Snow day Buffet

Yesterday Little S and I drove down and picked up his half brother and sister A and H. This is our first morning with all three kids and it happens to be snowing so I decided I would make them a surprise snow-day buffet.

I got out several sheets of blue construction paper and tapped it to the center of the kitchen table. Then I stretched my memory back to grade school and made some snowflakes with white paper adding them on top and using the cut out pieces as added confetti like snow falling.

At first I was thinking I would get out our white dishes but the eggplant of our normal dishes really contrasted well with the colors of the items especially the snowmen.

Reindeer Doughnuts -

Mini chocolate doughnuts
Red M&M's for the nose pressed in slightly
Candy eyes
chocolate covered pretzels (1 for each reindeer) broken in half and stuck in for antlers.

These were places on a plate covered with a sprinkling of unsweetend coconut to look like falling snow.

Snowman Doughnuts:

Mini powdered sugar doughnuts
Orange M&M's pressed sideways into the hole in the middle
Mini chocolate chips pressed tip down into the doughnut to make eyes and mouth - this was the most painstaking process as my mini chips were sometimes two chips in one or were deformed.

These were added to a plate with snowflake shaped peppermint sprinkles.

Close Up of the Snowmen

Cream Puff Snow Balls- 

These were completely in the house by luck. On the way back from picking up the kids I stopped at a special bakery that is only open one weekend every few months and got these as a treat along with M's favorite eclairs.

I placed these on a white serving platter that has a flower pattern on the edges. I covered the flower pattern with squares of a piece of blue construction paper like in the center of the table. I added the snowballs to the platter then added a little more powdered sugar to them and the platter for their snow.

Hot Chocolate Bar:

I set up mugs each with a hot chocolate packet and a spoon - 2 with milk chocolate and 2 with milk chocolate and mini marshmallow flavors.

I also put together a topping selection which included a ramekin of chocolate chips, and a ramekin of mini marshmallows, then I made mini snowman skewers and added them to a Christmas tree shaped plate.

Snowman Skewers:

I sorted through the bag of mini marshmallows for ones of different sizes and shapes and then put three onto each toothpick. I used my food color markers to add blue eyes (Little S has blue eyes so I use blue whenever I make a face) and black for each button. I added a drop of orange food coloring to a dish and added a orange carrot (dot) nose to each using the tip of a chopstick.

I then took a few of my snowman decorations and placed them on the buffet along with some plates and napkins. When the kids all got up I made cheesy scrambled eggs and let them eat breakfast while watching TV in front of the Christmas tree.

You are only a child for a short period of time and as A parent I want to make it memorable. We'll all eat healthier come the new year in a week.

Pepperoni Reindeer Inspired Lunch

Little S today has most of a slice of pepperoni pizza cut to look like a reindeer face.

Main Compartment:


Pepperoni Pizza Reindeer- I cut a left over piece of pepperoni pizza to have a piece of pepperoni  for each eye and a piece for the reindeer's nose. I then added chocolate covered pretzels for his antlers and candy eyes to complete him.



Top Left Compartment:

Mommy Mix- this is different cereal, nuts, and snack mix all tossed together in a zip top bag to use up all  ends of the packages.



Bottom Left Compartment:

Cucumber

Clementine


Dessert:

A single scoop of spiced pear and frozen banana "ice cream"-

Spiced Pear sauce - I peeled and sliced the pears dropping them into my smallest crock pot. I added a cinnamon stick, a 1/2 tsp of apple pie spice, and 1/4 cup of maple syrup (not the pancake kind of syrup but actual maple syrup) set on low and came back 10 hours later. I took the cinnamon stick out tossed it all into my food processor and pulsed until applesauce consistency. I removed most of the pear sauce from the food processor for later and added 1 and a half frozen bananas. I blended until smooth and creamy. I put the pear and banana smoothie into a container in the freezer for an hour and served it like a scoop of ice cream.

Breakfasts with Daddy

M just had his schedule change and as a result he had to work a week and a half without a day off. We celebrated he and little S sleeping in by having some fun breakfasts together on his days off.


