While We're on the Subject of Trains . . .

Last week we went to The Train Show at Thanksgiving Point. I've been a little behind on posting, but we had so much fun that I wanted to post some of the pictures I took there:
Ethan was in heaven there! He loved it and looked like this most of the time:

There was a giant Lego train set-up in the middle of the show. They said it had around a million Legos in it:

It was fun to go with Grandpa and Nana:

Madeline had fun too, but not quite as much fun as her brother

My little Engineer

The Birthday Train

On the morning of Madeline's birthday, my mom and I took the kids for a fun surprise. We went on a ride on "The Birthday Train"! It drives around the mall and both of the kids have been looking longingly at it for over a month. I wanted to go on Ethan's birthday, but we never got the chance. So this was the perfect excuse!

Little boys love trains . . .

And little princesses do too, though they may look more restrained.

Peeking through the caboose

Having fun together . . .

The birthday train really made the day fun

Birthday Fun!

All good birthdays are made up of a few simple things:

1. Balloons
2. Pizza

3. Presents

4. Cupcakes

5. Ice cream

6. And a ride on a train of course! But you'll have to come back tomorrow for pictures of that!

Happy Birthday girly! I can't believe you're two!

Butterfly FYI

First of all, thank you everyone for the nice comments about the butterfly cupcakes. I just wanted to answer a couple of questions about them here. The butterflies are made out of melting wafers (not the same as chocolate). I bought them at Hobby Lobby and yes, they do have a million colors to choose from. The butterfly template came from one of my favorite books “Hello, Cupcake”. In the book, the butterflies are made of orange and chocolate melting wafers to looks like monarchs. I chose little girl colors for mine for obvious reasons. It was my first time working with melting wafers, but the possibilities with them are endless and so I’m sure it won’t be my last.

Butterfly Cupcakes

Madeline's birthday was an entirely wonderful day. And since I haven't finished sorting through the 200+ pictures that I took, I thought I'd first post some pictures of her birthday cupcakes:

I could never have made these without the help of my husband. He helped me late Sunday night make all the wings for the butterflies. Without him, I would have been up all night doing them.

I would make the outline, Todd would fill in the yellow, then I would bang the pan to smooth it out, and add the sprinkles. I don't know what he thought, but I thought it was really fun!

And I like how they turned out! Madeline loved them too. She spent the majority of the day yesterday talking about her pink cupcakes.

Two Years Old

Happy Birthday Madeline!

You rock . . .
my world!

I will love you forever!

For My Baby's Baby

I thought when Christmas was over, I'd be done with projects for a little while, but that only lasted a week and then I had to get crackin' on Madeline's birthday. She'll be two on Monday! Here's a little peek at what she'll be getting:
This little cradle was my doll cradle when I was little, just like the kitchen I made her for Christmas was. All it needed was a fresh coat of paint (to cover up 20 some odd years of pencil marks, fingernail polish scuffs, and other random marks). I also replaced a big red wooden heart with the flower. To complete the cradle, I made the blanket, pillow, and mattress pad out of fabrics left from making her bird mobile.

Now all it needs is a little baby dolly!

No-Knead Dinner Rolls

The rolls were a success in my book! They weren't THE rolls of the world, but considering you don't have to knead them or anything, they are totally worth making. I'm sure I'll make them again. They tasted really good to me and they really did make the house smell superb! You should give them a try, they are really easy to make.

.

No-Knead Dinner Rolls
Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food

Makes 18 rolls
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes

2 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 packages (¼ ounce each) active dry yeast
¼ cup sugar
4 TBLS butter, melted, plus more for pan and brushing
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 ½ tsp salt
6 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for shaping dough

Pour warm water into a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast, and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add sugar, butter, eggs, and salt; whisk to combine. Add flour; mix until incorporated and a sticky dough forms. Brush top of dough with butter; cover bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place until dough has doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured work surface. With floured hands, roll dough into a thick log. Cut into 18 equal pieces (halve log, cut each half in thirds, then cut each piece into thirds again).

Brush a 9x13 inch baking pan with butter. One at a time, flatten each piece of dough, then fold edges toward the center, pressing to secure, until a smooth ball forms. Place dough balls into prepared baking pan, smooth side up (you should have three rows of six). Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 30 to 40 minutes. (Alternatively, refrigerate, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove plastic wrap; brush rolls with butter. Bake until golden and rolls sound hollow when tapped on bottom, 35 to 40 minutes (tent with aluminum foil if browning too quickly). Pull rolls apart, and serve warm.

Rolls

I tried a new bread recipe today. The recipe is called No-Knead Dinner Rolls. And I have to say, I enjoyed making them very much. I hardly care if they turn out good, they were fun enough just to make. But if they are good, I’ll post the recipe tomorrow. I haven’t tasted them yet; they still look like this:
It’s amazing how, for me, a little yeast in some water and a few other simple ingredients can be a bit of happiness. Yummmmmm, can't wait to smell them baking.

Dry

You know your skin is too dry when your microfiber dish towels stick to your hands.

Creative Kids

I don't really like my kids playing on my bed. I'm just not a fan of the jumping, mostly because it scares me to death that one or both of them will fall off and get hurt. Madeline it still too little to climb up and get on my bed by herself and since Ethan and Madeline are pretty much always together, I don't usually have to worry about them playing on my bed. But yesterday, all on their own, they came up with a very effective way to get on my bed:
Ethan cleverly collected stools, bins, and chairs of all sizes from all over the house and lined them up shortest to tallest to make stairs!

Then they took turns climbing up . . . and sliding off into a pile of blankets . . . over and over and over:

Well, Madeline slid, Ethan jumped!

I was impressed that Ethan figured out a way to help Madeline get on the bed. He can climb up on his own without a problem. I guess things really are more fun with a friend.

