Saturday, March 30, 2013

Easter Egg Dyeing (With Bonus Stress!)

Dyeing Easter eggs should not be this stressful! But, add in a "ME DO IT" toddler, and little cups a dye - well, you have a disaster in the making. This picture is misleading - it looks like they were playing nicely and that Piper wasn't grabbing for everything in sight:

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Piper dyeing her eggs. At this point, I kind of gave up on guiding her or I would have ended up with PAS dye all over my white shirt. And what on earth was I thinking wearing a white shirt while helping the kids with their eggs!?!?

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 Willow and her eggs:

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 Here are all of our eggs - we will be eating these for a while:

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 Some of the ones I did ending up with fingerprints - I'm calling it a design feature:

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This was nerve-wracking. I also didn't think to lay paper or a tablecloth down on the table, so now the table looks like it has been dyed as well. It's a good thing we aren't fancy in this house!

 I am not sure how I could have better contained this - I can't really leave her out of the festivities - but holy hell, she wants to do it her way all the time. Andrew just smirks and says, "Gee, Jo - where do you think she got that from?" Gah!

Willow had some bonus eggs she wanted to show off. She made these at her friend Amanda's house:

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 Showgirl eggs might have been a safer bet with the toddler... a hot glue gun can't be worse than flinging dye everywhere, can it?

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Oh, The Drama

The terrible twos have arrived. En force.

 Willow and I went shopping for a new outfit for her spring pictures last night. This kid has grown so much that all her dresses (except for the snazzy yellow one she wore to the dance) was either too tight or too short. We found a pretty dress at Kohl's last night - isn't Willow lovely in it?

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 Willow coming downstairs in her dress drew a very unexpected reaction from Piper:

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 Oh my Lord. She went ballistic! She was spitting with anger that Willow was wearing a 'fancy dress' (Piper's words) and she was not. It was a tantrum of epic proportions, so I had to take pictures. We have really been trying to get Piper to express herself with words rather than flipping out. I held her for a bit, and explained that she had to tell me why she was so upset, because I don't understand tantrums.

 A few more fat tears and some shuddering breaths, she came out with "Piper wear fancy dress..."

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 Luckily, I had a fancy dress for her, too.

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 This child is so mercurial - I foresee a bumpy ride for many years. Entertaining, but bumpy.

 Two pretty girls on the sofa - and neither one freaking out!

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Another Pair of Socks

Not meant for me.

(sigh)

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Damn me and my cankles.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Quick Book Report: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a fantastic book! Celaena Sardothien is an assassin imprisoned and enslaved in salt mines who is offered a chance of redemption if she can win a contest against some of the worst murderers, thieves, and soldiers to become the King's Assassin. A king, who massacred Celaena's own family and is responsible for her becoming an assassin to begin with. I wouldn't have expect Celaena to be such a likable character, but she was - despite everything that happened to her, she has a sense of humor and play that endears people to her, even when they don't want to. Maas' worldbuilding was wonderful - and I loved the backstory of the disappearance of magic and Celaena's own mysterious beginnings. I can't wait to read the next book in this series when it comes out.

View all my reviews

Monday, March 04, 2013

More Clothing Nostalgia

I am not sure how many more times I can pull this clothing nostalgia act. When Willow was Piper's age, I had my 35mm camera, not a digital camera, so I was a bit more stingy with my picture-taking. Add to that the fact that Willow and Piper are opposite season babies, so getting the same clothing that fits them at the same age is becoming much more few and far-between... but I managed one more today!

 Here is a pic of Willow in the Easter dress that my Mom made her when she was about 20 months old:

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 And here is Piper at 25 months in the same dress. On Piper it was more of a tunic shirt- she wore it over jeggings to school today (and quickly shucked them off when she got home):

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 I don't know, Mom - that Canada dress might be the last outfit standing - and that is only if it still fits Piper when the weather finally gets warmer!

Saturday, March 02, 2013

Pumpkin Bisquick Waffles

Since we normally swear off pancakes for Lent, I am have trying to come up with other breakfast ideas for the interim. This morning, I decided to make pumpkin waffles. I know, I know - semantics - pancakes and waffles are not all that different, but it is just a tradition for us to not eat pancakes for Lent. I went to my now go-to stop for recipes, Pinterest, and first searched for quick waffles, but nothing piqued my interest. Next, I searched for bisquick waffles, and BINGO... I found this recipe. I inadvertantly changed it up by forgetting to write down an ingredient, so here is my version:

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Pumpkin Bisquick Waffles

2 1/3c Bisquick mix
1/2c canned pumpkin
1 1/2c skim milk
2 TBSP brown sugar
1 tsp pumpking pie spice
2 eggs

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Make a pool in the middle of the dry indredients, and pour the wet ingredients in. Stir just to combine - don't over mix the batter. Bake in your waffle maker according to its directions. I poured about 3/4c of batter for each waffle, and we had 6 large waffles. If you are using Weight Watchers, each waffle is 6 Points Plus.

If your waffle maker makes smaller waffles, you may have more waffles when all the batter is used up. Did you notice what I forgot to include? No, not the nuts. Don't get me wrong - I love nuts, but they have no place in my waffles. I forgot the oil. The original recipe calls for 1/4c. of vegetable oil, and somehow I missed that when I was writing it down. I did spray my waffle maker with Pam, so my waffles didn't stick to the waffle maker.

And let me tell you, this recipe was toddler approved:

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Enjoy!