Fort

The girls have been working diligently on their snow fort this last week. Madelyn is especially determined to make it big and strong. You can see Hope looking from the window, enjoying the show.

100

The stomach bug that knocked Hope and I out last week just had it's way with Emma. She was so disappointed to miss the 100th day of school. She has been anticipating the great event for weeks, and could hardly stand it that not only did she feel horrible, but was also missing all the fun and games at school. I tried to ease her pain a bit by throwing some 100-fun ideas her way. We started by grouping and counting dinosaur-shaped macaroni. She then counted and sorted Jon's change dish and found lots of groups of 100 cents.

She thought about what it would be like to age 100 years.

Then made a granny self-portrait.

She also made a little book of 100. Inside she wrote her thoughts on the following:
100 dollars: I will go crazy if you give me 100 dollars! I will buy Kraft Mac and Cheese, candy, toys and clothes.
100 years: I'd be an old gramma! You should be married. And the world...oh my.
100 miles: if you walk 100 miles you'll break a leg and if you run 100 miles, both of them! Did it fall off yet!
100 pounds: Elephants are 100 pounds. Don't put elephants on the scale because it will explode. Yep!

Amelia has her own problems - she had a little green goop in her eyes, so we are giving her eye drops three times a day for the next week. She does not love them. But she continues to love us regardless.

We had a Kirby salesman come by today to shampoo our carpets and give us a sales pitch. That was a beautiful machine. I was tempted. Very tempted. See those nasty circles of filth on our table? Oh well. At least we have clean floors now, all ready for Amelia when she starts crawling.

One last thought - a sweet friend from our ward gave us a couple of these bibs made from hand towels when Amelia was born. I love them. Hope loves them. I want more! I'll have to ask how they were made. They are wonderfully soft and cover everything, which make Hope's frequent yogurt and applesauce snacks less traumatic. She does not like getting her favorite shirts dirty.

Heart Rug

Amelia was subjected to another short photo shoot today. Nakies.

I got this rug at Target yesterday for $5 (Valentine clearance). Love it. Next time I think I'll put a pink or white blanket underneath that's cuter than my carpet.

Hey friends - if anyone wants to bring your baby over for a couple pics, let me know, I'd be happy to!

Salad

I made this salad just for myself today. It was fantastic. I was a little unsure about oranges + spinach + honey roasted peanuts. But can I just say...YUM?!?

Spinach Salad & Teriyaki Bowties
16 oz. Bowtie pasta, cooked and cooled
1 - 2 bags of fresh baby Spinach
2 small cans Mandarin Oranges (canned oranges scare me. I cut up a navel.)
1 cup Craisins
1 Red Pepper, chopped
1 can Water Chestnuts (water chestnuts scare me. omitted!)
1 bunch Green Onions, chopped (also omitted)
1 cup Honey Roasted Peanuts or Cashews
1/2 cup fresh Parsley (optional)
1/4 cup Sesame Seeds, toasted (optional)
2 cups torn cooked Chicken (optional)

Dressing:
1 cup Vegetable Oil
2/3 cup White Wine Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
2/3 C. Teriyaki Sauce or Soy Vay
5 Tbs. Sugar

Cook bowtie pasta according to directions, drain and cool while whisking the dressing together in a large bowl. Marinate cooked bowtie pasta in the dressing for 1 hour or longer in the fridge. Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl and pour the teriyaki sauce and pasta over the salad, toss together and serve. If it's just a few of you, make individual salad servings; keeping the salad and bowtie sauce separate for the rest of the week (no one likes a soggy salad).

recipe from m.writes

Hearts and a Print

We had a sweet Valentines Day. We gave the girls a box of conversation hearts with a little homemade Valentine in the morning. We hid them from Hope until after her after-church lunch and nap. Then she was in heart-heaven.

She is just starting to recognize her colors, so it was fun to hear her offer up orange hearts and green hearts and yellow hearts...

She wouldn't take no for an answer. I was force-fed several hearts at a time. It was a delicious inconvenience.

Jon makes me an amazing print every year for Valentines Day. This year we have bikes on the brain, so he gave me bike built for two. I love it, and will have fun searching for the perfect frame to add it to my Valentine wall.

Valentines

Our day has been filled with valentiney goodness, getting ready for school tomorrow. Emma is the only one still having class exchanges. I had seen a couple other people in the blogosphere make valentines like this - with a photo of their child holding a real lollipop, and just had to make our own. They are so fun! Emma can't wait to pass them out to her friends tomorrow. Easiest Valentine we have ever made.

Madelyn and Cailin wanted to make a treat for their close friends, so we made candy cane hearts by melting mini fruit flavor candy canes and pinching together while hot from the oven. They were more resistant to pinching than I had expected them to be. Not the easiest valentine we have ever made. But still cute.

We just stuck the candy canes into the frosting on these cupcakes, rather than melting and pinching into hearts. These are for Emma's party, too.

Randoms

We tried taking some family pictures yesterday at the photo studio on campus. This one of Hope continues to crack me up. We were using a self-timer, so I couldn't believe Jon got her to cheese it up like this without someone standing behind the camera.

Hope wouldn't take a nap after church today, even though she really needed one. All she wants to do these days is watch Dora on the Ipod and eat waffles. It makes her world right. I don't know what to do with her hair. It is wild.

Hope wearing Cailin's glasses. Cailin made a nice card for her teacher today, and found a couple good jokes to write in it. My favorite one is this:

Who invented fractions?
Henry the 1/8th!

Amelia used the exersaucer for the first time yesterday. She loved it. She is still so tiny, I am in denial that she is getting bigger until I see her doing something like this.

We made banana cookies today. They are so good when they're fresh and warm. The next day they are a little bleh - but totally worth it for the first day! EDIT: I warmed up a cookie this morning for 6 seconds in the microwave, and it melted in my mouth. SO good. The next day blehs is no longer an issue.

Banana Cookies

½ cup butter, softened
¼ cup solid Crisco shortening
¾ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
1 heaping tablespoon sour cream (I used yogurt)
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour

Cream together butter, shortening and sugar. Add egg, vanilla, bananas and sour cream; beat well. Add dry ingredients; mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until bottoms are just lightly browned. Cool and frost.

Caramel Frosting (I halved this recipe for one batch of cookies)

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar (you may not use all of this)
Melt butter, add brown sugar and cook over low heat for about 3 minutes. Stirring constantly. Add milk. Stir until comes to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool slightly (2-3 minutes). Add confectioners sugar. Mix well. Frost cookies quickly before frosting hardens.

Ikea

If Jon and I were Ikea furniture, we'd be a cute pair of chairs. Find out your swedish furniture name here.