A little of this and that

Well since the cookie incident, we haven't been up to much. Just keeping cool, and waiting for the verdict of how our life will play out. We're busy of course, swimming, keeping 2 five year old girls occupied. I think this must be what really prepares a mother to let her children go off to school. A few months ago, I really didn't know how I was going to do it. Now, we are all ready. Anyway I thought I would just share some everyday pics. The other night Steve wanted to make thin crust pizza. We always make our own pizza and it sounded good to me. I took care of the crust and Steve made some amazing grilled chicken to go on top. So the picture is take by one of the girls of us and our creation. It's a BBQ chicken pizza with mozzarella and gouda! YUM! It was very good. The girls had cheese pizza because they haven't grown into their taste buds yet. Then last night we had cucumbers on our salad and we got the girls to put them on their eyes. They were very hesitant, but thought it was really fun once they tried it. Kathryn is the one minus a shirt, I don't know why children can't stay dressed during the day. Enjoy

Marshmallows

I guess somehow I should have known how this day was going to go when the first thing I heard this morning was two 5 year olds fighting over space on the couch. With each passing day, we are all getting more ready for school. Don't get me wrong, I will miss them, but they are ready for something more. Also, a little warning, this is a long one, so you may want to settle in and enjoy, or come back when you have more time. Anyway on with the story...

First a brief discussion about my kitchen. Since most of my readers have never actually been in my kitchen, I will take a moment to describe it so you can get the full feel of the story towards the end. Galley is the first word. Much like kitchens in Europe long and skinny. Not quite as long or as skinny, but you get the idea. There is only one entrance and one little window that doesn't open and looks out at our neighbors door. I am not complaining about the window because our last kitchen didn't have one, but it was much bigger and therefore redeemed of this failing. Keep in mind, that it has been in the mid nineties lately, and we live on the top floor of a fairly poor insulated building.

So I already told you how my day began, and really it hasn't been all that bad. I was able to clean my bathrooms, that were so dirty I could almost hear them calling me at night in my sleep, the girls got a bath that was overdo, and some of the floor saw the underside of the vacuum. Since I decided to clean, I didn't shower because that defeats the purpose. Then the girls were getting a little restless so instead of facing the shower and other tasks that I needed to do, I painted their toe nails. It was fun mommy daughter time, and I knew in the end it would actually make my day more productive. Then it was lunch time. That is when I had the brilliant idea.

It's Friday afternoon, we're all slightly bored, and it's too hot outside to do anything but swim and the afore mentioned bath took that off the list. So what would come to my mind but cookies. The girls have fun, I get a little sugar to stave off the cravings that plague me, and Steve has a nice treat when he gets home. Huge plus for everyone. Besides a few days ago Juliana had a brilliant idea to make marshmallow cookies, so I picked some up when we did our shopping this month. We dug in. I have to say that there was this little nag in the back of my mind that something about this wasn't going to work, but I shoved it aside and plowed ahead. Dough is prepared, the first batch goes in the oven. Following is the result.

Not very pretty, you should have seen me trying to get them off the pan. The marshmallows practically disintegrated causing the cookies to fall apart, and stick so bad to the pan, I had to pry them off. The pan is still on the oven waiting for someone else to clean it up.  So I knew we couldn't proceed and expect good results. What was the logical thing to do? I don't know what you chose, but my brain immediately chooses to pick all the marshmallows out of the rest of the dough so that not all of it will be a waste. I proceed. So picture me in my galley kitchen with the girls standing on stools just waiting for the marshmallows, with a 350 degree oven less than 2 feet behind me. At first it really wasn't that bad, but I soon wondered just how many marshmallow I poured in, and how much longer it was going to take. Good thing I still haven't showered, because I would have had to do it again. Anyway here is a picture of most of the marshmallows that were recovered.

In case you are wondering it really isn't that easy to find marshmallows in cookie dough, chocolate chips are a sinch comparatively. So that is what I spent most of my afternoon doing, and now I have no desire to look at the kitchen let alone make dinner. Maybe this feeling will wear off before dinner needs to happen, although I kinda doubt it. Now I know you are all on the edge of your seat wondering if the marshmallows really were the problem. Here is the after shot and you decide. Thanks for listening.

The Cake

This year the girls wanted a princess cake. It was a lot of fun to make, minus the stressful moments when I wanted to curse! Steve stuck with me and didn't run away even when I went into my very horrible self hating mode. In the end it turned out pretty good considering this was our first ever experience with fondant. Steve made the fondant for me because I had to pick up the kids from a birthday party. He was also the genius behind the train that looks so fantastic. Between us, I think we make a pretty good team.

Birthday Celebrations

Yesterday we had a party for the girls and the park with some friends. We actually combined it with another little boy in our ward whose birthday is the day after the girls. It was a bit chaotic, but very fun. Here are some pictures. They are all pretty self explanatory so I won't provide commentary. I will say that Kathryn has the white shirt and Juliana is in Pink.