Our first Daddy's home breakfast was pancakes!!!! I made oven pancakes that I spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon and a little vanilla. Then added sausage patties on the side.

Pulling out the two sizes of gingerbread men and women cookie cutters I put them to use and served up some size appropriate gingerbread people pancakes.

Little S's small pancake men

Daddy's Big Gingerbread Dude

The second morning I had a little time while waiting for a report to update so I took advantage of a sheet of pre-made pie crust and created four cheese mini quiches for breakfast, added a couple left over tots, and threw together a fruit salad of Kiwi, pear and pineapple. Each week I try to include at least one breakfast that doesn't have eggs served in some way and one breakfast without meat; this week you see the results of both of those breakfasts.

Orange, green and beige Inspired Lunch

I try to expose little S to a variety of foods and colors with meals every day. Today I had some multicolored cheese tortellini and left over roasted chicken and decided to put together a matching lunch.

Main Compartment:

Orange, Green and beige colored tortellini - these are four cheese and cooked in under 4 minutes once added to boiling water.

I diced a few pieces of roasted chicken from last night's dinner and added a yogurt.



Top Right Compartment:

Clementine - this was to match the orange pasta

Cucumber with a little skin left on here or there to match the green pasta.


Bottom Right Compartment:

Mommy trail mix - to match the beige (normal pasta color) and chicken. Mommy trail mix - is 2 parts cheerios, 1 part chex mix minus the bagel chips, 1/2 a part roasted unsalted nuts this is just peanuts this time but it has almonds sometimes also, and 1/2 a part chocolate chips. I don't really measure all of these things I just eye ball the amounts as I dump it into a zip top bag. I put out two baby bowls of this so he and I can snack on it throughout the day. Our schedule is a little off because of when I get up for work, he and his dad get up, when he takes a nap and when mommy has meetings, whether daddy is working both jobs or just one that day so we need something here to there to help us make it to the next time we sit down for a meal.

Quiet one on one connection time

Again we took a few minutes out of our normal routine to connect with an activity. Little S's participation is really more of a what are these? can i play with the bag? what did you make? let me take yours apart and Oh no!!! something hit the floor.


A few weeks ago I had used my cookie cutter to put together some quiet bags - activities that this year we could do together which were holiday themed and next year when he's bigger could be a  creative project. Today I took out the gingerbread package.

I sat with all the items in front of me asking him if he knew how to make a gingerbread man.. and could he help me put his little hat together. Today I didn't get a ton of help. He watched me put together the gingerbread man while playing with the baggy and then handed me button pieces for the next man but did not make one himself. Once both of mine were done and I started asking him if he could do it he decided it was time to clean up. He helped me put all the little pieces back into the baggy and for the three that had fallen to the floor he went to the pantry door to get a broom. Instead of making gingerbread men we bonded over sweeping the floors (something we do at least once if not four times a day)

There is always next year.

Watching him grow

I had a touched Mommy moment this past weekend. Little S and I were camped out at home because of the snow and letting M take my car so he had one with safe tires. We baked loads of cookies which are in the previous post and wrapped presents. While I was wrapping presents little S had been standing on my chair at the kitchen table and turning the light on and off which apparently he found hilarious. He was belly laughing every time he turned it off and I couldn't help but laugh too. After a while this apparently got boring; evident by him litterally putting his head down on the table and sighing. I tried to explain that once mommy was done with the stack of presents on the counter we could call it a day.

He got up and wandered to the family room for a minute then came back. When he returned he started sliding my chair our of the kitchen. Normally he slides chairs around the kitchen so he can stand up on them and help me at the counter; he hadn't moved one out of the room before. I watched as he had a little trouble getting it over the metal piece that separates the kitchen floor from the hardwood floors in the rest of the house. I didn't help him with it; this was his project and adventure so I just watched and kept wrapping. He figured it out pretty quick and moved the chair into the family room. I thought he was probably going to slide it over to my desk and try to pretend to work at it since he can't climb into my office chair. Then I heard the door to the stairs. The stairs lead up not down so I wasn't too worried about him and the chair toppling down the stairs. I gave him a minute before I checked on him. You better believe my mommy ears were trained and listening for so much as a heavy breath or an oooh look what I got sound.

