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Bakerella style cake balls for kindergarten

Posted on June 16, 2009 12:58 pm by TheAngelForever

Tomorrow the kids in kindergarten are having an end of year celebration. They have ponies and other animals coming to visit for rides thanks to the school PTA. This will be also be to culminate their transportation unit. Parents have all been invited to come for the fun. After the rides there will be a pizza lunch. We were asked to sign up if we are coming and also let them know what we could bring. I told NHL’s teachers to let me know what they needed the days before.

Yesterday when I picked NHL up from school I was told that they had plenty of paper products and drinks. She asked me to bring in a dessert item. Immediately I started to think about things. Cupcake cones would be fabulous, but it may be for both classes and all of the extra adults. That would be too hard to bring. Then I thought about making bonbon cookies like my friend J’s mother used to always make. These are easy to make, but very time consuming and not inexpensive thanks to the Hershey kiss filling. Of course I asked my Twitter followers for suggestions. Lots of great ideas came in. Then I had an idea. What about making something from Bakerella?

After looking at all of the options, I thought the Bakerella cake pops or cake balls would be a great idea. Today JSL and I went out to the store to get items to bake them. Here is what we bought:

Some of these items were already on hand at home. I wanted to have the lollipop sticks just in case I try to make those. I think they may be a little more work than I have time for (especially on my first attempt). There is also the worry about how to take them to school if I have them in pop form. In addition to this, I have since changed my mind on the frosting that I am going to mix with the cake. I had planned on using the cream cheese kind seen above, but now I think I am going to use the Rainbow Chip by Betty Crocker. I think that will be more fun for the kids. On the outside I have the yellow melting chocolate and a variety of sprinkles. I had thought about the blue ones to make it the school colors, but will see what NHL thinks when he helps me contruct them later on.

On that note I am off to check the two cakes. Both of them are now baked and cooling. Will update later with more photos of my experiment a la Bakerella. Oh, if you have time check out Bakerella’s fabulous collection of special cake pops. – amazing!

Categories:
baking decisions food glorious food photos shopping yummy

Playing catch up and the kindergarten blues

Posted on June 15, 2009 10:47 pm by TheAngelForever

It is hard to believe that it is well into June already. Kindergarten kid has less than two weeks of school left and he will be a first grader. This has caused some anxiety for the little guy. NHL does not do well with change. Of course, a lot of this has to do with the absolute hell that he went through when we tried the Montessori school for PreK in September 2007. Similar to the end of last year, NHL is acting out. Today it finally hit on me as to why. He has no idea what to expect in first grade and has loved kindergarten. He does not want it to end. Of course, this only dawned on me after several days of the poor kid crying and having nightmares. None of this excuses NHL’s behavior, but it certainly explains it. Talking with the school nurse helped me to see the light. NHL went to her with an earache today. I mentioned to her how he did not want to go to school this morning and I think he was trying to go home.

Last night was a rough evening. When we went to sleep a horrible thunder storm was coming into the area. Our house was actually shaking when we heard the thunder. We closed everything down and listening to the hail pound outside the house. When we went to sleep at close to midnight everything was still on. At about 12:30 last night I was really warm and woke up. The room was pitch black. No television on, no clock and no fan. I woke JL up and we got flashlights to see what time it was. We found the number to the power company and called. I finally got a person there and found out that there were 1800 people with no power in our are and they projected it to return between 3-4 in the morning. I was thrilled when less than 40 minutes later everything came back on.

Of course, my mind was racing a mile a minute. I could not settle down and sleep. I was thinking about NHL. What are the three of us going to do this summer. Should I try to send him to camp? What are my options for next year if he is not in the first grade class that would be most beneficial to him. The list of things goes on, but you get the point.

Thanks to all of this and trying to take care of things for school (I am the room parent), I am still playing catch up with blog posts. I have three more days of our Disney trip and two days at the lake with family to name a few. I hope to get them caught up soon.

So while my brain is still on warp speed, let me see what ideas you may have:

What are some inexpensive things that I can do with the two boys this summer?

Remember that JSL just turned two and NHL will be six at the end of the summer. Trying to figure things out is turning out to be very stressful. I worry that it is going to be a very long summer if we do not have something to get out and do, especially with other children (and adults for me).

Categories:
decisions looking back me moments nhl sahm school sleep summer vent

A Figment of my childhood imagination

Posted on June 2, 2009 9:42 am by TheAngelForever

While at Disney World a few weeks ago, memories from my childhood came flooding back. I recalled going on certain rides with my parents, eating at specific restaurants, shopping at many stores. Of course, these memories were more powerful since my parents joined us on our Disney adventure.

