Summer Break

Aubrey, "Where's Tyler? Is he at school?"
Me, "No, there's no school for a long time. It's summer break."
Aubrey, concerned,"[Does] that mean my house is gonna fall?"

Ha!

Drama Queen

Most days, Aubrey begs me to stay home with her instead of going to work. She does not yet understand that I have nearly 2 weeks off, that started Friday. This morning, "Mommy, don't go to work. If you go to work, you are FIRED!" Yikes! ;)

This morning, we all woke up with allergies. Aubrey sneezed a big sneeze and said she was sick. Wayne told her that he doesn't think she's sick, she has allergies. I asked if she wanted some allergy medicine.
"No, I need to go to the hospital. I sick."
Dramatic much?

Later, she was poking at Tyler's hat. I asked her to give it to me so I could put it up.
"I not going to love you anymore!"
I asked if she was serious.
She cocked her head, with a little grin, and said "no." ;)

DIY Hershey's Chocolate Syrup

I have a little chocoholic in the house. Whenever I'm home, she requests "chocolate waffles." These days, I keep these Buttermilk Waffles in the freezer so I can toast one and top with Nutella.

I also keep chocolate syrup on hand for her requests for chocolate milk. I've had this recipe for years, and didn't write down the source - though I know I found it on the web. It's quick and easy. Enjoy!

DIY Hershey's Chocolate Syrup

1/2 c Hershey's Cocoa (or other brand)
1 c sugar
1 c water
dash salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine cocoa, sugar, water and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk until smooth. Over medium heat, whisking occasionally, bring to a boil. Allow to boil for one minute, being careful that it does not boil over. Remove from heat and cool. When cool, add vanilla extract. I use a funnel to pour into a squeeze bottle. Store in the refrigerator.

(We re-used a cleaned up sriracha bottle this time).

Muffin

My sweet little Muffin and I got to do a little shoe shopping, and "cupcake" eating together this week. Then last night, Tyler, Aubrey and I spent the evening shopping, car washing, eating, and going to the library together. We had a great time and now I'm really looking forward to summer!

 

 (She thinks she's funny, sticking her tongue out).

End of the School Year

My sweet 8 year-old Tyler is done with second grade. How is that possible?!?! I got the pleasure

 of joining his class for the end of year party.

Party game...

Tyler and Mrs. Farrell (with her umbrella) :)

All the kids earned little awards. His was for outstanding performance in math. He thought it should have been for his sense of humor. :) The other moms who were there were very complimentary to Tyler, which always makes a Mom proud.

Since today was the last day of school, he brought home all of his school things. I enjoyed reading back through his journal. Lots of his entries were about our weekends, and I was tickled that nearly all of them started with what he had for breakfast on Saturday morning.

 This letter was kind of a surprise. I didn't know how he felt about Obama, that he wanted to be a paleontologist or what he thought about gun control. Interesting.

Tropical Fruit Slush

Tyler's end of year party is this week. They are having a Luau theme and I'm taking this fruit slush. It's summery and tasty and so easy to make. It takes time, so it's a good one to make when you're home. I got the recipe from my Aunt Anna a long time ago and have made it many times. This weekend's humid warmer weather makes it feel like summer is really coming. I'm so ready! :)

Tropical Fruit Slush

- Anna Herbes

2 c boiling water
2 c sugar
1 can frozen orange concentrate
1 can water
1 20-oz can crushed pineapple (do not drain)
2 large diced bananas
2 12-oz cans Sprite

In a large bowl, mix the boiling water and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add the orange concentrate and can of water and stir until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Place in freezer and stir every two hours (until firm). Move to a sealed container until ready to serve.

Fireplace

Again, no before picture was taken...but this picture at Easter gives an idea of what the fireplace looked like before...

And after...

Staining....Staining...Staining...

All of the cabinets in our house needed some love. I'm about 99.9% sure that they haven't been touched since the house was built. A blogger gave me the confidence to give it a try - we started with the fireplace and one bathroom. Then decided to simultaneously do the remaining 2 bathrooms and kitchen.

 

For about the first week I thought I might be crazy. By the end of last week, I was convinced I was crazy. Lots of time in between, thought, I thought it was kind of therapeutic.

 

I tried applying stain with a sock, and with a foam brush. For different parts of the project, different methods worked better.

 

Also, I now love General Finishes. Love.

 

I also love that we have hardware now. It makes me happy to look at it. I'm weird.

 

I forgot to take a "before" shot. Soooo, here's a picture of some food, but you can see the cabinets in the background...

 

 

Crazy Wayne with the upper cabinets in the background...

After we took all the cabinet doors off, we remembered the "before" picture...if that's remembering...

The first coat of stain/ our garage operation...

I thought we looked pretty cool (or something) with our awesome headlamps while we re-installed the cabinet doors.

As of today, nearly everything is back in the cupboards and I can find things again!! :)

Mother's Day 2013

Aubrey, inspecting her belly button, "something's wrong."
Wayne, "Nothing's wrong. That's skin. That's where you were connected to Mommy."
Me, "Did you know you were in Mommy's tummy when you were tiny? Before you were born."
Aubrey, "But I'm not fruit. I'm Aubrey!"

Happy Mother's Day! ;)

Quick Salted Caramel Buttercream

Salted caramel seems to be all the rage these days. My new favorite chocolate cupcake recipe is definitely a keeper. The salted caramel frosting recipe she posted to go with it took me about 4 tries to get it right. It was way too finicky for me. So, I thought it only right to share this family recipe for caramel frosting that is MUCH simpler, and (at least to me) tastes just the same as the much more complicated version.

Quick Salted Caramel Buttercream
1/2 cup butter (I use salted butter)
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 3/4-2 cups powdered sugar

Over medium heat, melt butter, add brown sugar. Bring to a boil over low heat and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add milk, continue stirring until it returns to a boil. Remove from heat and cool. Beat in powdered sugar until desired consistency. To make thicker, add powdered sugar. If you want to thin it back out, add a little milk.

Delicious slathered on chocolate cake and cinnamon rolls.