I stepped to my right and  expected to have to walk into the hallway to be able to see what he was doing in the family room but he was right there next to the door to the stairs. He had pushed the chair into the hallway and placed it near the door. When I heard the door open it was to ensure that the door would clear the chair. He had positioned his chair just in the right place to be able to see the tv which was playing Super Why and to be able to play with the door knob on the door to upstairs.

When he left the kitchen he didn't have a binky so during his movements he had to have gone and found one; which made me wonder if the boy genius needed one to be brave today. He spent the next almost hour while I wrapped all the presents (from the other side of the table so I could watch him) playing with the door knob and standing proudly on his chair.

I had a moment when I just got this overwhelming sense of pride for him. He had put two and two together in a new way and found a way to investigate something that interested him. It made me so proud of him and a little heart tender that my little baby is now such a little man.

Since that exploration of the door knob he now knows there is a lock on the bathroom door and how the door knob turns. He is just tall enough on his tip toes to be able with the very tip of his finger to sort of push the lock on the bathroom door. If the child continues to grow like he has ( at 18 months he's 35 inches tall) it won't be long before he'll have the leverage to actually lock the door. Mommy is already looking for one of the door unlock keys that I remember my parents had above every locking door in our house growing up.

Cookie Day - baking cookies as gifts

Today little S and I set out to make several batches of cookies to give as a gift for a friend. We started by collecting all the items and ingredients we thought we would need then decided on the flavors.

 Admittedly he doesn't speak a lot of English the child still speaks mostly alien so his participation in the voting process was taken with some liberty. 

We made Peanut Butter, Chocolate chip, Oatmeal cookies that have no flour; we chose also a standard chocolate chip cookie which we added items to make sunrise cookies, and for those that maybe do not like cookies we made caramel fudge brownies also. 

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (No Flour ; No Butter)

Thick, chewy peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies made without butter or flour. Modified from AmbitiousKitchen.com Ingredients • 1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter (not natural) • 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla • 2 large eggs • 2/3 cup rolled oats (gluten-free if desired) • 1 teaspoon baking soda • 1 teaspoon cornstarch • 2/3 cup chocolate chips (dark choc chips are my favorite) • Mini M&Ms or similar if desired to add colour (a handful) Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F 2. In small bowl mix together the oats, cornstarch and baking soda; set aside. 3. In a large bowl beat peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth, about 3 minutes. Mix in dry ingredients with a wooden spoon, then gently fold in chocolate chips. 4. Roll cookies into 2 inch dough balls and place onto cookie sheet 2 inches apart, then BARELY flatten the top of the cookie with your hand. (I use a cookie scoop no flattening) 5. Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes and remove when edges barely begin to turn a golden brown. The cookies may look a little underdone, but they will continue to cook once you remove them from the oven. Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough. (makes 16 - 24 cookies depending on size) (I get about 2 dozen using the cookie scoop)

Sunrise Cookies -

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp Baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Large eggs

2 cup chocolate chips - any flavor you prefer

1 cup unsweetened coconut - add more if you like

1/2 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds - add more if you like

Directions

1. PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F.
2. COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels, coconut and seeds. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets (again here I use parchment lined sheets for easier transport).
3. BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. I slide the parchment sheets off onto the kitchen table for cooling while I reuse the cookie sheets. If you premeasure the size parchment paper you need you can load the parchment pages with cookie dough and just slide on for quick baking. 

Caramel Fudge Brownies - were a cheater recipe we used a packaged fudge brownie mix made following the directions and added 3/4 cup caramel bits too it. I was going to make my famous chocolate chip cookie brownies but forgot to reserve some of the chocolate chip cookie dough before adding the coconut and sunflower seeds so we went with plan B. 

We had added the caramel to the mix and then added it all to the pan. In the future I will make the brownie mix and let it cook 5 or six minutes before adding the caramel bits to help them from sinking into the batter so much that they are difficult to see. 