It was only fitting that Papa was with NHL the first time he went on the wild rides at Disney World. He went on the Tower of Terror with NHL and JL. I think Papa and NHL enjoyed the ride compared to my then green looking husband. Papa also went with NHL and I on Expedition Everest. As we were winding our way through the line to the coaster, Papa told NHL a story. The story was about my first time on Space Mountain (currently closed and being refurbished).

I believe i was also in kindergarten. We had gone to Disney World with some family friends. My father asked me to go on Space Mountain with him. As incentive he made a deal with me. He told me that if I went on Space Mountain I could have ANYTHING I wanted afterward.

Dangerous promise no?!

Well, I took the bait and went on the line with him. I still remember being spooked out by the movies that they showed on the line. Add to this the fact that I was by far the shortest and youngest person on the line. When we got on the ride and sat down to start I told my father something. I told him that I had to pee. His fatherly words still remain fresh in my head. He told me to pee since there was no going back.

My father said I was fine with the ride when I got off, that was until I saw my mother. I went crying to her arms. Then the conversation turned as we had to finalize my deal for the ride. I told my parents that I wanted a Figment stuffed toy. We eventually went back to EPCOT. My father tried to get me to pick the small Figment, but my mother reminded him that he had said I could pick anything. Boy was he lucky that I settled on the medium sized Figment, or they may have had a life sized one to haul on the airplane.

Figment still has a special place in my heart. When we went back to EPCOT this time I had to ride the Journey into Imagination and spend time looking at Figment merchandise. I opted to get myself a new Figment keychain.

In case you were wondering, this memory has taught me something as a parent as well. NEVER promise your child anything they want to pick out when orchestrating a bribe. Always be sure to set limits on items that may be purchased. After all, your child may not be as nice as I was about the terms of the agreement.

Categories:
decisions Disney family looking back me moments nhl photos

It’s alive again!

Posted on May 7, 2009 8:14 am by TheAngelForever

I am happy to report that I am typing on my own working laptop. JL took my computer to work yesterday and let scans run on the side. No matter what was done, he was not able to make certain things work. In the end, we made sure that all of the last backups had everything that I needed from my computer. At that point, my laptop was wiped clean of everything that was on it. it was a last resort, but it worked.

Lesson to all –> Be sure to back up your important files (especially digital photos) often! We were very lucky that we do this frequently.

Boy is my computer empty, but it works so smoothly . Several key items are still missing, like Microsoft Office since we can not find my CD for it. I feel much more connected today. Clearly the last two days were a sneak preview of what life is going to be like while at Disney World and I am unplugged from the internet world. Of course, at Disney World I will have so much to keep me busy. I will no longer take my laptop for granted and will cherish my time with it. Here it is when it traveled with me to my old room while the boys and I stayed with my parents a while back.

I will definitely not take my laptop for granted again and will most definitely miss it while away, but going to Walt Disney World is worth it!

Categories:
decisions Disney jl losing my mind photos

Shoe shopping x 4

Posted on May 4, 2009 8:38 am by TheAngelForever

While in the middle of three giant loads of laundry and packing it as everything was dried, I suddenly remembered something. We never went shoe shopping this weekend. Sure we each had a pair of sneakers to take along on our Disney World trip, but that was about it for hubby and me. Nothing else really qualified as a comfortable walking shoe.

So, I left the laundry behind to be finished later and we went to the mall. Our first stop was to Pay Less Shoes to get some new sneakers for the boys. Each of them got a new pair of velcro Smart Fit shoes for quick and easy on and off. Next, we tried the LLBean store where JL and I tried on some Keens. They did not have the right size for JL in the ones he liked. When I tried mine on I seemed to be right in the middle of a size and was not spending SO much money on something that was not quite right. After that we tried another shoe store in the mall. I tried on a pair of Teva per my father’s suggestion. Both of my parents have owned them, along with countless friends over the years. I put them on and oh my were they comfortable. Of course, I did not want to rush into things. I waited for JL to try on a pair of sandals and then we went to a department store that had a big shoe sale.

For some reason said store did not have many shoes for women. Everything was dressy, but not casual and comfortable for walking. JL quickly found a bunch of shoes to try on. He even tried on Crocs that he liked a lot. In the end he picked out a pair of sandals that were closesd toed and very different than anything he has ever had.

When we were done there I went back to the shoe store and bit the bullet. I finally bought myself my own pair of Teva shoes. Here they are:

Last night I put them on for a power walk to help break them in. I walked for 38 minutes while watching Pushing Daisies on the DVR. In 38 minutes I walked 4,065 steps. Love my new pedometer and the Teva shoes were VERY comfortable! Here is a view of all of the shoes that we bought while shopping yesterday:

When all was said and done we had accomplished our mission. In fact, this weekend we managed to get a lot done. Almost all of our clothes for Disney World are washed and packed, shoes bought, haircuts for all of us (yes I had mine significantly chopped), traveler’s checks purchased, lists made and brain working at warp speed!