projects and drinking hot chocolate. Ben took Amelia on a daddy/daughter date on Friday morning. They went swimming at the rec center and then got hot chocolate and played board games at the coffee shop down the street. Amelia thought that was pretty cool.

The girls stayed busy with lots of art projects.

Making cornstarch yarn hearts:


Rainbow scratch paper:




These beads are fantastic. The girls spent lots of time creating jewelry and whatever else their imaginations came up with.






Ben and I started another painting project. We're in the midst of redecorating the living room. We're attempting to paint a repeating stencil on one wall. It's either going to be really cool or a total disaster. We managed to get the registration marks up (marked on little pieces of painter's tape):

(Everything takes twice as long with kids climbing on you while you work.)

Now we just need to get the motivation to actually start painting with the stencil. 240 times.

Our sweet new ride.

Ben's new job prompted the purchase of a second car. We couldn't deny the practicality of the minivan so we are now living the life of luxury with our new Honda Odyssey. We found a great deal on one, so great that I'm hoping we didn't just buy The Money Pit.

Look how clean it is...



Oh wait...is that...

BIRD POOP!!

After only a few hours in the driveway, the birds went crazy. It's even worse now.

But we are loving the extra space. And you can't deny the awesomeness of automatic sliding doors. Parking lots are much happier places now.

The kids have quickly picked up on the voice activation system and start shouting "display audio" when the car starts. Amelia even tried to quiet Elsa once by yelling "display ELSA OFF!" Hmmm...that would be a nice feature at times.

Amelia really wanted to sit in the front with Elsa and Oliver for our first family outing. We have since moved her to the back, although it was nice to have her on Oliver pacifier duty:

Toothless.

Amelia lost her first tooth last Sunday. We were expecting a lot of drama, but she just woke up and yelled out "MOM! DAD! My tooth just came out!"

She had first pointed out that it was loose a few days before it came out. It was a little shocking and sad. I kind of had forgotten that she was going to start losing teeth. Just another reminder that she's growing up way too fast. (And yes, she now has a bit of a lisp.)

Amelia could hardly believe she finally had a loose tooth and was so excited. The discovery spawned an impromptu family dance party in the living room:






She was also excited about the dollar bill that the tooth fairy left. Kristilyn had given her this fantastic "official" tooth fairy deposit certificate and bag to leave under her pillow:

Congratulations January...

...you are officially the lamest month of the year.

We tried to spice things up around here last weekend by having our second annual winter camping trip in the living room. The kids were so excited. Ben even built us a crackling campfire this year, courtesy of YouTube (yes, you CAN find anything on YouTube).

We made tinfoil dinners, set up the kids' tent, broke out the sleeping bags, roasted s'mores, played with flashlights, and watched "Despicable Me" (movies are allowed for indoor camping). Amazingly, everyone slept in and we enjoyed a big breakfast of Swedish pancakes (my family calls them roll-ups, Elsa calls them pull-ups...you might know them as crepes).


Amelia was in charge of her class pet "Flounder" all weekend.


Getting warm by the fire.






Amelia wonders if this is really going to work. It does, kind of.

Dear Kristilyn, please come back and entertain my kids.

Last weekend we got a visit from my dear friend Kristilyn who was in Philadelphia for work and braved the Chinatown bus to come down and see us for a few days. It was a pretty low-key visit (no kayaking in the rain like last time) but it was nice to just hang out and chat and bake and eat. And my kids LOVED having her around. She probably spent the majority of her time entertaining them...

...with things like this:




We did make a trip to 2 Amys for some of the best pizza in the District. I have never seen so many families with small children at a restaurant in D.C. We were there on a Saturday so we were able to try out their famous "weekend only" donuts. They were good but not worth a special trip. The pizza, however, was oh so good. Definitely recommend it. I went with the classic margherita and was very pleased. I would love to try their sfogliatelle some time, but it's only available on Friday evenings.









Their cannoli was also delicious:




We were near the National Cathedral so we stopped by for a quick visit:

Testing America's Test Kitchen

There is something about January that makes me want to eat chocolate chip cookies nonstop. Last January I tried several recipe variations and posted the results.

I love watching America's Test Kitchen. The other night they were testing chocolate chip cookie recipes. I decided to try out their recipe and it was delicious. I love hearing the explanations of why ingredients and methods do what they do. And I love that my cookies turned out exactly like the ones they made on the show. They still flattened out quite a bit, but that's the sacrifice you make for butter. Their winning recipe and method took a little extra time. They browned their butter (always a good thing) and then waited 10 minutes to really let the sugars dissolve. They turned out just slightly crispy on the edges and extra chewy on the inside. I also used their recommended chocolate chip, Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips.




(These photos were taken right out of the oven. They flattened a little more.)

Go here to see the full recipe with explanations.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
• 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar (5 1/4 ounces) (see note)
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (see note)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

Instructions

• 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
• 2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.
• 3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
• 4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)
• 5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

Math Challenge

Amelia's school does a "math challenge" for all of the grades. There are two parts and when you pass each part, you get to be on the school news. You also receive a special math challenge shirt for the first part and a medal after you pass the second part. It's a really great incentive for the kids.

For the first challenge, Amelia had to count from 1 to 100 and then backwards from 20 to 1. I came to the school to see her on the school news after she passed that part and she got to be interviewed briefly by the principal. Ben and I both came to the school after she passed the second part (a written exam where they have to complete patterns and fill in missing numbers in a sequence) and she really wanted us to videotape the school news in her classroom so she could watch herself on TV. Unfortunately, the second appearance was much shorter and she only got to wave, but she thought it was pretty cool.



The first part of the video you can see her classmates singing along to their school song which they sing each morning, then Amelia's appearance with the vice principal on the school news, followed by Amelia returning to the classroom:

Going Gray

We finished redecorating the nursery right before Oliver was born. It had been yellow and green since Amelia was born and we were ready for a change. We are really happy with the gray wall color we ended up with and now I'm wanting it in my living room. But it's exhausting just to think about that so I'm pretty sure we'll stick with what we have. I really wanted to do gray (do you prefer gray or grey?) and orange and wasn't sure how it was going to come together, but I'm happy with the result.

I bought an extra set of orange curtains and my mom made a crib skirt out of one panel (the other one makes an excellent table cloth). The fabulous vinyl wall art is from blik. We used blik for the girls' room as well.

The pictures don't quite do the colors justice, but you get the idea.

BEFORE:


AFTER:




BEFORE:


AFTER:




BEFORE:


AFTER:




Oliver LOVES laying on his changing table. Whenever he's really fussy we can usually just lay him down there and he immediately calms down and starts staring at the pictures on the wall. Sometimes he even smiles at them.