Christmas Chicken Fajita Nacho Inspired Lunch

Today little S was once again subjected to left overs for lunch. Mommy is usually the only one who eats left overs for lunch but today little S has them also. I had made chicken fajita filling in the crock pot yesterday and served it over red and green tortilla chips with taco flavored cheese.

Chicken Fajita in the crock-pot is one of the easiest things I make as it really is a dump and run recipe. I take a 1lb chicken breast straight out of the freezer drop it in, take a cup of onions - today I had some already caramelized onions that I had done earlier in the week in a crock-pot and used those normally I just pull the frozen onions out of the freezer and dump them in. My grocery budget is too tight not to take advantage of sales or throw away fresh veggies and fruit and recently Aldi's had 3lbs of onions for less than a dollar. I got two packages - that meant I had about 15 onions for $1.50 which will stretch a lot of meals while adding nutritional value. I took several of the largest onions and sliced them, placed them on a cookie tray lined with parchment (this makes them easier to transport) and put them in the freezer to individually freeze. The next morning I put them all into a zip top bag (this is where the parchment comes in handy; just fold the parchment to fit in the top of the bag and slide in the onions) and store it in my freezer for quick use. I added a half a cup of the green bell pepper from the freezer which we grew this summer. Then I added a cup of frozen corn and spices. I happen to have a taco blend of spices on hand this week so I used about 3 tbs of that, added 1 tsp extra cumin, and chili powder salt and pepper set to low and come back in 10 hours to shred the chicken.

Main Compartment:

Chicken Fajita mix from above

Red and Green Tortilla chips

Taco flavored cheese

Note- I did microwave this 30 seconds to melt the cheese and warm the filling before serving.


Top Right:

Clementine - these are on sale in December like all other Oranges (except Valencia) which is a great way to get a burst of sunshine into your day.


Bottom Right:

A veggie and fruit squeezie - This one is blue berry which is his favorite and contains 1 1/2 servings of fruit and veggies.




To Caramelize onions take a lot of time and patience which I tend to lack so I caramelize them in a crock-pot. Slice up enough onions to fill your crock-pot 1/2 to 3/4th full. I used my small one so this for me was three onions. Then add  1 TB olive oil for each onion set to low - I stir once the first hour and stir once at the three hour mark then leave it alone and come back in seven hours or more. You do not really need to stir them they work just as well if you do not.  At ten hours total the onions will be just browning and soft, at twelve hours they become more like onion jam so this is a great make overnight or while at work recipe. Eat some now and freeze some caramelized onion in zip top bags for the next time you want to whip up something but do not have an hour or more to stand at the stove and watch onion cooking. To make these for french onion soup - do not include the oil just cook the onions themselves.

Fairy Ornament Inspired Lunch

Today I chose an ornament cookie cutter/press for little S's holiday themed lunch. We haven't used this one yet and I thought it would look good in sprinkles.

Main Compartment:

Fairy Sandwich - I cut down and slightly flattened two pieces of sandwich bread - this gives him a sandwich with less bread mouth feel and that's his size. I then spread sunflower seed butter on one slice and put it into the container. The top piece I cut with the ornament cookie cutter and before popping out the cutout pressed it to give it the impressions for the ornament. I put the now holey piece on top of the sandwich and filled the ornament hole with winter sprinkles. I added a berry lemonade yogurt to add some protein and dairy.


Top Right Compartment:

Chex mix minus the bagel chips - the bagel chips are still too hard for him so I pick them out and dad get's extras in his lunch.

Cut out ornament - I added the punched out ornament piece of bread here to help the holiday look and theme.



Bottom Right Compartment:

Cantaloupe and cranberries. Always mindful of the rainbows I am trying to teach him to eat today he has orange and red fruit with lunch.

Sea Creature bath

I try to make bath time fun my thought process is that with my son being a little ocd on the clean side now.. if I can instill in him that bath time and shower time is fun then somewhere in the back of his mind later in life getting him to not stink will be easier.

