skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Cheering Daddy on for his last mile of the half marathon. This is the third half he's ran and he got his best time yet! Thomas is thinking that he is going to run with him next year!
Ava got her ears pierced for her birthday. She's been wanting to wear earrings for a long time, especially since Elle wears them. Specifically she wants cupcake earrings but for now she picked out flowers, in pink of course. I think these are the cupcake earrings she's dreaming of. So cute!
She was very brave. She didn't really know what was coming or I don't think she would have gone through with it. Thankfully there were two girls working at Claire's so both ears could be pierced at the same time otherwise I am sure that we would've came home with only one ear pierced. A few tears were shed but they quickly stopped after a hug and a lollipop.
She loves them and thinks they are so sparkly. I think they look so sweet on those little ears, framing that precious face!
Scott had to travel for work last week and since I do not sleep well when he is gone I had lots of time for crafting and watching way too much HGTV. I am so thankful the days of him traveling 2-3 weeks a month are a thing of the past! Anyway, this bean ball project (tutorial here) kept me busy for awhile. I had everything on hand and kept glueing beans until I ran out of glue sticks. Mine are made of white navy beans and coffee beans. I think they look pretty cool. The glue is more noticeable in the picture than it is in person. I painted the styrofoam balls brown before I covered them with the coffee beans. After I restock my supply of gluesticks I will make a couple more to fill up the bowl.
I found the link to this project at One Pretty Thing. There is endless crafing inspiration at that site!
We spent the weekend spring cleaning outside. Flower beds are cleaned out, the lawn is raked, and the sprinklers are running. The kids even ran through them! They also got the paddleboat all cleaned up and then we realized that their life jackets are in the boat, in storage. They were pretty bummed. Next weekend's project will have to be putting the boat in the water!
Last night we had our first fire and smores of the season. We roasted leftover Easter Peeps but decided that nothing beats a good 'ol traditional marshmallow.
And it was a happy day! There was lots of bubble blowing, sandbox playing, bike riding on the big girl bike....the two wheeler with training wheels! Elle made up a little carnival for her and she loved that. She chose a 'chocolate cake with brown frosting and a lot of decorations' for her birthday cake. After her favorite dinner of sageppi (spaghetti) she fell asleep on the couch watching Toy Story completely worn out from all of the fun.
Making the puff dough (technically called pate a choux) was fun though you might work up a little sweat when it comes time to stir in the eggs! The cooked puffs freeze really well so this is a great make ahead dessert. The recipe is from Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking (thanks Mom!) and while the directions are lengthy don't let that scare you. Just be sure to read through them first before starting the recipe.
Puff Shells
1 cup water
6 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces
1 tsp granulated sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
Bring water to boil with the butter, sugar, and salt in a 1 1/2 quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Meanwhile measure out the flour.
Remove from heat and immediately pour in all the flour at once. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for several seconds to blend thoroughly. Then beat over moderately high heat for 1 to 2 minutes until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and the spoon, forms a mass, and begins to film the bottom of the pan.
Remove saucepan from heat and make a well in the center of the paste with your spoon. Immediately break an egg in to the center of the well. Beat it into the paste for several seconds until it has absorbed. Continue with the rest of the eggs, beating them in one by one. The third and fourth eggs will be absorbed more slowly. Beat for a moment more to be sure all is well blended and smooth.
To make large puffs I just used two large spoons but you can also use a pastry bag with a 3/4-inch, round tube opening. Squeeze the choux paste onto two parchment lined or buttered baking sheets in mounds 2 to 2 1/4" in diameter and 1 inch at the highest point. Space the mounds 2 inches apart. This recipes makes 10-12 large puffs.
In a small bowl beat 1 egg and 1/2 tsp of water. Flatten each mound slightly with the flat of your pastry brush dipped into a little of the beaten egg. Place the baking sheets in the upper and lower thrids of a preheated, 425-degree oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the puffs have doubled in size and are lightly browned. Then reduce heat to 375-degrees and bake for 10-15 minutes more, or until the puffs are golden brown, and firm and crusty to the touch. Remove from oven, and make a 1-inch slit in the side of each puff. Return the puffs to the hot, turned-off oven, and leave its door ajar for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, cut the puffs in two horizontally and scrape out any damp, uncooked portions in the center with a fork. Allow the halves to cool and crisp, then re-form the puffs.
These do not keep well at room-temp so I froze mine shortly after making them since we weren't going to use them that day. Just before using the frozen puffs, set them in a hot oven to thaw and crisp up. Julia Child says to set them in a 425-degree oven for 3 to 4 minutes but my oven was already at 350 degrees so I just put them in there at that temp for a little longer and it worked just fine.
To assemble the dessert put a scoop of ice cream in the bottom of the puff shell, set the top of the puff on the ice cream and then drizzle generously with your favorite warm chocolate sauce!
I picked up some cork tiles at a local home improvement store, cut them to size for my cabinet door, and used the foam tabs that came with them to mount them. Super easy, and took hardly any time at all. The fun part was making the fabric-covered button thumbtacks to make it cute. I just use hot glue to attach the tack and it works great. The perfect spot for hanging the menu plan, sweet notes from the kids and cut-out recipes to try soon. As if I don't have enough recipes already! :)
It has been so beautiful here. I'm pretty sure this is the best spring we've ever had in the twelve years that we've lived here. The ice went out on the lake on April 1st. Almost three weeks earlier than last year! Thomas is fishing almost everyday again.
Ava cut her hair. It was only a matter of time with that girl! Her hair is usually so wild that we didn't even realize she did it until we found her little scissors and a pile of curls by the sink at bedtime when we went to brush her teeth. Thankfully she didn't give herself super short bangs or anything like that. It just looks like she has a bunch of new growth coming in and it no longer can all be pulled back into a ponytail. Never a dull moment.
We have about a month left of school. We are all looking forward to summer break! Elle has loved English this year. On Fridays she gets to pick a writing assignment from two or three choices. When she can't decide which one to choose she asks if she can write about each one. :) It has been so fun to watch her writing get better and better throughout the year. She says that she wants to be an author, interior designer or fashion designer when she grows up.
As you can see, Ava has a fun time playing in her room while we do school. This mess is actually pretty tame. She has been known to dump out every single bin of toys and play hopscotch with the containers. I was close to giving away most of the toys on those days! Today Ava got herself stuck when she climbed into the bottom drawer of one of those rolling bins. She was calling out for someone to help her and it was pretty funny when we went in there to help her!
Hope you are all having a wonderful spring!
