Baking and Making

October is a busy month for me with 2 birthdays. There are birthday cakes and birthday treats for classes to make. Then, you add Halloween on top of it. It's a crazy baking and making month for me! My husband just said to me, as if to just remind me again, "You are a crazy woman, and I've known that for years." (he said that yesterday during his lunch time looking at me just starting to make J's Halloween costume, yes, on the day before Halloween.) But I LOVE watching kids' smile and "Wow!" reactions. I thrive for it. That's why I bake and make things, just to see those happy faces!

Birthday cupcakes for M's class - chocolate cupcake and chocolate frosting with black food coloring. I don't know if the teachers liked the idea of messy black food colored frosting, but M loved it.

 

 

 

J's birthday cake. It's, of course, a tank. I tried fondant for the first time. I was not so happy, but he love it. And my husband actually finished it up for me because I was so frustrated.

 

M's birthday cake. It is supposed to be a fire truck. Why a 6-year-old girl want a fire truck cake for her birthday? "6-year-olds suppose to have fire truck cakes. That's what J had when he turned 6!" is M's response. Actually, looking back, I think J had something else on his 6th birthday...but we won't tell her that. She enjoyed decorating her truck with all the candies. Very festive.

Gingerbread mummies

They were birthday treats for J's class and it was a hit!

CTR sugar cookies for J's baptism

More sugar cookies for J's baptism

Mummy pigs-in-blanket. I made them for a party with "a pool of blood (a.k.a. ketchup)"

My favorite breakfast these days - home made granola (recipe adjusted from this) and frozen blueberries we picked this summer on top of vanilla yogurt.

A birthday gift for my mother-in-law - I just couldn't find what I hoped to find, so I decided to make it. Mothers' family tree broach/pendant top. She has 7 children. I was very pleased with the final product. Unfortunately, I was home sick when they celebrated her birthday, but I hope she liked it.

This was something for me. I wanted Halloween earrings, then one day the flat circle bead inspired me to make one. My husband thinks I should add some red dots to make them look like Black Widow....hmmm.

Last, but not least, here is the costume I started around lunch time yesterday (jacket, vest, and banner thingy). J was so excited and had a huge smile on his face!

 

 

Valentine's Day dinner

 For Valentine's Day dinner, I decided to make pink crepes for fun.

 

Adding a few drops of food coloring and imitation flavors wouldn't be that bad, I thought. So I tried.

I shouldn't have given kids choices, cherry or strawberry flavor. J wanted cherry, M wanted strawberry, of course. "Fine, I'd divide the batter in half and flavor one of each", I thought. So I did.

 

 They looked pretty pink as batter, not so much on the skillet, but sure it was pretty pink on a plate. 

 They smelled like artificial cherry and strawberry. 

I even made some chocolate ones too.

 

But J said to me, "Mom, will you make just regular crepes next time?"  M, who wanted the strawberry flavored crepes, didn't even touch it. K ate total 5 of regular and chocolate crepes, but no pink ones. I guess my pretty in pink crepe dinner plan failed. I don't think those leftover pink crepes will be eaten...oh well. It was still fun to see kids' reaction when they saw those pink crepes. 

So I took one last shot of the Valentine's crepes accompanied with smoked sausage sauteed with pancake syrup (I know it's weird, but J's favorite), and my new attempt on strata. I added sliced oranges to make it more like a descent dinner, instead of just dessert for dinner. 

 

Dessert for dinner? That sounds actually good.....

Speaking of dessert, my dear husband made this:

Chocolate mousse.  

Wow.  

It was delicious.

And it was his first time making mousse.

  

Here is him in whipping action with his recipe reference to the left (i.e. his laptop). 

I love when he works in the kitchen and I get to sit on the couch and watch some PBS show.

Well, hand whipping didn't cut it. After (finally!) he asked me where hand mixer was, he was successfully able to whip up actual mousse consistency stuff. The best part of this is that it was made of just chocolate bar and water. That's it. He found the recipe from a science blog. A SCIENCE BLOG! I didn't know he reads science blog. I thought he was history kind of guy. He said, "I love science. I read science stuff. I just suck at it."  So, that's where he got the idea of making this fancy dessert for his wife on Valentine's Day. What a man.

He loves me. 

I'm so loved.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Take me out to the ball game!

My hubby and J are out watching Fireworks tonight at a park right now (too late for the younger kids). Just Daddy and J.
Last week, they went to a ball game, again just Daddy and J. They are like best friends. Love it.
I wish he could take me out to the ball game....it's one of my wish items for this summer - watching a ball game with family. That would be fun.

One silly monkey jumping on the bed (a.k.a. crib)

I read one of those "Eight silly monkeys jumping on the bed" books the other night to baby K. He liked it so much that he requested for more with sign. Then, he decided to try on his own. I heard him holding onto the rail and jumping in his crib. At 3:39 am!! He was laughing, giggling, bouncing and just having a blast! This silly monkey, however, didn't fall off or bump his head, so mama didn't have to call the doctor. And it was cute to hear him having fun. But please, baby, not in the middle of the night. So, I did what a good mom would do - put ear plugs in and went back to sleep.

K at his favorite spot in the house

His favorite past time is to line up all the cars on the window sill, looking out the window, and to play with his big brother's cars on the coffee table there.

From there, he has fallen off multiple times AND bumped his head multiple times including one occasion when he got a bruise on his cheek. But he just keeps going back there...I don't think the line "No more monkey jumping on the..." means anything to this little silly monkey.

I love this man

My hubby and J - summer 2009

Yesterday, I woke up with a noise of kids screaming, a good kind. Then I heard my husband saying "Here I come, ready or not!" Hide-and-go-seek was my alarm yesterday morning. What a good husband and father.
Today, after dinner, he yelled at me, in a very loving way, for touching dishes. He cleared the table and rinsed dishes for me. He helped kids picking up toys and changing to their pajamas. He He read books to kids. He even had some discipline talk with kids, firm but yet very lovingly.
When I was sick last week, he came home during lunch break to feed kids lunch so that I didn't have to. He gave me a phone by my bedside table so that I can call him in his cell phone if I needed anything. He told me that I was not allowed to come downstairs at all, again, in a very loving way. I slept, and slept, and slept.
He loves me so much. How lucky I am. I love this man.

I've got a mail!

From my hubby. Titled: "PSSSSSSSSSssssssttttttt..."

The contents: "Love you."

How sweet! I love you, my love!

Did I mention I love my husband?

We went out for a date last night. Thanks to Papa (my father-in-law) for baby-sitting. It was nothing extravagant We went out for a dinner (thanks to my dh's co-worker for a gift certificate), rented some movies, and went to Tim Hortons. Oh, it was great! We talked and ate and talked and laughed and talked and giggled and talked and laughed. I laughed so hard I even got some ab work-out! He is such a funny guy. So much fun to be with. And I love him dearly. It was a fun date night. Thanks, honey. You make me laugh and, of course, happy, very much.