Today we had a sea creature bath. I recently turned in a bunch of pampers points for another reward - our first reward was a Melissa and Doug puzzle that we play with constantly and this time I chose bathtub stickers. When they arrived they are really the same kind of foam creatures we have in his alphabet and numbers set just with pretty sides so I got out our sea creatures from the alphabet set and mixed them in to have a bunch of sea life. I stuck some to the wall and the rest I had waiting in the tub.

He likes to splash them around and once he noticed the ones on the wall would come off if you tried we had a new game. Mommy tried to get them to stick to the wall faster than he could get them all off. He was laughing and stomping and splashing and smiling from ear to ear which makes my world a brighter place and touches my heart in ways nothing else does so we played for a while. He started knocking others off with the ones he was pulling off so that he could get more than just the two in his hands off at one time. I cheered when he got them all off and he was so proud of himself. We finished the bath like normal with him pulling the plug when he's ready (sometimes this is 2 minutes into the bath sometimes this is 10 minutes into the bath) which means it's time to get clean. I turn on the water so it pours out of the faucet and he splashes. Then I turn the shower head on (its removable) and we alternate those two steps while he gets soaped up and cleaned off. It never takes very long but it is always a fun time.

ABC matching

I am not even sure little S was born yet when my mom his Omi sent him the abc bag; I know it's been put away most of the time we've had it so he didn't try to eat the pieces. This is a quiet bag it has a separate pocket for each letter and inside the pocket is a soft item that starts with that letter and has it's name embroidered on it.  The labels have proven helpful because I never would have guessed rabbit and not rat when looking at the little animal.

A little history when I had little S I had him by C section and was medicated, I wanted to sing my new baby a lullaby but couldn't think of any. The only songs I knew were the abc's, twinke twinkle, and the bologna jingle from when I was a kid so I sang those to him, I continue to sing those to him every single night. I have his name on the wall above his downstairs changing table and spell his name to him. He has always tried spelling it back.. for a long time he would pat his chest and say er er er er er er er. His name is Spencer and S P E N C ER turned out how I generally said it to him so the part he could remember and say was the last two letters. The alphabet has been a large part of his life from day one and continues to be. When we repainted the family room where he and I spend most of our time I put the alphabet on the wall. They are decals that each have a different picture with the letter and spell the word so we can do site words, alphabet and other things as he get's older. 

I took out our quiet abc book and went through all the letters chosing the ones who's little pillow item matched the picture on the wall. Like I for ice cream or star for S and left in the book the ones that didn't match like our wall has N as nest and the book has it as nail. Since the pictures do not match I didn't want this to be super hard. I held each of the little pillow pieces from the book up to the wall picture said the letter and the name of the item like I ice cream and tapped the pillow to the picture. After showing him a few I asked him where the whale went.. where do the pictures match? He surprised me sticking with this longer than I had thought and matching better than I suspected he would his first time out.

Then he took some time to dump out all the little pillow items from the book and check them all out. Mommy's OCD kicked in and not wanting to lose any I made sure at clean up that they were all back in the right spots. Oddly I couldn't find the frilly pillow that goes in P and I couldn't even remember what the P item was since it didn't match the wall where P is pear. I looked all over for it, I went back through the book checking all the pockets then I frisked my son. I found the little pillow inside his pj top. I smiled and told him it was a very good thing he had kept that one safe because mommy had no idea what letter P item she was looking for and pillows are much softer than either pears or penguins. 

Noisy Time

I am not a parent who believes that children should be seen and not heard, that they should not be allowed to make noise or bang pots and pans, slam cabinet doors and run around and be wild. Since mommy works from home and when she is on a conference call especially with the client there are times when little S has to be quiet and he's super great about it we need times where mommy instigates noisy time. I try to walk my talk and live a balanced life to do that means that sometimes we have to get loud to balance out the quiet. It's been random so far but every so often I just look at little S and know we need to get loud and wild. I take out our musical instrument bin.. and start shaking maracas or rice bottles (these are actually some of our sensory bin supplies they just double as noise makers) and dance and singing. It normally takes about half a second before he wants my instruments and I get out another set. We run around the room or just dance in place but the whole time mommy is telling him to " make some noise and let the universe know you are here".

