Anyone have The Happy Day, by Ruth Krauss in their home? It is a 1950 Caldecott Honor Book so it might be more well known than I think.

Abby came home a couple of weeks ago really sad that a little girl had moved out of her class. I showed her this book that I received from my class when I sadly had to move in the first grade.

I forgot how much I loved this book and how it reminded me of where I grew up in Maryland. The book is about all the animals scurrying and hurrying in the dead of winter to see something!

I love the illustrations in this book and how the only bit of color is on the page above in that little tiny flower. The woods in the pictures remind me of Maryland; we lived near the woods and spent a lot of time playing in them. Also, I am reminded of the slugs that would collect outside during different parts of the season.

Such a sweet book that brings back good memories. The Happy Day, by Ruth Krauss would be a fun book for any house. They have some on amazon for only $6.99!

I loved the idea of this craft, and the girls and I also learned a good lesson. Follow directions carefully! We were lazy with what “snow” we put in the globe and it created a muggy hot mess in the end.

We semi-followed the directions for the DYI: Photo Snowglobes over at Design Mom. We used larger bottles, which I am sure is fine, but we just put in regular craft glitter thinking it would be ok. Ha! You really do need to follow her directions correctly.

I still am proud of how we decided to do the pictures on the inside. I had the girls put on some of their snow gear and make a face like they were “TRAPPED” in the snowglobe. The girls wanted to include their favorite “lovie” in the photo as well.

Maybe we will just stick to the actual snow!

Yesterday when my mom came to visit me (aka bring food, clean my house, play with my kids and listen to me give her bossy advice about her sons/my brothers), she told me I looked like death.

WELL MOM, if THIS:

…LOOKS LIKE DEATH…

Then sign me up! Bowchickabowbow.

Ok fine, that is pretty bad — explains why a neighbor just looked at me weird when I said hello while trying to pick up the girls from school without passing out.

Being sick is no fun.

I do love the husband getting me late night slurpies on demand — that is pretty awesome. I might consider keeping this up a bit longer.

Yes! Let’s talk croquetas/croquettes. Yes, they are easy and you can pull them off — be brave and try something new! Croquettes are a Spanish appetizer (tapas) and my husband orders them at restaurants whenever we see them. You can make seafood croquettes, potato croquettes, vegetable based, cheese based, turkey based. I mean, it’s basically a thick white sauce, and you add whatever you feel like to it. Then you refrigerate the mixture until you can roll it into balls, roll it in some breadcrumbs and fry. It’s good, it’s different, it will impress at a party. Try it!

Prosciutto & Manchego cheese  are two weaknesses of ours, so let me present to you my recipe for….

Manchego & Prosciutto Croquettes

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup flour

1 1/3 cup whole milk

1/2 cup finely chopped prosciutto

1/2 cup grated Manchego cheese

1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Salt & pepper

2-3 eggs

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I do love panko, but I don’t think it’s right for this flavor combination)

Vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

1.  Heat the oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted. Add the flour, and cook one to two minutes while whisking. Gradually add the milk while whisking, and continue to cook another two to three minutes. The mixture should be smooth. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir in the ham, cheese and nutmeg. Taste the mixture and add salt & pepper if desired — but be careful because the ham and cheese are already salty!

Now listen, you want to get the consistency of the mixture perfect before you pour it into the pan. Watch this video (yes it’s in Spanish, but you just need to see the consistency). Don’t follow THEIR directions BUT look at the mixture by starting the video at 2 minutes 30 seconds, and watch for about 30 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cIdHox4U_I

1. Transfer the mixture to an 8×8-inch baking tray and spread it out so that it is even. Let the mixture cool, and then cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours or overnight. 
2. When ready to cook, lightly beat the eggs in a dish. Mix the breadcrumbs and ½ teaspoon garlic salt in another dish. Scoop up tablespoons of the cooled filling and form them into balls. Dip each ball into the egg and then the breadcrumbs. Place the completed croquetas on a wire rack or baking sheet and refrigerate for 20 minutes. The croquetas must be chilled before frying, otherwise they may fall apart in the oil. And I think it would be quite tricky to make them in the summer months! You might have to use the freezer.
3. Pour vegetable oil about 1 1/2 inch high, and heat over medium low heat. Be careful and maybe just test one to see if the oil temperature is right, cause these suckers burn fast! Working in batches, fry them in the oil, turning them on all sides until golden brown and crispy, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
4. Serve immediately with aioli or mayo (or nothing)!

