Cake Decorating ~ Birthday Cupcakes ~ Snow

My girls inherited cake decorating supplies from my mother, and they are definitely putting them to use.  My 15 year-old daughter surprised her older sister (on her 18th birthday) with a "birthday" cupcake at school yesterday.


I can't believe how well her flowers came out.  She used the tip that is used to make roses, and did an excellent job.


While working out with hubby this morning, we saw on the news that we are to get 1-2 inches of snow starting today.  I'm tickled we are finally getting snow.  The goats and the chickens may not like it, but I know a few of the dogs will be acting like kids later today.  When it snows (our black lab especially) pretends to have the need to go do her business, but really she just wants to go play in the snow.   Just like a kid.


Last night I was caught red-handed.  I was flipping through pattern books and attempting to crochet yet another "new" project, when I was caught.  My 10 year-old said to me, "Uh, Mom? Why aren't you crocheting my mittens yet?"


Guess what I'm doing today?  Yep....crocheting mittens.

Chopped and other updates. . .

We've been watching the "Chopped" Foodnetwork show, and the kids love it.  Last night our 12 year-old begged for her own box of food to cook with.

We gave her 2 boxes of black wild rice, a jar of pimentos and a bag of mini-marshmallows.  I had no idea what to get, or how creative she could be.

She cooked the rice, added the pimentos and added leftover diced chicken we had that she marinated a bit in soy sauce.

She made a dessert with the mini-marshmallows and crushed rice chex cereal.  She added raisins also.  It kind of tasted like rice krispie treats, but tougher to chew.  She did pretty good.

I think they had so much fun with this that I may purchase items for her and her younger sister for another round.

Gus came home late afternoon yesterday.  He's doing good and getting lots of pampering.  He follows my son everywhere now.  The vet told my son that the growth/lump was very deep, black and very nasty looking.  My son agreed to have it tested in a lab, so we will know for sure.  However, my son felt another lump in another area, so he'll be watching that too.  Thank you for all you prayers for Gus.

The weather is a teensy bit warmer, and we got more snow last night.  The pipes finally thawed by late evening last night - YAY! We get showers!


Although yarn and quilling paper has arrived in my mail, I continue to knit and crochet daily.  I am amazed how fast I can knit know compared to last summer.  I can remember days where I could not knit when the kids were home.  I literally had to take entire knitted block apart, because I lost track of rows and stitches.  I'm not an expert at it, but much better.  Now, when I get back to tatting, I'll probably have to re-teach myself again.  Ha ha ha!

 A recent sunrise from my front porch.

Kids Baking ~ Easy Tiramisu

My older two girls got fancy with a boxed angel food cake (a cake which we plan to make from scratch from now on).  Instead of adding shaved chocolate to the top, they just tossed on chocolate chips.

Kids Cooking Despite Extreme Temperatures

Despite temperatures over 90°F in our kitchen, and even higher outside, my kids are still experimenting with cooking.  My 13 year-old got out her old Kid Zone magazines and found a recipe to make (no longer in print).  These magazines contained a section for kids to learn about other countries.  The magazine she read again, contained Austria.  She made this delicious dessert recipe and boy was it good. 

Palatschinken - dessert of Austrians

When kids get bored....

My 16 year old daughter made this delicious quesadilla by using up leftover "refried beans." The day before, I soaked and dried a bag of pinto beans, added onion and seasoning and mashed them. We make lots of recipes with these "refried beans."

She diced up green and red peppers and sauted them with onion in olive oil. Then added the leftover beans and placed them in between two whole wheat tortillas. After that was heated completely, she topped it with cheese slices (and these are not Kraft slices), sprinkled it with chili pepper and added a dallop of sour scream. Then she added snipped, home grown, green onion.

Man these were good! She needs to come up with a name for her new recipe. She's been having fun in the kitchen, especially when bordem strikes.

Of course, they don't tell me they are bored so often any more. If I hear them say it, they are immediately assigned a cleaning job - any job that needs done.

Watermelon Popsicles

My 13 year-old daughter was actually bored yesterday.

She cut up a watermelon, cut hearts, dinosaurs and other shapes using cookie cutters,

KIDS INVENT NEW SANDWICHES

This one is not the only one they have invented. The above photo is homemade macaroni and cheese topped on a hot dog (we where out of buns). As for me, I did join the fun, but chopped my hot dog into my mac'n cheese and skipped the bread. They found these delicious!

Yesterday my 12 year-old invented a 2-1 sandwich. This one I did not try yet. She topped a slice of bread with creamy natural peanut butter, layered with mini-marshmallows, then topped with slices of turkey and mayo. Top that all with another slice of bread. According to her, it was like to sandwiches in one and very tasty.

Summer Kids Activities

Today is the official day in which all of the kids are out of school. With so many ages in the house, it now becomes a challenge to keep computer time and video game time to a minimum, especially for the teenagers (who haven't found a job yet).

For the younger ones (9 and 7), our indoor activities are modeling clay, and reading. Outside activities are a 10 foot parachute, putting up a tent to read and play in, and for the evening a movie called "Kids Get Cooking", The Egg (for ages 5-12). The library is full of ideas.

Kids Get Cooking: The Egg, Goldhil Learning Series, DVD, Endorsed by the National Education Association.

Kids Cooking: Frugal Internet Resources

This is a compiled list to help parents with frugal resources for teaching kids how to cook:

APPLES:
Printable Nutrition Facts, New York State Apple Country
Kids Cooking Activities, Apples Recipes for Kids


CHEESE:

Printable Cheese Activities
How to Make Homemade Goat Cheese


EGGS:

Kids and Family Section, Kid Friendly Recipes, American Egg Board
Eggs 101 How to: Cooking School, American Egg Board
Kids Pages, Georgia Eggs

POTATOES:

Kids Are Cooking Potatoes, Washington State Potato Commission (pdf)
The Amazing Washington Potato, 14-page printable activity book (pdf)

Kids Cook Night: Chicken Chilindron with Bolillos (Spanish Hard Rolls)

I am proud to say that my 15 yo daughter, who has a distaste for cooking and baking, successfully made dinner last night. Not only that, but it was delicious. Spanish class in school required her to take part in a project for a classroom grade. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of it, due to her filming the process, the eating and end of the meal. If it wasn't for her Spanish class project, I don't think she would have discovered she can enjoy cooking.

Once again, the recipe was one from the Nintendo DS game, Personal Trainer: Cooking. Not only can the kids get step-by-step instructions out loud, but they can stop it and continue by talking directly into the game. It records the meals that are made, and it's really helping the kids expand their knowledge, confidence, and independence.

The meal was a success and I had the chance to finish a book while she cooked with her younger 12 yo sister. Yum!

Kids colored eggs for Easter

All the kids helped color eggs for Easter. Happy Easter!

They loved using the clear colored crayon to create these unique eggs.