I wish to teach him that there is a time and place to be quiet and a time and place to be heard. I want him to be able to release his inner wild child and not be afraid to make noise and have a good time. I want to teach him that when things have been in a routine for a while sometimes you just need to break out of that and raise a little wild energy to rejuvenate yourself.

We made so much noise we startled the sleeping cats who came to see what the heck was happening but we were so loud and crazy that they were scared and ran to hide upstairs. I didn't mean for us to scare them :( and now since whenever he's taking a nap with me while I work they come and make noise and get loud good thing they don't know how to shake a rice bottle :)

Snowy Tree inspired Lunch

Today little S has a tree theme to his lunch.

Main Compartment:

Three quesadilla trees made with a single 8 inch tortilla folded in half and toasted with taco cheese inside. I added a little taco seasoning just to up the taco flavor. The trees were cut using my medium size tree cookie cutter.

Snow- snowflake sprinkles I sorted out of our winter mix candy decorations


Top Right:

Tree Logs - pretzel sticks



Bottom Right:

Diced green apple and dried cranberry for the red and green colors

Apple tree - a slice of green apple cut into a rough tress shape with a pretzel stick as the tree trunk.

Christmas Tree Quiet One on One Connection time

I wanted a quiet activity we could do together; something that would let us play without talking and just be together and focused on the same thing. Sometimes life especially around the holidays can get really busy rushing here and there, wrapping, baking and mommy has work and meetings and I didn't want another moment to go by without making some quiet together time.

Last week in a free hour I made a few of these quiet connect kits. I used my cookie cutters to outline some holiday shapes on construction paper, cut them out and placed them into a large zip lock bag. I then also cut out all the things you would need for that shape and placed them in smaller zip top bags. With this kit we have green trees and a baggy of smaller multi colored bits to use as ornaments and decorations. I didn't say anything to him I just sat on the floor and dumped all the contents out.

He came over and we decorated trees for a little while before he decided my trees needed cleaning and brushed all my decorations off. We played together and laughed for a while just the two of us with no other distractions and no hustle and bustle. I don't know if it helped his heart any but it sure helped my mommy heart to have some quiet connection time with my little man.

Snowman Inspired Lunch

This week I am sticking to the winter holiday themes for little S's lunches and as I have mentioned before I love snowmen. Today I made little S a Snowman lunch as it has been snowing here all day.

Main Compartment:

Snowman- two rounds of sandwich bread cut with round cookie cutters the top being slightly smaller. If I do not have a cookie cutter the right size which happens to me sometimes I remember my dad using a glass to cut biscuits and usually I have a glass that works.

The snowman's scarf and hat were free hand cut from several slices of Salami. The scarf is two layers to allow for both ends of the scarf to show. The Hat is 4 layers to give it some depth to match the thickness of the sandwich bread.

Details - the snowman has royal icing eyes, and a nose made from two stuck together orange sprinkles. The mouth as well as his buttons are cut from a single dried cranberry, which I rolled on the counter to make the smile.


Top Right Compartment:

Chex Mix minus the bagel chips which are too hard for him to eat.



Bottom Right Compartment:

Halved red grapes - to look like snowman buttons

diced carrot in a mini silicone cup - traditional snowman nose

oobleck fun or not so fun experiance

Today I wanted little S to have a sensory play experience that tied with his snowmen ski party lunch so I had him make oobleck. Oobleck is a Dr Seuss like slime that sometimes feels like a solid while remaining a liquid once you mix the harmless ingredients together. This would be great with added food coloring to make the slime green or toxic looking but for our fun today I stuck with the basics.


I got out our sensory bin - a large zip lock container with a lid so I can refrigerate or freeze as needed.

I added 1.5 cups of corn starch (I buy mine at Aldi's and pay less than 1$ for a box that has about 4 cups in it) which makes this project about a $0.30 cost.

I let him play with his sensory toys in just the corn starch for a bit; in hindsight I should have noticed then his heart wasn't really in it. After a few minutes I gave him the 1 cup of water to add.

