scrapbook done!

I finished my scrapbook! It was a ton of work, but really fun to put our images in the words of the proclamation. Yesterday afternoon we took a few maternity shots to put in the book. These are the only pictures I've ever taken of me while this pregnant, so these are also special for that reason. (to see the whole book on Shutterfly, click here.)

Proclamation on the Family

I've been wanting to do a "Proclamation on the Family" scrapbook for awhile, and since I got a code for a free Shutterfly book I've put it into high gear to get it done by the end of the week. It's a fun project. Here are the pages I have done so far. (You can click on any photo to enlarge and see details.)

Hope Hearts Shoes

Hope loves loves loves shoes. Her favorite activity is trying on a new pair of shoes every five minutes and leaving them scattered in every room. She cracked me up today as she was wearing somebody's cleats and kicking a soccer ball around the house.

Crutches

Cailin did a weird twisty thing to her knee yesterday while "interacting" with Emma. This morning she was still in pain so we took her to the doctor, who recommended she get crutches for a few days and keep her knee up and iced. She is officially bored.

Zuke Cake

We've been enjoying some friends' zucchini surpluses these last few weeks. I've made this cake twice, and it is great. Tonight I turned it into a punch bowl cake (crumbled and layered with chocolate pudding and whipped cream) and brought it to our RS picnic. Very tasty!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 c butter
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 3/4 c granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 c yogurt
2 1/2 c flour
3/4 c Dutch-process cocoa
2 c shredded zucchini (about one 10" zucchini, about 12 ounces)
1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs.

Stir in the yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa, mixing till smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes, till the top springs back lightly when touched, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Top with whipped cream

Kitchen Questions

Here is our new kitchen ceiling with light fixtures attached. The light is so much better than with the old flourescents. Softer yet brighter, and right where I need it. We still have a pretty good bump across one part of the ceiling where the drywall was uneven, but we are going to fix up the walls and wait a bit before we try and do anything else with the ceiling. Maybe it will be less noticeable once we have other pretty things going on.


I now have a small dilemma - When we tried to remove the wallpaper that had several coats of paint on top, it damaged the drywall pretty badly. We want to just cover all the wall space now with beadboard paneling. You can see there is not a whole lot of wall space to cover. It is mostly windows and cupboards. I plan on painting the bottom cupboards black - so the black appliances blend. The top cupboards will be a creamy white. Questions:

1. Should I paint all the beadboard and trim the same color as the top cupboards?
2. Should I put the vertical blinds back up over the sliding glass door, or do white or maybe pale pale blue curtains?
3. Should I remove the decorative molding that is above the kitchen sink? It might be pretty painted white. Or not.

Hope at the Fair

We went to the fair this afternoon. Hope loves her animals in books and movies, but is a little unsure when she sees the real-life variety. The bunnies softened her up a little, but she still exercised extreme restraint around all the farm life she encountered. The balloons were loved, the funnel cake was devoured. A fun outing.

Tiny Treats

My girls brought home this book from the library today. Their want list of things to make from it is lengthy.

They started out with the mini doughnuts, as a tiny treat for FHE. They are Cheerios coated in sugar and chocolate.

The chocolate ones are cute, but were the least tasty, as reviewed by the girls.

Our Sunday

This morning started out rough, with the house feeling very hot and muggy as we tried to get ready for church. It made me very grateful for the cool summer we have otherwise been enjoying. Things improved as the day went along. I helped out in Primary today doing singing time. Madelyn suggested we build a hamburger to help choose the songs to sing. It turned out so cute, and it was only slightly humiliating to try and direct using a spatula. I really only did that once, then let the kids have a try. During Primary the girls were given an assignment to write a one-minute talk for the upcoming Sacrament Meeting Presentation. I was very pleased when they came home and wrote excellent talks, without any prompting or pushing from me.

Yesterday we made my sister's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. It is awesome because they turn out beautiful and delicious, and it makes a ton, so there is plenty of dough left in the fridge to nibble on or to bake later.

I blinked and Hope snagged one of my still life subjects. She is so fast.

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 lb margarine
2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 c granulated sugar
2 TBSP vanilla
3 eggs
6 c flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
4 c chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees for 11-12 minutes.

I found these little bags at the dollar store for the girls to carry our baby announcement treats in. We attached the flowers ourselves this afternoon, and now all there is to do is to wait for a baby!

Kickers and Kisses

We went shopping for new school shoes today. The afternoon included a chaotic, teetering pile of boxes and tissue, 2 sales associates running back and forth with ever-changing sizes, 4 little girls doing laps in their new kickers, just to make sure they "ran right", and as many coupons as I could unleash to help with the damage. In the end, we are all happy with the outcome.

When we got home we started making baby announcements. The girls love handing out candy announcements to their friends as soon as possible after baby arrives, so we try and get them all done way in advance. We chose purple foil-wrapped kisses for Amelia Violet's grand entrance.

Emma's 7th and a Little Demolition

Emma turned 7 yesterday. She invited 3 of her friends over for an afternoon of crown-making, wand-waving, and princessy food-eating. She picked out this pinata,

which she commented had, "a very freaky face",

and "her legs are mutated!" - but still she was pretty enough to take home and fill to overflowing.

She had a great day, and it was made extra special by having grandma and grandpa here for a visit.

My mom and I took the girls to Home Depot in the morning to make their free project.

It was pretty fun making these little message centers.

Not sure what we are going to do with three of them, but here we have them. While we worked on these, my dad and Jon were doing a little demolition in my kitchen.

I've been wanting to take out the dropped ceiling and flourescent lighting in my kitchen since we moved in. We ended up with this amazing looking sight just in time for Emma's party guests to arrive. We now have some new dry wall over this crazy green stuff, and hope to finish before my parents have to leave tomorrow afternoon.