Cold

I’ve always liked being cold better than being hot. Being hot is so terrible, you feel sick and sweaty and you can only take so much off. And then you’re still hot. Being cold isn’t that bad. Who doesn’t love big snuggly blankets? It might also be because I get hot so easily and am hardly ever cold . . . that is, until this year! I have been SO COLD this season. This is the first year I can’t comfortably wear short sleeves all winter long. Doing that never bothered me before! And up until this past month, I slept comfortably in a house kept in the low 60’s at night with one thin blanket on my bed. Now I sleep with an extra blanket and socks! SOCKS people. I would have shuttered at the idea of sleeping in socks last year. I’m not sure what the difference is, but I am sure that I’m cold. Every day, every night. Always cold! I’m a little tired of being cold, actually. But that being said . . . I’d still rather be cold than hot!

Cold

Sibling Love

Today, I am just glad that my kids are friends! For the most part, they play together really well, make each other happy, and look out for each other too. But sometimes I wonder about the games they decide to play . . . Ethan's the one that said, "Maddie sit on me!" They both were laughing up a storm. And this morning, Ethan decided that having Madeline drop toys on his tummy would be the best game of all:

Notice Madeline's NEW hat choice

My personal favorite was when they took turns pouring water on each other's heads in the tub.

Hey, whatever makes them happy . . . well, almost whatever . . .

About Pie

I love pie. Pie is the mother of all desserts. But only if it’s cold. Pie, in all its varieties, is far superior cold. The end.

January Recipe

Pork Paprikash

From Martha Stewart Everyday Food

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 ounces wide egg noodles
1 TBLS butter, cut into pieces
1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound), excess fat and silver skin removed, halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick pieces
2 TBLS sweet paprika
2 TBLS olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (14oz) whole peeled tomatoes in juice
½ cup sour cream
chopped parsley, for garnish (optional)*

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook noodles until tender. Drain and return to pot. Stir in butter; cover and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine pork with 1 TBLS paprika; season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. In a large skillet, heat 1 TBLS oil over med-high; cook pork, tossing occasionally, until lightly browned on all sides, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Return skillet to stove; reduce heat to medium. Add remaining oil and onion; cook until onion is soft, 4-5 minutes. Add pork, remaining TBLS paprika, tomatoes with their juice, and ½ cup water; bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer; cook, until sauce is slightly thickened, breaking up tomatoes with spoon, 2-4 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in sour cream; season with salt and pepper. Serve over noodles, garnish with parsley.

*I didn't buy the parsley, don't usually buy optional garnishes, although it would have made the picture a bit more lovely.

First Day of Preschool

Yesterday, Ethan went to his first day of Preschool! I wanted him to start last fall, but never could find a morning Preschool that had an opening. My Mom found this one and they let him join at the second semester! He was SO EXCITED. And that made me happy. He LOVED it. And I love that he loves it. And I love that he has something to do twice a week now. Madeline is a little undecided about the whole thing! She spent the first half of the time he was gone saying, “Oh no, where’s Ethan?!” and “Madeline go Preschool too!” But then after she discovered that she could play with HIS toys uninterrupted, she started to like him being at Preschool a little more. We also went to the store while he was gone and it was so easy to only have one kid with me!

Ethan came home so happy. They talked about winter, played with shaving cream like it was snow, learned about the letter “W” (“Mom they said words like walrus and watch, but they didn’t say wolf, I just thought of that one right now!”), practiced writing, sang, danced, and played. Him going is an answered prayer to a prayer I didn’t even know I had. Here are a couple of pictures from right before we left to go:

Awesome Elmo Backpack

Ready to go!

Photo Project 365!

I read about the idea of Photo Project 365 this morning on Emmy Mom's blog. As soon as I read it, I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do. It's a challenge to take at least one picture every single day. Life goes so fast, and with a picture a day comes so many memories that otherwise would have been forgotten. I love taking pictures, and I think this will be a wonderful way to capture small moments of my life, little things I might not have noticed before, and see what kind of photographer I can become.

And so . . . I've created a new blog to document my daily pictures:

Through My View - Photo Project 365

I'll have a link to it on the side of this blog. Hopefully, by the end of this year there will be 365 pictures to see that are through my view!

Twinkle Little Little Star

Today, my kids sang me a lovely after-lunch concert. Here is my favorite song:

Madeline always says, "Twinkle little little star . . ." Sometimes it even gets three "little"s.

For Baby Boys

This past Christmas, I made two homemade gifts for baby boys! The first was for my little nephew of two months:
These little shoes were a delight to make and not too hard either. I wish I could tell you where I got the pattern, but I can't for the life of me remember where. Somewhere free on the Internet! My sewing/craft room is in such disarray after Christmas, that I can't even find the baby shoe pattern anymore . . . I like these shoes because I made them out of my favorite pair of Madeline's old pants. They were from her scooting days and she scooted a hole right in the backside. I couldn't bare to throw them away, so I made them into shoes for my nephew instead!

The next baby project was for my nephew that will join the world in April. It's a little lovey I made up after seeing similar things around in boutiques and stores:

Just a 12x12 square that is silky on one side and soft on the other. With ribbons to play with. Someday soon, a darling boy will snuggle up with it and I'll be sad he doesn't live by me! :)

Baby projects are fun, because they are tiny!

Sledding Into the New Year

We started 2010 by sledding this morning. We were up and out before lots of people were awake. The wind was cold, but we had a lot of fun!

As for New Year's Resolutions, I just hope to be a little better. I want to have a few more days go by where I read my scriptures, a few more mornings where I remembered to pray, and a few less days where I got upset about things that don't really matter!

Happy New Year!