I had to mix it for some reason he was just not as into it as I was today. I kept trying to reengage him. Once I had it mixed together I showed him how to pick it up and drip it on things including his hand. You would have thought I dipped his hand in something vile from the looks on his face; all this from a kid that stuck his hand in the cat water dish so often we had to move it behind a gate.

Eventually even a mom with the best intentions has to call  it quits and let the kid take a bath and feel better.  We'll do this again on a day that he's into being messy.

12.09.13 Snowman ski party inspired lunch

For Little S's lunch I wanted a winter theme so I chose snowmen. I personally love snowmen.. they are the least creepy of all the holiday traditions (you can not convince me that elf on a shelf is not the creepiest thing you have ever seen, and gingerbread men equates to teaching cannibalism) and they come in all sizes and shapes which traditionally include round. They are friendly and cute and if they ever got scary all you need to fight them off is a hair dryer :)

His lunch is a collection of snowmen going on a ski trip.

Main Compartment:

Four snowmen punched from a slice of bread using a cookie cutter with detail press. I found these at Walmart a few weeks ago the package has four different holiday shapes for about a dollar. 

The snowmen are skiing on pretzel stick skis down a hill of  spicy white cheese sauce. The hill is in a forest of trees created with pretzel stick trunks and unsweetened coconut that was tinted green with food coloring for the pine needles. Much to the snowmen's delight it is also snowing - snowflake sprinkles. 

Top Left Compartment:

Diced fresh pineapple and halved red grapes

Bottom Left Compartment:

additional pretzel sticks to dip into the cheese sauce

a snowman button cookie we made late last week to keep with the snowman theme. 

12.6.13 Holiday Bath

12.5 is national bathtub party day a day created to celebrate the lost experience of taking a bath. Most adults shower but few bathe in a bathtub anymore so this day was created to bring that experience back. I combined the season, and the party theme to create a holiday bath tub party for little S.


First I added several drops of green food coloring to tint the water green, then I added a lot of bubble bath to make white foamy bubbles on our green bath. I collected all his rubber balls and added them as ornaments on the tree then just added the little man.

It would have been great to have added pine scent also to make it a super sensory bath but he had a lot of fun pushing the balls around and pulling the plug on the drain.

St Nicholas Day and inspired lunch

Today is St Nicholas Day- it's a day that we celebrate because we are lucky enough to have an Omi (My mommy) and it's a tradition that is from her family and heritage.  The tradition of Saint Nicholas Day on Dec 6 is a festival for children in many countries in Europe related to the surviving legends of Saint Nicolas, and particularly his reputations as a bringer of gifts. The American Santa Claus and British Father Christmas also derive from these legends.

In Northern Germany Saint Nickolas is usually celebrated on a small scale. Many children put a boot or shoes outside their door on the night of Dec 5th. Saint Nicholas fills the boot with gifrts and sweets overnight, and at the same time checks that the children were good, polite, and helpful the last year. IF they were not, they will have a tree branch in their boots instead.

The way I remember being taught about St Nicholas involved a sliding scale... little presents like a coloring book and candy meant you were a good kid, coal meant you were bad but there was value in you because your family could heat the house with what you provided (coal to heat the house), a stick was left for the worst children so their parents could beat them for being bad. I can remember opening my bedroom door, peaking one eye at my shoes to see what was left for me.. and breathing a sigh of relief when I saw candy,


Keeping this tradition alive on the night of Dec 5th we made a big production of placing a pair of shoes for each of us in the living room and explained about St Nicholas coming. Little S thought it was pretty strange that the shoes were put where they normally do not go and that mommy put out his snow boots.

When he came down stairs the next morning he found all our shoes had been filled with candy and there were books for him.