This is my last party I get to do for Abby’s class. The other one was the Halloween Party. I guess there are only two! Bummers.

Well, let me tell you what we have planned for this one. I kind of went more of the way of… I will spend my money on craft supplies and let all the other parents bring everything else… and I went the lazy way of just ordering things from Oriental Trading.

I am doing the stations like last time that the kids will work through. Let me tell you what I learned from doing this station thing. The kids wander and get lost and forget what group they are in. And none of the kids remember what number or letter you assigned their group to keep them together! So this time I am having them put labels on their shirt that just have a simple color on it. So that way I can say, “RED group over here,” and they’ll just look down at their shirt to see what color they are.

I also am not going to worry about giving them a “treat” or little “prize” at every station because they will all have their Valentines to pass out to each other at the beginning of the party.

Five Stations:

#1 Don’t Eat Pete: Yes, again! The kids love this,  and it’s easier to get through than Bingo. I found Valentine’s Day themed ones here at Be Different Act Normal.

#2 Conversation Hearts with Chopsticks: This idea is from Family Fun (isn’t that a cute magazine?). Put a bunch of hearts in a bowl and have two kids race each other to see how many they can get out with the chopsticks.

#3 Magic Color Scratch Hearts from Oriental Trading

#4 Monster Valentine ornaments from Oriental Trading

#5 I LOVE YOU Keychains to make for parents — from Oriental Trading

Opening, Closing & Extra Filler Time Needed Activities:

Reading the books The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers (about love), Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers (about friendship) and If You’ll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant; eating heart sugar cookies & punch and singing some silly Valentines Day songs — great list here.

P.S. Here are some other great Valentine’s Day Party Ideas here.

Welp, my house still smells like ash. It is pretty awesome to explain to everyone who comes to my house and exclaims, “OH, WHAT IS THAT SMELL?” I am going to get the carpets cleaned this week and hope that helps. I thought it was getting better but Tyler just says I am getting used to the smell! This was a big oopsie-daisy.

Winter sunrises. We watch them out the back window while we eat breakfast. We love when they are PINK because this is a house full of girls after all.

I love always having a buddy.

Sunday dinners, Indian food themed. It’s Abby’s favorite!

I adore having a house full of girls and a mini-van always full of Abby’s friends screaming at the top of their lungs singing along to songs or giggling to each other.

Most importantly I was excited to find a KILLER cookie recipe that all of them helped me make — Carina’s recipe here for Caramel Biscoff Blossoms.

I like buying my girls new cute outfits a little TOO much. Hey, but she needed some jeans that were soft and had no “metal” on them which drives her bonkers. And that owl shirt — how could you not get that for Poki?

I love that the first thing she does when she is ready for bed is grab that bunny. She keeps it smushed to her face all the night long.

Afternoons spent crafting.

Visiting the Bean Museum. I think my kids might like it better than the zoo.

3 Little gals in curlers watching late night cartoons with Mama.

Sisters that are friends.

My kitchen counter. So much happens here. I love how huge it is and how everyone can gather round and help me out!

Listening to these two cousins chat it up for almost two hours while working on their projects. Cracks me up every time. Cameron at the end of the day proclaimed it, “THE BEST DAY EVER WITH LYDI!!”

A husband that cooks — and cooks way too well. Also, date nights to the temple with Big Poppi and grandparents that babysit for FREE FOR TEMPLE NIGHTS!!