Being the smart kid that he is at 19 months.. he looked over the scene decided that he wanted more candy and took the candy from mommy's shoes and put it on top of his shoes. It amazes me what connections he puts together on his own. Last year at this time he didn't have any shoes - I saw no point in buying shoes that would never touch the ground so we put his gifts on his walker toy so this is the first year with shoes. It took him less than 2 minutes to look things over and decide that the candy on your shoes meant it was for you and that mommy's candy should be his also. Don't think that's what happened? the kid took my marzipan (favorite cho

colate) and ran off with it trying to open it. I was robbed by the little squirt.

Keeping this tradition alive meant I also used it to inspire the lunch for the day.

Main Compartment:

Quesadilla Cowboy boots (put your boots out or at least your largest pair of shoes it means more room for candy) - i filled his cowboy boots with minced fruit chews to simulate candy, and added a few snowflake sprinkles for holiday cheer.


Top Left Compartment:

Dried Cranberries and unsweetened coconut to continue the red/white theme


Bottom Left Compartment:

Pretzels

mini silicone cup of unsalted roasted peanuts and sunflower seeds.

Reindeer Inspired Lunch

I made biscuits for breakfast this morning with sausage gravy and eggs; I had a few left over so I turned it into a reindeer for little S's lunch.

Main Compartment:

Reindeer - biscuit with peanut butter, pretzel antlers, candy eyes and a cranberry nose.



Top Right Compartment:

Snowman button cookies we made the day before.

Pretzels


Bottom Right Compartment:

Green grapes and dried cranberries

National Cookie Day Cookie Baking

I couldn't let national cookie day go bye without making some cookies. Little S and I chose a new recipe for snowman button cookies. This recipe was chosen because it didn't have a long list of steps or ingredients and looked to be something we could break up throughout our day since it's a weekday and mommy works those days. Even when you work remotely from home you still need to spend time at your desk working so I can't always do a project from start to finish I need to come up with things that have stopping points.

We gathered the six needed ingredients -

1/2 cup unsweetened  baking cocoa powder
3/4 cup softened unsalted butter
2 cups flour
1 egg
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla

We used our hand mixer to blend the butter we had microwaved for 25 seconds with the sugar until fluffy then we added the egg and vanilla and combined. Slowly we mixed in the cocoa and flour and mixed until a soft dough formed. Honestly ours was soft but seemed a little dry and I double and triple checked that we hadn't left anything out.

(My little helper still in his dragon pj's)

We divided the dough and pressed them into two disks that we covered with plastic cling wrap and placed in the refrigerator for at least an hour. We left our in the refrigerator until mommy was off work at 2pm so about 8 hours. (you can make this dough up to two days ahead and just warm it up on the counter for 15 minutes before the next step). Because our dough was refrigerated over 8 hours and mommy forgot to take it out before we wanted to make the cookies mommy microwaved the cold dough for 20 seconds until it was pliable before moving onto the next steps.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line your baking sheets with parchment or a silicon baking pad to make life easier for you later - you can also just leave your baking sheets ungreased.

unwrap one portion of the dough and sandwich it between two sheets of plastic wrap; then roll it out to 1/8th of an inch thickness. Use a circular cookie cutter or the lid off of a small spice jar to cut the button shapes. (our cutter was 1 1/2 inches think normal shot glass)

Place the cookies on your ungreased or lined baking sheet and use the rounded edge of a slightly smaller cutter or lid to make the button indentation. I didn't have a smaller cutter but I did find a shot glass in the cabinet and used the bottom of it to make our indentations. Finally poke four holes into the center of your cookie with the flat tip of a bamboo skewer or we used one of mommy's metal chop sticks but if you had a knitting needle that would work also.

(we really do need better lighting in the kitchen these are our prebaked buttons)

Bake the cookies for 6 minutes. Transfer them to a cooling rack (this is where the parchment comes in handy because you can just lift them all off at once and I put the whole sheet of parchment on the kitchen table to cool so I can reuse the pan) Repeat the rolling, cutting, pressing, and baking steps with your remaining dough.

This recipe has only 6 ingredients no added salt and not that much sugar compared to other cookies they cook for only 6 minutes and they taste like a brownie. Win!!! We will definitely be making these again - with the size cutter we used our recipe made over 5 dozen cookies which could vary depending on the size of your buttons.