Poor baby. I don’t love that she was so horrible when my sister-in-law watched her last night. Or that it was all in vain — we couldn’t even make it up I-80 (because of the snowstorm) to the event and private screening for Robot & Frank at Sundance.  I have heard nothing but good things about the film. But we did go out to dinner with friends, although someone around me somewhere last night was terribly sick. Because this morning I landed myself in Instacare. I am one sick puppy, and now I am going to try to go back to bed.

I probably wouldn’t have known or been terribly interested to follow along with this year’s Teaching of the Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith. But while I was reading the Ensign when Tyler was driving, George Albert Smith’s pictures caught my eye. The pictures made him seem so REAL, which of course he was — but the pictures made him so personable. Reading the feature article on him made me know right away that I needed to read the whole entire manual about him this year.

He is the man pictured in the middle

You know when people ask that party question, “If you could have a dinner party with three people who have passed away, who would they be?” I never had a really good answer for that. (Other than Jo from Little Women, but darn it! She isn’t even real!) But now I do:

George Albert Smith

Oh, I like this man. I really do. And I want to learn a lot more about him. Let me share two little stories that I read and adored:

Abby & I can’t decide which Valentines to give this year. These are our top choices:

I’m Wild for You Valentines & Lollipop Valentine by Design Mom

Stick ‘Em Valentine by Sherelle Christensen

I Dig You Valentine by The Fry Family

Friendship Bracelet Valentines & I’ve Had My Eye on You by dandee-designs

Or I could print those two really cute free printables (up above) and attach them to a piece of candy! You can find them here and here.

So many clever ideas! Which one, I wonder, would not take a terrible amount of time but still be something new and cute?

I also need to start planning her class’ Valentines Party. Any ideas for me?

*actually she finally picked — went for the magnifying glass one, the easiest one! Wahoo!

Boy oh boy. Pinterest is fun!

When I try to explain it to people (which is kinda hard), I always tell them I love it for two reasons:

#1 Using it as a Search Engine: Lots of times I will just use it as a search engine for things like fun kids activities, recipes, crafts and little sayings. I know there will be plenty of results that I will actually enjoy reading and use.

#2 It’s Organization: My mom and I send each other links back and forth through email all the time. Those emails and ideas get lost. Using Pinterest, I can just “pin” it to a board of mine and quickly find it again to be reminded of the fun idea.

But I bet most of you know what Pinterest is. I do pin a lot of things that I don’t end up doing… mainly recipes! I was thinking to myself — what is the point of this if I don’t actually make any of the recipes? So this past week was a week full of “Pinterest Meals.”

I want to show you what I made and what we thought about them:

By the way, just click on the picture to be taken to the “pin.” Then click on the picture again to be taken to the source of the picture (so you can read or try the recipe). 

#1 Isn’t this a beautiful picture? Flourless Fudge Chocolate Chip Cookies…

They were horrible. Beautiful Food Photography does not always = yummy food.

#2 I wanted to try a new type of pizza: Pesto with roasted red onions, tomatoes, garlic, shallots and basil on top.

I thought it was very good (I added fresh Parmesan cheese on top and just used dough from our favorite pizzeria), but I love vegetable pizza. My husband didn’t love it…because his favorite is piles of meat pizza!

#3 This Hawaiian chicken got rave reviews from my husband, kids and me…

I served it was fresh black beans, rice and fresh pineapple. I also made it for a family we were bringing dinner to in our neighborhood. And I didn’t stress a bit about giving it to them… because I was so proud of how it tasted!!

#4 The same night I also made these Carmelitas… let me tell you…

…they were beyond amazing. They are really to die for. So perfect.

#5 I am always looking for a new fish dish, and I really love sweet potatoes & yams, so I knew this was a recipe we had to try… Sweet Potato Crusted Fish with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette…

You know, it was one of those dishes that was different… fun to try… I enjoyed it… but not sure if I would do it again.

#6 Lastly, I whipped up these Southwestern Egg Rolls with avocado Ranch…

They were ok, I like the idea of them but don’t think the recipe is right.

So! I think I’ll still use the recipes but know to be careful!